Last Pots

Maysen got her final pots from her pottery class today. The bottom broke on her pot, so she was a little disappointed. I like them. I am glad she was able to have this opportunity.

Spa Day

Preston and I had a relaxing day today. I have been so stressed and busy all month, but today we just relaxed together. We played DS all morning. He's so funny. Then I cleaned him all up...even his toes. After, I found Stockton's old bathrobe and gave it to Preston. He LOVED it! I think he looks very handsome.

Preston & Shiver

Jorja lost a tooth today. Yesterday she asked me to pull it out. I gave it a big yank, but it was stubborn, and she SCREAMED! Today, it just fell out during scripture study this morning.

Tonight I went and listened to my friends sing. They sing with the Douglas County Chamber Singers. It was great. Heather was amazing. She sang Summertime and was fantastic. Both my friends named Heather have these crazy unbelievable voices. I wish I could be 1/8th as talented as them.

Dinner at Rylee's

Tonight Rylee's family invited us over for dinner. They also invited Jaxson's family. Preston was so excited to go inside Rylee's house. After dinner, Maysen, Rylee and her dad hid eggs for the kids to find. This was MUCH better than Saturday's egg hunt. Rylee did a great family home evening lesson. It was a fun, relaxing, stress free day.

Preston

Jorja

Stockton

Maysen

I'm Exhausted

I am so glad the last Sunday in March is finally over. I have had sharing time all month. This week I just felt that my brain wouldn't work. I did get something pulled together, but I am so glad I don't have to worry about it until June. We also had the 8 is Great fireside. That turned out really well. I can't believe Jorja will turn 8 this year.

Preston is still up. Usually I would be frustrated by this. Not today. On the way to church, I was hoping he would fall asleep. He did. He slept through sacrament meeting and part of primary. I needed that to happen. Mike was teaching, I was teaching. Brother Duce did pull Stockton out while I was teaching the kids. I thought that was really weird. It took him forever to come back. Preston needed to go to the bathroom, so they asked Stockton to take him. Stockton hasn't had experience in taking Preston to the bathroom outside of the home. Preston insists on taking off his shoes, socks, pants and underwear. And he had a belt. Stockton said he was never doing that again. Thanks for helping him Stockton - and for being a great sport about it.

Easter Egg Hike

Today was such a busy day! Maysen and I started the morning by cleaning the church. I was really glad we showed up (with Rylee) because not very many people were there. I think the Bishop and the Young Women's President were relieved to see us walk in the door. We do this once a month. Hopefully we will get faster each time we do it. Heather took everyone to Waffle House after we finished cleaning.

I came home and started frosting sugar cookies for the 8 is Great fireside tomorrow. While I was doing this, Mike took Jorja and Preston to an Easter Egg Hunt. There were so many people, thousands of eggs, and it all got cleared in 30 seconds!

Preston & Jorja

Preston
Jorja

This afternoon Maysen and I went on a 'Virtue Hike' with the stake young women. We hiked up Kennesaw Mountain. Here is Georgia they are very liberal with the word mountain. Each of the wards made a virtue flag to carry up to the top.

Our ward's virtue flag

Maysen was disappointed that the hike consisted of walking up a paved road. Nothing like the hike her Uncle John was on . . . slots in Utah . . . she would like that I'm pretty sure.

President Owen told the two of us to take a shortcut to the top. It was a lot more fun going on a real trail. Before he could even finish his sentence Maysen and I had taken off. Guess we didn't want him to change his mind. We are such rule followers. We wouldn't have dared leave the group without permission.

Maysen

At the top

Once everyone made it to the top, the girls put their handprints on the virtue flag the stake leaders were making.

When we went to Kennesaw a couple of years ago, the kids loved playing in this tiny cave. Maysen found it again and was excited to show it to her friends.

Amy, Rylee, Maysen

After the hike we went to the stake center. There we had dinner and then listened to the General Young Women broadcast. The broadcast didn't start until 8, Maysen was so tired by the time it started. I really enjoyed President Uchtdorf's talk. Now I am completely tired and am just praying that Sharing Time goes well tomorrow. Yikes!

Amy, Maysen, Rylee

Porge Likes Steak

Mike and I took Jorja and Preston to a Japanese Steakhouse. We got a $25 coupon on restaurant.com. (Until the end of this month if you put in a promo code zoo you can get the coupon for $2) Jorja loved the steak. She is so fun. Preston wouldn't try anything, but laughed at the fire. He laughed and said, "I thought it was going to get me!"

Jorja

Preston came up to me and said, "Look! My hair sticks up! I put gel in it like Stockton." He loves copying his brother.
Preston

1,670

That is how many steps it takes to get from our house to Publix. Stockton and I walked there today. Mike, Maysen and Jorja were playing a game, Preston was entertained with dice and a game board Stockton had made, so I whispered to Stockton and asked him if he wanted to go on a walk with me. I love being with him. He counted his steps the entire way, but told me I could talk to him as he was counting. Most of the time I was just thinking how lucky I am to be his mom. He is amazing.

When we got home, Jorja met us at the door. She had been crying. She was worried about me. Mike said she was inconsolable. She carried around a picture of the two of us together while she cried. She went through half a box of tissues. Poor little Porge. I didn't think she would even miss me . . . and she wouldn't have if her computer hadn't frozen up.

Happy Birthday John!

Today is my baby brother's birthday. I was talking to John while he was at work and his cell phone broke in half! I was really hoping to be in Utah before John & Cassie moved away. I was looking forward to getting to know Cassie better and enjoy John. I moved away when he was in middle school I think. Now he is headed to law school. Hopefully John & Cassie will come visit us lots and lots . . . what's a ten or eleven hour drive? Anyway, happy birthday John! I hope you will like my present!

John

I was looking through my old pictures. I have always loved this one. I love my family!

Mike, John, Brett

Make Magazine

Mike was excited to find that Make Magazine picked up his video. He also has been having fun reading all the comments. Indymogul posted it on YouTube as well. Right now it has been seen 13,000 times. He has over 800 comments. Most of them are positive. Lots didn't like the movie, but liked the build. Good thing the build is the important part.

Today I made Peas & Hotdogs for dinner. This was my favorite dinner growing up. I wasn't ever sure how to make it, but today I tried and it turned out great - according to me. Not according to my kids, especially Preston. After sitting with him at the table for an hour, I finally set the timer and if he hadn't eaten his small hotdog piece before it went off, he would go straight to bed. It was 7:45 at this point, so it wasn't a big deal but he thought it was horrible. He didn't eat his 1/2 inch hotdog piece, so straight to bed he went. At least he stayed in his bed even though he kept crying, "I did eat my hotdog. I did."

Jet Packs and Robots

This morning, Preston and I spent a lot of time outside catching snowflakes. He loved it! Yes, we do live in the South. Yes it is spring. Yes it was snowing. Crazy!

The most exciting news of the day was Mike's build was featured on indymogul. He was so excited! The kids and I were all screaming when we saw that his was posted! Mike worked so hard on his build. Well . . . I'm not so sure you can call it working, he loved every minute of it.

Mike & TEC

You can see his audition video here. We have no idea if he would be lucky enough to get this job, what the job entails, or how much it would pay. We are just thrilled that out of the sixty or so people that sent in videos, his was one of the few to be shown. (They have only shown five so far). Anyway, it was a happy, happy day at our house.

Integrity #1

The best thing about doing the Young Women's Personal Progress with Maysen is the opportunity it gives me to talk about uncomfortable subjects. Well, what I mean by that is it makes uncomfortable subjects less awkward to talk about. For the Integrity #1 experience, we talked about how the Lord's standards are different from the world's standards. Maysen and I set some guidelines for her to follow as she grows older. We also talked about the way she should dress, and other media she needs to be aware of. Thankfully right now most of these suggestions were met with an eye roll.

Easter Egg Hunt - or not

I took Jorja and Preston to an Easter egg hunt today. Only when we got there it was a dog show. I was so confused. We walked around for awhile and looked at the dogs (while carrying our Easter baskets) - then we decided to go to Chick-Fil-A for icecream. Preston kept pretending the icecream was a microphone and saying, "I like you! I like you so much!" When I got home, I looked at the flyer and saw that the Easter egg hunt is NEXT Saturday. Grrrr.

Preston & Jorja

Jorja
Preston

Yummy

While I was gone, Maysen and Stockton cleaned the playroom. It looks great! Now I am watching the BYU/Kansas St game. Not looking good. I was SO annoyed when I sat down to watch it. They only showed the first five minutes, then when the score was 10-0 they switched to the Kentucky/Wake Forrest game. Luckily for me the game was a blowout, so I guess they decided to show the BYU game again. Hopefully they have an amazing final two minutes because it is not looking good for them right now.

Bonjour!

I was able to get Maysen transferred out of PE and into French. She was hoping for art, but that class was full. Maysen was really excited when she came home. She said they called her to the office at the beginning of the day, they said - here's your new schedule, get used to it. Too bad I can't type the grumpy voice Maysen used. Whether or not they used that voice, I'm not sure . . . but that is what Maysen interpreted it as. Maysen was thrilled not to go to PE and thrilled again to have Johanna and Rylee in her French class.

Tonight Mike had an Elders Quorum activity. We had a ping pong tournament. It was a lot of fun. I won Randall in the first round! But lost to Brandon later. Randall donated cool trophies for the winners. (Randall owns a shop called the Trophy Den). Paul won the singles and Heather & Matt won the doubles.

Matt & Paul

Championship game!

Maysen watched the kids while we were gone. We came home to find everyone sound asleep. I can not stress enough how awesome it is to have a twelve year old! I did have to run home because we forgot the trophies. (Church is about 20 minutes away) As I walked up to the door, I saw Stockton practicing the piano. I snuck in, grabbed the trophies from the office and snuck back out. I don't know if he ever saw me. (The piano is in the front room). I'll have to ask him in the morning, but I think I just might have won the super sneaky award.

PE Again!

Maysen got PE again. The doctor's note that I gave them in January was for the entire semester. She should be good for the rest of the year. I know there are tons of kids who would be excited about PE, but she is not one of them. I think she should have the minimum pe requirement, but she shouldn't be forced to have more. She is in art club and the art teacher told her he would try to get her in his class. He wasn't able to do it. This school drives me nuts. This is one of the many reasons I am planning on homeschooling her next year.

St. Patrick's Day

Today for dinner we had pot roast, fruit, rolls, green mashed potatoes, green milk and green cupcakes with green frosting. Too bad Mike had to eat his cold because now he works. I sent Stockton out the door to scouts with one piece of meat and one carrot (his ride came and he hadn't finished dinner), he said it took him over a half hour to finish the meat. Why can't my kids eat like Larkin? Or Skye?

We left mini cupcakes out for the leprechauns. We'll see if they eat any. We have never tried that before, so we don't know what to expect. Jorja and Preston are excited about it though.

Math Maniac

Jorja brought home a trophy today for being a 'math maniac' at school. She is doing really well. I go to school and give Jorja's class timed tests every Tuesday. Jorja is the farthest in her class. She is now on her -7's. The math maniacs is a different test, and the principal gave her this trophy. She is quite happy about it. Great job Porge!

Jorja

Mike had his first day of work today. He seemed to really like it. Although it is a long drive, he likes Alpharetta much better than Atlanta. Mike said that the atmosphere not only in Alpharetta, but at his job was so good - much better than his last job. Hope it stays that way!

Integrity #3

I just finished reading a bunch of scriptures about people who lived their life with integrity. It has been years since I have studied the old testament, so I enjoyed learning about these amazing people. I loved the story was of Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego. I remember hearing this story when I was younger, but I don't remember reading it for myself. I absolutely loved it. King Nebuchadnezzar was crazy. First he gets so upset that these guys won't worship his golden image he made. He's so mad that the regular furnace isn't good enough, he has to heat it to seven times hotter then 'it was wont to be heated'. Then when he sees Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego walking around with someone else - in the fire - he decides that it is okay for them to worship their God . . . and anyone who says anything bad about them will be cut in pieces and their houses made into a dunghill. Crazy, crazy, crazy.

I also read about Joseph of Egypt, Ester, Job, Daniel, and Paul. My favorite off all the amazing individuals I read about was Joseph Smith. I will never tire of reading Joseph Smith History. I love the quote "For I had seen a vision; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it, neither dared I do it; at least I knew that by so doing I would offend God, and come under condemnation." I love how Joseph was willing to be 'hated and persecuted'. The most amazing thing is, he was still a child. The persecution started almost immediately - fourteen years old. Yet, he was not swayed by the world and what others thought of him, he only cared what Heavenly Father thought of him. To have that strong determination at such a young age is just amazing.

I am also suppose to write about a time when I had the courage to show integrity, especially when it wasn't easy or popular. I honestly can't remember a time I had to do that. I think that is because of two reasons. One, I have always been surrounded by great friends that haven't put me in uncomfortable situations. Two, I am completely oblivious to what is going around me most of the time. The first is great, the second I should work on. The closest I can come to is in college at Utah State, I lived with several girls that did not have my same values. But although I didn't drink, they never made me feel uncomfortable about it. I loved those girls, we just led completely separate lives.

All right Maysen, I think I rambled enough for you to sign me off on this value experience. I'll be bringing you my book soon.

Happy Pi Day

Stockton and Maysen love Pi day. Strangely, they did not like the banana cream pie I made for pi day. Here is a video of them reciting pi as far as they know. We did notice one mistake - sorry guys. But it's a heck of a lot better than I can do!

Preston and Jorja wanted to be in on the fun. Here is Preston counting. When Stockton and Maysen were saying pi on the video, I took Preston out of the room so he wouldn't be so loud. I said while bouncing Preston on my hip, "Preston, I want to play with you". He started crying and said, "I am not a toy!" So cute. I had to let him come back in the room.

Secret Service

We had a primary activity today. We were trying to teach the children to not only do what they are asked, but do more. Go the extra mile. I told everyone a story about my father-in-law. When Mike was little, Scoop would go to New Mexico to buy cars. One cold day he was coming home and saw a man on the side of the road without shoes. Scoop pulled over and offered him a ride. He wasn't able to take him the entire way home, so when he let him out he gave him his warm boots. As he was driving away he was proudly thinking of his good deeds when he heard a voice that said, "You should have given him your coat also". That experience changed his attitude for the rest of his life. He is one of the most giving men I have ever met.

We then had different stations where they could practice service. The vacuum station, the pick up trash station, clean the room, set the table, fold the laundry, make the bed, and everyone's favorite - clean up after yourselves after you frost and eat a cupcake!

It went pretty well - thanks to Irene. I spent the rest of the day planning sharing time for tomorrow. I am disappointed that we left our camera on the table (along with the file folders I was suppose to bring). Mike took some with his cell phone, but they just didn't turn out.

Not Much

Not much to say about today, but if I didn't write my 100% writing streak would end. So, today I basically did laundry. I also worked a lot on the primary activity we are having tomorrow - and I worked on my sharing time. I have everything worked out in my brain, but I still have some final touches to add. I did go on a walk with Maysen. It is so fun to be with her. She seems to enjoy it as well, so that makes me really happy.

Yummy

Mike and I went to dinner at the Japanese Steakhouse to celebrate his new job and the last day at my old job. We gave the kids all the option to go, but they all chose to play make sure you don't starve instead. What a bunch of wackos.

New Job

So Mike got a job today. It is at Cox Communications (or Incorporated....or something like that, but the first word is Cox). He had an interview with them this morning. Janet watched Preston because I was teaching Jorja's class. About an hour after his interview they called him and offered him the job. Mike really liked the atmosphere of the company - much more then the interview he went to in Seattle. The job is something he is good at and enjoys. As far as money goes, it will only take him one hour to make what I make in a day. I know I should be happy about this - and I am. But I'm also a little sad. I really wanted to move back to Utah. I thought this time we were moving for sure. Mike tells me that he will still look for a job in Utah, and having this job here might actually help him get a job in Utah. I do love my life here. We are very, very happy (except with Maysen's school) - I was just anxious to be around my family again. One of the downsides of this new job is he won't get vacation days. I don't know what this is going to mean for us long term. I know it is getting really hard visiting Utah twice a year. I don't think our families have any idea the sacrifice we have made in order to do this. I just don't know if we can do it much longer. So many questions . . . . . .

Baby Boy

Stockton told Preston that he wanted him to stay a baby. Preston said, "I'm growing up. One day I will be a mommy!" I don't think so. Stockton told me that he was playing with trains with Preston yesterday. He told Preston that he wasn't going to remember anything of being a baby, and he wanted him to try to remember playing trains with Stockton. Stockton said, "I just want him to remember one thing." So now Stockton asks Preston, "Do you remember playing trains with me?" Stockton sure does love that little boy.

Preston

Maysen and I finished her science project. It is a model of the ocean floor - out of rice krispies. My hands are still covered in blue. I made the krispies and put the food coloring in them, but Maysen did all the modeling. All the colors represent a different aspect of the ocean floor.

I had lunch with Jorja today in the teachers lounge. She loved that. It was pretty fun, even though she likes to steal my meat. I get to teach Jorja's class again tomorrow, too bad Jorja will spend most of the day in P.C.

What the Heck?

Today I substituted Jorja's class. Her teacher has jury duty. I get to teach them again tomorrow. I really enjoyed being with Jorja all day. I know I am not nearly as good as their teacher, because she is amazing. Anyway, we were doing phonics. We were talking about the soft g and the hard g. I asked the students one by one to give me a word with a g in it. We would then see if it was a soft g or a hard g and if it followed the rule or not. (Soft g's are followed by e,i,y and hard g's are followed by a,o,u - soft g's have the j sound by the way). Anyway, I was taking words like go and girl and Garcia. When I got to sweet little Alexandra, she said "interrogative". I was so surprised! I said, "What the heck?" You should have seen the class. They acted like I said the biggest curse word in the world. I said, "First of all, heck is not a curse word. It is slang where I am from. Second of all, interrogative? You've gotta be kidding me?"

This reminds me of Maysen in second grade. She got in trouble for saying "Oh my heck". I couldn't believe it. I was so mad. I talked to her teacher about it and explained how heck is a slang word where I am from. I remember saying, "You drive down the freeway and see billboards that say 'If you say Oh my heck this beer's not for you'" People around here constantly say things I would consider cursing, so when they got after Maysen I just couldn't believe it. In conclusion, Georgia is weird.

We have a flat tire in the van. Mike found a nail in our tire. Hopefully he can get that fixed tomorrow. He tried to fix it today, but they didn't have the right tires.

I worked with Maysen on her science project. It's coming along well. Hopefully we will finish tomorrow. It's looking really good so far. I was glad I was at school today. Stockton read his poem on the intercom. He did such a good job. I love listening to him.

I am so tired. I am ready for bed!

The Prophet is Called of God

That was the theme of sharing time this week. I have sharing time this month. It was ward conference, so I was a little nervous, but everything went really well. For junior sharing time I talked about different prophets (Moses, Lehi, Joseph Smith) . . . Senior sharing time I did the power point presentation that my dad put together. Thanks dad! My dad put together this really awesome presentation on the succession of the presidency. I started from David O. McKay and went all the way to Thomas S. Monson. It is a really good visual of how orderly the transfer of leadership occurs. I talked to them how God is a God of order, and when a prophet dies He leaves no confusion as to who should lead the church.

Tonight we had the Stephens come over for dinner. It was really fun. It was nice to be around people who kept saying, "Oh my heck". Made me feel like home.

Sweetwater Park

Maysen has been begging us for weeks to go to Sweetwater park. She went there with the Young Women back in November. It is pretty much just a wooded area with trails and water. We hiked around for about an hour and a half. Preston LOVED it! Maysen and Jorja both had a great time. I asked Stockton, "On a scale from one to ten, ten being the best time of your life and one being complete torture, where would you rate this trip?" He said TWO! Two? Really? I said, "So you would rather be in school than go on this walk?" He said yes. I'm thinking he doesn't mind school all that much if this was worse because we had a great time.

After the park, we came home and had ice cream cones. Doesn't get much better than that.

Jorja, Mike, Maysen, Stockton, Preston, Steph

Stephanie, Preston, Maysen
Maysen, Stockton

The Porge

Preston, Stockton

Stockton, Maysen

Maysen's picture

Textile Mill burned during the Civil War

Cheering for Stockton

Stockton placed FIRST in the district writing contest. (for his It Goes BOOM! poem) He found out today. His teacher was going crazy. His class was screaming for him. The principal came down and talked to him. Stockton called Mike to tell him. Stockton said, "Dad, do you hear all the people going crazy behind me? They are all cheering for me." So cute! I was in the carpool lane waiting to pick him up. I rolled down the window because I was wondering if Stockton won the trivia contest. Instead, I heard his name announced on the intercom. They asked everyone to do a school wide drum roll. I was so excited for him. His poem now goes on to the state level.

Stockton and Jorja had a half day at school. When they got home, Mike went and took them to get a haircut. Stockton loves his. Here is his new look.

Stockton

This morning, Preston was trying to take pictures of me while I was getting dressed. I kept telling him that he could not do that. He said, "It needs to go on the blog!" Sorry there baby cakes, I have veto power.

MegaMushroom

Maysen and I went on a walk with Preston today. We walked to Publix. Preston got tired a little way into the walk. He wanted me to carry him. I put him on my back for a little of the ways. When we got back to the sidewalk, I put him down. He didn't want to walk. Maysen started to play Super Mario Bros. with him. She was pretending she had a propeller hat and would jump around. Preston played the entire walk to Publix and the entire walk back. He kept pretending to jump in pipes, that he had ice flowers, fire flowers, stars . . . we kept ducking so we could dodge bullet bills (Preston would yell 'bullet bill!' and we would all duck). Preston's very favorite to be was MegaMushroom. Then he would crash into Maysen and I. He had a fun, fun time. Thanks Maysen! You are a genius.

He's Back!

Mike is back from Seattle. He arrived home shortly after the kids got home from school. Boy did those kids mob him. They were so excited to see him. I am glad to have him home. He then made yummy taco bowls. Right now he is teaching a merit badge class on cinematography. Busy, busy, busy.

Snow Globe

Today it snowed in Georgia . . . again! They ended up sending everyone home from school around noon. Luckily I was volunteering, so they let me take Stockton and Jorja home. When I got home, there were seven messages waiting for me! No one ever calls me! Most of them were about how I was going to get the kids home from school. I have a new friend that moved into our ward. (Yea!) Her name is Stephanie. She has a daughter that is Maysen's age. (Double Yea!) She's picking up the kids from middle school all week - so she got to brave the snow. Considering she just moved from Utah, it wasn't a big deal for her.

The snow was BEAUTIFUL! It was still pretty on the ground, but it was slushy. I love catching the big flakes on my tongue, so that was fun. When I came home, I decided to watch the morning weather report. Snow was only predicted for Northern Georgia. I was laughing at the weather man telling him he is so, so wrong.

Our backyard

Today is also my Grandma Parry's 87th birthday! I was able to talk to her for awhile, and all the kids said hello. Although Jorja freezes up on the phone for some reason . . . but she smiled a lot and nodded.

Mike, Steph, Grandma & Grandpa

My grandma is the best. She really is. I don't know what I would do without her. Even though she is on the other side of the country, she is my best friend. She is always there for me. She will always listen to me. She loves me and my children completely. Because both Mike and I have lost our moms, she has become Grandma to our children. I know a lot my cousins have taught their kids to call her Grandma-Great (which I think is awesome by the way), but I never have. To them she is just Grandma. That is what they need.

Grandma came and stayed with me after Stockton was born. Stockton was still in the hospital when she got here. I wanted her to come so badly, and she was such a huge help. Especially since I had to run to the hospital every three hours to feed Stockton, she was able to stay with Maysen.

Stockton & Grandma

I will never forget how lovingly she cared for my mom as she was dying. She was always there. She took care of us while my dad stayed with my mom in the hospital. She helped our lives be normal - if that were possible. She has told me that her biggest regret is that she was doing laundry when my mom died. Grandma, that's crazy! I remember that you were doing laundry (unselfish to the core), and I ran and told you to come quick. You were there when she died. You were always there for her. You were always taking care of us. You have loved us as much as she does. My brothers and I all know it.

There is nothing I could say to even come close in describing how remarkable Grandma is. I love her as much as I love anyone. Happy birthday Grandma! I can't wait to see you again!

Maysen, Grandma, Stockton

I have lots more pictures, but with Mike out of town I'm not sure how to get to them. But the picture above is one of my all-time favorites. These kids know they are loved.