Escaping, Scouting, Growing, Etc.

Escaping

Escape Rooms seem to be all the rage right now. I had never even heard of them until 6 months ago, but now they are everywhere I look. And I just have to say that I might be a little addicted to them. The only downside is that they are quite expensive ($20+), so we can't do them very often.

Our first experience with an Escape Room was in March for Jonathon and Jared's combined birthdays. The Olsons are the greatest friends, and we so enjoy spending time with them whenever we can. We decided to do the Harry Potter Escape Room at Alcatraz Escape Game. I really had no idea what to expect, but let me tell you... it was phenomenal! The basic premise is that they "lock" you in a room and set the clock for an hour. You then have to find clues and solve various puzzles in order to get out of the room.  The room was wonderfully decorated, very thematic in its puzzles, and so exciting to solve. We worked together really well, but we also each contributed our special thing that helped us to solve it. The room was challenging, but we made it out of the room with 10 minutes to spare and didn't even need the extra hints that they offered. We had so much fun!

For my birthday in May, we decided to do another Escape Room. Jonathon and I have just finished reading the entire collection of Sherlock Holmes books and stories, so we decided to do a room called "Sherlocked" at The Escape Key. We invited Tera and BJ to come too because we thought it would be something that they would really like. The room was set up like Sherlock Holmes' study. You had to find an antidote to some poison and then solve various clues/puzzles to get out of the room. We were able to escape the room with time to spare, but I didn't feel like this one was quite as good as the first. The decorations were less impressive, and some of the clues were duplicated so it felt like a less cohesive experience with some loose ends that were bothersome. Overall though, it was a fun date. I loved the group we were with, and it is always fun to use your wits to solve fun puzzles and race the clock.

Scouting

Last Summer, our Stake asked all the ward Boy Scout leaders to attend Wood Badge to get some advanced BSA training. It is a big commitment: a week off work to attend camp, a substantial registration fee, and a years worth of tasks to do in order to complete their ticket. The Stake pushed hard though and even offered to pay half of the fee. Jonathon finally agreed and signed up to go. He spent 6 days at Wood Badge last June (split between two weeks). It was a little stressful for him to miss work and be away from us, but I think he had fun and learned a lot. He was in the Fox Patrol with some great people that he seemed to really like. His favorite memory to talk about was the bottle rocket that he designed that blew everyone else's away. When he came home, he had two large goals that he had to accomplish in the next year for him to receive his Wood Badge beads. He worked on them steadily over the next few months and was able to finish them up. In May, they had their official beading ceremony. Many people from his Wood Badge group finished their ticket and received beads too. I was proud of him for accomplishing it. Unfortunately, this probably means that he will be in Scouts for the rest of his life. Haha! He has spent almost 12 of the 13 years of our marriage in Scouts (minus 3 months as a Sunday School teacher and 1 year as Ward Mission Leader), so I guess I can't be too surprised. I just hope he is still a leader when our boys are in the program. That makes the huge time commitment much more palatable.

The Fox Patrol

The Beading Ceremony

Soccer

Andrew really wanted to play soccer again this Spring. I was less than enthusiastic about it since we haven't had the best experience (i.e. losing EVERY game last year). It was also super stressful because they have 2 games and a practice every week! It seemed like I was always driving Andrew to soccer and waiting there for him for an hour. Thankfully the season is only 5 weeks long because otherwise I would have gone insane. I don't know how, but he finally convinced me to let him do it. The day before the first game, we got an email from the city saying that Andrew's team still did not have a coach and that if one of the parent's did not volunteer, they would just have the refs bring the uniforms to the game, and the parent's would have to figure something out. Seriously... grrr! I felt a little annoyed at the city, but really sad for the boys on the team. 

Jonathon was far too busy to coach, and he wouldn't have been able to do the schedule anyway. Some of the games were at 4:30 pm on Tuesdays. No wonder they didn't have enough coaches! I was of no use because I have zero soccer skills. Jonathon suggested that maybe his sister, Amanda, would be willing to coach. She is majoring in Recreation Management and had just finished playing intramural soccer at BYU. I was worried it would be too overwhelming for her, but she checked her schedule and said she thought it would be fun. Yay! She was very busy with work and school though, so I decided to help her out and be the assistant coach. I basically took care of everything but the actual coaching. I picked up the uniforms, did all the communication with the parents, and arranged for treats after each game. It ended up working out great, although it was way more work than I had planned when we signed up!

Amanda was a great coach. She interacted well with the boys and had the energy to keep up with them and work them hard. The team was a little behind at the beginning of the season since they had never even met until the first game. They lost the first few games, but quickly started catching up and improving a lot. They were a very average team overall, but they played hard and were competitive. By the end of the season, they had won about 50% of their games and had a lot of fun together! Andrew even scored a goal this season. It was his first goal ever, so he was pretty excited.

Team Sonic: Yael, Andrew, Michael, Justin, Amanda
Sunia, Liam T. and Liam J. (missing James and Tiger)

Growing

The older I get the more I like gardening. Last year we got a late start because Jonathon had to build us some garden boxes and re-landscape the yard before we could plant. It caused us to lose a few weeks of the growing season, and our produce didn't do as well as we hoped. This year I was determined to get a jump on the season. I planted a whole bunch of seeds indoors in mid-March because I was so excited to get started. It was way too early though. Oops! By the end of April, the plants were huge and really needed to be transplanted. It was a little early to put them outside, but luckily, we didn't have any hard freezes and the plants were able to survive. We planted tons of spinach, sugar snap peas, lots of bell peppers and jalapeno peppers, zucchini, yellow squash, spaghetti squash, and several varieties of tomatoes. Hyrum loves to help water and take care of our plants. We spend time in the mornings cutting spinach and picking peas, which have been very plentiful. We have harvested enough spinach already to pay for all the seeds we planted. It has been so yummy.

I also planted several pots of flowers for our front yard. It is a difficult area because it only gets a little bit of sunlight due to our north-facing house. This means that you have to use a lot of vines and foliage to give great texture, and then mix in a few flowers that tolerate shady conditions. Last year, I spent hours researching the best plants for minimal sunlight. It was challenging, but I ended up learning a lot. The majority of the plants that I planted last year were successful, but this year was much easier because I knew what I was doing. I selected some spikes and cordyline for height, several different color variations of coleus, a couple of hostas for texture, creeping jenny and vinca as my draping vines, and begonias and impatiens for the colorful flowers. It made me feel really good when I was paying for all of the plants at the local greenhouse and someone in line complimented my choices and my ability to pick out plants that went well together. Compliments are such boons for the soul! Those simple words boosted my spirit for the rest of the day. What a good lesson that was for me on how I can be better about doing that for other people. The pots turned out so great! They really make the front of our house beautiful, and even though it costs a bit of money to create the arrangements, I sure love them!

Summer Starts

School's out for the Summer! The boys worked hard until the very end and were super excited to be done. I have been worried about this summer more than usual because their best friends (our neighbors 2 houses down) are moving. We have loved having them here so much. The previous two summers have just been a dream. The kids play at one house or the other all afternoon and are completely happy and entertained. Luckily, we just found out that their moving date got pushed back until the end of July, so they will get to play together for the majority of the summer.Yay!

I also came up with a great schedule that helps us get all of our work done in the morning so that we can relax in the afternoon. Each boy has a chart hanging on the fridge, and when everything is marked off, they can play. They are responsible for regular chores, one deep cleaning chore per day, 30 minutes of school, 30 minutes of reading, and 30 minutes of some form of exercise. It has worked surprisingly well. Aside from working and playing with friends, we also plan one fun thing per day. {Mondays- Cook with Mom, Tuesdays- Park, Wednesdays- $ Movie, Thursdays- Rec Center, Fridays- Library, Saturdays- Family Activity} It has made for a really easy summer so far.

I love going to yard sales during the summer. Christian is my yard sale buddy who is always willing to come with me. A few weeks ago, we found a small bike at a yard sale for $5. It had been sitting in their garage for a long time, so the people sold it really cheap. Score! Once we cleaned it up and pumped up the tires, it has been perfect for Hyrum. He has learned quickly and really likes feeling like a big kid with a real bike.

A few weeks ago was 7-11's "Bring Your Own Container" day. You could fill up any container with slurpee for only $1.50. The boys found a water pitcher and filled it up with blue raspberry and cherry slurpee. They were so excited! It was funny to watch them drink out of the huge container with their straws. We only let them have a little bit each day, and then we would put it in the freezer for later. That pitcher of slurpee lasted for several days and was a fun memory that they talk about often.