~Pinewood Derby~

Hunter lucked out that his very first pack meeting was the pinewood derby. He looked so cute all dressed up in his scout uniform, and it was fun to see his troop do the flag ceremony.For the last few weeks, Hunter has been working so hard to get his Bobcat. He was so excited to see that he would be getting it at pack meeting. I had no idea that they gave the moms a pin as well. Our (notice I say our) hard work paid off :)
This last month has been CRAZY for Dave at work, with hackers from Russia trying to take down their company sites. Well, it got really bad this past week. Dave really wasn't home at all. He pulled many overnighters and even ended up having to go to the ER from a lack of sleep and eating (his body started to shut down). So I asked my Dad to help Hunter with his pinewood derby car. The first car Hunter made was really cool. Hunter painted flames down the sides and on the top. He was really proud of it. But I messed it up trying to put the wheels on. 3 of the wheels went on great, but the 4th went on crooked. I tried to fix it but just couldn't get it right, so I enlisted my Dad's help again to repair my mistake. He made it better, but the wheel still wobbled. The night before the derby, my Dad called and said that he just wasn't happy with the way the car turned out. So that afternoon, he had gone and bought Hunter a new car. He had already cut it out, so all Hunter had to do was to paint it. At first Hunter really didn't want to paint another car (he was happy with the first) but Grandpa got him to do it. and I know Hunter ended up being happy he did. My dad had even bought him some cool stickers to put on it.

The car on the right is the first car Hunter made (or as my Dad calls it "the practice car")
The car on the left, ended up winning 2nd place at the derby :) Hunter was so excited. Each car raced 8 times. The first 6 races Hunter was in, his car won 1st place. It wasn't until the very last 2 races of the night that Hunter came in 2nd. So out of 20 or so cars, Hunter came in 2nd. He was so excited to win the silver medal. 1st place went to Ethan Opheikens, 2nd place went to Hunter Ropelato, and 3rd place went to Andrew Chertudi.Hunters car is on the far left.

Hunter accepting his silver medal.

On top of getting 2nd place for the fastest car, Hunter's car also won the award for "The Best Shaped Car"

Hunter sporting his medal to bed :). Thanks Grandpa Wangsgard for helping Hunter build a winning car! You made his night.

~My baby is baptized~

Hunter was baptised on January 8, 2011. It feels like just yesterday Dave and I were up at Mckay Dee holding this sweet little boy for the first time. I am so proud of what a good young man Hunter is. He is kind to everyone, is such a great helper, and he is such a good example to his sisters. I couldn't be a prouder mother!

Hunter has been sooo excited for his baptism day. All week long he has let me know how many more days until his baptism, then on his baptism day he was constantly asking "how much longer?" and "how many more hours?" He was sooo excited. He had a very nice baptism, he had lots of family and friends there to support him.

Hunter had a pillowcase dislpayed for everyone to sign, so that he can remember who was all at his baptism. He LOVED reading the comments later that night.
Hunter with his Great Grandpa Ropelato
We started off in the Relief Society room, but quickly ran out of room, so we had to move to the chapel :) When I asked Hunter what he would remember about his baptism day, that was one of the things. He also said he would always remember that this day was FUN!!!

Afterwards we had luncheon which constisted of Hunter's favorite, Little Caesar's pizza. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family, and such great friends.


Mckell was a little teary eyed that evening when we got home, as Hunter was going through what people had given him and as we talked about his special day. She came to me and said, "Mom I can't wait until I am baptised". That made my heart smile, and reinforced to Hunter that he was being a good example to his sisters.
This is where the special day took place, our church building :)

~New Years Day~

We celebrated the first day of 2011 by going bowling with the Ropelato family. It was a lot of fun seeing the little kids bowl. I didn't do very well at all, but Dave had the best overall score out of everyone, and he won everyone in one of the games.

I don't know what Randee sees in Marc, LOL.

Lexi loved the pizza and breadsticks!

Jasmin, Mckell, and Katelyn

Lexi giving Sarah a hug. Sooo cute!!!

We had such a fun time bowling, I think we will have to make this a family tradition :)

~2010~

So when I think of 2010, I think of it as the year of trips. This year we went on many fun trips. From Dave and I celebrating 10 years of marriage in Hawaii, to a family vacation to Disneyland. It was expensive, but sooo worth it. I love spending time with my family, and these vacations have given me memories that I will always cherish. We also went on many camping trips this past year, which was a must because we bought our new camper. Dave claims that the camper is mine because we bought it so close to Mothers Day, but I think we all know whose camper it really is, lol.

Dave is super busy at work, which is a good thing I guess. The company is continueing to grow, which is great. He has gone to New York several times over this past year, and I'm sad to say that I didn't make it back with him not once. Hopefully this year that will change :) He is still on the Stake High Counsel, so yes I'm still a single mom at church. He enjoyed many hunts this year even though he was unsuccessful, hopefully next year that will change.

I am still LOVING being a stay at home mom. I enjoy going and helping in the kids classes, and love that their classmates know my name. I am still a Relief Society instructor. Which I like, that is until it is my turn to teach :) I was Hunter's baseball coach this past year with my friend Mindy Cope. It's kind of funny that I was a baseball coach because I hated playing baseball when I was younger. It probably was because I was never very good, but I had a lot of fun coaching Hunters team. We had such a cute team, but I don't think I'll do that again, lol. I'll leave it to the dad's who know a bit more about baseball.

Hunter has gone from 1st grade to 2nd grade, which is a lot of fun for me because I can pull out all my old teaching stuff and have him work on things I used to teach my 2nd graders :) (I don't know if he thinks that is so great though) He has been so busy with soccer, baseball, basketball, and has just started gymnastics with some good buddies, Davis and Cooper. He attented Utah States basketball camp this summer and got a special invite to a Jazz clinic a month ago. His favorite sport is basketball, so that was a lot of fun for him.

Mckell LOVES school!!! She went from Preschool to Kindergarten, and loves it. She is so funny, because she is constantly telling me that different little boys from her class say that she is their girlfriend. She will then tell them that no she is not their girlfriend, they are just friends because her dad told her she couldn't have a boyfriend unless he said so(hopefully she remembers this in years to come, lol) She also had been busy with dance, soccer, and kickball. She is learning to read, and loves making new friends. She is our little social butterfly. She also is a little mother. Sometimes I find Lexi calling Mckell mom, which I'm not sure I like :) Mckell is so good with Lexi, she gets her food when Lexi wants it, she will get her blankets, play with her, and even turn on movies for her. I love that my kids all get along so well.

Lexi is growing up so fast. She is becoming little miss independent. She loves watching her shows (that is what she calls movies), she loves jumping on her trampoline (she got it for her birthday), she loves playing in Mckell's kitchen and with Mckell's barbies, and she loves playing with Hunter and Mckells friends. She thinks she is just as big as them and can do just what they can do.

We have had a GREAT 2010. I hope 2011, is just as good.

~New Years Eve~

Every year we go to a New Years Eve party with our good friends, the Fullmers. We eat, play games, and head out to go sledding behind the 4 wheelers. We have a good time and our family looks forward to it every year. Kaden has been vowing that this year he was going to beat Mckell in the quarter game, and he did (She's won it the last couple of years). We also played our family favorite, the candybar game. It was a lot of fun. At about 11:00, we headed out to stand around a fire and to ride on sleds behind the 4 wheelers. The kids had a blast, even though it was FREEZING!!! It was good we had a fire.

Mckell's winnings from the candybar game.

Ashton and Mckell sledding behind the 4 wheelers.

Kaden and Hunter.

Getting warm around the fire. We rang in the new year with silly string, poppers, and horns. It was a fun night, and a great way to ring in the new year.