If I were still in school this is what I would be writing for my "What I did This Summer" essay. It would get boring year to year since I do the same thing every summer.
The 5th annual Knights of Freedom Summit took place at Willow Park in Lehi, Utah on August 28th and 29th. We had 131 boys registered and an estimated 120 volunteers. My husband and I headed up that veritable army and it was a sight to behold!
We began the first day with some last minute training and orientation of our volunteers and then the boys began to arrive. It was controlled chaos as we got everyone checked in. My dear friend Brandi was my volunteer coordinator and she did an absolutely AMAZING job! Thank you darling!
Our activities for the first day included making shields, cleaning up the park, decorating a flag and learning the Knightly Virtues. It was HOT!! The high was about 97 degrees and those of us in costume were especially roasting. At the end of the day we did some clean up, some organizing and review of our plans for the next day and I headed home to pick up the little ones while Richard and Ethan camped over and kept an eye on the equipment.
The next day was the big one! The morning began with the tournament and that was indeed some hot and sweaty business. After lunch we had the quest and then on into battle. Finally the families all enjoyed a spectacular feast prepared by Dave Hyde. This is obviously a very limited and abrupt review and doesn't touch at all on the wonderful volunteers, the hilarious and creative acting and the intense amount of work that went into the whole thing. I hope that it was a positive experience for the boys and that they left the Summit being better young men than when they arrived.
For me the absolute highlight of the entire thing was right at the end when Aaron, who plays Palinor, the Arms Master, surprised me by bringing up all the boys and they all gave me a silent, kneeling salute. It still makes me cry to remember it. I really love these boys so much!
We have big plans for next year - actually "big" is probably not the right word as our goal is to make the experience deeper, more meaningful and less flashy. We are going to need lots of help - more than ever before. It is our goal to change our infrastructure to take some of the pressure off of our family and also increase the number of people who get to take a more active mentoring role with these boys. We would love any suggestions and ideas you may have.
Enjoy the pictures courtesy of Modern Expressions Photo. Thank you again Tamra!
Make a difference!
Em
