Yellow J-Rod

It's all in the graphite (so I hear)

It's always interesting to see what comes from a block of wood, especially when it's a pinewood derby. Last year was nothing like this year. I mean NOTHING. In more competitive areas (aka Chandler) you must abide by the rules from the size of your axle all the way down to the precise measurement of 5 ounces. Jared and Doug had been discussing the design of their car this year since the loosing streak of last years model. Notice I say "their" because let's face it, it's just as much Jared's car as it is dad's. The final weigh in was at 2pm. It was then they realized they had to add on some major weight. The car started out only at 2.2 ounces so Doug frantically started hot gluing weights like crazy with even a penny on top. (for luck of course)

Half of the Bear Den
Anthony, Logan, Ryker, Josh and Jared

All the boys had high hopes that THEY would have the winning car. Deep down we all know it's a pretty competitive race. Each boy got to race their car six times in order to allow the car to run on each track. Races 1-4 went by and poor J-Rod (Jared's yellow car) came in dead last. By the 5th run you could see the disappointment in his face.

This photo cracked me up. Weston just adores Magnus (I love that soft little shoulder touch), which happens to be his older look alike. These boys are so much alike in personality and mannerisms it's freaky! Not to mention they are both the 4th child.

J-Rod Lane 4

Ready, set....race!

J-Rod takes third place in the 5th heat!

The 5th race was a little more promising, after all his car placed third. Unfortunately that wasn't enough to carry the rest of the race through. After averaging all the times together Jared's car ended up 2nd to last. I say this with optimism because at least he wasn't last! We have to take any positive we can get.

Jared holding his yellow and black striped masterpiece
"J-Rod"

So, another year has gone by with a loosing car. Building cars out of wood may not be our strongest point, but bottom line is (straight from Jared's mouth)--"At least I wasn't last and I had fun!" Or as Doug would say, "hey I have at least 10 more cars to build, one of these years were bound to win." So true, so true.

The Whopper

Playing catch up on our family and thoughts that come in and out of my head are often hard. Much of the time you forget the little things that happen on a daily basis, so instead of posting several old posts I have decided to present the "whopper" post if you will. Last week we had our pinewood derby. Jared's car obviously wasn't the fastest, but I think he still had a lot of fun. And as most of you know the dad's were WAY more in to it than the boys. Doug was already talking about their next year car and how he would modify it to be faster.


Obviously, the house has consumed my thoughts, emotions, etc. I have been trying to be good about taking all realtor's feedback with a grain of salt. Most of the comments have been nice, such as nice well maintained home. One in particular (who came late and without notice) left a lengthy comment expressing how our home needs better staging. A week went by and I decided that our "kid" area really isn't practical to most. For us it works great, but in a market of people with "no imagination" visual seems to work best. Because I have the greatest friends (seriously) my house has now turned into a formal living area. Angie brought in furniture and other knick knacks for my house and rugs, Sara allowed me to borrow her mirror and sconces. My house has turned into more of a "model" home appearance if you will. Her is our newly improved design to sell look.........

(before)

(after)

more decorative touches

Unfortunately, since our staging makeover we have only had one showing. The interesting thing to me was they wanted a more open home. I thought my house was pretty open, but apparently my views are biased. What do you think??

the yummy Cafe Rio grub

Moving on to last weekend, the Gordon's invited a few families over for a delicious Mexican food bar. She made Cafe Rio pork and I brought in some restaurant tortillas (from Chuy's of course), along with some Cafe Rio tomatillo sauce. We may not have Cafe Rio here in Texas, but it was a pretty close tie I must say to tasting like the real stuff.

Nicole, Angie, Jenny and Ellice

Sadly, the rest of this week is a blur between baseball games, dance, renewing my temple recommend, Doug being consumed with high school physicals, and a head band party I am just happy that it's Friday. Oh, and I failed to mention I even passed up on my 2 year blogging anniversary! It's crazy to think it's been that long and 700 posts later. I hope to catch up with you all soon!

Hmmmm whose car is it?

Reading around on different blogs, it seems that it's pinewood derby time for the scouts. Well, here in San Antonio (particularly in our ward) we have a unique situation. We only have 3 scouts in our ward so the scout master has opened up the pinewood derby to our entire ward. (which really isn't that big). Of course Doug was beyond thrilled. It's not for a few more weeks, but he headed out to the local craft store and picked the boys out one to make. Luke and Jared were excited to get out dads tools and work away. That lasted for about 20 minutes as Doug continued to work maticulously on it. I guess their bikes were more fun. So, I am just asking really whose pinewood car is it? Doug's or my boys? Today was just gluing it together. I love how he got into it just like he was a scout all over again. Good thing he likes it, he has 3 boys to go through! More details to follow..........Today was a great Saturday. I cleaned the house from top to bottom and planted some flowers. It was GEORGEOUS weather today, there wasn't a cloud in the sky and it was in the 70's.

good deed: watched a movie and played a game with the kids when Doug was at conference.