Wednesday in the Park

Today, we decided to play games at the park. So, Brother Spencer, Rick, Ryan, Dallin, Jeremy, Kyle M., Dewlin, Jaren, Teddy, Tay, Grant, Jeff, and I met at the church. Once we all got rounded up, we headed over to the park on Greenbrook Drive (because it's the closest park to the church).

We were going to play rugby, but not everybody wanted to play that, so we played football.

Well, not everybody played it. Jeff and Tay played on the play structure.

Kyle W. and Brandon had arrived later, and they joined in the game.

Oh yeah, and some Girl Scouts came along because they were having a party thing near the park. Actually, I couldn't tell if they were Girl Scouts, Brownies...

...or Tree Hugger Scouts? Anyway, they kind of interrupted the game.

But when they left, we played Capture the Flag. That was fun.

And that's pretty much it! :)

Carpentry Merit Badge

Since its 2010, the 100th Anniversary of Scouting, there are 4 merit badges available this year: Signaling, Tracking, Pathfinding, and Carpentry that they had discontinued 60 years ago. They will only be around this year, and then will be gone again until 2060, for the 150th Anniversary.

We wanted to work on them as much as we can, so today, we worked on Carpentry merit badge. We had 5 stations: Brother Jackson with measuring tools, Brother Hyde with hammers, Brother Spencer with drills, Brother Wurzbach with planes, and Brother Reed with a variety of saws.

We all split into groups. Ryan, Jeff and I were in one. Dallin, Jaren, Jeremy, and Rick in another. Brandon and Tay were together. Dewlin and Kyle W. were their own team. And Grant and Kyle M. were in their own group.

We switched off to different stations and learned about and used the different tools. We did that for and hour, and then, when we were done, we all cleaned up the wood chips, tools, and other stuff laying out.

So, it will be really cool to get all these merit badges, since they will never be available for the next 50 years!

The 2010 Planning Meeting

Today, we had a planning meeting at the church to plan all of the upcoming events in 2010!

We started off planning goals for the year (certain activities, parties, etc.). Boy, did we think of a lot!

We then took a break and played a game called "Buzz" in the Gym. It's kind of like the game, Covety, that we played in Sunol. The only difference is that you have to keep saying "Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz" instead of saying "Covety" over and over.

The rules of the game is that you have two teams in a square divided by two. Each time, one person from one team runs into the other teams' boundary and tries to tag someone and run back while saying "Bzzzz" the whole time. If the other team tackles the person before he gets to the other side, he's out. Whatever team loses all their players, loses the game.

After some good rounds of Buzz, we started planning some more. We planned some of the locations we could have camp outs in.

We know for sure we'll go to Camp Oljato this summer (a camp near the Sierra Nevadas). I thought of Angel Island. Ryan thought of Yosemite. Kyle Makaiwi thought of going to Point Bonita again. Brother Spencer thought of renting a cabin near Stinson Beach. Ryan thought of camping near an army base in Nevada. Ryan and Kyle Worley debated a little bit and literally laid out on top of the table with the map!

The next thing to plan was the different merit badges to work on. We though of a bunch, including: Cooking, Music, Reading, and several other badges.

Then, we took another break and played a game called "Steal the Bacon" in the Gym (click here to learn how to play). Only, we used a chalkboard eraser, not bacon. After playing Steal the Bacon, we went into the kitchen and had an ice cream sundae bar.

We all brought different toppings, and boy were they good!

We then hung around a while, and then went home.

The Ward Christmas Breakfast

After Jaren's birthday party sleep over, Cole was picked up by his mom, and then Jaren, Dallin, Teddy, and I went over to the Ward Christmas Breakfast. We at pancakes, bacon, sausage, and eggs with Alec, Brandon, and Jeremy, until Brother Spencer told us to come with him to practice the chimes. We practiced until we had to go on stage. Rick had to announce every skit thing, so he had to do it with us without practicing.

We did pretty good.

Jaren's Birthday Party

So, Alec, Jeremy, Dallin, Rick, Teddy, and I came to Jaren's sleep over birthday party. We ate pizza and cake, and then Jaren opened his presents. Dallin made him a teenager survival kit with a bunch of fun stuff in it. Jaren also got a lot of gift cards for iTunes and At the Candy Shop. Then, we played games on my Wii that I brought.

Then, Brandon came over after singing in the San Francisco Boys Chorus. He gave Jaren a farting machine with a remote control. We pulled pranks with it by putting right by someone, and then at the perfect time, we'd press the button, and away it went!

After playing some games, Cole Becker, one of our friends, came over. Dallin invented a new drink. He poured about 10 Pixie Stix in water, and drank it. I tried it, but I only put in 3, so mine tasted like watery sugar. Eew. Purple water.

We started to watch Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, but some of us couldn't stay for the sleep over. So some of us left. First Rick, then Brandon, then Jeremy, then Alec. Then, it was just down to Jaren, Dallin, Teddy, Cole, and me.

We finished the movie, and then we stayed up until 3:30 AM watching Lord of the Rings on Dallin's iPod. We dubbed over the movie and said some funny stuff. We also found a part in the movie (The Return of the King) where Aragorn says "I do not believe it!" but he sounds like he's Mexican, and then he returns to his English accent. And then this one Orc made a weird noise that sounded like, "URRRGHRRGH!"

Then, at last, we went to sleep.

The Triple Scout Meeting

Well, we just had an eventful Scout Meeting! We started with a Court of Honor. Most of us got the merit badges we earned at Scout Camp, like Citizenship in the Nation, Wilderness Survival, and First Aid. Some of us also got the merit badges from Advance Camp, like Rick, who got his Music merit badge and Jeremy and Alec, who got their Chemistry merit badge.

There was some rank advancements too. Dallin and I advanced to Star Scout, and Alec advanced to Life Scout! Then, I showed the slideshow of Scout Camp.

After the Court of Honor, Brother Ganschow told us what to pack for our next camp out. We get to go snow camping up in Donner Pass. Instead of sleeping in tents or under the stars, we get to sleep in snow caves!

Then finally, we practiced our skit for the show thing for the Ward Christmas Breakfast at Church. All the youth put on skits and we deacons are playing the chimes. Last year we played Silent Night. This year we'll be playing Deck the Halls.

So, there's some things to tune in for later in December!

Christmas Spirit Service

Today, the youth, including us Deacons, were divided into groups and went to certain people's houses, and then we'd do service for them to get them in the Christmas spirit. Dallin, Rick, Jeremy, Kyle Makaiwi, Teddy, Jaren, and I attended. Teddy and I were in the same group.

Teddy and my group went to Sister Finch's house and raked up the leaves and installed some lights. Then, we sang to Sister Finch and had doughnuts and Martinelli's. And then we all went to Sister Taylor's and had hot chocolate.

Baptisms for the Dead

Today is Veteran's Day, so we didn't have school today, so we went to the Oakland LDS Temple to do Baptisms for the Dead. We've done it before, but this time was special because it was Teddy and Brandon's first time. Anyway, we all met at 10:00 AM at the church, then Rick, Jaren, Dallin and I hopped into Rick's dad's car, and we rode to the Temple. On the way, Dallin drew this weird picture.

After driving a while, we got to the Oakland Temple.

The white boxers they gave me were way too big (they kept slipping). You could probably fit the whole Golden Gate Bridge inside! Anyway, we got baptized and confirmed for a bunch of people from Kentucky, Chile, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Italy, Spain, Yugoslavia, Argentina, The Netherlands, Germany, Norway, Denmark, Australia, The United Kingdom, Kansas, and Nebraska. Probably the oldest person out of all of ours was one of Dallin's, who was born in the mid 1500's. The second oldest was one of mine guys, who was born in 1668.

One of Dallin's guys had the last name Masters, and was born in New South Whales, Australia in the 1880's. One of Teddy's guys also had the name Masters, and was also born in New South Whales, Australia, but in the 1910's. They compared them, and Teddy's guy was born 30 years after Dallin's, so we thought that Teddy's guy could be Dallin's guy's son.

One of my guys was named Joseph. It didn't say his birthdate, where he was from, or even his last name. It was just Joseph. Rick said that in his old ward in Utah, his friend got baptized for a guy named Isaac Newton, so you never know! Plus, Alec got confirmed for a guy named Lancelot last time, but then again, Lancelot is a fictional character, so never mind.

After the baptisms, Dallin, Jaren, Alec, Jeremy, and I got into Jaren's dad's car. Oh, yeah, and Jason Bromley came with us.

On the way home I saw some weird license plates! When we were going through the Caldacott Tunnel, I saw one that said "L FISH 1" and another one that said "HOHOHO2". Maybe that person was obsessed with Santa or something!

That's pretty much our trip to the temple!

It's All Over

Yes, the play is all over, and it was a big success! We even donated over $5,000 to California Donor Transplant for Nolan Blair, a freshman in high school who had a heart transplant a couple months ago. Cool, huh? Now, we're all over the internet! Click on these link to see us.

LDS Living

Inside Bay Area.com

Deseret News

Danville Weekly

Mormon Times

San Francisco Chronicle

Also, since I don't have a good picture of Alec and Rick in the play up on this blog, so here's one (Alec is the Butler and Rick is the Baker).

Also, Kyle Makaiwi couldn't be in the play, because he had lots of football practice, but he was able to come to this night's performance. Yup!

Joseph Cont.

So, my mom got the hang of filming, so we have some good shots of the play. So, to start off, the whole cast had some dinner together.

Oh yeah, and Rick drew a dog named "Maggie the Dog".

Then, we had to get our makeup done, and yes, that wasn't much fun. After our makeup. I wanted to get some funny pictures of Dallin's weird-looking makeup!

Oh, and in case if you were worrying a bit, don't worry, we still love women. Anyway, when I went into the bathroom, I noticed if I face downwards, I look like I'm goth, so I took a picture of it.

Then, I tried to get a picture of Jeremy's makeup.

Attempt #1

Attempt #2

We noticed that Jeremy's name was printed in the program, so I wrote his name in this program.

Okay, so here's some shots for the show. In the beginning, we Egyptians get to be a bunch of different people, as I said on Thursday (you can read more about it on the post from Thursday).

Here's a close-up shot of me and Teddy (we're LDS missionaries).

Grant Ganschow was Joseph.

Then, the next scene we came on was the "Potiphar" scene.

Alex Wright was Potiphar.

After that was the Go Go Go Joseph scene. That was embarrassing because we had to dance around in goofy hats, wigs, and pants.

Then there was intermission. After intermission, we came in for "The song of the King", when the Pharaoh explains his dream to Joseph.

Tommy Brown was Pharaoh. And yes, the Pharaoh is supposed to be based on Elvis Presley.

After the whole Egypt Scene is "Those Canaan Days". None of us Deacons are in it, but some Teachers that were in Deacons with were in it. It's a pretty funny song because it sounds like a Frenchy song.

Also, during this song, the narrators get to eat KFC at a table that supposed to look like a café (I'm so jealous!).

Then finally, the Egyptians come on for the finale.

And that's pretty much it!

Opening Night!

Well, today was opening night for Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat! So first, we had to get our makeup on (yes, even the guys have to wear makeup). In the very beginning of the play, we get to be several different people. Alec is a music conductor, Dallin and Jaren are football players, Jeremy is a businessman, Teddy and I are LDS missionaries, Rick is a policeman, and Kyle Worley and Brandon are school kids.

Now, my mom tried to film the scenes we're in, but she thought the green light meant "record", when really it's the red button, so there was a bunch of videos of my mom's lap and only some subliminal shots of us. Here's the Narrators:

Left to Right: Ariana Viera, Becca Brown, Lauren Peterson,

Lexi Patterson, and Kelsey Makaiwi

And here's a picture during the Egypt Scene:

You can see Rick pretty well. I'm the guy with the his arm in front of this face. Dallin is peeking out of my head. Brandon is the guy in a profile. Alec looks like he's staring at the Sphinx. Teddy is to the left of Lexi Patterson. Jeremy is directly behind Lexi. Kyle Worley is behind Lexi too (you can see his turquoise hat peeking from her neck).

So, I told my mom that the red button means "record", so I think we will have better shots of the play tomorrow!

Brandon's Party

Today was Brandon's birthday party. It was a lot of fun! When I got there, Rick, Rick's brother named Spencer, Alec, and Jaren were there. Then, Dallin, Teddy, and some of Brandon's other friends came.

First off, we played Flag Football. That was fun! Brandon did an awesome throw! After playing Flag Football, we downed a bunch of pizza and cherry soda. We also played Telephone around the table. Whenever Jaren would start the round, Rick would change it completely on purpose when it came to him!

Then we started to play some basketball. I started pulling Brandon's little brother, Josh, around the pathway in the backyard in a wagon. Then some of Brandon's other friends joined in, then Rick, then Jaren, then Spencer, and finally, everybody was pulling each other in the wagon! But then Dallin had to leave. Sad.

Then the evolution of the wagon game we made up became more complex. Spencer and I made obstacles on the paths. We would throw Nerf footballs, or hold a rope in front of them. Then , we made our game into a haunted house! Two people would push and pull the wagon, and one person would ride in the wagon. First, they had to go in between the wall of the house and some thick and bushy trees where some of us would jump out and scare them, or even startle them by jerking something out in front of them, like this one crate we found. I think I even made Teddy jump once or twice.

Then they had to go past the patio, but there's nothing scary about that. Then, they had to go past some bushes and a palm tree. We would jump out of the bushes and scare them. Since the palm tree is right next to the path, they would accidentally ram into the palm tree!

Then, they had to dodge the flying Nerf footballs and pedestrian cones (we missed them a lot). Then, they had to go back to the starting line (the basket ball hoop). Just when it was getting good, we went and had banana splits!

Then, we played Ghosts in the Graveyard. Here's how to play: so, a couple of people are ghosts. They have to find the human people, and if they are tagged, they become ghosts. You tried to get everybody to become ghosts, and that's basically it!

We played it for about 3 rounds, and then, Jaren's dad took me, Jaren, Rick, Spencer, and Teddy home. So, all in all, it was a pretty fun party!

We Meet Again, Sunol!

Well, we just went on a camp out to Sunol Regional Wilderness...again! Only this time, we had our new scouts: Teddy and Brandon Wilhelmsen (who will join our troop in a week or so)! Also, this was Rick's first time at Sunol.

Brother Spencer, Alec, Rick, Dallin, Jaren, Jeremy, Teddy, Brandon, Brandon's dad, and I met at the church yesterday (October 9, 2009) at 4:00 P.M.

We checked to see if we had everything, then we packed our bags into the car, and off we went!

After about 30 minutes of driving, we got to the boundaries of Sunol.

We parked our cars and got our packs on.

We started hiking on the Hayfield Road up to the High Valley Camp.

Here's a map of Sunol. The black dot is where we started, the black line is the route we took, and the circles are the main locations we were at.

According to the map, we hiked about a mile to the camp.

Along the way, Jaren and I found a huge ravine. Good thing we didn't lose any scouts!

Now, Sunol is largely populated in cows, and when life brings you cows, the cows give you something as well (and it's mostly something you don't want)!

Anyway, after a while, we got to camp. And it was the same camp as last time. Seriously, the creepy old barn was still there!

There's also a house that's built into the side of the hill (notice the chimney coming out of the ground).

I think we even took a picture of it last time!

This Camp Out:

Last Camp Out:

So then we played football, and some Uno for a while.

Then we made fajitas for dinner (which is what we did last time)!

We couldn't make a fire because we could accidently burn down all the hills, Alec made a "fire" out of a lantern and some cello paper.

Since this Camp Out was a Stake Camp Out, meaning that the other troops from the other wards came, we all had a meeting around Alec's wonderful bonfire.

Then, Alec, Jeremy, Dallin, Rick, Jaren, Teddy, and I slept out on a tarp underneath the stars (Brandon slept with his dad in their tent). Wow, the only times we haven't slept under the stars was our first trip to Sunol and Scout Camp! Anyway, I tried to get a picture of the stars, but it didn't work out too well.

I did get a picture of this an electricity tower with blinking red lights!

Okay, maybe it is kinda hard too see. Maybe if I get a close up shot. Now can you see it?

So, yeah, we really didn't go to bed until about 10:30, or 11:00. I fell asleep before everyone, and I woke up a little bit after everybody fell asleep, and I was surprised that Jeremy wasn't yelling "I WILL EAT YOU!" anymore!

In the morning (today), I was the first one up. I wanted to get some pictures of the first light of day, so I did.

Oh yeah, and all throughout this trip, several planes flew over us. It makes sense since we're only about 30 miles from the Oakland Airport and the San Francisco Airport! I even saw one fly over and disappear in the mist!

After I woke up, Teddy woke up, then Jaren, then Rick, and then Dallin. Jeremy and Alec kept on sleeping when we were all supposed to be up and ready. So, we tried to get them out of their sleeping bags.

So, when they finally got up, we had a devotional meeting around the campfire (which was still a raging bonfire from last night)!

After our meeting, we made Sunrise Stew for breakfast. In case if you forgot, Sunrise Stew is hash browns miked with eggs and bacon and cheese. Put it in a frying pan, and what do you have? Pure Goodness!

While we were waiting for it to cook, we played some more football.

When the food was ready, we swooped in and ate all that we could!

After cleaning up our breakfast, we went back down the Hayfield Road, and then branched off onto the Indian Joe Creek Trail.

We hiked down until we got to the Cave Rocks. We went there on our last trip to Sunol, and a lot of fun there, so we came back on this trip!

We did find this hidden cave. It was pretty cool because it kept on going and we couldn't find the end of it, but we couldn't go all the way inside it because we only brought one flashlight, and it wasn't that bright enough. Oh well, maybe another time!

Here's what it looked like inside the cave.

After we discovered the cave, we played an epic game of Hide-and-Go-Seek! So, Dallin was it, and I hid in the main cave inside the mountain thingy. I crawled inside a smaller cave in the main cave. I took a picture of one of the air holes up above me.

It was a pretty good hiding spot, because Dallin came into the main cave, and I was only 3 feet away from him and he didn't see me!

The next round was awesome! I was it, and I found Teddy in less than a minute. Then Jaren came out of his hiding spot from the first round, because Dallin didn't find him. So, he helped me and Teddy. We tried to look for Brandon, but when we found him hiding in between a narrow crack between two rocks (which was kind of cool, because the crack was as wide as the width of a sticky note), he ran off and hid somewhere. So we went on a wild goose chase, until we had him cornered, so then he started to help us. Then, Jaren found Alec, and Alec said he would give us hints to where Dallin, Jeremy, and Rick were hiding; the only guys left.

Then, when Teddy, Jaren, and I were searching the main cave, we saw a cave that went straight down. I was brave enough to go down into the pitch-black cave. I looked around, and then I saw a pair of shoes. I thought somebody had just left their shoes in the cave, but when I looked above the shoes, I saw a body and Dallin's face. Dallin roared "RAUGH!!" and scared my pants off! I screamed as loud as I could!

So, so far on my side, I had Teddy, Jaren, Brandon, Alec, and Dallin. Only two more guys left. We looked all over for them, but we had to go, so we quit the game. Jeremy and Rick came out of their hiding spots, which were the complete opposite of what Alec told us. We figured out Alec was a spy for Rick and Jeremy! So then we left the Cave Rocks.

On the way back to camp, we found a tarantula (it was tarantula mating season)!

Back at camp, we learned a game called Covety. It was pretty fun.

Then we played Sharks and Minnows, but that wasn't too fun. So then we had some tuna and crackers for lunch.

And Dallin entertained us by reading out loud the fun facts and riddles on the back of the oatmeal packets.

After lunch, Jaren, Brandon, and I looked through the small holes on the barn. You could actually see inside the barn!

Then Brandon was able to fit through a hole the size of one of the pictures on this blog! He could actually get inside the barn!

This one kid from another ward let us have his big bag of cotton candy. Obviously, we didn't take a whole bunch!

So, then we packed up and hiked down the Hayfield Road down to the parking lot.

Then we all went home. When we dropped off Dallin at his house, we saw the little ghosties hanging up outside his house. He told us his little sister is scared of the little ghosties. I thought they were kind of cute!

So that's pretty much our whole camp out. Yup.