Stake Encampment

From June 8- 12 ( Tuesday - Saturday) the young men ages 12- 18 had the stake encampment. Everybody had a blast. The Deacons had to do merit badges most of the time. They worked on Environmental science, First-Aid, Rifle Shooting, Archery, Woodcarving, and Some did Sculpting. On Friday we had to do Man-Up challenges like Climbing a 12 Foot wall, an obstacle course, tire pull, stick pull, stick throwing, rock throwing, and some did the Zip-Line. on the last day we cleaned up our campsite and got awards handed out. most boys got a sheath knife. Everybody had a great experience and had a great time. If your interested in seeing pictures you can go to this link: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=182276&id=604991370&l=3d28464b6d

Coons Bluff Campout 3/5-6/2010

On Friday march 5th most the deacons went to Coons Bluff. All the people there were Brother Bradshaw, Brother Papa, Brother Nealson, Brother Whisenant, Brandon , Michael , Nicholas , Ian , Tyler , Spencer , Bradon, Brandon, Garrett, Derek, Josh, Jacob, Ben, and Lucas. For dinner on the 5th we had Top Ramen and Chicken than later that night we had 3 kinds of Cobbler. That night we all had a great time playing games. The next Morning we all made breakfast and sat by the fire. For breakfast we had breakfast burritos and tang. A couple hours later we all divided into two groups depending on what troop you were in. After we decided our groups we all started making our catapaults using lashings and poles.

All our catapaults did great but it was a tie between how far the bottle got launched. After a couple tries of getting the bottle about 10 ft. The golden eagles and falcons patrols catapault snapped in the middle and everyone had to stop and clean up. While we were cleaning up the cookie monsters patrol was laughing at the other two patrols since their poles broke. Then we all had a boring/ tiring 50 minute drive back home.

City Council Meeting Visit

On Tuesday, July 14, we went to a City Coundil Meeting for Gilbert as part of the troop working on the Citizenship in the Community merit badge. At the beginning Mayor John Lewis had all the scouts come to the front and we all got to introduce ourselves by telling them our name, troop, and rank which went on TV. If you would like to see the video link showing our troop please click here.

2009 Scout Camp at Duck Creek, Utah

On Monday, May 25th, 2009 through Friday, May 29th,we went to scout camp at Duck Creek, Utah. The boys who went were: Brad, Zac S., Keilor, Joel, Justin, Skylar, David, Nick, Ryan, Zack Y., Austin, Porter S., Ian E., Porter D., Brandon, Nicholas, Caleb, Ben, Spencer, Tyler, Jacob, Max, and Braden. The leaders who went were: Brother Bradshaw, Brother Papa, Brother Starr, Brother Erickson, Brother Plowman, Brother Traub, Brother Severtson, Brother Gale, Brother Barbier, Brother Woods, and Brother Shumway.

At 6:00 in the morning we left. The drive was supposed to be 8 hours, but there was a flat tire on the way there which made it 10 hours. When we finally got there we set up camp, ate dinner, and had our devotional.  We also had cake for dessert for Nicholas's birthday. Then we went to bed.

The next day we went bike riding on our mountain bikes. Many people fell off a few times and damaged their bikes. The bike ride was 15 miles and took up most of the day. Then we went to Zion National Park where we went on a hike. Then at the very end of the hike it started to rain. We also liked driving through a tunnel that was a mile long. That night for our devotional we had to retire an old flag by burning it.

The next day we worked on the orienteering merit badge and the cycling merit badge. We learned the different parts of a bike, how to use a compass with a map, and we set up an orienteering course. After that we went repelling down a 25-foot cliff. It was really fun and most people who did it wanted to do it again. When we got back we found out the teachers went around and messed up some people's tents. They ended up having to take down the tents for them. Then we had dinner and left to do our devotional. For our devotional that day we went and buried the ashes from the flag we burned. Then we went to bed.

The next day some of the kids woke up early to go fishing. Nobody caught anything though. Then all of the deacons went on the orienteering trail we made and had lots of fun doing that. We went canoeing after that which most of the kids went fishing again. Nobody caught anything still but some kids got close. Then we all ate dinner and played games that we learned like Scum, and Sensei, which we found out were both really fun. Then we went to bed.
The next day we all packed up our stuff and got new pocketknives as an award and we left. We all got home much faster than the way there.

To view all the pictures we took on the campout click here

Angel Basin Scout Hike 4/10-11/2009

On Friday, April 10, and Saturday, April 11, 2009, we went on a backpacking campout to Angel Basin. The boys that went were, Porter S., Ian E, Austin, Porter D., Ian P., Brandon G., Nicholas, Caleb, Brandon J., Ben, Spencer, and Tyler. The leaders who went were Brother Bradshaw, Brother Martinez, Brother Severtson, Mr. Prost, Brother Evans, and Brother Gale.

  We left to go at 9:00 and got there at about 12:00 then we hiked down. The hike was around 5 miles long and we had to cross the river more than 20 times. Most of us were already getting tired at the sign which was around 1/4 of the way. We went about 4 miles then stopped to see the indian ruins in the caves that were around 600 years old and it was cool.

Then we started hiking again and were getting really tired. Brother Bradshaw said we were almost there when there was still like a whole mile left.

Then we finally got there and we set up our tents and all cooked our own food and played around a little and went to bed. It started raining pretty hard and most people's stuff got wet even though we had the rainfly on.

The next day we were all sore but we had to start hiking out at 8:00. It was still raining hard and we had to put all our stuff up. We started hiking up and it was really cold and we got super tired but we all wanted to get home really bad so we only took one 2 minutes break and hiked the rest of the way. Porter S. and Caleb both ended up falling in the river and most people got their shoes pretty wet. But we still hiked pretty fast. We were thinking it would take us 6 hours but it took us a little less than 5 hours for all of us to finally get out. When we got out we all ate pretty much the rest of our food even though we could hardly move our hands because it was so cold. When we were finally warm again we were all happy and then we left soon after that.

[Click here to view all our pictures from the hike]

[Click here to view our hiking trail on google maps]

Spring Camporee 3/6-7/2009

On Friday March 6, and Saturday March 7 we went on a camporee just outside of Casa Grande. The boys that went were Porter S., Porter D., Ian P, Brandon, Nicholas, Ben, Spencer, Tyler, and Caleb. The leaders that went were Brother Bradshaw, Brother Weed, Brother Austill, President Derrick, Brother Severtson. When we first got there we set up our tents and our flags. then we had spaghetti and meatballs with frechbread for dinner. Later we started planning our skit. Then we went to the opening camporee ceremony and watched a lot of different skits and performed ours. Then we came back to our campsite and had s'mores and went to bed.

The next day we woke up and cooked omelets with plastic bags. We had to put it in boiling water for a few minutes. Then we went and did all of the contests. There were many different ones first we went to there was different papers with different stories and we had to tell how to help out the person that gets hurt in the story. Another on we had to start a fire and boil water with only one match. On one we had to look at 100 different scouting items and remember as many as we could.

Later on that day after we did all of the contests we had to start taking down our tents. We did that and all had sandwiches for lunch and cleaned up everything then left. We had to leave early so we never got to learn our scores.

Canyon Creek Campout (Near Forest Lakes AZ 1/30/09 - 1/31/09

On Friday, January 30, 2009 and Saturday January 31, 2009 we went on a campout to Canyon Creek. The boys that went were Brad, Porter S., Ian P., Brandon, Nicholas, Ben, Tyler, Spencer, and Jacob. The leaders that went were Brother Bradshaw, Brother Weed, Brother Severtson, Brother Plowman, Brother Steele, and Brother Bigelow. When we first got there we were freezing. We all set up our tents and ate dinner soon after we got there. We were supposed to bring up our own food but many kids forgot so the leaders brought lots of extras. We all got our dinner and we made a fire and we all sat around it for a while. Many of us forgot chairs too. Later on we are all starting to eat. Then Brad gets up and says he is leaving and will be back in a minute, and he sets his lasagna in his chair. Then Brandon wanted a chair but he didn't hear Brad say his lasagna was in his chair and goes and sits in his chair. Later Brad comes back and notices his lasagna is gone and tells Brandon to get out of his chair. Then Brandon stands up and there is squashed lasagna all over him and the chair. Later on after that we all went to bed.

The next day we all woke up and ate breakfast which was just oatmeal, fruit, and hot chocolate. We played around for a while. We made a small fire on the ice which took a long time but it was cool how it melted the ice underneath. Then we took down our tents and put out all of the fires.

After we got all ready we went over to the side of a very snowy mountain and went sledding and had lots of fun. We had four sleds and we took turns going down the mountain.

 There were lots of trees though and everybody ended up getting hurt at least once but it was still fun. We ended up using the shovels to make our own pathway. We still hit alot of trees but we still had fun. The sleds actually made us go down pretty fast. After that we all had sandwiches for lunch and left.

Click these links to see all the pictures and videos from the campout.

Coon's Bluff Campout 11/2008

On Friday, November 14, 2008 and Saturday, November 15, 2008 we all went to Coon's Bluff. The boys that went were Nick, Tallon, Porter S., Porter D., Ian P., Brandon, Michael, Nicholas, Caleb, and Ben. The leaders that went were Brother Bradshaw, Brother Weed, President Hauserman, also Mr. Prost. Some of the teachers and p riests and their leaders also came but they didn't stay the night.
When we first got there we got all of our stuff out and we put up our tents. After that we decided to play for a little while until we got hungry. Then we decided to have a little competition. Our Two patrols, The Platypeople and the Blacklions, decided to see whose Dinner and Breakfast was better. So for dinner the Platypeople made quesidillas and the Blacklions made hamburbers and the leaders tested them. Both dinners looked great!
After that it started to get a little dark so most of us went into the tents to play games. We stayed up really late and then after a few hours we all went to bed.
We all woke up pretty early in the morning and made a fire and sat around it for half an hour and we started making breakfast. This time both of the patrols made the same thing, breakfast burritos. We all ate and played a little. The leaders haven't decided who won the dinner and breakfast contest but at least we all had a lot of fun.
So then we all started cleaning up and we took down a tent and found some scorpions. We were playing with them and trying to get them to sting stuff like sticks. They almost got some of us then Ian backed up and almost stepped on it. We couldn't find it and were looking hard for it. Then after a while Caleb saw it sticking out of Ian's shoe so Ian took off his shoe immediately so then we got rid of it and we left right after that. We all had lots of fun.
Click here to see all the pictures we took...

Scout camp

On Monday, June 16, all the scouts left to this year’s scout camp. The boys that went are Michael C, Brad, Cody, Joel, Keillor, Skyler, Zach, David, Justin, Bryce, Nick, Tallon, Porter S., Ian, Porter D., Brandon, and Michael H. The leaders that went are Brother Bradshaw, Brother Weed, President Derrick, President

Hauserman, Brother Severtson, Bishop Layton, Brother Woods, Brother Corbitt, Brother Traub, Brother Plowman, and Brother Neeley. When we first arrived there, everybody set up their tents and a little bit after that we started on the basketry merit badge.

We all made paper baskets. Then we ate dinner and we played games until we had to go to bed.

On Tuesday we all woke up and read our scriptures. After that we ate breakfast. Then Brother Neeley taught the leather working merit badge. He taught us about all the types of leather there are. He showed us that when leather is wet it is softer and easier to work with. After that he gave us leather pocket knife holder kits and we got to draw on them and paint them and sew the pieces together. When we finished that merit badge we ate lunch. Then we got to finish our basketry merit badges by weaving a campstool. We ate dinner after that and we played some more games and went to bed.

On Wednesday we woke up and read scriptures some more until it was time for breakfast. After breakfast we all started the merit badge environmental science. The people that already had that merit badge started making a zip line. Brother Bradshaw brought all the materials we needed to do it. For environmental science we had to study two different areas and see what different animals, plants and bugs we could see. We also had to find out what we would have to do if we wanted to build something and how it would affect the wild animals. After we did that we started on the wilderness survival merit badge. We went through all the paper work and then we started making our forts to sleep in. We didn’t get to finish them at first because we had to eat lunch but after lunch we got to finish them. After we all finished we got in line for the zip line. We did that and we also carved sticks. We ate dinner then played some more until we had a little meeting and talked. After that we played zonked and then we went to bed in our forts.

On Thursday we woke up from our forts and we just played and walked around until breakfast. Then Brother Severtson taught the wood carving merit badge. For that merit badge we had to carve something into a stick, carve something into a flat piece of wood, we had to have a totin chip, and we also had to do some paper work. Brother Severtson said whoever gets the merit badge gets a pocket knife as a reward with it. The pocket knives really made us want to get that merit badge. After that we cleaned up trash in the girl’s camp as a service project. Then we were going to go on a hike but President Derrick’s truck started rolling off the road. So we decided to eat lunch while we were waiting for the camp rangers to come. After lunch we went swimming in a swimming hole that had a slide. The only thing wrong was that the water was a little cold. When we were done we came back to camp and played on the zip line and ate dinner. After that we had a while to share our testimony and then we went to bed.

On Friday we woke up and took down our tents and everything else. Then we drove over to Lake Roosevelt. Then we went canoeing there. It was really fun. After a few hours we decided to stop. We were all skipping rocks for a while until some of the adults arrived with the cars. Then we drove to a little area to go to the bathroom. After that we all started heading home.

Usery Pass Hiking Campout

On Friday, April 18 and Saturday, April 19 we went on a camp out to Usery Pass. The boys that went are Zach, Justin, David, Nick, Tallin, Porter S., Porter D., and Brandon. The leaders that went are Brother Bradshaw, Brother Weed, and Brother Woods. Brother Woods only stayed for the first day then left. When we first got there we decided to set up our tents and our sleeping bags for a few minutes.
Next we cooked our meals for dinner and we all ate. We then just had a lot of time to play. We played many different games. We played a game of something like capture the flag with no flag. We played those games for a long time then there was a campfire and later after that we went to bed lots of us talked to each other in our tents for about an hour then we all got tired and later after that we all fell asleep.
The next day we woke up and ate breakfast. We played after breakfast for awhile until it was time to go on our long hike. Our hike was so much fun even though was really hot outside and our backpacks were super heavy. On the way up Porter S., Porter D., and Brandon all sang "99 bottles of milk on the wall" and finished when we were about half way up the mountain. Everybody else just talked and had fun. When we finally got really close to the top we had heard that there were beehives up there so we decided not to go to the top and we just headed right on down. We all ran down the trail as fast as we can. Most of us fell down at least a few times and got hurt badly. Right after that we went to some nearby benches and ate our lunches and talked to each other. After that we all headed home and about thirty minuets later we arrived at our houses.

Spring Camporee

On Friday, February 29, 2008 and Saturday, March 1, 2008 we went on a camporee. The boys that went are Zach, Justin, Nick, Ian, Porter S., and Porter D. The leaders that came are Brother Weed and Brother Derrick.
When we first got there we set up our tents and sleeping bags. Later on we had potato and steak stew for dinner. After that all the scouts came around and we had skits and songs and other things like that. When we were done with that we just stayed around our campfire and soon went to bed.
The next day we got up and had hot chocolate and cereal. We also had the uniform inspection. We didn't do so well in that. We also did a camp inspection.
Next it was time to start the fun competitions. We got to do fun things like an A-walk where we used lashings to make an A and pulled someone to the finish line. Right when we passed the finish line it broke down. There was also a knot relay where they called a knot and one of us had to tie it. We got full points on most competitions.
We had lunch right after that which was sandwiches and apples or bananas. We then had to build something using our lashings. We all decided to make the monkey bridge. We all had lots of fun on it until it started breaking so we took it all down.
Then we had to go to the awards ceremony but we turned our scores in late. We then found out that if we had turned our scores in earlier we would’ve been able to get one of the first place ribbons. So that means we were in the top six! Soon after that we all had to go home.

Canyon Creek Snow Campout

On Friday, January 11, 2008 we went on a camp out to canyon creek. There was 8 inches of snow on the ground there. The deacons that came were Zach, Justin, David, Nick, Porter, Ian, Brice, and Brice's friend David G.. The priests that came were Brad and Jeff and one eleven year old scout, Tyler, came. The Leaders that came were Brother Bradshaw, Brother Weed, Brother Severtson, Brother Lindblom, Brother Barbier, and Brother Erickson. We left the church at 4:15 and arrived at the campground at about 7:00 p.m. As soon as we got there we set up camp. We cooked some soup and hot chocolate. After that we made a campfire and a while later we went to bed.

The next day in the morning we made another fire. For breakfast we ate breakfast burritos. Later on that day we had a sled race. we had to make our own sleds out of wood using lashings. There were two teams: Porter, Ian, Brice, David G., and Justin on one team, Zach, Nick, and Tyler and David on the other. During the sled race you had to switch riders at a few of the stations, Then you had to pick up one of the priests onto the sled and bring them onto a picnic table further along, then you had to answer 3 questions from the scout leaders, then you pull the last person to the finish. Team Porter, Ian, Brice, David G. and Justin won. Later after that we ate lunch then we cleaned up our tents. Then we went tubing for a while then we all left to come home and arriving home at 6:30. It was a very fun trip.

For more pictures from our campout, please visit: http://picasaweb.google.com/severtson/CanyonCreekSnowCampout

Coon's Bluff Campout

On Friday, November 30th we went on a campout to Coon's Bluff. The leaders that went are Brother Bradshaw, Brother Weed, and Brother Severtson. The young men the went are Zach, Justin, and Porter.

We got to Coon's Bluff about 5PM and it was already raining pretty hard. So we put on our coats and rain panchos and started unloading the van and trailor so we could start setting up camp, and more importantly dinner.

The first thing we needed to do was setup our campsite. Since it was raining that meant we had to set up rain tarps. It was hard to set up because it was raining. Brother Bradshaw and Brother Weed had to climb up trees to set up the tarps. It soon turned out that the scouts were making silhouettes, which made setting up the tarps a whole lot more fun.

After finally setting up camp we got to build a campfire and make dinner. For dinner we had "hobo meals" (tin foil dinners) with potatoes, hamburger, and carrots. Zach buttered the tin foil and distributed the hamburger while Justin and Porter washed and cut the potatoes and carrots. Brother Bradshaw prepared the charcoal that we cooked on.

By then it was about 11:00pm and we all wanted to go to bed. It rained hard for several hours then it stopped except for a few occasional sprinkles. But that's when the wind started. Instead of mild winds as the weathers reporters told, the winds were very strong. But all the tents were fine except for the leaders tent that the canopy blew on to and ripped a hole in it.

In the morning we got up and played by the river digging holes in the river bank and making a "sand castle" like city in the dirt. Then we had breakfast of hot chocolate and cereal. And since it wasn't raining at that time, we started taking down some of the tents and rolling up our sleeping bags. After we did some more playing and drew faces on wood planks that we then floated down the river and set on fire.

For our skills training we learned to build fires without matches. Using flint and steel, we had a competition to start fires with the goal to make the fire large enough that it would burn a string which was tied about 2 feet above the ground. The first to do this would be the winner. It took us a long time to get fires started...approximately one hour. Justin got a few good fires started, but then they went out. Zach has several little fires that he couldn't get to catch to the large wood pieces. Porter's was first to get a fire that kept going, but then ran out of wood before it could burn the string. Zach finally cheated by pickup up his burning wood and holding it to the string. Nobody ended up winning...

After that we took down our camp, packed up and drove home. We got home around 3PM on Saturday. Even though it rained a lot, it was a great campout. We really appreciate Brother Bradshaw and Brother weed for taking us.

To see all of our campout pictures, please go to: http://picasaweb.google.com/severtson/CoonSBluffCampout

Fall Conservation Camporee

On Friday, October 19, 2007, our troop went on the fall conservation camporee. The boys who attended were: Zach, David, Justin, Nick and Porter. The leaders who attended were Brother Bradshaw, Brother Weed and Brother Severtson.

We got there after dark and setup camp. We had Hamburgers with corn for dinner which Zach cooked. We then went to an opening campfire where many skits were performed. Then had our own troop campfire. Zach burned his hand on a hot banana he was trying to cook. :-)

On Saturday, we had cold cereal and bacon for breakfast. We then had the flag ceremony and gave our troop name "The Procastinators" and our yell "We'll Tell Ya Later!!!". Then we went and did a service project picking up trash at Wood's Canyon Lake.

In the afternoon we went to the water and soil conservation merit badge clinic. A while later we left to go home. We had lots of fun that day and can't wait untill the next camporee.