Sunday, June 21, 2009

Sunday thoughts

Today the theme for our sacrament meeting was unity. Max and the rest of the young men returned yesterday evening from a four-day trip to Jackson Hole. Unity was also the theme for their trip, and several of them reported today on the experience.

Two boys mentioned that, even though there was a lot of fighting, they all developed a lot of unity over the four days. When I questioned Max later about the fighting, he didn't have a clue. Apparently there was no fighting in the cars he traveled in, or anywhere around him, so that's a bit of a mystery.

They did a lot of canoeing and went white water rafting twice -- first times for Max on both accounts and he absolutely loved it. He said he didn't do any fishing because he just wanted to keep canoeing. I was surprised by that, because I know he really enjoys fishing! He told me they had really good food because Brother Wimmer was in charge (he's the head of food at Thanksgiving Point). I know from experience that having good food can definitely affect the success of any camp...

I had been concerned about the almost continuous rainstorms last week -- I was so hoping that they wouldn't be miserable and that it would still be fun and a good experience. Today I heard that while they encountered plenty of downpours, they usually occurred when they were en route -- when they got to their destination at the campsite, at the river, the rain stopped every time. Pretty cool.

One of the leaders quoted Max in his talk: after the rafting, he asked Max what he thought. Max said, "I think you over-emphasized the risks of flipping over, getting lost, and dying. But I'm glad you did, because then we were prepared for everything." Pretty funny. I was left feeling very grateful for all of the leaders who made it a really great experience for my boy and all the others. These experiences are so great for building confidence as well as testimonies. And unity is something I am really hoping for as I leave for girls' camp tomorrow morning!

On the Father's Day front: Marc had a really bad headache in the night (migraine perhaps?) and didn't get to sleep until after 4:00, so he skipped 8:30 church and slept until around noon. He spent most of the day in bed, reading or blogging (sounds pretty awesome to me!) I gave him four bars of Amano chocolate (locally-made plantation chocolates that have finally found a local retail outlet at the BYU bookstore!), a manly-man flashlight since he is always frustrated by our lack in that department, and a homemade certificate for the online t-shirt of his choice.

I made no-knead Dutch oven bread (my favorite), grilled steaks with bleu cheese, twice-baked potatoes, green beans vinaigrette, roasted beet/bleu cheese/balsamic/bread crumb casserole, and his favorite peanut butter/chocolate brownies. And THEN I made a batch of Amie's gooey chex mix to take to camp. Yeah, I was in the kitchen pretty much all day. But I think Marc had a great day. (Incidentally, Eva said the blessing on the food and prayed for Daddy's favorite foods (for him) and for the bread (for her). After she ate about half of a piece of bread, she said, "I'm excusing myself." That girl is constantly cracking me up.)

Here's my favorite Father's Day moment of all -- I got this email from my mom tonight, entitled 2:00 a.m. banana run:

After a very relaxing week , right on the edge of the sound of Atlantic Beach, NC, we arrived home very late Friday night. The drive was uneventful, with Sneelock at the helm. Well, there was one incident of us being stopped for going 86 in a 65 mile zone....and right along with tradition, the officer gave Sneelock a "friendly warning" with a caution to slow down! He is very lucky when it comes to tickets.
We arrived in New Hope just about 2:00a.m. with an exhausted load of passengers, including darling and agreeable Miles. As we rounded the last corner to our home, Fred took the alternate turn to stop by the grocery store! I guess even a 2:00am arrival time can't distract the nightly banana run! I was especially tired, my back hurt and I was in no mood to stop at the grocery store. I really tried to talk him out of this stop, but did not succeed.
I was murmuring just a bit (!) and shaking my head at this obsessive and quirky habit to Ryan, and this is what he said to me. It seemed to be a tender and quiet reprimand in the form of an observation.
"Well, there are a lot of other things that he could be obsessive about that could be really bad. I guess if that is the worst thing that you have to put up with for an exceptional husband and father, it's not so bad."
Happy Father's Day, Sneelock. I love you.

AMEN! What a great perspective. I love you, too, Dad!

8 comments:

crystal said...

You treated your man RIGHT. Good job!

Denise said...

I also received your mom's email and was touched by it as well.

John went to Scout camp last week, too, and I found myself feeling so grateful for the leaders who made it such a success for him. We have an awesome scout leader in our ward--a first since John's start in Scouting.

Hello--peanut butter brownies? How have you been holding this one out on me?!

Susan said...

Sounds like all our prayers were answered, i.e. no flipping over, getting lost, or dying! I'm really glad that Max had such a fun time and it doesn't surprise me that he was oblivious and not a participant in any of the fighting!

I, too, can verify that good food helps make any campout a positive experience (showers don't hurt either....). As YW President many years ago, I cooked major deserts for every night, made fine homemade snacks for the daytime, and planned some of my very favorite meals for camp dinners. (Have you ever had Grandma's dutch oven chicken??) Man, is it a gourmet camp delight! Basically, it's a whole chicken baked in about a pound of butter, salt and pepper in a dutch oven under the campfire coals. It is to die for!

We decorated our camp (never mind that my UPS deliverys were deverted to my camp location due to a minor tracking issue...we received wallpaper, fabrics and all sorts of things one day! I got a lot of flack for trying to re-design the tent.

Well, good luck at camp and we'll all be waiting for the lowdown! GO UNITY!!(I'll have some prayers for you too, in the weather department.)

Fred/Dad said...

Sounds like Max had a great camp experience. So glad that he had so much fun canoeing and white water rafting. I am sure he will have opportunities to fish at another time...

Jill said...

I'm so glad Max had a great time at Scout Camp! It's such a fun opportunity for the boys to experience activities that would otherwise not be a part of their lives. It's weird to think of boys fighting though, that seems like a petty, girl thing to be doing.

Your kitchen activities are seriously impressive, how do you do it?! I really wish I would catch your cooking fever and skills.

Your dad is such a great guy. It's wonderful that the 2:00am grumbling happened so that Ryan could say such a nice thing. I'm sure it was a gift to both your mom and your dad.

Amie said...

I love that your brother still had perspective at 2:00am and voiced it. I often think nice things but usually only say the rude things.

I'm glad Max had a fun week at camp. I am so dreading scout camp. I need to get over it.

Rebekah said...

so many dads seem to have their little 'thing' that they do, some kind of routine or idiosyncrasy. it's adorable, unless it drives you crazy!

patsy said...

So glad Max had a fun time at scout camp- so great for boys! and WOW to having the head of Thanksgiving point in charge of food!
Canoeing is one of my favorite things too, but I am glad they sufficiently warned the boys to be careful.
I love your father's day meal-
and quote from your mom-

great thoughts here.

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