Sevark Central

This evening we enjoyed a nice Glasgow family gathering to celebrate Grandpa Glasgow's 78th Birthday.  Lexine was at Mayo all day and I had a chiropractor appt late in the afternoon, so we had left quite early to the party.  For dinner, we decided to hit Pizza Mart -- where Rod worked for years -- which the Clark kids had never been to before (and it has been quite a while since those of us Severtson's had been there).  That made for a nice dinner, then we headed over to Grandma Glasgow's for the party.  Lots of ice cream and visiting family, then some sharing of spiritual experiences family members have had since he passed away that have let the family still know that he was nearby and watching over them.  After the closing prayer on our way home, I took Garrett to drop off his Eagle Scout packet for district approval.  On the way he said, "Dad, you know how they were sharing experiences where they have felt Grandpa Glasgow by them -- when we were saying the closing prayer, it felt like he was there by me saying welcome to the family".  Garrett's always been a very sensitive young man -- what a neat experience for him.

Caleb presented his end-of-year Space project today in his class!  Just for the record, I'm not a big fan of "family projects" sent home as homework from teachers.  But Caleb did great gathering his facts, pictures and presenting it in front of his class.  The only errors on it were a couple from me that he caught this morning right before he left...so hopefully he doesn't get docked too much!  He better get a descent grade on it since he and I spent several hours on Friday night and Saturday working on it!!  :-)

Bentley & Porter had their 2012 Queen Creek High School prom this evening!  They had a great time...Porter came home saying he had a much better time than he expected.  Bentley spent lots of time planning and getting ready for it...usually the guy is supposed to plan the date, but that wasn't happening, so Bentley took over.  Bentley's date was Zach and Porter took Lauren (Bentley's friend).  They started their date with pictures, then were off to Joe's BBQ for dinner...wanting to keep the night relatively inexpensive with the $100 the guys already had to pay for the prom tickets...not too mention the cost of the boutonnières and corsages. While they were at Joe's, they didn't realize they left their car lights on, so they returned to a car with a dead battery.  But they were laughing and having a great time still when they called us...luckily Lexine's Sister lives just minutes from there and were able to give them a jump (Thank you Dennis & Lona!!).  Next it was off to the prom where they spent some time living it up...dancing and refreshments.  They returned home around 11:30pm -- having had a great time and now exhausted!

Garrett has some really good friends again this year at Newell Barney Junior High.  Many of them decided to participate in track this season...so Garrett's been getting up early in the morning and staying late after school for track practices.  Today was the first meet he competed in...participating in the hurdles and high jump.   He did really good for his first time and will get even better as he continues to practice.  Many more practices & meets to come!  Great job little-buddy!!

This weekend was our stake's Spring Camporee...and since I'm the 11 year told scout leader, I got to take a bunch of boy camping!  :-)  It was actually quite nice to get up out of the heat and it was a fairly easy drive up past Globe toward Salt River Canyon about 26 miles -- called Timber Camp.  We got there just as it was getting dark, then quickly setup tents, built a fire and started cooking our hobo-dinners (which turned out great)!  The boys even got to bed at a descent hour...i think it was about midnight when most of them went to bed.  I've learned on these campouts that you simply have to tell the boys they can stay up as long as they want, but can't add any more wood to the fire without adult supervision.  Before you know it, the fire had died down and they start getting cold...next thing you know they are in their sleeping bags, then not long after that they are zonked out!  ;-)  The next morning we had our three newer scouts cook us breakfast to pass off their Tenderfoot rank advancement requirements, there were off to the Orienteering events of the day.  We enjoyed a nice big orienteering scavenger hunt and located 5 of the 6 points...which we were happy about since our 12 year old scout troop only got 3!  :-)  Then it was back to camp for a hamburger lunch, clean-up and drive home!  Caleb had a great time with the 11 year old scout and Noah with the 12 year olds.  And I'm completely exhausted...a true sign of a great scout campout (when they leaders are just about dead)!  :-)

While Noah & Caleb and I were all at the Scout Camporee, Jonah was the only one home to go to the Flag Football game.  Lexine said he really didn't want to go today without the other boys, but little did we know he would shine without them...and that he did!  He scored not 1, but 2 touchdowns...and it would have been 3 if a flag would not have been called on the play for the quarterback stepping slightly over the line.  Crazy kid!  He's one of the younger kids on the team, but also one of the fastest runners.  He's scored all 3 of the only 3 touchdowns the team has had this year.  Noah and Caleb have been playing quarterback a lot, so they've not had nearly as many attempts to score as in past seasons, but they are doing equally good.  They haven't won a single game yet, but its still been a good season!

This afternoon was our 2nd time as a family going to the Rollins & Peterson Polar Ice Event!  It was a blast last year, so most of the kids were excited to go again this year.  We did lots of ice skate when we were not falling...  :-)  Then in between there were lots of games to win prizes, snacks, hotdogs, etc.  At one point we were sitting there and heard Mr. Severtson is the winner!  Turned out that Caleb was playing a softball toss game and won by getting the highest speed throw -- winning a gift basket of sunflower seeds and a Coldstone gift card!  The kids have been roller blading some in our cul-de-sac, so they did much better than last year.  We had a couple extra passes, so we invited Trevor & Rex to go with us...and Porter invited his friend Nicholas to go and his brother Derrick who is a good friend of Garrett's also came along. At that point our car was full, but that didn't stop the kids from calling other friends to see if they could meet us down there.  We had the extra space because Kami had a date tonight, Bentley was going baby-sitting and Maizey was getting ready for the dance.  Always something going on at our crazy busy home -- but it was great to get out to do something fun with part of our family today!

Its official!  We took Porter down to the driver's branch today with his paper from passing "behind the wheel training" and they gave him his license -- Yikes!  :-)  Actually Porter is a very good and conservative driver.  Not in a rush and not aggressive.  But now he's official and can drive whenever or where ever he wants!  Hurray -- no more driving the boys around to mow lawns!!  I've actually enjoyed those times when the boys and I can talk...  Porter's growing up...now if we can just keep earning enough money for gas and car insurance!  Congratulations Porter -- you're doing great!  ;-)

Like many of the high school seminary programs, Queen Creek also encourages the kids to earn their Centurion award -- which is passing off all 4 years worth of scripture mastery in a specific amount of time.  Today Bentley & Porter came home both having passed the testing and successfully achieving their award and recognition!  There was only 1 other student who has passed it off, so Bentley & Porter are #2 and #3 in the school to complete it.  High achievers never settle for mediocrity.  Great job guys!!

What a crazy busy weekend!  The kids were so tired on Saturday evening that I was really surprised this morning when nobody was up at 6am to find Easter baskets.  In fact, it wasn't until about 7:30am when we heard anyone up -- that was really nice!  About that time we walked into the front room to find most of the kids waiting on the couch for us to give the word to find their baskets -- which they all had already found we quickly learned as they knew exactly where to go!  In addition to the usual candy treats, this year brought new dresses for the girls and white shirts and ties for the boys!  Then it was off to the kitchen for one of Lexine's famous breakfasts -- Buttermilk Pancakes and ham & cheese rolls -- Yum!  What a nice, happy, peaceful morning in our home to remember the resurrection of our savior and its special importance to us with both Cindy and Rod having been taken from this life early.  Happy Easter!

The Reed family reunion comes around once every year...which is such a nice way to get to see all the uncles, aunt and cousins that there are so many of!  This year was Grandma Severtson's turn to plan it which she planned similar to a Carnival, with bouncy houses, hotdogs & hamburgers, popcorn & cotton candy, and a huge Easter egg hunt!  Our family had a blast as you can see below -- thanks Mom (& Dad)!