Klondike Campout 2007/2008

Klondike Camp out

Boy Scouts of America is a wonderful organization and I am very happy that our church has this program part of our young men's youth organization. The skills they learn will benefit these boys throughout their whole life. Brady has been bless to have wonderful leaders who love the scouting program and sacrifice to teach these boys the things they need to learn to be a man.

They go on camp outs one weekend every month. The winter camp out is called the Klondike and it is a regional Boys Scout camp out with troops from all over the area. It is a huge event where they do a lot of team building activities.

This weekend is the Klondike camp out, but Brady and his quorum didn't attend. I was surprised because Brady has loved attending them for the past 3 years. Brady would have gone this year, but he wasn't really good friends with the younger boys in our troop and some of them are kind of a pain to be around. Brady almost asked to go with his friend Taylor, but decided it would have been kind of weird going with their troop.

The boys make snow caves to sleep in. Brady does really well sleeping out in the winter in a snow cave... brrrrrrrr
His little head poking out of the snow cave. This was 2 years ago. I think last year Brady slept in a tent and froze. The snow cave kept them warmer. Another trick is to take a hot rock from around your fire wrapped in a towel /coat and sleep with it next to you. Of course it helps to have tarp, pad to keep you off the ground and 2 good sleeping bags, plus warm clothing of course.
They have snow sleds the boys pull (instead of dogs) and have relay races. The sleds are really cool - the boys made them.

The have knot tying competitions. This is one area that our troop does really well. We always seem to win this - last year Brady was in the top boys and won a hatchet.

They have night devotionals that are very motivating for these boys.

Then they have ceremonies that retire old flags and then they burn them with respect.

They learn to shoot guns.

Have tug a wars.

Pulley games.

These past three years have been fun and exciting for Brady as he has participated in the Boy Scouts of America program. This summer he will work on doing his Eagle project. After reading some one's blog, they had a family rule that their boys cannot drive without having their Eagle. I loved this rule and have implemented it with Brady. I really want him to be motivated to get it done this year (he takes drivers training this year).

Cooking Day

Friday was a short work day, I only had one house to clean. That left me with an afternoon to get some baking done. I have had a bunch of old banana's on the counter which signaled that banana bread needed to be made. I had enough old banana's to bake three loaves of bread. Yum! I will freeze two loaves to eat later. At least that is one task done! My Banana bread recipe is here. Then I decided to make spaghetti sauce for dinner and to freeze. Here is the recipe for the sauce:

I also made bread. Every week Jason and Sharon come shopping in my food storage. They have been really poor due to their hours being cut at their work. It's been really hard on them. They finally completed some layoffs in Phoenix and now are back up to full time again. It is nice to have food storage to help them out. I made bread for them to take when they come by. The bread recipe I use is from Tammy's Recipes - Everyday Cooking Inspiration . This is the best bread recipe and you will love it. This is the link to Tammy's bread recipe:
I finally was able to get a door organizer put up that I have had for a while. It was too long for the door to my food storage area (which is the cove under the stairs). I found out the door was shorter then a regular door. I had cut it down and sew up the bottom. I finally got it done - YEAH! I have been wanting to put all of my storage bags on the door in an orderly fashion. It's been a pain trying to find the one I want when they were just stacked up on a shelf. Now that it is organized, I am able to find what size I am looking for without taking them all out and making a mess. Yeah for organization!! If you'd like to see a picture of my food storage area, you can click here.
It was a productive day. I built a fire, cooked and organized - every bit of organizing I do equals an easier time I have in keeping my home clean and everything in it's place.

Duty To God Celebration

Tonight we attended a dinner at our Stake house to recognize the boys who have earned their Duty to God certificate during the past year. It was a really nice evening. They served lasagna, salad, french bread and cookies. It was nice to visit with others from our ward and stake.

The boys were called up and recognized. There were 28 deacons (Brady was 1 of 3 in our ward), 15 Teachers and 3 Priests. The challenge was that each of these 28 deacons would earn both their teacher and priest Duty to God awards. That they would remain strong and steady as they grew.

The Stake Young Men's President spoke as well as the Stake President. Both talks were very motivating and we enjoyed them. I didn't have my camera which equals to NO pictures. I wanted to journal this wonderful night and say a "good job" to Brady for fulfilling all the requirements as a deacon to earn his Duty to God.

Young Men's trip to the Dentist

Last night Brady's Young Men's group went to Brother / Doctor Grant's dental office. They were taught more about dentistry. They were able to makes forms of their teeth and fill them. However, they ran out of time and will have to go back again.

I thought they were going to make fangs. However, trying to get information from a teenager who doesn't want to talk about it or be bugged by his mom I don't have all the facts. I think they made fangs in the form before they poured the plaster in them. I'm not quite sure and will have to let you know when we get the model of his teeth. When Brady told me they were going to make fangs at the dentist visit, I was so excited to have vampire teeth (I love vampires).

Br./Dr. Grant also gave each of the boys a new tooth brush and tooth paste. They had a great time!

Cleaning Tips I Learned From My Mom

When my mother was newly married she would make dinner each night but never did the dinner dishes. The dishes remained in the sink until morning. Each morning she would wake up to this mess and had to think about getting it done throughout the morning and sometimes throughout the day - always having them done before my dad came home and dinner was on the table again. It made each day miserable. She hated to do dishes and hated waking up to them too.
One day she wondered if she did the dishes right after dinner, how long would it take her. She timed herself and it only took her 15 minutes. This was back in the day BEFORE the luxury of dishwashers. From that day, she never went to bed before her dishes were done and found that getting up to a "clean kitchen" was the right way to start off each day.

She started making games with herself to see how long it would take her to take care of her home. She wondered how long it would take her to make 5 beds in the morning and it only took her 10 minutes. She would try different tasks only to find out it really didn't take that long to keep the house clean. If she left one room, she always took something with her to put away. She learned ways to maximize her time to make the chore of being a mother, house keeper and wife easier which equaled to a happier life.

By keeping everything picked up each day, her house would be in order by 10 am each day and she had the rest of the day to do the things she enjoyed. Now remember that was back in the 1950-60's when she didn't have all the luxuries we enjoy each day.

From her example, I have also learned these tricks. I never go to bed unless my dishes are done and usually always run my dishwasher each night. I walk around the house and make sure everything is picked up before I head to bed. When I wake up and my children have been fed, the dishwasher gets emptied and my boys put their dishes in the dishwasher.

One of the ways I was able to get my boys to make their beds each day was to start a competition. We would all see who could make their bed the fastest. We would start next to our beds and then say - ready, set go and start making our bed. It made this chore easier and making my boys enjoy making their beds first thing in the morning. They had to make their beds correctly to get past the "mom" inspection to win :-). It takes us maybe 2 minutes when they are made each day!

My goals is when I leave for work each morning, my house would be clean and every bed is made. I usually put a load of clothes in the washer before I leave for work, so that when I get home I can put it in the dryer. (a blog about how I do laundry is here)

Who would want to come home from a busy day at work to a messy house that you had to tackle after working all day long. Not me! Or who wouldn't want to have a clean house by 10 am each day to enjoy the rest of the day doing the things you enjoy? (if you are a stay at home mom?)

My challenge to you is to try these techniques this week and see if it makes your life easier too.

Comments are always appreciated. What are some of the tricks you've learned from your mom or that you do to keep your household running smoothly?

My Teenager admits the Mother is right about Ice Skating :-)

I have to laugh now and again when my teenager admits that I may know a thing or two about life.

Here is the story:

Two weeks ago Brady and his teacher's quorum went to Ice World to go Ice Skating. Of course I always like to be prepared and told him to take gloves (for when he falls down on the ice) - a coat and socks. Brady wears only ankle length socks all the time. He will not wear socks that go on his calf no matter how much snow we get. Teenagers are weird! We had a battle when I MADE him wear his good wool socks that he has for camping. I knew he would get blisters if he didn't have good socks. It was a battle - but of course the Mom would not let him go without proper clothes... I am soooo very mean. Off he went to Ice World and had a fabulous time with the Young Men's group.

Fast forward to this past weekend. Brady was in Salt Lake City, Utah visiting his Dad. They decided to go ice skating. Of course his Dad is not as mean as his Mother is and didn't think to check on his socks. As Brady finished skating, he realised -- hay, this isn't much fun - Ouch-- I think I'm getting a sore. Yes, he did -- see evidence below...

When he returned home he told me that I was right... A teenager actually admitted that his mother knew a thing or two and I WAS RIGHT. I have to journal those rare moments - LOL!! I was right... I was right..... :-)

I know all about ice skating. I grew up ice skating. Growing up in the bitter cold winters in Pocatello, Idaho we made an ice skating pond in our back yard every year. Here is my oldest sister Christine on our ice skating pond.

This is my little brother Richard ice skating. We started as toddlers. Mom and Dad had these skates with 4 blade runners (like roller skates but were blades).

This is me - no ice skates but on the sled. However - you can see I am on the ice skating pond. We would swing the sled around the ice skating pond to knock off any bumps. That is how smart we were to make it smooth. (smart ingenious kids).

This is my other big sister Cindy with Richard in tow. Chris is in the back ground. It is really fun to find these great pictures and remember the fun we had as children.

Yes, I know all about ice skating Brady.

My Cleaning Business

I currently am self employed. The name of my cleaning business is: Sparkling Clean. I took over the cleaning business my Mom had when she retired. I absolutely LOVE working for myself.

Before I started cleaning houses, I worked in the Computer industry. I was a Contract Administrator or a Program Manager in my career life.

I started with Prime Computer in Salt Lake City, UT which later was known as Computervision.

When they closed their SLC office, I went to work for a small engineering company called The parvus Corporation.

Then I worked for Evans and Sutherland and after my divorce I decided to move away from my ex-husband.

I then moved to the Boise Idaho area and worked for MCMS a computer manufacturing production company as a Program Manger II.

In everyone of my jobs, I worked many many hours and it was hard to be the mother that I always wanted to be - but I had to provide for my children. It was a hard life. Then six years ago when the computer industry had a downturn and we lost one of our biggest customer, Cisco Systems... I was laid off.

I decided to work with my mother as a cleaning lady. I totally love the shorter hours and no pressure. When the work is done each day it's done with no pages in the night and working extra long hours or working at home after my children were in bed.

I have a great client base which provides me with the money I need to pay my bills. Although it was a huge pay decrease .. it is worth the time I get to finally be a mother. I still have enough to pay my bills and live a good frugal life.

Over then next few months I will be blogging some great cleaning tips - I am a total cleaning fanatic. I have learned a thing or two to make keeping your home clean a lot easier.

Everyday I clean 2 houses and work from 8AM to about 3PM and each week I clean a business which I just switched to Monday nights (last night). It makes a long day because after I get done cleaning regular houses at 3PM, I come home for a little while and then leave to clean Compton's at 4:30 and arrive home around 8:30 - 9pm. The money is good and it is worth working one evening a week.

One of the chores I have each day is washing the rags I used to clean with that day. After I wash my rags, I then have to fold them. Usually it is done each evening before I go to bed - but on Monday nights when I get home I throw them in the wash and Tuesday Morning I move them to the dryer to dry and then fold them. It doesn't take me very long to get this done. Clean rags for the day.

I also wash the filters for my vacuum with my rags. I will also let you know the supplies and type of vacuum I use and why I use these items. I hope you will tune in to get some great cleaning tips to make your life easier.

I am a GREAT cleaning lady and each of my customers LOVE me. If you live in the Boise/Meridian/Nampa area and know of someone who would love to have a cleaning service - it would be great if you recommended me. I currently have 2 openings.

72 Hour Kits

This weekend I worked on getting my 72 hour kits organized. I admit, mine were a mess. A couple of months ago, Brady set his school backpack down and into dog poop. I couldn't get it to smell good again, so we took the items out of my 72 hour backpack kit and moved it all into a duffel bag we have. Then we gave Brady that backpack for school. Since then, I have a 72 hour kit, but just stuffed into the duffel bag... You can see it here - what a mess.

I took out the items and set them on the table to break the items up into the 2 new 72 hour kits I received this week. Here are some of the items I took out of the duffel bag.

Toilet paper, cottenelle wipes, wet ones, Vaseline, toothbrushes, toothpaste, mirror, hand warmers, first aid kit stuff, body wash, deodorant, Kleenex.

The food stuff, ramen noodles, cans of soup, fruit parfait, instant oatmeal, water, peanut butter, jam, crackers, cup of soup, cans of juice, gushers and fruit roll ups, granola bars.

Then to emergency blankets, matches, knifes, leather gloves, rope, garbage bags, flashlights, radio with cords to charge cell phone and card games.

I split the items and started filling the bags in the new kits.

Some for Brady's and some for me.

I kept adding and adding - but the kits would not close. I had too much. I had to rearranged the items and made sure all the air was out of the zip lock bags. I was finally able to get all this stuff in these two kits:

Brady's kit has:

Small first aid kit, body wash, deodorant, cottonelle wipes, wet ones, tooth brush and paste, comb, wash cloth, lip stuff, hand warmers, toilet paper, Kleenex, sunscreen packet.

2 cans Campbell's chicken noodle soup, 2 cans juice, 2 fruit parfait, 3 Lipton chicken noodle soup, 1 ramen noodle, 3 hot chocolate, 3 instant oatmeal, 5 packets of water, 3 gushers, 3 fruit roll ups, 3 granola bars, gum.

Leather gloves, emergency blanket, flashlight, knife and multi-tool, 2 garbage bags, matches, lighter.

Cards and game, pencil and notebook.

cash: 1-$20, 1-$10, 1-$5 and 10-$1

My kit:

Large first aid kit, body wash, deodorant, cottonelle wipes, wet ones, tooth brush and paste, comb, wash cloth, lip stuff, lotion, night cream, Vaseline, toilet paper, Kleenex, 2 sunscreen packet, sewing kit, safety pins
2 cans Campbell's soup, 2 cans juice, 2 fruit parfait, 3 Lipton chicken noodle soup, 1 ramen noodle, 3 hot chocolate, 3 instant oatmeal, 5 packets of water, 3 gushers, 3 fruit roll ups, 3 granola bars, gum.
Leather gloves, emergency blanket, wind up flashlight, solar/wind up radio with cords to charge phone and zune, knife, 2 garbage bags, matches, lighter.
Cards and game, pencil and notebook, small Book of Mormon, address book/emergency numbers.
cash: 2-$20, 2-$10, 2-$5 and 6-$1

(I will continue to add money to my kits. I'd like to have at least $100in small bills in each kit)

I will still keep the larger items in the duffel bag. I think it is important to keep all the items together so you can grab it quickly. Tent, shovel, rope, umbrellas, mess kits, stove, rain poncho (I have 1 and need to get another rain poncho) I will add food to this kit too - like the peanut butter, jam, crackers) There is a whistle too. Oh, and I need to put in the water purifier filled with bleach (that I received in church this week). In this closet are the sleeping bags and blow up mattresses. We also need to grab clothing for the kits. At least I have something ready to grab and go.

Here are the kits - stuffed full... and boy are they stuffed. I'd like to get back packs to wear and carry these kits. At least I am on my way in getting prepared for an emergency. I hope you are working on yours too. I still have 2 more 72 hour packs that are black - I am going to work on getting them filled to put in both of my cars.

This is the water storage I currently keep in the same closet I keep my 72 hour kit in. This is the closet in my new scrapbook room. I also have 10 gallons of water in my food storage closet. Water is so important during an emergency. I always try to keep quantity of 10, twenty four packs of water at all times.

Where art thou - Sun??

I miss the sun..... I mean I REALLY miss the sun... Where is it?? Well, it certainly is NOT in Boise, Idaho. I believe we are heading to the 3rd week without sun .. but is seems like soooooo much longer with all the snow and snowy days we had in December. Now it's just YUCK, YUCKY weather - dark and gray.
Currently we are experiencing an inversion, a layer of cloudy smog... no sun days. Day after day, just yucky depressing weather. The more days I experience without sun.... the deeper my funk or depression or whatever you want to call it is here. OK I said it..... a depression ... the winter blues ..... I believe I always experience it in January and am sooooo ready for spring to appear.Where, oh where has that beautiful sun gone??? They teased us last week, forecasting a sunny 40 degree weather this week.... Well, it was a NO SHOW.... Hello!!! Sun... I totally need to see you sooooooon.

I need light..... I need sun..... I need hope ...... I need light therapy..... I am desperate.... I may check into a sun tanning bed for some desperately needed light therapy... Seriously....

This morning we woke at 5 AM to get to the airport by 6 AM for Brady's flight. We were greeted by a sprinkling of rain. It's going to be a rainy, dreary, no sun day... Oh joy ---- NOT!!! I think it's a perfect day to seek out a tanning salon, I just happen to know of one a block away - a quick walk ...... Next time you see me - I may have a golden tan - LOL.... Fake but -- I need SUN!! Let's all pray for Sunshine in Idaho!!!

Texting Abbreviation Guide

I am not a person who does text messaging and it is something I don't understand. I drives me totally nuts to be behind someone at a traffic light and they are texting. When the light turns green, they continue to text and I have to honk (which I hate) to get them moving forward. My own son, Jason and Sharon text a bunch too. They tell me when they text it is free, verses a telephone call uses up your minutes on the cell phone. That is why they text all the time. I constantly tell them not to text while driving and be safe.

Can you believe this traffic sign?? Totally crazy. I am support of all laws that ban texting while driving, just as they have passed laws banning speaking on a cell phone and have encouraged you to pull over when you have a call or need to make a call (Unless it is hands free - which is kinda scary too).

This month in my newsletter from Quick Computer, who fixes my computer when I have issues, they had a guide for common text abbreviations. I think as a parent, it is always good to understand the lingo your children have for instant messaging and texting. I thought I would post them. This is Texting Guide Part 1 (I am hoping they will add more in upcoming issues).

? = I have a question or I don't understand

?4U = I have a question for you

TMI = Too much information

2MOR = Tomorrow

6Y = Sexy

9 = Adult in the room

A3 = Anytime, anywhere, anyplace

AIGHT = Alright

AITR = Adult in the room

ATB = All the Best

B2W = Back to work

BB = Be Back

BEG = Big Evil Grin

BF = Boy friend or best friend

BFF = Best friends forever

BC = Because

BD = Big deal

BLNT = Better luck next time

BOLO = Be on the look out

BRD = Bored

BTDT = Been there, done that

CM = Call me

d00d = Dude

E2EG = Ear to ear grin

EZ = Easy

GTG = Got to go

GN = Good night

HF - Have Fun

IDTS - I don't think so

IMHO = In my humble opinion

IMU = I miss you

K = Okay

Kewl - Cool

L8R = Later

LOL = Laugh Out Loud

DH = Dear Husband

DD = Dear Daughter

SIL = Sister in-law
BIL = Brother in-law

MIL = Mother in-law

FIL = Father in-law
POS = Parent Over Shoulder

Recently on my Benjamin Button blog, I received a comment with FTW and FTL. I just don't know the lingo. I asked Jason and he said he has no idea what FTL means - but FTW is F* beep the world (he thinks).
FTW = For The Win  (Brady just told me what this means - for real).

If you know other abbreviations - please share as this old girl tries to move to the 20th century.

Link to next blog #2 on texting is here:

Guest Post by Brady on Pres. Obama

I asked Brady to write his thoughts about watching the inauguration of President Obama. Luckily he finally said yes and sat down and typed away. Please post a comment and let him know what you thought about his guest post.

This is the picture of President Obama that Brady picked out. Hope... yes, we all have Hope!
You know, when It comes to my opinion on this whole Barack Obama topic, I think that my mom would be somewhat right on the issue, but mostly crazy.(I already know that she is going to make a response to this blog, mainly about why she thinks I'm wrong about what I think about her or how uninformed I am, but she wanted me to do this, so the blood is on her hands). I'm just going to pick out things directly from her blog that I agree with and don't agree with.
I for one, am more with Obama then against him, unlike my mother. I think that our nation wants him as a president of the United States, why should I stand against it. I think it's weird when I said I didn't like Bush and my mom had a conniption fit, but now my mom says she doesn't like Obama and, well, I guess when a moms right she's right...(swirls eyes). I think that he will be a good president because the nation wants him to be their president, and if the nation is counting on him, he has a big responsibility to hold in order to keep the people happy. That should help shape any president I think. So far, like my mom, he hasn't given me reason to hate him.

Another thing, just because his birth certificate has not been presented, that doesn't mean that he is not American. I mean, I know that if I was moving out of my moms house, I don't think that it would cross my mind to ask for a birth certificate to take with me in case I decide to become president of the United States one day. Especially if I was 40, I don't think I would care, or know were it is (well, I would know it's in a scrap book but I'm pretending I'm a person with a more normal mom.) I don't think either, that some deranged immigrant would want to be over the United States by becoming president. To me that dream would be a little out there... and I think that person must of hit his head a little to hard to win over half of the nation.

I don't know why he didn't wear the flag pin on his shirt that one day, but I think that whatever my mom was reading, could of exaggerated the fact that he refused to wear it because he is embarrassed of the United States. (my mom has a tendency, in my mind of course, to read things that aren't very accurately informed and maybe exaggerated, like talk radio, the people who say that global warming was going to dramatically change the earth and we couldn't grow plants, and we would become cannibals and all die. That's a true story, but she and I know that's not going to happen, but what other stuff might she read or hear that she might believe that's not true?)

I think my mom's mind blocks out parts of the messages that she doesn't want to hear also. She says that all of the sudden, people are happy to be an American. What I think people are really happy for is that we were about to go into a depression with the stock market crashing with the 700 points and then an immediate continual drop after that. I think that it scared some people, but Obama says that he is going to try and fix our nation, and that reassures people and reminds them that they are happy and grateful to be part of this wonderful nation.

I don't like the fact, (actually agreeing with my mom here) that Obama wants to raise taxes for the wealthy and reduce taxes for the poor. I understand if your struggling with all this debt that you have on this gamble that you did with the houses, but hey you were gambling, and nothing good ever came out of gambling. For other low class citizens, I think that they are lazy, or don't deserve to have what Obama wants to offer, because they lost all of their stuff to various addictions. I think if someone wanted to try and make their life better, and put all the effort into making it happen, they could pull it off eventually, if not immediately. Instead of giving money to the poor and taking it from the rich, why doesn't he just put all of the effort into something productive, like trying to get more job opportunities around the nation. That would also make not just the citizens of the United States happier, but also make us a stronger and more powerful nation, with a bigger GDP. (Gross Domestic Product)

Last semester at school, I was in a global perspective class. They are full of Obama lovers and democrats, along with information about what socialist counties are. There was a girl in the class that asked, "Mrs.(name hidden), why are people saying that Obama is going to turn our nation into a socialist nation?" She said something like I have said earlier, that someone needs to take more control over our government and fix the whole stock market issue. I only got reassured by this when Obama said in his inauguration, that he was going to do that, (was about the only thing he talked about actually). Another reason why I don't think that we can become a socialist nation is that I think that he has to come flat out to the United states and say that we are going to turn into a socialist nation. I don't think he can tweak the nation rules around to make it otherwise. I also think that if he says that we are going to become a socialist nation, that we are going to break out in a revolution, just like China did when they were transferring into their socialist nation. If that happened, well, it wouldn't be good for the nation or him, so I think that it would be stupid of him to do that, and that's why I don't think he is going to.

I think that Obama and his whole, anti gun issues are bad to. (also agreeing with my mom). I understand stopping the war, and bring piece and love to other nations, but I don't think that he should have the right to take it to the next level and take away our guns because they harm people. I heard from my dad that if Obama takes away our guns, some people can not defend themselves against bad guys with guns, and though he might of taken away our guns, the bad guys will always have guns.

To rap this whole blogging thing up, something that escaped my mind is that I think it was a good thing that we got to see the inauguration at school. It was a good experience for us to see what they do. I think that they should do it every 4 years at the high schools only, because that means you only see it once while attending high school. I think that they should have done it with the other presidents. Just because they didn't do it with the last presidents, doesn't mean that it's a bad thing to do. I thought that it was a good experience, no matter what people reasons were for having us watch it.

I hope you see that I'm not completely like my mom, more normal (smiles.)

The Exciting Life and Times of Brady!

Oh what an exciting life Brady has. I decided I had better blog about his busy week.

Last week was EOC (End Of Course) finals for his first year in High School. They had two EOC finals per day and only attended 1/2 day all week. Brady is extremely smart, but studied hard and contacted his teachers by email with extra questions he needed verified. He is very responsible and wants to succeed in school. Brady currently has 2 AP / Honor classes this year. He is in advanced math and advanced science. He is very SMART!! I am really proud of him and the effort his puts in to his school work. He ended the term with one "B" and the rest "A's".

The "B" was an 88.6% in Science -- The science teacher is NOT one of his favorite teachers - actually he is really bad. He was a meteorologist and didn't like that profession or couldn't become a weatherman on TV. Then decided to teach school - hmmmm. Science has ALWAYS been Brady's favorite subject - but not this year. We have to struggle through this year with this teacher unfortunately. Brady will still do his very best. I hope the experience with this teacher will not ruin is love for Science. My fingers are crossed!

Brady has also been preparing for a piano music festival in February. He has memorized two songs already to perform. Friday we received a telephone call and an email from his music teacher. This is what it said:

Brady and Sondra,

I just got a phone call from my Festival Mentor. She was going over everything in my packet. The only thing she said was going to be a problem, was the choice song we have selected for Brady. Apparently, no arrangements can be played. It must be an original. Lots of things gave me reason to believe that the "Hallelujah Chorus" would be a great selection, but at his level, it is not! He's not yet capable of playing to full arrangement of that music by Handel. Sooo, in order to earn a Superior rating, we must change his "choice piece". I have his old Bastien level 4 books. I looked through and found an original piece written by James Bastien, that fits the criteria, and is in the same level as his required piece. I know he hates to play chords, so I chose something at the beginning of the book that was quite simple. Complexity doesn't matter to the judge, just that it fits the Festival criteria and that he plays it as perfectly as possible! I'm going to attach a copy of the song I'd recommend. My mentor must turn everything in to the board tomorrow (Saturday), and I have to have a name of a piece to give her, so if I don't hear from you otherwise, I may put this piece down, which will mean you have to learn it and memorize it! I'm sooo sorry! At least it's a lesson learned, not too late . We can still fix it...and he has time to memorize still. Thanks! Glenna

Poor Brady!!! He is in the process of memorizing another song for the festival. He didn't go with the song Glenna recommended. He spent Friday night going through his music books until he found one he liked. He wasn't too happy, but will get over it.

Then Saturday morning he was asked to give a talk on Sunday which I already posted. What I didn't post was that Br. Newby who is Glenna's husband called to see if asking Brady to give a talk would push him over he edge.... LOL!!!!!!! I told him it wouldn't and he came over and gave the assignment to him and of course Brady accepted it. Then Br. Newby (who is also our Home Teacher) asked him if he would like to go to Boondocks, now called Wahooz on Tuesday night with his two boys (aaahhhh wasn't that nice). Their oldest two boys( out of four boys) are young, 5 and 7 years old. I didn't know if Brady would really want to go with those young boys but he did. I was happy because they really look up to Brady and I knew it would be such a great experience for them to hang out with this cool big kid.

Tuesday night arrived and Brady went with them to Wahooz family fun zone. They wanted to stay until it closed, but Brady wanted to be home by 9PM because that is his bedtime (yes, he is a great kid). He called at 8:30 and I ran over and picked him up. The parking lot only had about three cars there. I mentioned that it looked like they had the place to themselves and they did.

The played miniature golf (outside in the cold) and had a super time. There wasn't anyone in front of them or in back of them. They could take their time at each hole and just enjoy it with no pressure from other players. Br. Newby said it was the best experience he's ever had.

They also played laser tag. Before Brady left, I reminded him to be extra gentle and nice to the little boys. His response was something to the effect - "Like, I don't already know that Mom?". They grow up so fast and wise... I guess I don't need to teach anymore because the teenager already knows everything -- he he!

Brady won this cute little blue, soft, fuzzy monkey from playing in the arcade section. Just a little boy at heart... It just melts my heart to see him excited about a stuffed monkey.

Last night was the Young Men's youth program at our church. They were suppose to come with three recipes that could be made within 15 minutes. I kept coming up blank on a meal you could cook that would be ready in 15 minutes. I came up with taco's, egg in toast and a cake you make in a cup in the microwave. I printed out the direction and put them in a book. I thought we could keep putting in recipes for his mission and when he is out on his own.

Taco recipe step by step.

Egg and toast and microwave cake recipes.

He actually cooked the egg in toast at Young Men's. He took the bread, butter, eggs, salt and pepper and our griddle. He tried it several times until it came out perfect. They were really shocked that he likes a runny yoke. We like over easy eggs - and they thought that was weird. I guess we march to the beat of our own drum...

Some of the other boys made; oriental dumplings, no bake cookies, quesadillas (I hope that is how you spell it), omelet, some type of homemade ramen noodles(??). He really had a great time. I love it when the Young Men program works on ways to prepare them for their life and work on their Duty to God booklet and Scout Merit badges. It makes a Mama happy!!

Brady is off to Salt Lake City this weekend - again ..... already... Such is the life of Brady in the fast lane and a frequent flier.