blue and gold?

with a theme like chinese new year it was more like the red and gold banquet. i have been switching back and forth with the two cameras and when i uploaded pictures tonight i realized that i totally skipped over this part of my week. i am the webelos leader in my ward and was in charge of decorations. i realized that i am the only leader there without a cub scout now that spencer has graduated. is it just me or is pack meeting painful enough that you should only have to attend if you have a child in there? i haven't minded being the webelos leader, it's been a good calling for me because now i really understand the cub scout program and i have had some really great boys but i still hate pack meeting, it's such a waste of time! ok, negative rant over. i have this cute friend jen in my ward who just always makes me laugh and smile whenever i talk to her because she is so real and colorful. i just love her. while we were decorating for the dinner in the morning she decided that we needed a gong of some kind for the boys to ring when they earned an award. i thought it was a funny idea but where would she find something like this? a few hours later at pack meeting she showed up with a giant brass plate she found at the DI, drilled holes in, made tassels and used them to hang the "gong" from a big stick! what the hey? she also found a giant wooden spoon which the boys used to ring it! i couldn't believe it, i could never pull anything like this off! i love people like this! i didn't get a good photo of the gong, dangit, but you get the idea. speaking of awesome women, my sister in law jenny made this dragon. herself. with scissors. without a pattern. out of butcher paper! what the hey?because i wasn't blogging last year, i did not post pictures of the most fantastic hawaiian decorations she made out of butcher paper which were so great they were used at: our extended family "hawaiian" christmas party, her ward's blue and gold banquet, my ward's blue and gold banquet, another ward in my stake's b&g and a birthday party! (and i still have most of it down in the basement ready for the next hawaiian themed party that comes along.) the thing that makes them so cool is all the details she puts into them, like eye lashes and nails on the claws. i gasped when i unrolled this dragon! she always tells me that the only talent she has is making banana bread. whatever! this is the coolest thing i've ever seen and i kept getting comment after comment about it all night long. keep in mind in this picture that those are doorways underneath it to give you and idea of how big it is. the body and the head are two separate pieces, again it was the coolest thing ever! i'm hoping this will be my last pack meeting until ethan turns eight because of my new girls camp director calling. it will take a while to replace me but i'm trying not to "sit on my trunks" while i wait.

**do you hate pack meeting?

have you ever been the webelos leader?

could you make a gong in a few hours from things you found at the DI or a chinese dragon out of butcher paper?**

good job spencer!

You may not know that I am the Webelos leader in my ward and have been so for a little over a year now. It would not have been my first pick of a calling but I jumped in not knowing anything and finally feel like I have my feet underneath me. So far I have graduated out eleven boys who all earned their Webelos and Arrow of Light awards, no small task. Every time one graduates I take pictures and give them to the boy with a congratulations card I made in Photoshop because it is a very big deal. Well, Tuesday Spencer earned his Webelos and Arrow of Light Awards (along with three other boys) and would you guess that for the AofL ceremony closest to my heart I FORGOT my camera! DUH! So, I'm documenting now how proud I am of Spencer and his efforts to do this, it was not easy, but he did it and I'm so happy for him. Luckily, because he was not the only one receiving the award, cameras were flashing all over the place and several offered to share pics with me. I'll post later if that ever comes true, but for now....GO SPENCER! You rock buddy!

letting go...

So, I should've snapped a picture, I know that there was at least one taken by someone else but that's not doing me any good right now. This morning I helped drive the Scouts up into the Uintas to back pack the grand daddy lakes, whatever they are. Taylor has been working on packing his huge pack (about thirty-five pounds once we were done) this week and this morning was finally check in time. He was very excited about going, he has some great friends in this ward and he knew from other camp-outs that they would have a fun time. However, I'm kind of struggling with letting him go. It's a week with no parents, and I worry way too much. I don't even worry about normal stuff, I'm sure he'll have enough to eat, I know he'll have fun, but what about that heavy pack? Is he going to be able to carry it without suffering? It's the suffering thing that gets me. Is he going to be warm enough? Is his poncho big enough to keep him dry...maybe I should've water proofed his shoes...how are all of those preservatives going to affect his stomach...is two pair of socks really enough...is he going to be lonely or scared at night? Seriously, I know I'm being ridiculous, but I can't help it. I did do a good job of mostly hiding it infront of Taylor though, but I'm sure he could sense it anyway because he knows me too well. He kept saying, "I promise to use hand sanitizer mom, don't worry", even though I only reminded him ONCE (and that was some serious self control going on right there). Anyway, I know that Tom Page is a phenomenal Scout Master and I trust him with all the boys' lives because he is a very capable and caring man. BUT Taylor is my baby no matter how old he happens to be. So today I'm just trying to keep busy and forget that he isn't here. It's hard, this letting go thing.