Misc Pics

Here are a bunch of random pictures that I haven't posted yet.

I took Wes on a "date" to see a live production of "If You Take a Mouse to School" at the children's theater at the library. We took the train home after the show.

Wes and Brian trying on wigs at Target. I love the dollar spot at Target!

One day I tried to flat iron Sydney's hair. It mostly ended up looking frowy.

Wes found this necklace of Brian's and wanted to wear it. He happened to be wearing his Hawaii shirt that day too. I thought he looked pretty cute!

This was during our trip to Charleston. They had kiddie shopping carts that the kids really enjoyed pushing around.

Sydney got some dolls from her Swensen grandparents for her birthday. She and Wes played with them for hours. Wes' doll kept going "surf-boarding" (aka: snowboarding). Wes thinks Keri is his doll and Grace is Sydney's. I'm not sure how Brian feels about Wes playing with dolls...

Sorry this is a potty picture, but Wes was making Sydney laugh a ton and I had to take a picture of her smiling!

Driving Race Cars

My birthday present from Natalie this year was a pass to the Buck Baker Racing School in Darlington, South Carolina. Needless to say, I was excited.

We were able to spend the night near Darlington thanks to a very nice couple in the ward who watched Wes and Sydney for the day. The night before, we took the opportunity (without kids) to grab some dinner and a movie. We've been passing the Waffle House on freeways for years, so (without enough time for a sit-down restaurant, and without the desire for fast food) we tried it. It was fine, but we probably won't be going back.

When we arrived, this is the sight that greeted us. We were shocked - shocked! - to find that all the other participants of the racing school were white males, ages 30-55, most of whom smoked. Hey, we almost fit in. When the conversations turned to Dale Earnheardt Jr. versus Jeff Gordon - we couldn't really contribute.




First, I rode 5 laps with an instructor. When I got in the car, he asked how fast I wanted to go. I told him his goal was to try and scare me out of the car. He tried. I've never felt g-forces like that going around the corners, even when getting my pilot's license. When we were done, I asked him how fast we were going. He said "a little over 150." Awesome.



A little later in the day, this is the car they gave me to drive. I thought the fact that it was a Pontiac was appropriate, since I had a job offer at one point from GM. I've heard that GM is discontinuing the Pontiac line, so I hoped that this wasn't the reject car.



My instruction consisted of about 3 minutes of direction inside the car. Some memorable lines were, "If I grab the wheel, don't fight me." "Don't hit the wall." "Don't pull on the steering wheel because it might pop out." I hoped we was joking about the last one, but wasn't 100% sure.



Before getting in, I asked one of the guys who works there how people usually do their first time and if they come back. He said, "Most people drive at 3500 rpm their first time, love it and come back. The next time they drive 4000 rpm and think that with one more lesson they'll be Dale Jr. It's usually the third time they come that they hit 5000 rpm which is how fast the rookies drive under a yellow flag."

So, then I had a goal: hit 5,000 rpm.




I hit 5000 rpm on the straightaway of lap 6. I was stoked. Then I whipped around the turn going much faster than I meant to go. Scared the heck out of me. The instructor started yelling at me to slow down. I dutifully obeyed, but the rest of the turns just weren't quite as fun after that.

Below is a 50 second video of my fastest lap. They gave me a pair of sunglasses with a video camera in the bridge over my nose - pretty cool technology. I happily paid for the memory, and look forward to doing it again sometime! Thanks, Natalie!