Tip toe through the tulips!

Here are a two pictures of the prettiest tulips from my small tulip bed this year.

I planted some yellow ones a few years ago and then bought some, off season, last year or two years ago. I just thought these were beautiful and wanted to capture them before they were gone for another year. The kids get all excited when they see the buds coming every year and they count them to let me know how many flowers to expect and which ones are then in bloom, and then which ones are dead.

I love the look of these and wish generally speaking, that tulips lasted longer, but I sure enjoy them while they're here!

On your mark, get set, GO!! Pinewood Derby 2014

The Pinewood Derby has been a grand frustration to Eric the last two years, more especially last year (parents cheating, boys crying, spending $150+ on stuff - each scott kid made a car - not a good day), so this year he decided to boycott the event. As it was Nate's first pinewood, I decided I would be the assistant derby damsel and work with the boys to get their cars done.

Cars & their awards (as decided by the missionaries)
prior to the race.

They were supposed to have their cars done the Thursday before the race so that the boys could work on them at cub scouts. So, that Monday or Tuesday, I baked the blocks of wood for two hours on a low temperature and penciled the designs on the cars that the boys said they wanted. Thankfully the designs were super simple to draw.

The following day, we got out the router saw to cut the blocks and then sand. The cuts didn't go as smoothly as desired, but the boys were okay with it. The especially liked having permission to use the tool (Daddy helped a little on this part).

Once the cuts were made, I had the battery powered sander, they and I sanded to the desired smoothness. Graigry wanted his plain, no paint, no shilac, just the wood with a few stickers. Nate wanted his black with some stickers, so I bought a small can of spray paint on my way to work Thursday morning and we painted it when I got home.

I took our pinewood derby box with left overs from last year and we went to scouts. Nate, Graigry and William were the only boys prepared, so the leaders decided to finish the cars the following Thursday.

The derby was Saturday April 12 and the kids had a blast. It was SOO much better than last year. The boys were excited with and for each other; the parents had fun with the boys and each other, an unbiased party kept track of the brackets (solving last year's problem) and it was an all around good time.

A little sibling rivalry to start off the derby.
Nate & Graigry on the first heat.

The missionaries are the photo-finish callers.
Bishop keeps an eye on the line.
Scott cubs anxiously await the release of the cars.

Graigry's car in the heat against Timo's block.
Elder Meehan has his camera ready to snap the finish line.

Chase falls, Nate soars as his car wins that heat.

Nate won first place!!

Graigry takes second!
It's a Scott sweep!!

Neta gets in on the action,
helping to announce some of the family races.

I was very happy about how well everything turned out - with all the kids and parents, not because my boys won (added bonus - especially as I hadn't stressed out about it and we hadn't spent the money and effort like last year). We tried to play a trick on Dad by walking in and me saying something about, "If you're going to be all upset, then we won't do this ever again." It didn't work. I think Eric was still frustrated, but again, the boys and Neta and I had a good time, so here's hoping next year will be as successful!