Garrett isn't yet 8 years old - he's one week shy. But what a lucky birthday he has - because where most boys will only have the chance to do 3 pinewood derby cars - Garrett can "almost" legally do four, with this one being just a little outside of legal.
This is our first year with two boys in the race. With a very busy work schedule and a baby due any day Angela and I were a bit concerned that we'd be able to find the time to help the boys with their cars, or that the baby might come early and effect the same. This new baby is obviously a pinewood derby fan because he held off coming so that his brothers could race to victory.
In Garrett's first year - with a nifty Cougar blue fancy engine race car, Garrett took third place in the Wolf Den of the combined race. Seen here are the four cousins that all competed: Spencer and Ritchie Heywood and Garrett and Bryson Ritchie (from left to right). Although it might appear that their awards were all the same ... don't fool yourself - Uncle Rob didn't spend nearly the time that Uncle Paul did (not to mention the $150 to buy the how to manuals, Dremel tool, axle hole drilling tools, super secret nifty weights, and super-de-duper fast tire stuff) so that his children could also be winners.
Bryson, Garrett and I found a website called Pinewood Pro that had a lot of cool stuff - not to mention some pre-cut wood blocks. Given our perceived time constraints I was a huge advocate of finding a great pre-cut block so that our efforts could be focused on sanding, weight placement, painting, decorating, tires, etc. - you know all of the "hard" stuff. Bryson refused to consider the option, believing it to be a form of cheating, with the cutting rebuke of "Dad, remember the scouts at the Klondike Derby who didn't build their cart and how they didn't learn anything? I don't want to be like those Scouts."
With that rebuke Bryson set to desigining his own car - he even won the award of "Greatest Dedication to BYU" by desigining and building his back-end weighted, extended and special lathed axle, low cut narrow BYU racer pictured below. This car was a speed demon and set a track speed record with each run - never taking anything but first - and eventually Bryson's BYU Racer won the overall Pack First Place Speed Award.
Given how pathetic his first two cars proved to be over the last two years, however well intended and dedicated to the task we tried to be, the juxtaposition of finishing his last car as the fastest and the best was sweet...Even Bryson enjoyed it. Why are these children so dang competitive?
If any of you want a copy of my Winning Secrets manual - I'll be happy to sell a copy for a nominal fee ... say $200 ... a little price to pay for the joy it will bring to the fathers ... oops, I mean the boys ... but only after I've finished all 15 pinewood derby cars over the next several years (5 boys * 3 cars each = 15 cars). The manual will be available 11 years from now - giving time for the unborn lad to win ... heck maybe I should increase the price anticipating inflation and all? But, if some of your kids are serious losers - and I don't perceive a threat of meeting you at nationals - then I might consider a small discount (say 5%) and an early release (so long as you sign a non-compete, non circumvention agreement).
Tanner has been begging me for days to make "Christmas cookies", he even had written a recipe for me to follow. With a few changes to his recipe, we were able to make some delicious gingerbread cookies and decorate them. In the process I also found my new favorite kitchen tool - Betty Crocker decorator icing and tips - all ready to use, so much easier! 
Here are some of our creations...
I wish I would have kept the camera out a little longer to get a picture of the last batch of gingerbread men. I should have guessed with all boys that "cute" gingerbread men are not in. The boys started purposely breaking off arms and legs, then making "blood" ooze from the break. The face were made to show the anguish the gingerbread man felt. These gingerbread men looked as if they had just survived World War 3. And you guess it, these are the gingerbread men that the boys wanted to share with a few of our neighbors. At least they tasted good!
We arrived at the Heber hospital shortly before 8:00 am. After all of the time getting checked in, checking vitals, changing, answering questions, signing docs, getting the room situated, etc. the nurse started the Pitosin (sp?) drip at approximately 9:45 am which resulted in having regular contractions by about noon, productive contractions by about 3:00 pm, the doctor present by 6:00 pm and the baby born at 6:05 pm.
For the record he was born at 6:05 pm, is 20" tall, and weighted in at 7 lbs. 8 oz. So far his brothers have appeared to be as attached as are his parents. Mom and Dad Ritchie came over early to watch the boys while we went to the hospital - and Garrett called at least every hour on the hour to know "Ishe out yet?" We were happy to finally be able to tell them that "Yes he is, come on down." 
The boys were equally interested in watching his first bath - from the hallway looking in to the nursery window. Some of the boys were also legitimately surprised that he was born naked - a fact we reminded them was common to most of us. 
It is not hard to see a familiar and easily recognizable "mold" that is similar between all of the boys. Angela and I have both said to each other at various times throughout the night, "I think he looks like Bryson ... no Garrett ... no Tanner ... no McKay ..." And while at least at first, it might be hard to peg him to any specific one of the boys - he has undeniable common characteristics to all of them - he is definitely a "Ritchie boy." 
This last picture was taken just a few minutes before the boys, Grandma Carolyn and I left for home and left Angela and un-named boy #5 to rest "from their labors" - pun intended.
