Raingutter Regatta

So. . .this was a first for us. Our cub scouts had a raingutter regatta instead of a pinewood durby this year. So. . .Jeff created a boat for Josh instead of a car. It was sorta tricky, but he did a great job - don't you think?

Josh wanted to make sure and have his boat be #1. So that's just what we did.

Then it was off to the race. . .sitting with anticipation. . .

It was tricky for Josh to get the hang of it - the first time he raced he came in second. He said blowing all that way was making him super dizzy. He was a little bit disappointed that he came in second, but all he needed to hear is that he got another chance.

He kept his hopes up and had a positive attitude.

And at the end of the event. . . . . .

Josh took first place!!!! It was so exciting!! Good job captain Josh -

and a big thanks to his engineer (dad) :)

Then he had to race against the scout master's boat . . . I missed a picture of it but it was not regulation and the scout master won :)

Then he had to race against the Primary First Councilor's boat - isn't it pretty - Josh won this race - hands down :)

He can't wait to claim his prize in August. What a fun event.

Temple Celebration

For the past three months Zac has had the wonderful opportunity to participate and practice for the temple celebration. He had two options: Choir or Dance. He chose to dance. As the practices started, he found out they needed a few boys to be part of the couple dances and he said yes. He practiced every Wednesday night and several Saturdays. He was out until after 9pm each Wednesday night. Then he had three practices at the Conference Center downtown. They were long practices from 5 - 10pm, 3 - 11p and then the final performance from 3 - 10p. He said he had fun at each practice. He did the Charleston. It was fun to watch him do his dance.

It ended up that I was asked to take him to the stake center before he went downtown and I was so glad. Usually there was a team captain that came to pick him up and take him to the last few practices downtown. Because I got to take him this time, I was able to see him in his "costume" and take a few pictures. There was a lot of excitement there and it was fun.

On Saturday (the performance day) I got two tickets, so Paula and I went. It was exciting to go to the conference center to see him perform. We got there with plenty of time and were able to see their coaches talk to them and give them pep talks and also share their testimonies. What a neat experience it was. It started with a neat video of the practices for all of these youth. There were over 7,000 youth who participated in this event.

We were able to hear from our Prophet. I felt his strong spirit as he spoke to these wonderful youth and thanked them for their hard work. He has such a powerful spirit about him, this spirit touched my heart. There was also such a strong spirit during the whole event, what a powerful experience this was.

I hope Zachary will never forget his experience here, I know I won't. I feel newly inspired that we need to get to the temple again. There is a lot of work to be done.