Rain Gutter Regatta

This year instead of doing the Pinewood derby our pack did a Rain Gutter Regatta. Dallin and Josh were both a little disappointed that they didn't get to build cars.  I liked that it was all done at Cub Scouts and the boys were able to do it by themselves.  They made their boats out of pool noodles, popsicle sticks and paper.  The boys provided the wind power by blowing through straws. They also made newspaper hats to wear. Dallin decided that his boat went faster backwards.  The wind was a bit of an obstacle for one side of the racers, it hurt more than it helped.  It was a fun activity.

Monkey Houses

Monkey houses are an invention of necessity at our house.  Neil invented building Monkey houses with JENGA blocks and puzzles or books many years ago when Rebecca was small. She was bored and needed something to do.  You use the JENGA blocks to hold up and separate the books or puzzles so there is a spot for the plastic monkeys to live. There have been many Monkey houses built at our house over the past twenty years.

When I came home from the Women's session of General Conference in March the younger kids were excited to tell me that Neil had helped them build a monkey house that was taller than Dad. They said it nearly reached the ceiling.  They had to stand on chairs to put on more floors.  The most exciting part was when it fell.  Neil had bent over to get some more blocks and it fell and landed on his back.  The kids thought it was fun that it toppled on Dad.

I am so grateful for Neil.  He does fun things with the kids.  He does the same activities over years so they have memories in common.  He is a good dad and I am grateful for him.

Here are some pictures of the latest Monkey houses:

LDS Prom 2017

Yesterday, April 8th, was LDS Prom for the Priests and Laurels.  Jett Flores asked Emma and Matthew asked Natalie Clark.  Matthew made a coded letter to ask Natalie.

Emma wore one of the dresses that we bought at SVU last year.  We bought a jacket to go over it. We put a waterfall braid and curls in her hair. She looked very beautiful.

We met the other young men and young women from the ward at the church.  It was a rainy day and the girls had a hard time keeping their dresses out of the puddles.  

Sister Cordes drove the girls from the ward and we drove the young men. We had a good group of kids that went.  

They served a nice dinner at the Stake Center. We took Aaron along for the night.  The dance was scheduled until 11:00, but most of the kids were ready to go about an hour before that so we came home early.  There was more conversation in the van on the way home with the girls along than there was driving there with only the boys.    

Here are a few more pictures of Emma and Jett, Matthew and Natalie.

You even get  a couple of pictures of us ready for the dance.

8 Months

We have been blessed to have sweet little Aaron in our family for 8 months now.  He was been a blessing.  I love watching the kids interact with him.  They all adore him.  He has mastered rolling over and definitely has a desire to become mobile.  Matthew has been giving him crawling lessons.  He will get on all four and stay there for a bit.  He is doing better about going to bed at night.  He loves Matthew's basketball.  He will give 5. It is so cute.  He weighs in at about 20 pounds.  We really adore this little guy at our house.  Here are a few (or more than a few) pictures of Aaron at 8 months: