Boy to Man

My cute little guy is quickly growing into a handsome young man!

He recently hit some exciting milestones that go along with growing up -

Going to the Temple:

Becoming a Deacon:

Getting braces:

And advancing to be an official Boy Scout!

We love you Sam...stop growing so quick!

Tifie Scout Camp

The Boy Scouts in our ward invited the 11 year old Scouts to join them for a couple of days, so Sambo and BS went up and for some camping fun.  Camp Tifie is a posh camp and they had a blast!

Bought a new pocket knife at the Trading Post

This is how 11 year olds pack the car 

Mean Yellow Machine

Another Pinewood Derby come and gone.  Last year Will's car took 1st place - so, it's hard to come back and not win.  This time he wasn't so lucky, but he still made a great car he named

"Mean Yellow Machine"

This video says it all:

Daisy Scouts

This is our little Daisy Scout.  

Daisy Scouts is for the 5-6 years olds of the Girl Scout program.

I didn't think twice when two really amazing Moms from Suncrest invited Quincy to join their pack last Fall!  She loves going to her Scout activities twice/month with her buddies.  They meet at the Clubhouse and have a ball. They have learned lots and made fun projects and have been on several field trips.  This is right up her alley because she would much rather be doing this stuff than playing with baby dolls, barbies, and princesses.  They wear these cute tunics and earn daisy pedals for their achievement patches.  So cute!  I haven't been good at taking pictures but I hope to get some good ones when I teach their Scout activity next month.  Here are a few things she has done:

Learn about plants and flowers.  She planted this "Forget Me Not" flower.  Also pictured: Her friend Hope

Her Pack on the first day

Field Trip to Draper City's "Haunted Hollow."  She is the 3rd from the left.  Lots of witches :)

Field trip to the Fire Station

Christmas Party where they made Hot Cocoa baskets to take to the needy

 

We look forward to many more Daisy Scout days!

Arrow of Light

Sambo earned his Arrow of Light and Webelos Badges last month at Pack meeting!

Now he moves up to the big BOY SCOUTS.  He is stoked for the campouts and to be with his other friends who have already moved up.

We are grateful for his awesome Scout leaders!

Good job bud!

Pinning on my Webelos pin (because he couldn't have earned his badges with out his Mother  to remind him :) 

Sambo's #1 fan. 

Cub Camp!

Sambo and Wilbur were lucky to spend 2 whole days at Cub Camp with their buddies!  

The Scout camp was held the same time as YW Girl's Camp so for a couple of days we had only Quinny at home and all to ourselves.  It was really strange.

  The boys had a great time!  I love that they can go together as brothers and take care of each other.  Sam is a Webelo and Will is a Wolf.  They are so stinkin cute!

Beginner's Luck

Last night was the big Pinewood Derby for Cub Scouts. Will just turned 8 so now we have two little Scouters, which is great...but it also means two derby cars and double the achievements to pass-off.  The boys got a good head start on their cars with Dad's help and they made their own paint designs.
You never know how well their car is going to do and it's always a little nerve racking because you don't want your son to feel let down.
Turns out - Will had the fastest pinewood derby car this year!  He won 1st place!
He was so stoked and it was so great to see him so happy!
BS was super surprised at his own car building skills :)

Before the Derby started Will was initiated into the Wolf Pack with the traditional pinning (upside-down) and face painting:

At one point in the derby both Will and Sambo were racing against each other and I was a bit torn and worried about one of them losing to the other.  Sambo's car did well but nearly as fast as his little brother's.  I could tell he was a little disappointed and jealous but he took it like a man.

 Our little Wolf and our little Webelo:

 

 What a fun night!!!

...Until Will accidentally dropped his trophy and car in the church parking lot and they broke.  He was trying to carry too much stuff including a bag of popcorn and a cupcake.   He had a total meltdown!  So sad!  Good thing for hot glue...we got them patched up and good as new.  He has them proudly showcased on his dresser in his room.  Good job great man!

Derby 2011

We had the pleasure of going to the Pinewood Derby last month.  This year Sambo drew-up the design he wanted for his car and Grandpa G helped with the cutting/shaping.  Sambo sanded it himself and picked out the colors.  All of this weeks before the actual derby.  I was very proud of us for being so on top of things.
But. The night before the derby I found myself in the garage at midnight spray painting his car silver while getting instructions from BS on the phone {he was out of town somewhere}.  It was down to the last minute before the derby that the darn car still wasn't dry.  Apparently shiny metallic paint doesn't dry quick.  Good thing BS got home just in time to help Sambo with some adjustments and adding weights {ie: batteries and coins}.  He called it the "Jim special" after his Dad. The axels were shaky and BS was nervous about Sambo being let down with a poor performance.
But...it took 2nd every round and 1st one time!  It wasn't enough to get to the final top 3 but he didn't care...in his mind it was a winner! :)

He got the "most creative" award.  Notice Will has learned about the bunny ears and of course thinks it is the funniest thing ever!

This busy boy went straight from his game to the derby

Whatever works!

Bobcat & Pinewood Derby

Other than being baptized, Sambo thinks the next best thing about turning 8 is being a Cub Scout. Here he is getting his Bobcat award:



He loves going with his buddies to scouts every Wednesday and doing all kinds of stuff. His pack leader does a really good job.


Tuesday it was the famous Pinewood derby. It's funny to see how much the dads get into this action. BS did good letting Sambo design the shape, colors, and design of the car. They worked on it together and this is how it turned out:



The flames are stickers - we're not that artsy at our house :)

At the derby, it's fun and intense watching the boys' anticipation of how fast their car will go. Sam's car won the first round, but got beat in the second. It wasn't the fastest car. When he lost, Sambo was trying not to be sad or upset (but he was). He blinked fast a few times and managed to smile.



In the end, he won a trophy for "Best paint job." He wasn't very thrilled with that but he was glad that he got a cool trophy. That kid is so competitive.


Here, Quincy is giving Sambo's 1st race a "Thumb's up." She cannot figure out how to put only her thumbs up so this is how she always does it. If you give her thumb's up, she puts up her pointy finger. I love her in the other picture. So cute.