Catching up again....October and November

After last year's catch up, I promised myself that I would keep the blog up to date....well, best laid plans....so here I go with a whirlwind of the last 6 months...

First, we had Halloween.  We went to Lindsi's house for dinner and had fun seeing the boys in their costumes.  Cashe is obsessed with garbage trucks, Nick and Lindsi crafted a costume to look like a green waste management truck!  It was too cute!

The cute Barber family; Nick was a garbage man, Cashe the truck and Lindsi went as garbage.  

This was Diesel's first Halloween, and he had fun wearing  his cute giraffe costume.  I was able to take him trick or treating to a few houses and he enjoyed it!

The cute Stephan family!  

Ben decided no to any sort of costume (he is after all  my boy) but Abby decided to dress up with the kids.  She was a darling Minnie Mouse.

Everyone enjoyed a pizza and soup dinner before the candy fest!  Loved spending the evening with them and seeing the boys excited for Halloween!

After Halloween, it was time for the November birthdays.  We celebrated Ben's 15th birthday on Saturday, November 10.  He wanted to start the day off  at his favorite breakfast place, Coachman's.  It's been around for years and honestly looks no different from when I went there in the 70s, but the food is actually quite good.

Nick, Cashe and Abby joined us and we celebrated with yummy pancakes.  

We had tons of snow that day, so even though it was his B day, Ben was a good sport and shoveled a bit; then he opened up his gift a new set of golf clubs and finally received an I Phone!

Not everyone could join us for breakfast, so we headed to Olive Garden, another Ben favorite, for dinner. It was a blizzard, and we had to wait forever for a table, but everyone arrived safely and we had a great dinner.

The family celebrating!  Love Jordan's face; I think he had fun:)

It must be torture to have your picture taken with you mom on your birthday! 

Happy Birthday Ben!  We love you!

Two days later, we were celebrating Lindsi's 30th Birthday!!  We started the day with breakfast at her favorite place, Pancake House. 

The Birthday Girl and Cashe at breakfast.  Can't believe my baby is 30!

Nick planned a surprise dinner at Malowi's Pizza in Provo with the family and then off to Provo Beach Resort for some fun family games.

Happy Birthday Lindsi!  We love you!

We started off trying to play a fun game of croquet, but as the pictures will show, that quickly faded and we just started being crazy.

Cashe loves to pretend he is Diesel's age and crawl. It is the funniest thing to watch; Diesel crawling around and then Cashe joins him.  They are the cutest boys ever and I just have so much fun watching them.  So lucky to be cousins!

And here we are! 

The next event  in November was a fun dessert night at Cheesecake with my ladies who served with me in primary.  After the program in September, we knew we would be released soon.  While I think it was time, almost three years, it was bittersweet too.  It was an incredible experience to be able to be with the children on Sunday and learn from them.  I had incredible counselors, secretaries (4!) and I know we will be friends forever.  

Colleen (she served with me from day one), Shauna, Stacy, Emily and Jana enjoying yummy desserts!  I love these ladies!  We were missing Natalie and Danielle.

A really nice outlet mall opened up near Lindsi's house and of course we are not one to miss an opening day of anything shopping related.  So off we went to shop and finished up with lunch at Utah's first Johnny Rocket's. 

My two handsome boys!  I just love spending time with them.

And we wrapped up the  month with Thanksgiving at our house with the entire family!  Love the holidays and so grateful the girls live close!  I know how blessed I am.

My girls!

And that ended our busy month of November!  Next up...Christmas Festivities!

Ben's Eagle Project

After our fun fall activities,  it was time to get to work on Ben's Eagle project.  Ben set a goal to have the project finished by his 15th birthday, and so it began....

Ben had very definite ideas of what he wanted to do; he wanted something that would be a lasting improvement in the community.  At first, he was going to clean up a trail in a city park and build new signage for it.  We thought it was a great project and he went through all of the paperwork and got it approved and then found out that the county didn't really want it done....He was disappointed at all of his initial hard work, but he got back to thinking of a new project.  He knew some of his buddies had done some great projects at This is The Place State Park and so he contacted them and they had a great project for him to do...but it had to be finished and in place by the end of October.  He had to get busy quickly if he wanted to make his goal by November 10.  

This was the bridge in front of the Relief Society Building that was in desperate need of replacement.  The ground is uneven, the boards were lose and it was really dangerous to walk on.

Once again, the paperwork was done and presented to the scout committee.  Yahoo...it was approved; now Ben had to figure out a way to construct it.  Brian and I committed to help him do whatever he needed, but we are not real builder types; we knew we needed some expert help.  My dear friend Amy's dad is a builder expert, and he just happened to be in town prior to his move to St. George.  A quick phone call and a dinner at Cafe Rio and we had plans a ready!  Rick was so kind to help Ben sketch out a plan, decide on materials, and organize the project.  We appreciated his help so much!  Ben organized a building night, got all the materials and recruited his buddies and scout troop to pitch in!

Ben getting the necessary materials.  Burton Lumber was great!  They gave Ben a great price, super cheap delivery and were so helpful.

Ben and Rick measuring and cutting the boards.  

 The boys begin the build

 Rick and Ben

 The walkway ended up being about 11 feet long and about 5 1/2 feet wide.  Thomas and Ben marking the spots for the nails.

 Rick and Ben getting the measurements just right.  

Ben drilling the last nail into the walkway!  Project finished.

 The guys making sure the walkway could be lifted.  It was so heavy around 500 pounds!  Thanks to Rick, Brian, his YM leader Jake and his buds and troop for all the help!

 After all that work, the guys enjoyed pizza, breadsticks and pop.  There was not one crumb left over!  They were hungry!

 A few days after the build, Ben had to  coat it with linseed oil to protect the wood for years to come.  His buds Brandon Clark and Ben Williams were great friends and came over after school to help.  Brandon and Ben are the best friends and helped Ben with every step of the project!  Thanks guys!

Now that the walkway was completed, Ben had to figure out a way to get it to the park.  We had a few trailer ideas, but it was so big that the trailers were  just not going to work.  So the night before we were supposed to place the walkway, Ben had to try and find another way to get it up there.  Jon Anderson, a great guy in our ward, came to the rescue.  He brought his big truck and helped a ton that morning!  

 Jon, Brandon, Ben W., Taylor, Bri, Mike, and Ethan ready on 1, 2 3...lift!

 Getting the walkway into the truck.  It was a perfect fit!  Thanks Jon!!!

Once at the park, the old walkway had to be removed. It was much lighter than the new one!

 

 The ground was uneven, rocky and so picks and shovels were a must in prepping the ground for the new walkway.

Ben and YM leader Clint working on the ground.

 It was a team effort to get the ground level and ready.

Jack, Mike and Ethan working away.  Ethan isn't even old enough for scouts yet, but he came with his dad to help.  What a great ward we have!

 It had rained a few days before, so the ground was quite soft.  It took about 45 minutes to get the ground evened out.  They made a few attempts at placing the walkway, but it had to be perfect, so more shoveling and picking.

Getting the walkway out of truck for the placement.

 Almost finished!

 Let's try it!

 Not quite ready; more shoveling.

 Success!  Walkway in place and perfect!

 Great guys to help Ben!  Taylor, Ben, Bri, Clint and Jon.  You are the best!

 Thanks Dad for buying the lumber and helping me so much, and thanks Mom for the many trips to the park measuring and pushing me to get this done!

 Thanks guys for all your time in helping me with the project!  You are great friends!

 The gang and the finished walkway.

 I'm done!

We had to get rid of the old walkway and so we took it to Bri's office and the boys had a fun time hitting it and breaking it apart.  Ben taking the final swing at it!

And the project is done!  Ben received a nice letter from the park and they said it was "fabulous and would be around for many years."  It was a ton of work, but worth it and Ben learned many leadership skills!  So one more merit badge to finish and paperwork to submit to scouting office and we should be having his Court of Honor after the first of the year!  Yahoo!  Great job Ben!