Scout Camp Starts this Week

Benjamin is enjoying going to Cub Scout Camp this year. He is part of the Webelo Group (age 10). Since Webelos are older than the Wolves (age 8) and Bears (age 9), they get their own week, with a campout on Friday night. Glenn will head up for that.


The Golden Goliaths - Ben, Trevor, Chris, Nathan (Addison left early)

He has participated in the Wolf Group (age 8) and Bear Group (age 9) while we were in Arizona. It's been fun and Zachary will get his turn next week. (The Wolves and Bears participate together.)

We will get some action shots of the archery and b-b-guns later in the week. The first day is ALWAYS instructional and BORING!

Father & Sons Campout

Each year our church has the annual Father & Sons Campout. Each year I look forward to this activity! (Can you imagine why?) "Once our son is potty-trained, he's in," is what Glenn always has told me. This has been my incentive through these past 10 years of baby-raising boys! :)

We got to Texas and I began asking about the campout - to find out the date, to mark on the calendar. As the day got closer and closer I realized that there was not much talk about it. After questioning Glenn about it, I decided to call a member of the Bishopric and talk to his wife. We have been good friends since our move out here and she just has a lot of knowledge and knows what's going on.

She commented, "Well Cindy, with the recent ward split, I don't know if it will happen as it was earlier scheduled." I immediately responded, "Amy, they'll not cancel it, right??? They will re-schedule it, right???!!!" And she did agree.

Well, each Sunday I kept listening for more information about the campout and lo-and-behold, it was scheduled for May 30th and 31st. This year, all four boys were able to go with Dad! (Last year, Ben and Zach were sick.) Here's a nice picture of the Four Musketeers ready to tear-up the camp!

In there adventures they were really excited to see this snake! After Glenn snapped a few pictures of it, they left it alone and continued on their adventures! Later that evening some of the men were commenting on the COPPERHEAD SNAKES in the area - WATCH OUT FOR THEM! If it's a copperheard, we're not sure - but it sure looks a lot different than a garter snake?!?!

Christopher was very content to whittle with his newfound pocket knife. (Does Dad KNOW that you have a knife?) He whittled and whittled till wha-la... a pencil!





Well, Emma and I had a really fun time too! After we got the boys off - we packed up the van with some returns to do (Gap, Eddie Bauer, Pottery Barn) that just happened to be at The Mall. We ran the Mall (including the Disney Store) and then over to another favorite - REI! We caught a burrito at Chipotle with an Izze and then as the sun was going down we thought we should stop for an icecream surprise at Double Dip (the local Ma & Pa icecream stand/shop).

As we were heading home in the dark, Emma said to me, "Mom, can we just go home now and go to bed?!" I asked if she liked shopping and she responded, "I do, but I just need some rest. Maybe we can go again tomorrow!" :)

DEFINITELY - a fun time was had by ALL!

Baseball Survival 2008

WE SURVIVED BASEBALL SEASON 2008!

Each year Glenn and I ask ourselves, "Why do we do this..." But, when the boys show an interest in something, we do like to "jump on it!" So, once again we had baseball sign-up back in December and the season began in March.

Benjamin played on the Pirates Team. Their team won 2nd place in the pre-season tournament! He was very excited! But, then the season went DOWN from there. It's okay though - he still had a great time playing. He was positioned as the 2nd baseman and right field man/alternating each game with another boy. Ben's team did not practice that much during the season - which was okay too (it was a recreational team), for the head coach was traveling lots with his job and we had so many other practices to go too that my head was spinning!



Zachary played on the Cardinals Team. He surprised us all at shortstop with some quick moves. Then he showed an interest in pitching about mid-season and was put in as pitcher. He did AWESOME! (As long as he's not stuck in outfield, there is never complaining.) Their team made 2nd seed in the post-tournament and won their first game. But, then they lost the second game 0 to 1, which was a hard loss. It was a great experience! (Zach's team was very consistent with practices twice a week.)



Christopher did his first year of t-ball! T-ball is just fun! You can't go wrong with t-ball, EXCEPT that Chris has stated it is way to boring. He wants to get back into soccer. (He did soccer for a season when we lived in Arizona.) He did well and learned the sport well. The head coach of his team is head coach for the city highschool football team - HE WAS TOUGH! He made these little guys run the bases if they weren't paying attention - but the little guys enjoyed it and that really ticked the coach off! :) The coach practiced these guys WAY TOO MUCH for t-ball (2x a week also) but it really really did pay off. Chris knows the sport very well. (I think!)

Christopher is the kind of kid that will always try his hardest and do his best - especially when there was somebody (AKA - the coach) ALWAYS checking up on him. He worked hard and always smiled - even running laps around the bases. "I told him that it was the coaches way of making him a faster runner!" And I do have to say that Christopher's main concern was the after-game snack and the trophy that finally finally FINALLY came at the end of the season! That's the best! Another one to put next to the soccer trophy! YES!

Nicholas opted out of baseball this year... WHY? Only one guess - his true love is GYMNASTICS! He is in the off-season right now and really practicing hard. (He practices twice a week for 4 hours each. And thank goodness his practices usually coincided with the other's practices, for I could drop him off and get the others all over the city.) He will begin the competitive season at the end of the year and is really really REALLY looking forward to competing this year! We are excited for him too. He is the buffest, cutest kid!

Nick has been very supportive of going to ALL the brother's baseball games these past three months. Each Saturday we have had 3 games to get too - needless to say, I'm really glad it's ALL OVER! We are very familiar with ALL three ballparks in the city - blah! And of course, they are all about 10 miles from each - endless driving and driving and driving... this is a picture of Nicholas since he didn't get his picture in for a while. He received the "critical thinker" award at his End Of The Year Party from 1st grade!

The Conceited Cardinal

Remember back in January, our red friend... well, he continues to hang around and I was lucky to get this shot of him. It's not the greatest shot, but he sure makes our day with his beautiful music! (Click on the picture to see him much better.)



He tends to see his reflection in the sun window that's in our family room and will constantly "bang" into this window for a few minutes before getting the picture - I ain't going thru!

He then moves on to other areas of the backyard. The other day he was at Glenn's truck "banging" into the bumper. He could see his reflection. Then he was "banging" into the mirrors on the side of the truck too. Once again, he could see himself. We even heard him at the neighbor's house, "banging" and crashing into their clear basketball backboard! Silly Bird!

Big Blue Ball Returns

Remember how we are now the proud owners of two BIG BLUE BALLS... well, this evening we were driving home from Zachary's baseball game and lo-and-behold, what do we run into: ANOTHER BIG BLUE BALL! (This is now #3!)

This BIG BLUE BALL was in another part of the neighborhood than we previously found the others! The sun was setting yet one could clearly see it on the road. Ben was in the front with me and I stated, "Wow, can you believe your eyes? ANOTHER BIG BLUE BALL!" As soon as Christopher heard my words, he jumped out of his booster seat and shouted, "Mom, Mom, we need another one of those! STOP THE CAR! Get it! Get it!" (He nearly lost it with all his excitement! He was beside himself! It was so funny!)

Ben jumped out and ran to the house in which it was in front of. He rang the doorbell and I think we were all hoping that no one would answer. A man answered and said to Ben, "Well, I'm sure it's one of the neighbors. Thank you." He then took it and closed the door. RUDE! Ben jumped into the car and said, "Darn!"

That would just be too good to be true!

Mother's Day 2008

Mother's Day came and went... this Special Day goes WAY TO FAST! I woke up at 7am to Breakfast In Bed. Even tho it was cold cereal and toast, plus a special juice drink in a fancy glass goblet, it was the thought that counted. It was so funny to hear Christopher say, "Mom, Dad cut the juice box in half and poured the juice into that fancy cup! Isn't that cool. I want to do that!"




We also have church at 9am and it takes about 1/2 an hour to travel over - so they really had some timing issues going this year! (In year's past I've had warm cinnamon rolls, pancakes, waffles, eggs, etc.)

After beautiful music at church and tons of candy, we came home to a lazy afternoon. We went on a walk and talked to family and had a GREAT day! I love my children - I truly am blessed!

2,800 Stakes - The Frisco Stake

Our ward, the Frisco 6th Ward, along with a few other wards, make-up the Two Thousanth, Eighthundred Stake in the world! Four members of the 70 (Elders Dickson and Child are the two I remember) came to speak to us at Stake Conference at the University of North Texas-Denton with the exciting news! They spoke of coming out 16 years ago (to this area) to split the first Stake. It's exciting to see the church grow and grow!