Luke's Pinewood Derby

 

The Pinewood Derby strikes fear into the hearts of parents everywhere.  Luke was thrilled when he found out about it and immediately laid plans for how his car would look and the tales of it's glory. It's times like these that I'm glad I'm mom and can hand these things off to Tim.  Thankfully we have Grandpa Hill who was willing to help them out.  Even though we call him Grandpa Hill he is not in fact Luke's or Tim's or my Grandpa.  We got in the habit of calling him Grandpa Hill so as not to confuse him with his son Brother Hill who also lives in our ward.  Lucky for us his heart is big enough to be Grandpa to non-relatives and bonus he knows all about making pinewood derby cars.

(We need a better picture of Grandpa Hill)

Tim and Luke headed to Grandpa Hill's workshop and came back with equal looks of relief and excitement.  Relief was Tim's.  The car was cut, Grandpa Hill had soldered in some weights over the back wheels and this baby was ready for it's paint job.  Luke named the car "Red Hornet" and he painted it a fantastic shade of red and gave it a black racing stripe.  Tim looked up some tips and tricks on the internet and bent the wheel axles.  I told him I thought that was a mistake, and I even said he ruined the car but Tim got the last laugh.

The night of the race the boys were sizing up each other's cars.  No one thought that Luke's unassuming wedge with wheels was competition.  Luke's car was in the first race and it was clear from the beginning he had a winner.  His car creamed the other cars.  They had some double elimination thing going and Luke just kept winning.  They had the top 4 racers race in one last race and I'm not going to lie it was a close one but Luke came out on top!

Luke was thrilled.  Gage had done some mathematical equation in his brain and had whispered his prediction in my ear of Luke's win before the final race.  Claire came up to me and said, "I'm so excited I'm shaking!" and I was desperately trying to hide my tears.  You read that right.  I cried.  It has been so long since something has gone our way that I was just so thankful that Tim and Luke had this victory together.

The man who ran the race is the Guinness World Book Record Holder for the fastest Pinewood Derby Car.  He runs these little races on the side. (coolest job ever!) Anyway, after the race he and I were talking and he was looking at Luke's car and said, "It's the right shape, the weight is in the right place and the wheels have been bent perfectly."  I guess Tim gets to tell me, "I told you so!"  

My 12 Year Old Shaves

Gage turned 12 in July and he has been working on quite the mustache for over a year.  He loved it and has dreams of growing a very long beard one day.  Once he started passing the sacrament one of the older boys noticed his stache and advised that he should shave it if he wanted to pass the sacrament.  I laughed so hard that a boy of 13 had such authority and that Gage was defiant.  He was keeping that hard earned hair!

I was fine with what was growing on his upper lip until one day I was coming up the stairs and Gage was standing at the top of the stairs and when I looked up I saw that it was turning dark!  What the Heck!  I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me but upon closer inspections I realized not only was it turning dark but it was growing so long it was curling over his upper lip!  I convinced him it needed to be shaved and my 12 year old shaved his upper lip that night.  What in the world?

The awesome hair growing abilities comes from Tim's side of the family.  Like father like son.  Gage was horrified when Tim told him to expect hair everywhere.

Gage also went to his first Priesthood Session of Conference this year.  Where is the time going?