Pinewood Derby

This week we got to participate in the Pinewood derby! For any of my readers that don't have a clue what that is, let me give a brief explanation. Cub scouts (boys 8-10) are given a chunk of wood and some wheels and they get to turn it into a car and then everyone gets together to watch them race. Our branch also had an open competition where other family members could enter cars as well as the scouts. So Caleb designed and made his car. Liz and Stewart worked together on what ended up being called Liz's car even though it was mostly Stewart's idea's and work.

Here is Caleb with his car.
Here is Liz with her car.
Here's a great snapshot of the event.
Caleb took third place out of the scouts. He was awarded a nice little medal that said pinewood derby with a picture of a car. But he chose to give it to one of the boys who's car didn't do so well. As his mom, I have to say I'm much prouder of that than of him doing well in the race.

And this last pic is Tori enjoying the snacks and socializing at the races. I've been meaning to get a good picture of her to put on my blog since she's become our honorary family member. But it hasn't happened yet, so this one will have to do for now. Lucky for me, I don't think she reads my blog yet. So don't tell her I used a picture of her eating.

Community Pictures

Tori recently had a school assignment that included taking pictures of the community. She used our camera to do it, and I really liked some of the pictures she got, so I wanted to share. Coffman Cove is still primarily a logging community even though environmental issues are making it a nearly impossible way to make a living. Tori's step-dad is a logger and so she was able to get some up close and personal pictures.

This one shows the claw (run by Tori's step-dad) putting the logs onto the truck.



This guy is branding the logs so that when they get dumped at the mill, his crew will get credit for them.
I just thought this was a cool picture to show how comfortable these guys are with a chainsaw. This isn't how we carry Stewart's new chainsaw. But don't confuse comfort with carelessness. These guys know exactly how dangerous a chainsaw is.
And this is the part of logging that I've actually seen personally. It's a little scary to come around a corner on a nearly deserted road and come face to face with one of these trucks. The center of this picture is the ferry terminal. It was only used for a short time before it was decided that it wasn't worth the effort to have a northern island ferry AND a southern island ferry. Ours was the northern. It got canceled. But we have a really nice dock and building ready and waiting if they ever decide to change their mind.
This is a distance shot of our new school. This is the first full school year that it's been used. It's a very nice school for less than 20 students. Our house is also visible in this picture but unless you know exactly where to look it's really hard to see.

This one shows most of the community. The water at the right of the picture is the beach area where you can watch the big cruise ships go past. The water on the other side of the peninsula is the cove. Thanks for the Pics Tori!

Josh's missing tooth

Josh's front teeth have been due to fall out for awhile now. Then he got hit in the mouth with a hockey puck during PE and one of them finally decided it was time. Although it still took a couple more days to actually fall out. I love the way kids look with missing teeth, so I asked him to pose for a picture. This first picture is what I was thinking, the next two are what Josh thinks of as posing for a picture.


It wasn't long before all the kids realized I had the camera out and we had a good time posing for pictures for a while.

fun outside

We continue to enjoy warmer than average winter temperatures. Toward the end of February the kids all gathered on the baseball field on a sunny day after school on Friday. They build a couple tee-pees out of sticks, weeds, and grass. They played until the stars came out and it was time for dinner. Then they met back on the field at 10 the next morning and played until dark for a second day. The tee-pees didn't last long before we got a good wind storm in, but they sure enjoyed making them.

Yesterday we celebrated our 11th anniversary. Stewart took Caleb, Liz, and Tori (our honorary family member) in to Craig for a service project/fundraiser for a youth temple trip. While I stayed home and worked on Census stuff. Then in the evening Tori's mom took the rest of us into Craig for Tori's baptism. That was followed by a branch potluck. Not the typical anniversary celebration, but it was a great day! Then it was time for us to drive home, and it snowed the whole way. We had to drive very slowly and the snow in the headlights was enough to make us dizzy, but we got home safely. By the time we got up this morning, most of the snow was gone but the kids couldn't resist going to play in it. We haven't had much this year.