Bragging Rights

As a Mom I get Bragging Rights every now and then. It's a Mom's Privilege. Middle Child has completed the Project part of his Eagle Project. I wrote a week ago about how he was putting together a campaign to heighten people's awareness of Organ Donation and hopefully sign some more people to become Organ Donors.

He has worked so hard on this I was absolutely amazed! I wasn't sure he was anyone's teenage son. He called numerous places to ask permission to set up booths on June 4th. He even had to call a few Corporate Offices to get the Go Ahead. After that he had to call people to staff the booths. He easily spent 10-15 hours on the phone calling people. That plus he hunted down neighbors who he couldn't reach by phone. He was like a Tiger!

We also had to put together some sort of Display. We ended up making these to put at each booth.

That Saturday morning Middle Child and Olaf left the house soon after 6:30am to get the Gold's Gym booth set up since it started at 7am. Thank goodness the other booths didn't open until 10am.

Here's what one of the booths looked like.

We incorporated some of the Zero Fatalities things into the booth in an effort to get a few more people to buckle up also.

Here's one of the Gold's Gym groups.

Here's the Gold's Gym in Provo. These two are coworkers of Olaf's who were more than happy to take the whole 4-hour shift!

Here are a few of his friends at Fresh Markets.

Here's more of Olaf's coworker's at CAL Ranch.

Here's the Family helping at Macey's, not the Department Store but the Grocery store.

They sure are cute!

Here's Middle Child working the booth at CAL Ranch later in the day.

Here are some of Middle Child's friends who also worked a 4-hour shift at Macey's. He's got awesome friends willing to help out all Saturday afternoon!

Here's one of Calvin's friends with his Mom.

And Middle Child is working the Fresh Market booth with Calvin's favorite Scout Leader.

Here's another of Calvin's friend helping out that afternoon after a long day at work.

I was amazed at how gung-ho Middle Child has been about his project. We had to help him write things out but he had absolutely no problem calling people and stores. And once he got there he was aggressive in talking to people and signing them up to be Organ Donors. There aren't enough words in my vocabulary to tell you how proud I am of my son. He's just incredible.

I Want You!

One of the first things we decided after Calvin died was that we would not live in grief but that we would celebrate his life. We decided that we would not let grief ruin our lives. As part of celebrating his life when we came upon new events we would use "What Would Calvin Do?" as our guide. When minutes after they told us Calvin had not survived and asked us to consider organ donation we both thought it was a good idea and both said "Calvin would want to continue to help others."

A couple years later Middle Child has started working on his Eagle Project. He decided long ago he wanted to do something about organ donation. He has finally put together his project. He wants to educate people about organ donation and hopefully sign people up to be organ donors.

This Saturday, June 4, he is setting up booths around town. He needs your help to staff those booths throughout the day. If you can help email him at eagle.proj@gmail.com. He would really appreciate any help you can offer. And don't forget, "What Would Calvin Do?" 

How I Came to Believe Scouts was Great

Olaf has been in Scouts since the day I met him. He's been on endless camp-outs. Summer and Winter. He's worked with all ages of boys. He loves it. I endure it. I'm glad he loves it. And most times I don't mind it.

As our boys got old enough they also joined Scouts. They worked on rank advancements. They went to Pack nights and Court of Honors and many camp-outs. They loved it for the most part.

I knew it was a good program. I knew the boys were learning things that were helping them to grow into good adults and responsible citizens. But I never thought it was a program my boys could live without. I really felt like we were teaching them most of these things anyway. And maybe we were.

And then Calvin went to Timberline Training Camp the summer of 2008. He grew up a lot that summer. I just assumed he was growing up. Olaf felt that Timberline had been a big help in that growing up.

Then Calvin died that October. When we came into the cemetery after the funeral, the cemetery road was lined with Scouts holding American Flags. It was unexpected. It was wonderful. It was a tribute from the Scouts he'd been with at Timberline. They were honoring a brother of theirs.

Over time Olaf ran into and talked to several of the parents of those boys. They told Olaf how this event was so important to their boys.

After that small but important event I realized that Scouts isn't helping the boys to become better adults and responsible citizens, it's also helping them today. Right now. Helping them mature as responsible teenagers. I realized that if these boys who hadn't had much contact outside of Timberline camp could care about each other this much, then this was something Great, not just Good.

And that was how Scouting went from Good to Great in my Book.

And the Answer Is...

This picture was taken when Olaf was a lot younger, probably about the age Calvin would be now. He had so much fun on this hike. He still remembers it fondly. He happens to be the young boy on the far right, standing next to the leader on the end with the big goofy glasses. I just love how the hiking apparel and accessories have changed so much over the past 25 years. Everything is so high tech now with fancy wicking fabric, expensive shoes, and all kinds of water bottles to choose from. These kids are carrying gallon milk jugs filled with water! I think we should make Olaf take his kids hiking with the same accessories these kids are using. Hope you enjoyed the flash to the past.

The Scouter

This summer Olaf has spent a lot of time camping. Three weeks to be exact. Well, it's been more than that considering he went again last night with the boys. But I should have known this would be my fate. The second time that I met him he had just come home from a campout with the Scouts. I met him in January. I should have known then and ran screaming. But I didn't. I thought it was cool for him to spend time volunteering with kids. Then came our wedding. We were married on a Friday. In August. At some point in the summer, of which there are twelve weeks, he had a week-long campout with the Boy Scouts at church. Of course it would fall on the week of our wedding. Did he go, you ask? Of course. He came home Thursday afternoon so he could attend our rehearsal dinner and the wedding the following day. I thought it was funny that the Boy Scouts were upset he wasn't returning that Friday night after the wedding. I should have known at that point what I was getting into. But I didn't have a clue. But I am thankful he has a wholesome hobby where he is working hard and giving back to the community.

Here is an old picture of him and his Boy Scout troop when he was quite young. I think this is from the 50-mile he went on one summer. I'll leave you to guess which one is him. I'll give you the answer Monday. Good Luck!

Merit Badges

In the old days there was a Stalking merit badge for Boy Scouts. Awesome! I've been thinking about it a lot ever since then. When we were in Vegas at the Int'l Boy Scout Museum I found an old patch.

This merit badge is no longer part of the Boy Scouts for obvious reasons. Stalking really meant Tracking, Tracking an animal that is. So it is in the hunting category. But I love the name!

Fall Camporee

Hi, it's not the regular blogger, its better Me Bob. I'm usually middle child. Last Friday and Saturday I went on a campout and I had SOOoooooooooooooo much fun, especially dinner. We had chili cheese dogs! The best part was Saturday, we did geochaching, fire starting, cooking, and orienteering. For geochaching we found foreign coins and candy. For orienteering we found tootsie rolls. For cooking we learned how to cook bananas and apples with cookie dough. For fire starting we got sparkymobobers and made a small fire! Then we went home. Wait, I forgot they had rafts that were so fun! Hope you liked the guest blogger.

The Silver Rush

The other day I caught Baby on the computer after he had finished his chores.

"Go Outside!" I told him. It was beautiful out and he needed to go play.

He went out and promptly started digging in the dirt pile RV Pad. I came out to sit on the porch and enjoy the beautiful weather.

"Mom, today our teacher told us that there's silver at the bottom of Utah Lake! I've ridden over Utah Lake before!"

"Did you see it?" I asked.

"No. But remember I was wearing a life jacket?" He was in a small plane, so maybe he meant a parachute in case the plane lost power.

I thought that was the end of it. But, no, not Baby's one-track mind.

About an hour later. "Mom, I think we should go looking for the silver in Utah Lake."

"Ok. But that would be hard because the lake's pretty dirty. How would you see it?" If anyone's been on Utah Lake they know it looks like a huge mud puddle. I can't bring myself to get into the water.

"Um, you know," to which he waves his hand in front of him like he's holding something. "A flashlight."

"Oh, ok, that might work."

"And we need scuba gear." he informs me.

I must have given him a look of some sort because he tried to reassure me, "You can rent that stuff Mom."

"Maybe you should talk to your dad about this." Olaf has been trying to get me to learn to scuba dive with him, but it's not going to happen. I don't like water, much less sea creatures.

"Yeah! That would be a great Scout Activity! I'm gonna call him now!"

And that was how the Silver Rush of 2009 started.

Olaf

I have decided to call Hubby by the name of Olaf. Whenever I was pregnant he wanted to name our children Olaf after his Great-Grandfather who immigrated to the US just before his Grandpa was born. He remembers his Great-Grandfather & Great-Grandmother a little. He remembers that his Great-Grandmother didn't speak much English. We have a picture of the family and there are six children pictured. The four older ones look to all be above the age of 10 and then there is his Grandpa and his Grandpa's little brother who are much younger, so the Greats were a bit older when they immigrated here. We also have a picture of his Great-Grandfather in his military uniform on a horse back in Denmark. It is a very distinguished picture. So, in honor of his Great-Grandfather I have decided to name Hubby after him, Olaf.

This morning I got a call from Olaf. He was in the mountains camping with the Boy Scouts.

"Morning Hon. I need you to do me a favor," he woke me with.

"Yeah," I sleepily relpied.

"I need you to get a pen and paper and write down the VIN on the truck. I locked the keys in the truck," he chuckingly replied.

I sat straight up. "What!"

"Yes, I did. But at least I'm not calling to tell you a tree fell on the truck, or we have two flat tires, or someone found and ate a rattlesnake, or the cops told us to get the Hell out of Dodge there's a murder suspect in the mountains near us," he laughed.

All of these things have happened on his Scout camping trips, among others. One of the other mothers once remarked to me, "I wonder if J will ever have a normal camp experience." I told her not while Olaf was his scout leader, but at least he would remember Scouts with fondness. Thankfully she agreed.

So, right now I am frantically calling the local Ford dealership to get an extra key made because I lost ALL my keys at the local city Fiesta Days while at the Carnival with the children. The dealership seems to be operating on it's own time and no one is answering despite the hours they have posted on the internet said they opened 15 minutes ago. What an eventful morning already!

Murder Campout

My husband is Scoutmaster for the 12-13 year old boys in our neighborhood. He is perfect for the job. He loves Scouts, camping, and all things outdoors. This last winter he took the boys camping near our house in the mountains. I think they're a little crazy. Camping in snow? There's a nice warm bed at home, 15 minutes away! But the boys dig it and can't get enough. As if once a month isn't enough for anyone! This time they left, camped, cooked food, made ice cream in their new ice cream ball bought for $1 at an estate sale, and went to bed early since they were cold. About 1am my husband was woken up by a commotion outside. Peeking his head out of the tent, and only his head since it was cold, he saw some sheriffs. He decided he better check out why they were visiting his camp. Since he was already dressed, I've learned you sleep in your clothes on winter camps, he hopped out and asked what brought on this nocturnal visit. "We want to let you know we're searching for a murder suspect and think he's tromping around the mountains here." Well, that's enough to wake anyone up! His description? "He's in his 40's and carrying a briefcase." By this time all the boys were awake and some were starting to get a little worried. They heard helicopters buzzing overhead and saw spotlights on the surrounding mountains. Sheriffs - "Have you got a gun?" Silly question if you know my husband - "Yes." Sheriffs - "Load it."

At first my husband thought about putting everyone back to bed and then he started thinking. Chances are pretty slim of actually running into this guy, but these aren't his kids. So he woke the other adult who had slept through everything, sounds like me, and packed up camp. At 3am Baby woke me to tell me the exciting news! Yes, Baby thinks he's a Scout and goes on most camps.

One of the boys said the moral to this story was "Bring a gun."