The Eagle's Nest

You may remember that a long time ago, Jacob finished up his scouting Eagle project.  And then the paperwork sat around for awhile.  But it was finally done too, and in June, Jake was officially an Eagle.  But, he and three friend have all been waiting on each other, and apparently the right moment, to have their Eagle court.  Sunday the 9th of December, it happened!  And what a wonderful evening with friends and family around!

Left to right, this is Teren Jameson, scoutmaster for many years for this group of boys, Randy Ivins, Skyler Williams, Jacob, and Parker Mack.  This is the part of the court where they shared some favorite stories from camps, and some funny things were told on each other.  By the look on Jake's face, I'm guessing this one was on him.

This is Steve Thunnell, a favorite scout leader of Jake's, they got along so well with each other, and Steve was instrumental in the project Jacob chose, and in encouraging him to get it done.  Steve presented Jacob with his award.

This is Dad, putting on Jake's neckerchief.  I pinned on his award.  Then they let each of us take a minute to say a couple of things about Jake, or about scouting.  I talked about the many things scouting has given to Jake. He loves it.  It has been so good for him, a highlight of his teenage years. Nathan quoted Lord Baden Powell about scouting preparing young men for the second coming of the Savoir.  This is in part in memory of Grandpa McAllister, who said the same things at Nathan's Eagle court.

This is Jacob awarding his mentor pin to Curtis Ivins.  He has been one of Jake's Jamboree leaders, and his bishop for lots of years.  This touches me.  These two are very good friends, truly a mentor to help Jake grow and develop. 

Jacob had opportunity to speak his heart.

A boy never gets his eagle alone.  This group of men have all been leaders at one point or other along the path.  There are surely others who were not there too.  And there are parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles who encourage and help.  The whole story is on the faces of these four young men! What a happy evening!

I Found It!

I knew I had a photo of Caleb's Halloween costume!  I just wasn't looking in the right places! Kip lives.

Halloween 2012

We were looking good!  Wanna see?

Here I must state that I am devastated to not have a picture of Caleb in full costume!  I can't believe I don't! This is what he looked like, all week:

And the resemblance when he is all decked out is uncanny. I'm still scouring photos to see if I really don't have one....

Ethan found this gigantic sombrero and wanted to sport it for awhile.

 

Miriam is a cheerleader, behind her pumpkin.

Camille went out with friends in her Maid Marian costume, which she made by herself (the cloak and skirt) without any pattern.  The cloak has a hood too. Pretty cool.

Leslie made her costume too.  At Young Women's, the girls decorated witch hats and wore them to visit Gardener Village (a posh spot for witches this time of year.) Note the rat. eeeewww.

But when applied with an eye for fashion, she makes for a posh witch herself!

Dad's crew for trick or treating this year.  Seems it gets smaller and smaller as there are good friends that like to go together.  Sigh.  I guess we really do want them to grow up.... Seth's costume is called Leopard Cheetah.  He carried a small whittled spear and had me draw scratches down his face from his latest encounter with a saber tooth tiger. Happy Halloween!

Open Wide

Ethan and Seth were behind me in the room and forced their way through my attention barrier as the volume rose.  I heard Ethan saying, "Wider! Wider! Wider!"  I looked around to see he was staring into Seth's open mouth.  Every time the "Wider!" command would come, Seth would try to comply, not by opening his jaw wider, but by re-arranging his lips.  The effect was that his mouth would get smaller and smaller, so the command would sound again, "Wider!"

One of the things that come with being a mom for a long time is the patience to let them be happy noisily, if they are not injuring someone or something.  So I just carried on, more or less tuning out the boisterous oral examination, until there came a break in the constant yelling.  A silent pause, then I hear Ethan say, "I can see your gizzard."   

Tomorrow we'll talk about Halloween.

Summer of My Discount Tent

I have spent more nights in a tent this summer than I have since I was about 15.  I am not complaining--I been having a great time camping, it is the sleeping part that is tricky!

First I went to youth conference with Leslie and Camille.  We had a great time, but I didn't take a single photo.  Not of them killing thistle for the camp ground as a service project, not of them touring downtown Salt Lake and meeting the church patriarch (who is over 100 years old), not even of them playing keep away in the water at Deer Creek reservoir.

My next camping took place in my sister's field for our Jacobson Family reunion--which was over the 4th of July and great fun!

We enjoyed spending time with our cousins, and visiting both sets of my grandparents.

There were water games.

Mostly the boys squirted the girls and the girls squirted the boys.  But Leslie loves the water so much, that if any one was squirting, she was in the middle of it. :)

We visited the Idaho Falls temple grounds and visitor center, where we ran into Sister Kinghorn, who was a  friend of my Great Grandma Josie.  She shared with our children a bit about my grandma.  Pretty sweet.

One of my favorite funny things from reunion was pulling into my sister's house and knowing I was in the right place because there were 5 other Suburban-type vehicles there.  We went around Idaho Falls that day like a presidential motorcade.  Here we are all parked at the temple.  My sister said there are 43 of us...takes a lot of seat belts to do that!

Now, I have returned from my last planned camp for the summer: Young Women's Camp.  I haven't been to camp since I was a young woman myself, so I was happy to go again!  We loaded my big suburban with all the bodies it could hold and traveled to Camp Hansen (near Tremonton) to participate in our stake camp.

We were so stinkin' excited!

This is meeting at the pavilion.  Our stake director is Wendy Wilson with the guitar.  She is a great favorite of my girls and it was so fun to have her in charge.

Can you spot Leslie?  I love this look on her!

And Camille waiting in line for pancakes.  We had a great time!  We visited Crystal Hot Springs and giggled over skits and talked into the night.  Going as a leader may even be more fun than going as a girl!

One thing I have decided though, is that when we have a job again, I would really like to buy a fat foam mattress so all the parts of camp are nice, even the sleeping.

Some Birthdays, Some Paint, Some Silliness

We are trying to get the house ready to sell.  We decided to do this on May 1--which is also Miriam's birthday.  Since then, my brain has been sucked by aliens and I am completely unreliable.  (Actually slept through a meeting this afternoon.  Sigh.)  But, we have had three birthdays in that time.  I did take photos and here they are.

Miriam designed her own cake: Red Velvet with purple frosting, accented with skittles and candied cherries. Oh, My!

Her favorite gift was this pretty fairy tea set.  (Mine too.  Secretly, we all want a fairy tea set.)

On May 24th, Leslie turned Sweet 16!!!

Her favorite present was this hat, which may have appeared in more perfect form in other photos, but as a mother, this is my photo of choice. :)

A bit of a surprise was thrown for Leslie by friends.  There were rootbeer floats and dancing on the lawn until late with the YMCA for fun. 

This is a great group of kids! I'm glad they are all friends.

We interrupt birthdays to bring you an awesome painting duo.  Both learned to paint trim and our basement has never looked better! (They painted each other just a teeny bit.)

On June 21st, Ethan turned 8!

Showing you his cool new mitt and transformer.  He is excited to be baptized soon.

And, Daddy bought some new Knex toys at a yard sale, and Seth created this frame. I just love what they framed. :)

Shish Boom Ba and La, La, La

This title reminds me of a Sandra Boynton book.  I am here to announce that Camille made the Eisenhower Jr. High cheer leading squad! Woot, Woot!  She has been working hard ever since to learn a dance, some cheers and some stunts for the end of the year assembly.

  Some of her great friends also made the team, so she has some wonderful girls to cheer with.  She is tall enough that they don't throw her. (I consider that a blessing.) But when they do stunts, she serves as a back spot--meaning that she is in charge of catching anyone they do drop...I'm pretty sure you can get hurt doing that too!  Anyway, Camille, I am proud of you!  Your bubbly personality was meant to help cheer people through life, so it makes sense that they would choose you. 

 Work hard and be happy!  Shish Boom Ba!

Now for the La, La, La:

That IS the organ from the famous Mormon Tabernacle behind my children in their Heralders choir!  This spring, the choir was invited to participate in the Salt Lake Choral Festival.  They have this at the tabernacle annually, and each year one children's choir is invited to participate--this year we had that honor.  Seth, Ethan, Miriam and Caleb are all on that stage.  They had the opportunity to hold 2 practices in the tabernacle and one performance.  Their show was 50 minutes of music and dancing featuring music from around the world and in several languages.  It was AWESOME! Photo opportunities were limited inside, so here is the very excited crew after they finished

They worked so hard for this opportunity.  Practices could have them standing on their feet and singing for up to two hours sometimes.  The extra work paid off, they did a great job.   So show us how you really feel to be done kids.

And, no performance is complete with out the self-proclaimed favorite groupies:

Now the choir has started music for their end of year performances which will be from the Lion King.  That should be fun too!

Happy Banana-versary

Founder's Day 2012 was a big round number, Drrrrumroll Please!: Twenty years married!  We celebrated with the goofy-est party we could come up with, Going Bananas!

Leslie was the one clever enough to put it together and call it a banana-versary.  We decorated in yellow and invited every one to wear yellow.  The little boys got a bit carried away.

I bought yellow nail polish while I was buying the yellow decorations, thinking how much fun the girls would have with it....didn't occur to me that the boys would too! :)

Games were played. The favorite being fruit basket with a large pool noodle to beat each other with.

Smiles and contentment. And last, but not least: 

Dessert!  Happy Banana-versary!

Visiting Dubois

Conference weekend found us in Dubois at last!  We have made several attempts at a visit this winter, all of them foiled by one thing or other.  I'm glad to see family again.  These pictures make me smile, as they are almost exactly like the ones from last year--but we are all a little older.

Some of us even sit in the same places. :)  I love the expression on Ethan's face, he looks like he is not exactly voluntarily participating.  Grandma always boosts participation numbers by lollipop bribes.

Conference bingo + cousins= bliss.  We also helped deliver grandma's Easter baskets.  She loves to treat some of the people in her community with Easter pleasantries, and we have become the delivery squad.  We like it. The cousins all pile in which ever car and take turns playing Easter Bunny all around town.

We did have Easter.  It was a lovely weekend.  We spent Saturday helping Dave and Tiffany's family move into their new home.  I was pleased to watch the kids haul load after load from house to truck, truck to house again and again.  I had questioned in my head if Seth was too young and would be in the way, but he was a serious force of moving power--he couldn't take anything big, but he made trip after trip with anything he could carry, always with an infectious smile on his face.  It was fun. We hope their new home will be a loved blessing in their lives.

Sunday highlight for this mother was singing in the church choir with Nathan, Jacob, Leslie, Camille and Miriam.  We sang one song, then sat for a talk and sang another.  It was an intense few minutes as a mother sitting on the stand watching my younger boys on the bench and hoping like crazy that Ethan, Seth and Caleb wouldn't start world war 3 in my absence, but they were good too.  So we had a peace-filled day, finishing it among our loved McAllister family for a meal and visiting.

I love Easter.  I love to celebrate the resurrection of our Savior, to sing his praises, and taste a bit of the joy that we can have surrounded by our loved ones forever thanks to his care and sacrifice for us.

Not Our Bunnies

 Jake is up in Idaho, doing some work.  Just before he left, his friend bought two bunnies, and Jake built them a cage, and they are living in my back yard.  I didn't give permission for the bunnies, but since they are not our bunnies, then I suppose that doesn't matter.  They have been here for about two weeks now, and Ethan and Miriam, Caleb and Seth LOVE them with very big hearts.  I have a bit of a soft spot for bunnies too, which is why the bit o'fluffs are still with us.  I keep reminding people that these are NOT OUR BUNNIES! But I'm not sure that message is sinking in.

Miriam and the bunny known as Polly (but we are not quite sure if it shouldn't be Paul).

Seth and Luke.

Ethan and Luke (this poor bunny had the unfortunate experience of being named by a friend of Jake's, his full name is Lucifer...but I try to encourage the kids to call him Luke, or maybe, as with Polly, he should really be Lucy...It is hard to tell on baby bunnies.)

The continuing saga of the bunnies:  We had a storm 4 days ago and Luke escaped from his cage in the night.  Under cover of darkness, he fled, and we have yet to find him or his remains.  Remember this guy?

Rex IS our dog.  He is fascinated by the new friends which share his yard.  He thinks they have very tasty poop and he likes to sit under the cage, but if he were to find a fluffy friend on the loose, I think he wouldn't hesitate to play with it...he probably wouldn't mean any harm.  (He never does.)  Who knows where that bunny went?! Rex isn't telling if he knows.  Jake just hoped they (bunnies) had time to make baby bunnies before Luke R-U-N-N-O-F-T.  I pray that if they did, Polly is Paul.