Kids Race Down Main Street in Snowshoes

The 91st annual American Dog Derby race was held this weekend. We got to see just the Snowshoe races, but it is an activity well worth seeing. In the real musher team race, the big news was that one team was trampled by a moose, but are all okay. Two other teams stopped to scare off the moose. While this was happening, kids were racing downtown on Snowshoes. Lots of snow and good weather. For race details go to www.americandogderby.org.

Fun In The Sun Cake Contest

This year's Cake Contest theme for the annual Cub Scout Blue and Gold Banquet was "Fun in the Sun". On the upper left, is the sand Dad concocted for the "Building a Sandcastle" cake. We used the mold from the Hogwart's Castle bundt cake and recipe posted earlier. The sand is made of: plain sugar, brown sugar, raw cane sugar, graham crackers and oreos blended together. The sand looked so real that one parent couldn't bring herself to actually eat it because it seemed too real and others didn't dare eat it because it felt real to the touch. The other themed cake we made was "The Cub Scout Team". We used the Krazy Cake recipe posted earlier and used buttercream frosting. We used M&Ms for the "C". We found the idea on www.familyfun.com and altered it slightly. The baseball has some of the sand on it to make it look played with.

Whew! That's over and tomorrow is Valentine's Day. Good thing the kids already made their Valentine's for FHE activity.

Color, Culture, Energy Abound in Youthful Celebration
Some 2,000 youths blend serious reflection with entertainment on the eve of the Rexburg Temple dedication.
Photos and text by Laurie Williams Sowby

We Celebrate, then Dedicate a new Temple

Saturday we celebrated, then Sunday we dedicated the new Temple.












It looks like Angel Moroni is blowing a hole into the clouds on what started as a foggy day for the dedication.












Going to inspect the cornerstone.
















Here are some links below to articles about the cultural celebration and dedication of the new Rexburg temple. If you paste the link into a browser you can open the articles too. I viewed them with great interest.

http://www.ldsmag.com/churchupdate/080212rexburg2.html
We know the two boys in the red sweaters and woman holding the sign. We also know 1 of the 4 men in the fur coats and 2 of the girls dressed in white, standing in line.

http://www.postregister.com/

http://www.rexburgstandardjournal.com/

http://www.sltrib.com/News/ci_8219679

http://www.ldschurchtemples.com/rexburg/

http://www.kpvi.com/global/story.asp?s=7850815

Celebrate then Dedicate a Temple

2000 Youth Performed in a Cultural Event Celebrating the Completion of a Temple by singing, dancing, playing instruments, etc. In the finale children dressed in white as if coming to the temple came carrying sheaves of wheat, representing the safely gathered in harvest. A temple shifts the power between good and evil. We feel its shift and are grateful for it.









It looks like Angel Moroni is blowing a hole in the fog clouds on Dedication day.

Let it Snow, Oh No, So Much Snow

If you can imagine, this is how much it's snowed here this year. We need to shovel off our deck, as we've accumulated so much snow, but before we do, here's a quick photo. The deck railing has had this much snow on it several times and has blown off and then it snowed again. On the deck is the total accumulation since the season began. Maybe it's time to cease singing "Let It Snow . . ."

The cat came back, thought he was a gonner, but the cat came back . . .

Much rejoicing was made in our home today!  

As soon as I'd dropped the kids off to school this morning and stepped back into the house, the phone was ringing.  When I answered it, our son was exclaiming,  "Mom, we found Joe Joe at the door of the school!  Come get him", so I turned around and went back to the school to rescue him.   Joe Joe had been missing for 2 weeks, which was especially worrisome since his Mother, our beloved Kitka was run over a few days before Christmas and we were already sad.  He'd lost his collar, so no one could call us.  The Principal said he'd been hanging around near the stop sign where the kids cross over for a few days now.  

We've also been sad, since our pet hamster Bubba, which Santa brought our youngest, died within a few days.   Then our oldest's only remaining rabbit -- white colored Floppy, got out of his cage and hasn't been seen or found in all this white snow.  We keep putting veggies under the play house, in hopes he's burrowed in there somewhere where the dogs cannot find him. We'll see what spring brings.

Well, Joe Joe is reunited with his sister Shelly Belly and they still like each other -- for the most part.  You can tell he's been roughed up and is quite skiddish, and was suspicious of her at first, but is readjusting.  Here they are together again this afternoon.  

Oh, and the new pet hamster, Rosa has done well, except for when Shelly Belly knocked her cage over to get to her.   Rosa quickly ran up her tunnel tube and the kids all went running when they heard the loud crash.  If we keep the door closed tightly, she's fine.  When they were kittens, they used to stay in this bathroom, now it's the hamster's bathroom and is off  limits to them.  Yikes!  living with animals is work and can be stressful -- that's why I told Santa, the Easter Bunny and my husband to all stop bringing animals as gifts, but my husband assures me all of these lessons are helpful for our children.  As for me growing up,  all of our animals were outdoors as opposed to sharing my bathroom!  Well, I do have a cute picture of "Blackie" my Tom cat sitting in my sink, now that I think of it:)