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In two weeks, Pack 6412 will be having their Space Derby. We will be building and decorating rockets and launching them into the sky. We will have a station to launch 2 liter soda bottle rockets, so if you would like to make one, You'll be able to send it up. 

The following pages have great instructions and information about water rockets:

• Rocket Build Instructions (With Videos)
• Scouter Webpage with Instructions
• Really good step-by-step build instruction
  
  
• Wikipedia Article on Water Rockets
• NASA Page on Why Water Rockets are important

And finally, A team of scientists at the Univerity of Nottingham have created this video which explains the physics of rockets, Propultion Efficiency, and they use a water rocket to demonstrate the science behind propultion. Check it out!

Now that you have your water rocket and know the science behind it, Come join our Pack Meeting on August 9th at the Stake Center pavilion and launch your Water Bottle Rocket!

Nine years ago, one of my best friends came into my life. She is funny, witty and sometimes clueless, but I love her with all my heart. My daughter was born. She came into this world with a bang, and has been running non-stop ever since.

My wife's water broke at 7:15 am on that hot Sunday morning, and Em was born at 9:52. She didn't waste any time getting here, and she hasn't slowed down since. In fact, It seems like only yesterday that she was born, yet somehow nine years have passed. I told her last night that she wasn't allowed to be that old yet, but I guess there is no way of stopping it. 

She is fascinating. From the earliest age, she has done the most amazing things. She had this mobile that spun above her crib that she would talk to. I'm not talking about the occational baby babble, but she would be in deep conversation with this mobile, to the point that she would tune us out.

She has always been full of energy. I remember having to walk her in circles in her room at bedtime because she didn't want to go to bed. She always wants to do new things, which I think is great. She did start out with no fear though, but thankfully she has gained come caution. 

She amazed me again when, at the age of two, her life was turned upside down with the arrival of her very sick little sister. When Ash was born, Mom and Emery moved in with a Grandma and Grandpa that she really didn't know. I missed almost an entire year of her life while I worked in a different state, and she grew in leaps and bounds that year. She, unfortunately, had to grow up pretty quickly, and she did so wonderfully.

She has impressed so much since then too. She may only be nine years old, but oftentimes, she acts far more mature. She is still a kid and loves to have fun, but there is a part of her that seems very wise. She has accepted every challenge with ease, though it may not have been easy for her mom and me. I sometimes call her my mini me. She may not be burning down the backyard like I did as a kid (and I hope she doesn't), but she's my bud and I love having her in my life. 

This year, though, we get to celebrate her birthday twice. First, today on the big day, we're taking her out to her a restaurant of her choice and then next week, we're having a big birthday with the family in Yellowstone. I guess that's the drawback of having your birthday in the middle of the summer; You don't get to spend it with friends in school and have to celebrate on family vacations. 

So, Here's to you, Em! My friend, My buddy, My Daughter:

Have an Awesomeafantasterrificoolabulous Birthday!

Last Saturday, I was at a family barbeque. My in-laws have this kitten that they got about a year ago. When they got him, he was a tiny little thing, but over the course of a year, he has only physically grown slightly. Weight-wise, however, he has shot up like a rocket. We go over about once a month or so, so we've been able to see his growth, and frankly have been quite impressed.

Now, I have a cat that we picked up about two years ago. He was abandoned in the mountains and some friends found him. They are allergic to cats, so they called us to see if we could take him to the shelter. We said yes, but when we got him home, he became part of the family. We still looked for his owner, but since he was only a few months old and we couldn't find anyone who would claim him, we decided he must have been abandoned in the mountains to get rid of him. Poor guy. So Bostitch joined our family and has been a hoot ever since. He's grew large and fast, and now weighs somewhere in the ballpark of 16 pounds.

I tell you all that, because at the family barbeque on Saturday, I picked up Charlie (my in-law's cat) and was shocked by how heavy he is. Neither of these cats are fat, per se, but they both are very large. I took Charlie into a bathroom to weigh him to see how close to Bostitch's weight he was (he's 14 pounds), but in order to weigh him, I had to weigh myself as well. I wasn't too impressed with the number of stones I was carrying.

That's a lot of words to tell you all that I'm fat and that I need to go on a diet. Now, that's the change I am talking about today. I have got to lose weight. I'm not going to share a lot of information, so if this is vague and boring, I'm sorry. Let it suffice that I need to lose at least 50 pounds.

So, I'm going on a diet. I'm not going to follow any outlined diet because I'm set in my ways, but there are a few principles that I'm going to follow. First, I'm going to limit my soda intake. I usually drink a couple sodas a day, diet. They have nothing in them, No sodium, just carbonated water, flavor and a little phosphoric acid, so they are even more bland than club soda, but maybe limiting my intake of soda will help me lose some weight: 1 a day.

Second, I am going to limit my portions. In stead of eating until I am full (which can be a lot - I can pack it away), I'm going to eat a set portion. I'm not counting calories or anything, and I'm not changing what I eat, since I am able to maintain my weight pretty well. but smaller portions will translate into fewer calories in the end and allow me to lose some weight. Vegetables and fruits will be my filler.

Third, water intake: I'll substitute the sodas I would drink for water. I recently read a news article that said that drinking too much water can be as dangerous as not drinking enough. (Basically, if you over-saturate your body with water, you can cause your salt levels to drop which can lead to decreased brain function). So, I'm not going to drink a half-gallon per day, but will be drinking when I get thirsty. If I replace soda with water, that'll be good.

Finally, Exercise. We bought an elliptical machine about 6 months ago and I've used it here or there, but my dedication is going to change. Also, we bought Wii-Fit plus a little over a year ago (maybe 2 years, I'm not sure), So I'm going to use that as my exercise log. I'll weight in every night and be glad to report here how much I've lost. They've programmed that game to be mean, so when it tells me every day in it's cartoony voice, "That's Obese," it'll provide more inspiration to stick to this diet. My first goal is to lose a safe two pounds per week. If I can maintain that, I should lose the 50 pounds I need to lose in 6 months.

I also have the Power90 program that I bought off an infomercial about 5 years ago. I may try to start using that.

So, this has been kind of long, so if you've read to this point, I'm quite impressed actually. This hasn't been an organized blog, but rather just a steam of consciousness, so I understand it's boring. My next few blogs shouldn't be so long winded.

 So, we are still cleaning up the content of the website. Thanks for visiting and we'll have much more content up here soon.

Little bothers me more than disrespect, and I was in a particularly respectful mood this morning because, frankly, it was cold. I ride public transportation into work every morning and I usually have a lot of people at the bus stop who do the same. We all patiently sit back and wait for the bus to arrive and then, as common courtesy dictates, the men stand back and allow the women to board the bus first. It's not a sexist thing, but chivalry is not dead. The ladies should be allowed first choice at seats on the bus and, if needs be, the men should be the ones standing. And, on my 45 minute ride to work, it has happened more than once. Luckily, each time we've had people standing, it's always been dudes; the ladies all had their own seats. 

Getting back on subject, this morning there was a man (not referring to him as a gentleman for reasons that will become obvious in a moment). He patiently waited back from the curb for the bus to come to a complete stop. Then, when the doors opened, he didn't merely stand idly by and allow the ladies to enter the bus first, but rather, with spiteful indignation in his eyes, barged through the crowd of women so he could get a seat on the bus. To be fair, he may have been really cold, but still, dude - be courteous. 

I think this got under my skin more today because of an issue I witnessed at the church the other day. Our youth group was assigned to clean the building, so we had a bunch of young ladies and young men show up at 7am to clean. The job took about 2 hours, and everyone participated very well. At the end the youth were treated to doughnuts. Now, courtesy still dictates that the young ladies should be served first, and then the young men should second. There were plenty of doughnuts.

Let me back up a moment. The young women showed up at 7 am and volunteered to clean for the first hour, and the young men were assigned to relieve the girls after an hour. One young man (I'm not going to name names to protect the inconsiderate) showed up at about 7:30 with his sister and participated in cleaning. That was considerate of him. Well, when the doughnuts were served, the leader in charge specifically mentioned that the young women should go first (duh), but this one young man said "I was here with the girls, so I should go first too." and he did. He barged in front of several other young women who showed up before he did and narfed his doughnuts.

Were the ladies in these two accounts noticeably hurt? No. But it's the principle of the matter. Chivalry is not dead, and we, as a human race, must respect the women in our lives.  That's all I have to say about that.