March: church stuff

I'm going to Utah in a month which means MINT BROWNIES FROM COURTNEY if I catch up on my blog a bit... okay, a lot. So, without further ado:

Ward Temple Night with The Hottest Guy I Know, aka Chuck. (My long-suffering mama watched the kids and we came home to find everyone asleep in various places - Grandma and Jack on the couch, Clyde in Carma's bed, Carma on her floor, and Will in his actual bed!)

The end of March heralded, of course, Will's 8th birthday and baptism but of possibly equal importance his entry into Cub Scouts and FIRST PINEWOOD DERBY. As we had two boys competing this year, the preparations started early. The boys designed their cars, the Amazing Brother Murphy cut them out, and Chuck oversaw the adding of weights, per an awesome youtube video that we will share with anyone outside our Pack hahahaha.

Sister Sherman had a birthday! Carma and I headed over to visit and I taught Betty all about selfies :). She had just had lunch brought in by a friend and beautiful flowers from her daughter Lynn and she was feeling well enough to be up and about so it was lovely!

Carma and Einstein tromped around the backyard for a bit, as always.

 Stake Conference Sunday = sitting with Grandma and then hanging out in the front yard all afternoon.

 Sunday before St. Patrick's Day = trying to get a picture of everyone wearing green. My Irish ancestry failed me because I was not lucky enough (get it?? I feel like I excel at real subtle humor...) to get ANYONE to cooperate.

 We were lucky enough to score an invite to dinner at Sister Hyer's house though! Have I mentioned that Janell is the best? Delicious dinner, fantastic dessert options, and she was sooo patient with my crazy kids playing on her stairs :).

 More visits to see Sister Sherman! My MO was to let Carma bounce around for a bit, color for a bit, and then skeedaddle out when she started melting down. Before we left she always gave Betty the sweetest, most gentle hugs which was such an incredible tender mercy - Carma is not very cuddly with anyone besides me at this point. Lynn was in town for a few days and tried to get Carma to sit with her while we were there for a visit - until Sister Sherman piped up from the bed, "No, Carma's my little girl!" :)

 In my youth Sunday School class I have the kids write in a journal every so often and when they move onto the next class, I let them keep it (with a note from me at the back). I was finally returning the journals to the 16 year olds when I found this entry in one - if the kids mark their journal with a star then it means they're okay with me reading it. I seriously cried when I read this, so thanks for indulging my need to record it for posterity:

 Will got to attend his first Cub Scout activity during Spring Break - an all-pack hike around Lake Lowell. It was wiiiiiindy but fun! And please enjoy the shots of Clyde and myself, before and after we switched jackets so that he could have the warmer one, ohhhh life of a mom!

 

 This picture makes me so happy to look back on! My mom retired in March (more on that in the non-church-related-March-blog-coming-soon) and I immediately recruited her to watch Jack and Carma once a week so I could go to the temple. This was the maiden voyage of that endeavor and I recruited Maren to join me and it was SO awesome!

(Fun fact: I take a picture every. time. I go to the temple. I just love keeping track of when I go and what cool people I went with and how crazy my hair looked ;). The other night I was outside waiting for Chuck to get there from work when a couple hesitantly approached me and asked if I'd take their picture and I was like, "I would literally LOVE to" and the wife was like, "See honey, it's not weird!" and I assured him it was Not Weird At All and it was a really special moment for me haha)

All right, time to buckle down and finish this post with a million Pinewood Derby pictures.... starting with their cars! Will's is a shark and Clyde's is Percy Jackson-themed:

Last minute prep and the boys' loyal fans...

Our pack got a way cool guy to come with his track - I guess Chuck and Bishop knew him from Wood Badge? Ohhh the Scout world is a small one ;). Clyde and Will had a great time watching their cars zoom down the track a million times!

And awesomely, they zoomed realllll fast! Will took 2nd place overall and Clyde took 3rd place (the super cute Nathan took 1st and was SO excited!) Hyrum, Andrew, and Hunter had some pretty awesome cars too; I feel like next year things are going to get crazy...

Few more pictures of the boys and their cars at home that night. Good times, I love my cute little Scouters!