Scouting,,,,

The Stake put on a 2-day scout camp for the 11 year old scouts on the 11th & 12th. Troy Evans and I took the boys since their leader Bill was putting on the whole camp. It started off a little cloudy and cool, and only digressed from there.


Dylan was on staff for the camp and was in charge of the opening ceremonies as far as keeping all the scouts entertained,


The boys spent 2 days going to different stati0ns learning specific skills and performing activities that are required for different rank advancements.

Dylan was in charge of Pioneering and helped them with knots. Ry was a good student and excited to be shown skills by his big brother.





Of all the activities that were available, Rylan took to loving Archery the most.



Sunday the 13th was the quarterly court of honor... although not too many awards were handed out, the boys both got a merit badge or two and were able to participate in all the ceremony that accompanies such an event. Rylan helped present a show on Tooele for his Citizenship in the Community merit badge, so he should earn that at the next event.

Holiday Catchup

It's been a while, so I'll hit a few things at once....

The first part of December we put up the lights on the houe. I think the "U" just makes a nice touch!
The kids decorated the "Show" tree upstairs, (the one Santa doesn't put presents under), and Dylan got to help for the first time. It was just fun to watch them all working together.

Kylee was even kind enough to let Dylan put the star on the top!

A few days later, Shelly added some touches of her own with her custom stars. I'll admit, I thought it was going to be a cheesy project when she described it, but they turned out rather nice.



Shelly had the kids decorate Sugar Cookies one day after school.

We got to spend the weekend with Tiff & Trevor, and took their kids (while T&T went to their own party) to our ward Christmas Party. The kids got to see Santa, even Jace sat on Santa's lap and smiled. (Sorry for the wrong settings on that photo)


The highlight of the past week would have to be Rylan's Pinwood Derby! He says he had a fun time and the car turned out rather good as well.

Rylan's Arrow of Light

Rylan reached the pinnacle of Cub Scouting and received his Arrow of Light on Tuesday night. One of the cub leaders' dad came and did one of the coolest ceremonies I have seen.





Thanks to the Grandmas and Grandpas how braved the snowstorm to come celebrate with Ry.

Raingutter Regatta 08

Tuesday was the Cub Scout Raingutter Regatta, Rylan seemed to have a lot of fun with this event.



Rylan Raced his Golden Utah Boat against a BYU boat which made for some rather zealous cheering for both "teams" in the background.



Even Kylee got to play this one.

Bittersweet

Today is the day that we all dread at the end of every summer, the day Dylan leaves us.
Grandma & Grandpa Taylor, as well as Great Grandma Taylor came to see him at his Court of Honor tonight, and came early for pizza. Since we didn't have any other pictures with Great Grandma Taylor for this summer, we took a couple.


There was also this darling shot of Shelly and her Baby Boy!


The Court Of Honor was quite a "Haul" for Dylan. Over the course of the summer he attended 3 Camps, hiked at least 50 miles, and earned a TON of merit badges in the process; at least 10, but I didn't get the exact count. In addition to the merit badges, he earned the BSA Conservation award, his Varsity Letter and Hiking pin.

Also, he reached the rank advancement of STAR scout, and has actually completed all of the requirements for the LIFE advancement except waiting the mandatory 6 months, so he'll be eligible for that over Christmas time. Shelly gets the majority of the credit for making sure he got things done, so Thank You sweetheart! You Are The Best!!

I handed J.R. our camera to take those pictures of us while we were up with Dylan, and I get it back with this shot. LOL

Shelly and I also just had to laugh as we watched Courtney just STARE at Rylan during the evening. The starry eyed look says it all!!