Cub Scouts and Pine Wood Derby

Since Hans turned 8 years old I was asked to be the Cub Scout Wolf Den Leader. I have enjoyed this so very much. I only have 3 little boys, Hans, Gabriel Martin and Weston Benson and they are so hungry to live life, make things, explore things and have FUN! This past month the Cub Scout Theme for January has been "Car Show" leading up to the Pine Wood Derby a couple nights ago. We've had fun at our Den meetings using tools, lately. These little boys get such pleasure out of hammering nails into scraps of wood, taking the nails out and doing it over again! We made banana mobiles and played lots of games. I love little boys!

Here's some pictures from some of our Den meetings as well as Pine Wood Derby night this week. Jonathan, our son-in-law, is the Cub Committee Chairman and he did a great job dealing with the stress of making sure all 27 cars got to compete against each other and on different tracks and bringing it down to the top 3 winning cars. (and the hardest job of all....keeping parents happy.) The boys had so much fun and it was an exciting night for Hans....his first Pine Wood Derby experience. His cool black and chrome car got 2 firsts and 1 second. He wasn't even that much concerned about winning...just racing. We were proud of him for being a great sport and just having fun. He had a good time designing the shape and sanding and drying the car with his dad.

It's funny, I remembered back to the morning that Hans was born and John saying, "great....I have to do more pine wood derby cars!" We counted it up, John has helped make 10 pinewood derby cars with his boys.......3 with Erik, 3 with Christian, 3 with Steffen and 1 so far with Hans........8 years of waiting and now Pinewood Derby night came and went again. I guess we get to look forward to the next 2 years and then we can relax and enjoy our grandsons' derby cars!

What is this White Stuff in Camarillo????

Hey, Tehachapi, Utah, and Virginia....you have competition when it comes to the "white stuff" coming down in your areas....Camarillo, CA got some of it tonight!

We had a LOT of rain today and tonight during dinner it was DUMPING rain....our house was loud from the sound of the rain....we went out on the front porch to walk Kirsten and her kids out to their car and there was ice on our grass. I guess the rain was partly hail! We are not very used to this here! Just last week it was in the 70's! Poor us, huh? Compare this to Steffen's picture from this week in Virginia....

Thinking on Good Times.....

Today I wanted to think on some good times....I have this picture next to my bedstand in a frame that says, "Sisters". This is me and my sisters, who all live in Arizona and I live in California. I drove over to be with them and we went for a drive with the top down in my car around Mesa. We were together several times in the last two months as we gathered to care for our sick and dying mother. This was a happy moment during a lot of difficult times in the last months.





Here is another picture that same day, but with my brother Jon also in the picture. My siblings and I have lost both our parents now....it's good to have each other still.

Lisa, Pam, Jackie, Julie, Deb and Jon

We received e-mail from Steffen today

Homepage for Alexandria, VA

http://visitalexandriava.com/

So, we've been waiting since Monday to hopefully recieve e-mail from Steffen (Elder Lassen) but I guess his P-days must be on Wednesday, not Mondays. Today we got 2 e-mails from him. The first one was short and he was frustrated because he typed out his letter only to lose the whole thing as the computer shut down! But within an hour, he had the chance to try again and was able to get the news out to us that he's been assigned to serve in Alexandria, Virginia, just 5 miles south of Washington D.C along the Potomac River. He's on a bike and he's loving his experiences so far this week. He said his companion, Elder Gray who is from Arkansas is awesome and that he knew Jacob Blickenstaff and David Giles who served or have served in Arkansas! Small world! He sounded so positive. In checking the weather for his city, I noticed a big snow/sleet storm heading their way tomorrow, so I wonder how he'll do riding his bike in that! (You can read his e-mail on his blog at http://www.slassen.blogspot.com/ )

It was a nice highlight to the day to hear from our missionary and to know he is well, happy and working hard.

Another fun thing about today was that we had little visitors come over for a short time today....

Wyatt and his mommy came over for a short visit on their bicycle and then a little later, Isaac came to stay for lunch and naptime. When gramps came home for lunch, he laid down to take a short nap and Isaac laid down next to him and they were out for a nice, winter's nap :-} I would have taken a picture but didn't want to wake them...they were so cute!

Hans had his first Cinemagic Practice today and then he stayed home with his dad tonight while I went to have a YW presidency meeting and then attended a New Beginnings Program for Camarillo 3 rd Young Women's.

John and Allen Jenkins are working out in the garage tonight...it's their Wednesday night Project Night. Each Wednesday, they take turns at each other's garages and spend a few hours helping each other work on their old cars. John works on restoring his Model A Ford and Allen has International Scout he is restoring. It's great to have friends to keep you motivated!

Today is Larry Krueger's birthday! Happy Birthday, Larry!

Steffen is off to Washington DC Today!

Steffen called at 4:00 AM this morning from the Salt Lake Airport. It was a joy to talk to to him for about 30 minutes. John and I each had a phone to our ear and listened to his enthusiasm.
He expressed that he has loved being in the MTC and enjoyed the speakers and firesides especially.
Tonight he's probably had dinner with his new Mission President and had an interview before learning of where his first assigned area and companion will be. For more info, keep checking his posts at http://www.slassen.blogspot.com/ .

Quote from Pres. Gordon B. Hinckley

“It isn’t as bad as you sometimes think it is. It all works out. Don’t worry. I say that to myself every morning. It will all work out. Put your trust in God, and move forward with faith and confidence in the future. The Lord will not forsake us. He will not forsake us. If we will put our trust in Him, if we will pray to Him, if we will live worthy of His blessings, He will hear our prayers.”


Pres. Hinckley (spoken at his wife, Marjorie Hinckley’s funeral)