Our Second Eagle Scout

Today we celebrated Aaron's accomplishments in Scouting!

We set up a table highlighting a few of his talents:
singing, Shakespearean acting, studying the classics and nature photography.
We recalled the service he has given to our community.
We watched a slide show of his life that made us cry.

We rejoiced in the growth we see in our family.

We shared our joy with our family and many friends.

Aaron's Eagle Scout Award was presented by his Boy Scout mentor, his grandpa Bob.
Thanks to my dad, all of his sons are Eagle Scouts.
Now he is helping his grandsons on the trail to Eagle!

We are grateful for everyone who has helped Aaron grow and progress as a Scout.
It is an important step on the path to becoming a man of God.

Friday at the Temple

We arrived at the temple to find it completely covered with scaffolding. You can click on the link to see what it looks like, but I'm including a prettier photo that Marianne took a few weeks ago.
The outside may have looked a bit funny, but inside
the spirit was as peaceful and strong as ever.

My parents and my sister have been hard at work on our family history. Today was payday because we got to go to the temple for our ancestors. The kids were baptized for our relatives on my Dad's side of the family. We all participated in the confirmations. It was Evan's first time at the temple and he was thrilled to be there. Apparently we have some very patriotic family members because some of them were named "George Washington" and "Andrew Jackson". David even got to help a couple who wanted their work performed in Spanish.
It was a lovely experience to be inside the temple with so many members of my family. Here is the whole group except for our photographer Marianne.

Molly, Ryan and Brianne joined us later for dinner and funny faces!

There is still plenty of work to perform and I look forward to more days at the temple with my family!

Our Anniversary

It's been 23 years!

My wonderful husband just keeps getting better.
He even massages my tired feet at the end of the day.

He knew that our weekend would be too busy to celebrate,
so he planned a little getaway during the week.
We stayed at this great hotel.

The weather was perfect and we ate dinner and breakfast outside.
We had a fabulous seafood dinner and I even tried a piece of his ahi. I am not a fan of raw fish, but since it was our anniversary I sampled it. He said it was delicious. I believe it because my shrimp and crabcakes were wonderful!
We went to see "Letters to Juliet" even though
he would have preferred "Iron Man."
I am so grateful for my husband and for
the opportunity to spend a few hours alone with him!

As You Like It

Here are a few action shots by Aaron
from our tropical performance
of Shakespeare's As You Like It!

Rosalind (in blue) and Celia (Marianne in red)
aboard the cruise ship.

Since we had a class of 14 girls and 3 boys,
we had to change the gender of most of the characters.
Our feminine version of Touchstone was modeled after the Chiquita banana lady!

The girls are happy as they plan their escape
from Celia's cruel mother Captain Freda.

Worn out after reaching the island of Arden.

My niece Emma as the lovestruck Phebe

Evan decorating as part of the stage crew

All ready for our wedding on the beach

A celebration dance after the marriages

This close up shows you why my beautiful daughter is not allowed
to wear makeup until she is 30!

It also shows how tired I am after 7 week of rehearsal!

It really was a wonderful experience for me.
We have amazing scholars in our class.
How many 12 -15 year olds can perform Shakespeare?!
They understood what they were saying and it showed in their performance.
I am grateful for their dedication and for their hardworking parents.

I am also grateful for my patient husband who supported me
while I spent 20 -50 hours per week on this production.

Finally, thanks to my sister Jenny who was the world's best producer.
She put in at least as many hours as me!

Gifts

My kids gave me the gift of playing this math game without complaining

(well not too much anyway).

Aaron received this long awaited gift for his
birthday/graduation present.

Marianne gave us the gift of delicious jam
made from freshly picked strawberries.

And I'm giving YOU the gift of not having to look at
that ugly centipede any longer!

What gifts did you receive today?

Centipede

We came home tonight after our performance of As You Like It to find this disgusting creature in our hallway. Evan actually started yelling when he found it. When he caught it in a paper cup it played dead, which was kind of cool! But then it started wiggling all those little legs and pinchers and started climbing up the side of the cup.

I want to know how it got upstairs in my house! Yuck!

You're Invited!

Set on the island of Arden, this show is filled with tropical costumes, music and dancing. Please join us for some island fun!

Millennial Scholar Academy

Presents

William Shakespeare’s

As You Like It

Friday May 21, 2010

at 7:00 pm

Saturday May 22, 2010

at 3:00 pm

North County Church of Christ

130 Woodward Ave.

Escondido

$5 per person/ $20 per family