Everyone up!

Well last week was scout camp. We have been getting ready since last December when I signed our troop up and we began to plan. Just a heads up for anyone who reads this and is a Scoutmaster or might go to scout camp. If you are signing up for merit badges for your camp you need to go to another website to sign up. http://www.doubleknot.com/ The camp information on the websites do not tell you this. So don't keep clicking on the "sign up for merit badges here" button. It won't ever work. I know what you are thinking and YES I have told the BSA office and the Great Salt Lake Council. I think by now they hate me. I am their most wanted fugitive.

But enough about that (see how ticked off I was) Scout Camp was very good. The boys earned around 38 merit badges in 3 days. We even had one boy earn his shotgun shooting merit badge. Way cool. Bear Lake was beautiful and COLD! Easy for the swim check because you could almost walk on water. We did get a little rain (yes because I went camping) but it was at night after we had gone to bed. There are tons of mosquitoes and they are hungry. I ate a bunch of Tabasco so I hope the ones that bit me got heartburn. The boys were good, except for one, and the camp was a success.

I heard from Courtney today. They are in Mesquite in a condo waiting for the power to be turned on. They are sitting at the pool enjoying the sunshine.

Well I need to go mow the backyard before it rains. The grass is so tall I need to put it into bales like hay. Jeff do you still have the goat? I have the yard to feed it.

See ya later.

All is quiet again...

All is quiet again...

BUT WAIT, BIG NEWS... More noise is coming! Whitney is pregnant!!! Jason and Whitney are going to have a baby. What a great Fathers Day announcement! Way cool another grand baby. Maybe a girl. (I threw that in for Paige, she said we are in a girl drought) I hope Whitney has an easy pregnancy. Of course she has already been getting sick. Hang in there Whit. Another pilot in the family.

Well we have been very luck to have Doug, Courtney, Andrew and Preston around for a while. It was nice to have the noise. It was crowded and cramped but it was nice. Preston started to crawl on Sunday. Now he really can get around. Doug was able to take his test up at the U of U on Sunday. 5-1/2 hours of testing. I am sure he breathed a big sigh of relief as he finished. Luckily for Doug I knew the answers. True, False, False, True...

Well the Giles clan left for Nevada today. Tear, sniff, tear, sniff, tear. I don't know if I am going to be able to go to sleep without a bedtime story about "Bumblebee the Transformer" told to me by Andrew. And what will I do without my shirts smelling like formula that Preston liked to shower everyone with? You know it isn't as fun playing with the matchbox cars by yourself. It's all good though, they will be back around the end of July.

Until then, Brooke can sleep in, until who knows when, in peace.

It was a great start to the summer. We ll need to go to "Cowabunga" water park before they go home in July. I hope all of you are having a good summer too.

Man, it is quiet...man am I boring...Preston! Andrew! Where are you?

I hope they have a great time in Nevada. Thanks for everything Giles clan.

What great sounds!

About a month ago our grandson Andrew was able to come to our house and spend some time. Since that time we have had some great sounds. Everything from "Grandpa, Thanks for coming to my house" to "GRANDPA'S A DONUT HEAD" at the top of his lungs. Sounds from riding TRAXX to Gateway to sounds of the Thunderbirds at the Airshow...and now the sounds of a six month old giggling all day. Yep, Doug, Courtney, and Preston are here too. Preston is such a happy baby, and he loves his brother. All Andrew has to do is say "Peek-A-Boo" and Preston laughs. Doug has finally been able to schedule a day to take his boards, and Courtney is just trying to keep all of the balls in the air. It is great to have them around. I am going to miss going to Iowa just a bit. Okay that's enough, I'm over it. The extended family has been great. they are all so excited to see Doug and Courtney's family. Andrew is going to miss all of them when the move to Nevada. Well if it doesn't rain all day Saturday I need to take Andrew fishing. I bought him a fishing pole the other day and he spent 2 hours that day practicing how to cast, and chasing the next door neighbor, Ethan ,on his bike casting the bobber into the bike, and scaring the crap out of Ethan. He is getting pretty good. Well I better go, it is time for the sound machine to be coming home from Whitney's. I hope you like the Airshow pictures. See ya later.

Standy and the friendly skies.

I don't know what they are talking about if they ever say that less people are flying the friendly skies, because last Thursday I was trying to fly "Standby" to get to Iowa for Doug's graduation. I started at the Delta gate at 6:00 a.m. and the flight was full. I made it clear to the airplane before they called me back. This was a sign of things to come for the rest of the day. I spent the next 11 or 12 hours trying to make a flight. I was running from one airline counter, to the next one trying to get even close to Iowa. I was finally able to fly out the next day into Omaha, Nebraska. I rented a car and finally got to the Giles home. When I walked in their house there was Preston (a great looking 5 month old future Hall of Fame great) lying on the floor talking to himself. I walked in and knelt above him and he started to giggle. He and I laughed for 20 minutes. He is such a happy camper. When Drew and Court returned to the house Drew gave me a great big hug and told me he missed me. It was worth every minute of the day before.
The next day we were all able to go to Doug's graduation. By the way Doug is now a DOCTOR. Doctor John Douglas Giles (sound pretty cool). I think he is going by "Doctor Doug." Andrew let everyone know his dad is a doctor. It was great to be there.
Courtney and Doug have done a terrific job keeping up with things and getting through school for Doug. Courtney you are awesome. You are a great mom, and you are doing a great job raising these boys. I know it hasn't been easy but my hats off to you. Doug (I didn't mean to leave you out) you have done a great job also. Drew has been able to golf, swim, go to the zoo and many other things.
Well after the graduation I was able to bring Andrew back to Utah with me. I don't think he understands that he is not going back to Iowa. It is great to be around him. He is so smart. He has already helped me fix the lawn mower, and he said we need to get the "motor scooter" running.
Today he and Brenner were playing and he got a goose egg on his fore head. He shook it off. He spent a day with Crystall, Tanner and Brenner and my dad and tomorrow Grandma and Grandpa Bleazard are going to watch him while I am at work. Every time I get home he tells me he missed me. So cool.
Well, I hope everyone is doing well. Have a great week.

Wicked Weekend

Well I finally was able to see Wicked this weekend. Whitney won tickets! $25.00 seats and we were on the sixth row. Yep six. It was better than I thought it would be. Galinda (Glinda) the good witch was hilarious and reminded my of Whitney, and of Stacey when I first met her. It was a lot of fun. The story was great and the scenery was terrific. I would go again. Sunday we went to Jennifer and Joe's for Family Home Evening and they did a good job. It was about choices and consequences. Connor did a good job telling his part of the lesson. I went early and took some pictures of the Weber River and I even wet a hook. Yep I caught three very small trout. Just my size. But it was a nice start to the season. Well tomorrow is Monday and back to work. Man the weekends go by so fast it is not fair. I know it is the same for all of you so have a nice Wicked week. Love ya all.

Desert Geteway

Hi everyone. I have got to tell you about the cool weekend I had. Braden and I have been trying to do something together for weeks now, and last weekend we did. We went to the sand dunes, Little Sahara, Sand Mountain, whatever you want to call it. Braden took his four wheeler and I rented one. First off, it was kind of frustrating at first. I hustled home from work, picked up my four wheeler, got home, threw some clothes together and waited, and waited, and waited. Braden was in no hurry to load or put things together. He kept saying don't worry we will be fine. We don't need to be there until we get there. Well we finally left home about 9:00 pm and filled up the truck and the bikes and headed for the dunes. We arrived at Sand Mountain at around 11:00 or 11:30 pm and unloaded everything. Oh yeah, Braden's friend Greg went with us. At 11:30 PM (yep, at night) Braden said let's go for a ride. Greg's bike did not have a headlight which meant he had to stay back. But no, Super Braden to the rescue! Braden found a headlight and had it mounted and wired to Greg's machine in about 10 minutes. Awesome. We left the camp and rode the four wheelers till about 3:30 am which was great because the camp was noisy anyway until 4:00 am (that's when everyone goes to bed) So we went to bed too, and slept for at least a good 3 hours until 7:00 am when I heard the first motorcycle start up next to our camp. Well that was it, I was up. I started messing around and getting ready for the day. Braden got up and he and I went for a ride for about an hour. When we got back Greg was awake. We rode all over Sand Mountain until 3:00 in the afternoon. Then it started to rain. Let me tell you something, Braden can ride!!! He was riding across the front of the mountains (which is hard enough) but he was doing it while riding a wheelie the whole time. He was jumping and racing up Sand Mountain like he was shot out of a canon. He is very good, and as you can tell, I was very impressed. I was glad to follow along and not get hurt and not totally embarrass myself. We left about 4:00 to head for home, it started to rain. I was tired.
Sunday morning... I am in pain. I hurt everywhere and I did not even wreck. It hurt to turn the key to start the car. I've got sore muscles in places that I did not know I had muscles. Maybe it is just sore fat. At 11:00 am I sat down to put on my shoes and fell asleep until 1:30. What a great time I had. Thanks Braden. If any of you get the chance to go ride the bikes at the dunes, go. It is amazing. Well thanks for reading I hope you all are doing well. HAPPY RIDING! I am going to get into a hot shower and fall asleep again. Bye.

Time marches on... Yahoo it's Spring! (somewhere)

And on and on. Here it is the middle of April and I hope everyone has their taxes filed. I keep forgetting to write. Our grandson Preston is 4 months old now and growing like a weed. Of course when you're born at 10-lbs 11-oz it is easier to grow like a really big weed. I can always hear him in the background, testing out his voice, when I talk to Courtney on the phone. Andrew is sick and I feel really bad for him. Court said he spent all last night throwing up, which meant he could not go to preschool today. He has sent me a few pictures in the mail that he has colored for me and Stacey. I will put them on the blog. He can't wait to go fishing, so I need to get out to Iowa and bring him back with me so we can go catch some fish. Brooke is trying to decide what to do about school. There are so many things she is interested in that almost everyday brings a new idea. She worries too much. She will be good at whatever she puts her mind to. Braden is constantly tearing something with a motor apart and putting it back together again. (I will never get my garage back) He now has his four-wheeler running and he has powder coated the frame to his motorcycle. It is gorgeous. It is the coolest shade of green, and it has so much metal flake in it that the color just pops. He is going to the sand dunes this weekend.
BIG NEWS... Whitney's old Taurus is no longer in the driveway. Yep, it has been sold. Yahoo! Of course Braden now has his buddy's trailer on the side of my house. I can't win. Stacey has been trying to get Wicked tickets in the lottery each night. So far she has struck out. It seems they are a little easier to get in Chicago, although she did make it onto the six-o'clock news. I spent part of Easter weekend at a monstrous cabin, thanks to Scott and April. It belongs to some friends of theirs and it is awesome. We had a great time playing pool, trying to sign karaoke, and riding the four-wheelers. It was very fun weekend. Thank you Scott and April.
Well time to go to bed. I have to be to work early tomorrow (6:00 am) and you know how badly I need my beauty sleep. I hope everyone has a great week. Enjoy every day because...Time really does march on, before I know it I'll be complaining about the snow again.