Scenes from a Celebration

2013 marks the 100th year of the partnership between the LDS Church and the Boy Scouts of America. In October the Church produced an extravaganza honoring that long relationship. The event was broadcast and is an hour and a half long. Lots of music and a little acting, mostly from boy actors. Click here to watch it. You won't be disappointed.

To commemorate the anniversary in our stake, we decided to have an old-time Scout-O-Rama. The troops in the stake came together Friday night on our ball fields for a low-key campfire and dutch oven desert contest. The next morning the stake presidency cooked and served pancakes & sausage for everyone for breakfast. Then we all watched the broadcast before delving into scouting activities for the rest of the time.

I loaded up my backpack and spent the night out on the lawn. (I figured, why not? I've spent plenty of nights inside the building.) It was fun, and something I rarely get to do anymore. Below are some photos.

My own set up was spartan, just the way I like it. Oh, I have all the necessities and amenities, but I like to have everything condensed and easily packed up for moving on to the next evening's stopping place, because backpacking in infinitely more appealing to me than camping. So I got this little backpacker's tent after seeing one of our high councilors with one. And that's my big 85L backpack lying next to it. I was snug with my headlamp and Reader's Digest to help me doze off.

Of course, I had planned on waking up early anyway to help with breakfast, but when the trash truck (that reference especially for Atticus and Emmett) came at 4:30 am, it was more than I bargained for. And really, the biggest reason you never want to camp in town is all the noise - All. Night. Long.

Since it was forecast to be cold that night (and it was a lot chillier than most people expected), I decided to make a rare appearance dressed in my buffalo robe and head dress. My good friend Cliff Johnson gave it to me when he moved to Utah. The thing weighs about 25 pounds, but man is it warm! I'm going to have to do some fixin' on the head dress, because it's starting to fall apart. But it was fun to walk around in it.