Would You Rather....?

While Lisa and Devin were here with us at Christmas time, we played lots of games. One game we played was Would You Rather. We were laughing so hard, it hurt. It was Devin's turn and he was asked, "would you rather sit by Nathan or do a wall sit for 5 mins." If any of you know Nathan, when he gets laughing... its dangerous. Here is a picture of Devin doing the time.

Kerisa's 3rd Birthday

Kerisa celebrated her 3rd birthday at grandma's house! Grandma is notorious for giving dress up clothes for birthdays and Christmas. This year Kerisa wanted grandma to know... "I want dress up clothes and chocolate cake for my birthday!" That is indeed what she was given. Not too hard to please this little girl!

Eagle Court of Honor

Nathan had his Eagle Court of Honor on December 26th, 2009. He was so happy that so many people came to support him. Thanks to everyone who attended.

We are so proud of you Nathan. What a great accomplishment! 13 years and 4 months! Way to go Eagle!

Aunt Sandi is a Silver Beaver in the Boy Scout Organization. She gave a wonderful talk and compared Nathan's growth through Scouting to an Eaglet to a grown Eagle. It was great. Then we watched a short film called "Ride the High Places". It was perfect.

Steven called Nathan up to give him the Eagle Oath. Nathan was so excited to follow his brother's footsteps.

His Scoutmaster, Doug Derrick, talked about Nathan and his observations of watching him progress in scouting over the years, and as his Priesthood Leader. It was very touching. He then presented him with his Certificates, Letters of Recognition from Prominent People in the community and then Nathan presented his leaders, Brother Derrick and Brother Lawlor with appreciation pins for all their help and encouragement. He loves these men and it shows.

Arizona Senator Al Melvin came to talk and present Nathan with a certificate and letter. He is also an Eagle Scout and loves the Scouting program. He talked about the 100th anniversary of Scouting in 2010 and invited Nathan to come an participate at the Capital building in Phoenix. He also talked about what an elect group of people Eagle Scouts are. He is on the committee for deciding who goes to our military academies, and Eagle Scouts are high on the list of accomplishments. He also talked about how wonderful the LDS church is in promoting the scouting program and taking it to the Indian Reservations. It truly changes lives.

Kevin got the privilege of putting on Nathan's Eagle Neckerchief. Isn't it gorgeous. This is one of the greatest benefits of getting Eagle at a young age. He'll have 5 years to get to wear it at Scouts.

Grandpa Gibb pinned Nathan with the Eagle Pin. He'll wear his palms on the ribbon of his pin.

Christmas in Tucson

Everyone came home for Christmas this year. We had a busy weekend of Christmas, Nathan's Eagle Board and Kerisa's 3rd birthday.

Steven is looking at Wyatt's new book. Wyatt looks disappointed. Ha Ha!

This was the funniest event of the day. As Kerisa was unwrapping her gift she said, "I knew it! I knew it! " This was the reaction, "It's not a MOVIE!" :(

Don't you love the weather? We went over to Ironwood school and played on the playground. It brought back lots of memories. Here's Devin and Lisa with the football.

This year we did something different for the adults. Since they couldn't come up with any ideas of what they wanted for Christmas, Ashley and I decided that money would probably be best! However, I didn't want to just give them a card with money, so..... We went to the bank and got lots of bills, $5, $10, $20 and $50s. They got to put their hand in the stocking and draw something out. Whatever they got, was theirs! They seemed to love it! They couldn't wait for their turn again.

Here's Briley trying out Wyatt's bubblegum machine. It was so much fun to have babies around again. They sure do love to explore new things.

What would any event be without Aunt Ashley and a baby. Briley loves being carried in the snuggle pack. Can you believe the weather? We think the Utahns should move south!

What would any event be with Amber and her dress up clothes! She has reminded me all year that she needed a new Cinderella Dress. What a great Grandma!

Ashley, Briley, Amber, Michelle and Kerisa on the teeter-totter at Ironwood. This was funny!

Nathan's Christmas Program at Carden

Carden puts on their annual Christmas program. Nathan enjoys singing and joined the Show Choir this year.

Here is a video of the show choir singing at the Christmas Program. Enjoy!

Carden's Basketball Team

Carden of Tucson decided to have a basketball team this year. One of the dads went and found other Charter schools to put together a league. Nathan played on Carden's team and they sure loved their new basketball court to practice in. The girls put together a cheerleading squad and they came to all the games and cheered and even put together a half time show. They learned to come out of their shells, and really yell! (Sorry I don't have pictures of the girls.)

We know that stretching is the key to winning!

Here's Nathan keeping the bench in place. :)

Here's Nathan as #12. He got playing time in each game.

Nathan was proud to wear the uniform. He was so tired after the first game. However, I must say that at the last game, he made the very last shot and it was a three pointer!!!!! The score was 60-24.

They went undefeated and took the championship. We kind of felt bad for some of the schools because the scores were like 54-11. They boys had a great time. Thanks to Mr. Howland and Mr. Gomez for being their coaches.

Hunter Safety Course

Nathan was very privileged with the opportunity to take the hunter safety course this fall that Sportsman's Warehouse sponsored. He is now legal to shoot when he goes hunting with Steven and his buddies! Nathan is so excited!!

Eagle Board of Review

Nathan had his Eagle Board of review November 19, 2009. Brother Derrick, his scout master, came and introduced him and said some pretty nice things about him. He was asked some pretty thought provoking questions and when all was said and done, he passed his Eagle Board of Review.

Eagle Project Day 1

Nathan's Eagle Project got underway at 8am on 9-5-09. The old part of the fence needed to come down and the old poles removed. Here is Oakley Lafferty cutting the old poles flush with the ground. Then he ground them down and filled them with a special kind of cement. We had a great turn out of about 52 people. We worked for 6 hours on Saturday.

Dan Post was an incredible asset to this project. He brought his bobcat and auger and all the equipment needed to do the job right. Here is Scott Richardson, Sam Wardell, Dan Post, Joel Gurvine, and Richard Wilson as the remove an old post that was planted in concrete.

Here you can see Aaron Herring, Dan Post, Tim Wardell and Scott Richardson using the auger to dig 2-3 foot holes. That's Weston Post as he's watching his dad dig.

After the holes were dug with the auger, we had a production line going to removed the dirt and relocate it.

Here's a view that show's Nathan keeping a lot of people very busy. We had a lot of fun, everyone worked really well together.

Here's Dwayne Morse and Randy Rorden working with the level to make sure the poles are straight.

Here's Dan Post, Aaron Herring, Joel Gurvine, Kevin Prodromides and Adele Post (Dan's wife) as they planted one of the basketball standards. The extra long pole was welded to the pole to stablize it while it dried.

Here's Sam the Man Wardell. He's our home teacher and he is awesome. He was the cement mixer man who mixed two pallets of cement. That's 80 bags of 80 pounds each, of sacrete.

Nathan, our fearless leader.

Here is Jeff Bennon as he is wheeling the cement to one of the holes to be filled. Coach Bennon is Nathan's PE coach. This whole project was his dream. He was most entertaining all day long. He kept saying, "Wow! This is beyond my wildest dreams. I have never seen anything like this before. Where did you find all these people? This must have cost a fortune!" We had a wonderful missionary experience as we talked about the church and the service they offer and the benefits of our boys doing scouting. It was wonderful!

Here is prep work for Monday. This is the chain link we'll put up on Monday. We might as well use the equipment while its here and that way we don't have to bring it down again on Monday. Nathan looks like he's having a great time too! When we got home Nathan was so excited. He said," Dad, wasn't that so much fun?" Kevin said, "I don't know what your idea of fun is, that was a lot of work!" I guess that's what happens when you don't get to do all the back breaking work and just direct the people.

Coach Bennon suggested that Nathan leave his mark in the cement of the curbing that was poured. This way he can be remembered for his project and bring his kids back to see it someday.

Eagle Project Day 2

Here is Zach Lawlor watching Dan Post weld. He was so fascinated and wanted to watch so we had him put on the helmet so he could watch. So cute!

Ashley was our videographer. She was alert and on guard.

The top rail is next. Kevin worked on the left side and Ty Hampton and Joel Gurvine are trying to figure out how to get these two poles to line up. So............

Aaron Herring and Dan Post are pulling traction to pull the other fence post into place so they could fit the top rail into the end caps. Everyone stopped to watch. They had great success!

The new gates are being made. Mr. Lafferty and Jacob Pos welded the gate frame together. You can see here Jay Hoobler, Michelle, Joel Gurvine, Merrill Jackson and Zack Hoobler as they are working on putting the fabric onto the frame.

OK, we're making progress. Time to unroll the fabric.


Here's Nathan showing us how to match up the two sections so we could weave them together. You can see from the shadows that this day was bright and sunny! Very HOT!

The excitment came when the fabric went up. Everyone had to help to lift and hold as ties were put on. Then they had to shake and stretch the fabric to make it tight.
More shaking, lifting and stretching.

Kayleigh Gurvine is power washing the court. Does this look like fun or work?

After lunch, everyone is enjoying the shade just a little longer. Notice that the girls are the only ones smiling. The guys worked really really hard!

Time for the gates to get hung.

Ethan and Zach Lawlor are watching their dad. They really liked to watch and help carry what they could.

Patti and Joe Weaver painted the lines onto the backboards. Joe, Joel Gurvine and Todd Howland were the strong guys to attach them to the poles. Michelle, Ashley and Jesse Gurvine were there for backup.

The second backboard goes up too.

Joe thinks Joel is funny. What is he doing????

Just kidding!

The court is so much bigger. You can see the new fence and the basketball standards.

Nathan gets the honor of taking the first shots and it's good for 2 points!

The EAGLE PROJECT is officially finished! YEAH!!!

Todd Howland watches Nathan make another 2 points or was this 3?

Nathan and Mrs. Jeppson comes to see the final product during basketball team tryouts. She is so happy.

Nathan shooting hoops.