Sand Dunes and Miscellaneous
Time is flying by even faster now. I hadn't realized it had been so long since I last wrote here. There is no way that I can remember all that has happened over this past little while. There must not be too much to write or I would remember it.
The first thing I can remember is that General Conference happened. We were able to listen to all the sessions of conference even though we were in different rooms in the house. Our kids surprised us (pleasantly) as they chose to watch all of the sessions of conference. Saturday evening, I went with my son to the Stake Center to watch the priesthood session. Late Saturday night my wife was busy getting Easter Baskets ready for our kids. She wasn't going to do it, but the little girl in her took over and she chose to actually get the baskets and hide them. After I had gone to bed she even got the bunny tracks (pieces of paper with bunny paws) that she had to let the kids know that the Easter Bunny had been there. Our daughter tried to follow the Bunny tracks to find her Easter Basket. We had to tell her that they didn't lead to them anymore because she should be old enough to find hers on her own. Well, they both found their baskets.
Being General Conference, we went to my parents house on Sunday. My wife had made her veggie pizza and we were able to say hi to Kevin outside my parents house. Because he is on house arrest he was not allowed to go inside. He (and his family) were in Suits and Dresses so I'm pretty certain they went downtown to watch conference at the Conference Center. That was probably his church time which he is allowed to leave his home for. My sister went in the house and got them both a plate to eat and then left with her husband. We had a nice dinner and barely got everything down in time for conference to start. I found that I watch conference better when I get a place on the couch (which I had for the very first time ever).
We went over to see my wife's parents after conference. Our son had told us that there was a problem with Melanie acting out when we dropped our dog off. That didn't happen while we were there, although I wondered if Rod started it by saying some anti-LDS things about women. He tried that while we were there. We didn't let it fly though. That was nipped in the bud. It was good to not have all this crap going on.
The next thing I can think of was Young Men on the 6th. Glen was sick and Brother Olsen wasn't able to make it either because he had to help out Brother Jackson. At least Brother Bean was able to come up on the stage with me where we made rockets so we could hopefully blast them off at the sand dunes on the weekend. At least we had something to do, and it wasn't too bad. I was also told that both Glen and Scott (Olsen) would not be able to make it to the Dunes on Friday and Saturday. If I was to go, I had to find one of the parents. Jordan said that maybe his dad could go. I talked to him later and he said that he could make it.
At work all last week I had meetings. I was in learning the new Riskmaster system so I can maybe help out with things when we take that over from the Portland office. It was interesting, but got boring at times. That lasted from Tuesday through Thursday. Friday, I was off from work and was able to go on a walk with my wife and then we went out to eat at Rumbi's. I really enjoyed the time being with her. We did have to go to the store to pick up a few things and I had to get stuff together for the Sand Dunes.
I packed all my stuff and made me a tin foil dinner. When our son came home, we asked him if he wanted to go to the scout camp at the Dunes. At first he didn't want to go, but then decided he would go. I made him a quick tin foil dinner as well. We met at Glens house at 4:00 in the afternoon. There were more boys than we thought would be going, so it looked like we would need to take the trailer. This was the first time that I have put a hitch onto our Honda Pilot. It handled pretty well all the way down there and wasn't too bad as far as getting everything there.
With the two leaders (three if you count my son who is 18) we had a total of eleven people at the camp. I loaded a few geo caches on my GPS to see if I would even be close to one while we were at the Sand Dunes. I took the thing and the boys in my car enjoyed hearing Dr Nightmare, Elfred (an elf) and a Yeti talk on the GPS. On the way home they asked for some of those as well as we put on a Japanese lady speaker.
Last year when we went to the dunes it was $8 a car. I had cash for both cars but then found out it went to $18 a car. I had to write a check to get us both through. They would take credit cards but we would've had to go inside for that. Anyway, $36 lightened from my load and we were in. We got one of the last places at the Dunes to camp. Ken asked if we should go somewhere else and I said no that this place was good enough because we may not get another place and in the process may lose this one. It was a good location and it was next to the rest room (a plus). The boys put up their tents and I was grateful to have my son to help me put up my tent. We got a fire going because we needed coals for tin foil dinners. The boys went to play in the dunes and I sent my son up to take pictures of them. We cooked the dinners and it was good (although my son and I had to put ours back in the fire to cook all the way through). One of the boys had hot dogs and one boy didn't bring anything but his teddy grahams that he shared on the drive up. Some of the boys shared their meals with him.
We roasted marshmallows at night (it is a way to keep the boys from just going into their tents) and then Ken, myself and my son stayed out and talked at the diminishing fire. We had some good conversations and I did get out of my son that he is indeed planning on going on a mission. While we were doing that one of the boys came out of his tent and came over. I asked what was wrong and then some boys behind him said to do it. He yelled, "I hate puberty!" and ran back to the tent. A bit later, a bunch of boys were out in their boxer shorts (or swim suits) yelling the same thing. At that point we decided that something had better be said. I went to the tents and told them that they needed to look at what they were playing and make sure it was up to the standards that we wanted to portray. It was cold out so it wasn't comfortable for them to be running around half naked. It was also 10 now and we told them that it was time to be quiet for the other campers. We stayed out until around 11:00 in the evening. I remember looking up at the stars and wishing I could share that moment with my wife. It was incredibly beautiful.
There were a couple of four wheelers that went during the night (its against the rules) so I was grateful that I had thought to bring ear plugs. It was also a cold night.
Morning came, and we got everybody up and out. A fire was built and breakfast was brought out. They made french toast, sausage, and bacon. The plates were forgotten, so it was a bit more difficult to eat the french toast, but they made do. Tents were taken down and then a little bit of playing. Only one rocket was able to be fired because the engines that we had brought didn't fit any of them but the one. That one blew apart in the air and all but the one fin was found. I went with my son (actually he was ahead of me because I stayed behind to go with the Rockets until I found that only one was going to be done) to a geo cache that wasn't very far away. It was up a horrendous hill though. I lost sight of my son and all of a sudden his tracks weren't there. It was a hard climb because it was steep and in the sand. I thought I wouldn't make it. So did my son. When I called out his name he called me on the cell phone. He was surprised that I had made it up the hill. Anyway, we found it by a tree in some rocks. We signed my moniker and I put in a coupon for $1 off a Papa Murphy's pizza. There was a dollar bill in there and some scout items like tote-n-chip. There was also some stickers and just a few nic-nacs. That was my second find (ever). I kind of like finding them. I need to do it more often.
We left soon after this and arrived home by noon. I got the car washed and then did a little bit of laundry. That's about all that went on that day.
Sunday was church, and I found out that I am going to be the one speaker (as far as the scout leaders go) at Jordan's Eagle Scout court of honor.
One thing that happened today that I want to point out is that I saw an arrest happen. I was going to the restroom at work when I looked out the window and watched as a cop pulled over a car into our parking lot. Another cop pulled up and they both got out and went to both sides of the car. After talking a bit, they got the woman out and she calmly walked to the back of the patrol car putting her hands on the car. They searched her and then put cuffs on. Another officer came and the second officer came into our office (he is one of our security guards). I asked him what had happened (I had to turn in my borrowed badge since I forgot mine). He told me that she was on parole and claimed that she had talked with her parole officer. They called him and he said she needed to be arrested. Plus the fact that she had drugs and a couple of warrants out for her arrest. I guess she'll be put away again for a time. It's good to see our men in blue get the bad guys.
The first thing I can remember is that General Conference happened. We were able to listen to all the sessions of conference even though we were in different rooms in the house. Our kids surprised us (pleasantly) as they chose to watch all of the sessions of conference. Saturday evening, I went with my son to the Stake Center to watch the priesthood session. Late Saturday night my wife was busy getting Easter Baskets ready for our kids. She wasn't going to do it, but the little girl in her took over and she chose to actually get the baskets and hide them. After I had gone to bed she even got the bunny tracks (pieces of paper with bunny paws) that she had to let the kids know that the Easter Bunny had been there. Our daughter tried to follow the Bunny tracks to find her Easter Basket. We had to tell her that they didn't lead to them anymore because she should be old enough to find hers on her own. Well, they both found their baskets.
Being General Conference, we went to my parents house on Sunday. My wife had made her veggie pizza and we were able to say hi to Kevin outside my parents house. Because he is on house arrest he was not allowed to go inside. He (and his family) were in Suits and Dresses so I'm pretty certain they went downtown to watch conference at the Conference Center. That was probably his church time which he is allowed to leave his home for. My sister went in the house and got them both a plate to eat and then left with her husband. We had a nice dinner and barely got everything down in time for conference to start. I found that I watch conference better when I get a place on the couch (which I had for the very first time ever).
We went over to see my wife's parents after conference. Our son had told us that there was a problem with Melanie acting out when we dropped our dog off. That didn't happen while we were there, although I wondered if Rod started it by saying some anti-LDS things about women. He tried that while we were there. We didn't let it fly though. That was nipped in the bud. It was good to not have all this crap going on.
The next thing I can think of was Young Men on the 6th. Glen was sick and Brother Olsen wasn't able to make it either because he had to help out Brother Jackson. At least Brother Bean was able to come up on the stage with me where we made rockets so we could hopefully blast them off at the sand dunes on the weekend. At least we had something to do, and it wasn't too bad. I was also told that both Glen and Scott (Olsen) would not be able to make it to the Dunes on Friday and Saturday. If I was to go, I had to find one of the parents. Jordan said that maybe his dad could go. I talked to him later and he said that he could make it.
At work all last week I had meetings. I was in learning the new Riskmaster system so I can maybe help out with things when we take that over from the Portland office. It was interesting, but got boring at times. That lasted from Tuesday through Thursday. Friday, I was off from work and was able to go on a walk with my wife and then we went out to eat at Rumbi's. I really enjoyed the time being with her. We did have to go to the store to pick up a few things and I had to get stuff together for the Sand Dunes.
I packed all my stuff and made me a tin foil dinner. When our son came home, we asked him if he wanted to go to the scout camp at the Dunes. At first he didn't want to go, but then decided he would go. I made him a quick tin foil dinner as well. We met at Glens house at 4:00 in the afternoon. There were more boys than we thought would be going, so it looked like we would need to take the trailer. This was the first time that I have put a hitch onto our Honda Pilot. It handled pretty well all the way down there and wasn't too bad as far as getting everything there.
With the two leaders (three if you count my son who is 18) we had a total of eleven people at the camp. I loaded a few geo caches on my GPS to see if I would even be close to one while we were at the Sand Dunes. I took the thing and the boys in my car enjoyed hearing Dr Nightmare, Elfred (an elf) and a Yeti talk on the GPS. On the way home they asked for some of those as well as we put on a Japanese lady speaker.
Last year when we went to the dunes it was $8 a car. I had cash for both cars but then found out it went to $18 a car. I had to write a check to get us both through. They would take credit cards but we would've had to go inside for that. Anyway, $36 lightened from my load and we were in. We got one of the last places at the Dunes to camp. Ken asked if we should go somewhere else and I said no that this place was good enough because we may not get another place and in the process may lose this one. It was a good location and it was next to the rest room (a plus). The boys put up their tents and I was grateful to have my son to help me put up my tent. We got a fire going because we needed coals for tin foil dinners. The boys went to play in the dunes and I sent my son up to take pictures of them. We cooked the dinners and it was good (although my son and I had to put ours back in the fire to cook all the way through). One of the boys had hot dogs and one boy didn't bring anything but his teddy grahams that he shared on the drive up. Some of the boys shared their meals with him.
We roasted marshmallows at night (it is a way to keep the boys from just going into their tents) and then Ken, myself and my son stayed out and talked at the diminishing fire. We had some good conversations and I did get out of my son that he is indeed planning on going on a mission. While we were doing that one of the boys came out of his tent and came over. I asked what was wrong and then some boys behind him said to do it. He yelled, "I hate puberty!" and ran back to the tent. A bit later, a bunch of boys were out in their boxer shorts (or swim suits) yelling the same thing. At that point we decided that something had better be said. I went to the tents and told them that they needed to look at what they were playing and make sure it was up to the standards that we wanted to portray. It was cold out so it wasn't comfortable for them to be running around half naked. It was also 10 now and we told them that it was time to be quiet for the other campers. We stayed out until around 11:00 in the evening. I remember looking up at the stars and wishing I could share that moment with my wife. It was incredibly beautiful.
There were a couple of four wheelers that went during the night (its against the rules) so I was grateful that I had thought to bring ear plugs. It was also a cold night.
Morning came, and we got everybody up and out. A fire was built and breakfast was brought out. They made french toast, sausage, and bacon. The plates were forgotten, so it was a bit more difficult to eat the french toast, but they made do. Tents were taken down and then a little bit of playing. Only one rocket was able to be fired because the engines that we had brought didn't fit any of them but the one. That one blew apart in the air and all but the one fin was found. I went with my son (actually he was ahead of me because I stayed behind to go with the Rockets until I found that only one was going to be done) to a geo cache that wasn't very far away. It was up a horrendous hill though. I lost sight of my son and all of a sudden his tracks weren't there. It was a hard climb because it was steep and in the sand. I thought I wouldn't make it. So did my son. When I called out his name he called me on the cell phone. He was surprised that I had made it up the hill. Anyway, we found it by a tree in some rocks. We signed my moniker and I put in a coupon for $1 off a Papa Murphy's pizza. There was a dollar bill in there and some scout items like tote-n-chip. There was also some stickers and just a few nic-nacs. That was my second find (ever). I kind of like finding them. I need to do it more often.
We left soon after this and arrived home by noon. I got the car washed and then did a little bit of laundry. That's about all that went on that day.
Sunday was church, and I found out that I am going to be the one speaker (as far as the scout leaders go) at Jordan's Eagle Scout court of honor.
One thing that happened today that I want to point out is that I saw an arrest happen. I was going to the restroom at work when I looked out the window and watched as a cop pulled over a car into our parking lot. Another cop pulled up and they both got out and went to both sides of the car. After talking a bit, they got the woman out and she calmly walked to the back of the patrol car putting her hands on the car. They searched her and then put cuffs on. Another officer came and the second officer came into our office (he is one of our security guards). I asked him what had happened (I had to turn in my borrowed badge since I forgot mine). He told me that she was on parole and claimed that she had talked with her parole officer. They called him and he said she needed to be arrested. Plus the fact that she had drugs and a couple of warrants out for her arrest. I guess she'll be put away again for a time. It's good to see our men in blue get the bad guys.
posted by Craig's Blog at 10:28 PM
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