What's New Pussycat?

OK, first of all I want to acknowledge that it has been a long time. That said...we now have the internet at home (yeah!) and I plan on keeping up on the blog a lot more often.
I was contemplating what I should write about today; I mean, after all, it has been a long time and so I felt like what I wrote had to be good. So, I quickly scanned over the last few months of my life and I saw a lot of cleaning, car-pooling, laundry, homework...etc. Mix in a few family drives, trips to the dog park, and all the fun we had during our very snowy winter and that's us in a nutshell. So, what should I write about?
Then I thought about each of my kids and the fun that we have together. I have great kids. They keep me laughing. Today, I just want to share two little stories about two of my kids. These stories make me laugh, and hopefully they will be fun for you too.
Last Saturday was the pinewood derby. This was Dallin's second pinewood derby, but the fifth one for our family. Dallin had his first last year, then the Elder's Quorum decided to hold one, in which both Brandon and I participated. Then Breanne participated in the activity day girls' derby. Then another Elder's Quorum activity, and finally the Cubs again last weekend.
"Hey, Brandon, aren't you going to run it down the track once and see how it does before you have Dallin turn it in?" I asked as I watched Dallin carry his car over to the "pinewood derby garage".
"Nah," he answered back.
"But, don't you want to see if it needs any adjustments?" I asked.
"Nope. I'm trying not to sound too competitive for Dallin because he did this car all on his own, and I don't want him to feel bad if it doesn't do very well."
I could see his point. In derbies past, Brandon was very involved with the building of all of our cars. As each derby approached, Brandon met with the potential competitors and mapped out the design for the car. Then together they would go to Steve's (Grandpa's) house and Brandon would do most of the cutting out and sanding of the car. Then the paint job would be discussed. Again Brandon would do the work, but it was always a collaborative effort. Finally, Brandon would place the weights, balance and graphite the tires, and we were ready to race. The cars always looked awesome, and many have won "best design" and "best in show" awards. Unfortunately, they've never done very well in the racing. So, this year Brandon decided that he wanted to have Dallin much more involved with the building of the car. He had Dallin do all of the work. Dallin chose the shape of the car and then Brandon drew guidelines on the pinewood block. Dallin did all of the cutting and sanding. Then we purchased colored permanent markers and Dallin drew a design on the car and colored it in with the markers. I glued two weights onto the bottom of the car, and Brandon applied graphite to the tires, but overall, this was Dallin's baby.
"Dallin Hunter, lane 3..." The moment had arrived. We would see how Dallin's baby would do. I was nervous, I always am when my kids' feelings are on the line. How would he feel if it lost? I found myself holding my breath. "Go!" Dallin's car took an early lead and continued gaining speed. "First place, lane 3!" What?! That was so exciting, and relieving, because even if it didn't do well for the rest of the race, he at least won one heat. Luckily he started out against some of the slower cars.
"Dallin Hunter, lane 1...go!" NO WAY! "First place, lane 1." Seriously, this is cool! Finally Dallin's final heat in round one. "Dallin Hunter, lane 2...go!" HOLY COW! "First place, lane 2!" Dallin won every heat in every round and came out with first place over all! We couldn't believe it. After all of our 5-10th place finishes in derbies past, the secret to success was to not let Brandon touch the car any more than necessary. (Just kidding, Brandon!)

My next story involves our four-year-old, Kyleen. I don't know what it is about Kyleen, but she's such a character that most of our "crazy" moments involve her in one way or another. So...two weeks ago we were sitting in church and Kyleen was feeling a little wiggly. We switched to the one-o'clock hour in January and our kids are still trying to get used the change. Throw in day-light savings, and look out--sacrament meeting is a real struggle some days. The kids were doing pretty well, just a little wiggly and we had to keep reminding them to whisper, but over all, not bad. Then they started to administer the sacrament. We kept shushing the kids and our pew got really (relatively speaking) quiet. Too quiet, apparently, for Kyleen. "Pussycat, pussycat, I love you. Yes, I-i do-oo." Yep, she broke out into a rousing rendition of Tom Jones' "Pussycat". Luckily it wasn't too loud (relatively speaking), but loud enough to give the pew behind us a good chuckle. Leave it to Kyleen!