Scout Camp now and in years past

July seemed to be the month of camping.  I took the older boys on their annual high adventure trip last last for the last time.  With my calling changes by the end of September I will have no active positions in Scouting any more.  I will be an active parent and now that I am on the high council with church I will be focusing on the Young Single Adults and Helamans Camp.  I have to say that these high adventure trips have really become the highlight of my summer.  We have had some amazing experiences and done things I never would have other wise.  In the past 6 years i have been able to do the following with our Port Townsend Washington Unit:

• Canoe the Columbia Reach 3 times
• Bike the San Juan Islands
• White Water raft the Deschute River
• Go to the National Lava beds Monument in Norther California
• Visit the Sol Duc Hot Springs
• Camp Parsons Scout Camp as an advisor twice
• Sand Board on the Oregon Coast
• Attend 2 Rodeos
• Hike Multinoma Falls
• Attend a hand cart trek
• Canoe Lake Ozette
• Visit 3 differant Potatoe processing plants (the boys complained this year we did not get to go to a factory.)
• Drive tractors
• Kayak in the San Juan Islands
• Attend the National Scout Jamboree
• Hiked more miles in Olympic National Park than I care to admit
• Visit Goldendale Observatory
• Go Skeet shooting several times
• Have the police show up at 4 different times
• Try to catch fish...I did fianlly catch 2 a couple of years ago
• Jet Boat the Rogue River
• And a bunch of other stuff that I am forgetting

I campare this to the 3 times I went to week long summer camp as a kid each time not only a different ward but different State (Idaho, Oregon and Washington).  We went to Camp Bradley in McCall Idaho once.  That was an interesting experience.  Lots of hot springs, smelly sulfur beds, leaches in the lake and rain, rain, rain.  Probley the reason I only went once.  We then moved to Oregon and we rafted the Dechutes River.  This trip was the insparation for the trip we took last year.

We sailed the San Juan Islands for a week.  I am not sure if it was an official high adventure or it just turned out to be the Priest Quorum and the Bishop.  Bishop Kennedy in Bremerton took Brian Kennedy, Scott Anderson and I up to the Island for a week.  I remember really cold water, tasty crab and learning to play BS.

Each trip had its high points and they were a great reference point in my life. Mayson attended scout camp that is only about 30 minutes from our house.  In fact last night I took him back so he could get two partial merit badges signed off.  Harmon came with us and it was a real treat walking through that camp with 2 of my sons.  Mayson showing us everywhere he did stuff and explaining how the camp operated.  Harmon seemed jazzed to attend.  It is really a great program that I look forward to being a part of again in the future.

Grandpa boffer sword fitting with the kids...he ran away

My brother Adam is in town right now visiting.  He rebuilt the engine on my truck and has been loads of fun in the evenings when I get home from work.  We had a BBQ last night with the grandparents, Adam and as it turned out the missionaries.  After dinner the missionaries and I had a meeting so we grabbed some chairs and went out on the lawn.  It was a beautiful night and we need to enjoy those clear days when we have them.  We are in the process of moving and are having a huge yard sale this weekend.  In preparation for that we are piling stuff up in our yard.  The kids found their boffer swords and started to play.  Nothing like a battle going on during a church meeting.  Its like sacrament on the far end of the bench away from where mom and dad are sitting.  Grandpa got in on the action.  I forgot my phone takes video until they were almost done.  Picture them going at it like this for a little while that was until grandpa got tired turned tail and ran.

The boys didn't seem to upset grandpa left they just turned on each other.  Oh and just for the record, no one in Western Washington waters their lawn in the summer.  It goes brown for about 2 months then in September when it starts to rain again it turns green again. 

Check it out FREE MUSIC!!!!

I love acapella music.  Vocal Point, Eclipse, Take 6 and a multitude of others are truly amazing.  I was only blessed with a kean abilaty two spel, nothing as cool as what these guys can do.  A friend of mine played me this recording of Eclipse singing the Coca Cola theme song in a variety of styles and I loved it.  Keep in mind as you listen to it there are no instuments it is just voices.  My other favorite song of theirs is called Maria.  You can also get an additon 18 free downloads off of their website.

Check this out.  Two posts in one day and you get free music.  I am trying to make up for my three weeks of slothfulness.

The car broke down...please let it be a cheap fix!

About a year ago my Suburban started to run really rough.  We could not figure out what was wrong with it so we took it to the mechanic.  $350.00 later we found out that there was a small leak and antifreeze was getting into the 6^th cylinder and fouling the spark plug.  He switched out the spark plug and it ran great again.  I told this to my mechanic brother Adam and he said lets change the head gaskets and rebuild the engine so it does not do that anymore.  I was totally happy changing the spark plug every 6 months.  He has been very persistent in this quest so this last week we had time and he came up with his daughter while his wife was at girls camp.  He got to my place and recruited my son Mayson as an assistant and proceeded to tear down the engine in my driveway.  He brought every tool under the sun with him generators, air compressors, and boxes and boxes of specialty tools designed to take out 1 bolt in a specific spot on a specific engine.  Oil stains, plastic bags and lots of little parts began to pile up in the drive way. 

I am not a complete novice when it comes to mechanical work.  The one thing I know really well is I don’t like doing it.  Nothing quite like cracking your knuckles on a wrench under the hood of a car on your only day off, that makes the weekend really sweet.  Doing basic maintenance like the plugs, filters and fluids is easy (I still hate doing it).  I can even change starters, alternators, fuel pumps, breaks, water pumps and some vacuum parts, pretty much the stuff that bolts to the outside of an engine.  I have never torn into the engine its self.  When that is needed it is time to buy a new car.  However this no man’s land in my paradigm is a place Adam is quite comfortable (he is a helicopter mechanic in his day job). Things were going great he would have even been done earlier than expected if weren’t for a crack in the intake manifold.  For those of you less auto savvy this is a really bad thing.  Now we he gets to take the engine  apart again and either find a welder to repair the crack or somehow find a new part today so he can go home before his wife gets done with girls camp. 

Don’t worry Adam I am behind you all the way!  I am sure you will get it done, this being the only vehicle we have that can haul my entire family.  Nothing quite like making 2 trips to church to get everyone there.  I did take a few pictures of their adventures.

Here is my Brother Adam with what used to be my Suburban engine.  But now to the untrained is a dirty mess. 

This is Mayson and putting new seals on a the valves.  After being showed how to do it he changed out both heads.

There should be more parts there.  This is not a great photo but if you look you can see the exposed pistons.  Not my idea of a good time.

Catholic Tigers VS a Mormon President

I saw this on facebook yesterday. It was really funny.  I want to me on a Mormon Ad.

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/394360/august-10-2011/yaweh-or-no-way----mormons---god-s-poll-numbers?xrs=share_copy

Good fences make good neighbors unless they drive through it

 Have you ever had one of those days!  I am not talking about a day where your kids get up clean their room, get dressed , brush their teeth without being reminded, look around the house and see what needs done and gets started on it.  No I am talking about the other kind of day the one we don’t just dream about but actually have to live through.  Where there is no portion of your life that is not affected in some adverse and not so fun sort of a way.

We have a lot going on in our live right now…a bit more than what I would call normal.  Several heavy duty items that alone would be enough to drive anyone crazy.  Rhonda and I were talking in the kitchen last night and I commented how with all the extra stress in our lives right now how little things tend to set us off much more than they should.  Let me explain.  You take any normal drinking glass and it is an example of how much stress you can take in your life. At any given time in our life it is probably 25-40% full.  Just normal day to day stuff.  The dog ate someone’s homework, you need milk for cereal, the garden needs weeded, Mom he’s touching me etc, etc, etc.  That leaves a lot of room for stuff to happen.  Someone gets hurt, car breaks down, crazy home teaching family, mother in law comes to visit and you see the glass start to fill.  Then as your glass starts to reach capacity little things like kids asking what are we having for dinner or can I go to my friends house and you have to give me a ride.  Tend to illicit a larger than appropriate response. 

We have been told we will not be tested more than we are able to handle.  Does anyone know how much they can truly handle?  Is there a conversion chart someplace where we can check and see what our upward stress limit would be?  I think about peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  Everyone knows how to make one.  If I asked my 6 year old son to make a sandwich he could.  He would leave a path of destruction 6 feet wide across the kitchen as he did it but he would get the sandwich made.  If I were to make it there would be a few crumbs on the counter and a dirty knife and spoon when all was finished.  The funny thing is that it is not the task that has changed.  It is the person’s ability to deal with the task that has changed.  And the not so fun part about that is that growing experiences are what increase out capacity and the real bummer is the most growing experiences are not fun.  They are not fun to be in, to think about, to work on, or until years later and you are completely through with them even fun to talk about.  Right now I really appreciate the Alma who when given great trials (Mosiah 24:15) did not have the burdens taken away.  The Lord strengthened his back that he would be able to bare the burdens with ease. 

The other thought is that we are all different and what one person considers a great trial does not even seem to faze someone else.  Which oddly enough by not acknowledging and understanding the stress someone else is in will cause their glass to spill over, end up in an argument and increase your stress level.  Does it ever end?  Now don’t read to much into this and assume I am ready to take a long walk off a short pier or Rhonda and I are fighting (neither is the case, but a good brisk swim might be fun).  I really just needed to vent and this seemed to be a better way to do it that picking up the phone and yelling at the people I really want to yell at.  I wonder if I could still keep my temple recommend if I made Voodoo dolls of people who bugged me?

Fun things at the fair, cotton candy, popcorn, mechanical bulls etc...

It is amazing how fast this whole blog thing can get away from you.  I took some time off from work for a family vacation, scout trip and a camping trip with my kids and before you know it 3 weeks have past and I have not even looked at my blog.  Well that is all going to change.  It's Monday and I have 3 weeks of stuff to write about. 

This past weekend was the Jefferson County Fair.  It is a great small town country fair.  There are no midway rides it it is really about the community.  My kids are all in 4H showing everything from rabbits, rockets, cooking, sewing and soon alpaca's.  The best part is that they are old enough we can let them out in pairs to explore and not have to worry to much about them.  Or so I thought.  I was sitting in the small animal barn visiting with some other parents and Regann comes running in Dad come quick Mayson is going to ride a mechanical bull.  I thought this should be fun to watch and short lived.  So I got there in time to see not only Mayson but Payton and Harmon as well all ride a mechanical bull.  And because of my super cool new Android phone that not only plays angry birds but also has a built in camcorder that can post automatically to youtube, you can enjoy the show as well.  How cool is that?

Payton was really the croud pleaser.  Waving the hat around was a very nice touch.