Pinewood Derby Surprise

Austin got his pinewood derby supplies a month ago at the Blue and Gold dinner. Two weeks after that was when I got strep throat, the second time, so Jason was busy with extra tasks and they didn't start working on the car when they normally would have. One week before the event, they went to get started on the car, but discovered that it was lost. So, they had to go buy one, which was inconvenient, since the store they sell them at isn't exactly that close to our house and getting there and back took out precious car-making time. They worked on it a little each evening that week. Luckily, Austin had done it last year with the school pack, so he knew a little about what to expect, but I felt like they didn't work as long on it and wondered how it would turn out. It looked great, though, and my friend even complimented its appearance before the race. 

Austin started his racing in one of the first heats of the whole event. Each car got a turn in each lane. He won 3 races out of the 4, mostly because one lane had some bumps and most every car performed poorly in that lane. We thought he did a pretty good job and I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome. When they announced the winners of the whole event; however, I was totally surprised that he came in first! Actually, Jason and Austin were too. It turns out that during his runs, he was racing against the 2nd and 3rd place winners, as well as some other faster cars, so even though he was barely winning his heats his times were the fastest. 

The Speedster

His first heat.

Going up for the final award.

I love the look on his face when he found out he won. Priceless!

Meanwhile, that very same day, Victoria's choir came in first at the choir festival, even over the eighth graders there. It was a day of firsts! (Here's the songs they sang at the festival, performed at the concert a few weeks prior).

Fretting 40

Since the new year, I had been slightly fretting turning 40. I know it's just a number, and not an old one, but I have known a lot of people getting sick and landing in the hospital, and worse, and I realized that this was the year I was to turn 40. That is definitely mid-life. Half of 80. People in their 40s have kids getting married and going to college (luckily, my kids are younger, but it could still happen for us in our 40s).

 I like the exactness of numbers, so I like to know the temperature of the weather, the temperature of someone with a fever, my weight (every day)... So, somehow, the idea of 40, being exactly in mid-life, or maybe not, kind of made me think a little deeper about things.

Luckily, Jason already passed his 40th, so I didn't have any mid-life crisis spending, because we've already been doing that, in our Jason-and-Val-big-spending way. I've mostly been concerned with my relationships with people: friends and family around me.

That being said, my 40th birthday came and went and I was just starting to get over strep throat, again. I had it a month earlier. The doctor said the amoxicillin didn't cut it, so I got something stronger. I had followed all the rules. Washed and disposed of everything I could. No one else around me has had it yet. I knew Friday night, when I couldn't sleep due to my sore throat, that I had it again. My birthday being on Monday, I called first thing Saturday morning to get in and get it diagnosed and taken care of. Our celebration plans of going to the movies and to get seafood went to the wayside. Luckily, by my birthday, I had been on meds long enough to not be contagious anymore and to feel  better. I enjoyed my day, though I was extra tired the whole week. The time changing didn't help much either.

One of the highlights of my day was volunteering in Erik's class, as I do every Monday, to help with i-pads. He was very excited I was going to his class on my birthday and told his teacher. When I arrived, she had written "Happy Birthday Ms. Valerie!" on the smart board and their task that day was to write that on their i-pads and make a google doc out of it. They also sang to me in sign language and Erik was sure to tell the whole class how old I was. He also told everyone we saw when I picked up from school. My own students, when I wrote down "40" on the white board, enjoyed discussing the difference between 14 and 40, as some thought I was 14 and not 40.

Funny card from the kids that played music.

Jason really surprised me with this awesome Sony 600 mirrorless camera! I have to say that it was a highlight of my day too;) 

He always brings me flowers on special days :)

Cake, made and decorated by loved ones :)

Now that I've been 40 for a week, I'm not fretting it anymore. Just living it and trying to be fablulously 40!

Winter Camping

Jason is the 11 year old scout leader. He got to go winter camping last month with the older scouts to get an idea of what it's like so he can prepare his scouts for next year. He's always wanted to go, so this was a dream come true! I wasn't there, obviously, but I told him to take good pictures so I could get a sense of what it's like.

Fire the night they arrived.

Scoutmaster and master chef (his wife is the cook at Red Bell).

New Bishop, freshly called!

This is an ice shelter used for ice fishing. Because it was insulated, the adults used it for a tent.

Jason's new sleeping bag for winter camping. He put the junk on the side to provide a buffer against the wall to make it warmer.

Propane heater. They use these in Chile to heat the homes.

Walking out on the lake to go ice fishing.

Another ice shelter.

Drilling the holes.

Jason's lonely hole. He could see fish nibbling on the bait, but caught none.

Sneaky Snow Day

Our weather here has been up and down. The last two weeks of February were very mild, even getting into the mid 50s and low 60s for a couple of days. It was nice! Of course every time it does that too early, I get a little nervous, knowing that the weather will get really cold again before it stays warm and it will make it extra hard to handle those cold days after such nice weather.

Well, March 1 in the evening, the weather came in like a lion. We got about 4 inches of snow and it was a very wet snow. It snowed, and slushed the whole evening, but the next day was supposed to be 41 and sunny, so we knew we'd have a messy commute the next morning until it started to melt throughout the day. I guess when the person-in-charge-of-cancelling-school checked out the roads at 4 am, they were just slushy and wet, however, around 6am when he checked again, it had frozen over and there was a lot of ice on the roads. About the time Victoria gets up to get ready was when we got the call that school was cancelled. Needless to say, it was a big surprise for everyone. The kids were excited, I was doubtful, knowing how nice it would be later that day, and a lot of people were annoyed. 

We made the most of it. I still went to work and took my kids with me. They always have fun at Red Bell and it was Dr. Seuss' birthday, so there was a lot of fun going on! Most of my students showed up and they love it when I bring my kids. We had planned ahead and brought our sleds and snowboards to Red Bell. The best sledding hill in our area is down the street from Red Bell, so right after work, we went there and not a soul was there! It was a shocker because it's always full of people, especially on snow days. The sun was shinning, we were there after lunch, it was prime time!

We had just gotten two more snowboards from a neighbor's trash pile. They were perfectly nice and had a good slide to them. I was happy I could try more snowboarding than last time since no one was around. I was a little uncomfortable last time since there were so many kids around. I didn't want to squash anyone, nor did I want to get squashed! Victoria, Austin, and I mostly snowboarded and Karissa and Erik sledded, but they both did try the snowboard and once Karissa did, she was hooked!

Finally, a man with his two grandchildren came and the boy played with my boys for a little while and we shared our snowboards and they shared their super fast sleds. It turned out to be a great snow day for us!!

Piano Federation

I have three piano players. They all really enjoy it, though we have our struggles with getting enough practice time in, like everyone does. The girls have done Federation the past few years. This was Austin's first year with the judges. Of course, he was as cool as a cucumber. The girls were a little more nervous. They practiced very hard and it paid off! They all received Superior on their pieces! This is Karissa's third, so she will get a trophy. Victoria had a hard judge last year, so maybe next year she'll get another Superior and earn herself a trophy.

Here's their pieces about an hour before we left. They each made a couple blunders on these. Luckily, they did even better for the judges!

Talent Show

Our computer is back, sort of, but I really wanted to post this of our family act at the ward talent show, the Saturday before I got sick. Austin really wanted to sing Believer, by Imagine Dragons, but I didn't think he was ready for a solo yet. So this is what we came up with. Enjoy!