Signs of Spring

You gotta love the daffodils and the tulips blooming!

And here's the announcement of the name of Lady's foal. She is a filly, and Libby named her "Cookie", much to Bruce's chagrin! Stormy is on the left with Strawberry, and Cookie is lying down in back of Lady.
Another announcement! Bruce has found a new, more efficient way to mow the lawn. It works in beautiful concentric circles, and is self-fertilizing. Inquire within! J/K


Jesse took this picture so she could remember how I braided her hair the night before to make it look crimped.

Josh is running for Studentbody Secretary at the High School. These are some of the images he used on his campaign poster.
He had to give a speech, and the election was today, so it will be interesting to see how it turns out. If he wins over the two girls he was running against, he will follow in the footsteps of his three older cousins, Jarom, Whitney and Lindsey, who were all Studentbody Officers.

We put Iliampu and Sage up for sale on Craigslist this week. We've been hanging on to them for sentimental reasons. Iliampu is the mother of La Paz, Cusco, and Ruffneck, three of our good pack llamas. And her last cria was Sage, a female llama. Our original goal was to build up a herd of seven male llamas so that we could go on pack trips with our family. We have done that, so now we need to let these females go to another home. It tugs a little at the heart strings!We also put Chester up for sale on Craigslist. We sold him to some paisanos, who came and got him today.Chester, I'm sorry to say, will not be missed! Although Bruce does feel some regret that he was not able to work with him more and make some progress, this Blazer horse was wild to begin with, and stayed that way! It took two hours and careful maneuvering to get him into their trailer. Good-bye Chester!

Last night was the famed Pinewoord Derby for Peter's Cub Scout Pack. Oh, the woes, the excitement, the laughter and the tears.Look how many Cub Scouts we have in this Pack - all from one ward. My friend, Mary Jean, who is the Primary President, informed me that the girls their age all fit in one class, so about 1/3 the number of girls as boys. Interesting, no? It was the same ratio in our Spanish Branch.The hard working Dads: Chris, on the left, is going to be sealed to his wife tomorrow in the Temple. Todd, on the right, has spent the last week in the NICU with their newborn son (but they got home today!) Bruce, Joshua and I fasted for little Layne on Wednesday, and it was a neat experience to see how quickly he recovered after the fasting took place.Can anyone dispute that the Pinewood Derby is just as much an Elder's Quorum affair as it is a Cub Scout affair??I think not.

The hard-working Den Mothers,and the eager Cub Scouts, all look on as brightly colored cars speed down the track.

Experienced brothers look on,mothers sneak some chatting in,and cute little sisters cheer brothers on. (See Mary above, also)Cub Scouts grin,and Dad's beam,when their son takes second place! Congratulations, Peter!

But don't forget the triumphs of past years! Josh and Joseph display the cars that they raced in 2002.In 2001, Josh's first year, Bruce let Josh make all the decisions about the car - it was totally his own creation. And he came in last place. Disaster. Devastation.

Since that scenario didn't work out so well, in 2002, Bruce took the Pinewood Derby car business to heart, and he and the boys (that should be in quotation marks) made some really nice cars. Joseph's car had the fastest time of the night, and Joshua's won the contest. A distinct turn-around. The next year they did the Raingutter Regata instead of the Pinewood Derby, and Bruce says it was because they were "skeered".

Back to 2009 - after the main races, they let cars race for fun, so Josh, Joseph and Peter put their cars on the track. This race was serious - for bragging rights! All three cars came down together within 1/2 inch of each other. I think Joseph's pulled it out. Bruce said there were oohs and aahs all around because all three cars were so close!

Josh worked on his car a little, and then they did it again. It's Joseph on the left (green car), Peter in the middle with the "Speeding Bullet", and Josh on the right (orange car).
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Peter pulled it out, and he's not humble about it either! Josh said, "It did not help (meaning his attempted fix on the car)" and "Goodness!", and Joseph said, "_____". (I don't know). You can understand what Peter said!

After the Pinewood Derby I took Mary and her two good friends Kami and Britta to the local diner for Britta's birthday. It's fun to be with 11/12 year old girls! Happy Birthday Britta! Kami is on my soccer team, and she is my star keeper. If you're a soccer coach, you can relate - coaches love a good goalie!

While I was typing this blog, Bruce came to the back door and said, "Come and see this!" He had seen a bird going into this hole in the barbecue.So I opened up the barbecue and found this inside!
We don't know what kind of bird it is, a black bird, but it is building a nest inside the barbecue!
Bruce is all set on taking this nest out and cleaning it out. "What?", I exclaimed! "No way! That mama bird worked hard at making that nest!" I think I won the "discussion". We'll keep you posted.

BREAKING NEWS...

Here is Bruce shining the shoes of the newest SBO at the High School!Congratulations Josh! The others that made it - Mack, Kelby, and Sterling, are all his good friends, so they should have some fun.

Coming next post - pictures from the Senior Prom that will take place on Sat. night, and reflections on Easter! Happy Easter everyone!