Pinewood Derby 2009

Last night was McKay's first pinewood derby being in Cub Scouts (last year they did a rain gutter regatta). He had attended many pinewood derbies in the past when I was a cub scout leader so he knew what it was all about. The excitement was almost more than McKay could handle and the preparation was almost more that I could handle. McKay drew out his plans for the car. He designed everything himself. Then Jeremy and McKay cut and shaped the car, sanded it, primed it, painted it, applied the decals and spoiler to the car and ran many many many tests to see how the car performed. They put a lot of time and work into that car. Well, they knew what they were doing because McKay's car finished in first place! McKay received a first place medal that he gets to pin on his scout shirt and he has bragging rights until next year! Check it out below:

McKay had just placed his car on the track. His car is the silver one third from the right.

The race is on! McKay's car is in first place, second from the left. They raced their cars several times and winners were placed in brackets until McKay's car was the out right winner.

Talk about a proud parent moment. Jeremy was excited for McKay.

The winning car with the first place medal that was pinned to McKay's shirt. Way to go McKay!

Thinking of you, Mom.....

It's nice to know that I am thought of during the day. Josh brought me home this sweet bouquet of "flowers" today that he picked while at preschool.

Jeremy's Birthday Week

Jeremy claims he has a birthday week instead of just a birthday. This year it has really gotten drawn out thanks to Easter (his mom refused to make pizza, his birthday dinner choice, and insisted on an Easter ham) and Spring Break last week. His birthday week(s) is drawing to a close when we will finally get that birthday pizza on Sunday. So here is a birthday post tribute to Jeremy Jack White:
36 Things about Jeremy:
1. He is the world's best dad (the kids counted the votes and say he won by a landslide).

2. He makes great pinewood derby cars. He made one in the shape of a tooth and added a motor to it for an Elder's Quorum derby. Look for an upcoming post for the next creation.
3. Volunteers at the Food and Care Coalition, doing free dentistry, every month.
4. He is a great coach. He has coached at least one of his boys teams every year.


5. He recently got into running. He runs in the 5k blood run each year and also recently started participating in a triathlon for the Share A Smile Foundation.
6. He is a gamer. He enjoys playing the Wii and other card games or board games.
7. Prides himself in having a nice yard and spends many hours in the yard each year.
8. He has served in two bishoprics serving a total of seven (almost consecutive) years.
9. He had a mullet in high school. His mullet was curly.
10. He enjoys singing and was in the high school choir.
11. He totaled his parents new car while in high school--but it wasn't his fault.
12. Was a very mischievous child. Once he climbed on the counter and dropped glasses one at time on the floor. That's just where the stories begin.
13. He got kicked out of nursery as a child for biting all the other kids.
14. Served a mission on the Canary Islands (just off the coast of Africa)....
15. ...where he learned to speak Spanish. Speaking Spanish has come in handy in his profession and while traveling.
16. He buried many grasshoppers in his childhood sandbox (dead or alive).


17. Loves Scuba diving.
18. He is a great boss and treats his staff very well. They are lucky to have him.
19. He tells amazing bedtime stories. The kids always are asking him for a bedtime story. Just don't ask him for any repeats--he makes them up as he goes along and then they are gone with the wind.
20. He enjoys golfing and always takes an annual golf trip to St. George every year with his dad and brothers.
21. He claims that I married a plumber, painter, handyman, welder.....He is very handy.
22. He likes Sushi.
23. While in dental school, he went down to Jamaica and pulled teeth for a week.
24. He loves BYU.


25. He massacred his Ute loving brother's house with BYU decorations on rivalry week for three years (above) before getting caught.
26. Makes great chili.
27. He was a BMX biker in his teenage years....
28. ...he even built his own bike ramp.
29. He won a bridge building contest in high school--and he built his bridge the night before the contest.
30. He was one of the founders of the infamous NAP2 (pronouced NAP squared) club at Orem High School. (Nerds of AP Physics)
31. He likes to go snow skiing, but unfortunately only gets to go about once a year at Christmas time.
32. Started going grey at a VERY young age. He was salt and pepper grey by the time he returned home from his mission.
33. He is a BIG tease.
34. He indures chick flicks for his wife.
35. Loves "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy (the least chick flick of all time).
36. Is the best husband anyone could ever want and his wife is one lucky lady!

Happy 36th birthday Jeremy! We love you!

Spring Break??

This week is spring break for my kids. I imagined wonderfully warm days to go picnicking, riding bikes, and playing in the backyard. We have had ONE nice day this week. Thankfully we used it wisely and went to the zoo. We had a great time and enjoyed the weather. McKay enjoyed taking pictures of just about every animal in the zoo. This would be the longest post in history if I were to post all McKay's pictures. But here are a few of the ones I took. (Kids are cuter than animals anyway.)

This was Kayden's first visit to the zoo and he loved every minute of it. He would point then oooo and ahhhh over the animals. He was a lot of fun. He would have been even more fun if I would have remembered to pack his extra diapers. I will now take the time to thank the two strangers that saw my need and willingly gave me diapers: THANK YOU!! (How embarrassing.)

The apes at the zoo....oh wait, these are my kids (along with my friend's little boy).

At the end of the day we took a ride on the train. Josh was looking forward to it all day and was very excited. I placed Kayden between Josh and his little friend for a picture, and he got mad when I tried to put him on my lap for the actual train ride. He is growing up too fast, wanting to be with the big kids on the train.

Now that you know about our one nice day, that we spent at the zoo, let me mention that we woke up to a foot of snow this morning. I would have never thought that I would have needed to use my snow blower in the middle of April! But after breakfast, the kids put on their snow clothes (which I had put away) and went outside to play. They stomped around, shook snow off all the trees and bushes, and McKay and Joshua each built a snowman:

McKay's snowman that I nicknamed Bob the Blob

Joshua's snowman that I nicknamed Mini-Man. I love that he came in the house to ask for a carrot. The carrot is as big as the rest of the snowman. Hopefully this will be the last snow of the year until November!

Happy Easter!!

We had a great Easter this year. It started on Monday when we colored Easter eggs after FHE:



I don't know why this process always makes me so nervous! I am always afraid the dye is going to end up everywhere.

Kayden didn't do much egg dying, but he loved the stickers!

The Easter Bunny came on Sunday morning. We told the kids that they were not allowed to leave their room until 8:00 so Kayden could get plenty of sleep (and mom and dad--let's not tell half truths here). They came in just after 7:00. Since they had a sleepover with each other, they were all in one room and from 7:10 on there was no rest for the weary. However, they made it to 8:00 when Kayden woke up (kind of) and the kids could begin the great egg hunt.

They waited so patiently on mom and dad's bed while mom and dad got things ready.

We thought Kayden would love finding eggs. However, as soon as he had one for each hand, he was done. He just carried around two eggs most of the morning, until he figured out there was candy inside:

He thought Easter was great. Candy before breakfast!!

Jaxon showing off his finds.

Joshua is counting his eggs and looking inside each one by one.

All my boys at the end of the Easter Egg hunt. We had a wonderful Easter. We hope your Easter was just as wonderful.

Cooking Redemption

I made rolls at my mom's house last weekend, as well as brownies. Neither turned out great. The rolls didn't raise and they tasted like rocks. The brownies were over cooked and dry. To my defense, the yeast at my mom's house was bad, so it wasn't my fault. Plus my mom's oven cooks hotter than mine--hence the dried out brownies. Jeremy told me that I needed to redeem myself. So this last week I made peanut butter bars that turned out (well, I assume so as the pan was gone by the end of the night). Then came the true test--the rolls:



Jeremy gave me the thumbs up! Thankfully they were great and my cooking self esteem is back. If I had lost my touch, the restaurants in American Fork would have had a LOT more business from my family and I. (Wait a minute!! What have I done??)

He Speaks!

He speaks, but very little. Kayden says "wow", and "wo" but his favorite words are "Da-da" (because he is a daddy's boy) and "no". If you ask Kayden ANY question, the answer is always no. Kayden, do you want some juice? No. But he really does want juice. Kayden, do you want a snack? No. But you know he wants one. Well, my older boys have picked up on this and they think it is hilarious. They ask Kayden the silliest questions knowing that Kayden will say no. For example: Kayden, do you like Dad? No. (laughter) Kayden, do you have arms? No. (more laughter) Kayden, do you have eyes? No. (they are busting up by this time) This goes on and on. They think it is the funnest game. They just crack up. Kayden, do you like this game? No. (I think it has gotten a little annoying for him.) I am looking forward to hearing what he will say next!