The inaugural YM Ping Pong Tournament

With Jason's help, the YM acquired a ping pong table.  Well, we "broke it in" last week with the first, inaugural YM Ping Pong tournament.  Luckily, our reporter on the spot was there to capture the event.  We built a bracket and played it out (single elimination):

Damon & Davis 

 Damon & Gary (whose considerable Ping Pong skills were exposed...)

The final came down to Gary and Jason...

 Jason came out on top and got his prize (?)

The final bracket for the first round

We realized we had time for round 2 - some people had to leave so a few YW jumped in to fill the bracket

Ryan and Ayden (with some YW photobombing in the background)

 Siany and Jason

 It was an all-Rennaker final...

with Damon coming out on top (if he kissed his dad afterwards, it was not captured on film)

There will be additional tournaments...

Missionary care packages

Well, we were at our house last night putting together care packages for our missionaries out in the field - Dorsey in Lubbock, Texas (who is currently in New Mexico) and Nathan in Cleveland, Ohio (currently in Bryan, Ohio).  We wrote notes & participating in making baked goods for our missionaries.  Here are some highlights:

It is a prerequisite at the Alameda YM activities to have at least one picture with goofy faces...

Everyone wrote notes in the Testimony Journals or did individual notes that we included in the packages.

Likewise, everyone helped make the "goodies" with Sister Symes' help:

There was also some ping pong while waiting for the treats to bake:

One of the few quiet times last night - when the Oreos came out...

The results:

Seven-layer bars are done above (cookies were about to go in):

mmm, snicker doodles....

Camp Pioneer rap songs

Well, two of the Alameda boys joined scouts from Rocky Butte and St Johns this week at Camp Pioneer.  I went to pick up this morning and the boys shared with me the two versions of their company rap song.  It apparently won the boys the front position in the line to eat dinner - two nights in a row.  They told me there was a "clean" version and an "explicit" version.  Obviously, the camp screeners were very strict - both are safely "G" versions - they were too grainy to add here - there is a youtube link below for both version:

Davis with the POE scouts on the final day

The cut version:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtb5bqJ3cJs

The uncut version:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Xj40Afdygg

Scripture reward - Pizza & Movie night

As a reward for reading scriptures (youth & leaders), we've been collecting pennies.  Inspiration for the pennies can be found here.  

With a full jar, I promised the Young Men I'd make pizza for them.  So, we broke out a movie, camped our in the Relief Society room while I made pizza on my grill (which, I might add, was no easy task - it's just slightly longer than the back of my van...).  

So, the options included:  pepperoni, sausage, canadian bacon, salami, olives, pepperoncini, onions, tomatoes, cheese and pizza sauce.  Everyone had a some combination of these, while Nathan was the only one that took me up on "kitchen sink" combination (this includes everything above).  

Once we fill that jar again, we'll probably have another one of these...

The set up:

 yummy....

Adam & the Grant Constitution team

UPDATE:  The Grant Con Team won!!  Congratulations to Adam and the Grant team.  Click here to read the Grant Magazine article on the win.  Here is the article on Oregon Live.

Adam Penrose is back in Washington, D.C., competing with the Grant Constitution team for a national title.  We've been following the teams progress on Twitter (@grantscholars) - competition is over, all that is left remaining are the results, which will be posted at 6:30pm tonight.  Good luck Adam & the Grant Generals!! 

Lincoln Rugby

Our activity this week was to watch one of Tiegue's rugby games out at Delta Park.  I can't say that any of us (well, other than Tiegue) understand the rules of the game that well but it was fun to watch.  

One of the scrums

Tiegue advancing the ball

We looked on, safely out of the field of play...

Our player took a minute at halftime to mingle with the spectators.

Definitely something we'll do again next year.

April Campout

Well, it was high time for a campout.  But, considering it was April, we went the safe route and rented 2 cabins at Stub Stewart State Park out by Vernonia.  Given the uncertainty about the weather, we opted for the safe route - what we got was comfortable accommodations:

Not having to put up tents and lay out bedrolls allowed for time to do other things - lots of card playing inside, wandering around (exploring), and some whittling. 

We did spend some time eating.  With 3 dutch ovens and plenty of food, I don't think anyone went hungry during the trip.  After dinner, the fire started and we spent a fair amount of time there, telling stories and just talking.

That's Nathan's foot - his feet were cold...

Breakfast the next morning was eggs, sausage, and potatoes.  You can tell by the pictures that the weather turned out to be pretty nice.

Not sure where Tanner was when the group photo was snapped but here's the group (Jason's behind the camera) - L to R is Rod, Data, Peyton, Jareth, Damon & Ethan, Nathan, Ayden, and Ryan.