Jacob and Amanda had their baby today(Tuesday, July 29th) about 1:30! His name is Liam James and he weighed 9lbs 2 oz and is 22 1/2 inches long. Mom and baby doing fine and are supposed to go home tomorrow. For those counting,(and I am), he is our 21st grandchild.

Summer swimming, (some'r not)

It took me forever to figure out how to put on a slideshow...had to call Kira (one of my blog-mentors) These are pics of JaNae's, Jacob's and Kira's kids in our pool. Wesley decided he was tired of the pool quickly so he sat it out and watched our dog play soccer with the basketball.
Daniel got more used to the water this year in "swimming lessons" and likes going under water now and Brice learned to swim, so they stay in the shallow end and play... without floaties! Brice will even jump off the board and dog paddle to the edge. Bailey and Amry are such fish! They are all over the pool and jumping off the board. I tried to teach Bailey how to dive off the edge of the pool but she's still too hesitant to trust herself. She'll get it, Amry did. Carlise is fine in our pool---so its weird how she didn't like the water part of the cute little pool set-up her parents did, or the beach. She'll probably be totally different next year. Mary Ann thinks that she can do whatever she wants (ie: no floaties etc) so sometimes it is a constant battle to keep them on her and keep her in the shallow end. Cian just loves to float or kick all around the pool, relaxing in the water. Josey was also content just floating. She was comfortable too because the water is warm. I love it when they come over to use the pool--it justifies the work we put into it.

We went and got the boys' school schedule today. This is how their typical school day will go this year: Seminary at 6:30,wait for them there, then at 7:30 I drop them off at the site of the old high school (stadium), where they catch a shuttle bus to Carroll St. School (an OLD elementary school in poorest part of town--it hasn't been used for much for years) Students will be at Carroll for 1st and 2nd period. Then a shuttle bus back to the stadium, then another shuttle across town to the portable classrooms at EOCC (the college) for 3rd period, then shuttled back across town to the ROTC building for 4th period at the old high school site. I will pick them up there about 5:00 (they have drill and rifle practice after ROTC classes). Any student driver has to leave their car either at the college or the stadium because there is only parking for 8 cars at the Carroll school. The downside for us is that we will use more gas because I'll have to drive back across town to pick them up at the ROTC building whereas last year they walked home because we live so close to EOCC. It's times like these when I long for a community mass transit system..."take the bus home". Ah well. We could let them drive EXCEPT Miles still has to finish his Eagle project (scheduled for the 2nd week in August), and then there is the minor "little issues" like no 3rd car or money to insure one, or money to insure another driver. The good thing is that he isn't chomping at the bit and nagging us to drive.
Wow! School starts in 3 weeks...NOT ready!

This Summer

Hey y'all, been a while, I'm probably not gonna write much, if that's so, it's because Miles said it all and I can't say it any better. So, the Summer started with Scout Camp. Miles went to ROTC camp while I went to Staff Week, where the staff does some last minute preparations for camp. Two weeks later, Scout camp began. Miles and I were there for half of the first week; Thursday through Saturday we were at Youth Conference, which was awesome (but actually not as good as my first youth conference in my view). After Youth Conference, we went back to Scout camp for the second week. To sum it all up, Scout camp was fun, what else can I say? After camp was over, Miles and I went over to Gainsville, Georgia for EFY. Miles already told you about that, so all I can say is, "Ditto". So now we're back for the rest of Summer. Miles has already started practice for the Drill Team, and Rifle Team practice for me is gonna start next Monday and go all the way until school starts. And that's pretty much all I have to say, wish me luck on the Precision Team (and wish me luck on getting the position of Rifle Team Commander, I'm gonna be reaching for that throughout the year).

This is Hawkeye, signing out.

EFY

I got the chance to go to a session of EFY at Gainesville GA. It was AMAZING!!! I met so many people, had so much fun, and REALLY felt the Spirit.
When we got there on Monday, we unpacked into our rooms, and met the guys in our company. Our male counselor, Paul, was a really cool guy. Then we went and met the girls in our group. The female counselor, Leinani, was also really cool. Overall, my group was fantastic. We all got along very quickly. Not only that, but we all started to act like friends that we had known for year, when really I had never met any of these people in my life. The next 2 days we went to classes. I really liked how we could choose the classes we went to. We had a dance on Tuesday and Games Night on Wednesday (a.k.a Pizza Night).
On Thursday, we had a Variety Show. Every performance was great. I brought my practice rifle and a set of BDUs (camoflouge uniform) and did my individual that I performed at Daytona. A lot of people liked it. I got a standing ovation (as well as everyone). If you want to see it, go to my facebook and look at my videos. Brianna, a girl from my group, got the first minute of it. I personally think that my performance was not that good, but everyone else said that it was "sick" ( that means that it was good). At the end of the day we had a Musical Program and a fireside. Then we had a testimony meeting. I had felt the Spirit all week because of the outstanding youth that I was around. But during the Musical Program, that fireside, and the testimony meeting, I felt the Spirit even stronger. As I bore my testimony, I mentioned that I knew that there were other good youth around the world, but that I had never really seen it until now. There were people from around the U.S., and one from the UK. It was a wonderful feeling that even rivaled the time that I went to Navoo (and that was unbelievable).
On Friday, we split up the Young Men and Young Women, and went to our YM/YW activites. The Young Men went and discussed The Living Christ (the testimony of the apostles). Then we discussed how Christ affected our lives personally. After lunch, we had a service project; knitting hats for infants in colder regions. I did absolutely NOTHING!! The girl I was with said that she liked doing this kind of thing. I offered to help several times, but she just said something like, "Hold this." The last thing we had that day was a dance. After the dance, we had a slide show of photos taken during the session. After the slide show, me and the guys in our group escorted our girls back to their rooms. We gave them all hugs, and told them good night. When they went inside, I told the guys that we should sing to them. I suggested God Be With You Til We Meet Again. All the girls came to the window of one of their rooms. After the singing (which definitely was not our best) they came out and hugged us again. Before we went to bed, we had a night time devotional (like we did every night and morning). Then we went to bed.
To sum this all up, I will never regret going to this one bit. I met so many good people, and my testimony was strengthened so much. I'm definitely going back again next year. And when I get back from my mission, I'm going to be a counselor. I also got a TON of contacts form people that I met. I'm very grateful for the Internet (the good part of it anyway) and how it lets us stay in contact with each other. As for now though, Ahm Outta Heah!

What a long strange trip it was

As most of you know, my mother passed away Wednesday, July 2. The trip to St. Louis and back was a memorable one. I left on the 4th of July from Montgomery, Alabama. We couldn't take off on schedule because the temperature in the cabin of the plane was 106. When they turned the power on to cool it off, they found that half the air conditioners were broken. Seems the maintenance people didn't feel like working that morning. They borrowed a large air conditioning unit from Delta and spent an hour and 45 minutes trying to cool the plane. They got the temperature down to 96, and we took off. With that kind of delay, a prayer was said that I wouldn't miss my connecting flight in Memphis. I got there just as they were about to close the door. Finally made it to St. Louis without any further incident.
My sister and brother and I went through Mom's apartment and found the most amazing thing. She had boxed up most everything because she was preparing to move from her apartment, but what we didn't expect to find was that she had labeled some of them as to who was to get that box. She also left notes in items explaining what they meant to her and why we were getting them. I really think Mom knew she was about to go and was prepared for it.
The funeral was different. I'm used to LDS funerals, so the canned country version of "Amazing Grace" and "Jesus Loves Me" sounded a little strange. Even my brother thought it was inappropriate. But, it was a nice funeral and I thanked the pastor for his kind words. At the cemetary, I was able to consecrate the burial plot. I enjoyed spending time with my sister and getting closer to her. She's a very special lady.
The trip back kind of made up for the trip up. I met another man about my age waiting for the plane to Memphis. We talked and found out we had several things in common. We were there very early so he suggested we have breakfast while we waited. We talked about the '67 and '68 World Series, our children, our grandchildren, and our military experiences. While we were talking, a woman asked to see my boarding pass. She asked me to follow her and took me to the desk. She said the back portion of the plane was quite full and wanted to know if I would be willing to exchange my coach ticket for a first class ticket. I wound up on row 2. My new friend was also asked to exchange his ticket for a first class one. So, we flew together to Memphis first class. What a wonderful experience. Sooooooo much leg room. Personally, I think they just wanted to take the two big fat guys and redistribute the weight. At Memphis I found my connection to Montgomery and found my new friend (John) was also going to Montgomery. He was going to see his son's new baby girl. We flew the rest of the way together and had a wonderful time. At Montgomery, I said goodby to John, picked up my baggage, and had lunch at Subway. Jan and the boys picked me up a little later and back home we went through all the stuff I brought back and will be giving it to the rest of the family soon. I miss my mother, but look forward to next year when I can get the temple work done for her.