'Iron Chef' Sam

Sam was in charge of his first troop's activity, which had to involve food. They decided to do an "Iron Chef" competition, where you have to cook something with "secret" ingredients--and the catch was to make it palatable.

 

So, a couple of weeks ago at Scouts, they had to all bring ingredients, which ended up being hamburger, potatoes, carrots, random spices (including cumin and cinnamon) and candy corns. The 'secret' ingredients ended up being ANCHOVIES and whole OYSTERS. Then two teams (older vs. younger) had to make a dinner out of them over a campfire, and then the dinners were judged by scout leaders and Eagle scouts. Sam was IN CHARGE of it, so he supervised and did not participate in the actual food preparation.

 

 

The 'younger' boys made hamburger patties (with anchovies/oysters mixed in), with mashed potatoes and candy corn on top. The 'older' boys did a 'goulash' of the ground beef, carrots, spices and anchovies/oysters in a frying pan, mashed potatoes and then they used the candy corns for decorations.

 

 Sam had to explain everything to the judges, who then got the PRIVILEGE of eating the creations, and guessing what the "SECRET" ingredients were, and choosing a winner in the Iron Chef Competition.

 

 

The 'older boys' won the competition -- their creation just LOOKED so festive! :o)

 

Sam then showed his "IN CHARGE-NESS" by helping cleanup the event.

 

 

A good time was had by all...

Grayson's Eagle Project

Grayson has been working on his Eagle Scout Project since July, and finally completed it this past weekend (well not ALL the way complete, but almost).

 

His project came of a request from a missionary couple from our Stake, Joe & Janice Maples, who are serving in the Honolulu, Hawaii mission. They have been asked by the mission president to basically be BYU-Hawaii student Ambassadors for the incoming international students who work at the Polynesian Cultural Center (I-Work Students). Because many of them come from very poor countries, they arrive with NOTHING, and until they can work for their first paycheck, have NOTHING to get them started. So the mission has begun collecting school supplies, bed linens, personal hygiene items, clothing, food items, etc. to help these students get their college careers off to a good start.



He covered several collection boxes and put them in chapels and businesses, sent weekly email reminders to Relief Society Presidents, made announcements and solicited the help of several other scouts and youth in making announcements verbally and placing in ward bulletins, made collections, wrote thank you notes, and kept track of items and monetary donations until the final ship date.

Last Saturday, Oct. 13th, Grayson recruited about 15 people to come to the stake center and help sort, count, package and ship all the items.

Then we took ELEVEN large boxes, totaling 2640 items to the Post Office and shipped them to Hawaii!

After getting everything shipped, we went out for CHINESE FOOD to celebrate, and this was Grayson's "fortune":

I was very proud of him -- and I think he ended up being very proud of himself for completing this project. He still has collection boxes at three businesses, and two chapels through the end of October, then he will send those items, and write up his project for the Eagle Board of Review.

Whew! I feel a Driver's License coming on....!

General Conference Authors

First things first -- it really was a GREAT GENERAL CONFERENCE!

On Saturday, the boys had soccer, and Steve and I went to the wedding of his good friend from work, Garner Cagle, so we missed the first session. But when we all got home, we Googled it, and watched a press conference in session -- we found that a major change was made at the morning session: the age that missionaries can leave for their missions has been changed from 19 to 18 for BOYS and from 21 to 19 for GIRLS! This is amazing!

(Images like these were all over Facebook. Gotta love the immediacy of social media! :o)

 

I particularly enjoyed Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's talk about discipleship, and how if we truly love the Savior, we will leave whatever it is that is keeping us from Him.

 

 

There were so many wonderful messages shared!

 

* Henry B. Eyring -- "God is never hidden."

* Linda K. Burton -- "Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister."

* President Monson -- "Mundane things end up being the extraordinary things."

* Robert D. Hales -- "We must leave our worldly habits and forsake them straitaway (as did Peter)."

* Russell Oglesthorpe -- "Knowing, doing, becoming..."

* Daniel L. Johnson -- Prosperity as a challenge

* David A. Bednar -- "Knowing the gospel is true is the essence of testimony. Being true to testimony is the essence of conversion."

 

And the prior weekend, the General Women's Broadcast was FULL of wonderful talks and inspiration. It was great to get to know our new General RS Presidency a little better...Sister Linda K. Burton, President; Carol Stevens, 1st Counselor; and Linda Reeves, 2nd Counselor.

 

So...between CONFERENCE Sessions, we played the game of "Authors." I love this game! It reminds me of when I was a kid and we would play it together as a family. And it's the only way I know that Robert Louis Stevenson wrote "Kidnapped" and "Treasure Island." And "Charge of the Light Brigade" was written by Alfred Lord Tennyson. And don't forget, "House of Seven Gables" and "The Scarlet Letter" were written by Nathaniel Hawthorne! Yes, it makes me feel like such a scholar.

 

 

Good times...!

Homecoming 2012

This was Homecoming week at Centennial High School. Grayson was involved in building the Junior class float for the parade, and other activities throughout the week. CHS  played Cane Ridge High School for Homecoming on Friday night. Grayson went with a big group of friends, tailgated, and had a great time. The game was apparently a very exciting one, with the Centennial Cougars winning by one point in a TRIPLE OVERTIME!!

The Homecoming Dance was on Saturday. Grayson didn't ask a date, but he went with a big group of friends to the Dance. Some of them were on dates, but most of them were just part of the big group. They went to dinner at Nacho's, and then to the dance. He said they had a great time...

 

Happy October!