Bedtime Story

We had to post this cute video of Austin reading a bedtime story to Trevor.  The video quality isn't wonderful, but it is still entertaining.

Sprayscape

While Tanner and Kaden were at Day Camp I took the other boys to a sprayscape with some friends. We packed up and made an afternoon of it. We were running a little late and I was a little tired so I got the boys a lunchable for lunch. This is pretty out of character for me so the boys were very excited for this special treat!

The sprayscape was a hit with the boys. Trevor and Devon have both been to the sprayscape before, but Austin never has and he loved it! All three of the boys had a lot of fun. It was a great way to spend a hot afternoon.

Cub Scout Day Camp

Last week was Cub Scout Day Camp. Our Day Camp goes from Wednesday to Friday and this year included a campfire on Friday night. Kaden was very excited to go since it was his first time. Tanner was not very excited. This year he attended as a Webelos. Last year Tanner got put with the Webelos by accident on the first day and they sat and listened to people speak all day. He was extremely bored and he was afraid that this year was going to be the same. I can't say I blame him. I wouldn't want to sit in the hot sun all day listening to people talk. I tried to convince Tanner that this year could be different. He wasn't convinced. I hoped he was wrong.

Since we have so many Cub Scout the parents are needed as chaperones at Day Camp. I signed up to go on the first day of camp. I was hoping to help Tanner have fun and I was excited to see how Kaden liked his first day camp experience. The only problem I had was that the Webelos are separated from the rest of the Cub Scouts, so I had to split my day in half. I started off with Tanner and the Webelos. I was glad it worked out that way because I got to be with Tanner when he saw that this year was going to be different. The first station Tanner went to was a craft where they made a Webelos plaque. They had to paint a piece of cardboard blue and then they put a picture of the Webelos emblem on top of the paint. Then they put brads all around the emblem. It turned out really cool, but the brads were a pain. They boys had to use a nail to make a hole in the cardboard for the brad to go through, but they just had to twist the nail in (they didn't want the boys to use hammers or anything). They had to put 100 brads around the emblem. The inside of our hands were black and blue by the time we were done. The next station was clay. Tanner really likes to work with clay so he thought this station was pretty cool! I was glad to see him having fun.

After the first two stations, I ran over to the Archery Range to catch up with Kaden's group. Kaden was very excited about doing Archery. He said it was his favorite activity all week. The nice thing about Archery and BB Guns is that the boys get to do it each day of camp. They quickly become the favorite stations! It is also the only place the boys can earn the Archery and BB Gun Belt Loops. Kaden did a good job, he missed some but he kept on trying and he always had a smile on his face. If you look close you can see that Kaden's arrow hit the inner most blue ring (on the bottom). He had a lot of fun.

After lunch I got lucky and both the Cub Scouts and the Webelos were scheduled for the BB Gun Range. Tanner and Kaden were both excited to shoot the guns. This is Tanner's third time doing BB's at day camp so he was excited to get started. Tanner was lucky because the Webelos had a small group so Tanner was able to shoot the BB's three separate times before moving onto the next station. Kaden did really well for his first time. Our Cubmaster was in charge of the BB Gun Range and he said that even though Kaden was one of the smallest boys in the range he was the most accurate. By the end of the week he wasn't missing any of the targets.

The next station for Tanner was the Archery Range. Tanner enjoyed shooting the arrows, but he didn't get to go more than once this time. I love the pictures of Tanner at the Archery Range. You can tell that he is putting all of his effort into it (look at his right hand)! If you look close you can see his arrow in the target on the bottom right hand side.

I got to end the day with Kaden's group. Their last station was crafts. They got to make a catapult out of popsicle sticks, clothespins, a rubber band and a spoon. The boys had fun building their catapults. They were given a large marshmallow to launch, but it had been so hot during the day that all of the marshmallows were sticky. Do you think that stopped the boys from wanting them? No way! They stuck them to their spoons and tried anyway. They were pretty yucky. The only advantage of the marshmallow was that you couldn't lose it because it stayed stuck to the spoon! I was glad when Kaden decided to throw his marshmallow away and get another one at home.

I had a lot of fun with Tanner and Kaden and their friends. The day went by very quickly and the weather wasn't horrible. We had cloud cover part of the day that helped to block some of the heat. I am glad I got the opportunity to go with the boys. I hope they will have fond memories of Day Camp. The only downer was that I didn't get a picture with Tanner and Kaden. Oh well, I have a feeling I will have plenty of other opportunities in the future! So in the meantime here is a picture of the whole group.

The Webelos

Happy Father's Day

Sunday we got to celebrate the Dad's and Grandfather's in our lives. The boys did a good job all week of keeping our gift a secret. I was impressed that even Devon was very quiet on the matter! The boys love their dad very much so they were very excited to give them their gifts. I let Tanner and Kaden wrap the presents. It was an interesting wrapping job. They covered the gift up roughly with the wrapping paper and then they basically wrapped the tape around the present. I am surprised we still have tape left! It was fun to watch Chad open the gifts (the boys got a big kick out of it also)!

We are very thankful for Chad. He is an AWESOME dad and husband! He does such a good job making us all happy. He somehow finds the time to go to work, fulfill his church calling, mow the lawn, play with the boys, and spend time with me. I am so thankful that his family is his number one priority. We all love you very much Chad!

We are also very thankful for the other Father's or Grandfather's in our lives. Chad's Dad and my Dad are AWESOME men as well. I am so thankful for the wonderful, righteous and devoted father's they are. They both mean so much to Chad and me. We are very thankful that our boys have been able to spend so much time with their Grandpa and Papa. We love both of you very much. Thank you for your wonderful examples.

"Tough day. God is in control."

Every once in a while, life has a way of quickly snapping back into perspective . . . sometimes it happens suddenly.  Today was one of those days for me.  All of us get busy with the everyday demands of life.  Some of our busyness stems from the physical requirements of our mortal existence, but most of our busyness is self-imposed.  Much of our self-imposed busyness is composed of good, justifiable activity.  Activity that seems so important.  Keeping the house clean, running our kids to their ballgames, trimming the yard and folding the laundry are  just a few of the many activities that quickly come to mind.

I am reminded of the story of Martha in the New Testament:

Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Marth received him into her house.

And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word.

But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.

And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:

But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her (Luke 10:38-42).

As I watch our five little boys quickly grow into five little young men, I am often scared that I am too much like Martha.  It is so easy to be like Martha in today's world.  We fill our lives up with activity after activity and carefully cumber ourselves with the troubles and cares of the world, which are so easily taken away from us.  Mary, on the other hand, immediately recognized and seized the opportunity to sit at the Savior's feet and let the cares of the world fall out of her mind and into their appropriate place.

Today, one of my good friends at work, Greg, lost his youngest son and both of his in-laws in a terrible car accident.  His other son lies in critical condition in the intensive care unit.  Fortunately, his daughter, his oldest child, was not involved in the accident.  News of this tragedy stunned our tight-knit group at the office.  The projects and conference calls all came to an abrupt end as our lives collectively snapped back into perspective.

Greg is one of the most well-respected people in our organization; not just because of his business acumen, but because of his integrity, his loyalty and his concern for others.  Shortly after the heart-rending details of the accident were confirmed, I sent Greg a quick message to express my sorrow for his loss.  His immediate reply was, "Thx.  Tough day.  God is in control."  His simple reply speaks volumes about his character.  He has had many Job-like challenges during the past year, but through it all he has managed to, remarkably,  maintain a Mary-like perspective.

I believe that when we have finished our mortal experience we will see things as they really are.  We will understand much more acutely the Savior's counsel to Martha to not just choose to fill our lives up with good things, but to spend our time seeking that which is needful.  Of course, the key is to obtain that Mary-like perspective during our mortal existence, not afterwards.  That is my challenge.  That is our challenge; to not let ourselves slowly, even carefully, drift out into the currents of our busy lives, away from what matters most in our lives, away from the needful things in our lives.  Rather, to choose the good part: to love others, to serve others, to lead our families in righteousness and to focus on that which shall not be taken away from us.

Guess who stopped by today?

Today, as I was cleaning up around the kitchen, I looked out the window and I saw a beautiful creature. A butterfly stopped by!

I thought it was so pretty I had to take some pictures. I think the butterfly enjoyed having it's picture taken because it stayed there for quite a while and it moved around and flapped it's wings for me. I had fun trying to get some close up shots. It's the simple things in life that put a smile on your face! Have you ever had a butterfly stop by?

Cake Decorating 101

About a month or so ago I attended a Relief Society Meeting. The theme of the night was service. We all came with a service to share which we had wrapped like a present. Then we each chose a number. When our number was up we got to choose a present to find out what service we had received or we could choose a service that someone else had opened. On my turn I chose to take a service someone else had already opened. I know what you are thinking, Brooke stole a service? Well, I can redeem myself. I really wanted the service, but I also knew that the service stated that it would be for two to three people. So I decided that I would invite the person who perviously had the service to do it with me (plus she would be able to pick another service - thus giving her two!). Am I redeeming myself a little? Anyway, the service I got was for a cake decorating lesson. The lady who was teaching the lesson used to work at a country club making wedding cakes.

It took almost a month before we could find a time when everyone could get together. It ended up that four ladies attended the class. Last week we finally got together for our class. It was so much fun! Our instructor brought over four mini cakes for us to decorate. When she brought them in Devon mentioned that they looked like marshmallows! It is funny to see inside the mind of a little guy now and then!

We started off by learning how to use several different decorating tips. We started off pretty simple and we all felt good about how we were doing. Then we were taught how to make a rose. I was very excited to try. I have always wanted to learn how to make a rose. Our instructor went through the steps. She made it look easy. Well it wasn't exactly as easy at it looked. It took a couple of times for me to get something that looked like a rose. When we started decorating our little cakes we added more powdered sugar to the frosting to thicken it up a bit. After changing the consistency our roses turned out much better. I was pretty excited when I completed a rose that actually looked like a rose! I was so thrilled that I had done it and then I realized that I had to move the rose from the nail head to the cake. The first one I moved went really well. The second one - not so much. It fell over and got crushed. After I made a third rose my instructor quickly came over and moved it for me. She didn't want me to have to start all over again! She was really cute and thoughtful!

Everyone did a great job on their cakes. It was fun to see how everyone decided to decorate their cake. We decided on the colors we wanted to share and then we all went to work. I was a little hesitant to start working on my cake. I didn't want to make any mistakes. The other ladies were more confident and quickly decided to try out what they had learned. I was impressed with all of their cakes. It was fun to decorate and learn together. We had fun socializing and getting to know each other better as we entered new territory together.

Another thing I have always wanted to learn is how to do a basket weave design. I practiced it a couple of times on a cookie sheet, but I wasn't sure if I wanted to try it on my cake. After taking a while to decide, my instructor told me to give it a try (she could tell I really wanted to try). I am glad she encouraged me to go ahead and do it, I only wish I would have started a little sooner. By the end I was rushing to finish. I found the basket to be fairly easy once you get the routine down. The hard part is keeping the lines straight and without any white space. It also takes a while to go around the whole cake. As I approached the end of the end of the basket weave I realized I had no idea if the beginning and the end would match up. I think I probably could have added another column, but I was able to make it work. There is so much to think about when you decorate. Our instructor told us that you should frost (and decorate) the cake on the sides first and then finish with the top. That way you can use your had to secure the top while working on the sides. Oddly enough all four of us started on the top first! I think we were all excited to try putting our roses on the top of our cakes. By the end I think we all realized the wisdom in the advise we had been given at the beginning. Hopefully we will take that with us as we decorate future cakes!

One of the fun parts of the class was sharing our cakes with our families. My boys are really good at complimenting new things I try. When the class was about to finish some of the boys came into the kitchen to see how I was doing. I was frantically trying to finish the basket weave. Kaden came over and told me I was doing a good job and he took it upon himself to coach me until I finished. He kept telling me that I was almost there and that I was going to finish in time! I think he is the reason I was able to go quickly enough to finish. Thanks bud!!

The class was a lot of fun. I really enjoyed spending the afternoon with some wonderful ladies. Our instructor is a lady in our ward that I didn't know very well. It was really fun to get to know her better. She is a wonderful lady and I appreciate her sharing her talent with us. She was so sweet that she even made all the kids cupcakes. The kids were in heaven!

Bagger or Engineer?

Lately Austin has taken a liking to the canned foods in the pantry. He will often open the pantry and start rearranging the cans of food. Yesterday while I was making dinner Austin opened the pantry and started rearranging again. After a little while his interest brought him over to his cabinet of toys. A couple minutes later he returned with an empty bucket. He set it down beside the open pantry and started piling cans inside. He managed to get quite a few cans in that little bucket. It reminded me of baggers at the grocery store.

When Austin couldn't fit anymore cans into his bucket he started stacking them. I was impressed with how careful and sure he was each time he put a new can on his tower.

He was pretty tickled with himself every time he stacked a can. I got a little worried when his tower got pretty high and uneven and I noticed that Austin's leg was sitting right in the path the cans would fall. The cans fell right before I got close enough to move his leg. Some of those cans were pretty heavy so I expected to see him cry. He surprised me though, he didn't cry at all. Instead he picked the cans up and started building all over again!

Maybe he will be a bagger, maybe an engineer, but whatever he chooses I know he will have fun and do well!

Baseball Season is Over

Tonight the season ended for Monroe Boys. Kaden's team played their game in the tournament. They did a great job, but unfortunately they came up a little short. The tournament is single elimination so they are finished with their season. Trevor's team played on Tuesday night. The game was close. They had to go into extra innings because the two teams were tied. Unfortunately, Trevor's team came up short as well. Honestly, we wish the boys could have gone further in the tournament, but we are also glad that baseball is over for the year. It has been fun, but we have been so busy that we are ready for a break.

Kaden did really well in his last couple of games. He was very consistent and he got to play third base and catcher. Kaden has been in the outfield most of the season, so he was excited to play a different position.

Kaden was excited to receive his medal tonight after his game. It made the sting of losing a little bit easier. Receiving his medal was good, but what came next was probably more exciting for Kaden. After every game the coach gives the game ball to a player who did an extra good job. Kaden has wanted the game ball all season. Unfortunately, the coach has been gone for the last couple of games (the one's Kaden did really well in). So tonight after the game and after the medals the coach pulled the team aside and had a little meeting. At the end of the meeting he awarded Kaden the game ball! We were really excited for him! Great job this season bud, we love you!

Trevor had a great season this year. He really enjoyed being able to play the game more this year. Last year he was in T-Ball and he got bored really fast. This year the game was more fast paced and more exciting. In Trevor's second to last game he was able to play catcher for the first time. He did really well. I think he really enjoyed it as well. Trevor also did really well batting. He was able to get a double 2 out of 3 times at bat!

Trevor was excited to get his medal after his last game. He and his team did a really good job. His coach called all the players together and told them what a great job they had done over the season and then the team came in for one more team cheer. When we got home Trevor had Chad put his medal up on his shelf right away! Way to go Trevor, you did great this season, we love you!

Now that Baseball is over you may wonder what is next . . . nothing but family time! Ahhh, that sounds great!