Merit Badge Madness

The last couple of weeks have been crazy busy.  I signed Dallin up for a couple of Pow Wow's because I was under the impression that that was the easiest way for him to earn merit badges.  And I figured since he isn't as busy now as he might be in the next few years it would probably be best to get as much done now as possible.  What I didn't know was how much of the work for the merit badges (usually the hardest part) needs to be done either before the Pow Wow or in between sessions.

For the first few weeks in October we concentrated on the things he needed to get done for the BYU Pow Wow.  We took him to a City Council Meeting, helped him keep track of his money, his schedule, and then write reports about it all.  He even spent all of Conference weekend working on an 8 hour service project making blankets for a shelter in Salt Lake.  I was so proud of him and excited for how much he was learning and accomplishing.

Then he went to a Pow Wow in Mapleton and came home with even more work to do.  That was when I called my Dad in a panic.  It's the wrong time of year to add anything to our busy schedule.  I begged my Dad to fly out and help us but he said everything would work out just fine.  So for the last few weeks we've been tracking and building with Dallin ...

First Ryan and Dallin went searching for deer or any other animal larger than a woodchuck that they could find.

Dallin made a mold of a deer track they found.

I happened to get this awesome picture on my way down to the river bottoms. Ryan said it didn't count. But then he and Dallin went out again and saw pheasants but weren't able to get a picture in time, so they got to use mine.  Hooray!

Over fall break I took Dallin for a walk along the new Spanish Fork River trail.  I was hoping to see more animals.  We didn't get that lucky but we did find raccoon tracks running across the trail from the river to the fields and back.

The city just finished this trail and it's actually very beautiful.  I've been able to take Eden and Austin on separate mornings.  We've had some interesting conversations and really enjoyed the fall colors.

But back to Dallin.  I forgot to mention that in the middle of all this tracking and BYU Pow Wow prep he came home with an assignment from his teacher to do four Egyptian projects in the next three weeks.  The poor kid got strep and I kept making him sit at the kitchen counter to work on canopic jars, an Egyptian cartouche, and finally a sarcophagus that eventually took him 8 hours.  It was madness I tell you.  The poor boy had a fever and stomach ache and I just kept saying, "I know you feel crappy but can you just keep on working for a few more minutes."  

By Thursday the antibiotics had kicked in and Ryan was able to take a half day off work and they began to tackle another merit badge - Carpentry.  This was the one I was most afraid of since we pretty much own a hammer and a crafting jigsaw.  I found some plans online to make a table that Dallin liked and off they went.  They spent two hours at home depot and then spent the rest of the night putting most of it together.

The next week Dallin sanded it, sealed it, stained it, and then sealed it again.  It now resides beautifully in his bedroom.

Today was the second session of the Mapleton Pow Wow.  He got up at 6:45 am this morning after getting home at midnight last night from going to Lagoon with his Dad.  The Pow Wow was supposed to last until 12:30 but he called at 9:00 and said they were done.  He now has three merit badges complete.  I have to say I am totally relieved.  He almost has everything done for the BYU Pow Wow next week and I can't wait to put this all behind us for a few months.  It's been a lot of work and stressful trying to make sense of all the requirements but I have to admit I have NEVER seen Dallin so happy!  This has all been like a dream come true for him.  For him it's just one fun thing after another and I'm glad.