Going Back To School

It's that time of year again.  And like it has been for a few years now, Levi and Brigham had no desire to go back but Hyrum was excited.  I think for Hyrum it is about his friends now and not so much the education but hey, I'll take it!

(Levi and Brigham staging a picture by Levi's locker)

 Levi is now in Junior High.  I'm wondering when that will hit me....

 On the back to school night, we were prepared for Brigham's class.  We knew that his teacher's classroom represents OU for their college of choice.  We even had Baby Boy wear his OU onesie that Poppy Beck bought for him while we visited this summer.  But we weren't expecting this Texas/OU banner in Mrs. Nandell's classroom.  We, of course, had to take a picture for Uncle Elton.  Hehehehehehehe.......

 Hyrum's teacher chose a college in California and he just happened to be wearing a California shirt!

And then the real day came on Tuesday!

 

They all made it without too many complaints but Levi's experience surprised me the most.  He was nervous about going to Junior High for the first time.  But he really liked it.  I mean, really liked it!  That makes me so happy!

It's Great to be Eight!

 Hyrum had a very busy birthday due to the Cub Scout camp being on his birthday.  I almost postponed his and I birthday time out together because he was tired and emotional by the time we got home.  But I also knew that we had a VERY busy day on Saturday and I didn't want him to feel that his birthday wasn't important.

So, I took him to the mall so that we could watch the Minions movie together.  I must really love him because I'm weird and I don't like cartoons.  Very rarely do I actually want to watch a cartoon.  It has to be pretty darn funny for me to like it (Emperor's New Groove or The Lego Movie type of funny).  And the Minions movie wasn't that funny in my opinion but I love this boy and he was so cute watching the film.

But first I wanted to rent this motorized pig for him.  Everytime we go to the mall, he wants to ride one of these.  His birthday was the perfect time for him to try it for the first time!  He is in front of the candy machines because he put in 25 cents and got 2 gumballs out of it.  He was pretty proud of himself.

 The majority of the time he just chased this train.

The following day was his baptism. He was so excited for this.  I was nervous that he wouldn't have a good turnout because we didn't have any family coming.  But our wonderful ward stepped up, as well as some friends of ours. 

We had a busy day after that as we went to a Foster Care event and then to say goodbye to Stephen and Holly's family (they are moving to South Carolina).  We didn't end up getting home until after midnight.  I hope all that we were busy with that day didn't diminish the feeling of how important Hyrum's decision was to be baptized.  Because I am so very proud of him.  This was HIS decision to follow Jesus Christ.

Cub Scout Camp

On Hyrum's birthday, our Cub Scout troop went to Camp Fife (a little over an hour north of us).  Hyrum has been so excited that he gets to now go to scouts, but to have his first experience be a day camp and on his birthday was so very exciting to him. 

 

I didn't need to go (because we had plenty of leaders already going) and wasn't asked to go but I really wanted to for Hyrum's sake.  I almost always go to the boy's camps and I didn't want Hyrum to go by himself on his first time.  But the day before, we found out that Brigham was going to get to go after all (This was his last Cub Scout Camp since technically he is a Boy Scout now.).  Still, I wanted to go for my boys.  It was exhausting but I really am glad that we went.

 They shot BB guns. 

 And their favorite, Archery.

Brigham got 2 bullseye in a row!



 They also had classes on rocks, the importance of our ecosystems, and survival skills. 

Watching Hyrum on the rock climbing wall was one of my favorites.  He doesn't have a lot of upper body strength yet and so this was real hard for him.  But the Boy Scout that was helping him put all his weight into it to lift Hyrum up so that he could have a chance to get to the top like all the other boys.  It was real sweet of him to do that.

 

There were other things that they did and it was a long day but I have to say that I heard very little complaining coming from our 11 boys that went.  I was really proud of them all.