Pinewood Derby

Saturday was our first Pinewood Derby and what we have learned is - our cool looking car is not fast!! This is Jake's "i-Car" - hanging out by Patrick's old Pinewood Derby car that he dug out of a box. The kids got a kick out of seeing his old car. We got the idea for the i-Car from designmom.com, which is a cool blog by a girl I knew at BYU. Of course, Patrick the designer extraordinaire executed it to perfection. They had a really fun time working on it. However, we discovered we had a lot to learn in the art of speed.Before we could begin, Jake had to officially be welcomed into the Wolf Den. The tradition is to flip the Scout over and put their neckerchief slide on upside down. When they do a good deed, they get to turn it right side up.
Patrick and Jake outside the church at the "pit stop", putting a little graphite on the wheels.
Some of the cars in the race. Number 4 was the winner.
The boys sat here until their car number was called for their next race. Then they took their car and placed it on a lane on the track. Each car raced 6 times and an average was taken of all the races.The Wolf Den anxiously awaiting their cars at the finish line.

Jake is such a good sport and didn't seem too bummed about his car being so slow. I wasn't too worried about it because I thought for sure he would win the award for "coolest car." Unfortunately, he didn't win that either. I don't know why - there definitely was a lot of buzz about the car that looked like an i-Pod. But afterwards, Patrick told me he didn't even vote! What?! Maybe next year our family will have to try harder to stack the odds in our favor.

Easter Sunday

Hope you all had a Happy Easter! We enjoyed our day and appreciated the opportunity to reflect on the resurrection of our Savior. Here are the boys in their cute Easter outfits - thanks Grandma and Grandpa Motley! This is the best picture we could capture. Carter was grumpy and did not want his shoes on.

This is our egg hunt before church. It was really windy - which hopefully explains the weird faces. Jake and Dylan were nice enough to leave the easy eggs for Carter. I got a kick out of watching Carter really get the concept this year. He got so excited over each egg he found.
Once he picked up a golf ball and realized - oops! That's not an egg! He quickly put it down to go try and find some more.

Carter with bed head having fun finding eggs.Enjoying the candy - of course before breakfast!
A close up of the goods.

Church was really good - a nice Easter program and my lesson went fairly well. I always enjoy singing the Easter hymns that we only get to sing once a year. We finished the day with dinner at the Mumfords. Always a good time - we are so lucky to have such great friends. We are missing all our family and hope your holiday was wonderful!

Fun Stuff with Grandma and Grandpa Motley

Thought I'd post a little more of the fun we had when Grandpa and Grandma came for Jake's baptism. We were able to pack in quite a bit of fun in just a few days, but that's always possible when you're a Motley! The video is of some trampoline awesomeness. This one is of Patrick "jumping" the boys, which is the first request he gets when he walks in the door from work. Sorry in advance for Carter crying through the entire video. He's the only Watson who doesn't love to be "jumped." It was fun to have Grandpa capture it. These next pictures are from our day trip to Prescott and to Watson Lake.

Beautiful Arizona blue skies and Watson Lake

Climbing the granite dells
Wha cha! I'm climbin'!

Wait - my hood came off! The day was definitely chillier than the pictures show. Loungin' Jake

Of course, a trip to Phoenix is not complete without a trip to the zoo. Here are the 3 little monkeys. We went here the day Mom and Dad flew home. Great day, beautiful weather - and the first time we did the zoo sans stroller for Carter! What a milestone! Lunch at Chipotle made the day perfect. Did you know that Carter would rather share my burrito bowl than eat his own quesadilla? I'm not sure how I feel about this.

And thrown in between were: trips to the park; trips to the fishing pond; family walks; playing outside with the basketball hoop; golfing; watching family videos (which, I might add, is way traumatizing!); eating yummy dinners; celebrating Patrick's birthday; bedtime stories from Grandpa (and other general silliness) and lots of hanging out. Whew!

Speaking of golfing, here's a little bit of the talent caught on tape.

Of course, no visit from the Motley's could be complete without Grandpa's famous treats. The coolest thing about hanging out with grandparents is seeing things from your childhood that you love being passed on to your own children. And they spoil us pretty good too. Thanks Mom and Dad! We love you!

Baptism Day

What a special day! We were so happy to have family and friends there to celebrate with us. We were thinking a lot about those of you who couldn't come and appreciated all of the fond wishes you sent Jake's way. The baptism program was so nice. Grandma Motley gave a talk on baptism and reminded the boys to "keep their pennies shiny." Grandpa Motley gave a talk on the gift of the Holy Ghost and talked about his blue bike and the importance of truly receiving a gift. While the boys and their fathers changed out of their clothes, our family and friends took a moment to write their testimony or some words of encouragement for the boys to keep to remember this day. Surprisingly, I did a good job keeping the tears in check! I only cried as I watched Patrick lower Jake under the water and after the program was over - when I had a chance to give Jake a big squeeze from his mom! It was a great day and sort of strange too. I felt like it kind of marked the beginning of my kids getting old. But most of all, I'm so proud that Jake was willing to follow in our Savior's footsteps and take this most important first step toward returning to Him. I feel grateful to be his mom.
Jake, Sean, and Roy before their baptism
Patrick and Jake
Jake with Grandpa and Grandma Motley
Jake and Aunt Erica Jake with Uncle Chris and Aunt Lindsay
The happy and proud Watson family!
Carter, Patrick, Dylan, Jake, and Nikki

Jake is 8!

That's right. The sweet little boy who was first to make me a mommy has turned 8! It seems like such a milestone - I can't believe I'm the mom of someone that old! We had a great week celebrating. Here is a picture of Jake and his friends at his Friday night birthday party. They had pizza, jumped on the tramp and watched "The Neverending Story." It was an awesome time.L to R: Connor; Brandon; Jake; Ethan and Jake McGee

This is Jake with his new Tony Hawk bike on his birthday morning. He was glad because he was feeling left out when Dylan got a new one for his birthday. We had a fun bike ride/walk Sunday evening where he got to test his skills. His birthday was busy with Little League and golf but we got to go out to mexican food for dinner. We are looking forward to this weekend when our family will be here to help him celebrate his baptism. I'm so proud of Jake - he's such a good kid. I feel lucky to be his mom and can't wait to see where life takes him.On the Thursday before his party, the 2nd grade at Anthem School put on a Bugz Musical. This is the Apollo Way crew after the show.
From top L to R: Chase; Jake; Connor; Meredith; Madeline; Dylan; Carter; Mallory

They made their own costumes and sang 4 or 5 songs. There were speaking parts and solos. This is Jake right before his speaking part. He was so aweome! Very clear, slow and loud - he was one of the few kids you could understand. He said his music teacher even let him coach some of the kids on their parts during class the day of the show. The picture's not great but it was hard to get close. This is the boys on the risers after the show looking super cute. Don't let this picture fool you - they stayed still for about 2 seconds, otherwise they were seeing who could jump the most steps at once.

Spring Training

Honestly, is there anything cuter on little boys than a Little League uniform? I love them. This year even have these cute little buttons at the top. I know, Mom's are weird. This is Jake and Dylan out front before the opening day activities.
No, Dylan never pulls his hat up farther. He thinks it's cool like this. Let's just hope he can see to hit the ball. On opening day, all the teams in all the divisions take pictures and then have a parade. This is at the Boulder Creek High School football field and the kids are walking around the track while the families sit in the stand.
This is Dylan's team. They were first in the parade. So cute! Can you even see him though? He's behind the boy holding the banner.
The T-ball kids were first and then there was Farm. Unfortunately, Jake's team didn't get to walk very far around the track. So they were pretty far down the line from Dylan's team. But I got up out of my seat to go snap this. Can you see Jake? He's again behind the kid holding the banner on the left. Games start this Saturday on Jake's birthday so we'll begin our crazy spring schedule with 2 boys in Little League. I think I've resigned to it now. I have 3 boys - what did I expect? To be at the ballet studio? Nope. It's official. We're the sports family.

Tar ter

Because that's what he calls himself. Sorry Grandma, we're working on the "ka" sound but for now it's pretty cute. Look at that hair! I love it. I hope it lasts. So far, Carter's hair has been blondest longest so I'm crossing my fingers. This little guy is a monkey! (But I guess all two year old's are...) In my family we joke that Heavenly Father makes two year old's so cute so that you won't throw them out the window in frustration when they won't get in their car seat. Or sit on the potty. No, chocolate doesn't work for this Watson. What's wrong with him?! But he is the most cuddly one of all my boys. Here is me and Carter enjoying a big squeeze. I've always lamented that none of my boys wants to hold my hand. Carter won't do that either - too busy running - but he loves to give me hugs and kisses which I enjoy immensely. It almost makes me not care that he won't sit on the potty.

I love this little boy and hope he will let me "hold ju" forever. Or at least until high school. That could get embarrassing.