Walled Off

My view out of my kitchen window is now pitch black.  So exciting! Preston wanted to still be able to play in the room.  Mike opened the kitchen window and helped him climb through.  He thought it was the greatest!  He wanted to stay and play his ds in there, but Mike and I didn't let him.  We didn't want to leave him in the box with no way to get out.  That's because we are good parents.

Preston hurt himself this morning.  He was running to catch up to Jorja who had already left for the bus.  He tripped and fell.  Bryce saw him fall and brought him home.  Jorja said she turned around when she heard crying.  Bryce had stopped and picked him up and was saying, "Are you okay?"  Jorja was worried he got hit by his car!  Glad that wasn't the case.  Preston had hurt his hand and his nose and forehead were scuffed up.  We ended up cuddling in my bed and watching Phineas and Ferb.  He was so cozy!  It has been a long time since he has wanted to cuddle with me.  I convinced him to go to school about an hour later.  It was either that or go to the tire store with me.

Preston also had a baseball practice today.  He was not looking forward to it.  He ended up having a great time!  His coaches are great.  They started with running the bases.  They eased them onto the field. Preston was so worried about getting hit before we got there.  I'm glad he was so happy.  That will make it easier to go back!

Games

Early this morning Jorja and I made in ice cream cake.  Then she hurried to her achievement days.  They took the girls to The Spoken Word.  I had wanted to take my beehives there for awhile, but never got around to it.  Jorja wasn't too impressed.  Mostly because someone tall was sitting in front of her and she couldn't see the violins.  Mike had to teach the old people how to utilize the Gospel Library apps.  Funny.  He did a good job though and many people said they learned a lot.  I should have him give my dad a mini class.  After church we went to Steve and Shannon's house.  Dinner and games.  Yummy!  Weston had his birthday a few days ago and got a new game.  I can't remember the name, but some monsters were attacking Tokyo.  Steve won.  I came in second, but it was a pathetic second place.  I didn't stand a chance. Jorja damaged me too severely and I never recovered.  Maysen almost won, but was knocked out right at the end.  She was a better monster than me.  Probably because she was the dragon.  I'm not sure what I was, I guess I should have noticed.  Noticing things is not my strong point.

Plans

Here are our plans for our kitchen.  I'm so excited!  I showed the kids the plan, but they just didn't share my enthusiasm.  Maysen wanted to just be surprised when it was done.  I made her look at the plans anyway.

Maysen, Jorja and I went to the General Womens' Meeting tonight. Jorja was annoyed that she had to wear a dress THREE times in one week!  She also went to the symphony for a field trip on Tuesday.  She actually loved it!  I took the girls to Cold Stone after.  Boy was that place packed!

Outside Floor

We have a floor!  Kind of.  It is funny looking at the kitchen floor outside of the house.

I triple booked myself today.  I needed to get Stockton to diving, Jorja to the stake primary activity and myself to the cabinet store to finalize our plans.  I was able to talk my dad into taking Stockton to diving, that helped a lot!  I took Jorja, Jazzie and Aubrey to the primary activity. Preston wasn't invited.  This activity was for the kids 8 and older. Luckily the activity lasted until 5:30.  If it was only an hour I would be toast!  I met Mike at the cabinet store.  I love how the plans turned out! I'm really excited about it.  The designers were both excited about it as well.  It is going to be a super cool kitchen.  We also had them finalize plans on the upstairs bathroom.  I love it!  I forgot to take a picture of the plans, I'll do that tomorrow.

We let the kids stay up late and watch Frozen.  It was nice to watch it again when we weren't distracted by the rocking of a boat!  It was really rocky during the movie.

Dodgers

I went back to school and worked with Jorja's class again.  About half the kids wanted me to work with them.  I was just itching to let her have me teach the entire class right there.  That would be fun.

Stockton had so much fun at diving today.  They played a game kind of like Horse.  One kid would do a dive and everyone would have to do that dive.  Whoever did the dive the best would get to choose the next dive.  Stockton loved it!  He had never tried a back one and a half before.  When Mike told me about it, I thought he said Stockton did a back two and a half.  I was shocked and said that he has never even done a back double before.  Whoops.  Back one and a half makes a lot more sense.

Preston had his first baseball practice yesterday.  It was really just a parent meeting and the kids played around.  They were planning on a practice after the meeting, but it was really cold!  The coaches seem like they are going to be great!  Both of them have been head coaches at different high schools . . . I think.  At least Preston will be with people who know what they are doing.  I hope they are patient with him! Their team is the Dodgers.  I told Preston that Uncle Bubs was going to love that!

Frankenstein

It snowed today!  Well, just a little bit.  Rob came over in the morning but didn't stay too long.  I volunteered in Preston's class and then helped in Jorja's.  I love how the kids in Jorja's class love to see me.  I walked in and immediately over ten hands shot up.  Even Jorja's.  I looked at her and said, "Really Jorja?"  She nodded yes.  The kids were having trouble figuring out how to find the surface area and volume of irregular shapes.  I have always thought that was kind of fun.  Anyway, I worked with several kids for quite awhile.  I didn't get to work with Jorja.  She was pretty disappointed about that.  She understands it, I think she just wants to be able to go out in the hall and work with me once.

Stockton came home and told me that the boy who won the spelling bee at his school won the regional bee and is now heading to Washington DC.  That's so cool!  He said that he was studying the word Frankenstein on the way to the bee because he kept messing up on it. That ended up being his winning word.  Holy cow!  Frankenstein was his winning word?  That was a word from the list.  Stockton knew every word on the list.  (The regional list.  They have used the same list for years!  It is a really big list and really hard.)  Anyway, Stockton knew all the words on the list a few years ago. They had to go off the list when he was in 6th grade.  There were at least ten people left.  Stockton finished 4th.  Man, if Stockton had been able to make it to regionals he would have had a really good chance of making it to DC.  I hope Michael Jones does awesome!  It would be so fun to see him.  We loved watching Vismaya last year!  She ended up taking 5th overall.  Wow.

Mike wanted to know who ended up sponsoring the bee.  He looked it up on the computer.  In January they had an article about the kids in this area not being able to compete in the bee.  Then a few weeks later another article that said two companies stepped up to sponsor the bee. One was a law firm, the other was Overstock.  What?  Mike had looked into Overstock sponsoring the bee back in October.  The deadline for the schools to sign up was one week away and he wasn't able to pull it off.  He never heard anything back and we assumed it wasn't going to happen.  That is so cool that they did this.  Mike loves that company!

Cement Truck

I finally got a membership to Costco.  I've been meaning to get one since we moved here, but never got around to it.  My dad went with me and showed me the ropes.  I had $100 worth of gift cards, so the membership was cheap.  I came home from Costco to find my driveway blocked with a cement truck.  I parked out front and unloaded my loot. I grabbed my phone to get a good picture just as the truck drove away. Drat!  Looks like the foundation has been poured.  So excited!

We had Young Womens' at Sister Riddle's house.  She wanted to do some get to know you activities.  The last thing she had was papers with everyone's name on them.  We were supposed to write something we like about the girl whose name was on the paper.  I did Sephora's first. I tried to write different things on every paper.  Ten girls and one leader. I did Senora's last.  I went looking for Sephora's paper so I could see what I wrote on hers.  I was dumbfounded when I found out I wrote the exact same thing.  Word for word.  I guess that is what identical twins get.  Man I laughed so hard!

No More Duct Tape

Maysen had the day off of school today, but I just did laundry.  She seemed to enjoy the time writing. We finally got our glass door fixed! The one that Mike drove the golf cart through.  That was Thanksgiving. We have had it duct taped all winter!  At least the window guy didn't charge us.  He said if it happened again we would have to negotiate. Let's hope it doesn't come to that!  Rob also was over with a jackhammer.  Loud but effective.

Mike brought home a Yonana's machine.  (I think that was the name) Preston was in heaven!  It turns fruit into a frozen yogurt texture.  We tried it with frozen bananas and frozen strawberries.  Delicious!

Preston

Stake Conference

Today was stake conference.  I had asked Jorja to let Audrey know that church was going to be at a different time.  I told her to explain to her that it is kind of like a two hour sacrament meeting.  Audrey is our neighbor.  She is 9 years old and goes to church with us frequently. Jorja knocks on her door every Sunday.  Sometimes Audrey comes over a couple of hours before church.  We just never know.  She is super sweet though and we have really enjoyed her come with us. Today, Jorja went and knocked on her door.  Her dad said she wouldn't be able to come.  Audrey talked her dad into letting her come. She even brought her 7 year old cousin.  I'm thinking, "Do you know what your getting yourselves into?"  They brought coloring books, so it seemed to go okay.  Mike and Maysen saved us a seat.  They had gone early because they were singing in the choir.  They both did great from what I could tell.  I guess they could have been lip syncing for all I know!

Baseball

I signed Preston up to play baseball.  I asked him if he wanted to play right after I gave him a birthday party invitation.  He was so excited, I don't think he realized what he was saying yes to.  That's okay with me, I jumped at the opportunity.  Anyway, we were contacted by his coach. He is on the same team with two of the boys in our neighborhood.  One boy is in his class.  Preston doesn't know the other boy, but I am friends with his mom.  I am so excited!

New Dives

I took Stockton to diving today.  Now that he dives at the same place as Josh, I don't get to see him dive as much.  Because of carpool.  Which is great, but I miss it.  I decided I was going to watch him today.  When I got there, Josh's mom was there too!  She had the same thought as me. Stockton worked on two new dives.  A reverse one and a half and a double.  He learned to do a double awhile ago, but he doesn't like it and hasn't done it for ages.  He did both of these dives many times today, so hopefully they will become a part of his regular routine.  It was cool to video it for him.  He came and watched after doing the reverse several times.  He noticed that his legs were bent when going in the water.  He had no idea!  Anyway, it is so fun for me.  I'm not good at uploading videos, so these might work, or they might not.  I tried to put two of each dive.  The first try, and then one towards the end.  Not sure if that makes sense, but then again, I might have uploaded the wrong videos anyway.

Our house is coming along.  Rob Smart, our contractor, put some metal things down against the window to avoid cave-ins.  Sounds like a good idea to me.  Yesterday Rob asked me where I wanted the dumpster.  He said that once it is here, it we wouldn't be able to move it.  We thought near the mailbox would be the best place.  I talked to Mike about it.  He wanted to put it up near the gate, which is a much better idea.  I just didn't realize the dumpster was coming today!  Mike hadn't texted Rob yet about the new location.  I had no idea how huge the dumpster was going to be!  There is no way we will be able to get the motorhome out, and if we did we wouldn't be able to get it back in.  Whoops.

Mike and I went to watch one of my former beehives at her drill showcase.  I just had no idea how long it would be.  It went forever!  We were so hungry after, so we decided to try Smash Burger.  I had heard such good things about it.  I wasn't impressed.  Oh well, now I know.

Dropped

So yesterday I went to the doctor's.  I wanted to double check the room number, so when I got out of my car I went to look at my phone.  I pulled the phone out of my jacket pocket and it practically flew out of my hand.  It landed flat on the sidewalk.  Unfortunately, the entire back was shattered.  My front has had a crack in it for awhile, but it isn't a big deal.  This one will be more problematic.  Kind of more jagged.  The phone still works, but I'm scared of getting glass in my hands.  Jorja let me use her old iPod case.  At least I can put it in my pocket without worrying.  It is hard to talk on the phone when it is in her case.  I'll be talking to Mike and then all of a sudden he is on speaker, and then I'm trying to FaceTime him.  Sometimes I think I'm talking to him and don't realize that I have hung up on him and called someone else.  Fun.

This is the progress on our house so far.  Preston loves to go outside and help move the bricks.  He thought it was pretty cool that the bricks looked like a couch.

It Has Begun

I had lunch today with my cousin Heather.  It was wonderful!  We are going to try to meet together for lunch once a month.  We have talked a lot the last few weeks and she has been on my mind almost constantly. I didn't want to write anything about it until I knew it was okay with her.  Anyway, she is planning on getting a hysterectomy and mastectomy like I did.  Her doctors don't want her to have them both at the same time.  She is scheduled to have her hysterectomy at the end of this month.  Hopefully the mastectomy will be soon after.  A few weeks ago Heather texted me from Washington D.C.  Her mammogram had come back abnormal.  She needed to go back in.  They wanted her to come in the next day.  Obviously she couldn't do that because she was in D.C., but it was absolutely terrifying!  Last Wednesday Heather had her follow up appointment.  I remember praying so hard in the morning.  "Please let Heather be okay, please let Heather be okay." Then I stopped myself and said, "No!  Don't let her be okay, make her be okay!"  A few minutes later Heather called.  The mass they saw on the mammogram was an extra milk duct.  Scary, scary, scary!  Heather said, "I know for sure I am doing the right thing."  Yep.  Not fooling around in this family!

Lunch was so much fun.  We went to the Cheesecake Factory and talked for two hours.  Time flew by.  Definitely glad we are going to try to make this a monthly thing.

Today we have also FINALLY started working on our house.  We have this little alcove in the front of our house.  I hate it.  It is ugly and weird and serves no purpose.  Other than to trick people into thinking that is our door.  Just bizarre.

Because of this little alcove thingy, our kitchen is a weird shape.  We are going to get rid of the alcove and update the kitchen.  I'm really excited and anxious to do this.  It will be so nice when it is done!

Our contractor started taking the bricks off of our wall today.  I thought he would sent hired help to do it, but no, it was him.  I really like him. I'm excited to get this started.  I hope it will be done by the time Brett & Rachel come.  I want Rachel to cook for me in my new kitchen!  Haha Rachel!  Okay, you don't have to cook for me, but I want you to play in it.  Although, the only way it will be done is if we don't have any delays. I don't think that is possible, but one can always hope.

Tickets

I started running again with Maysen.  She is thrilled.  We ran a mile and a half this morning.  It was pretty cold though.  We will have to dress warmer next time.  In other news . . . we bought tickets to HAWAII!  I'm so excited!  I've never been there before.  We saved up our frequent flyer miles for two years (since we bought our tickets to Japan).  We had to use them all, but they paid for half of our tickets.  It still was pretty expensive, but at least it didn't break the bank!  We will get to spend a week in Hawaii with Brett and Rachel.  I am so excited!

Treasure

Preston had such a fun Family Home Evening tonight.  We worked on a scavenger hunt together with gold coins.  On each coin was written something like pray, read scriptures, baptism.  Things like that. The last clue had us go to the motorhome where Preston had the rest of the treasure.  He also had something nice written about each family member.  He likes how Jorja plays with him.  How creative Stockton is. How Maysen loves him.  How I care for him and how Dad helps him. He told us if we follow the treasure clues it will lead us to Heavenly Father where we can be a family forever.  So cute.  Then we ate snickerdoodles and played Five Straight.  I was so excited when I saw Five Straight at the game store Friday.  Stockton and Mike won the first game.  Jorja and Preston won the second game.  We told them they could talk to each other (about their cards) if they talked in Chinese. Haha.  It was awesome!

What is Silver?

Silver is like the freedom, that we have won.

Silver is an ice dragon's fur, glistening in the sun.

Silver is a fish, given to a pup.

Silver is confident, and never giving up.

Silver is the moon, in the night's sky.

Silver is snowboarding, up really high.

Silver is the sparkle, of many eyes.

Silver is the wind, as it seems to fly.

Silver is the gleaming water, that we all drink.

Silver is the flower, that is not pink.

Silver is the soft silk, that costs more than a dime.

And now I am running out, of silver poem rhymes.

--Jorja Smith

Hobbit

Two dates in a row!  Mike and I finally got around to seeing the second Hobbit movie.  It is now in the cheaper theater, so that was great.  I only fell asleep a couple of times.  I am definitely not a night person!

Today we worked so hard.  The biggest thing we got done was the boys' room.  We took their bunk beds down and got their room clean.  It has been a disaster since we had the girls in it during the painting job.  It was funny because 'dust baseboards' was on Stockton's list.  He double checked with me that I was talking about his room.  It took me awhile to figure out that Stockton's room doesn't have baseboards anymore. Whoops.  We still have some parts of their room to finish.  It looks great now.  I should remember to take a picture when the boys are awake!

Veronica Mars

Happy pi day!  We had pizza (pi) for dinner.  I didn't get a chance to make a pie because I have been stuck at home for the last two days. The cabinet guy was supposed to come and measure some things yesterday. 8:15 was our set time.  He never showed.  I called him about 10:30.  He said he could get there by 12:00.  Again I waited.  He called around 4 and said he got held up on another project and couldn't make it.  We set a time for 11:00 today.  Same story as yesterday.  I waited, he never showed.  No pie for us.  Once the kids were in bed, Mike and I headed to Village Inn.  We were determined to have pie today!  My kids don't even really like pie, so I didn't feel bad.  Village Inn was almost all out of pie!  What?  I know a lot of people came in for pie today, but wouldn't they expect it?  We did manage to get banana cream pie, although it wasn't that good.  That's okay because we came home and watched Veronica Mars.  So fun!  It's been forever since Mike and I have had a date.  We need to do that more often!

Grouse

So, Stockton had a spelling bee today.  He found out about it on Tuesday and got the list yesterday.  He was able to memorize the entire list, so he was feeling okay.  Right before the bee started the announcer told them they would not be using that list.  That list was just to practice how it is to spell words.  That is weird.  Why would you study those words if you know none of them are going to be asked?  Right then it made the bee a luck game.  Stockton hates luck games.  He insists that he always loses when it comes down to luck.  The words started off super silly.  Stockton's first word was shy.  I'm serious. Although one person spelled July Jouly and another one spelled silly sily.  His words went from ridiculously easy to I have never heard of this word.  He had tower, award and joust.  Then came the round with weird words.  Stockton got out on grouse.  He spelled it grouss.  It was kind of funny because a lot of the words in that round were a lot stranger, but Stockton knew how to spell them.  He said to me after, "Why couldn't I have gotten bulbous?"  Anyway, we were happy with the kid that won.  His winning word was netiquette.  Stockton knew that one too.  This poor kid has the next round on Saturday.  Talk about no time to prepare.  I'm not sure if our district was able to get someone to sponsor them in the Scripps spelling bee, or if they are just doing something for fun.  I hope he does well.  He seems like a great kid. 

Stockton and I were talking about spelling bees.  At the school level they shouldn't go to the crazy words.  They should have words like their, there, your, weird, vacuum, believe, calendar, cemetery, twelfth, library, misspell, principal, principle, receive.  There are many words that many of the junior high kids don't know how to spell right.  Save the crazy words for DC!

How to Write Good

I saw this somewhere and thought it was so funny!

HOW TO WRITE GOOD

1.  Avoid Alliteration.  Always

2.  Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.

3.  Avoid cliches like the plague.  They're old hat.

4.  Comparisons are as bad as cliches.

5.  Be more or less specific.

6.  Writers should never generalize.

Seven:  Be consistent!

8.  Don't be redundant;  don't use more words than necessary;  it's highly superfluous.

9.  Who needs rhetorical questions?

10. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.

Value Plates

We met with the cabinet people who are helping us design our kitchen. It has been frustrating because they keep showing us designs they want us to do without listening to what we want.  Mike and I had to laugh because on the bottom of the design they worked up today it said, "FINAL DESIGN".  We thought it was funny because all the other designs they hadn't done what we asked them to do.  Of course we didn't like it.  It wasn't what we wanted.  The first time they wanted us to have the kitchen in the dining room area, even though I told them I didn't want to do that.  I told them I was open to anything, but I would prefer not to switch the dining area.  When they showed us the plans, their idea is the only thing they worked up.  The next time when they showed us the plans, they got rid of Mike's grill.  He loves that thing! They had tried to talk us into getting rid of it, because it is ugly.  We told them how much we use it and that we weren't willing to get rid of it.  Obviously we didn't like their next plan when they got rid of the grill.  Mike and I finally decided what we wanted.  It is hard because our kitchen is such an odd shape.  The design people really wanted us to get rid of the counter where the grill is  now.  To make it more open. The thing we need is cabinet space and seating.  I don't want to get rid of that area just so we can have air.  I know it would look awesome, but I think we need the other things more.  We don't have any storage in this house, so I'm hoping we can fit a ton of stuff in the new kitchen. Anyway, we are now on the list to get our cabinets made.  That won't happen for another 14 weeks.  I'm really anxious to get things started. The picture below isn't an actual plan, but it gives you an idea of the placement of things.

Our Young Women activity was awesome today.  I found this idea on Pinterest.  I usually can't figure out how to make anything on Pinterest, so I was excited that this turned out.  I bought some plates at the dollar store.  I had my friend write each of the Young Women values with a sharpie on them.  Then I baked the plates for 30 minutes at 425.  The plates came out looking purple, so I was worried I messed it up.  They looked much better when they had cooled down.  The beehives were each asked to bring one dozen cookies.  We divided the cookies up so the plates were overflowing with yumminess.  The girls then picked someone in our ward who fit that value.  They wrote cards that said, "Thank you for being an example of our Young Women value faith (or whatever value was chosen)."  It was so cute to listen to the girls pick who the plates should go to.  They ended up picking Laura Longhurst for faith, Bishop Lundgren and his wife for divine nature, Deb Brockbank for individual worth, Gordon Kimball for knowledge, Bob and Leslie Perry for choice and accountability, Vicky Waddoups for good works, Sandy Hawkins for integrity, Steve and Elaine Gray for virtue.  This activity turned out great!

Gold Nuggets

I went down to my dad's house to pick up the bracelet Gayle found for me.  Years and years ago, before I was married, Grandma Millburn had me go through her jewelry box.  My grandma had tons of fancy jewels. She wanted me to pick out something that would be passed down to me.  I found this bracelet and asked her about it.  She said that she had it made from some gold nuggets my great-great grandfather brought home from the gold rush.  (I'm pretty sure it was my grandma that had it made into a bracelet, but not positive.)  Anyway, how cool is that? My great-great grandfather had a saloon in Alaska during the gold rush. These were his.  I think my grandma thought it was weird that out of all her fancy jewelry, this is what I wanted.  I just really thought it was awesome.  Anyway, after my grandma died I asked my dad about the bracelet.  He and Gayle looked for it, but they couldn't find it anywhere. Gayle told me that grandma wanted me to come and pick out a piece of jewelry, I just never did.  Anyway, when Gayle was getting ready for Jae's wedding, she was looking around for something to wear.  (Gayle lives at my Grandma and Grandpa's condo.)  She came across this at the bottom of my Grandpa's sock drawer.  I think.  I was glad Gayle found it and remembered that it was for me!  I love it!

I took Maysen, Stockton and Jorja to the eye doctor today.  Stockton has 20-40 vision and needs glasses.  He asked for contacts.  Jorja also asked for contacts.  I told the doctor I wanted Maysen to try contacts, but she refused.  So, Maysen has glasses and the other two came out with contacts.  I wish Maysen would just trust me sometimes.  She would like contacts if she gave it a try.  They're not that bad and definitely better than glasses!

Just Stuff

The nice thing about 1:00 is that we could come back from camping and still have plenty of time to make it to church.  Too bad it was Daylight Savings today.  Didn't like losing that hour.  Both Mike and I had to teach today.  I asked Sister Brockbank to come in and talk to the girls for 3-5 minutes.  She ended up taking most of the time.  She did great and the girls loved it.  She was their achievement day leader years ago, so it was nice for them to hear from her again.

Lakeside

We stayed at the Lakeside RV Campground.  It was really close to Utah Lake.  We went on a walk this morning.  So pretty!

Stockton, Mike, Jorja, Preston, Maysen

Mike, Maysen and I played Parcheesi.  I had the best come from behind win of all time.  It was awesome.

Maysen and Stephanie

 Stockton continued to enjoy the Wii

Jorja and Preston spent a couple of hours working on math.  I'm serious.  It was adorable.  I taught Preston how to carry with addition. He loved it!  My friend, Camee, likes to laugh and laugh about Jorja bringing homework to a swimming meet in the summer.  I tried to explain that they were logic puzzles, but she couldn't see the difference. She would laugh so hard about this!

Preston and Jorja

We remembered Jorja and Preston's bikes.  Next time we will remember their helmets.

Jorja and Preston

The kids loved the playground, especially the tires.  These pictures are all similar, but I love the look of them hopping from one tire to another.

Jorja, Preston, Maysen

I didn't realize that Stockton was in the last group to compete today. He had nine dives on the 3 meter.  He did a great job, and it was so fun to be there watching him with the entire family.  The first thing he said to me after he finished was, "I want to learn new dives."  Awesome! That is actually what I was hoping he would want to do after regionals.

We took the kids to the BYU Creamery for ice-cream after the competition.  I did not realize how crowded it would be!  It wouldn't be a big deal, but I was on a time frame!  When we got back to the camper it was 5:00.  I wanted to go to my cousin Jae's ring ceremony at 6:00. My dad called this afternoon and told me we couldn't go together because they had Disney on Ice tickets.  I didn't think it was a big deal. I knew there was no way I could get home to change and grab the address and make it to Salt Lake.  I tried to text my dad for the address, but he still had his phone off because of the show.  I had no idea if they had a reception afterwords.  I totally would have gone if I could have made it to that, but I was scared that I would leave my family and when I arrived everyone would have been gone.  When I couldn't get a hold of my dad, I decided not to go.  I felt so bad!  I should have gone anyway. They did have a reception afterwords.  It even had the information about it really big on their invitation.  I just focused on the little card about the ring ceremony.  By the time my dad called me, it was too late to go.  Man was I disappointed!

My dad told me Gayle had a surprise for me and he asked if I knew what it was.  I told him I could only think of two things.  Either Jennie was there or she found my bracelet.  Gayle had found my bracelet.  She even wore it to the wedding and was planning on giving it to me there. I couldn't believe it!  I was so excited.  I will write more about that when I have the bracelet.  So excited about that! 

Diving at BYU

This morning I got Maysen to school.  She had school while the other three did not.  This worked out really well for me.  Stockton went to regionals for diving today.  It was held at BYU.  It is usually out of state. I couldn't believe that Stockton didn't have school and Alta had a B day, so he didn't have math either.  Perfect.  Anyway, I dropped off Jorja and Preston at my dad's house.  He happened to have Max today. Max didn't have school either.  Another thing that just worked out.  They had fun playing all day long.  When we finally got back, they were at Arctic Circle having a blast.

It took me a little while to find the right building at BYU.  The directions said to turn right after the light just past Provo Highschool. Obviously wrong.  Should have turned left.  Little stressful.  The was Stockton's first huge meet.  Monica had asked him to go to Oregon a few years ago, but we decided not to.  There were so many good divers there!  Stockton competed in the 14-15 year old category.  Too bad.  The boys in that category were huge and doing really hard dives.  Stockton's degree of difficulty was a lot below the others.  It did make the competition less stressful.  Knowing we were there just for the experience.  The 12-13 year old category was where he really belonged. The boys looked like him and were doing the same dives as he was. Too bad he was out of that category by a little over a month!  Today he competed in the 1 meter.  He had nine dives.  It was so much fun to watch him!

Stockton

On the way home we stopped by Sherry's house.  She had called me yesterday and told me Anne's handprints were done.  They turned out so cute!  Love it!  Sherry also showed me around her house.  They added on two rooms upstairs and another bathroom.  It makes their house so much bigger.  Looks really great too.

When Mike came home we gathered up everyone to go camping. Stockton has the second day of his competition tomorrow, so we thought we would camp up in Provo.  Maysen also had a writing conference at UVU.  I procrastinated signing her up for it because she didn't seem too excited.  I still wanted to take her, but I also wanted to make sure it wouldn't interfere with Stockton's diving competition. Turns out it would have worked out perfect.  Too bad by the time I figured it out the conference was sold out.  I didn't expect that because they had an 'at the door' price.  Also turns out Maysen really wanted to go.  I can't win.

Anyway, Mike and the kids drove up in the motorhome.  I drove separately and stopped at Matt and Sam's on the way.  They loved the handprints.  How could you not?  Bryan Leatherwood and his wife were also there playing Dominion with Matt.

By the time I got to the campground everything was all set up and Mike was ready for dinner.  Pretty fun day.

Preston

 Jorja watching Lady in the Tramp

Maysen watching Emperors New Groove

 Stockton - he spent most of the time playing the Wii

How Stockton Failed his Fitness Test

I survived Parent/Teacher conferences for Stockton, Jorja and Preston. They are all doing excellent.  Jorja is above average on anything related to English or math.  She is right on target for her Chinese.  Her listening ability is at 'intermediate low', speaking ability is 'novice high', reading ability is 'novice high' and writing ability is 'novice high'.  That is the target range for fifth graders.  

Preston also is above average in anything related to English or math. He is almost on target in Chinese.  His listening ability is at 'movie mid'.  He should be at 'novice low' for speaking at the end of the school year.  He is not quite there yet.  They recommended to have Jorja practice speaking with Preston.  I would love that!  I love to hear them talk in Chinese.  I recorded them talking to their teachers so Mike could hear.  It is so dang cute!  I wish they wouldn't be so shy about it. Preston wouldn't be shy about it except he has watched Jorja refuse to talk Chinese.  Hopefully this will help them lighten up!  Plus, don't they realize it is totally awesome?

Stockton had student-led conferences which he detests.  This is his last one and he was thrilled that he will never have to do these again.  He had to write a letter to his parents.  This was his.

Dear Mom,

This is the last Student-Led Conference I will ever have to do.  That is exciting news because they are pointless.  I doubt anyone takes them seriously.  They're just an excuse to force us to set goals and make us remember what we've suffered through so far.

At least we're starting the third trimester.  That means our seating chart in U.S. History will finally change.  Maybe the third time will be the charm.  I hope I will like where I sit.  Hopefully the teachers won't give us as much work.  Anyway, thanks for stuff.

--Stockton

Stockton was able to get all As again.  We had a scare with his PE class. He had an A on the morning of the last day, then all of a sudden it was an A-.  I know an A- is an okay grade, but he had an A that morning!  I looked in detail and he failed his fitness test.  I did not thing he should have so I wrote the following note to his teacher.

I was surprised to see Stockton's grade dropped to an A-.  I was especially surprised to see that he failed his fitness test.  Could you tell me why?  I know he was there and he felt like he did well.  He ran the mile and a half in 13 minutes and 47 seconds and said he never stopped to walk.  He did 33 push-ups and 58 curl-ups.  I'm extremely curious about this.  What was he supposed to get in order to receive an A?  My heart about dropped when I saw he not only received an F, but he received the lowest score in the class.  Please let me know what happened.

This is the reply I received from his teacher.

Stockton missed the last day of testing, which was the fitness test.  He ran the 1.5 mile run on Monday/Tuesday.  He did to do the Push up/curl up test for the mid-year testing.  That is a loss of points.  I had wondered at the time where he was.  I asked Josh Yauney if he was in school today and he told me no.  He may have been the only one absent.  I do not have my rolls here, Cooper has them.

Holy cow!  I couldn't believe it!  Stockton and Josh are a few minutes late everyday for PE because they have math at the high school.  We have worked it out and while it is annoying for everyone involved, it isn't too big of a deal.  The thing I couldn't believe is she got the two of them mixed up!  Of course I immediately replied.

Stockton absolutely was there that day.  100% he was there.  I drove him there.  He did 33 push-ups and 58 curl-ups.  Stockton does not forget numbers.  Josh Yauney was absent.  He was at his cousin's funeral.  Could you please fix Stockton's grade?

Long story short, his grade was fixed.  This is the e-mail I received from his teacher.

I would first like to apologize.  Your son attended class, but came late. Joshua Yauney was absent and I gave his results for the curl ups and push ups to him.  Sorry, you are right!  So I will do my best to make all the changes.  Please tell Stockton I am sorry and I will take care of business.  Thank you for your diligence.  Your son is great in class and I am happy to dig us out of this situation---that I got us into.

I did write her a nice note back.  I am so glad I asked.  Not that an A- is horrible, but if he earned the A he should receive the A!

Argentina Posadas

Taylor got his mission call today!  We went over to his house to watch him open it.  Melissa and Aimee had made a huge sundae bar that was absolutely delicious!  Last week we all guessed where we thought Taylor would go.  One domestic guess and one foreign guess.  Maysen guessed Argentina.  She wanted to change it to Australia, but Stockton talked her out of it.  When Aimee left on her mission, Maysen guessed Spain and then changed it right before Aimee opened her call. Stockton reminded her of that and told her she would be so mad if that happened again.  Luckily she listened to her little brother.  So funny! Taylor was really excited.  We are going to miss him!  My kids adore that kid!

Taylor, Melissa, Nova,

Aimee holding the phone so Nathan could FaceTime, Lisa, Michael

 Taylor, Nova, Melissa

 Reading the call! AHHHHH!!!

 Taylor showing his dad the call.

(Nathan was out of town for business.)

 Mike and Lisa

 Maysen and eyes closed Taylor

 Birthday buddies.  Love them!

 Eyes closed Taylor again!

Stockton, Jorja, Mike, Maysen, Stephanie, Preston

 That's better!  Except Preston's eyes are closed...or just weird.

 Padz, Taylor, Jorja

 Preston and Taylor

 Awww.  I love this!