10 years
10 years ago
Fall Photos
I was doing Dalton's 6 month photo's today and Sammi wandered in. She immediately asked for her turn. She hoped right up and started poising. Got to love it.
Thanksgiving 2010
Yesterday was Thanksgiving. We gathered at Grandma and Grandpa Sweethearts house. The kids played with their cousins for hours. From 3 almost 8 - they still complained when we told them it was time to go, even if it was a holiday. We consider ourselves very blessed to be able to live so close to family. What a blessing for our kids to play regularly with their cousins, and see both sets of Grandparents when ever they get a hankering to.
mayhem with a sweet little face
Saturday, November 20, 2010
So I have to run an errand up at the elementary school, (its about a block away) there and back is just a few short min. The baby is down for a nap so I leave Kate in charge of Sammi while I go collect Ethan and Amberli (my mom watched them after school got out - I was in St. George - another story) I send Ethan and Amberli home, but mom offers me a ride. I am dog tired - Dalton still doesn't sleep through the night - so I accepted. She gathers her stuff and we head home. When she drops me off I notice that my brothers car is in my driveway, how odd. The seen in my house was extraordinary. My brother has pinned Sammi down and is trying to clean her up - she is potty training. The potty seat is covered in it - and so is the floor. Ethan is playing video games and Katie is hiding in my office so that Darrell doesn't give her the what for too. (that doesn't last) Lets just say my house did not smell spring fresh yesterday.
So I get Darrell on his way. Ethan has to clean the seat, and Katie the floor. It takes an hour or so for these tasks to be accomplished. As Katie is finishing I step into the office to make an on-line purchase. I'm in there for a few min. and when I come out Dalton is crying, poor guy. I pick him up out of his jumper and immediately notice he smells like chocolate (which is better smelling than the other brown stuff we have cleaned up already). I pull him away from me to see what is up and his front (and now mine) is smeared in chocolate bar (min Hershey's). Wonderful! (SAMMI!) So I clean him up and me - then as I take the wipes to the garbage I see that she has filled my kitchen floor with water and emptied my bag of cough drops into it. Lovely! (SAMMI!!!)
dinner was late.
Scounting Makes a Difference - and People Make Scouting
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Angie usually writes these posts, but I (Matt) wanted to post today and talk about my favorite scouter - Angie.
First, a little background that tells you why I'm writing: My times in scouting as a boy weren't always easy. To not put too fine a point on it, my records kept getting lost as we moved around. You can only hear "We only have record of your First Class rank." so many times before you wonder what is going on with the program as a whole. (I was a Star the first time I heard that, and a Life Scout only a couple of badges from Eagle when I heard it the second time. In two different states. The first time I went ahead and re-earned the badges I needed to get back to Star. The second time, well, I hate to say I gave up. Truthfully, I'm not sure I even had enough time to go from First Class to Eagle at that point unless people waived the waiting periods. I never received my Eagle, and it is one of the few things I look back on and wish something could have been done differently.) I enjoyed the activities, but how can a leader not make sure the boy's hard work is recorded! Later - as a Round Table Trainer, I tried to really help the unit leaders understand the importance of record keeping and the administrative side of Scouting.
Angie and I talked about that experience many years ago. She told me that if she ever had the chance, she would try to make sure that every single boy she could impact had a better experience with the administrative side of scouting than I did. She went on to help me keep the records when we worked together as Webelos leaders, and then for the 11-year old scouts. I always marvelled at how important she saw it as being that the records of any advancements or changes went in immediately. Making sure they went in was important, but she tried to make sure that they went in the next day whenever possible! I know she was trying to make sure none of our boys had an experience like mine.
For the last couple of years, as Primary Second Counselor - under the direction of our COR (2nd Counselor in the Bishopric) - Angie leads up our Ward's Cub Scout program. She has been working really hard to train and help her Cub Scout Pack get with the program and really internalize the importance of every facet of the Scouting program - including the record keeping, planning, and other administrative aspects. She has worked tirelessly with her staff - training them, helping them understand who is supposed to do what, and then filling in the gaps when something falls through the cracks. She has had - and has now - some really great staff, but there have been times that I know she has had to carry several unit positions herself to make sure they got done. My wife is an amazing person - always giving of herself, her time, and anything else she can to help others. She has really thrown herself into her position - both in Primary and Scouting - and I really think she deserves recognition for everything she has done and does every single week to make things move as smoothly as possible in our Cub Scout Pack. She spends HOURS every week helping our local unit and our community - and as frustrating as it can get when people aren't following through, she still goes out and gives of herself. That deserves our thanks.
Thank you, Angie. I love you and appreciate everything you do for our family and others. Thank you for being you.
