Stake Olympics

As part of my calling with the Young Men I go to a lot of stuff - meetings, scouting, firesides, service projects.  The list never seems to end.  Today we held the quad-stake olympics at East High.  This event has been part of our stake forever.  With the numbers of youth dwindling, we've expanded to include three of our neighboring stakes and the tradition lives on.

For me the day was spent as  part of the support team.  We went all out for the kids this year.  Many wards bring out donuts and juice for the youth, but not us.  Ryan busted out the six burner stove and we made pancrapes - they were supposed to be crapes, but I think they turned into pancakes.  It was awesome and I spent a few good minutes flipping the jacks.

Our kids that attended had a blast.  I don't think anyone thought we were the greatest athletes in the meet, but we sure had a lot of fun.  The boys and girls ran, threw, pulled, and jumped their hearts out.  It was fun working with the other leaders and a great time to play with the kids.

I think my favorite part of the day was taking Alex.  I always try to include one of the kids in the events I'm asked to attend.  I was a little worried that Alex would get bored, as I knew it would be a long day.  I was totally wrong.  Alex was a trooper and he had a great day.  It didn't hurt that he loves Ryan, the YM's president.  Alex is a fun kid and he was in seventh heaven with all the boys and girls.

Looking for some Cache

We decided to pack up the car full of the crew and head out in search of adventure.  It's been an eternity since the kids came along on the hunt.  Truthfully, since I've had a million different projects over the past couple years I haven't done much caching either.  Tonight was a quick run.  We found 5 caches and all the kids got a new toy.  Finished off the evening with an ice cream and everyone had a great time!

Topaz

When I was 12 year old scout I went to Topaz Mountain.  It was the first time I'd been camping without my parents and it was a chance to experience the outdoors on my own.  My memories of Topaz were of a desert in the middle of nowhere, down miles of dirt roads and where it seemed like we had the whole mountain to ourselves.  I recall sleeping out under the stars and trying to make it to 3 am to see Haley's Comet make it's way through the night sky.  Topaz Mountain held treasres waiting to be uncovered and it was the perfect spot for a young scout.

Over my teenage years we kept going back to Topaz.  We didn't worry about panning for stones after a while, but we loved heading back to the desert to explore.  One of my favorite memories was heading out west with Brant, Tyler, and Mitch for another one of our adventures.  As time passed, I never seemed to go back to the mountain and it seemed locked away in my past.

Last weekend my relationship with Topaz continued, this time as a scout leader.  We packed up our gear and headed out to the desert - with a whole new group of boys ready to explore.  Our troop had a great time.  There was plenty of hiking, cooking, investigating, mining, panning, and very little sleeping.  It was fun to rekindle a part of my past and good just to get out and go camping again!  Here are a few of the highlights:

• Waiting in a traffic jam on the only road heading southwest out of Nephi.  The boys took advantage of a few minutes of road repair and pulled out their skateboards.
• Watching scouts be scouts.  It doesn't matter if they are 17 or 12, when you get boys together they do some pretty crazy things.
• Early morning hiking with Dave and Charlton.  One of my favorite parts of the camp was getting to know some of the guys in my neighborhood.
• Jacob's discovery.  Jacob "found" a perfect trilobite in the middle of the night.  Everyone was impressed, even more so when he told us that he brought it from home.
• Mining the stones.  I don't know that this is my favorite part of camping at Topaz, but you've to spend a few minutes looking for some Topaz, right?

Photo of the Day

Alex is showing off his hang time!

Flashback 2010

I was looking through some old home movies the other day and came across this classic.  You've got to love it when there's a mic, a sound system, and some uninhibited little boys.  Awesome!