2012 Pinewood Derby!

This was our family's 2nd Pinewood Derby.  In our ward there are hardly any scouts, so the whole ward participates.  It is a lot of fun!  So for family home evening we worked on our Derby Car.

Daddy sanding and Brodie painting the car black - apparently his new favorite color.

Ryker helping out by sanding the coffee table - Yikes!  Oh well, it's already pretty beat up anyways.

The car.

Last minute touches before the race.

And we're off!

We actually came in 1st place during our heat!  It was very exciting!  I think we came in second place overall, but I really don't know.  Bo will have to chime in on that one.  Then after the races the kids just had fun rolling their cars down the track!

Gotta love the derby!

Something I'm really going to miss when we move....

... my chickens!

I love them so much!  I would choose them over the dogs any day.  Especially little Buffy.  Buffy was one of my original chickens.  She had a rough first year.  You can read more about it HERE.  Once we got her back she was so timid and scared and wouldn't lay any eggs.  Now she lays me an egg 6 times a week and she wants to lay her eggs in my house!  Every afternoon she runs back and forth in front of the sliding glass door to be let in.  She hops in her apple basket filled with newspapers and...

... lays an egg!

Then she happily goes back outside.  The other day she even wanted to hang out with Brodie.  He was eating cereal and she wanted him to share with her, so she hopped up onto the couch next to him.  I don't really like her to hang out in the house very long though, so after I snapped a couple pictures, she had to go back outside, but she has come a long way!

I have found a great home for my chickens, but still, I am very sad to have to say goodbye to them.

My Family

We had a fun visit from my side of the family this weekend.  My sister and her boyfriend came up Friday evening and spent the night.  Saturday we went 4-wheeling in the snow up by the windmills and shot some guns.

(left: Rachel helping Ryker walk through the snow.  right: Rachel and Brodie at the base of a windmill.  You'll have to enlarge the picture to see them!  Those things are huge!)

Don't mess with the Rykster!

Then after my sister left, my parents came!  Brodie talked his nana and papa into playing Mario Kart Wii with him.  I think this is the first time my parents have ever touched a video game.

Then we stopped being couch potatoes and went to the park!

I love our park.  I know there will be lots of great parks in Rexburg, but the one here is really fun too.  We had a really great visit with everyone though!

Brodie is 3!!!

Brodie is such a special boy to me. I love everything about him. I love the way he eats, his smile, the funny faces he makes (especially his eye roll), his sweet little nature, how he says his words, his coordination, how he dances, makes me laugh, and so much more! It is so much fun to just watch him explore, learn, and grow.

Yesterday Brodie got a birthday card in the mail from his Grammy and it had $20 in it.  I told him that the money was his and we could go to the store and he could pick out a toy.  He thought for a second and then said, “No go to store, I want to go bowling!”  You got it kid!  (Usually when he asks to go bowling I tell him that we don’t have any money.)

Today we went and visited Brodie’s best friend Lainey.  Today is also her birthday so we brought her a present and some flowers.  They played for a little while and then shared a Valentines Day kiss and we came back home to open Brodie’s presents!

He got some big boy sippy cups from Ryker and Nickelodeon Wii Fit from Bo and I.  Here’s Brodie playing his game and Ryker testing out the sippy cups.

The game was a big hit!

Brodie wanted waffles for dinner, but while we were at Safeway I found some crab legs in the meat sale section of the store for 50% off, so I talked him into that instead.  We also got some lobster tails.  They were both delicious!  We finished the evening with chocolate molten lava cake and the new annual birthday interview that I want to do with all our kids.

The Interview:

The Translation:

1.  What is your name?  I’m ten.  What’s your name?  Brodie!

2.  How old are you? I’m Ten!  Three?  I’m Three.

3.  What is your favorite color?  Black.  (he has never said his favorite color is black before.  It’s usually blue, green, or red.)

4.  What is your favorite food?  Cake!  … and waffles!

5.  Who is your best friend?  LAINEY!  My, my, my, Lainey my best friend.  My friend.

6.  What do you want to be when you grow up?  When you’re big?  My belly big.  All the way to the top.

7.  What is your favorite thing to do?  Ten.  What do you like to do?  Cake and waffles.  Cake and waffles?  Cake and waffles is very nice.

8.  When you go outside what do you like to do?  I like to do stuff.  What do you like to do outside?  Slide down, weee.  Go down the slide?  Swings.  I go really high…  swing.

9.  What’s your favorite toy?  Lego toys.  Which one’s your favorite?    Trucks, cars and trucks, fire trucks.

10.  What is your favorite animal?  My animals… back my room.  What animal do you like the most? One… this many animals.  Ten… and this many animals.  Which one is your favorite?  Deer friends.  My this many deers.  I like this many deers.  What sound does a deer make? *makes noises* Deer make sounds.  Elk make different kind.  Elk say, “EEEEE”  Elk go like that.  What does a goose sound?  A horn.  Fly wings.  Gooses have wings. 

How could you not love this little guy?

Happy Birthday Brodie!

Brodie's Birthday Party!

Brodie wanted a Mario Kart Wii party this year and the day started out early... like five in the morning early, when Ryker woke up.  Bo was nice enough to take a turn and go help him get back to sleep.  On his way to the kid's room he found Brodie standing infront of this poster that I had hung up the night before, fixated on Mario.  I like to think it looked something like this...

We made a trophy pinata.  I just paper mached a balloon, used a toilet paper roll for the skinny part and then a round ziploc container for the bottom.  Spray painted it gold and added a few rhinestones.  It was a pull string pinata, so each of the kids had a string and one of the strings pulled the bottom open and confetti and chocolate gold coins fell to the ground.

Mario Hats, Princess Crowns, and Question Mark Box presents!

This was one happy boy opening up all his presents!

The cake...

Ok... so I did try to make a cake, but my frosting was the wrong consistency, even though it tasted really good and there were cake crumbs throughout it, which just makes me mad and it was just horrible looking.  So I went and bought an ice cream cake.  Done and done.

Then... the power went out.  I have no idea why.  It wasn't even stormy outside.  But as we were playing with all our goodies and toys, the lights went out.  Poor Ryker got really freaked out and just started bawling.  I have a couple battery operated LED spotlights that I bought earlier this year for such power outage occasions, so we turned them on and all was well again...

Pin the mustache on the Mario turned into pin the mustache on the Oilars!

We all had a lot of fun!  We are really blessed to have such wonderful friends.  These people will be really hard to move away from.