grinNberrett

'Cause this Is Thriller, Diller Night

For Thursday Stretch Your Legs Night, we took the family to see Odyssey Dance Theatre Thriller show. The Owens and us have seen at Kingsbury Hall in SLC. Ever since we saw it, we have been wanting to take the kids to the show. I was reading the newspaper this morning and noticed that they are performing at the Covey Center for the Arts October 9th-11th. Shantell just about jumped out of her skin when I told her this. She called Andrea and they had purchased the tickets by 8:30am.

Some of the members of the cast were dressed as zombies and wandered throughout the auditorium before and after the show. These zombies would do their darnedest to scare the digested food waste out of you. This is something that Brielle really didn't like.

I was sitting next to Johnny and kept telling him that I was going to scream my lungs out if one came up behind me. Shantell was a zombie magnet, so Brielle sat on my lap; that is until a zombie came up behind me. My blood curdling scream brought Brielle (sorry Brielle) to tears and made the people in front me jump out of their seats. It was way funny. (sorry Brielle)

The stage wasn't as big as the one in Kingsbury Hall, so they weren't able to use some of their props. The lack of props is probably my only complaint about the show. My favorite dace was "Dem Bones". In the dance, the stage is lit up by black lights and the dancers, dressed in black jumpsuits and maskes, dance around the stage in white shoes. Some of the shoes even appear to be dancing in the air. After a bit, the dancers take off the jumpsuits which reveals their skeleton costume. So now it appears as if skeletons are dancing on the stage. It is very cool. Brielle liked the "River Dance of Blood" and T-y liked the "Sugar Plum Fairy" dance. I can't remember what dance Amanda and Shantell said they liked. The only dance that wasn't well liked by any of us was "Lost Boys".

Don't waste your money on haunted houses this Halloween; waste it on Thriller!!!

P.S. Amanda is available to babysit for those that want to go see this without your kids.

Jr. Bob

Today, Brielle asked me the following question.

"Can I call you Jr. Bob?"

We then carried on the following conversation:

Me: Why do you want to call me Jr. Bob?
Brielle: Cause your dad is named Bob.
Brielle: Jr. means you're littler than your dad.
Brielle: and you're both named Robert. Me: Ok. You can call me that.
Brielle: Jr. Bob! Jr. Bob!
Me: What?
Brielle: Hi Jr. Bob

Brielle is such a funny little girl. I love having conversations with her. She says the most random things. We were shopping for her Halloween costume on Saturday, she is going to be a Black Night Power Ranger. She doesn't like to wear girly clothes or costumes. We stopped for lunch at the Berrett Cafe. While there she out of the blue informed me that her favorite number is 324. I think she chose that number because she was reading the nutritional label of her chocolate milk. I guess it is never to early to worry about your calorie and fat intake.

Brielle has been working hard lately learning to tie her own shoes. I had to help her a little bit, but she basically learned how to tie them all by herself. She is pretty proud of this accomplishment and wanted me to fill her doing it. Why did she want me to film it? SO I could post it on YouTube.

We also went on a bike ride on Sunday. She loves to ride her bike, especially since it is T-y's old bike and not Amanda's old pink bike. I think she likes it better cause it has a "water carrier" on it. I asked her where she wanted to ride, and said Amelia Earhart; she wanted to see if she could ride all the way to her elementary school. I told her that she had to lead us there and that we would have to turn around if she got lost. She said "alright" and took off like a bat outta hell. She led the hole way, only stopping once to get a drink. It took us about 25 minutes to get there. She is such a schemer! I think she wanted to ride to the school so she can say that she can and that she knows the way to get there. I can't wait until she asks to ride her bike to school.

Pinewood Derby

T-y participated in his third and final pinewood debry as a cub scout today. He took 1st place his 1st year, 4th place his 2nd year, and was looking to take 1st place this year. He and I created the following car:

We were both hoping that this design would bring home the 1st place trophy. We choose this design hoping that having more lead weight then wood weight would burn up the track. The race track never caught fire, and T-y's placed fifth. He should have taken fourth cause the boy that took third used his brothers car from last year. If I had know that I could have used an older car, then I would have used the one that I made last year. It set the track on fire and beat last years winner by at least a car lengh. Oh well. T-y had a great time. His best friend Reese.

The best part about building a car this year was painting it. For the past 7 years or so the Webelos den have gotten to paint their cars using automotive paint. A gentlemen in the ward graciously donates the paint and his time to help the Webelos paint their cars. I think he just uses it as an excuse to make his own car. Since T-y is a Webelo scout, he was able to do this. I was lucky enough to also be able to paint my car this way as well. It wasn't very fast, but it sure looks good.

I was the cubmaster in 2005 and was in charge of the pinewood derby. During that derby I had to put together the race heats. I found the following website that describes how to setup the heats based on the number of racers and number of track lanes. It was a lifesaver. I also created drivers licenses for the kids. I have been asked back each year to continue this wonderful tradition. Here is what T-y license looked like this year:

Scouting Memories

It seems like just yesterday that I was a boy scout. I have fond recollections of my time spent in the Boy Scouts. I had some of the best leaders a scout could ever ask for. They probably can't say that I was the best scout that a leader could ask for. I am extremely grateful for the time and energy that these men spent on my behalf. Now it's my turn to expend the time and energy so that my scouts can look back with my same fondness. This is a daunting task that I have undertaken. There is so much to learn, so much to teach, so much to do. What have I gotten myself into?

Tonight in Scouts we made Wilderness Survival Kit. Why? Because it passes off requirement 5 of the WWilderness Survival Merit Badge.. These kits fit nicely in an empty Altoids tin. I sent out a list of the needed gear on Sunday. There was some confusion as to what some of the items were. One of the mothers kindly suggested that I should have given more details about the items and where they could be purchased. The kids came with a variety of hot spark kits and candy tins smaller then the Altoids tin. I guess it was a good thing that I forgot to include an Altoids tin on the list of items to bring. Because of this, I brought along some plastic first aid kit boxes that I had purchased at the dollar store. The only problem with these boxes is that they can't be used as a single mirror like the inside of the Altoids tin can.

Most of the kids really enjoyed the activity. Some of the boys made the following comments:

Why do I need this? I am not going to get lost.
Why does it need to be so compact? I will just carry all the stuff in my backpack. (I don't think he realized that he could get lost and not be wearing a pack.)
Why are we working on non-required merit badges?
What do I need the fishing line for?

Here is a picture of the kids and their kits. Mine is the one in the Altoid tin on the table.

Literary Response #2

T-y gave his second literary response on the book "Everything on a Waffle". He did a fantastic job. He wanted me to come watch his presentation and cook waffles for the class. The school forbids homemade treats of any kind, so I went and cooked me a waffle. The waffles aroma filled the air during his presentation. I noticed some of the kids trying to figure out what the smell was. After he was done I passed out some Eggo Mini Waffles to his classmates. This is when the kids realized what I had been cooking. The class really enjoyed the waffles and the report.

Lunch Date with Brielle

I asked Brielle yesterday if I could have lunch with her today; luckily she said yes. I probably should have checked the lunch menu first. The lunch choices were Country Fried Beef Product or Boiled Hamburger patties, chocolate milk, mashed potatoes with gravy, green beans, salad, and a whole wheat roll. I choose the beef product and Bre chose the hamburger. She barely touched her hamburger, ate a couple bites of potatoes, drank all her milk, and ate part of her roll.

I had been making her sack lunches, but just stopped. So i'm thinking that I better restart sending her with a home lunch. Otherwise, I should just kiss the lunch money goodbye.

Bre is quite the popular little girl. It was fun watching her interact with her peers. She gets along well with others and is well liked by her peers. It was a fun time. I should definitely do it more often; but with a home lunch. :)

P.S.
Make sure you get a visitors pass if you want to go the the playground after lunch. The playground patrol doesn't like long haired weirdos taking pictures of the kids.

2008 Fall Camporee

Jason and I took the scouts on the Provo District Fall Camporee at Camp Maple Dell.

There wasn't much prep work that had to be done for the camp; The kids brought their own dinner, and the District provided the breakfast. I cook the boys dutch oven dump cake for dessert. It was a big hit with the boys. The dumb cake was simple to make. Here is the recipe.

Dump Cake
Ingredients:
* 1 18-ounce box cake mix (any flavor)
* 2 16-ounce cans of pie filling or other fruit
* 1 12-ounce can of pop
* 2 tablespoons butter

Preparation:
In a 12-quart Dutch oven, spread evenly butter on bottom.
Drain the fruit, pour it into the Dutch oven, and sprinkle the cake mix evenly over the top.
With your finger, make a swirl in the mix. Pour in a can of 7-UP.
Cover with lid. Put 8-10 charcoal briquettes on bottom, 16-18 on top.
Cook for 50 minutes to 1 hour, or to a golden brown.

Servings: 10 - 12

I used a spice cake mix with apple pie filling and a can of root beer. The boys really liked it.

I made a tarp tent and slept in it. I woke up around 4 with the tarp about a foot from my face. The grommet had torn away from the tarp. I wasn't to worried about fixing it until I saw a flash of lightning and heard the thunder. I quickly got up and pulled some rope out of my backpack. I feed it through the grommetless hole and strung it between two trees. Luckily it only took 10 minutes to fix, as a quick, but light, burst of rain happened about 5 minutes after I fixed it.

On Saturday the District provided us with breakfast.

They also offered 4 merit badge classes to take. We choose to work on the Forestry merit badge. None of the boys attending have earned it, so it will be a good elective merit badge for them. We completed all but requirements 1, 2, and 7. We will probably finish those next month.

Unfortunately one of the boys tried to defy gravity. The only thing that he accomplished was a gash above his right knee. Thankfully the resulting injury wasn't anything more.

It was a very fun and relaxing camp out.

Hangover Pills

I heard a commercial for a hangover pill while driving to church today. It made me chuckle when I heard it. Apparently the company that makes the pill figures that there are a lot of people with hangovers driving to church listening to FM 102.7.

Happy Birthday Roy!

I listen to the Radio From Hell show on the way into work each morning. One of the segments that I especially like, is called things that must go. I was thinking about this when the friends, family, and employees of Chuck-A-Rama starting singing happy birthday to Roy. I decided to make the best of the situation and walked over to Roy's table and joined in the celebration. After all, they are including everyone within ear shot in the celebration.
I sure hope that my singing helped Roy have a better birthday!

What a Crappy Wrapping Job!

Well, the plans to return to the San Rafael Swell this weekend got scrapped. Johnny had to work and Reese and T-y wanted to attend the birthday party for one of their friends. Apparently bowling trumps camping; well at least today it did.

T-y and I went shopping for a present. T-y's friend is a baseball fanatic, so i thought we hit the jackpot when I found an Uno card game, MLB American League Special Edition. We also bought some Kit Kat bars and ate them in the car. The chocolate got all over T-y hands so I gave some tissue to T-y to clean his hands with.

I am not a big fan of wrapping paper. I hate buying it cause it's a waste of money. I prefer to use other types of paper to wrap gifts. Typically I use newspaper, but if it's a special occasion I will use the comics or one of the colored ads. T-y's chocolate mess gave me a great idea on how to go about wrapping the present. Check it out.