SEATTLE!!

On April 25th we were in Seattle for Tanner to compete in the International Bridge Building Competiton. Tanner competed against all the winners from across the country as well as kids from other countries (like Indonesia, Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guatemala, etc.).




The competition was pretty interesting. Many of the kids had personal coaches who were engineers or physiscs professors. Tanner had, well, me and Jimmy. But when all was said and done, Tanner's bridge took 21st in the world overall. He had an efficiency rating of just under 2000 and his bridge held 80 lbs. before exploding in a pretty spectacular display. Everyone was amazed that he was a freshman and did so well. I guess it is the first time in many years that Nevada placed in the top half of the competition (the other Nevada winner took something like 26th). After the event was over we headed out to be with Erin, the girls and out friends the Ettobis, who live in Washington.

We had a blast with Ettobis and wished we could have stayed longer. We rode the ferry from Seattle to their house and got to visit the Space Needle, Pikes Market and went beachcombing. They also introduced us to Ivars (awesome fish and chips) and we fed seagulls on the pier. Jimmy almost got one gull to swoop down and take a fry out of his mouth! It was a great trip and we came back with lots of shells, a couple of sand dollars, and a ton of great memories both of the bridge competition and the time with the Ettobi family.

Take Your Kids to Work Day

We had take your kids to work day a couple of weeks ago and Lauren, Jimmy and Tanner came to work with me at the City of Henderson. Erin had a concert, so she took a pass that day. The rest of the kids got to play with the police ARMOR robot (the bomb diffusing, hostile situation robot), play in some police cars and visit the animal shelter in addition to hanging out in the mayors office at city hall. It was a pretty fun day!

Spring has sprung!

As you can see by the photo, Spring has sprung in Las Vegas! Lauren enjoys all the beautiful flowers, especially on mommy's banks roses out front, and it is fun for all of us to watch our jalapenos, tomatoes, artichokes, kolrabi and cucumber sprout. Our dwarf grapefruit and guava trees seem to be doing awesome and our new cherry and apple trees have blossomed too! Hopefully the new ones will establish sufficiently to survive the summer.

Little "E" News and Notes

Little "E" had her big day at band festival this week. She had the solo in their big number and knocked it out of the park. Her band got superior ratings and wowed the judges. In other Little "E" news, we just found out she has been selected by the school district to be honored at a ceremony as an outstanding 8th grader. Pretty funny when you consider that she's been an 8th grader for all of about 3 weeks (they combined her 7th and 8th grade years into one year so she'll start high school next year). We also found out that each senator gets to appoint one kid to the state youth senate and Erin has been nominated to go to Carson City as our senator's representative. Takin' after her mother this one is...

Jimmy is top "Dragon"

Well, Jimmy pretty much cleaned house on awards at school. He was the top reader in addition to being the "Dragon of the Month" yet again. He officially holds the school record now for consecutive months as the top reader. The only bad thing is he doesn't have room on his desk anymore because of all his trophies.

Bridges, Races, Science Bowl and Pinewood Derby

Have to admit, I've got a smart little batch of kids. Erin was the captain of her magnet school's science bowl team last week. She did a wonderful job at their competition at UNLV and made her school proud. Lauren was in the annual Reading Week Race and took second place! This was a big accomplishment for her as she has been training to beat several of the girls who've consistently come in before her. She accomplished her goal and took a respectable second. Jimmy entered one of two pinewood derbies he will be competing in this month. His police car took fourth overall and third in the "coolest car" category. He is hoping for a better showing in the next race. All the kids took part in the ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) annual bridge building competition last week at UNLV. They competed against all the other schools in the valley. They all did a great job and had a lot of fun watching their bridges be put to the test to see how much weight they could hold. We got a bit of a surprise on Tanner's bridge however. When the dust settled, we were informed that Tanner placed second in the valley and his bridge qualified for the international competition in April in Washington. He is pretty excited about it as they are flying him out to compete. He is also running track right now and doing well, except for his latest injury (dislocated rib) that he is trying to heal from. A good batch of kidlings if ever there was one!

Regional Singles Conferernce

Holy cow. A few months ago I was asked to teach what I thought was a small class on preparedness. Come to find out, this is a regional singles conference with 900 people already registered. My class won't be 900 people, but still, I'm a bit nervous for how many may be there. The link to the conference is http://www.lvsinglesconf.com/ if you'd like to check it out.

Tanner is an Eagle Scout

On October 25, 2008 Tanner was awarded his Eagle Scout rank. Ron Cannon, Matt Melton, Bill Wells and Bishop Richard Hyte spoke and Area Authority (Mayor) James B. Gibson presented Tanner with his award. It was a pretty spiffy event and we all enjoyed a very nice tribute to Tanner's hard work. He is still invovled with Scouting and has earned several more merit badges since then and is planning on attenting Scout camp again this year.

Canoeing Merit Badge

We took the boys camping at Lake Mead on Friday. Why? I don't know. We are gluttons for punishment. Really though it was to finish the canoeing merit badge. When we left LV it was 103. When we got to Lake Mead it was a balmy 108. Of course when we got there everyone headed for the water and a swim to cool off. We set up camp and pretty much slept out in the open. When the low for the night is 90 degrees you pretty much want any type of breeze you can find to cool off.

Unfortunately about 11:30 p.m. or so, Matt, Pete and I (the scout leaders) had to break up a little domestic brou-ha-ha in the campsite adjacent to us. Of course, the boys thought it was great fun but we were a little nervous about the whole incident. Luckily the folks packed up and headed out without much more of a disturbance (and before the Park Rangers could arrive).

Saturday was great fun. Everyone passed their canoeing merit badge and had a lot of fun in the process. As you can see from the pictures, our campsite was really pretty. We also learned what happens to leaders when they sleep longer than the boys (see Matt's feet). Oh, and the leaders also went to 4-0 in frisbee football against the young men. Just proves that age and wisdom can still triumph over youth and speed.

Paradise Stake Girls Camp

Well, another year of camp has successfully come and gone. This year was a resounding success and Erin, little Erin and I are home and recuperating from 9 days in the Kolob Mountains above Zion National Park.

It was a fun week full of rapelling, canoeing, archery, zip-lines, hikes, service projects, skits and all sorts of great food and fun. We saw all sorts of wildlife including condors, deer, wild turkey, ospreys and all sorts of lizards, chipmunks, squirrels, etc. etc.. It was fun being there with Liz and we all enjoyed a great time. I had a very fun birthday there and got a great photo album with photos of all the kids growing up. Had a great Father's Day too and got to hear a talk by little Erin at Sacrament meeting overlooking Zion's on Sunday.

We talked to Tanner and the kids (up in Idaho with all grandma's and grandpa's and cousins) and were informed that they are all well and good and not ready to come home unless we buy a Wii (ha, fat chance). Erin and little Erin are going up to pick them up soon. Thanks to Jeff for house-sitting and keeping the pool clean. Thanks to him, all was well and good when we returned. Hopefully I'll have some pictures to post of camp soon.

NEWS FLASH

(Las Vegas, NV) -- "Big Red," as he was commonly known to his family, was retired yesterday when Erin and Bud traded him in on a bigger, better model with four-wheel drive and a larger towing capacity.

Big Red had been in the family since 2003, but had become too expensive to maintain at the Dodge dealership (aka band of crooks) and needed repairs that would have been more expensive than would have been practical to undertake given the value of the vehicle.

Red was famous for being the only two-wheel drive vehicle to make it into and out of girls camp on the infamous wet, slick roads. Red had performed many great and memorable feats in the Nevada deserts, but was becoming more and more problem prone as the life of his warranty wore down. Braking on steep grades had also become a problem for Red with the addition of a 16 foot tent trailer to the family. Zero percent financing at the Toyota dealership (great service as compared to the dodge crooks) sealed the deal on Red's retirement from service.

Photos and a description of Big Red, Jr., Big Red's new replacement, will be posted soon. Erin was unavailable for comment on the story as she was at the DMV getting Jr. registered in time for his inaugural run to girls's camp. Big Red will always be remembered fondly and parts (non-essential...) of him were incorporated into Red Jr. so there will always be a little part of him with us.

PORTER FAMILY REUNION

I don't have any pictures yet, but I'll get some up. Jimmy got baptized on Saturday, May 31st at the Palora Chapel and when we were planning the baptism, Kim and Kevin expressed interest in coming down and performing Kalvin's baptism at the same time. Well, unrealized by me, that blossomed into the idea for a full-blown Porter family reunion. In fact, it went unrealized until Sunday night after the baptism when I asked Erin when everyone would be heading home. Imagine my surprise to learn that many of the family would be remaining for the entire week!

I know I should have clued in earlier on the whole family reunion idea, but it had been kind of a crazy month, so I was caught totally off guard when I finally clued in. All total for the weekend we had Grandma and Grandpa Cranor, Amber, Jeff and Logan Moon and Todd Cranor (they stayed at Liz and Jeff's), Grandma and Grandpa Porter, Kim, Kevin, Kenzie, Kaleb, Kalvin, Koleman and Kimball Stinger, Melissa, Russ, Jared and Isaac Meyers, Amy, Brady, Brenna, Brooke, Ryan and Emily Johnson, Dallin, Sarah, Nathan, Brandon, Ruby and Daisy Millington, Chris, Darcie and Penelope Porter and Renee and Braiden Porter. That's 36 guests, plus our six for a grand total of 42 parading around the house at various points during the festivities.

The pool got the workout of its life. We got inducted into the world of Wii and had food galore. Skippy was in heaven with so much attention, but unfortunatley a couple of the other pets didn't fare so well. Let's just say we are down a parakeet and a hedgehog from the experience and call it good at that. All in all though it was a ton of fun getting to hang out with all our families playing, eating and enjoying everyone's company. We also got to spend some good quality time just talking and catching up with everyone. There were a few minor hiccups along the way, but I have to think we managed to stay in relative control most of the time.

Tanner, Lauren and Jim went back to Idaho with Grandpa and Grandma Porter to spend a couple weeks with them while Erin, me and Little Erin are at girl's camp. Form what we hear the fun is continuing for them up in Idaho, although it sounds like its pretty cold and rainy right now. We miss them but know they are having fun with all the Idaho family.

End of Year Awards

Tanner and Erin both got big awards at a special ceremony at their school a couple weeks ago. I neglected to put them up but thought I'd get them on before girls camp. Tanner won the Outstanding Science Student (pretty impressive since the school is a math/science magnet school) and Erin won an award as one of about 8 other kids in the entire school who earned all straight A's. Jimmy and Lauren also won big end of year awards taking home honors for their poetry as well as the most AR points in reading. Jimmy got a special award because it was the first time in Tomiyasu history that someone won the monthly trophy every single month of the year. In basketball terms, Jimmy was the Michael Jordan of reading at school. No one else even came close. Maybe we should make an award for listening and see if he does as well?

Tanner's Eagle Project

IT IS DONE!!! I'll tell you what, this is one kid who has definitely earned his Eagle after this project. We had a ton of fun at Kolob this past weekend putting in new toilets, digging drainage holes, laying down grating, hauling gravel, cutting down trees, moving tables and doing other assorted little projects at the girls camp. We could never have done it without a ton of help. We are extremely grateful to Allen England, his sons Ben and Zach and Mike Kreimeyer for helping haul up all of the equipment and for their technical expertise in getting everything done.

We also had help from Matt Melton and his brother-in-law Dave and nephew Jake, Pete and Rosie Orozco, Bill and Rebecca Wells and their family, Dean and Susan Slade, Grandma and Grandpa Porter and Jeff and Liz Davenport. We can't thank them enough for everything they did to help make the project such a success. We also had a lot of help from Tanner's friends and fellow Boy Scouts Ardie Ashton, Alex Williams, Chet Littlefield, Connor Gibbs, Hayden Nelson, Sam Peterson and Brock Luebke.

On Friday the roads in were pretty treacherous and we had fun (just kidding) sliding down a lot of the hills in the truck. On Saturday morning we got up to a beautiful blanket of snow on everything, icicles on the showerhouse and big, wet snowflakes coming down. Luckily everyone brought lots of coats and hats and cold weather gear thanks to the equipment list Tanner and Erin had made up for everyone. By mid morning though the skies cleared a bit and we were able to get underway with the project.

Tanner broke everyone up into work groups and by the time the day was done, we had replaced all of the showerhouse toilets and improved the water drainage for the spigots in 12 different campsite locations. We did other assorted odd improvements throughout the camp as well during the day, but the drainages and toilets were the main focus of the project. Once all the work was done the boys and kids had plenty of fun time playing pine cone golf and other assorted games and activities.

Saturday night all the scouts and several others headed for home. The Wells, Orozcos, Daveports, Englands and Brock Luebke stayed for Sunday and Monday as did Mike Kreimeyer. On Sunday the weather was actually quite nice. It warmed up to about 4o degrees and we had a a beautiful church service (thanks Bishop Hyte) on the mountain side overlooking the canyons north of camp. It really was a stunning setting and made for a very memorable and spiritual sacrament meeting. Liz gave a talk on service and Bill Wells taught Sunday School and both did a great job. The rest of the day was spent visiting, playing with the kids and hiking about enjoying the scenery. Oh, and of course eating, which was fantastic. Big kudos to Erin and little Erin for the awesome food! We ate and ate well all weekend. Special thanks to Ben Luebke for helping supply a lot of our food.

Monday we got up to more snow and hail. We worked in the morning hauling out tables to campsite, cutting down trees (broken from the heavy winter snows), helping clear brush and making final pass throughs of camp. Allen England also mowed the meadow for the start of camp in a couple of weeks and then we broke down camp to head home. Luckily the roads weren't too wet from the morning snow and hail so no one got stuck on the way out (I heard some weren't so lucky who headed home on Saturday).

All in all, it was a tremendously successful Eagle Scout project. We had good food, good fun, a great Sunday experience, got lots of great work done and left with good memories all around. I hope to get a bunch of the pictures from the project up in a slideshow soon. Thanks again to everyone involved.

Music Award

Last week was the Erin's final band concert of the year. She started in beginning band as it is her first year in middle school, but got asked to join advanced band too once school got underway. (Their advanced band is really good and got all superior ratings at their county wide festival.)

Anyway, when the concert was over the band teacher (perhaps the best in the district...he is very good) had a surprise video he had done that showed all the kids in advanced band. In it they announced the students who had won the best musician awards and...yup, little "E" brought home the trophy. You might not believe me because of my obvious bias, but you can see the video and you'll see that she got the biggest applause of anyone when she was announced. Way to go Erin girl!

Flag Ceremony

Last Friday (5/23/08), Jimmy was asked to lead the Memorial Day assembly for his school. He was in charge of the Color Guard for his Cub Scout Troop (Jimmy's now a Bear Scout by the way) and led the flag ceremony and the Pledge of Allegiance. The little spud did a great job and it was fun to see him and his friends get to participate in such a nice tribute for Memorial Day.

The praying mantises have arrived!

Yes, the blessed occassion has occurred. If you look close at the picture in the middle, you will see several baby mantises perched on the picture frame, and several others on the wall. Unfortunately they hatched inside, but luckily we were able to get them all rescued and safely out to the garden. We buy mantis eggs at the nursery every year and love to watch them hatch. There are usually a couple hundred that hatch and I must admit they are pretty cute.

The garden, by the way, is the most successful we've ever had. The sunflowers are even taller now than in the photo with Lauren and Jimmy. The strawberries, peas, tomatoes, jalapenos and artichokes are all doing fantastic. We hope the praying mantises help keep them all healthy!

Giants Finish Season With Big Win

Well, Tanner's first full season of football (and Bud and Uncle Jeff's first full season of coaching) is officially over. The team, the NY Giants, finished 3-3 and won their big "bowl game" on Saturday with a 12-7 win over the Falcons.


Tanner had a huge game the week before with 3 QB sacks, 2 forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and 6 tackles. He played both ways (offense and defense) all season and was without a doubt our best blocker.

At the game, Tanner and another boy were picked as the team captains. It was great to have Grandma and Grandpa Cranor there to see Tanner's last game, as well as Brian and Peggy Davenport who were in town for Jeff's graduation. After the game, Uncle Jeff and Bud both got the traditional water dumped on them by the team. It was a good win and a good season.