SIMPLIFY

Simple Spring afternoons.  Warm weather, gentle breeze, happy kids, crawling baby, content mother.  Suddenly life doesn't seem so crazy and stressful.

If I could just remember these feelings during the rest of the day.........

Perfect Beach Day

We had an insanely warm and beautiful day a few Saturdays ago and we, along with the rest of LA county, headed to the beach!  We spent the most incredible day playing volleyball, football, digging, jumping waves, running on the bike path, and soaking up the warmth.  Unfortunately, these are the 3 pictures I managed to take that whole glorious day.

 She didn't eat too much sand, but she sure loved touching it!

 Dig, dig dig!  Throw sand, fight, dig more!  Busy boys dug a whole city into that sand.

Wolf Man

Derek joined Cub Scouts when he turned 8 last year and has come to thoroughly enjoy the program.  He has been incredibly lucky to have two well-prepared, always early, enthusiastic and fun scouting leaders in the Ravitch couple.  Although there are very few Scouts in our Stake, Derek continues to go faithfully each week and enjoys learning everything that Scouts learn!  A few weeks ago he earned his Wolf Badge at the Blue and Gold dinner.  Here are his Scout leaders presenting him with his award.I guess this is a scouting tradition, to also award the mom, but quite frankly, I did NOTHING to help him with this, other than wash his uniform and hot glue the troop numbers on the side and give him an occasional ride to church.  I think I ought to be a little more involved in the future.  My bad.  Anyway- I was awarded in front of everyone, and of course, the moment I sat down I realized I was wearing a dirty sweater that had been previously slimed by Brooke:  ketchup on the sleeve, some unidentified substance down the front- it was great.

 Then Derek and his "troop"sang a really cute song they learned together.   These two boys represent all the wards in our stake except for one.  Sad.

The theme was Rodeo Round-up or something of the sort.  It was very cute and they had a rodeo pen set up in the middle of the floor for the boys to play some rodeo games, like roping a PVC pipe cow, tossing their hats on a cactus, etc.

They finished up with a relay between all the scouts that were present.  Derek's team won 3 times in a row!   We are so proud of Derek and his hard work.  Now it's on to the Pine Wood Derby!

And of course Brooke and Carissa were thrilled to be there!