Lots of Happenings

We've been going and going this week and we have gotten a lot done. Peaches were canned, made into yummy jam and pies, friends were visited, meetings held, and so on. It's exciting to be able to cross things off a list, or delete emails no longer needed. :)

Our first stop this week was at Taylor's Apple concert. What a cutie! He was Farmer Brown for one of the songs but didn't tell me that he had a main part...he just kept saying that he needed to look like a farmer. On the day of the concert he came downstairs wearing Annie's denim overalls complete with ruffle, stars and an applique Tweety. He was also wearing his sombrero. Being the evil mother that I am, I wouldn't let him wear that outfit to school and he wasn't very happy with me. I felt bad that he didn't look like a farmer for his part, but he did a great job and wowed the audience. :)
Our next stop of the week was the same day as the concert. Troy was nominated as Student of the Month (AGAIN! as Annie says) for his high school. Such an honor...especially if you consider that he and one other student were chosen out of 9oo kids.

We got there a little early and had to sit through part of the boring part of the school board meeting. Here is Tyson finding ways to smile in the face of boredom. :)

Annie and Taylor were also likewise bored. I love the look of forced patience on Taylor's face and the cheesy grin on Annie's.

Finally! It was time for the awards. Troy recieved a medal from Amy Fuller one of the assistant Superintendents. Yay Troy!!! :)

This wasn't a stop, but it's the first (and probably last) time that Kevin has ever cleaned a toilet. I was trying to get housework done late at night and he just grabbed the brush and went to work (I found out that he was hoping for some "alone" time with me and was hurrying up the process. I'll take any excuse for extra hands at work). I couldn't help myself...I had to get a picture. (and please ignore the toilet...between the flash and the lighting it looks WAY worse than it actually was) :)

It was Tyson's turn to pick and make the FHE treat for tonight. We decided on peanut butter cookies with milk chocolate chips in them. Yum! Tyson loved "helping" and he really loved eating the dough. He was licking the actual attachment (while it was attached) for a while, but we missed that photo opportunity.

More licking...this is good stuff!

"Gotcha!" Tyson got tired of licking the attachment and decided to straight to the source. That look is the perfect example of his mischevious expression. :)

Happy Sunday! :)

Holy Guacamole!

It's been a while since I've posted anything! In my defense, we haven't had a spare moment around here. I decided to try my hand at making pickles and they turned out so good. Now I have two boxes of peaches that I'm waiting on to turn so they can be canned. Add that to our normal and not so normal goings on and you get the picture. :)

Time to catch up.....

Taylor was chosen as the Student of the Week and since the presentation was in the morning, Kevin was able to go. This is Taylor with his teacher.
We can almost say we are done with the Eagle stuff (all that is left are the thank you's). Troy's Court of Honor was on August 30 and it went very well. He and I put a movie together of his scout pictures and put it to music which was a lot of fun. Uncle Dustin brought out his equipment and we showed it "big screen" style.

Troy's friend and fellow Order of the Arrow member, Dusty, gathered the Eagle's nest. This is actually one of the costumes that I made for the Order of the Arrow in our ward. You can't see the beadwork because of the head dress, but it was pretty awesome that they used it.

Jay Ingram agreed to conduct the meeting for Troy and did an awesome job. He was also the recipient of the "mentor" pin from Troy. He is a really neat guy and a great scout leader.

Our former Bishop, Ryan Olson gave a beautiful and touching tribute to Troy. He actually called up Troy's friends and got their responses to questions about Troy and presented those. It was neat to hear about what others think of this super young man that we have a priviledge to raise.

The Eagle's Nest.....

Grandpa Willis (my dad) gave Troy the Eagle Challenge...basically to continue to live your life in a way that you know you should. It was nice to see the torch being passed in a way...a challenge for a new generation of leaders from someone who has been and will continue to be a big presence in Troy's life.

The awards...a beautiful certificate and the box with the patch, the medal, the Mom and Dad pins and the mentor pin. Our current Bishop, James Coleman awarding Troy his Eagle Medal. It was really neat to be able to have both bishops participate.

Kevin getting his pin....After the ceremony we had some yummy cookies (thanks Mom, Stephi, Karalee, and Liz) and cake and let everyone visit and take turns looking at the display we put together of Troy's life in scouting. It was nice to be surrounded by all of our friends and family.

Once we got the church cleaned up and everything put away it was time to head home for part 2...Troy's birthday party. He invited his scouting buddies and some friends from school and we did a movie in the backyard. I was really lazy about taking pictures (really I was just exhausted) so all I have is Troy's birthday cupcakes (sorry Troy):

There...now we are caught up (for now anyway). I'm really working at getting all my ducks in a row so that I can keep things done on a regular basis. It's been a challenge...it seems like RS gets more and more busy as people continue to struggle and my laundry seems to take over the living room faster than I can get it folded, but I'm trying. We have a lot of fun activities (both church and personal) coming up that I can't wait to post about. :)