Pinewood Derby 2013

 I love to see Logan's holey grin!  He sure had a blast with the Cub Scouts pinewood derby this year.  We spent hours over the past month working together to come up with a plan, cut the shape, paint, glue etc.

 The first step after we came up with a design idea was to cut out the shape.  We sure wish we were in Utah at Grandpa's wood shop so that we could have the right tools for the job.... Luckily, there is a craft shop on post and a kind Korean craftsman that cut it for us on his band saw.

 Next task: sanding.  Logan spent many days after school sanding away the lines left from the band saw and smoothing the rough edges and rounding the corners.

 Next, we painted it.  First we put a couple of coats of white then taped our design and put a couple of coats of red.  We used mom's hair dryer to speed up the process.  We also started coming up with our plan to make weight (5.0 oz).  We looked everywhere to find a scale but couldn't find anything.  Thanks to our friends from church that loaned us theirs.

 Next step:  remove the tape, glue on Mario and add stickers.  We came up with the Mario kart idea when we were walking through the toy store and saw a K'nex set with a little Mario.  When I was a boy building my derby car, we used a Lego guy, and Logan loves Mario kart, so the idea was born.

 To make weight we drilled holes throughout the car and filled them with finishing nails and glue.  We also filled Mario with cut up finishing nails and heavy glue.  Finally we sat Mario on 700 Won which put us just under 5.0 oz.

 The final product.... not to bad.

 We got to the school cafeteria early to register.  Unfortunately we hit a speed bump when our car didn't fit in the box used to qualify the car designs... it was too tall.  I scrambled to fix the problem.  One of the other dads had a Dremel and I went to work cutting out space to sink Mario and his weights deeper into the car to give it a lower profile.  About 30 minutes from the deadline, one of the other dad's asked me what I was doing and when I told him about the height requirement, he pointed out that there was no height requirement.  By then, the damage had already been done and we made do.  It turns out there was a bit of a misunderstanding.  The only height requirements are specific to the track.  The box was for use on a different track...

 You can see that I scuffed up the paint job a bit while trying to make modifications.

 Here is Logan with all of the cars.  I was really impressed with the work that went into all of these cars.  One of the boys used a molding clay that hardens into a foam like consistency to make his car look like a necktie.

 Logan also participated in the coloring contest.

 Sadie made a hat out of the cones.

 What a handsome kid.

 Like father like son, my car was never the fastest.  Hopefully next year we can apply some of the lessons learned and come up with a faster car.

Logan had a blast.  A big thanks to all of the leaders that put this together for the boys.  It made Logan's day to race his car with his friends and to leave with a trophy.

Happy #2 Birthday Sadie bug

 March 9th 2011 was a crazy, amazing day.  Amber's mom was in town to help but Sadie was taking longer than the other 2 kids had to get here.  For a full account of Sadie's birth story, click here.

 Following an exciting hospital experience, Sadie Brighton Cottrell joined our family, happy, healthy, hungry and with a full head of blonde hair.

 Holding your newborn child never gets old.  With Grandma watching the kids, we enjoyed a day in the hospital just the three of us.  We watched her sleep and marveled at the miracle of life, and listened to John Denver.

 Sadie looked/looks a lot like Addy did as a baby with a few exceptions.  Instead of long dark hair, Sadie has bleach blonde hair.  It is almost see through.  Sadie also has blue eyes and fair skin.  Sometimes when she smiles I see my sisters in her expressions (Jocelyn and Alyson).

 A few short months after her birth, we traveled to America and spent a month visiting with our families.  In New Mexico, we blessed her along side her cousin Maddux.  We were so happy to not only have all of our Asay family, but also some of our Cottrell side made the long drive down to join in.

 What a happy baby!  She has a personality like her big sister's (when she is happy, it rubs off on you).

 In Korea, she is a rockstar.  We haven't had to pay to have her picture taken yet... it is usually the other way around.

 She loves music.  Whether we are blasting Pink Floyd, The Little Mermaid, or even if Logan is whistling a tune, she drops whatever is in her hands and starts dancing to the beat.  Her favorite movie is Ichabod Crane which she calls "Bicabod."  She loves to play dolls with Addy and Legos with Logan.  She knows quite a few words and can piece pretty good sentences together.  When she doesn't get her way, she tries to reason with you.  She loves her blanket, and piggy-back rides from Logan.  She is a great eater (eats almost as much as Logan and Addy combined).  She is almost potty trained (good job mommy).

 Sadie, just like Addy, has slowly warmed up to the idea of being a daddy's girl.  She loves to be held and loves to get kisses, as long you kiss here where she points to on her cheek.  She also likes eskimo kisses which she calls "beep beeps."  Finally, before bed she likes to bonk heads (cheek kiss, beeb beep, bonk = our secret handshake of affection).

Sadie, we love you more than you will ever know.  I can't imagine our lives without you.  Just thinking of your cute little expressions makes me smile.  We are so happy that you are two and can hardly wait to see the new ways you will continue to enrich our lives.  Just don't grow up too fast...