The Big Bad Boulder

I was coming back to Mom's from taking Graham to his Dr. appt.  There was lots of construction on her street as they are adding a sidewalk to the ampitheater side of the road.  They had the 2 lane road narrowed down to one lane and separated by cones.  On the amphitheater side of the road there was a big truck dumping dirt.  I noticed something in the middle of the road.  It was a big brown ball.  I assumed it was dirt from the truck and since I couldn't swerve anywhere to avoid it with cars in the other lane I decided to just straddle it with the car so the tires wouldn't hit it.  Well as it turned out it was NOT a ball of dirt.  It was a HUGE rock covered in dirt. Graham and I realized this as we heard a horrible loud crunching noise and we got bounced all around in the car.  I drove to mom's and looked under the car and sure enough it was all banged up.  With all the rage of a mama bear I stormed back up the hill and had a little chit chat with the truck driver.  He came to mom's and took a look at the car and agreed it was bad news.  I got the company's insurance info and through lots of phone calls and other annoying things we were able to have the total frame of the under carriage redone.  They also noticed some other work that needed to be done and asked if we wanted it done at the same time.  We said yes and of course would pay for it $400-600 but when it was all said and done the car place couldn't find the bill for it and it ended up being a freebie.  (This happened on April 27, 2015)

My 38th Birthday! WooHoo!

The day started off with a little sleeping in and going on a walk with Jason.  After some french toast with the littles at Kneaders Jason and I went to Avengers.  Hawaiian take out for dinner and a candle in my Costco cupcake.  Anna stopped by and we got to chat on the porch and enjoy the beautiful weather.  I also finally finished memorizing the Living Christ.  I got lots of bday texts and the kids told me happy birthday repeatedly.  I feel loved.  (Also random pics from a Relief Society Activity)

Eagle Board of Review

The long awaited last step to earning the Eagle finally arrived.  Of course it ended up being on a chaotic night.  Dinner was taking longer than I thought and Jason was stuck on a late phone call.  We were rushed out the door and Graham was really nervous about going and making sure his uniform was all in order.

We rushed to the Stake Center not knowing what to expect.  We certainly didn't expect what we found.  There were TONS of scouts there for their board of review and when we gave the guy our name Graham wasn't on his list.

WHAT!?!

Oh wait, they found him.  They had him down for 7:30 and they had told us 7pm.  At least we weren't late.  Apparently they take about 10 scouts every half hour for their board of review.  Holy Cow that is a ton of boys!  Bro. Sylvester came (Scout Master) to introduce Graham and I felt bad that he was stuck there a half hour early too.  Jason never did make it.

Graham was sooooo nervous when it was his turn and Bro. Sylvester and I didn't get to stay in the room with him for long before we got kicked out.  It was a good 15 min. interview but when they called us back in they shook Graham's hand and said he was officially an Eagle Scout.

Whew.

Graham and I were so relieved that we did a big old victory lap through Swig's drive thru for a dirt ball cookie.

While we were filling out his final paperwork it asked what he had learned.  He said, "Eagle projects are like sprinklers, they bring out the worst in our family".  Hilarious (and probably true).

Graham's Eagle Project

For Graham's Eagle Project he decided to work with RoseAnn Gunther (Launfal Foundation) and Jennifer Frye (Safety Net) to help the women and children in Hildale, Ut.

(Picture of RoseAnn and Graham with some of the ladies who were helping to make quilts)

 He started by making a flier of the things that the people of Hildale were in need of.  He and some of the scouts delivered the fliers to our ward, the ward we just split from, and our old ward.

 Next Graham and some of the scouts and leaders gathered all the items that were donated.  People continued to drop things off for weeks to come.  Graham even got donations from dentist offices and Costco.  All the donations took over our garage!  We spent a lot of time sorting things.

 Graham and his buddies loaded up the scout trailer to deliver the items to Hildale.  We left the first weekend in June and took 2 car loads of scouts.  They stopped at some hot pots on the way down and did some swimming.

As soon as we arrived we started unloading.  Shoes were all layed out on a big tarp.  Cleaning supplies were set out on a table.  Clothes were on the second floor on tarps.  It kind of looked like a big yard sale except everything was FREE!

 (The front of the house where the event was being held)

 Once everything was unloaded the scouts went inside to do some cleaning.  They washed walls and Pam and I cleaned some bathrooms.  Next they did some weeding and found some frogs!

It was a pretty amazing experience.  Everyone was so grateful we were there and thanked us.  We enjoyed interacting with the sweet polygamist sisters.  I was able to help one lady find some shoes for her children.  One mother needed mattresses.  We had hauled down (with me grumbling because it was such a pain) 4 mattresses.  This nice mother was able to have all 4 mattresses and the others in need of mattresses were put on a waiting list.  

(This is was Warren Jeffs house when he lived Hildale)

The fun didn't end there.  After finishing up in Hildale the boys camped out and forgot their tent so this tarp awning was rigged up.  It rained on them and the person who was supposed to bring chili for the baked potatoes forgot.  

The next morning they set off to do a slot canyon.  One boy did NOT want to do the canyon so Jason ended up staying back with that boy and didn't do the canyon either.

With the rains the night before the canyon was filled with WATER!  The boys did some wading and all out swimming.  On their way out of the canyon they missed their turn off.  Jason could see them from up above and watched them walk past it.  They ended up having to climb their way out up the side of a ravine.  From what they tell me it was somewhat steep.  

Graham got climbing up it pretty quick and lost his footing and fell backwards.  The boy below him, Joseph, reached out and grabbed onto Graham but Graham was free falling and Joseph couldn't hold on and Graham fell out of his grasp.  I think by this point Graham was seriously scared.  Then Bro. Hopkins who was below Joseph saw something out of the corner of his eye.  He reached out for it and it was falling Graham.  He grabbed him and pulled him back onto the rock.  Graham said he just started crying.  He was so scared and relieved.  Later when Graham got back to the car and told the story Jason wasn't sure what to think (Graham can be kind of dramatic).  Bro. Gerritsen who was there with Graham told Jason that if Bro. Hopkins hadn't grabbed Graham he would have fallen all the way to the bottom.  We feel so thankful that Graham was being watched over and it was a very powerful experience for him.