Jacob's 1st Scout Campout

Jacob went on his 1st Scout overnight campout on Friday, October 21st. They went to the Lava Caves in Flagstaff. He had a great time, thanks to our wonderful scout leaders! The pictures are compliments of our Scout master, Justin Hutchins. In order....Esteban, Jacob, Adam, Hunter and 1 boy I don't know...
Bro. Edgeworth, Bro. Woods, Bro. Fry and Bro. Hutchins with the Scouts
Jacob's favorite thing to do....help make the pancakes...& he is good at it!

In the cave....

Jacob Ordained a Deacon

On Sunday, October 16,2011 Jacob was ordained a Deacon by his dad. My parents were able to attend the ordination. We are so proud of his decision to get the priesthood. Luckily, my mom thought ahead and remembered to bring the camera. So here are a couple of pictures from after the ordination.

Jacob with Mom and Dad Grandpa Hastings with Dad and Jacob

Jacob Turns 12...

On Monday, October 10th Jacob turned 12. To celebrate we took a trip to the Phoenix Zoo, just me and the boys. It was beautiful weather wise...as most of the valley figured out. The Zoo was packed. But we still had a great time walking around and seeing all the animals. The boys did great, they walked the entire time. They even took turns pulling the wagon that carried 2 coolers of food and drinks.

Monday was not only Jacob's birthday, but also the 1st day of our October Break. Luckily it was also a day off for me. It was a fun way to celebrate the Break and Jacob's birthday. Later that night we went to Red Robin for Jacob's Birthday treat. We ended the night with family home evening and presents. Joe got Jacob a new airsoft rifle and pistol, a camping pillow, camping storage bag, water bottle and large army duffle bag. It was a special day for Jacob.

Here are a few pictures from our zoo trip.

Jacob's Viola Concert

Jacob's strings teacher decided to have an early concert/curriculm night. It was a great time to hear some of the progress being made in strings, as well as the requirements for the class. Jacob enjoys playing his viola, although we have only heard him play it once at home. We got to get him working on that a little more. I only took a few pictures, just to prove he really is learning to play.
This took place in September, 2011. I'm a little slow getting the pictures off the camera. Better late than never.

Earned my 1st stork

A few weeks ago I earned my 1st stork. Now this doesn't sound like such a big deal to most people, but in the line of work I am in earning a stork is a big deal. As a 911 operator it is very rare that we get to have a positive call. The birth of a baby is not a common occurrence. Many of the operators I work with have been there many years and never got a "baby" call. So imagine my surprise to get one while I am still in training. So here is what happened....

My 911 emergency recording went off. The male on the line said his wife was in labor and they were not going to make it to the hospital. I started the call entering for police and fire to respond. I then started going to the medical protocols. The male, Dad, was very calm. This was their 2nd baby, she was 40 weeks and having contractions about every 2 mins. This baby was coming. We had the dad checking for crowning and trying to keep the mother calm. I could hear her in the background. Now the rule with 911 operators and stork pins is that if the baby is not born while you have them on the phone you don't get credit. So my trainer and I were anxiously watching the map to see how far out the fire truck was as well as having the dad check to see how far along she was moving in the labor. We were in a race. Could we get this baby out before fire arrived?

We were cutting it close. Fire was driving lights and sirens to the house. The dad kept checking the progress, he thinks the baby was crowning. Then all of a sudden he said, "I can hear the fire trucks, so I'm going to go unlock the door." And put the phone down, while my trainer and I yelled, "NO!". When he came back to the phone he said fire was pulling up. We told him to check his wife at which time he screamed, said a word I won't repeat here, "The Heads out!" and hung up on us. We immediately put on our case comments that the head was out and that we had been disconnected. We then immediately went to the shift supervisor who said, "That counts. Congratulations, you just got your 1st stork!". We then went over to the fire dispatch and told them we wanted to know if it was a boy or girl and they said they would let us know. About 5 mins later they found us and told us it was a healthy baby boy.

When I went back and looked over the times from when the call came in and when we were disconnected it was 7 mins. She had that baby in 7 mins. Amazing!

So there's the story of how I got my 1st stork. Hopefully it won't be my last.