Pinewood Derby 2012

Another Pinewood Derby year has approached and passed.  This year Carter wanted to make a shark.  He named him "Bob."  He said, "Who would ever guess a shark's name would be Bob?"

 There is Bob...ready to race...with that silly sly grin of his.

 He takes the race...and every single one after that!

(Gotta love this seriously sad looking race track.)

 Carter wins another first place ribbon...for the third and final year of Pinewood Derby.

Good job Carter, and good job Dad for helping do whatever it was you two did to make such fast cars all these years!  :)  Now we will take a few years off until Mason joins cub scouts.

Oh, how we do love Cub Scouts!!!

Trash, Treasures and Dress Up

Trash

This weekend was a very busy one!  We signed up to clean the church early Saturday morning.  We didn't realize it was the same day as the cub scout and community trash clean up day.  It is officially called Johnny Horizon Day.  So, we went from cleaning the church, to cleaning up trash from the road sides.  It was a wet morning and we had thoughts that they might cancel it due to the rain...but to no avail, we carried on.  We really weren't dressed appropriately for the rain, but we just happened to have some extra garbage bags in the suburban, which made great rain pull-overs.  So, off we went to clean up our mile of trash.  The girls heading east down one side, and the boys heading west down the other.  It only took us about an hour because we are just that fast...and well, Idaho country is pretty clean and there was only 1 total bag of garbage.  We felt pretty lucky.  Everyone had some slushy feet by the time we got home.  It felt good to spend the morning serving our community and our church.   

 Upon returning home, Mason prepared to go to his Primary Pizza Party.  We have been  hearing him talk about this since the beginning of the year (4 full months to be exact) because his teachers told them in January that if they could be reverent they would have a pizza party.  Wow, to give 4 year olds such a promise and then have them wait until May...we are so glad that the day finally arrived.  :)  At least we won't have to answer "the party is not today" anymore.  He had a blast and his teachers really do go above and beyond the call of duty.  We appreciate all they do for Mason and his class.

Treasure

Well, Daddy found a real treasure yesterday at work.  He caught it and brought it home for the kids to admire.  Matt said that when he found it, there was a bulge in it as if the snake had recently eaten something.  By the time he got home and showed it to the kids, the bulge was gone, but he did provide a warning to be careful so it didn't get sick.  Carter is normally very careful with animals, but this time he must have had the snake in motion a little too much, because it threw up all over his leg.  It really scared Josie and she came running in the house at full speed telling the horrifying story.  Gross!  (That's what I have to say!)  I didn't know that snakes actually throw up, but I guess why would they be any different with an upset stomach?

Dress Up

 So, the day moved along with errands and costume designing.  Tonight was our ward party with the theme "Finding Yourself in Lehi's Dream."  It was a nice activity.  Matt was asked to be one of the four group leaders.  They asked him to represent Nephi and to dress up like him.  Matt thought about his costume all week and of course recruited some help from myself and (mostly) Memaw.  She is very creative and this amazing costume is what they came up with.  Matt made all his leather accessories, all but the shoes which is where I helped.  Anyway, I think he makes a pretty awesome Nephi and mostly everyone at the activity thought he was pretty great as well.

"And it came to pass that I, Nephi, said unto my father:  I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them."

1 Nephi 3:7

On our tour of Lehi's Dream, they gave us each one of these little booklets.  In one of the rooms, we got to sit and reflect on the dream and then write our thoughts.  I enjoyed reading Carter and Chloe's on our way home.  There were 3 statements for us to fill in the blanks, looking something like this...

I __________am desirous to know...

______________________________

______________________________

I___________will go and do...

______________________________

______________________________

I_____________have a testimony of...

______________________________

______________________________

Carter's Booklet said,

I, Carter, am desirous to know..."Where in the world am I?"

I, Carter, will go and do..."What Heavenly Father wants me to do."

I, Carter, have a testimony of..."Lehi's dream."

Chloe's Booklet was only partially filled out, but said,

I, Chloe, have a testimony of..."I know that Jesus is my Savior."

I, Alice, didn't take the time to write anything down, but I do have a testimony of Lehi's Dream.  Some of my favorite parts of this dream are as follows.

Lehi's words in 1 Nephi 8:12, "And as I partook of the fruit thereof it filled my soul with exceedingly great joy; wherefore, I began to be desirous that my family should partake of it also; for I knew that it was desirable above all other fruit."

Verse 30, "...he (Lehi) saw other multitudes pressing forward; and they came and caught hold of the end of the rod of iron; and they did press their way forward, continually holding fast to the rod of iron, until they came forth and fell down and partook of the fruit of the tree."

Verse 37, "And he did exhort them then with all the feeling of a tender parent, that they would hearken to his words, that perhaps the Lord would be merciful to them, and not cast them off; yea, my father did preach unto them."

Verse 38, "And after he had preached unto them, and also prophesied unto them of many things, he bade them to keep the commandments of the Lord; and he did cease speaking unto them."

I believe that each of us are in Lehi's dream and I hope and pray that we may all be amongst the group that are "holding fast to the rod of iron" which represents Jesus Christ.  How grateful I am, to have this path already set out for me to follow.  I do bade my children and family to keep the commandments of the Lord.  I know it is the only path to true happiness.

When I Grow Up...

This month's Cub Scout Pack Meeting, and Blue and Gold Banquet, was centered around the them "When I Grow Up." We ate Hawaiian Haystacks for dinner.  Dessert was provided by the boys who made and decorated cakes revolving around the theme.  Carter had a hard time narrowing down the cake he wanted to decorate, because he wants to be so many things when he grows up.  The final decision came after he wrote a story The Hidden Invisible Ninja's and received great praise from his 3rd grade teacher, Mrs. Skov.  He wants to be an Author of short stories, when he grows up.  I must admit that he does have great potential in writing.  Here is his decorated book-cake.  (And delicious, it was!)

 Carter's Bear Den made instruments and performed a musical number.  They played and sang Jingle Bells, very fitting with the snowy weather we have been having.  Carter made a drum with some black leather and a tin food storage can. 

It was a lovely performance!

 When it was time for awards, Carter received the Employee of the Month Award because he worked really hard and earned his Bear Award.  He has a whole year to earn it before his 10th birthday in November, but he completed the requirements in 5 months.  He also earned his Religious Knot Award by completing the requirements in the Faith in God Handbook.  He did a really

great job!  Congratulations Carter!

 Even Mom gets a pin for his Bear Advancement.

 Carter was sweet this time pinning it on.  He was very careful and considerate in asking where I would like him to pin it on me.

 Here is his Employee of the Month Award.

Great job Carter!  Keep up the good work!

We love you!

Cub Scout Day Camp

This weekend was Carter's 1st Cub Scout Day Camp.  Matt and Carter stayed the night Thursday because they had set up Brother Stoddard's Teepee and many of the other stations and needed someone to stay there for safety.  They slept in the teepee and had a really fun time.  Carter stayed up really late catching grasshoppers with his friend Tyler Landon.  Tyler's dad, Josh, is one of Carter's Wolf Leaders. 

Friday morning came and the Pioneer Adventures began.  There were many activities to keep these boys entertained.  The pictures tell the adventures...

Candle Making

Lots of fun pioneer games.

The Stick Pull

Gunny Sack Races

Three-Legged Race

Leg Wrestling

This is Carter's Wolf Pack joined with another Pack.

This was Leather-Working in the Teepee!

Then a little B-B Gun Shooting.

Carter is quite the little sharp-shooter!

Banana Boats!  Carter loved this yummy snack!

Saturday brought a whole new day of fun activities.  Matt taught a class on woodworking and the boys made birdhouses.  Carter said this class was his "favorite" part because he got to work with his dad!

Saturday afternoon, families were invited to come and watch the boys perform their skits.  We may be partial, but we thought our Wolf Pack had the best skit.  They were dressed up like raisins in black garbage bags and they sang a little song about being raisins.  They were quite animated and had a fun time.

Here is a group picture of most of the Cub Scouts at the end of the day and weekend! 

They had a great time!

Carter came home both nights with a permanent smile on his face.  I asked him if he liked scouts and his eyes lit up and he shook his head yes.  He didn't look like he could be any more fulfilled!  He has definately found a passion in scouting!  It is in his blood lineage on both sides!  He can't wait until next year!