Pinewood Derby

Ethan with all his awards for the night. Love you bud!

Ethan with his Arrow of Light award.

Ethan with his trophy.

The sisters in the cheer leading section :)

Here we go...

Ethan getting his car ready to race.

Here are all the boys with their cars.


I don't know who was more excited for the Pinewood derby this year. Me, Jeremy, or Ethan! We put a lot of work into preparing for this night, especially with the Arrow of Light awards. Jeremy and Ethan worked really hard on his car. Jeremy was so worried it would not perform well. He said he remembered coming in last place as a kid and being devastated. No worries. I am happy to report that Ethan won 1st place this year!! He did awesome! He was so proud of his car. The racetrack was all computerized. Very cool. He averaged 205 mph, with the winning speed and track record of 206 mph! So much fun. The boys all seemed to enjoy themselves and have a fun time.



After the races, we handed out the awards. All of my Webelo boys earned their Arrow of Light. I was so proud of them. I made a slide show to show off all that we have done throughout the year. It made me cry to think Ethan is out of cub scouts now. He is growing up too fast. I am so proud of him for being such a great example to his family and other scouts. He is such a great kid. Way to go Ethan!

Preschool Graduation

Here is my little preschool graduate. Looking serious???

Oh yes, here is the silly face we know and love!

Eli and Mrs. Jarman. The world's best preschool teacher. We LOVE her!!

I love getting pictures of him when he doesn't know it.

Here is Eli's class.

Well, it's official, Eli has graduated from preschool. Can my baby boy really be heading off to kindergarten next year?? I find that hard to believe. He had a great year in preschool. Mrs. Jarman is amazing. She is a fantastic teacher and I am so grateful for everything she does for the kids. Eli has loved school. I really feel like he has grown up a lot in the last year. He has learned to leave my side, make his own friends, do homework and have fun! He is sad to leave his friends behind. We live in a different school district, but we'll try to get together over the summer with them. Way to go Eli, you are ready for kindergarten!

Father and Sons

The boys in the tent.

Super sticky marshmellow Eli.

Andrew hanging out.

Andrew, Ryder and Eli.

This past Friday was the long awaited, annual Father and Sons camp out. Every year all the Father's and sons from our ward at church get together and go camping for a night. The boys are always so excited and look forward to it every year. They get to spend time with just their Dad, as well as their friends. It was really cold up there. They had a hard time sleeping in the tent because it was so freezing, but they made it through the night!

Me and Emma had a great time doing "girly" things. We bought some new pink nail polish, some coloring books, had a picnic at the park and watched a movie with a friend. The next morning I decided to forgo all of the chores I wanted to do. We laid around in our jammies and did puzzles, read books, and played games. Lots of great time together.

The boys came home and looked like they had been camping for a week. They were dirty from head to toe, in 24 hours! Grateful they could spend time with Dad and enjoy the great outdoors.

Hershey's Track and Field

Ethan hanging out, waiting for the next event.

Here comes Ethan in the 200m.

Around the corner, 200m.

Running the 100m.

Ethan holding his school banner. Their school didn't have very many representatives!

Ethan was invited to attend the Arizona State Hershey's Track and Field meet. He was so excited to go. We thought this was only a regional meet like he attended a few years ago, but soon realized when we got there this was a huge track meet! The best athletes from all over the state were there to compete. Ethan was in the 11/12 year old group. He isn't even 11 yet, so he was on the younger side. He ran the 100m, 200m and standing long jump. He did an excellent job. There were about 30-35 boys in his age group in each competition. He struggled a bit with the 100m. There were some little kids that were so fast! He came in 11th in the long jump. He jumped 6' 5" and was so proud, then the next kid jumped 7' 10"! He was pretty amazed. He said "Man, I wish I could jump like those black boys!!" The last event he did was the 200m. He came in 3rd in his heat and 9th overall. He was a little disappointed he didn't qualify for the national meet, but we thought he did great! There were some amazing little athletes competing! I am truly amazed at how great these young kids are. Ethan's already looking forward to next year!

Dirty Beasts

Eli in a very cool puddle of mud.

My dirty little beast.

I guess one good thing about living in the desert, surrounded by dirt, is that it turns to mud when you water it! Every time it starts to get warm, my kids can't wait to get their swim suits on and play in the mud. Maybe because we don't have our little pool out yet, maybe because the hose just isn't fun enough, or maybe they just love getting dirty! Emma yells "Mom, I'm a dirty beast!!" Yes, she most certainly was.

Vulture Peak

Vulture Peak. We only went about halfway. It takes a really long time to get up to the top.

Ethan, Cole and Jacob.

The boys really enjoyed the view from up high.

Here is the whole group we hiked with this morning.

Cole, Ethan and Jacob. Best buds...

This morning we hiked Vulture Peak in Wickenburg with the Webelo scouts. We had such a great time. The weather was beautiful. It was almost 100 degrees at the beginning of the week and cooled off to 80's by the weekend. We were really lucky with that! We could not have asked for nicer weather.

The boys were really excited for this big hike. We ended up hiking about 5 miles round trip. I was a bit worried about rattlesnakes, but luckily we only saw a few lizards. We had a couple mishaps with cactus and one poor leader fell down a gravely hill (yes, that would be me!). It was lots of fun and I quickly learned that a bunch of 10 year old boys are in much better shape than I am! I am so grateful for the scouting program and the opportunity I have to serve these boys. We have a great time together.

Saturday at Grandma's

Ethan is very serious sand castle builder.

On a walk with Grandma to see the owls.

What is this boy thinking?...probably for me to stop taking his picture :)

Playing an improvised version of croquet. I wish I had taken a picture of the cute croquet things my parents made for them. They are so fun!

The mama owl.

Mama owl.

One of the babies, hiding from us.

Yes, there is Eli with a silly face.

Grandma and Emma throwing lacrosse balls in the pool. (Emma that is, poor Grandma got to fish them out!)

My Dad and Jeremy working hard.

We spent a great Saturday over at Grandma's house today. Jeremy went over to help my dad work on some siding for the house. We jumped at the chance to go over there too and hang out for the day. We had a fun time taking a walk to see the owls. My mom and dad have been going to see them every spring for 11 years now. They come back every year and nest in the same cactus. They have two babies this year, but the one was hiding from us. The kids were so fascinated by them. It was wonderful to see them up close. They were pretty tolerant of a bunch of loud kids walking by their nest!

We spent the day playing croquet, frisbee, and basketball, making sand castles, and enjoying the nice weather outside.