Joshua Survives Cub Scout Day Camp

Joshua went to Cub Scout Day camp this week at Camp Stevens, down by the French Broad River. He enjoyed archery, BB guns, and making home-made paper which they shaped (in cookie cutters!) into shapes to give to their fathers on Father's Day. He also got to play kick ball, make an animal mask, participate in a flag ceremony, and talk about animals. (I imagine they got to talk about animals a lot, since the theme for this year was a Jungle theme!)

He did have a hard time with the running they asked him to do, and some of the boys in his den were just as pushy as he can be, so that was a bit upsetting. But he liked hiking around the camp, and he even came up with the "cheer" for their den. All-in-all it turned out to be a great week.

(In the slide show below you can see a couple of pictures of him, his den, and even his two cousins, Erik and David Hobson.)

Carolyn is 1 Year Old!

The last week of May is a busy one with birthdays: Grandpa Collier, Aunt Laura and Carolyn Garvin. We started out the week with a get-together at Grandma collier's to celebrate all three birthdays.

The next Sunday, May 31st, we gathered together at our house to celebrate Carolyn's birthday. The past year has really flown. Carolyn has done a lot of growing in the short year she's been with us. She's on the verge of walking and already pulling herself up into standing position where she can stand without support for a few seconds.

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In the slide show, my sister, Marian, is sitting on the futon we have in the living room, holding her foot. Right before she came over for the party she hurt her foot. (You can see how swollen it was.) It ended up that she broke her foot, and has to wear a boot for 6 weeks. She can't drive for 3 weeks! I would die if I couldn't drive during the summer!

Time to catch up

It's been too many months since we've posted to our blog. So much for good intentions and New Year's resolutions. Sorry. Life has a way of getting away from us at times.

This picture is actually from our trip to Old Salem, NC (which is near Winston-Salem) where we went over Memorial Day weekend. It seemed fitting to step back in time a bit during Memorial Day. It also seems appropriate to get back on track with our blog starting out with a peek back at the past. We've come a long way, baby!

The kids had fun:

Kitty!

Carolyn has always been fascinated by our two cats, Ashton (here) and Allie. Ashton is now beginning to tolerate her.

We've got snow

We've been living in Asheville for five years now, and we've gotten very little snow. At least compared to the amount of snow in other areas where we've lived, especially Utah. Still the school district has had many snow days. It's gotten to the point where I joke that they cancel school for a snow day when someone says "snow" in the school district offices.

"Did you say snow? We'd better cancel school."

"No, no! I didn't say snow. I was saying it's no..."

"Oh, well, too late. I already cancelled school."


So we all wake up in the morning and discover that there's not a drop of snow on the ground but school has been canceled.

So when it started to snow this past Sunday, I didn't think much of it. But then it kept snowing and snowing until we got about four inches of good snow. I actually ended up shoveling the driveway for the first time since we've moved here.

The kids missed two days of school —Monday and Tuesday, and had a two-hour delay on Wednesday. I'm pretty sure they're starting to cut into their school year beyond the normal snow days allotted at the end of the year.

Just an update - and a good grade on a test!

Martha here!

This week I took my first test in my Anatomy & Physiology class I'm taking (well, first for this semester. It's a two semester class.) I was totally stressed out about it, but I ended up getting an 88!!!!! I was very very relieved!

Jessica was sick this week and missed school Tuesday and Wednesday. It was interesting trying to juggle school and my job and taking care of her. She ended up spending some time with my sister (Thanks, Marian!) and a little by herself. She is feeling much better now, but she is stressed about getting her make-up work done.

Oh, yes, I did mention a job. I am working as a Peer Tutor in the Math Lab on the AB Tech campus. It pays squat, and I'm only working 8 hours a week, but it will help our stress level, I hope. I really like tutoring, even though I am having to re-learn algebra (don't even try me on Calculus right now!)

Just a note for you baby lovers about Carolyn. She is getting better and better at standing, so I am trying to put her down on her tummy more. Makes sense, right??? The reason is that she doesn't know how to crawl yet, and I really want to give her some more practice with that before she starts walking. Our hardwood floors make crawling difficult, so we'll see how it goes.

I even found a way for her to be happy while I was typing this. She is in front of my chair (almost under the desk) eating Sweet Potato Puffs--and enjoying them immensely! (Sweet Potatoes are her FAVORITE food!)

(Yeah I actually posted something!)

B-man has a B-day!

Benjamin celebrated his 14th birthday on January 28th, 2009. He is growing up so fast we can hardly keep up with his birthdays anymore.

At 14, he is the same age Joseph Smith was when he had what we in the LDS church refer to as the First Vision. Benjamin is definitely starting to question the world around him and to begin to wonder about his place in it. As we all do at one point or another.

It is exciting to be part of his life.

Yesterday, he went with his youth group to the Columbia, SC temple to do temple work. Last week, he was very reluctant about the trip as he says he has nothing to do for the 2-1/2 hours that it takes to get down there and then another 2-1/2 hours to get back. I encouraged him to take a book with him.

Yesterday morning he was dressed in his Sunday best before I even had breakfast. (They met at the church at 10am.) Apparently, he was no longer feeling reluctant about the trip. I found out when he got back that he had taken my advice and brought Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird with him and was reading it until it simply got too dark to do so. He rode back with the Alcayaga's and had a good time. When it got too dark to read, Tracy Alcayaga kept him busy in conversation. (Benjamin is not normally very talkative.)

Today, I had the opportunity to ordain Benjamin a teacher in the Aaronic priesthood. A very good experience. It's neat to see him move along in his responsibilities in the church.