The Eagle has landed

Growing up with mostly girls, scouting wasn't something that we knew very much about at our house. My brother did some but it just wasn't the focus. Mike, on the other hand, comes from a serious family of scouters -- Mike and his 4 brothers all earned their Eagles. So when Christian came along, he had lots of direction from his dad. Mom was a cheerleader on the sidelines, but dad helped him get where he is.

 Back when Christian was 8 or 9, my sister told me, "The minute he turns 11, you sign him up for as many classes as you can at the high school and crank out those harder merit badges." So I did and he flew along, until eventually he was looking for an Eagle project. I suggested a few, he made a few phone calls and then the perfect project practically fell in our laps. Here's Christian's blog telling about his project and asking for donations:

http://christianeagleproject.blogspot.com/

After all of the donations were shipped to Africa, Eyes for Zimbabwe sent us pictures of the scene when they delivered everything that Christmas Eve to people who live at the city dump.  They actually live there.  It was humbling just to see their circumstances.

We made a slideshow for Christian's Eagle Court of Honor showing his whole scouting journey.  Christian arranged the music in Garage Band.  Pardon the poor quality of a lot of the pictures.  I took them off of my blog when I didn't have original files and they didn't transfer well.



His Court of Honor happened last Sunday.  Definitely a parent's payday.  I was so proud of him.

 Sitting in the Eagle's Nest with so many great men.  He's in good company.

Pretty cool to receive congratulations letters from each of our State's Senators and Congressmen, as well as from this famous address ....

Sun Valley 2012

Every couple of years, we get to tag along with Mike to Sun Valley, Idaho, where he has work meetings. This year, we also took grandma with us. You would think that I snapped pictures of our every activity, but I'm a slacker picture-taker these days. We swam, shopped, did puzzles, played on every electronic device that we brought, went bowling, ate yummy food, went on a gondola to the top of the ski mountain and ate at a restaurant overlooking the entire valley and ice skated ... the kids' favorite activity this year. :)

Ice skating and texting do not go together.  Christian never quite understood that.

Definitely good times. :)

Timp Cave

Grandpa Mayfield loves to hike, and we've joined him from time to time. A couple of weeks ago, he asked if we'd go to Timpanogos Cave with him so the kids and I tagged along. I had to stop and rest more often than the others but we all made it there eventually. This was at a lake nearby....

And then the hike began.

The last time we went to Timp Cave, Elle was 2 and ended up falling asleep on my shoulder through most of the cave experience.  This time, we were all wide awake for the Heart of Timpanogos.

Fun day with grandpa.  Fun, too, to meet a deaf girl on the way up.  I don't get to use sign often enough.  And the fact that she understood me was just a bonus. :)

A few happenings around here ....

Summer has brought a revolving door of friends to play, both little and small. I made cookies with these 3 helpers...

Counting down the minutes and anxiously awaiting the finished product.

We've put our new patio furniture to good use...

It's very West Virginia of us to decorate the plywood on our patio. The finished effect should be a well-lit patio with fun lights overhead. Just gotta figure out the logistics of it.

Swimming lessons, basketball camp, volleyball camp, dance lessons, gardening ... We haven't had too many lazy days of summer yet.  Christian has discovered the joy of exploring our little town on foot.  He and a friend have spent many days walking all over the place -- they stop at Keva for a smoothie, go to the book store, the guitar shop, the dollar store, anywhere else that seems interesting and then eventually call for a ride home.  As long as he isn't parked on the couch, I don't mind.

Been swimming lots (this time with the cute Olson kids) ....

... picking lots and lots and lots of strawberries and raspberries out of our own garden.  Sooo sweet and yummy.  We are now full swing in apricot season so PLEASE come help yourself!  The girls and I are going to make apricot jam today.

Our old computer died so we bought a Mac, which brought with it the wonders of GarageBand and Photobooth.  Good times on the computer for everyone.