Pinewood Derby

Last night was Andrew's first Pinewood Derby. He and Nathan had gone out to Grandpa Smith's home last Wednesday night to cut out the most aerodynamic car possible. Next, they went to Hobby Lobby and found the perfect "skin" to finish the look he was going for. (Nathan says it is the best $7.49 he's ever spent.) The "skin" adhesives to the wood with just a bit of water. They next painted the "driver" , added a tail fin and it was complete!


Ready, Set, Go!

Awaiting his car at the finish line.

Andrew's car raced 5 or 6 times and averaged around 202 MPH. (Yes, the track is SO high tech now that it can measure how fast the cars go.) WOW!! He had a pretty fast car! Everyone raced - Everyone was a winner - Everyone got a patch for their accomplishment! What a night!

Nathan did a great job announcing for the evening! Do you see where our cute kids get their cuteness?

Spring Soccer

Sarah and Andrew are playing soccer. They are both on league teams but not the same league, so usually dad stays at Andrew's game while mom takes Sarah to her game across town. There will be some Saturdays that we will be able to watch both games - Yeah! They are both doing GREAT!!! We are SO proud of them!


Luckily the field that Andrew usually plays on has a playground for Spencer and Benj to keep them entertained. It also has a great hill to climb and explore.


(Spencer has grapes in his mouth.)

This is the latest thing Levi is up to. Doesn't he look SO grown up?

McCall - Part 1 Bob

For Spring Break we went to McCall, ID and we got to do so many wonderful things during our stay there. However, if you ask our three oldest kids what their favorite part of our stay was, they will all say, "Bob". This is Bob.

Bob loves hotdogs. Bob will eat out of your hand.

Bob came to visit us every day at least once.

We all looked forward to Bob's visits!

McCall - Part 2 Skiing

Nathan deserves "Father of the Year" Award after taking ALL four kids skiing at Brundage. (Mom and Levi stayed in the car, taking pictures and staying warm.) Sarah and Andrew had been before (remember this post), but Spencer and Benj had never been. They were all SO excited to get going!

I didn't have the best lens on the camera when I took this picture of Benj. Which is unfortunate as he was the first to be done and I didn't get any other pictures of him. We didn't have warm enough gear for him or I think he would have lasted longer. All weekend he was proud to show off his ski pass to anyone, and when asked about skiing he would say, he loved it and then quickly add that it was scary! He didn't care for the ski lift at all!!

Sarah LOVES to ski! She wishes she could have gone on the harder runs.

Spencer did great for his first time! He got a little cold so he joined mom, Benj and Levi in the car for awhile and then after warming up, was ready to go again! You can tell from this picture that it was REALLY snowing!

Andrew also wishes that he could have gone on harder runs, but he did find a run that had mogels and he really got into jumping!

My favorite picture of our time in McCall.

McCall - Part 3 Things We Did in McCall

We did SO many fun and adventurous things in McCall!
We walked around the town and found some bears.

We found a yummy candy store.

Sarah, Andrew and Dad went Ice Skating. They all agreed that it looks easier than it really is.

The buckets are to help you with your balance. They all said that they didn't help.


The Coulter's had snow shoes at the cabin and it took us no time to get the kids in the shoes and outside to do some exploring. They LOVED it and went three different times.



We did a puzzle. Some were even wearing their pajamas backwards and inside out? Why you ask? Because our dad said it would be more fun that way.

Andrew made us dinner twice!

Benj LOVED it!!

We all read a lot!




During the two sessions of Conference on Saturday, we went to a restaurant called, The Pancake House. It was delicious! The kids got pancakes as big as their plate.

Mom ordered a cinnamon roll as BIG as the plate...but, don't worry, she shared with everyone and took some home to eat for dinner. Yup, she was pretty excited!

McCall - Part 4 Easter

Having never celebrated Easter somewhere other than our own home, we were a little unsure where the Easter bunny would hide it's eggs. There was SO much snow in McCall, we were a little afraid that he would leave them outside like he does in Boise. You can imagine our relief Saturday morning, when we woke up to find that the Easter bunny had come inside and not only that but all over the inside of the cabin.
We started upstairs....

then came downstairs....


searching high...

and higher...

until we found them all.

We wanted proof that it really was VERY snowy in McCall!!

This was Sunday morning where everyone gets a gift that reminds them why we celebrate Easter. I'm grateful that we save Sunday for the true meaning of Easter! Shortly after breakfast, we packed up and headed home so that we could watch Conference at home.

We had a wonderful time in McCall! A HUGE Thank you to the Coulter's for letting us stay in their cabin! We hope to come again! Oh, almost forgot...this is the kids "paying" for our stay. We were asked to pay a penny per night per person! Can't beat that!!!!

Levi's Blessing

We were happy that we were able to bless Levi during the program of Andrew's baptism. Andrew was very mature and kind to share this special day with his brother!

Those that stood in the circle of Levi's blessing were James Jacobson (he is the first counselor of our bishopbric), Nathan's dad, Nathan and Laura's dad. We feel so blessed to have Levi as a member of our family!!