Updates And Last Week Here!

Okay, y'all! It's late, but I wanted to say hi and just update you on a couple of details. We went to my son's final wrestling tournament of the year. The most important one. The one everybody in their conference, league, or whatever they call it wrestles against each other in their individual weight classes to see who the best wrestler's in each weight class are. Well, without too much fanfair (although I'm sure he would love some) my son, Jeremiah, beat everyone in his weight class (or at least beat those who'd beat others) and got 1st place, a golden trophy (yes, a trophy) and just the awesome feeling of being the best 120 lb junior high wrestler in our area! Yay, Jeremiah! He's totally hooked and his former wrestler daddy is pleasantly surprised, actually thrilled would be more like it! This is the first year he's shown any interest in wrestling. Josh and I agreed when we first got married, that even though we were both college athletes and obviously had had dreams of cheering our own children on in the sports we love, we would not push our children in any particular direction where extracurricular activities are concerned. We did mention to him several times, casually, when he was little, that Moscow has a pee wee wrestling club. Josh would have had him on the mat at 5 years old if he'd seemed at all interested. He was much more interesting in sports where you kicked, hit, or carried a ball in some way. Football, soccer, and of course, baseball! Many of you know my sports were Cross-Country and Track, which are basically the same thing, since all I ever did was run long distance. Okay, I tried the shorter distances as a junior high student, but I sucked as a sprinter! And that is an understatement, trust me!!! I'm of the impression, personally, that anyone who has the heart for it, can be successful as a runner. Obviously, some with certain body types will be more successful than others, but successful none-the-less. In other words, you might not take home trophies, but you won't be dead last either. I was usually somewhere in the average range, middle of the pack, when it came to running, though, I got better and won a few awards as time went on. I often wonder how far I could've gone if I hadn't let the loser I was dating before Josh talk me into quitting, but looking back does no good where that sort of thing is concerned. I made the choices I've made and I have 3 adorable children and an adorable husband to show for it, so I'd say I've done okay. I may not be the skinny little runner I used to be, but at least I can raise my children well. I must admit moving to Spokane has got me thinking about Bloomsday, which I always wanted to run in. I'm totally out of shape at the moment, but maybe I'll walk in it this year and then if that doesn't get me wanting to run again, I don't know what will! I love competition. I love having others to pace myself against! I love the crowds and the cheering and just all of it! I miss that and I think getting myself in that environment might just get me interested in running again, at least to get myself healthier. I'm not doing a very good job of taking care of God's temple as I did back then, when I didn't even think of it as God's temple! You know, except for the alcohol, marijuana, and cigarettes! Those obviously weren't good for me! I was pretty good about staying off of that stuff during track and cross-country season, though, cause I was very focused during those times. My son is planning to go out for track at his new school, just like he was planning to do here this year as well. This will be his fourth sport this year. His health teacher, after checking his vitals, dubbed him a "sports addict" and an "elite athlete." I guess he has the resting heart rate of an elite athlete! The "sports addict" thing is kind of obvious! How many kids do you know who play 4 sports a year, are obsessed with football and baseball stats and win championships there first year wrestling? Yeah, that's what I thought! Not many! My son's a stud! It'll be interesting to see what the girl's will do. So far, Chloe wants to be a cheerleader and possibly a runner. That's going to be the girl after my own heart, I'm telling you! Then, there's Angela! All she mostly wants to do is act and sing! She's my little performer. The others are somewhat interested in that themselves, but not as much as she is. She is obsessed. She didn't get a part in the Missoula Children's Theatre production (which would have made this last Saturday insane, but we'd have figured it out! We've done it before! Three kids running in three different directions. We knew this would eventually happen when we decided to let our kids pursue their own interests instead of pushing them to do what we like to do.) and even Jeremiah said at lunch on Sunday after Angela saying that even the girls that did the auditions said this was their first year in professional theatre that it was "obviously a rookie mistake, not giving my sister a part." Yep, even Jeremiah admitted after last year that Angela's an acting genius! The girl loves the stage and the stage loves her, I'm telling you! We're actually thinking about getting her to the tryouts in Spokane that are happening right after we get there, so she'll have another shot at the Missoula Children's Theatre, plus they have year-round acting groups up there, so we'll definitely get her doing a lot more performance type things. That's what she loves, so that's what we're going to help her do. She would also love to play hockey, but that gets a little too crazy for our time and budget. I've heard much about many opportunities to be in the theatre at little or no cost in Spokane. It'll be exciting to see what God has in store for us up there!

Josh headed to Spokane tonight where he's going to camp out in our house that we're renting and get on a plane tomorrow morning to fly to Tucson, Arizona with some other scouters. There's going to be a conference and a lot of golf playing going on! He deserves it! It's good that he's getting some time to relax before the big move, even if it happens to be while I'm having to finish cleaning and packing without him! I'll get my chance this summer while the kids are all at camp with Josh! I know I'll be spending at least a week or two at home by myself, so it'll all work out. We'll each get our time of rest and relaxation, which is going to be much needed after this crazy year! I'm looking forward to it, but right now I need to get some sleep! I've got to get the Champion and his sisters up tomorrow morning for school by myself :)

Chief Kamiakin District Is A Quality District

This plaque represents all of the hard work Josh did in the first year and a half with the Boy Scouts of America in the Chief Kamiakin District. We sacrificed him a lot, especially towards the end of 2010 for him to accomplish this. And of course, he sacrificed as well. You can't even imagine the hours he put in for this to happen! I really appreciate the work that he does. I find that a lot of people do not understand his job and don't think it is healthy for a family. But I disagree. We just have to operate different hours than others. Most people assume that because he's not home for dinner most of the time that he's never home. That is not true. He often gets to take an hour or two off in the middle of the afternoon. Instead of dinner dates, we have lunch dates. Instead of being at the kids evening events where everyone else is, he can sometimes be found at the park with the kids right after school, helping Jeremiah with his baseball skills and playing witht the girls. He'll take them out for ice cream or whatever, in the middle of the afternoon. And, of course, occasionally, he is able to take an evening or weekend off and spend with us. He's pretty happy to realize that he is completely open this weekend for the start of Jeremiah's baseball season! Of course, we do have challenges, where the kids have to sacrifice as well. For instance, my girls would love to play softball this year, but they're season starts later than Jeremiah's and doesn't end until the end of July. We, unfortunately (or fortunately, however you choose to see it) have to go to Camp Grizzly in mid-June and will not be back until mid-August. Gas prices are just too high for me to be running them back and forth on an almost daily basis. Even once a week isn't possible. We survive the summer, because the camp feeds us, because we have to drop the second job for the summer, that provides our grocery budget. It's a sacrifice and many don't understand, but anyone could have a normal husband with a normal job, but I'm light years away from normal!!!!

More Pics of Boy Scout Stuff

Silly boy! We don't want to see you! Just your accomplishments! Okay, okay! I admit it! I want to see you! You're pretty cute, but could you move out of the way so we can see your accomplishments, you big show-off! Thank you! I do not for the life of me remember what that merit badge was for! Sorry! The five ribbons, which he got all five possible. These were special awards only offered for the year 2010, the Boy Scout Centennial year. They are for outdoors, Achievement, Character, Service, and Leadership. I wish I could remember what the merit badge was for. I have no idea what he had to do to earn these. If I had, I might have actually known he was going to get them.

This is his troop. I'm not sure I got a single picture where they were all looking at the camera.

Okay, in this one I think they were intentionally being silly, but seriously this is generally what happens when you try to take their pictures!

Jeremiah's Court Of Honor

These are some pictures from Jeremiah's Boy Scout Court of Honor this week. He's the short, skinny one with the glasses.

Here you can see his head on the other side of the dark curly haired kid. He didn't stay on the stage long enough for me to take a good picture of him, getting his award. Although, I just noticed that if you look real close you can see his name on the list of kids who got that merit badge on the overhead there.

And of course, these are all of the officers in his group. He's the historian.
And he's not the shortest one in this picture. Thank you, Wil, for being shorter than my son!