Derby Days

The Cubs had their Pinewood Derby last night. What an exciting evening!

Eric and Ethan spent most of last week working on their car, Ethan mostly on "consult," I would say. He wanted a wedge shape, and BLACK. Those were the specifications, and so Dad delivered! They painted it a really cool graphite color that sparkled in the light. Ethan applied a small glittering racing stripe down the center. We tried to talk him into doing a pair of them, or something wider, but this was what he wanted! He also painted the flaming "rocket" coming out the back. He named it....

The Wedge of Doom

This was Ethan's first race. He's in the front lane, closest to the camera....


And he took first!!!


Overall, Ethan won two or three of the races. He came in fifth place out of fifteen. We all had a lot of fun cheering his car on. Now Eric wants to plan an Elders' Quorum Pinewood Derby. I think they would have a good turnout. I'm not sure whether the boys or the dads had more fun....

Temple Trip

Yesterday we took the Beehive class to the Seattle Temple for a field trip. It was such a beautiful morning. It has been raining here for several days and been very gray and gloomy. But the sun decided to show its full glory on Saturday morning, just in time for our trip.

First we met inside with the temple matron, Sister Skeem. What a lovely surprise! She is the mother of one of my college roommates. It was very fun to get to visit with her a bit. She told the girls of all the wonderful blessings we receive by going to the temple, and by being sealed to our companions for all eternity. She also told of some of the hardships faced by the Saints to build the Seattle Temple. One story was very relevant to us, it seemed. She said that when they were trying to raise the angel Moroni to the top, the weather had been very poor, with lots of wind and rain. However, once Moroni was in position to be raised, the sky immediately cleared and the sun shone down on the gleaming statue. It was very awe-inspiring for everyone to see.

We took pictures of the girls on the beautiful temple grounds. It was wonderful to see the flowers starting to come out, with bursts of color and wonderful scents. No matter what time of year you visit the temple, the grounds are always beautiful. They do such a wonderful job maintaining them.

Janet Jorgensen, myself, and Michelle Topham

Beehive Leaders

I gave the lesson today in church for the girls, and it was a wonderful follow-up to our activity yesterday. We talked about the blessings of being married in the temple. In the temple we are able to make sacred covenants with our spouse, and with our Father in Heaven. In turn, He promises us that we can be sealed for all eternity, and that our posterity will also be forever joined to us as well. The sacred bond does not have to be broken at death. Our relationships can continue on forever.

I have a testimony that this is true. I have felt its truth as I knelt across the alter from my sweetheart almost fifteen years ago. We, along with our children, are linked together forever, as long as we are faithful to God's commandments. Can there be any blessing more precious than that?

Birthday Girl

On April 15th, Elise turned five years old. It's so hard to believe! My sweet little Elise is getting so big! It won't be long and she'll be in Kindergarten!

For her birthday party we met several friends at Alfy's Pizza. It's always a fun place to take the kids because there are so many games there, plus what kid doesn't like PIZZA?!

I decided to go all out with her cake this year....it was so fun! It was a four-layer, with alternating layers of pink and green. On the top was a Precious Moments statue depicting a little girl throwing a tea-party with her doll. She looked so much like Elise I couldn't resist! Of course, I think she looks like all the Precious Moments girls with brown hair.....she is pretty precious, after all!

When we set the cake in front of her, Elise wasn't sure what to make of the whole thing!







A view of the yummy layers.... Trust me, a lot more of it was eaten after this shot! We were lucky to make it home with one extra slice!




Back at home, Elise opened presents. By far her favorite was this baby-doll that Eric and I picked out. She has a cute little face and a soft body, and when you squeeze her tummy, she makes baby-babble sounds. Elise LOVES her! She immediately started craddling her, and rocking her, patting her back. She even gave her a bottle that came with the doll. This was the first time we've seen her interact this way with any toy. It was really wonderful to see! She has been playing with it ever since she got it!

More Adventures from Idaho

We had lots of great new adventures during Spring Break in Idaho. It continued to snow while we were in Idaho Falls, but never as badly as the day we arrived. The weather the whole trip was pretty miserable, though.

Most of our time at Grandma's house in Menan was spent fetching Erica out of the stereo cabinet. I love her expression here. Like she's saying, "Yeah, I'm in the cabinet again, so what are ya gonna do about it?" And yes, that is a nice shiner under her left eye. She got it right before we left home when she pulled our Rock Band drumset on herself.

I recently bought a really cute hat online and wondered if Terry could show me how to crochet some like it. But of course! She is the master at crochet. I spent most of the trip making three new hats for Erica. So cute! Too bad she won't let me put them on her, of course. It's a battle of wills now. Someone's got to win. Hmmm, wonder which will prevail....

We celebrated our niece's birthday while we were there. Happy Birthday Annalee! Yumm, ice cream cake!

Ethan pal-ed around with his buddy Nicson while we were in Menan. Two peas in a pod. They played with their matching yo-yo's the entire time.

The other two peas in a pod, Kaylee and Heidi. We sure miss having cousins close by!

Now to the other half of our trip..........BOISE!

Heidi and my brother Mike spent a lot of time doing this.....playing games. And most of the conversation I could never in a million years translate, something about the hidden Poke-man and the secret realm? Eh....?

Ethan and his other side-kick of the trip, cousin Andrew. They got to help Grandpa in the woodshop, so they got some cool masks which were worn proudly the entire time we were there.

We went with my parents and my sister Lissa and her kids to a new miniature golf park. It had glow-in-the-dark paint everywhere and was lit with black-lights. It was decorated in a funny combination of an underwater theme and a dinosaur world. Crazy, but the kids loved it! After about an hour I got a headache from trying to focus my eyes in such a strange environment, but we sure had fun! At the end Eric was able to hit the ball into the "1" slot held by a talking Pteridactyl, so he got to listen to it tell him that after he proved he could conquer the underwater realm and dinosaur jungle, "YOU ARE SO AWESOME!" (spoken with emphasis noted)

Erica was entranced by the brick edging around all the holes. They were really bright! Enough so, that it would reflect off her face!

Cool elephant!

The fire-eater.

Lissa and kids. I forgot their new friend's name....