Not only has Aaron blown through the Webelos program by earning all 20 Activity pins in 5 months, but now he has earned his Arrow of Light too! To those of you who are not familiar with the Cub Scouting program, it normally takes two years to do this for non-LDS dens (a year for LDS dens). Using the Cub Scouting program for part of his home-schooling helped. At August's Pack Meeting 3 other boys also earned their Arrow of Light (the other boy will get his next month). I am so proud of these boys. They will start graduating out of Cub Scouts now into Boy Scouts as they turn 11. I'll miss the monthly interaction with them.

Triumph!

I just have to go back and brag on the wonderful accomplishment of my oldest son. For the Teacher's Super Activity this summer they went up to the San Juan Islands and biked all over. One of their final days was dedicated to cycling up Mt. Constitution which has a very steep elevation change. Out of the 14 or so boys who tried, only 3 people (2 boys) actually biked all the way to the top. The first one to reach the summit was Jacob Dayley who bicycles in competitions all the time, at 40 minutes. Edward was second with a time of 50 minutes! And Brother Lillie came in third with 55 minutes. The rest of the boys either walked their bikes to the top or hitched a ride in the van.

Jennifer said that the reason Edward made it was because I kept nagging him to practice and he instead told me that he didn't need to. He had to prove me wrong. She said he must have been like the little train that could, chanting "I told you I could do it Mom, I told you I could do it Mom." Whatever it took, I'm glad that he made it. Way to go Edward!!!

Cub Camp - Aaron's last one

This year the Cub Scouts went back up to Scouter's Mountain to Camp Discovery. The boys all loved camp. The weather cooperated too, as it wasn't as hot as it was the week before us or as wet as the week that followed. This isn't to say that we didn't roast up at the stage area at the end of the day. We had 16 boys attend camp this year! As a Webelos at Camp, Aaron got the chance to earn the Sports Pin for BB Guns. He did really well and shot up the bull's eye area until it wasn't there anymore. He also managed to get a few bull's eyes on the Archery range as well. As a leader, I was scheduled to go up only 2 days, but - as a leader - I ended up going 4 of the 5 days. (Some people don't realize that when you sign up to help for the day, it means the WHOLE day.) I wouldn't have minded as much if I could have been with Aaron's group, but I ended up being with the Wolf group. Oh well.

WOW! Dance Festival was amazing!

The three older kids and a few of their dearest and closest 2000 friends from around the surrounding area have been working since January on learning their dance moves. Friday night and Saturday all those hours of hard work paid off. I wish you all could have been there to see the event.

Photo updates

I recently took the boys into have their pictures updated on the family room wall. If I don't label and date them, I am going to be in BIG trouble. I always said that I have "cookie cutter" kids. They continue to look like each other. I think the photographer captured their character though.

Time keeps rolling on...

Well, we are still unemployed at the moment, so no new news on that front. With Conference Weekend coming up Ed, as Bishop, is taking the priests and laurels down to Salt Lake City. I am supposed to go along, but since Grandma and Grandpa Greenfield are in Hawaii there is no one to be with the boys, thus I may stay home. Ed challenged all of us to read the Book of Mormon prior to conference, and I am happy to report that Jennifer and I just finished, while Ed has also finished it and the Doctrine and Convenants, the Pearl of Great Price, and everything else in the Pearl of Great Price. I guess it was a blessing to not have to have work get in his way.

The Union Titans basketball team won the State Championship this season. Jennifer got to cheer at several of the final games in the Tacoma Dome. We made the trip up there every day for about a week so the kids could cheer them on.

Still no news

Actually we do have news...Jennifer was accepted into BYU-Idaho!!!! Yeah!!! We are so proud of her. Now we just have to figure out financing.

Well, Ed has been off work for over a month now. We are still waiting to hear about a job offer. In the meantime, I have been busy working on getting rid of a lot of the fabric I have in my craft room. The kids and I made 12 baby quilts and 4 bigger quilts to donate to Project Linus. In return we will receive a voucher from Disney for 6 one-day passes to a Disney resort. (The kids all want to go to Disney World.) We need to use them by December 15th, so we have some time for Ed to get a job so we can afford to go. It was a fun way for them to see that it takes effort to get to go do something fun. Right now I am in the process of making a new flannel quilt for Ed. I made him one for Christmas, but he decided it was too small (it was a lap quilt) and so now we will have one for our bed. It will keep us really cozy and warm.