Eagles abound!

We went to my nephew's Eagle Court of Honor today.  It's quite the achievement.  Only 2% of boy scouts reach the Eagle Scout rank.  What a great example he set for my 2 boys.  The nice part of the evening was when all the Eagle Scouts in the audience got to stand up and say when they got their Eagle and then join the Eagle's nest.  Good Job Ryan!!  We are so proud of you!

40 isn't really all that old anymore

We went up to my parents house this weekend to celebrate my sister's 40th birthday.  She doesn't seem 40.  She just did an Ironman.  She is completely amazing!  We had a nice dinner at my parents house to celebrate.  My mom even got out the nice china and silver.  It reminded me of the dinners we used to have growing up.

She got to take a little nap while everyone else prepared dinner, which is unusual for her.  In her normal typical fashion my sister demanded, politely, that she have 40 candles on her cheesecake.  The cake looked like it was flaming on top.  Of course I didn't take any pictures!

Happy Birthday Jen!  May the next 40 be as wonderful as the last 40.

Out with the Old-In with the New

All these changes have been going on in the Afualo house during the new school year and Damon and I decided, with a little help from the chiropractor, that it was time to change our bed.

So out with our 13 year old $400 queen mattress that was sagging in the middle...

in with our new California King firm pillow top that I wish only cost $400.

 We are already sleeping better!

Blackout Lessons Learned

So our city went black on Thursday at 3:40pm.  At least that was what time it was on my computer when it happened.  It was out for 11 hours.  It wasn't that big of a deal, but I can say that because we were prepared for something like that.  We were caught off guard by a few things though and these are the lessons we want to share.

#1- when you have a feeling to do something, just do it, even if it doesn't make to much since.  Example, charging your cell phone even though it is mostly at full power.  I didn't realize how much I would be using it during the late afternoon as we tried to figure out what was going on.  Also get gas and go to the bank even if it is an out of the way errand that day.

#2- even if your house is full of candles make sure there is something to hold them.  We only have 2 candle stick holders. 

#3-always stay calm.  We were all separated right when the blackout happened.  I was just leaving for ballet with Lily, the boys were across the street at a friend's house and Damon was at work.  No on knew how wide spread it was when it first happened or I think I would have stayed home that afternoon.  Trying to get home was a nightmare and the boys got scared after they came back and no one was here.  We were able to all keep in contact with each other and set a plan in motion so there wasn't anything to panic about.  We also had ice cream before dinner which is always great!

#4- this is going to seem a little outdated, but you should always have 1 corded phone in the house.  Most of our neighbors couldn't make calls because none of their cordless phones were working and a lot of their cells were out of service or wouldn't get through.  I was able to talk to the boys when they were freaked out and had them go over to our next door neighbor's house because we do have a corded phone in the house.  They still work in power outages.

#5- it was only 11 hours.  Not that big of a deal, but we should all have an emergency plan that has power outages going for a few days/ a few weeks, just in case.

We enjoyed our extra day off from school even if it did come at a bad time.  The first week of school was tough enough trying to get the routines down and then having a day off. 

First day of School

First day of school!!  Mom and Dad were the most excited about it.  It was raining so that kind of took everyone by surprise.  It was a hard year for us with lots of new changes.  First, waking up a whole hour earlier to start the morning routine.  Second, Noah going to a different school then everyone else.  Third, having the kids leaving and coming home at all different times.

These were the only pictures I got of Noah that first day.  I don't think that he would like me following him around all day taking pictures.  He had a great first day at school and thinks it is really great to change classes.  One of his good friends is in all his classes so that was great!  He leaves at 7am with his carpool of 6 kids.

My big 4th grader and the small 1st grader.  It's so nice to belong to a community where we have been for more than 6 years.  I can see why some people settle and never leave.  Adam gets to be top dog at Jerabek now that Noah is gone.  I hope he steps up to the challenge.  He was so excited to go to school.  He didn't want us to hang out with him at his door or take pictures at his desk.  He's big now. 

Lily on the other hand didn't want us to leave.  She changed desks 3 times and burst into tears because she wasn't ready for 1st grade.  She had a great day and of course loves school.  I just think she was sad summer was over.

Everyone had a great day and were so excited to tell us all about their new experiences.  It's going to be a great year.  The sun ended up coming out after the rain.  It was hot and humid. 

A cool treat at the end of a HOT day is a great way to finish off a great day off school! 

Catch-Up of Summer

The last week of Summer flew by.  Our backpacks are loaded and there are a lot of sad faces around.  Here is all the fun we have been having the last week of summer.

Damon had two luaus up in the Inland Empire so we decided to spend some time at Mortensen Manor.  It was the hottest weekend of the summer and we spent most of the time in the pool.  

Pack Meeting BBQ-Cub Scouts took a break during the summer and to get things back into gear we started it off with a Pool Party at the Wolf Leader's house.  Loads of fun was had by all.  It's one of the best pack meetings we have planned.

DISNEYLAND!!!!-We finally made it to the magic kingdom.  We were there for two days.  Sadly, Damon did not join us, but the Shoff's did on the first day and the Mortensen's did on the second day.  The kids had a fabulous time first with their friends and then their cousins.  It was nice.  Their cousins had never been to California Adventure so that was a lot of fun taking them on all the rides for the first time.

We met some friends at the pool on Friday because I was to tired to do anything else.  We also had orientation at the Middle School that day.  We found out who out teachers were going to be at Jerabek.  It's going to be a good year.

Saturday Grandma and Grandpa came down for a visit to watch the BYU football game and to go to the symphony that night.  Adam got to join us this time.  We walked through Seaport Village to get to the concert.  We met some parrots along the way.  The symphony was wonderful and Adam enjoyed it very much.  He also loved the cannon and fireworks at the end of the Overture of 1812.

Sunday we had our special dinner (no pictures) where we set goals for the new school year as well as a new family theme.  This year it is Service.  We will see how it goes.  We are having to shift our schedules around a bit this new school year with having two different start times.  I am sure we will be able to work out all the kinks and figure everything out.

Today we had the annual Pancake Breakfast over at the park.  It started pouring towards the end so we rushed home.  We had plans to go to the beach, but we cancelled those.  We did end up going to a BBQ at our friend's house.  It was a nice end to summer even if the weather was more Spring like.

Farewell Summer!  We will miss you!