Last night our family went to a family Pine Wood Derby at our church. In Cub Scouts Nathan built a car and raced it (Well, Grandpa cut it out, Dad painted it, Nathan raced it). He won first place for his pack. Well, a few weeks after the Scout Derby, our congregation always gets together for dinner and another derby where everyone can enter. This is fun becuase the men go all out to see whose car is the fastest. We have a regulation race and a nonregulation race. For the regulation race cars have to be a certain weight, length, etc. but for the nonregulation race, anything goes. We had cars with engines powered by remote controls for the nonregulation race. It was pretty cool.

Here are the four GRAFF cars!

Anyway, Alyssa, Nathan, Savannah, and Alanna all had cars that Grandpa cut out last year but they didn't get raced because we ran out of time. SO this year Jared painted them and they all had cars to race. In the first three heats Alyssa, Savannah, and Alanna took first place every time. Poor little Nathan kept coming in third and fourth. Then they did the final race off with the final five. The official ending was Savannah first place, Alyssa third place, and Alanna fourth place! Here is Savannah with her car, being announced as the winner. She looked a little embarassed by all of the recognition. It was cute.

Are you a winner?

As I blog surf I found this on my friend's blog. Abi posted this and I thought it was a great idea! My friend Lani posted it on her blog too.

The first 5 people to respond to this post will receive something made by me. What I make will be my choice, but it will be made just for you. Since I only really have 5 readers, that means that you’ll all probably get something

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1. I make no guarantees that you will like what I make!
2. What I create will be an original and it will be made just for you.
3. It’ll be done this year (might be December 31st, but you WILL get something) and I will post all of my original creations as they are completed.
4. You will get no clues what it’s going to be. Heck, I don’t even know what it will be. I might paint or draw something. I might compose a jingle or short song. I might even write a short play just for you. Who knows? Whatever it is, it will be a surprise!
5. I reserve the right to do something extremely strange

The catch? The catch is that you must repost this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog.

Happy commenting (AND posting!)

Another great video

Another great video with information about LDS temples. Take a few minutes to watch.

My new assignment in church is Enrichment Leader. I help plan activities for the women in my area. One main thing we are focusing on is being prepared for trials that are ahead. The economy is getting bad, and from the projections that Jared watches, it is only going to get worse; worse than the great depression.
This video shows what the leaders of the LDS church have been saying for many years about the need to be prepared both temporally and spiritually.

Mormon Temples

Here is a short video of the purpose of Mormon temples.

Disneyland

We have annual passes to Disneyland. It works great as an incentive to get the kids to get ahead with their school work! So, being ahead in work, we went to Disneyland on March 11. I took all five kids by myself, which isn't something new, but as Arya is getting older and closer to the 'Terrific Two's" I need to rethink excursions involving her. We were there for about 2 hours when I decided that I had had enough and really wanted to go home. The kids were arguing about where they wanted to go next. We started in CA Adventure to do the Animation. This is where you go to 'school' to draw like a Disney artist. This was very cool, except for Arya screaming for everyone pencils. So, then they all wanted to go over to Disneyland. Since Alanna was being really good, I told her she could pick the ride they went on first. It was Buzz Lightyear. I really don't get it, but my older three kids all want to go by themselves on this ride. SO they were all arguing about that and I finally said, "FINE! We are not going on any rides for you the rest of the day. Alanna picks them all!"

So, we walked through the Disney Castle, rode Dumbo, the Carousel, and the train ride. Arya had finally had it, was done being held in lines, and just wanted to leave. I checked the time and Jedi Training was starting in 15 minutes. We went over to where it was, but I told the kids if they didn't get picked to train as a Jedi, then we were leaving and going home.

They all wore their matching Incredible tee-shirts and stood in the front row, jumping up and down to be picked. At the last moment, the Jedi master said, "You four with the matching red shirts, you may come up!"

YEAH!! This was Alanna's first time training to be a Jedi. She was so excited! She ended up fighting Darth Maul! This guys is so scary looking! I took video of it, so I only have this photo of Alyssa fighting, but it shows his freakishly scary face really well! But Alanna did great. She was the littlest Jedi in the group! She is off to the right a little, looking back at me. Ahhh, it was all worth it!

A Mi Amor

For a month now I have been expanding my talents and sewing like crazy! I love to sew; it gives me time to think. My friend Amy and I put our talents together and started a business. I sold my first items today! Check it out, tell your friends, link us on your blog or website. Here is a preview of one of the little scripture totes we make for young kids to carry their Book of Mormon to church: