1st Pinewood Derby

8 is Great!
Dylan's first Scouting activity was the Pinewood Derby. The Wednesday night Cub Scouts activity was cancelled so that the dads kids could take that time to work on their cars. So one week after Dylan turned 8, he was racing with his friends!
On Dylan's birthday, he went to Darren's with Andre, Steven, and Isaac to work on the car. Then all that week we tweaked the car more. We used my dad/brother's tricks except for shaving the wheels since that's not allowed anymore. We put the weight in the back, but not until after testing to see if that worked by using my brothers' old cars backwards on a track Darren made. The final car only had the back wheels and one front wheel touching the track, they used bolts drilled into the back and weights piled on the top in the back, a similar design with the wheels moved closer to the front and rear than the given slots, etc. Steven bought a postage scale so they could guestimate the weight before the big day since it couldn't be over 5oz. Dylan painted the car then painted it again after we sanded it. There was more drama with the wheels and using wood filler and wood glue etc. but it worked out well.

 Here's the track. We got there a little early to secure a front row seat (see Dylan) on the right and to hot glue some more weights to the car to get it to 4.9oz. I thought I was clever bringing a hot glue gun, but they had one over at the pit stop area too.

 As you can see, other families are there helping their Cub Scouts with finishing touches. My mom said that she made some of the decorations like "Pit Stop" when she was one of the leaders for my brothers.

 The cars were officially checked in, had to make weight, and had to fit inside of a box to make sure they weren't too long. Our car barely made it since the bolts stuck out a tad in the back. It had to go in parallel to the table or it wouldn't fit!

 The cars were numbered within one of the 3 age groups. I believe there ended up being 15 cars in Dylan's division.

 His car has the gold bolts sticking out and the bars of gold on top. There's an eagle behind it, it had a yellow beak touching its wheel but you can't tell from this picture.

 Dylan's Cub Scout leaders are the ones holding their twins and baby.

 Tyler asked me to take his picture then changed his mind.

 The moms had to make sure the computerized racing/scoring system was set up properly.

 Dylan's car is the one with Brother Prescott's hand almost on it. 2 or 3 cars raced at a time.

 He had the faster start!

 Winning...

 And he won! It went under the electronic finish line first!

 I should've had another camera on Steven. Of course the dads are just as proud!

 The scoreboard is below. Each row is a race and the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place kids are entered in after each race. The number to the right of the name is the car number (Dylan is #7) then the place (Dylan got 1st place, William got 2nd place, and Mace got 3rd). Dylan won all but one race.

 He's in the middle lane here.

 And he won again!

 It looks like this one was close but the other car seems to be ahead. This must be the race he got 2nd place. But it wasn't by much at all!

 Jake is just a little older than Dylan. Don is congratulating him after one of HIS wins.

 I got up to go get a photo of one of Dylan's races and jumped up before telling Tyler. Um...

 Dylan won,

 But Tyler missed me and was inconsolable for a while once I got back to him. I had to take him out.

 Dylan won the "Fastest Looking Car" award. All of the cars got some award like that. Simply based on looks.

 Then he got to stand on the silver step of the podium to hold his silver medal and 2nd place certificate. Yay!!

 They had bag lunches for us to grab and go. We grabbed and grubbed there.

 An exciting morning!

a hint of summer vacation

It's been cold outside, too cold to want to clean the pool, too cold to want to pick oranges. 

But last Monday, when there was no school, I got all of my kids, and b/c President's Day is a federal holiday, I had my husband too! We cleaned the pool, Tyler and Ivy surprised me with finding and bringing me their swimsuits, Ivy even got in, the kids climbed the tree and picked oranges, we grilled hot dogs, and ate too many oranges. I didn't have Clara, so it's not a real preview of what life with 7 kids will be like this summer, but it was close. I'm ready!

Lucky vs. Blessed

My sister just shared an article on Facebook which called believers to action. One point made by Elder Dallin H. Oaks is that he wants us to continue to use religious references in Christmas and sympathy cards as well as personal greetings.

"We should also assert ourselves against the current trend to refrain from religious references even in private communications," he added. "In recent years the inclusion of religious symbols and reverent words in Christmas greetings and sympathy cards have almost disappeared. When we make choices on these kinds of communications, we should not participate in erasing sacred reminders from our personal communications. As believers, we have a duty to preserve the name and influence of God and Christ in our conversations, our lives and our culture."Read more at http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865597383/At-BYU-Idaho-Elder-Oaks-calls-LDS-members-believers-everywhere-to-action-as-witnesses-of-God.html?pg=all#emPRIRdscMyYwHRG.99

I've been thinking a long time about the difference of telling my kids that they're lucky and pointing out how blessed they are. We used to say lucky. It's a little awkward to go back to pointing out how blessed they are. I also mention how I'm blessed instead of just lucky with how I trade babysitting with Corrie. My patients ask fairly frequently how I manage my kids and job and daycare especially since I keep having more kids. I'm extremely blessed with Corrie, a supportive husband, a boss who trusts me, and so much more! It's not luck. So now you know. I know that my and your God has a big hand in my life. And he's blessing me and my kids. That's my little way of standing as a witness of God in everyday situations without fear (ok, a little fear for some reason) about offending others or about talking about religion. Sometimes patients say I remind them of some neighbor they have - then say that that neighbor is religious and they use that as the lead-in to ask if I'm religious too. Yep! And the nice lady at the bakery, when my boys were wearing their ties before Dylan's baptism, I told her we were going to Dylan's baptism and she whispered, "Are you Christian? I am too." Why the whispers? Sad, but we're being respectful. I guess I can be respectful and still be standing firm. (Proud has a bad connotation.)

Isaac's 6th Birthday

Isaac turned 6! The day before, we took him to Legoland. He woke up to balloons and presents, most of which were from his Aunt Kat. We ordered him a ninja set thingy he had wanted since before Christmas but it came 2 days late. 

Isaac wanted fruit, toaster waffles, and bacon for breakfast.

 He and Dylan woke up before I did so they added pictures to the Lego crown. I was tired I guess from the long day at Legoland then cleaning wrapping/chopping fruit/crown making stuff.

 Kat got him a Spirograph kit and colored pens.

The boys loved the Spirograph kit and used it while we sat in Sacrament meeting. 

I took his class picture at church. His crown started to fall apart.

 Isaac had wanted to play with Silly String so we went to the front yard and had fun with it.

Clara came over to bring Isaac his presents from them and from the Crews.

My parents came over to bring presents too. They gave him binoculars and a big magnifying glass too! 

 We ate meatloaf with potatoes. Then ate his awesome cake! It looked better than it tasted since we picked it up the day before. Isaac designed it since we didn't do the huge tiki cake he originally chose.

 The singing, spinning, self lighting torch candle was so worth the impulse buy!

 Not only was it Groundhog Day as always, it was the Superbowl day too. My parents only stayed until half time. We had some chips and orange soda for snacks. Isaac had the best day ever!