After Hours at Airborne

We celebrated Chinese New Year today.  Jorja and Preston were so excited!  I volunteered at the school to help with their celebrations.  I was at the calligraphy station.  It was interesting.  Actually it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.  The girls running the show were very organized and made things pretty easy for us.  The entire school came through, so it was quite the day!

Jorja and Preston worked on a dragon dance to show us.  It was so cute!  They had recorded themselves playing drums (pounding on blocks), then they did a dance to it.  I loved it!

Jorja and Preston

Stockton had his birthday party today.  We rented the trampoline arena after it closed.  We were able to bring thirty people.  It was so much fun!  Stockton invited all of the deacons and several teachers (the ones close to his age).  He also had some of his cousins come.  He didn't want to invite any friends from school.  We were able to jump from 11:00 - midnight.  Being so late was half the fun.  I was a little worried because I usually am asleep by 9:30.  That is when the party started! We had the boys come to our house for cake first.  No need wasting any precious jumping time!  Stockton wanted his traditional chocolate overload cake from Cold Stone.  He also asked me to make a gluten free cake.  Two of his friends can't have gluten.  I love that he made sure they didn't feel left out.

Stockton's cakes

 Jorja, Johnny, Mike, Stockton

 So many people!  I'm not even going to try to label this one.

My dad brought his van.  Steve and Shannon each brought a car.  Mike and I had a car.  We were able to drive everyone down there and take them home.  I didn't want the parents to have to come at midnight to pick up their kids.  I was so thankful that Steve, Shannon and my dad were able to help me out.

It was crazy having the place to ourselves.  There were a few workers around, cleaning up the place.  Stockton did decide he didn't like the obstacle course.  There is always a giant line for this.  It isn't that fun, and almost impossible for shorter people.  Nice to find out here instead of after you waisted most of your time.  Isaac was dancing around a pole on the obstacle course.  Then a worker came over the intercom and commented on his dancing.  So funny!  Although that made Isaac and Logan spend way too much time dancing with the pole!

The trampolines in the older kid area are so much fun!  You can jump so high!  Jaxson was crazy on it.  He can flip so many times.  So fun to watch!  Steve and Shannon spent most of the time doing back flips off these tramps into the pit.  As we were about to leave Shannon went to show me.  She judged it wrong and ended up hitting her shin on the edge of the trampoline.  Ouch!  It looked like it really hurt.

I didn't spend too long on the bouncy trampolines.  Preston was too small to jump on it.  We went and played in the other room with him. Soon Stockton came and we ended up having a really fun dodge ball game with lots of people.  Just such a fun, fun time!

Neither Mike or I took any pictures while we were there.  I wish I would have gotten a picture of all the boys.  Oh well.  I'll try to remember who came.  Feel free to skip this part, I just want it written down.  Our family, Steve, Shannon, Erica, Brandon, Weston (Jacob was on the Klondike), my dad, Isaac, Logan, Jordan, Jaxson, Johnny, Bridger, Noah, Noah, Josh, Josh, Josh, Ian, James, and Michael.

Right before I got into bed I noticed a text that Jacqui sent me about midnight.  It said, "We are in the hospital with Ashley.  She drove a snowmobile into a deck going prob 30 mph. WITHOUT A HELMET. She was with a friends family.  Brain 100% good.  Broken bones in face.  So we need to reschedule breakfast.  Thanks for your prayers.

I had planned on taking Olivia to breakfast.  She will become one of my beehives in February.  I was sick all night worrying about Ashley.  So scary!

Bubs the Ref

I got to watch Bubs ref a JV girls' game tonight.  It was fun because it was at the high school both of us went to.  I was sitting too far away to get any good pictures.  It was a pretty close game.  The final score was Alta: 81 Jordan: 22.

Orientation

Stockton and I went to his high school orientation tonight.  Weird. Stockton was not impressed.  We did see his cousin Michael there. Michael tried to talk Stockton into joining the choir.  Not going to happen.  That conversation reminded me of something that happened at the beginning of the school year.  I'm not sure if I ever wrote about it, but I might have.  Anyway, on the first day of school Stockton was in class.  The choir teacher asked if he could take Stockton out of class for a bit and talk to him.  He tried to convince Stockton to join choir. Stockton told him he would think about it, even though he had no intention of thinking about it.  Pretty awesome that a teacher would want Stockton in his class enough to seek him out.  I was okay with Stockton not doing choir.  Instead he has a peer tutoring class.  He works with disabled kids and helps them.  He really enjoys it, and I love it.

Stockton is 14

Yep.  He got old on me.  Traitor.  I hope Stockton had a good day today. He did have to go to school, so that wasn't his favorite.  He had math today.  I had carpool today, so I brought a Little Caesars pizza with me. Stockton and Josh were able to have that for lunch.  Stockton's favorite.

Stockton ~ 14 years old

Once I dropped the boys off at their middle school I headed out to meet my friends.  It is my friend, Camee's birthday today as well.  I wasn't able to make it to lunch, but I was able to make it to the hike afterward. We went up the path to the waterfall by Mike's house.  I have never been here in the winter, so I didn't really know what to expect.  I brought some old shoes because I didn't want my new ones to get ruined.  I also had boots in the car just in case.  I ended up using my old shoes, but had absolutely no traction on them.  The path didn't look bad at the beginning, but it wasn't long before we were walking on ice! Most of my friends had little spiky things they put over their shoes. Three of us did not.

I had so much fun!  We went as fast as we could, but with the ice there were several spots I had to crawl up.  Half of the group tuned back after awhile.  Four of us went almost all the way to the waterfall.  Suzanne really wanted to get there.  We finally had to turn back in order to pick up our kids.  I was worried Maysen would need me to pick her up from school.  She mentioned she might stay after.  I did get ahold of my dad and he said he could get her if she did.  Luckily she came home on the bus.

The way down the mountain was SO ICY!  I finally just slid down the mountain like I was sledding.  (I am extremely thankful I brought my good winter gloves!)  Sledding down that mountain was so fun!  I was going so fast!  My friends couldn't believe it.  They were laughing so hard.  They said they would be scared out of their mind doing that.  I thought it was a lot safer than trying to walk down the mountain.  I did have to steer around rocks constantly, but it was really nothing.  Just so much fun.  Camee thought it was so funny because I would be talking and then all of a sudden drop and go to sledding mode like it wasn't any big deal.  She said it was the funniest thing she has seen.  Glad to make her laugh on her birthday, but I had a blast!  Makes me excited for the cabin!

Camee, Stephanie, Megan, Suzanne

 Stephanie, Camee, Suzanne, Megan

 Stephanie, Jaime, Becky, Becky

Stockton wanted a Chick-Fil-A nugget platter for dinner.  Easy enough. For his cake I made him the 'brownie cake' that he loves.  I did run out of peppermint extract, so I used peppermint oil.  (The kind you use for suckers.)  I wasn't sure how much to put in.  I guess I put too much because Stockton said it was too pepperminty.  I also couldn't find my '1' candle.  Whoops.  We let Stockton pick two numbers that added to 14.  He picked 9 and 5.

Stockton's birthday cake

 Mike let Stockton light his own cake this year.  He loved that!

Stockton and Mike

Stockton got a new computer for his birthday.  Preston also gave him a lego Toad on a bike.  He also got a Tiki Topple game.  He played this at the cousins' and really liked it, only problem was their game didn't come with an orange.  Mike sent this picture to them.

Stockton

Maysen went to Young Womens' and made an infinity scarf.  It is really cute.  I went to Young Womens' and worked on things for New Beginnings with my Beehives.  My advisor, Jacqui, is amazing!  She has so many ideas.  It is going to be so cute!  I'm very thankful I have her to work with.  If it was just left up to me it would be a disaster!  We let Stockton skip Young Mens' tonight.  He could have chosen Deacons or Teachers.  Well, the Deacons moved their activity to Wednesday to work on the Family History merit badge.  The Teachers were going to watch a basketball game that one of the youth was playing in.  We decided to let Stockton stay and enjoy his birthday at home.  I hope he loved it!  I sure do love that boy.

Abby, Not Abbs

I had a wonderful day today!  I called and asked Ange if I could take Abby to the store.  Preston had Abby's name for Christmas and I hadn't gotten around to getting her anything.  I thought she would love to go to the Disney Store at City Creek.  We had the best time!  She was so cute looking at everything.  I told her she could pick out her own present.  She knew exactly what she wanted the moment she saw it. She picked out a Rapunzel box.  It kind of looks like a thin lunch box. Inside is a lot of art supplies.  Crayons, markers, paint, scissors.... everything has Rapunzel's picture on it.  She loves it!  It is so cute watching her carry the case around.

Abby

 Abby with her present

 You can see me in the mirror, but isn't Abby adorable?

Abby kept telling me that her name is Abby, not Abbs.  I told her she has a lot of names.  Abby, Abbs, Abber Dabbers, Abigail.  She just laughed.  So adorable!!!

I checked Jorja and Preston out early from school.  We then went and picked up Stockton then Maysen.  We drove to Mike's work and picked him up.  Next stop was Hale Center Theater.  We watched The Foreigner.  It was so funny!  All the kids loved it!  I'm not sure how much Preston understood, but it was so much fun.  Stockton liked how the actors never started singing.  I told him that was because this wasn't a musical.  Anyway, it was awesome and the actors were incredible!

I had told Jorja she could pick the place to eat.  She decided on Iceburg. Jorja started to not feel well, so she didn't end up eating much.  She was feeling better than the guy at the table next to us.  Paramedics came in, ran some tests and took him out on a stretcher.  I guess he started getting lightheaded as he was driving, so he stopped and called for help.  Hope he's okay.

Chills

Mike was so sick today.  He laid in bed with the heated mattress pad on high and the fireplace on.  He couldn't stop shivering.  It was weird.  He was sent a text a little before church, the person who was supposed to teach the lesson in Elders Quorum couldn't do it.  Mike went to church and taught the lesson.  He said it went okay.  He immediately went back to shivering.  Mike and Stockton went Home Teaching today. Stockton's first time going.  Mike was okay during the visits.  As soon as he was done with anything church related the chills took over.  I had no idea how to help him.  It was a pretty long day for him.

Volt

Audrey and Blake had a combined birthday party today.  They both live on our street.  Audrey invited Jorja and Blake invited Preston.  It was at Airborne.  Jorja gave Audrey a Chinese Webkinz.  Preston gave Blake a game he picked out at the store.  I can't remember the name.  Jorja helped Audrey design her birthday invitations.  Audrey's dad took the invitation to the store and asked if they could put the dragon on the cake.  Jorja was so excited!  She said she wished she had done a different dragon for the invitations, because this is not her favorite. They did this dragon first and couldn't figure out how to change the picture.  Jorja named this dragon Volt.  It has lightning bolts for ears.

Audrey's Cake

Stockton made it home safely from the Klondike.  Just without his sleeping pad I just bought him.  Dang it!  He also didn't wear the socks I bought him.  Why do I try?

Bubs and Ange brought their kids over so they could go to the temple. Our house is a disaster right now.  We moved the computers to the kitchen.  Mike is taking down the cabinets in his office and he is going to put them in the computer room for the kids.  It will look really cool when it is done, but right now everything is in chaos.  Mike and I were hoping to make it to the temple today.  Bubs and Ange didn't get back for quite awhile, they said it was so crowded!  By the time they left, Mike was feeling pretty sick.  Sore throat, chills, headache.  Poor guy. We pretty much just went to bed.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Man, today was crazy busy!  As soon as I dropped Stockton off at school (he had late start) I stopped by Sheels.  I wanted to pick up some warmer socks for him and a better camping pad.  I'm a little nervous sending him to the Klondike today.  He was pretty sick yesterday. Sending him on this freezing cold camp seems like a bad idea, but he wants to go.  I ended up picking up skiing/snowboarding socks for all the kids.  I then went straight to the high school to check Maysen out for a doctors appointment.  We had lunch at Iceburg.  I dropped her off, ran to the store to get a few things for Jorja and Preston's ski lunch, back to the school to pick up Stockton and Josh.  I totally forgot that the classes at the middle school start at a different time because of late start.  Oh man!  I wasn't sure what to do, so I took Stockton and Josh home while I frantically made Jorja and Preston lunch.  I got them back to school a few minutes late.  Stockton said it wasn't too bad and his teacher didn't really notice.  (Stockton and Josh are always late for PE, except on Friday.  I'm sure the teacher is use to them coming in late so it wasn't a big deal.  Really it was only five minutes, I just hate making them late!)  Once Stockton and Josh were back at school I went up to the elementary school to help Jorja and Preston with their ski/snowboarding gear.  I ran home to grab a few things and headed out the door to wait for Stockton.  He is supposed to be at his leader's house at 3:30.  That is the exact time he gets home from school.  I thought if I could pick him up at 3:00, we would have just a little bit of extra time.  I told Josh I would pick him up as well.  He asked if I could give rides home to some of the other boys.  No problem.  Except there was a tiny problem.  Stockton gets out earlier then the other kids.  His teacher lets him out at the 6th/7th grade bell, which is five minutes earlier.  So, I had Stockton but I needed to wait.  Didn't think of that.  It took almost ten minutes for the other kids to get there.  Josh H. Josh Y. and Jordan.  I also forgot to calculate the extra time in dropping the kids off at their homes.  So, by the time Stockton and I got home it was 3:30.  Oh well.  We hurried and were able to get over there by 3:45. Boys were still arriving, so it was no big deal.  I hope he is warm tonight and has fun!

Maysen and I played a game of Ticket to Ride before I had to go back to the elementary school to pick up Jorja and Preston from the ski bus. Preston has loved ski school.  Jorja has not.  I signed her up for the yellow group.  I wasn't sure what group to pick.  She was placed in the blue group.  She was so scared!  They would go down the hills so fast.  She wanted to go down the same hills, but not as fast.  They moved her down to the red group.  That group was so slow!  There were several red (beginning) groups.  This was the beginning of the beginning groups.  Most days they would only go down the little kid hill once.  She was so bored!  Not even worth all the trouble to get on the mountain.  I wish I could have remembered what the colors meant so I could have understood what was happening to her.  Oh well.  I am glad that Preston loved it.  I am also glad that Jorja was here for Preston's first year, even though she didn't have the greatest time.  Preston felt more comfortable on the bus with Jorja.  I felt more comfortable having Preston on the bus because of Jorja.

What a day!  I hope Stockton is warm.  I just realized that I didn't show up to teach Preston's computer class.  Why am I so forgetful?  Luckily I told the other parent volunteer that I had a doctor appointment and would need to leave early.  I was supposed to be at the school when I was at Sheels. I am glad to send Stockton up with warm socks.  Jorja loved, loved, loved her new socks.  They were official snowboarding socks.  She said they were so warm and cozy.  At least that was good!

Stockton's an Eagle!

I didn't send Stockton to diving today.  I was supposed to take Josh and Josh.  Josh H to diving with Stockton and Josh Y to his cello lesson that is near Stockton's diving.  Both parents cancelled.  Josh H. because he wasn't feeling well and Josh Y because he found another ride.  (He would have been a little late with us.)  Anyway, Stockton did not look well when he got home from school.  I decided to skip diving as well. The only problem was Scoop and Cori decided to surprise Stockton and they came to his diving practice.  He wasn't there.  Whoops.  They came over to see him.  Stockton looked horrible by the time they got here. They gave Stockton a diving jacket.  It is actually a scuba jacket. It is really long, warm and says idive on it.  Stockton loves it.  He wore it to his Board of Review tonight.

Speaking of his Board of Review.  Stockton passed!  He needed to ask two other adults (one could not be his scout master) to be in the meeting with him.  I wish I had a picture of them!  He chose Mike Masters (the deacons quorum advisor/assistant scout master) and Isaac Bingham (the 2nd counselor in the bishopric).  Ray Whitney led the board of review.  He has done all of Stockton's board of reviews. That was nice because it made Stockton not as nervous.

First all of us met together for about thirty minutes.  He talked to us about what the Eagle means and the importance of receiving an Eagle. He asked both Mike and I to talk a little about Stockton and qualities that he has/observations we have made of Stockton during this journey.  Mike talked about how scouts were really hard for Stockton when he started.  Especially the camp outs.  At first he hated them and dreaded going.  Now he doesn't mind going.  They are probably still not his favorite things, but he choose going to the Klondike instead of going to his diving competition.  Even though he already earned his camping merit badge.  He also talked about how he had become friends with the boys in the scout troop.  I talked about how honest Stockton is.  From the time he was born.  I honestly don't know if Stockton has ever told a lie.  He is completely honest.  Even when telling the truth makes him look bad, he tells the truth, with no other explanation.  I have never met someone like him before.  It is crazy!  I remember in first grade. His teacher pulled me aside and said a girl accused Stockton of touching her private parts.  She asked Stockton about it and he said he did.  Wow.  His teacher said that that didn't sound like Stockton at all and asked if I could find out what really happened.  I pulled him aside and asked if that had happened.  He said yes.  I asked him to explain to me why he had done that.  Turns out the girl (who annoyed Stockton to no end, so another reason why this was so weird) was wearing a skirt and kept lifting it up to show Stockton her underwear.  Stockton got tired of it and reached over to pull her skirt back down.  She moved right when he reached over and he accidentally touched her where he shouldn't have.  I was so thankful that the teacher knew Stockton well enough to ask me to find out what really happened.  That could have ended so badly!  Especially since the girl's mom was a teacher across the hall!  Anyway, an example how he is unflinchingly honest, even at such a young age.  Incredible.  (By the way, I didn't tell the details of the story above, that would have just been weird.)  I also talked about how Stockton has a heart of gold.  He is taking a peer tutoring class where he works with kids of different disabilities.  He loves it.  Stockton is not very social.  Only once since we moved here has he called and asked someone if they wanted to come over to play.  That was Johnny. A boy who has Down Syndrome who lives on our street.  Stockton also talked about us and how we have helped him.  It was so sweet.  I loved it when he said he was glad we were his parents.  That made me so happy!

Mike and I were then asked to leave.  The three leaders were then in the room with Stockton.  I'm not sure exactly what they talked about.  They were in there for about twenty minutes.  Mike and I hung out in the foyer talking to Josh Bingham.  Brother Bingham had walked to the stake center with Josh (12 years old) and Abby (about 4 I think).  Josh is such a great kid!  I loved getting to know him better.  Stockton then came out of the room while the three leaders deliberated on if Stockton deserved to be an Eagle.  The decision had to be unanimous.  They came out awhile later and asked us to come back in the room.  They told Stockton they had decided to award him the Eagle.  They talked awhile more about it.  The last thing they said was, "As of this moment you are officially an Eagle."  Well, I don't know 100% if that is the last thing they said, but it is the last thing I remember.  If Brandon had had his Court of Honor one week and one day later, Stockton could have gone into his Eagle's Nest!  That's okay.  Brandon earned his Eagle way back in September.  I am so proud of Stockton.  Not many boys can say they earned their Eagle as a 13 year old!  Stockton's scoutmaster is amazing!  He works the boys so hard!  He said that in his experience the boys either earn their Eagle before they are 14 or a week before they turn 18.  Haha!  Stockton worked really hard, but there is no way he would have accomplished this without President Back!  So thankful for amazing leaders!

Stockton ~ Eagle Scout

Sick Stockton

Stockton did not feel well today.  Right before school he fell back asleep in my bed.  I didn't wake him.  He woke up around 8:50.  He was so mad!  He claimed he was just waiting for me to take him.  Stockton does not like school, but he hates missing it more.  He can't stand to do the make-up work.  I had given him an advil in the morning and he didn't feel as hot, so I let him go.  He checked in the last bit of his first period class, English.  It wasn't too bad and I'm glad he got a little bit of a rest.

After school he still wasn't back to 100%, but he managed to deliver his birthday invitations with me. Isaac and Logan invited him to play basketball, but I wouldn't let him.  Too bad.  I would have loved for him to get out with the neighborhood kids.  Just not when he is feeling so yucky.  He got a little rest before he headed out to D.I. with Mike.  They wanted to donate the rest of the toys that were dropped off for his Eagle project.  Stockton's board of review is tomorrow, so we wanted to make sure this was done.

Maysen and I went to a meeting at her high school.  It talked about different A.P. classes and concurrent enrollment.  Maysen is not excited about her choices for English next year.  They do not offer Honors English.  It is AP English or nothing.  When she heard the AP teacher talking about the class she decided she did not want to take it. It is everything she hates about English, so why would she want to take it?  BYU is also accepting less and less AP credits.  So many decisions.  I am very glad we went to the meeting though.  I learned things about math for both Maysen and Stockton that I wasn't aware of.  Good to know the choices out there.  I have signed Maysen and I up for a meeting in a few weeks about concurrent enrollment.  It will be long, but better to understand everything before we need to make any commitments.

Ice Skating

I spent a lot of the day worrying about New Beginnings.  I'm not sure how much I accomplished.  I am so thankful to have Jacqui as one of my advisors.  I rely on her so much!  Especially when it comes to things like this.  We had a combined activity tonight.  Ice skating.  I was glad I wasn't in charge this year, although it is a pretty easy activity to be in charge of.  I have a new beehive moving in.  I met her tonight.  Her name is Hadley-Kate.  She also has an older sister that is Maysen's age. Her name is Mallory.  I sure hope Maysen & Mallory's personalities click.  It would be so nice for Maysen to have a friend!

Stockton worked a little bit on birthday invitations.  He did it all himself and they turned out so good!  I am so glad I didn't make them. I would have stressed and worried and come up with something half as good as he did.  Stockton has decided to do a jumping party at the trampoline arena.  He did that for his twelth birthday as well.  It will be a little different though.  We were able to get them to leave the place open for an extra hour.  It will just be his party in the place.  They will jump from 11:00 until midnight.  I hope I can stay awake that long! It should be fun though.  He is planning on inviting the deacons and a few of the brand new teachers.  Steve and Shannon's family will be there too.  They are driving two different cars to help me transport the kids.  We decided to meet at our house at 9:30 for cake.  Then between Steve, Shannon, Mike, my dad and I we will be able to get them there and back.  I didn't want the parents to have to drive all the way down there at midnight.  Hope he has a great time!

Just Home

Mike kicked the cousins out early this morning and drove the motorhome home.  The kids were thrilled because Mike let them lay in the beds as he drove.  I'm not sure what my opinion is on that.  I spent the day doing laundry, so it was super exciting.  The kids had the day off.  It was nice to be home.  Too bad Mike had to work.  Good he is able to work too.

It's Great to be Eight

Preston had his 'It's Great to be Eight' baptism introduction.  Wow!  He is turning eight this year!  The kids in his class had a little musical number they had prepared.  They played the chimes during the chorus of When I am Baptized.  I was the only one in our family who came to the meeting with Preston.  He really wanted me to record the song for Mike to see.  I have run out of room on my phone, but I tried to get what I could.  Luckily it recorded exactly the chorus before it shut off. They played a bit longer, but this worked just fine.

We hurried home after the meeting.  The rest of the family was waiting for us in the motorhome.  Mike drove the kids over to Steve and Shannon's in it.  I drove myself because I wanted to leave early.  I'm planning on getting up at 4:30 to exercise.  Mike wanted me to just fall asleep in the motorhome and he would drive me home.  I didn't go for it.

The kids had great fun riding with Mike.  They did learn a few things.  Like they shouldn't leave a candy bowl on the counter.  The bowl went flying the first hill they went down.  They loved riding in it though.

We had a lot of fun playing games at Steve and Shannon's.  Lisa, Taylor, Michael, Aimee, Jessica and Nova were there also.  It was kind of a thrown together/last minute thing, but it sure turned out great. Maysen and I went home around 9:45.  Mike ended up sleeping in the motorhome with Stockton, Jorja, Preston, Brandon, Jacob and Weston. Sounds like they had a great time.

Skiing

I got up bright and early to exercise while Mike got up bright and early to prepare the tent trailer.  We no longer need the tent trailer now that we have a motorhome.  I was so happy to see it go!  I wasn't that excited about it in the first place, it is older then we are!  Mike has liked working on it though.  It will be nice to get it out of our garage.  Bye-bye!

We decided to go skiing this afternoon.  There is never an ideal time to go, but it seems like the season is almost over and we haven't even made it up there once!  Preston LOVED it again!  No surprise there. The other kids had fun.  I was so scared on my way up the first lift.  I had asked some random guy in line what kind of hill this was.  He said he thought it was green and blue.  Okay, I can handle that.  I rode up the chairlift with Maysen, Stockton and Preston.  I was so scared! There is no way the hill we were over was green or blue!  How was I going to get down?  Would they let me ride the chairlift back down?  So scared! Mike and Jorja were several people behind us.  When we got off the lift I whispered to him that I was scared.  He just said, "Don't be."  Said the guy who grew up skiing.  I had only gone skiing three times before I was married.  Mike has no idea how terrifying this is to me!  Anyway, much to my relief, the back of the mountain had a green hill.  Happy! Happy!  Happy!  I went down part of the way with Maysen, Stockton and Preston.  About half way down I switched Mike. He went down with them and I stayed with Jorja.  Jorja is on the snowboard and goes a lot slower then the other kids.

Preston

 Stockton

 Mike & Jorja

 Jorja

Mike took the kids up to Preston Peak.  Preston was so excited about that!  He was upset that Mike's phone died, he really wanted a picture up there.  Jorja loved seeing the Snurfer.  Just like at the cabin.

Jorja and I went to the beginners hill.  She fell so hard on her tailbone. Ouch!  Maysen and Preston called out to us from the chairlift.  Preston was not ready to go when the rest of us were.

Preston

 Maysen

Mike and Preston made kabobs when we got home.  Preston was so happy cooking!  Man, he was so happy all day long.  I love it when that happens!

Preston

April

My dad came up this afternoon to look at Mike's birthday present.  He said he would come back later for a real tour.  He then came with me to the school to help the kids get on their ski stuff.  Mike set up an appointment with April for 2:00.  April is a cabinet person and is helping to design our kitchen.  Mike was unable to make it, so I needed to be there.  I got the kids dressed and ready and my dad helped them get on the bus.  I'm sure they would have been fine without him, but I felt a lot better knowing he was there.

April came over and blew my mind.  She wants to flip our kitchen so all the appliances are where our table is right now.  I don't know how I feel about that.  I actually really like how our eating area is set up. Especially with the cabinets from Mike's house.  I don't know if there would be a place for them if we did it April's way.  I really, really, really wish Mike was there for that meeting!  Good thing I didn't have to make any decisions.  April is going to work on a few different designs and show us what she comes up with in a few weeks.

I went to the school about twenty minutes early with a book to read. The buses were already there when I arrived!  Glad I came early.  Jorja hasn't had the best experience.  She was too nervous in the blue group, so they moved her down to red.  She doesn't like the red group because they go way too slow.  She was only able to go down Chickadee (the beginner hill) once.  That's not even worth all the hassle!  They have several red groups, she was really hoping to be in the same group as her friend Dallin.  They go down the bigger hills, but not as fast as they went down in the blue group.

Preston on the other hand has loved it!  I asked him if he liked skiing today.  He says as serious as he can, "No mom.  I LOVED it!"  So funny! I wish our other kids could have started this young.  Skiing once a year just doesn't cut it!  Glad Preston gets to experience this though. Especially since he enjoys it so much.

Mike's Early Birthday Present

Mike was able to pick up his motorhome today.  He was so excited.  He got home around 3:00.  We picked up Maysen at school and then I dropped him off at the RV place.  They spent the next two hours going over all the details on how to use the motorhome with him.  Mike loved it.  I was extremely relieved that Stockton had diving today!  Sometimes Stockton and Josh as so quiet on when they are in the car.  Not this time!  I was asking Josh questions about his motorhome they got a few months ago.  Stockton then told Josh about the How Much is a Million Book.  Somewhere in there it says if you have a million dollars in the bank, you will earn ten cents a minute for interest.  They spent the entire way to diving calculating different scenarios and how much interest they would earn.  Weirdos.

Mike got home around 5:30.  I helped him back it into our backyard. He did it pretty well.  Still a bit scary.  The kids had piano lessons starting at 6:00.  They go until 8:00, so we waited for awhile to show it off to the kids.  This was the first time Maysen and Stockton had seen it.  Matt stopped by on his way home from school.  Matt said, "This would be so fun to play Dominion!  I would never get bored!"  Haha. We slept in the camper tonight.  How could we resist?

 Mike & Jorja on the master bed
(most uncomfortable bed in the place!)

 Stockton & Preston up in 'Fort Preston'

 Jorja & Maysen on the bunks.  Jorja slept in the top one.

They are watching Buster Keaton.

Brandon's Eagle

I spent most of the day at the school volunteering.  I have been working a lot with kids in Jorja's class that need a little extra help in math. Once home, after a quick lunch I decided to surprise Mike by clearing off the rest of the ice.  Mike worked out here a lot yesterday.  He was also out here this morning when I got back from my exercise class. Anyway, while I was out working away, the RV guys came.  The one guy said, "I thought your husband was going to do that!"  Haha!  Mike does almost all of the work and I get the credit.  Anyway, they were able to get the motorhome up the driveway.  Mike was pretty excited when I sent him a picture.  I tried to get a picture of it as it drove away so Mike could see how close the back came to the ground.

Shannon called me this afternoon and told me that Brandon was getting his Eagle today.  Maysen had her therapy appointment, so I wasn't sure if we could make it.  We hurried home as soon as she was done.  I had called Mike and asked him to have all the kids that wanted to go ready.  Mike couldn't come because he had an Elders Quorum meeting.  I took Stockton, Jorja and Preston.  Maysen stayed with Mike and helped him move logs until his meeting.  I wish I would have gotten a picture of Brandon!  Anyway, Brandon is 14 now, but he earned him Eagle back in September when he was 13. He wanted to wait for his Court of Honor so he could do it with his friend.  Stockton has done everything for his Eagle except for his Board of Review.  He wanted to go up to the Eagle's Nest so bad!  Soon Stockton!  It would be nice if his Board of Review is before his 14th birthday, but I don't know if we can have any control over that.

Last Day

We have not been good at shoveling our driveway this year.  Stockton had a scout activity where they were shoveling driveways.  He did not bring back our shovel.  It hasn't been a big problem.  Mike has a 4-wheel drive and I have snow tires on.  My family can't get up our driveway easily though.  Anyway, Mike has now bought a motorhome. We need to get the driveway de-iced in order to get the motorhome up it.  Mike's plan was to spend today and tomorrow after work getting it cleared up.  Around 11:00 I heard a knock on the door.  It was the RV people with our motorhome!  Mike started to get worried that we wouldn't be able to get the motorhome up the slope of our driveway, even without ice.  That would be a bummer to buy something and then have no where to put it.  The RV people brought the motorhome over to test it out.  Luckily they didn't try!  I'm sure it would have slid off the driveway and hit the side wall.  They were really nice about it though.

Today was Maysen's last day of her quarter.  She had a math test today. She said she was feeling really confident.  She has a B+ in math right now, we were hoping the test would raise her grade.  When she got home I asked her how the test went.  She said it was really easy. Maysen asked me to print out her new schedule, so I got on Skyward. When I was there I saw Maysen's test result.  She did not do well.  It dropped her grade from a B+ to a C+.  I was shocked!  This is the last day of the quarter, no chance to fix anything.  That means her chance of getting the Regents scholarship is gone. Extremely lowers her chance to get into BYU.  We were both sick.  Maysen couldn't believe it!  She thought she understood everything.  Then she told me that her teacher never corrects their homework, maybe she had been doing it wrong all along.  Holy cow.  Just stunned.  I told Maysen she had to talk to her teacher to find out what happened.  (She has told me before that this teacher says a C is good, so I was not too hopeful.  How can a C be good if you lose your chance to get the Regents scholarship?  Most colleges don't think Cs are good as well.)  Anyway, Maysen and I jumped in the car and she went in to see if there was anything she could do.  I brought a book and told her to take her time.  She came out about twenty minutes later.  Her teacher worked through her test with her.  She had just made several silly mistakes.  He said that he knew she worked hard, really tried and wasn't just expecting an easy A.  He gave her another test to take home and asked her to hand it in in the morning. So glad Maysen talked to him.  So glad he was still at the school! Maysen worked on her test for a long time tonight.  She worked pretty hard until it was time to go to Young Womens.  Her class was going on a night hike.  She was thrilled.  Just kidding.  She did good though.

I had my beehives cut the invitations out for New Beginnings.  We then put a hole punch through the chimney and threaded a string of a balloon though.  The girls helped me deliver all the invitations. Everything was going so smoothly.  The one thing I didn't plan on was the strings getting horribly tangled with each other!  Oh man!  It took forever to untangle.  Finally Jacqui cut all the strings and we rethreaded the houses.  In hind site, it would have been smarter to cut and hole punch the houses, then not to thread the houses through until we were walking up to the door.  Oh well.  Live and learn.

Riley, Sephora, Whitney, Senora, Chloe, Lauren

 Olivia - she is my first new beehive this year.  Comes in February!

We will be getting six new beehives this year.  Three of them are named Olivia.  Haha!  The others are Ebony, Majena and Jorja.  Glad I didn't name Jorja 'Olivia'.  It was on the list!

This and That

Today was my first day getting up super early for my exercise class.  I had my alarm set for 4:30, but I was up by 4:15.  It was pretty hard, and really crowded.  Nice to be done so early though.

We also met with our builder today.  He brought a floor guy over to talk to us and to measure the floor we are having replaced.  The plumber was supposed to come as well, but he got held up at a different job. Once we decide on our kitchen layout we can get things rolling.  April is supposed to call and set a time to come up here and help us out. Mike and I think we have figured out where we want everything, we would just feel better if April looks at it and lets us know if we are making any horrible mistakes!

Stockton had an activity planned for Family Home Evening.  When it was time to go, he was still working on his homework.  We cancelled the plans.  We have told the kids to do their homework as soon as they come home from school.  I know he played the Wii for awhile.  This is a new thing.  The other system was they could have about a half hour break before they started on their homework/piano/chores.  What we discovered is it was really hard to get them to start.  Finally we decided that everything had to be done before they can start at all.  Makes for some long days for them, but at least things (usually) get done. Anyway, we are going to shoot for Wednesday to do FHE.

Preston probably has the most homework of everyone.  Between his English written homework, Chinese written homework, 20 minutes reading, looking at his Chinese teacher's blog, his on-line math assignments, and his Chinese take-home book that needs to be read three times a day.  Takes forever.  We usually don't finish everything.

Up Invitations

Mike helped me work on invitations for New Beginnings.  We are having an 'Up' theme.  The words are printed on the back of the house. We are going to have a small hole punch through the chimney to tie a balloon through.  On Tuesday my beehives are going to help me cut out the houses, tie the balloons and deliver the invitations.

Can you believe Jorja will be going into the Young Women program this year?  Kind of freaking me out!

My dad and Max came over tonight to watch The General with us. (Silent Buster Keaton film)  Maysen has been wanting to watch this for awhile.  She loved this movie when she was little.  We found a brilliant way to keep my dad awake through the movie.  He was in charge of the narration.  Worked like a charm!  The kids all liked it.  Even Stockton. Fun night.

Happy Early Birthday

So, Mike bought a motorhome today.  Hope we love it.  Okay, let's backup.....I'll start at the beginning of the day.  First, I got up super early to start my horribly hard exercise class.  It wasn't too bad today. The actual exercising part only lasted 45 minutes because they wanted you to weigh in, etc.  I came back and Mike was still asleep!  In his defense, it was only eight o'clock.  Must be hard being a night person living with a family of morning people.  Stockton and I went over to Becky's house for the youth planning meeting.  We had to plan all of the combined activities for the entire year.  I put myself in charge of Amazing Race again.  I'm a glutton for punishment.  I'm also in charge of a service scavenger hunt.  I might change that to a mini MTC Training activity.  We'll see when it gets closer.  I sent Stockton home and stayed with the rest of the YW presidency to plan what combined lessons we will teach this year.  I'm scheduled to teach February's lesson.  Becky texted me later today because the missionaries want to teach that lesson.  Haha!  Not even one day went by before are schedule gets messed up.  It will actually be nice for the missionaries to teach that lesson.  I'm in charge of New Beginnings two days later.  I'm pretty stressed about it already.  I hate planning parties.  Especially parties with a theme.  Good thing Jacqui is awesome!

After that meeting was over, I hurried down to my dad's church.  They were having a teacher training meeting that he was in charge of.  Too bad it was at the same time as my meeting, because I would have loved to have gone.  Actually I told my dad I could go before Becky sent me a reminder text about this meeting.  Glad she did.  I would have totally forgotten!  My dad only got 45 minutes of sleep last night preparing for this meeting.  I bet he is glad it is over with!  I heard many people come up to him and tell him what a good meeting it was and how it was very worthwhile.

While I was at my meetings, Mike took Jorja to Dallin's house.  Jazzie was also going to be there.  About two hours later Mike sent Dallin's dad a text saying we would pick up Jorja around 1:00.  He texted back, "Jorja wants to know if you could pick her up about 1:30...or 2:00...or 6:00"  Haha!  Guess she was having fun.  When we picked her up they were busy playing with Dallin's rats.  Which made Jorja want a rat.  I told her rats eat frogs.  She didn't buy it.

Once we had Jorja, we headed down to buy Mike's birthday present. We also took Preston with us.  He was so excited to see the motorhome. Maysen and Stockton decided they could wait.  Mike picked out a Leprechaun bunkhouse model.  It can actually sleep nine (tightly) and it has nine seat belts.  That way we can fit our family easily, and also take my dad to be our tour guide on a church history trip!  My dad's pretty excited about this present as well.  Almost as excited as Preston.

Preston

 Preston calls this area Fort Preston

Mike decided on the bunkhouse model because when we are just with our family we won't even have to put down the table or the couch to get the extra beds.  That will be really nice.  Jorja loved the top bunk.  Each of the bunks have their own TV.  Crazy.  There are more TVs on the motorhome then in our house! 

Jorja

The bottom bunk is actually just inches above the ground.  I thought it would be really weird, but when I tried it out I loved it.

Jorja

I think it will be fun to visit New Mexico, Oregon and Virginia!  Mike is excited to go fishing.  We are both hoping that the motorhome doesn't scrape when it goes up the hill of our driveway.  We have an RV parking pad in our backyard, what if it can't make it.  That will be disappointing.  And weird.  We will find out next week when we get to bring it home.

Stephanie

The rest of the day was spent dismantling Mike's office.  He is losing it. We are going to turn it into a laundry room/mud room.  Kind of strange to have the laundry room in the front of the house, but that is what made the most sense.  Mike's office does look awesome right now. Too bad.  We are going to reuse the cabinets for the kids computers.  I love that he was able to get these from his old house.  Hopefully they will look just as amazing in the other room.

Test Drive

I have been team teaching Preston's computer class.  The other lady told me they were able to hire a computer teacher, so we wouldn't need to teach anymore.  Hooray!  I got a message this morning that they didn't hire a teacher after all and we would need to teach today.  Yikes. I couldn't remember what time the class on Friday was.  My guess was 12:00.  We teach Thursday one month and then Friday the next month. Both classes are at different times.  This is because the kids rotate between their Chinese and English classes.  Chinese is their first class one month, then the next month English is first.  We switch the computer days so that we will always be with our child.  Don't know if that is hard to understand . . . . Anyway, I never got an answer, so I showed up at 12:00.  I was WAY off.  On Friday the class is at 10:15.  At that time I was at the violin store.  She came home with a broken violin. The bridge was completely off.  I thought for sure that someone had gotten into the violin cases and messed with them.  The lady at the store told me that it is entirely possible that the bridge fell off on his own.  Bizarre.  That has never happened in all the years we have had violins.  Maybe Gabriel was more gentle when he would tune the violin for the older kids?

Mike went and test drove a motorhome today.  He is getting pretty serious about it.  Spreadsheets and everything.  He likes to talk about it all the time.  I find it as interesting as the next person, but there comes a point when I just need to go to bed.

Mario Party

I kept Preston home from school today.  He was not sick AT ALL!  But, he threw-up too many times yesterday for me to feel comfortable sending him.  Especially on the bus.  Yikes!  Anyway, we had a great day today.  We played Mario Party for four hours.  Preston said it was only eighteen minutes.  We played a 50 turn game.  It took for-ev-er! At least it was fun.  Preston would jump up and around, it was stinking cute.  We also played a game of Dominion.  He CREAMED me.  It wasn't even close and I was trying to win.  He was pretty proud of himself.

I went to a meeting about Jorja's Chinese in middle school.  Our elementary school sends the kids to two different middle schools.  (A new middle school was built last year and caused this problem.)  I have been worried about what to do.  Jorja's close friends are going to the different middle school.  They will also be going to the different high school.  Depressing.  I have been debating with myself if I should try to send Jorja to the other school.  I found out today that they will not accept transfers.  I'm sure that is disappointing to many parents, but it was a relief to me.  I wasn't feeling good about sending her to our non-neighborhood school, now I don't have to decide.

This is what I learned about the schedule she will have.  There will be six periods during the day.  Math, Reading/Writing, Science will all be in English.  Jorja will have a World Civilization class in Chinese and a Language Arts class in Chinese (Chinese 2).  She will also have a Chinese Humanities class on A days and a directed elective like PE on B days.  Or visa versa.  It will be interesting to see how this transition to middle school works.  I hope she loves it!

I came home from the Chinese meeting and Jorja showed me several bracelets she had made out of rubber bands.  Cathy had given her a Rainbow Loom kit.  Jorja really likes it.

Hawaii....Maybe?

So.  We have been wanting to go to Hawaii with Brett & Rachel since before they moved to Japan.  They mentioned one time that when people move back, sometimes they can stop in Hawaii.  I kept pestering them and pestering them about it.  I have never been to Hawaii and thought it would be so fun to meet them there.  Rachel told me that there was a chance we could stay at the Air Force hotel thingy with them, which would be a lot cheaper then staying anywhere else.  It looked like they could have a few others stay with them.  I kept begging and begging to let us go with them.  Sounded so fun!  At Christmas time I asked Brett about it.  He said that they were thinking about skipping Hawaii.  They are anxious to get to Virginia, find a place to live and buy two cars.  Lots to do.  I talked to them again about it once Brett got back to Japan.  Brett said he was going to find out all the details.  Well, turns out that if he doesn't stop in Hawaii, he will have to pay $2,000 more.  Weird.  Great for us though!  The day to reserve the hotel was a few days later.  Rachel stayed up until 4 in the morning to get one for both of us.  That's dedication!  We were so excited.  That is until we found out that the same time we are planning on being in Hawaii is the same exact time that Skye is being baptized and Mike's new baby is being blessed.  Not only is it the same time, but it is in the middle of the trip.  Seriously, the only time in the entire year that we won't be able to be there is the day they picked.  What rotten luck. Brett & Rachel can't change their time.  I want to be at both places. Same thing happened with Anne's blessing last year.  The only Sunday we couldn't make it was the one she was blessed on.  Crazy.

Preston was sick today.  It was weird.  He was fine when I sent him to school.  I volunteered in his class - totally fine.  At 3:35 I got this text message. "Presten is sick".  Preston usually gets home at 3:40.  I had no idea who sent the message or where Preston was.  I wrote back, "Is he on the bus?"  "He is walking home" was the reply.  I threw on my boots and ran out the door to find him.  He was walking home with Jorja. Jorja said he threw-up everywhere.  On the bus.  Lots and lots.  Oh boy. He has been getting car sick a lot lately, so I assumed that is what happened.  I think Miles was sending me the messages.  The last one said, "Ok I think he tired."  Cute.  Anyway, Preston was acting fine and happy.  I texted my dad and let him know.  Max was planning on coming over.  They came anyway.  Preston kept his distance.  After Max had been over for awhile, Preston got sick again.  He kept running to the toilet to throw-up.  Over and over.  My dad had told the kids on Sunday that he would make them milkshakes when he came today. They were really excited about it.  We let Preston have one, even though we knew it was a bad idea.  It was a bad idea.  Oh man!  Right before Mike left for his Elders Quorum meeting Preston ran out of my room.  As soon as he was in the hall he threw-up everywhere!  All over the floor, all over the walls, all over the toilet.  It was a mess!  I got him right in the tub.  Mike cleaned up the floors (thank goodness!)  I then scrubbed the walls.  Oh boy.  We have him sleeping in the guest room right now.  No way am I having him in the basement on the top bunk! That is asking for disaster!

Birthday Lunch

My friends invited me to a birthday lunch at Kneaders.  It was so much fun!  Becky Johnson, Becky Bingham, Stephanie Waddoups, Jacqui Scott and Camee Clark were all there.  I had a great time.  I think I've only celebrated my birthday with friends two other times.  Just a bad time of year to have a birthday.

I took the Young Women to the temple today.  Eleven girls came.  It was Chloe's first time.  I had Darlene take a picture because I left my phone at home.  Whoops.

I get so tired at the end of the day now.  Once I have the kids in bed, I go climb in myself.  The only problem is Maysen is allowed to stay up until 9:30, so a lot of times she has to put herself to bed.  I feel bad about that.  I am definitely not a night person!

Back to Routine

School....laundry....piano practicing.....homework.... That pretty much sums up our day.  Preston did the lesson for Family Home Evening.  It was quite the lesson.  Basically he wanted to have contests where one person would mirror another person.  He kept saying, "I know Stockton will love this!"  He said, "In life you have choices and you can choose to be with people who make good choices." or something like that.  He was adorable.

Last Fast Offerings

We have 1:00 church this year.  My least favorite.  I did spend all morning preparing for my presidency meeting, the one with the YW presidency, advisors, and the youth presidency.  I walked over there are 11:20 thinking I would be a bit early.  There were tons of cars already there.  Turns out the meeting started at 11:00.  They had already broken out in groups and all the Beehives had gone home. Embarrassing.  Especially since I was ready at 11 and just waiting.  I did figure out what happened.  Earlier we had planned the meeting for 11:30-12:15.  I wrote it on my calendar.  When Becky sent the reminder, she sent it for 11:00-11:45.  I passed on the information, but never checked it with my calendar.  This morning I kept checking my calendar for the time, but never looked at my phone.  Too bad because I had a lot of things that needed to be done.  The Beehives are in charge of New Beginnings this year and I am NOT good at planning parties! Stresses me out.

I taught Stockton how to make rolls this morning.  He also went to pass out his last fast offerings.  He had our street, so I made Mike take a picture.  His hands were ICE COLD!  So were Ian's, but at least Ian was wearing a coat!

Stockton & Ian

Jorja, Preston and I went over to Audrey's house around 10:30.  It dawned on us that she might not know that church had changed to 1:00.  Her dad answered the door and said she was almost ready.  We told him that church started later, but she could come over whenever she liked.  So, she came over and played with Jorja and Preston before church.  At least the kids were ready, so it worked out great.  Audrey brought some paper doll things to do during church.  She cut out Anna from Frozen.  She also was playing with glitter.  Oh man!  She had glitter all over her hands.  We left sacrament meeting in the middle to clean her up.  I put her stuff in my bag and the glitter accidentally spilled, so the bottom of my bag is covered in glitter.  I guess I'll be sparkly for awhile.  Pretty funny.

My kids all got new teachers.  I was happy with all of them.  They announced the new Sunday School teachers at the end of sacrament meeting.  The shock of the day came when they announced Maysen's teacher.  She has BROTHER KIMBALL!  No way!  Brother Kimball is probably the best teacher in our entire ward.  Before we moved here, he was the gospel doctrine teacher.  When he was released, I heard the entire congregation gasped.  Anyway, this will be Maysen's 4th year with Brother Kimball. Holy cow!  When we moved into this ward Maysen was accidentally put in the wrong class.  They figured it out three months into the year.  They asked Maysen if she wanted to be moved to her correct class or wait until the end of the year to make that correction.  She really liked Brother Kimball, so she said she wanted to stay.  The next year, Maysen remained in the class and was able to have him again.  The next year they moved Brother Kimball up with the kids and had him teach the 15 & 16 year olds.  He is teaching the 15 & 16 year olds again.  The crazy thing is he got remarried around Thanksgiving.  His wife died a few years ago.  I talked to him the Sunday before he got married.  He had moved in with his wife who is in another ward.  He told me he was planning on finishing out the year and then would probably go to the new ward.  I thanked him for everything he had done for Maysen.  I told him he had been the most stable thing in her life outside of her family.  She has had him as a teacher almost the entire time we have lived in Utah.  I talked to him a little bit about Maysen's struggles right now and told him how grateful we were to have him in her life.  I just really wanted him to know how much of an impact he has made on her.  He said, "That changes everything."  I just laughed and joked, "No it doesn't.  I just wanted you to know how much you are appreciated."  I was so shocked when they announced Brother Kimball as her teacher again.  I couldn't believe it! Maysen got the biggest grin on her face while Stockton whispered, "NO FAIR!"  Needless to say, we are extremely happy with Maysen's not new Sunday School teacher.

The other kids all have fabulous teachers as well.  Stockton has Judy Bennett, Jorja has Vicky Waddoups and Preston has Sister Marilyn Rich.  Sister Rich was recently released as the Assistant to the Temple Matron of the Draper Temple.  All of the teachers are at least ten years older than me, most are probably twenty.  It is going to be a great year!

We had my family over for dinner today.  Abby is a Sunbeam now.  She was so excited about it.  It was so cute to see her face as she talked about it.  Loved it!  My dad brought over ham and potatoes.  We had rolls and drinks.  Pretty simple, but I got stuffed.  Matt and I played two games of Dominion. We both won one game.  Matt, Mike and Maysen watched Buster Keaton for awhile at the end of the night. That's about it.  School starts tomorrow.