Trustworthy, Brave, and All of That

Yesterday, while Grace and Brad play-doughed:


(making creepy bodyless heads):
I cut tomatoes; chopped cheese; tore, washed, and rinsed lettuce (my fingernails are still green) for 200 people. I am very proud of this salad. It took longer than it should, but it wore out my salad spinner (which we got as a wedding gift and was unwrapped for the first time for this project). The salad (which also eventually included pepperoni, croutons, and spinach) was sent with Brad to the Scout's Court of Honor/Fundraiser. I would have gone too, but Grace fell asleep in her car seat on the way (and even slept through the night, as a matter of fact).

Brad is our ward's Assistant Scoutmaster. Practically speaking, this means that he goes on lots of camping trips. I won't be too specific because this blog is public, you know. I'm scared enough home alone as it is. But I feel safe in saying that the trips are... frequent.

This is not his official calling. It's more of a business partnership/ward conspiracy to increase the intensity of the scouting program here in Carlsbad. The Head Scoutmaster wasn't getting the support he wanted to do more high adventure activities. So when Brad entered the ward (he who hiked and pick-axed his way up Mount Baker at ten years old), he found his right hand man. Brad really loves the adventure part of Scouting. He's amazing at it. I hope someday we have a boy so he can benefit from Brad's involvement in Scouts. As for our girls, I fully intend for us to camp and hike so we can all enjoy Brad's talents. Anyway...

On his last Scout outing, Brad was camping in the snow. It was not an easy trip. Apparently some of the boys thought it would be fun to roll around in a creek before going to bed that night--when the temperature dropped to zero. The boys couldn't sleep, and the next morning they must have been in frozen, hypothermic shock because Brad said he had to order them to pull their bare feet out of the fire.