The Pinewood Derby

Jonathan earned his Arrow of Light--he's a week away from being 11 years old and a Boy Scout!
As far as the Pinewood Derby went, he said his goal was to place 3rd in every race. :)
He was doing really well until the last race when he got 4th. Sigh.
Overall though, he seemed pretty happy with the night. (And his pencil car earned him a "Best Workmanship" Award.)

Aaron was THRILLED with the whole event. He'd wanted his car to be a clock and designed this oval beauty. It raced surprisingly well, placing, hmmm, 3rd or so in most of the heats.
When the time came for awards, he gleefully accepted "Most Unusual", then came to report to me that one of the boys was crying, but he'd consoled him saying, "I know you've been losing lots of races, but I think you're car is awesome! And, anyway, all the awards are really great...!"

(I feel SO grateful to Quin for working on these cars. It gives me hives to think of that responsibility falling to me. He had a REALLY busy week with his new calling and had to take a half day away from the airbag industry to help Jonathan and Aaron finish up. What a guy.)

Phone calls with our Elders!

Daniel and Paul have flown the MTC coop! They called us from the LA airport and it was SO good to hear their voices. Paul sounded upbeat and sure of himself. Daniel sounded tired. (But it was midnight by the time he got to call.)

A couple of things Paul said:

"I feel like my life began the day I entered the MTC."

"When I think about coming home and not being here on a mission, I can't think what purpose my life would have. It's like, if this isn't the purpose of life, then what is?"

Daniel and Paul's Setting Apart

Quin, Elder Daniel, me










Chris and Elder Paul









Little brothers looking up to big brothers

New Shoes for Eric

On a crazy afternoon of picking up Eric at the Junior High so we could go to an appointment half an hour away to get his cello fixed,then hearing from Amy that we needed to go back to the Junior High and pick her up, I found fifteen minutes to stop at Shopko and buy Eric some new, much-needed shoes.

Size 13 Quadruple E!!!!!

When we got to the Junior High and found Amy, Eric began resituating the cello so he and it could fit in the back seat of the little car. Amy got in the car and buckled, so I thought we were ready to go and I started to drive away. Heard a lot of squawking from behind me. Turned to see Eric outside the car trying to keep a hold of the cello as it tried to fall out of the moving car. Whoops!

And I had run over his foot.

I would like to forget it.

But he keeps reminding me.

(But no harm done, I guess. It's a lightweight car. And Eric's foot is not...)