10 Years of Tal

Cole Earns His Wolf Badge

Chasing these boys around this year has been a blast! What good boys! What fabulous parents! Such a strange experience for me--I e-mail the parents the night before, "Be sure to have the boys bring their books." The next day: all 15 boys are there, 14 have their books and the 15th boy's Dad shows up mid-meeting with the book! How wonderful to be in a community of like-minded parents where Mom and Dad come through for their kids on a regular basis. I never speak to these boys parents when I don't get a "Thank you for all you do!" In all the years of volunteer service for the church and community, I can't recall ever hearing "Thank You" before. These people humble me and I wonder, have I been saying thank you enough for all the service other people have given my children? It's good to be surrounded by good people.

Oh yeah, you might want to know what this picture is about. This is when we took the boys on the TRAX to the Gateway mall to get a $1 cone from McDs. Many times people say that I and Karly, my co-leader, look alike! Such a compliment to me--thank you! And honestly I've never worked with someone so easily. We both have a can-do attitude and have dove-tailed perfectly.
We had the boys buddy or triple up to keep them together for the train. Here Cole and his buddies, Carter and Rex are practicing their three-man walking technique.
Here is Cole receiving his hard-earned Bear badge. He doesn't like attention, can you tell? He's a super kid. He used to be a bit silly in our meetings, but after I talked to him, he straightened right up. I'm so happy for Cole that he's so smart, friendly, capable and he always makes me laugh. I love you, Cole!

Tal and Trace in March

Crossfit

The boys and I did crossfit for a couple of months. It was good, it was bad, it was ugly. I sprained my ankle right off and it still hasn't fully healed. Then I pulled so many muscles I was in continual pain. I finally gave myself permission to quit and I was so thrilled when, three days later, I found I could go up and down stairs without pain. Yeah for mobility. Boo, for crossfit. I'm back on my treadmill walking/running and doing situps, pushups and squats--which I learned at crossfit--I'll give them that! I do think the boys got a lot out of it--their instructor was fabulous. But for now, we're giving it a break.

Logistical Heaven

This is what I'd call a perfect morning. I plugged the boys into the back of my bike at about 9 a.m. and trekked them up the hill to the zoo about 1.5 steep miles away. We hung out at the zoo for an hour. It was deserted. We even had the carousel to ourselves. And then we glided back home for lunch before Jack had to go to Kindergarten. A workout and an outing all rolled together. I was loving my little hood. (Sometime in March)

Yo, Leonardo!

Here is Tal in his 4th Grade Program, titled "Yo, Leonardo!" It was a dozen songs about master painters from Monet to Salvador Dali to Georgia O'Keefe. I was so impressed. I'd heard of few of those artists before college. And those were the wordiest songs I'd ever heard, full of information about dates, places, styles--and Tal sang right along with all 10,000 of those words! I've rarely seen him sing a single song in Primary. A major milestone, courtesy of public education. Channel 5 News televised a little clip of them, but I have to say it didn't do them justice. I love the emphasis on the Arts in Utah!

Thar She Blows!

On a rare warm day in March the men went out to make something explode, because that is what they like to do. Ten parts Diet Coke to one Part Mentos--watch out!

Tal Earns His Bear

More Winter Fun

What brothers do when they're couped inside on a cold March day.

My brothers went sledding on death-defying hills at Sugarhouse Park and all I got was this stupid snowman.


Having fun on Grandpa Hale's sledding hill in Huntsville, with cousin Anderson.

Hale Sister's Lunch -February

I finally get to go to these!!

Specter of Things to Come

Did you ever have a photo that was so poor quality, but too precious to delete? This would be one. This was Trace in January. Jack is the likely photographer. I was too absorbed in Tal's homework to notice that Trace was dressing up, and didn't find out till I downloaded the photos. I didn't realize how excited he was to become a cub scout. And those are pretty impressive knots for a little guy!

Tal's Report

Talmage was required to write a report about something pertaining to Utah Pioneers. I thought I'd post it because it may be of interest to a lot of the family.

Pioneer Gunmaker

By Talmage Cresap

I chose guns because my grandpa showed me a very cool flintlock rifle. One of the cool things was when he pulled back the hammer, pulled the trigger and the spark went off. The spark was made when the flint struck the steel in the gun. That’s probably the main reason why the flintlock rifle got its name. This experience with my grandpa made me interested in pioneer guns.

One of my great-great-great grandfathers, on my Dad’s side, was Jonathon Browning, who was a gunsmith. He was a gunsmith in Nauvoo for six years. Jonathan Browning was once friends with Abraham Lincoln, who stayed at Browning’s house when he traveled through that part of Illinois.

One of his most famous guns was the slide gun. It was one of the first repeating rifles in America. The slide gun allowed you to shoot multiple times. Instead of working so hard to reload it between each shot, all you had to do was slide the magazine, and then you could pull the trigger again.

In 1846 he left Nauvoo and went with all the Mormons to Council Bluffs, Iowa. Then the Mormon Battalion was going to California to fight the Mexicans and Jonathan wanted to join them, but Brigham Young told him, “Brother Jonathan, we need you here.” Mr. Young needed him to make guns for the pioneers going west.

He stayed in Council Bluffs for six years, making as many as 400 guns, while the rest of the Mormons went west. The Slide Repeating Rifle and the Cylinder Repeating Rifle were the products he made. Indians used to attack people when they were reloading their guns, but this strategy didn’t work against Browning’s repeating rifles, so his guns saved lots of lives. The Indians were surprised when the pioneers fired multiple times: bang, bang, bang! Jon Browning’s guns were hero guns.

Sources:

Black, Susan Easton, “Jonathan Browning, Mormon Gunsmith.” Muzzle Blasts Online, August/September 1997, volume 2, Number 4.

Browning, John; Gentry Curt, John M. Browning: American Gunmaker.