jared's arrow of light

last night jared received his arrow of light award from cub scouts.  they do a ceremony where the parents put white feathers in the boys' headbands and then paint stripes on their face.  each color represents things to boys have learned in scouting. 

then they gave each boy an arrow and lit the end on fire.

l to r: isaac hooley, jared, tyrel harris, cole talley, trevin mansfield

then each boy's arrow is extinguished as a symbol of them leaving cub scouts.  five boys received their arrow of light in last night's ceremony.


very proud of jared and excited for him to move up to "new scouts" where his dad is the assistant new scout leader.

then we quickly had to leave for jared's football game.  more on that later.

clara opens a couple presents

the day after clara's birthday, we went over to grandma and grandpa carter's house and she was super excited to open her presents.

love her smile in this picture!

 clara got 2 new pairs of much-needed shoes - tennis shoes and black church shoes

showing off her new church shoes

our baby turns 2.... *sob

our littlest lady the day she was born...

on her first birthday...

and this past saturday on her second birthday (enjoying an ice cream cone)

we spent a quiet birthday with clara and just our family.  we went present shopping and then out to lunch and finished up with shakes and ice cream.  we sure do love this little girl!

a weekend in wy at trek training

nathan and i went to pioneer trek training at martin's cove this past weekend with two other couples from our ward.  it took about 6 hours to get there.  we stayed at a cabin about 10 miles away from the cove and it was super dark when we got to the area so we were super glad that we had someone meet us at the turn off and show us where to go down the dirt road.

when we pulled up we saw this and thought, how far is it back to town?

turns out that is not where we were staying.... our accommodations were perfect for us.  it was a one room cabin with a loft.

bro morgan in the loft

 the kitchenette and doorway to the bathroom.

the next morning we got up and drove to independence rock because we had some time to kill before the training started.

there were rabbits everywhere!

then we headed over to martin's cove for our training.  we got registered and signed in and still had some time before it started so we checked out their humanitarian center which they had also converted to a showcase of things other trekker groups had done and given to the kids while on their treks.

this is the sewing room.  they make quilts all day!  the organization was amazing.

 all the buttons organized

all the patterns

 necklaces made from buttons - strung together by crocheting.

after a brief introduction,  we started trekking.

nathan, kent and mike get ready to push and pull

nathan and kent pulling our handcart

nathan on the trail at handcart parking

debbie being pulled in a rickshaw

 the missionary couples were awesome!

a skit the missionary couples put on to show "what not to wear" while on trek

back at the cabin that night, oscar came to visit.  read more about oscar here.

school started

 

we lose a few things around here

before school officially started, we lost a few things...

isaac had a couple of warts removed from his thumb

all amelia will want for christmas this year is her two front teeth...

getting ready for the tooth fairy to come!

amelia's dance show-off

amelia finished up her summer dance class with a dance show-off on august 15. they did a hip-hop dance and a more modern/ballet dance.

at the end all of the kids got a medal and a certificate. 

amelia and her dance teacher