Caleb at College: Week 5

Today, Caleb called us in between the morning and afternoon sessions of General Conference. When I asked him if he had a favorite talk or message, he said how much he had enjoyed hearing President Oaks speak yesterday. Conference was awesome, as always. We felt that the themes had been about the importance of unity, prayer, being a Zion people and finding joy despite trials, trusting and waiting on the Lord. 

Here are the highlights from Caleb's week:

Coolest:

His squadron had their first "combat day" of the semester. They were taken out to a paintballing place, broken up into flights, and given different objects to execute, sometimes against other flights. One involved fanning out in formation with a point man, and looking for IEDs. Others involved having to capture a flag while defending your own. For one of the exercises, Caleb was assigned to be "cadet commander" over his flight and led them in getting a flag from another flight. He had a pair of cadets go down their hill to take cover by a tree and lay down cover fire as a distraction against the other flight while was attempting to come down another hill and scale theirs. While they were busy with the decoy, Caleb led a couple other pairs of cadets down and around the flanks of the other flight, and captured them and their flag in an ambush, while the rest guarded their own base/flag. He was complimented by his commanding officers. 

Earlier in the week, during PT, he was also complimented by the colonel for his running speed. He had beat out some of the seniors who have been training for longer than he has. Way to flex with your running skillz, kiddo!

Craziest:

While grocery shopping in Smith's, Caleb was in the meat section when he was approached by an attractive girl who complimented him on his retro Star Wars shirt. Before he knew it, they were chatting, and he found that he really liked her. Her name was Jessica. Without looking directly at her left hand, however, he could see in his periphery that she had a ring on her finger. Not sure if it was a wedding ring or not, he choked and left without asking for her number! Now, he'll never know if Smith's girl was the one!

Worst:

During the week, Caleb had an extra long day of homework. For almost 8 hours, he was working on assignments and studying, with the hopes of making some of his favorite homemade refried beans looming before him like a dangling carrot. After he finished his work, he got to the kitchen and started to make the beans, but as soon as he put them into the pan they instantly burned! He was so upset! Poor guy. He has fantasies of nuking the stupid stove they have to work with. The burners have become notorious for bursting into flames, and not cooking the precious food properly.

Tender Mercy:

On combat day, the flight was supposed to depart at 10:30am, which also happened to be during Caleb's usual Zoom calculus class. He was worried about missing important lecture information. However, once he got into the class at 10am, the TA said that they would only be answering any questions and that no new material would be covered! He didn't have to miss anything!

Here are some pics of Brendan and Riley at the food crafting station decorating some spooky cupcakes.