Scouts - Fur, Feathers, and Ferns

1. Today I went on a really fun walk. This first picture is me at the start of the trail.

The next picture is all about a dogs footprints. 

The third one is about a birds nest. We either think it's a golden hawk or a eagle.

 This was a plant.

This is dog poop.

 This is a butterfly. It's the brown spot on the rock.

We thought this was a marmot's tracks.

2. We went to the fish hatchery in Springville. The picture below is the eggs from the fishies. The trays hold a lot of eggs. Then, when they hatch, they bring them into these blue tubs. 

Then this is a video of all the fishies when they are bigger.

3. We learned about extinct animals. We saw one at the Bean Museum. It is a snake. It was called Titanoboa. It was 48 feet long. It was amazing! It will be there all day until St. Patrick's Day.

We talked about endangered animals. One of them is the elephant. Some of the things we could do to protect them are: not cut down their homes, not use their water so they can have babies, and we could say No Guns allowed so people don't shoot them.

6. I learned about compost. Compost is banana peels, and dead leaves, and a lot of kitchen veggies. It you put cheese in your compost animals might get to it. Like raccoons. Compost eventually makes dirt for your plants.

Feeding the ducks

Yesterday was such a nice day that I decided to run away from life. We drove down to Salem and fed the ducks at the Salem pond. The boys had such a good time. Whenever I do things like this, I wonder why I don't do it more often. We had so much fun. Peter's giggle in this short clip makes me so happy. The older he gets the less frequently I hear it.

Luke had so much fun too. He decided that the green headed ducks were the kings, the white were queens, and the blacks ones were the servants. It was so funny to watch him. He really like it when a duck would catch the bread in midair. I'm sure the ducks loved having human food because it was still quite snowy down there.

Scouts - A World of Sound

1. Make a mbira

2. Make a sistrum

3. Make a rain stick

V-Day Tradition

Brandon and I unknowingly started a tradition many years ago, when the boys were just babies. For Valentine's Day instead of going somewhere fancy, or making a fancy meal at home, we go to KFC for dinner. They boys look forward to it to much. Here are the top 10 reason's this tradition is fabulous:

1. The pot pie is amazing! I love it every year.
2. Both boys will eat their meal.
3. There is no one there. We had the place to ourselves.
4. It doesn't cost very much money for our meals.
5. Brandon loves their coleslaw.
6. The boys love their cookies.
7. It is only 10 minutes from our house.
8. Shopko is right next store. An after meal stroll is always amazing.
9. Mom doesn't have to do the dishes.
10. Refills on drinks for the boys (Sprite and Lemonade are fabulous).

This year, after our meal we went home and watched the animated film Quest for Camelot. Only Brandon had seen it, but I've been in love with the music for years. It was such a low key way to celebrate that made everyone happy. That is the measure of success in my book.

Scouts - Beat of the Drum

1.I learned about how the Navajo people lived in New Mexico, Arizona, Utah and Colorado. I also learned that the Navajo people were very very very good for Hunters. The Indian people were driven out of the homes by the rude rude rude Americans and and they went to small land and smaller land and they also had to stay on the really really small land forever.

2. Building our diorama

3. The dream catcher that I made

Scouts - Bear Picnic Basket

1. I made a cookbook. Mom let me go on bettycrocker.com. I found some great things to make.

2. Before making dinner my Mom and I talked about the importance of planning everything out, keeping things clean, and being safe. I told her the best way to be safe is by using hot pads if you have pots or pans that have gotten hot.

3. My first nutritious snack. Cheese and crackers

The second snack was made during den meeting.

4. Planning and then making dinner for my family.

Birthday Boy

Since the beginning of the month, Luke has been counting down to this day. He has been beyond excited to turn 7. Mostly, because of the presents. Since his birthday landed on a Sunday, we had to find something fun to do before his special day.

A few days ago Brandon came home early and we took the boys to the circus at UVU's Event Center. The boys loved it even more then I thought they would. It was a very fun evening. We also let Luke choose where to take us to dinner. He chose Pizza Pie Cafe (a buffet that has loads of pizza) which was no surprise to any of us. He loves pizza.

He was a bit disappointed that his birthday was on a Sunday so we couldn't go out and do shopping/adventures, or play video games. But, Papa made him chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast, he got a birthday treat from the Bishop, and we sang to him in Primary. Grandpa and Grandma Thomas came over and gave him his presents and Aunt Amy/Uncle Morgan came over to play with him too.

Papa and I gave him a new scooter (which he hates), Lego Avengers video game, dinosaur book, and mini transformer. Overall, it was a great day for him. Yet, he was especially glad that he won't have another birthday on a Sunday until he is a teenager (yep, Brandon created a spreadsheet to figure it out). 

Scouts - Super Science

Peter's Den completed three of the experiments for this requirement. We finished the last one by doing a color-laying investigation. 

Luke's New Talent

This little guy has wanted to whistle for years. He never could quite seem to figure it out. Then, last Saturday it all came together and he has been doing it constantly ever since. It's the most adorable thing ever. He will whistle for hours on end while he is having electronics time. 

Museum day

Last week we drove up to the Big City. One of the children's museums up there was having a discounted Homeschool Day. We've never been, and I've always wanted to go. So, we tagged along with friends and made a morning of it.

Most of the time, the boys loved it. This crane was a favorite. They also had Lego race cars upstairs that the boys also spend a lot of time playing with. It's always so nice to get out of the house and do something completely different. It's also nice to go with friends so they kids are entertained longer then they normally would be.

After the museum, we drove to Papa's work and had a picnic lunch there before heading home. It made for a very wonderful day.