Reeves service project

        On Wednesday September 18, most of the teachers in our quorum did a service project. There is a lady in our neighborhood who needed dirt dug out of her foundation to build rebuild window wells. There was a really big storm that had happened a few weeks earlier in Utah. After the storm, get basement flooded, so she found out she needed to expose the wall of her basement so she could waterproof it.

        We went over to her house and started to dig. It took us about an hour and a half but we finally got it done. They also had a big pile of dirt on the driveway so we had to shovel that onto the grass.

        We all had a great time. This helped us learn how to work together better. She really appreciated us doing this for her. Here are some of the pictures she took:

Photo Service Scavenger Hunt

        On Wednesday August 14, the Young men and young women in our ward did a photo service scavenger hunt. We had groups of about 10 people, and each group had a camera. Each group also had a list of service opportunities worth different amounts of points. We went around the neighborhood and knocked on doors. We would ask them if we could do service on the list for them.

Book of Mormon Challenge

Of the great potential that the Book of Mormon has to bless our lives, Marion G. Romney said the following:

“I feel certain that if, in our homes, parents will read from the Book of Mormon prayerfully and regularly, both by themselves and with their children, the spirit of that great book will come to permeate our homes and all who dwell therein. The spirit of reverence will increase; mutual respect and consideration for each other will grow. The spirit of contention will depart. Parents will counsel their children in greater love and wisdom. Children will be more responsive and submissive to the counsel of their parents. Righteousness will increase. Faith, hope, and charity—the pure love of Christ—will abound in our homes and lives, bringing in their wake peace, joy, and happiness” (Ensign, May 1980, p. 67).
In addition, reading the Book of Mormon is essential for gaining a personal testimony of the restored gospel and for preparing to serve a full-time mission. For these purposes, we have decided to read the Book of Mormon by the end of the year 2013, starting October 1, 2013. When President Hinckley issued a similar challenge to all members of the church in 2005, members had 97 days. Our challenge will require us to complete it in 92 days. Here is a reading schedule which will help us reach our goal:

We invite any who would like to to join with us.

50 miles in Zions

Our 50 mile hike

Monday: drove there went to hidden canyon set up camp went to weeping rock. 

Tuesday: we did the narrows

Wednesday: Angels landing and the west rim

Thursday: North Gate peaks, and catching crawdads at Kolob reservoir.

Friday: Hopp Valley and Kolob arch hiked out. then we got pizza at 5 buck pizza.

Day 1: Hidden Canyon: This hike was probably the overall favorite between us youth. We all loved it because towards the end of the hike, there wasn't a paved trail, because the canyon was so narrow. At that point we were basically trailblazers. We were hiking over boulders scaling mini cliffs and avoiding mini bacteria filled ponds. Bryan B. almost died ;). We were all paving different trails trying to find the easiest quickest way. It is worth mentioning that we were all pretty tired at the end of Day 1. But none of us were prepared for what was to come. Miles: 4

Memories: Running through Hidden Canyon. Taking the hike down by the Narrows, and pretending to see amazing animals "I've never seen one like that!" "That is huge!" we got some groups of people pretty good. Getting our first good glimpse of Zion. Bryan G. and Gabe chasing after some really quick lizards and stumbling across a rattlesnake. Gabe poking the rattlesnake.

Day 2: The Narrows: We woke up very early and ate breakfast and packed our lunches in Ziploc bags. We took the shuttle buses up to the start of the hike. None of us (except for Brother Brown and Brother Bodily) really knew what to expect. The start of the trail was the worst because the water was super duper cold. We started marching up river. About 1.5 miles in Brother Dalton's knee froze up and he could not continue which earned him the nickname 'Gimp'. (Props to him for sitting on the side of the river for six hours while we hiked the rest of the Narrows). The first part of the hike was pretty uneventful. Bryan B. kept us entertained with his cross stitch (or was it Crochet?) techniques that he shared. Which earned him the nickname 'Cross stitch'. When we got to the fork in the canyon we took the right fork. This canyon was called Orderville. It was the Narrows version of Hidden Canyon. It was definitely narrow. It was probably 10 ft. wide. The river also progressively got deeper and we all gave up on trying to stay dry. Gabe was the first to take the plunge and go chest deep in the water. Zach was the only person who was still trying to stay dry. We climbed over small waterfalls, walked across logs, and swam through some really deep parts in the river. Bryan B. almost died ;). We eventually stopped at a particularly high waterfall. (We had to take into account hiking back down) and ate lunch. At this part of the hike, there was a really deep part of water by the waterfall, and Zach was floating around on the log staying out of the water and staying dry. Sam decided to kick the log, and Zach went down in spectacular fashion. This earned Zach the nickname 'Logger'.Surprisingly we all did a decent job packing our lunches so they were all still dry. We ate, then started our hike back down to the main canyon. There were some stunning views of the canyon walls throughout our hike. We then joined the back to the main trail and hiked the rest of the Narrows. Miles: 12

memories:  

Day 3:   

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Mount Nebo

Mount Nebo Campout - June 21-22, 2013

Who:
Bryan Beausheur
Bryan Goodman
Todd Goodman
Zach Goodman

Paul Bodily
Adam Goodman
Dustin Hofheins

Where: Mount Nebo, North Summit

Travel Log:

We slept in a meadow full of yellow flowers, beautiful yellow flowers. We stayed at the Blackhawk campground. We played guitar. Zach played tunes on his iPod and we tried to figure out how to play them. We test out a jetboil stove and it performed magically:

We'll never have to wait for water to boil again. We also talked about Phineas & Ferb.

That night we had wicked good smores with Reeses instead of Hershey's (the graham crackers were precut to smore size!) and Starbursts. Then we had a devotional about missionary work. And then we had an epic game of Bases on a road across the field from our campsite. The best part about Bases is waking up the next morning to find all of the grass stains on your clothes. A new element to the game became throwing sticks and stones to distract the attention of the person in the middle.

There was 0% chance of rain, so Brother Bodily slept out on a tarp (at first, right downstream from the smoky fire). The next morning we loaded up on Pop Tarts, Oatmeal, Bananas, granola bars, and waters. After a quick pit stop at the "man with a horse," we headed for the trailhead near Mona Pole road. We met Brother Hofheins there. We lathered up on sunscreen and then hit the trail. We started around 8:15 AM. Here's a picture of us near the trailhead:

The first few miles were pretty easy. We found this dead tree around mile 2.5 or so that everyone seems to take a picture with:

Here's a picture when we finally hit the ridge. This was right after our epic snowball fight:

It was about a mile to Wolf's Pass. From there it got really hard. It goes basically straight up without switchbacks for a half mile. From the false summit, you skirt along the ridge and then you ascend up to the highest point on the Wasatch front (11,945 ft). The trail at the end is pretty sketchy and isn't for the faint of heart.

At the top we called a new member of our quorum and wished him Happy Birthday. We signed the logbook, snapped a few pictures, and headed back. Here's a picture of us on top:

Coming down was a doozy. One of our hikers got (we think) altitude sickness. Another (Brother Bodily) had his legs basically self-combust–or rather his knees just really took a beating. It was steep. Between the casualties, it took us as long to come down as it did to go up for a total of 9 miles in 9 hours.

That was a great campout!

What we learned about Hiking:

1. Always bring lots of water.
2. Don't rely on your phone, the battery will die. If it doesn't, the top of Mt. Nebo has four bars with T-mobile.
3. Ascending more than 1500 feet in a day may give you altitude sickness.
4. Altitude sickness can kill you. Acetaminophen can help.
5. Don's skip the switch-backs on the way up.  On the way down, it's okay to skip them, unless you're experiencing #6 (see below).
6. Your knees may give out.

Primary Music Videos

Oh, How We Love to Stand

Do As I'm Doing

Grove Creek Campout, May 10-11, 2013

Grove Creek Campout - May 10-11, 2013

Who:
Gabe Aroca
Bryan Beausheur
Bryan Goodman
Todd Goodman
Zach Goodman

Paul Bodily
Colter Dalton
Andrew Mitchell

Where: Grove Creek

Travel Log:

We met at the Church after school on Friday and threw our backpacks in the back of Brother Dalton's truck and drove 15 minutes to the trailhead. We hiked about 2.12 miles to the waterfall (which was something less than spectacular in its early Spring splendor), gaining about 1500 feet in elevation. None of us had ever made the hike before (in fact some of us had never backpacked before), and at that point we were looking to find a good camping spot. And we weren't alone: we were competing with two or three other groups. The intensity was only heightened by a rusty hack saw hanging from a tree branch in the middle of the trail. We managed to bypass them and after hiking another half mile up the trail, arrived first in a small heaven-sent meadow with several beautiful babbling brooks:

It should be mentioned that Bryan B. bravely dared the hike wearing snowboarding boots (without the snowboard). He says it felt like having 20 pound weights on each foot. Now that's intense!

When we first got to the campsite, it began to drizzle rain (Brother Bodily had indicated at the beginning of the hike that there was a 0% chance of rain. Jinx!). So we quickly set up tents (also to claim our spot). Thankfully the rain passed quickly and thoughts turned to food. The Goodman's and Gabe brought stoves and we feasted: Uncle Ben's Teriyaki rice, Peanut Butter and Honey Bagels, Spaghettio's (family size). Gabe made all our mouths water with his Mountainhouse Chicken & Rice and Breakfast skillet. Amazing!!!

To wash down our FANTABULOUS feast, we had to pump some water. But it came at a price. First we had to pump it. The Goodman's brought a brand-new water filter and we all gathered around to celebrate the inaugural pumps. We all groaned when frothy water emerged. After a few rounds, it started to clear up and after that we enjoyed the pristine, ice-cold, all-natural, mountain-creek nectar. "Enjoyed", that is, until half of us discovered we had giardia (or was it giarnia? or glor-i-a? dunno...). Just kidding. But really... Zach and Bryan G. both got hit with a bout of stinging nettle. This is what IT looked like:

We quickly identified some nearby Lamb's Ear, which looks like this:

which we applied to the stinging (along with some anti-itch wipes) and it miraculously cleared up!

Aside from that, the only other thing we found in the meadow was a pile of kidney beans we found by the brook.

As it got dark, we played Bases, which is something of a mix of kick the can, red-light-green-light, and hide-and-seek... with bases. The meadow was perfect for Bases (except for more stinging nettle).

We then had a little John Denver sing-along (Rocky Mountain High and Country Roads) and Brother Mitchell treated us to a little "Ho Hey" by the Lumineers. We took turns talking to man about a horse... and then a trailer... and then an ATV... and then back to a horse. We toasted off a bag of marshmallows  (Brother Dalton makes a mean s'more. A really mean s'more).

Then thoughts turned spiritual. We talked about Faith and sang A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief. We read a bit from the scriptures.

After a resounding amen, we spent some time talking about hunting (don't worry: no baby ducks were harmed in the course of our conversation). And then we hit the sack!

Next morning we busted out Bryan B.'s (full) box of Instant Oatmeal, but not before pulling out the Goodman's tent poles while they were still in bed! Classic! (Don't worry. We put them back)

Then we pretty much packed up and left. On the way back we tore down the mountainside. We. Hauled. Check out these stats:

• Fastest Speed: 12.4 mph
• Average Speed: 4.7 mph
• Total distance: 2.62 miles
• Total time: 35 minutes

Let's hope our knees hold out.

What a sweet campout!

What we learned about Backpacking:

1. Good footwear is critical: wear comfortable, light-weight athletic shoes
2. How and what to pack
3. Watch for evil plantlife! (We mean you, stinging nettle)
4. Coffee filters work well to extend the life of your water filter