Swimming by Herself!

Mike had Preston 'help' him change the oil in the cars.  Preston loved it. They were so cute working together.  Preston liked this much more than pulling weeds with me this morning.

Preston

 Mike ~ he is there Waldo style

 Preston took this picture

Stockton came home from scout camp around noon.  He seemed to enjoy himself.  He told us they went boating ten times.  Stockton got quite the tan while he was there.  He was excited to sleep in his bed tonight!  As far as scout camps go, this one was a huge success. Stockton said he had fun but would have rather stayed at home.  That is high praise from him!  He really did have a good time and I am so thankful for his wonderful leaders and all the time they gave to these boys.

This evening Mike and his family came over to swim.  Mike sent Christen shopping (there is a lack of choices in Albuquerque).  While Christen was shopping we swam with Skye, Larkin and Blake.  My dad also dropped by with Max.  The girls were a little timid at first.  Larkin wanted to stay by the stairs. Mike got a swimming jacket on her.  She wasn't too happy about that.  Slowly she got more comfortable.  I took Blake for awhile and Mike worked with Larkin.  Soon she was 'swimming by herself'.  She loved it!  She was so proud of herself.  She even went all the way to the deep end!

Skye was really good about going underwater.  We spent a lot of time counting to three and then looking at each other with our goggles on. Sometimes we would do silly poses.  Mike took Skye off the diving board.  She didn't like that at all.  She was very brave though, but once was good enough for her.

Blake loved, loved, loved the jet ski.  He was so cute on it.  Skye said, "My mom and dad rode one of those before I was born.  I saw a picture."  Funny.  Blake was very content and enjoyed everything around him.

We swam for a long time.  Skye and Larkin didn't want to get out. Luckily they will be coming back on the 4th!  After swimming the girls loved to drive the jeeps around.  I love watching them be so happy!

Mike & Blake

 Dad

 Mike and Blake ~ this was Blake's favorite thing to do!

 Larkin, Mike, Blake and half of Preston

 Skye and Larkin were very impressed with my flip

 Stephanie

 Max

 Preston

 Larkin swimming by herself!

 Skye & Stephanie

 Max pretending to be a girl

 Stephanie making faces at Blake

I figured I should be fair and post ridiculous pictures of me sometimes

 Jorja

 Larkin

 Jorja

 Larkin

 Blake & Larkin

 I love Blake's face and Larkin's concentration

 Skye

 Blurry Skye, put I love her face!

 Blake & Larkin

 Skye

Maysen came home from Youth Conference right as Mike and his family were leaving.  She seemed to have a good time as well.  Again I am so thankful for the leaders who watched out for my precious girl.    I am grateful for the opportunities Maysen and Stockton had this past week and I'm extremely glad to have them back home with me!

Note:  Jorja just came upstairs.  It is 11:46 pm.  She looked at the clock, looked at me and said, "Oh."  She thought it was morning already!

Ice

I finally got almost regular sleep!  Let's hope this is a permanent change.  Maysen stopped by to take a bath in the middle of the day.  She spent the morning weeding the temple grounds, playing water games and swimming.  They had a dance tonight.  Maysen's first dance.  She didn't like it much.  She said it was loud.  She was able to get Sister Staker to take her back early.  She is just drawing and texting me. She likes that much better than the crowded/loud dance.

I was able to see some pictures of Stockton at scout camp.  He was smiling and looked happy!  That is so rare at a scout camp!  Hopefully he is having a great time.  They have finished their merit badge classes and are just spending today playing at Bear Lake.  What's not to like at a camp like that?

I took Jorja and Preston to Cafe Rio today.  They did great.  They absolutely loved the Tres Leches they tried.  It's kind of a creamy cake thing with whipped cream and strawberries.  On the way home I heard the loudest little girl shriek I have ever heard.  It was from Preston. Apparently Jorja and Preston were having a contest as to who could keep ice in their shoe the longest.

Then There Were Two

Last night Mike and I fell asleep around midnight.  We woke up wide awake around 1 am.  What?  We watched a few Colbert Reports, but we were still wide awake.  Then Mike said, "Do you want to watch So You Think You Can Dance?"  So we went down to the movie room at 2:30 am and watched the show.  Needless to say, we didn't get any sleep last night.  It wasn't a big deal for me, because I was just at home today. Mike had to work, so he was very tired.  Mike actually worked late yesterday.  They told him he could take a half day sometime.  He came home at 2:00 and went to bed.  He woke up at 8:00.  I wonder how he will sleep tonight!

I dropped Maysen off at Youth Conference this morning.  They are having a stay at home Youth Conference, so she will just be sleeping across the street.  This morning they went boating.  Maysen came home for a few minutes this afternoon.  She wanted to grab her glasses.  She looked very happy and said she was having a great time so far.  Yay!

Maysen and Jaime - her Miamaid advisor

When I got back from dropping off Maysen, I fell asleep.  Obviously.  I made sure Jorja was okay hanging out with Preston and didn't have many worries.  Jorja came into my room later and asked if she could make chocolate pizza.  I barely remember this, but  I remember telling her no.  Chocolate is harder to melt than she might think.  She asked if she could make hot chocolate.  I told her yes.  Jorja makes hot chocolate all the time.  It is super easy with the hot water faucet Mike gave me for valentines day.  This is how I assumed she would make it.  I was wrong.

I went to check on the kids in the playroom after I woke up.  It smelled of air freshener.  Lots and lots of air freshener.  I can't stand the smell. I asked why they had sprayed the air freshener.  Jorja said, "I think I put a wrong pan in the microwave."  What???  I went to the kitchen and holy cow did it smell horrible!  When Jorja made hot chocolate, she decided to make it with milk.  She warmed up the milk in a pot in the microwave.  She put it in for two minutes!  The handle on my pot is shriveled.  I am glad she didn't set the house on fire!  I had to talk with her (again) about how she is not allowed to use the microwave or the stove without me there.  Oh boy.  What a Porge!

This afternoon Bubs called and asked if they could come swimming.  He asked if they could bring dinner as well.  Sold!  It was a lot of fun having them here.  I think this is the first time they have been swimming this year with us.  That seems odd.  It was a great time except Lincoln and I both got stung by a bee.  That was not fun.

Abby swimming with water wings!  She is fearless!

 Abbs

 Bubs & Abbs

 Ella ~ giggling up a storm

 Lincoln

 Jorja, Bubs & Ella

 Preston ~ he asked for me to take his picture, then tried to hide

 Bubs, Ange, Abby

 Abbers

Ange's dinner was great.  Jorja made snow cones for everyone.  Jorja and Preston are tucked snuggly in their beds.  I'm hoping Maysen and Stockton are happy.  I haven't heard from/about Stockton since Monday.  I am constantly praying for him.  I'm so worried and I hope he is having a wonderful time.  Now I'm off to bed.  Hopefully I'll be able to sleep tonight!

Pinterest

I was up at one this morning, but was able to get back to sleep for a couple of hours.  I think.  I can't remember.  Anyway, Jorja is Jorja. She is always doing random crafts.  She gets an idea, finds the supplies and does everything herself.  Today she made Shiver and Padz cups. (Painted cups to look like a white dog and a frog.)  She also made different versions of Shiver and Padz favorite food - webkinz style.  She got yogurt and food coloring for one version.  For another she had made Peppermint Hot Chocolate and put it in a bowl.  She had tons of green food coloring.  It looked absolutely disgusting.  It didn't taste bad. Maybe I would like it if I didn't have to look at it.  She put red/orange food coloring in water and put that in a bowl for Preston/Shiver.  That was kind of gross too.  I could tell it was just water, but I couldn't get over the look.  Jorja and Preston were very happy with their creation, so that is all that matters.  That and the fact that they cleaned up their mess!

Anyway, I'm not sure if I will regret this - but I introduced Jorja to Pinterest.  I have never signed up before, but it seems like something that will keep Jorja entertained this summer.  She was searching frog crafts and kids cooking.  Right away she ran to the fridge to make grape kabobs and put them in the freezer.  This could get interesting.

Swimming with the Beehives

I was up at two this morning.  I have no idea why I can't get on the right schedule.  It wasn't this hard when I went to Japan.  My guess is I was so excited to see Brett & Rachel that I had no desire to sleep. It's weird because I don't feel that tired, but my limbs feel so heavy!

Anyway, today for Young Womens I had my Beehives over for swimming.  It's funny because they have been over to my house several times before, but they have never noticed the pool in the back.  Probably because it was usually dark when they would be at my house.  We had a relaxing time swimming and having snow cones.  I got a message from Zoe asking if she could hop the fence.  That made me laugh.  Zoe's sisters sat on the fence and watched for awhile.  I think they were driving Zoe nuts, but I thought they were sweet.

Go Fish

For some reason I have had difficulty uploading pictures to this post.  I took a picture early this morning of Stockton as he headed off to scout camp, but I had no luck getting it up here.  Stockton isn't excited about camp.  At all.  One of the hardest things about camp is Stockton wakes up so early.  He ends up laying in his bed for hours before others wake up.  Well, this morning I woke up early.  3 am to be exact.  I decided to run down to Wal-Mart and get a few things.  I got Go Fish and Uno for Stockton.  Johnny gets up really early as well.  He is Stockton's age and has Down Syndrome.  He loves Go Fish. If they are in the same tent this could come in really handy.  Johnny was pretty excited when he was told Stockton brought those games.  I did get an e-mail from the scoutmaster tonight.  They arrived safely and he said their campsite was gorgeous.  They are camping at Bear Lake.  I hope Stockton is happy!

I was so tired today!  After I got Stockton off at 5:30 in the morning, I fell asleep for a long time!  Later in the day I saw Jorja in the kitchen. She was wearing her chef apron.  I asked her what she was making. She said, "Lunch for you."  She is so sweet!

Jorja

 My lunch.  Thanks Jorja!

Meatballs

Jorja was spotlighted in church today.  The first hint was, "This person is a girl".  The second hint was, "This person really can not stand meatballs."  Everyone sat down except Jorja.  If Stockton was still in primary, he would have been standing right along with her.  Crazy kids!

Recovering

Today was spent cleaning and doing laundry.  Exciting, but had to be done.  Mike had a list of all the chores we needed to do today.  He had the kids sign up for four.  Maysen signed up for laundry.  She worked with me all day.  At the end of the day she said, "No!  It never ends!" Haha!  She mentioned she would never pick this chore again.  She was funny about all her comments and really helped a lot.

Jorja made this picture with Miah while we were gone.

 It was a little windy last night.  This is what we woke up to.

I was excited to see my friend Heather perform tonight.  Mike and I went up to the U campus for the 7:30 show.  When we got there it was eerily quiet.  No one was there.  Mike said, "Are you sure it was tonight?"  I said, "I know it was Saturday."  Then I thought for a bit and said, "Ummmm, I think it was the 30th."  Oops.  I think my mind is in a post trip fog.  I had left my cell phone home, when I got back there was a message from Heather telling me it was NEXT Saturday.  She was responding to my text saying I was excited to see her tonight.  Haha! Heather's original message clearly said June 30th.  Well, it gives me something to look forward to and Mike and I were able to get out of the house and enjoy some yogurt.

Arriving Yesterday

We left Japan just after midnight Friday morning.  We arrived in California Thursday night.  Haha!  That is kind of fun.  We got to LAX around 7:00 last night.  Our flight didn't leave until 6:00 in the morning today.  We spent the night in the airport Amazing Race style.  I was dreading this part of the trip, but it really wasn't too bad.  We bought some cards and taught Maysen how to play rummy.  I can't believe I have never played that game with my kids before.  I loved it when I was growing up.  One of the Delta workers was really nice and came out and brought us blankets.  Our gate changed four times before we finally left.  The flight home was beautiful.  It was a cloudy day in LA, which made for a gorgeous trip home.  The pictures just can't do the clouds justice.

Steve picked us up from the airport and took us to the car lot.  Both our cars were there.  We drove home, what a welcomed sight!  As I opened the door to come in the house, all three kids were there waiting for us with their arms around each other.  It was wonderful!  I wish I had my camera, I would like to remember that image forever!  It was so good to see them!  My dad was cooking waffles.  What a nice way to come home.  Cute kids that want to be with us and fresh waffles.

Maysen commented several times during the day how grown up Preston looked.  It seemed he had grown a few inches while we were gone.  He seems older to me as well.  It's amazing how much they can change in ten days!

Jorja with frog Japanese stuff from Rachel ~ she LOVES them.

 Jorja with the frog Maysen picked out at the salvage yard

 Jorja with Pokemon figurines

 Preston with an Emolga figurine

 Preston with his new Emolga hat.  He LOVES that!

 Stockton with his robot souvenir that Mike picked out

 Stockton and Preston

 Stockton, Preston, Mike

My dad offered to take the kids to see Brave while Mike and I caught up on sleep.  I decided I wanted to go too.  I took a quick nap and made it to the movie just in time.  I was quite tired, but didn't fall asleep during the movie, so that was good.  Mike chose to stay in bed.  Preston was good through the movie, but was done about half way through.  I had him on my lap and he kept saying, "I don't get it."  I enjoyed the movie, but it wasn't my favorite Pixar one.  It was fun to go to with my kids.  My dad, Cathy and Max were also there.  Thanks for the tickets Dad.

We got the kids to bed by 8:30.  They were disappointed about that.  I heard them bragging to Maysen, "We got to stay up until 10:00 every night and had a milkshake every day!"  I'm glad they had a great time with my dad.  It was nice that I didn't need to worry about them while I was gone.  Especially in Tokyo when we didn't have a way to contact them.  Thanks for taking such good care of them Dad!  Japan was awesome, but I am so happy to be back with my entire family again!