Frosh-Soph Track Report

Scott ran in the Frosh-Soph on Friday April 18th. He needed a 10:50 in the two mile to qualify for regionals and he ran it in 10:49! (That was his official time. His mom and his coach thought he made it in 10:47). He doesn't know yet whether he'll be able to run in regionals because it depends on who his coaches pick to run what events, but its a great accomplishment to have qualified. As Ethan says: Go Scotty boy go!

Chris's Book Review: Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters, by Meg Meeker M.D.

This is a book by an M.D. who deals with lots of teenage girls in her practice and chronicles the difficult challenges too many of them face in their lives: addictions, STDs, depression (which she strongly considers to be an STD), eating disorders, etc. It's written to inspire fathers to stand between their daughters and our frightening popular culture and show them a different way. I loved this author's point of view and values. Clearly, any book that has chapters on teaching daughters humility, or about God, is not written from the modern world's skewed perspective. There's a lot of great stories, many of them uplifting, some of them horrific, but all of them ultimately supportive of the importance of a father's traditional role in the lives of his children. A great read that I would highly recommend.

Scott's Eagle Scout Board of Review

Well, it's hard to believe it's been almost a year since Scott did his eagle project: the infamous painting of the halls at Garehime, where we discovered we had two shades of paint and had to start over on some walls halfway through. A couple of merit badges and a lot of procrastinated paperwork later, he finally was able to attend his Board of Review on Tuesday the 8th at Mountain View Hospital. Scott attended with his leader Brother McLeod with his dad waiting out in the hall. We were a little nervous when we saw he was the only one who showed up without green pants or a neckerchief, but he did have lots of extra merit badges on his sash, so we hoped that would help. The committee asked him if he had done a good turn that day and he couldn't think of any at first except having run in turns around the school for track. Then he said, "wait, I've thought of a better one, I drove a friend home from school." The committee laughed. During the private interview with the leader, Brother McLeod was asked hypothetically, if he had a 16 year old daughter, would he let her date Scott. He told us he said yes if he could come along. Actually he must have said something nicer because Scott and his dad were invited back in and congratulated that Scott had passed and was now an Eagle (or will be in 3 to 6 weeks when he gets his official confirmation back from the National BSA organization). In looking at all the pictures from Scott's Eagle Project it really is amazing and gratifying to us how many people came out to help. It's wonderful to belong to a great Church and participate in Scouting programs where these young men are given so much support from friends and adults as they try to accomplish positive things in their lives.

Track Reports

Scott had a track meet on Friday the 4th at Moapa Valley High School. It wasn't very well organized, so he didn't get to run his event, the two mile, until about 10:30 at night, after being there all afternoon and evening. He still got a personal record. On Wednesday the 9th he ran the mile and won his heat in a meet at Centennial.

General Conference Weekend

This weekend was very relaxing. Chris and I enjoyed our weekly Weight Watchers meeting and grocery shopping trip, bike rides and walks, a little yard work, and sitting around the house and listening to several talks our church leaders gave on various topics. It was uplifting to hear President Monson speak for the first time as our prophet. I love his humility, storytelling ability, his focus on the individual, and his sense of humor. His "microwave" story made me laugh. And Elder Ballard's talk about mothers was hilarious! Chris and I looked at each other when he was talking about sitting with his family in church for the first time in ten years and smiled. (Chris was just released from the bishopric so he can relate to the "cheerios getting away and the coloring books that don't entertain".) I love the fact that many of our church leaders are older men and women who have experienced the same things we are going through and that they travel the world bringing the message of Christ, peace, and comfort to all. We also enjoyed Holland's talk about prophets and how the Book of Mormon is an added testament of Christ, just like the books of the New Testament. It was a wonderful weekend and we felt uplifted and rested afterwards.

What legs look like after 6 weeks in casts

Rachel's Casts are off!!!

Today my casts came off. It feels so much better to lay in the bathtub. It feels very weird. But I can live with it. 1 bad thing is I have to stretch 2 times a day for 3 months. One of the good things is that I can touch my toes now and I get a Webkinz with 2 assessories. So long for now! -Rachel

Check out my Slide Show!

Track Report

Scott ran in the annual JV relay invitational at Palo Verde on Friday the 14th. His JV teams all did great, taking first place in the 4 x 1 mile, first place in the 4 x 800, and second place in the Distance Medley. Scott's 4 x 1 mile team set a meet record and Scott's time in that mile was a personal record of 5:13.

Manti Wedding

We loved going up to Manti to see our nephew Jared married to his beautiful new bride Jaylene. We are so excited for their future together and loved being with all the family together at the Temple.