First Fish

On Friday we were in the Uintas Mountains for a scout hike. Joshua insisted that I let him bring a fishing pole even though I knew he wouldn't be catching any fish. There are a bunch of lakes out there and we hiked into the area of Cuberant Lakes. It was nice - perfect weather, no mosquitos and lots of m&m's and beef jerky. Good solid guy stuff.

Joshua pulled out the fishing pole and baited his hook with a hunk of cheese from his pack. Grandpa and I took turns demonstrating how to cast like a man. Then it was Josh's turn. After a 1/2 hour of no luck I asked him if he really thought a fish would go for soggy cheese. His response was, "Isn't pretty much everything a fish goes for soggy?" Good point.

We could see trout swimming near the shore line, but our bait options of cheese and fish eggs were not getting any action. Along the shore we noticed lots of short red bushes with little blue berries growing on them. Grandpa was trying to convince Joshua that they are edible, although - depending on how many you eat - you may want to have a roll of toilet paper handy.

Joshua started picking berries and threw one in the lake. Instantly a trout surfaced and gobbled the berry. Our eyes suddenly got big and we looked at each other. "Try that again!" Same result. So, we ditched the fish eggs and baited the hook with 4 wild blueberries.

The first cast with berry-bait and Joshua had a fish on the line. The first fish he had ever hooked. He reeled it in, laughing and hooting appropriately. Since this was his first fishing experience that actually involved a fish - Joshua wasn't sure how to handle the wet and wiggly thing. He was actually kind of a pansy and didn't want to touch it, but I guess that's alright.

The other scouts and leaders on the hike were all quite impressed when Joshua landed the first fish of the day. Some of them had been unsuccessfully fishing with fancy lures and looked a bit suspicious when Joshua showed them what his bait was.

Josh Hits 12

Saturday was Joshua's 12 birthday - and it was a doosy. It worked out that most of his favorite activities were happening Friday and Saturday.

Friday afternoon we headed up Hobble Creek Canyon for the ward campout. It was a lot of fun with the smores and everything, but we froze our butts off in the tent. Just as we were settling into our sleeping bags, at almost 1:00A, we heard a yell from the little girls tent - "I have a wedgie! And I need to go to the bathroom!" Probably more information than needed to be screamed through the silent campground, but I got up to take care of business and lots of people got a good laugh. We broke camp early and, after a big breakfast at the campground, we were on our way home.

At 11:00A, Saturday morning, Joshua had to be at the football field for his game. He was excited because he had new cool football gloves and a sweet waterbottle. His team won, which made life good. I especially like the shot of Joshua on the offensive line. The big-eyed look on the kids face next to him is priceless. "Holy crap - that guy is going to crush me!"

BYU vs UCLA was scheduled to kick off in Provo at 1:30P. We pulled into town around 1:40 and had to park across from the MTC. As we got out of the car Joshua said, "I thought we were going to a football game, not on a mission." We actually stood about 10 rows from the field at close to the 50 yard line to watch the game (never even made it to our seats). Perfect place to watch the action from just behind the Cougar sideline. BYU embarassed the Bruins and we loved every minute of it. Cosmo came over at halftime to give Josh a noogie. By the end of the 3rd quarter BYU was up 59-0, the starters were sipping chilled beverages from the sidelines and we headed out.

Back at home with the family - he opened a couple presents and we went to Cracker Barrel for dinner. Sounds like a pretty awesome birthday - camping, football and food. . .

BYU Football

Joshua and I went to the home opener at Edwards Stadium last Saturday. BYU handed Northern Iowa a healthy whoopin' - as expected. We had a good time watching from our season seats in the NW endzone bleachers. (The top photo is of the first play of the season, taken from our seats) This week the Cougs are in Seattle to take on the Huskies. We're jazzed for next weekend, when our 2nd home game is vs UCLA - on Joshua's 12th birthday. BYU sports is one of many reasons I love living where we do. Josh asked what he has to do to play basketball for BYU - which has been his dream since he was their ball-boy a couple years ago. I told him to just relax and watch a little football, we'll deal with basketball in a couple months. . .