Matthew Plays Volleyball (Freshman yr spring 2021)

Matthew tried out for and made the High School JV team. 

He is pretty excited.

There were 15 people on the team which seams like A LOT to me and means not very much playing time when it comes to games.

I did get to watch him since I was willing to keep the scorebook, I was allowed to come into the building. There were no spectators allowed, other than those parents that were helping.

We only played against our own district so it is a good thing that we had an even amount of high schools that all have boys volleyball teams. 

This is sadly the only picture I got of him.

They had to wear masks while inside the building so that means practice and games.

 

Allison Made EAGLE RANK!!! (June 30, 2022)

 At the ripe old age of 13, Allison went up for her Eagle Board of Review. She has had all of her required 21 merit badges for almost a year now, so it has mostly just been waiting on time that is required in Star, and Life ranks to achieve Eagle.

Allison did her Eagle project on April 9, 2022 and after fixing a few situations was able to get all of turned into the Richmond Animal Care & Control (RACC). It took a very long to time do her paperwork but she finally got all of it done and turned in on May 30th of this year. She was the sixth girl to turn in all of her paperwork out of all the girls that are in her troop. Even though she started scouts 9 months after girls were allowed to be in scouts, she was still the 6th Eagle!!

At that point they were STILL only doing virtual Board of Reviews and they were only doing them on Monday and Wednesday nights. PROBLEM!!!! Allison (and Michelle) were on TWO summer swim teams this year they had swim meets on Mondays and Wednesdays!!!! So that was a hindrance to getting her Board of Review done. They finally started doing in person Eagle Board of Reviews and so she was scheduled for Thursday, June 30, 2022. I was hoping and praying that our Wednesday night swim meet didn't get postponed to Thursday night because that had already happened twice this swim season. 

Thankfully, Thursday, June 30th came and we were all set for Allison's Eagle Board of Review.

We had some awesome people from her troop that were on her Board of Review. We may or may not have hand picked them.

She had:

 Jacquelyn Ambrose...her daughter and Allison are best friends:)

Brad Bateman....he was Matthew's scoutmaster when Matthew moved from our church troop into a community troop. He was on most of the campouts that Allison was on and he knew how awesome she was, especially at knots and so many other things. He also knew that we are LDS and that not many LDS people continued in scouting after our church pulled out of it. He has been so impressed that Allison is LDS AND a girl AND in scouts! He has been saying for the past 3 years that he wants to be on Allison's Eagle Board of Review, so we made that happen.

Stephanie Hyra....her daughter is a younger scout in Allison troop, but then her other daughter is only about 9 and she was on Allison's 2nd swim team. Allison taught her how to swim butterfly.

Then of course, Allison's INCREDIBLE Scoutmaster, Jennifer Bateman was right there by her side.

Allison passed with SOARING colors!!!!

I got a picture with these awesome people.

There were also 3 other people from the council but I don't know them.

These are from left to right

Stephanie Hyra, Jacquelyn Ambrose, Allison Thomas, Jennifer Bateman, and 

Brad Bateman

This was the first in-person Eagle Board of Review that Allison's Scoutmaster had ever done before!

There were 3 other scouts that did their Eagle Board of Review that night as well. The Scoutmaster's daughter definitely skipped a big line to get that spot considering she didn't even get her paperwork turned in until the Saturday before, and it is suppose to take at least two weeks for all of that to even happen.

Allison was the first one out of her Eagle Board of Review so she was the 6th one from her troop to earn Eagle!! To think that she was the youngest by over 2.5 yrs when she first started. She was probably around the 20th girl to join the troop that first start up year, and yet she is the 6th Eagle!

Michelle's 8 Year Measurements

 Michelle turned 8 and we had her check-up 4/19/23.

Weight: 82.2 (96%)

Height: 52.25 (63%)

Blood Pressure: 98/62

20/20 vision

Ears: passed

No shots!

Michelle's 7 year old measurements

 Michelle had her 7 year old check-up about 5 weeks after she turned 7. It was on April 13th.

Weight: 69.2lbs (95th %) she was 96% last year

Height: 49.5" (74th %)

Blood Pressure: 96/54 

Eyes: 20/20

Ears: ------- not so sure about this one, she struggled a bit.

Zomberee Campout

I thought that Allison would want to go to all of the camp-outs but I learned that this one she did not want to go on. I thought it was just a "fun" name not a "real" name. It was more "real" than either of us wanted it to be. Her scoutmaster doesn't like any of this scary Halloweeny type stuff either, so she would watch over her but I opted to go with them. With all of the Covid guidelines they couldn't camp for two nights so we left Saturday morning to drive an hour to the camp sight. Since we try not to camp on Sunday nights, she/we didn't even bring any tents or any type of camping stuff. She really doesn't like when she has to do that because she feels like she doesn't have a "home". I try to let her stay until it is lights out and then that is when I take her home. It is harder when it is here because this campsight is way out in the woods and an hour away.

I was glad that I could be there with Allison so I knew what happened. I really do enjoy going on these campouts, actually I just don't enjoy paying usually $25 for me and another for Allison when she isn't even there the whole time, and neither am I, AND for me, they like to do like prime rib, and fancy foods like that and I just don't like those types of food. I would rather just bring my own food, and pay $0.

There was an escape room that Allison was FREAKED out about. She was scared what they would do with her friends. The unknown was what really got her.  It was actually a pretty cool escape room that made the scouts remember things like the Scout oath, or law, or other Scout type things that they should always know, including the correct way to fold the flag. Apparently Allison's troop was the only troop that folded the flag properly the first time!! Awesome and really sad all at the same time.

There was only one time that they didn't know something and it had something to do with the history of scouts or something like that, nothing that they talk about on a regular basis. 

The day was pretty good and not scary, the girls had fun, but then in the late afternoon, "the zombies" were supposed to come and the scouts were supposed to get their campsites ready so they they wouldn't be able to get in.

Some of the girls painted their face really grossly. Some wore clothes that looked like they had blood on them and torn up, they put "blood" on axes and other tools, you know the creepy Halloweeny type stuff. It was just gross and Allison nor I enjoyed it. Some of their face paint was WAY too real looking.

At the very end of the night they had a "brain" eating contest or something like that.

Allison had NO desire to go to it, so she and I stayed back to make sure the fire didn't go out. We actually built a really big fire and it was really fun. The girls came back to an nice big fire.

One of the girls brought these brain cupcake and bone cupcakes for us:)

 My battery was almost completely dead went I thought would be fine in the fine once we got in the car, it would charge as we drove home. When we got in the car to go home, I realized that I didn't have the charging wire. Either Allison or I had cleaned out my car and removed it and didn't put it back. I HAD to have it in over to get us out of there and back home. I had NO idea how to get home. I had like 1% or 2% battery left when got in the car. I was VERY worried we would not make it home. I was very cautious with my power and I also had Allison pray for us that the batter would last us until I knew where we were and would be able to get home by myself. Thankfully we made it out of those back woods and made it home.