December 2014 Campout

We had a pretty motley crew this month. From left to right; Stetson Hill, Bro. Wheeler, Carson Hill, Cole Jolley, Cole Cooper, Bro. Burke, Braeden Palmer, Spencer Green, Si Gummow, Cade Reynolds, in front, Bro. Burks two sons, Connor and Terrence. We also had 2 guest fathers come and really appreciate that. Those fathers were Bro. Gummow and Bro. Green. Thanks for coming. 

September 2014 Campout

After meeting at the church at 5:30 Friday afternoon, we made our way to Fall Creek. For those of you who may not know where that is, it is just before Swan Valley. 

We were talking in the parking lot before leaving and thought it would be fun to stop and get a pizza from a place in Ririe that we had heard about. The pizza place is called Stop Light Pizza, and it is very good as you will see below. 

"HOLY COW!"  This thing is HUGE!!  32 inches. We had no problem putting it all away though. 😃

We are so fortunate to live in such an awesome place, where we can be less than an hour away from places like this. 

These were the three boys that were willing to suffer the rain with us. "Left"-Mason Marley, "Center"- Cade Reynolds, "Right"- Cole Cooper.   "You Guys Rock!" 

What a "WET" weekend!

Special thanks to Maylin Reynolds and Andrew Hufford for coming up with us, we are always happy to have a bigger bunch. 

August 2014 Campout

What a fun weekend!  We met at the church on Friday night and only had 2 boys show up, (Cade Reynolds and Mason Marley). We headed out to Firth and decided to stop at Alberto's on the way to get burritos for dinner. It started to downpour while we were in eating and we thought, oh man it is going to be a rainy, wet night. Mason and Cade decided that they were going to sleep under a tarp, so they found a tree to set up under to help block any rain that we may have. Jeremy and Clint set up their hammocks and we were ready for bed. We got a nice fire going and sat around it for a while enjoying the very unexpected weather we were having. Much to our surprise we had stars to look at for a few hours until we went to bed. We ended up getting a little drizzle of rain during the night for a minute but other than that pretty dry. 

Here are Jeremy and Clint's tents. 

Mason and Cade under their tarp. 

This was Saturday morning. We had a small fire and were cleaned up pretty quick. The tree to the left of the fire is what the boys slept under. What a couple of studs. We sure do love going with these boys and appreciate the fun times we get yo enjoy together. 

Well until next month....

Treasure Mountain Scout Camp - July 7th - 12th

 Day 1 - The DREADED Swim Checks.  What a beautiful day for swimming!

The water was suprisingly warmer than we all expected.

We got the tour of camp and then learned about "Chief's Rock."  See photo below

Braden who is our Senior Patrol Leader made a chore list so that all of the boys had a turn to cook, clean, take the food bucket back to the commissary.  Braden has done such a good job as SPL and we will miss having him in our group!

 

Spencer Green chopping some wood for the fire.  He and Mason Marley are new to our troop and we are glad to have them and are looking forward to many good times and laughs with them. 

What kind of Scout Camp spot would it be without our own American Flag right in camp.

 This was a panoramic picture from the opening flag ceremony on day 1.

This man was telling the story behind the Tetons and Table Mountain.  Pretty fun having him dressed for the story, as you can imagine the story is about Indians.

This was our crew that went in the canoes to do the Battle of the Tetons tryout's.  The camp is divided into East and West sides.  The West side camps go one day and they take the last 4 troops that get swamped.  The East goes another day and does the same thing, then on Friday afternoon they take the teams from the East and West and swamp each others boats. This is a game that they have been playing here at Treasure Mountain since the beginning of time.  The camp opened in 1936 and is considered the most valuable scout camp in the nation because of it's location.

This was the scoutmaster white leg contest at the morning flag ceremony on Wednesday.  Clint almost had it until some really old guy came up and had legs that looked like they had Mayo on them.

Wood Carving Merit Badge.  This was quite a hit. These guys get pretty creative.

 Cole and Trevor working on their Archery Merit Badge.

This is a fun song that they got to do at Flag Ceremony on Thursday night.

This was at the start of the Honor Trail.  This is a small hike where they have staff members spread out along the trail and each one of them talks about 1 point of the scout law.  It is a really reverent and humble hike.

So we had 3 troop friends this year and all girls.  This was a little different for us as we have never had a girl troop friend yet, but it was good.  They were very helpful and good girls.  Their names were Laura, Beth, and Emma.  They are there as part of the scouts Venture Program which is a coed program that boys and girls can be a part of from ages 14 to18. 

The Boys got the spirit stick at Thursday Morning's flag ceremony.  The staff named it Delila.

 

Here is our group from Left to Right:

Tyken Stibal, Christian Ulrich, Cole Cooper, Mason Marley, Carson Hill, Braden Palmer, Cade Reynolds, Spencer Green, Stetson Hill, and Trevor Klingler

 

Jared Hill helping some of the boys with their Archery Merit Badge.  We sure appreciate Jared taking time out of his busy schedule to come and stay with us for most of the week.  It really means a lot not only to the boys but to the leaders to have the extra help.  Thanks Jared!
 

 This was at our troop shoot that we scheduled for Thursday night.  The boys have to shoot and build up 160 points for the merit badge so it was a good place to catch up on some of that.

 

This was the Order of the Arrow "Call out Ceremony."  We had 6 boys from our group get called out to be a part of the Order of the Arrow which is really cool.  They are voted on by their peers in their group and must be at least a first class scout.  Congratulations to Christian Ulrich, Braden Palmer, Cole Cooper, Trevor Klingler, Carson Hill and Stetson Hill.  See below pictures for more info about OA.

The Mission and Purpose of the Order of the Arrow

For more than 90 years, the Order of the Arrow (OA) has recognized Scouts and Scouters who best exemplify the Scout Oath and Law in their daily lives.  This recognition provides encouragement for others to live these ideals as well.  Arrowmen are known for maintaining camping traditions and spirit, promoting year-round and long term resident camping, and providing cheerful service to others.  OA service, activities, adventures, and training for youth and adults are models of quality leadership development and programming that enrich and help to extend Scouting to America's youth.

Mission

The mission of the Order of the Arrow is to fulfill its purpose as an integral part of the Boy Scouts of America through positive youth leadership under the guidance of selected capable adults.

Purpose

As Scouting’s National Honor Society, our purpose is to:

• Recognize those who best exemplify the Scout Oath and Law in their daily lives and through that recognition cause others to conduct themselves in a way that warrants similar recognition.
• Promote camping, responsible outdoor adventure, and environmental stewardship as essential components of every Scout’s experience, in the unit, year-round, and in summer camp.
• Develop leaders with the willingness, character, spirit and ability to advance the activities of their units, our Brotherhood, Scouting, and ultimately our nation.
• Crystallize the Scout habit of helpfulness into a life purpose of leadership in cheerful service to others. 

This guy was hanging around camp on Friday.  It was pretty fun to see him come in to camp.

So when you get the spirit stick you are supposed to do something to it and return it the next morning at flag ceremony.  Here is a picture of the spirit stick after our boys and troop friends got done with it.  They also changed her name from Delila to Ladasha, spelled L-A.

They boys had the opportunity to do the flag ceremony on Friday morning which is also part of the responsibility when you get the spirit stick.  Good Job Guy's!!

 Some of us brought out hammock's that we made for last month's camp out.  Spencer kept spinning around in circles in it until his rope broke.

Clint and Jeremy chose to sleep in theirs all week.  Even through the constant downpour on Tuesday night and part of Friday night.

Here is Clint taking a small afternoon nap.

 

Here is Jeremy taking a small afternoon rest.

 

 

So Friday nights Flag Ceremony/Parents night resulted in ALOT of rain which forced them to bring everyone into the lodge to finish up.  None of us thought that we would fit and I am not sure if everyone actually came but somehow we all fit and it turned out to be a pretty good time.  They did a lot of songs and skits and also did a Flag Retirement for 3 flags at the end, which is always a very humbling experience.  Below is our boys doing their "girl scout" skit  that night.

 

 

 

 

 Lots of Runoff.  This stuff is REALLY cold!!

 

 

 

 

Cole at the Camp wide games on Friday.

Here is a picture with the Grand Teton and Table rock in the background.

 

 What a great time!!  We are so thankful to those leaders and parents who made this possible.  We are very blessed and should thank God every day for this beautiful country that we live in and the awesome surroundings that we get to enjoy.  Thanks again to all of you that made it possible.  Thanks also to you boys who came and made it through the week.  You are truly an inspiration to all of us.  You are quickly on your way to becoming GREAT men.