Diving Regionals

Stockton had his regional diving competition today at BYU.  He did so great!  He scored 192.15 which is about 50 points higher than he was scoring at the beginning of the season.  This was also his highest of the year.  Stockton came in 2nd place for the boys 5A.  Kimble was first. Obviously.  He scored over 300.  He is amazing to watch and is hoping to make it to the olympics next year.  This is only the second time Stockton has beat Josh, but Stockton did score higher than Josh's high. So cool!  Stockton added a double and took out his inward flip.  He scored 5 1/2s on his double and with the degree of difficulty it just made his score skyrocket past his previous high.  Stockton was so happy!

Kimble 1st place, Josh 3rd place, Stockton 2nd place

My friend from high school, Kristi Bell, also comes to the dive meets. Her daughter dives too.  She is a senior and decided to start diving this year.  I thought that was very brave!  She has had trouble doing and inward and a reverse dive.  It is pretty scary if you have never done it before.  In order to compete in state you need to compete in three dive meets and land a dive in each category.  Then the top 40 boys and girls get to go on.  I think it is top 40, but it might be a different number. There are not many divers, so it doesn't seem to make a difference. Anyway, Paige is super smart and was named on the All-State Academic Dive team, or something like that.  Kristi thought it was hilarious.  Paige had never landed an inward or reverse before, so today was her last chance.  She barely made her inward.  Her head had to go in before her feet.  She scored ones on it, but she did it.  When she did her reverse she landed on her head just barely.  It was the craziest looking dive, but again she made it.  Ones on that too I believe.  The coolest thing was when she did that one all the divers erupted in screams.  They cheered so hard for her.  It was so sweet.  She has a chance to compete at state depending on how many divers qualified. So cool!  I love diving.

Before I sent the kids to bed I wanted to talk to my girls.  I talked to Jorja first and told her that I am being released tomorrow.  She burst into tears.  It was so sad.  I didn't really know what to do because I kind of feel the same way.  Maysen came into the kitchen while Jorja was crying.  I told her what was happening.  I asked Jorja if she wanted to know who was taking my place.  She nodded.  I told her it was Preston's scout leader.  Maysen was by the sink and gasped, "Sue!  Sue's the new leader?  Wait.....will she be over everyone or just the beehives?"  I told her just the beehives.  Maysen said, "Jorja you are so lucky!  I want to be with Sue!"  I think Maysen's reaction helped Jorja a lot.  Sue is amazing.  I feel like I need to apologize to the scouts and their parents that now they have me instead of Sue.  Not looking forward to tomorrow.

Family Date Night

Today was really fun.  Preston had short day.  He only gets that once a month now and I really miss it!  We decided to play Dominion once he got home, for old time sake.  As soon as the kids got home we packed up and went to a movie theater about thirty minutes away.  We met Mike there and saw Big Hero 6.  We all really liked it!  After the movie we went to dinner.  It was a simple, great night.

Lost Keys

I have been doing my super hard exercise program the last two weeks. It is Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays for two weeks.  I get up at 4:15.  I like to be there right when the gym opens so I can get my favorite spot in the back.  Plus he likes you to warm up on the treadmills before class starts.  Anyway, today I was up and ready to go and I couldn't find my keys anywhere.  I was getting frustrated and started to think I might not be able to go.  Now that I was up I didn't want to miss it.  I thought, "This is ridiculous!  I'm dressed, my water bottle is ready and I have the car warmed up!  Where are my keys!"  It took me a few moments to realize the keys were in the car, warming the car up.  Whoops.  I guess it is a little early!

Stockton's 15th Birthday

Stockton is now 15.  That is so weird!  Mike took him driving the other day!  Yikes!  Just in the church parking lot, but still......

Stockton didn't have the best birthday.  He did have to go to school.  He went to diving yesterday so he could just stay home and relax.  Turns out he had a lot of homework he had to do.  He also had many tests today, so that wasn't much fun either.  I offered to bring Stockton lunch, but he didn't want me to.  I went to pick up his cake from Cold Stone while he was at school, but it wasn't ready.  We ordered it for 12:00, but the people accidentally put 2:00 on the ticket.  The guy felt bad and told me it was their fault and offered me free ice cream.  I couldn't pass that up.  I tried red hot ice cream because I love red hots. It wasn't that great.  I liked the cinnamon flavor, but the red hots just were smashed in chunks and had a weird texture.  It was no big deal to come back later, we didn't really have too much planned.  Maysen wanted to get Stockton nice chocolates, but we never made it out.  I decided to stop by Sees.  I was able to get a box of chocolates of just Stockton's favorites.  That was great!

Stockton

Stockton wanted Little Caesar Pizza for dinner.  I picked up his cake when we got the pizza.  Jorja gave Stockton a background for his 3ds. He really liked it.

Jorja, Maysen, Stockton, Preston

 Maysen's chocolates were appreciated.

Stockton only asked for one present.  His main present was his phone which we gave him back in November.  When we were on our trip to San Francisco I bought a book called, "All My Friends are Dead".  It is pretty funny.  The only present Stockton asked for was the book, "All My Friends are Still Dead".  Again funny, but I don't think it tops the first one.

Stockton reading his new book. 

Scoop and Cori came over.  They gave Stockton a few presents.  He was laughing so hard because they gave him a shammie.  Shammies are used by divers to dry off after they get out of the water.  Stockton already has one but has refused to use it because a long time ago a ton of divers had shammies and they were annoying with them.  Now Stockton won't touch them out of principle.  It is really weird.

Here Cori is telling Stockton that it isn't a shammie, but a quick drying towel.  Which is exactly the same thing as a shammie.  It was pretty funny.  I personally think it was a great gift.  It showed Stockton that they know diving is important to him.  They would have no way of knowing his feelings on the shammies, which is why it was so funny. I'm writing this down to remember how funny it was because we got a good laugh out of it.  I'm not writing this down to tease Scoop and Cori because it really was a thoughtful gift.  They spent quite a bit of time with us today and it was so nice.

 Scoop gave Stockton this fun chest with different cool coins inside.

Here is Stockton's birthday cake.  He always wants the same cake every year.  Cold Stone chocolate everything.  He always changes the color of the icing though.  This year he even ordered it himself.  I have to admit the cake is delicious.

 Mike

Another birthday is in the books.  Not the most exciting, but still effective.

Bean Museum

Preston had a field trip at the Monte L Bean Museum today.  It is down by BYU.  I was watching Anne this morning, so I decided to take her with me to surprise Preston.  We had gotten to American Fork when I realized that I left my purse at home!  I had brought all the paraphernalia that accompanies little babies, but forgot the things I needed.  I got off the freeway and found a place to park.  I looked in my car to make sure it wasn't hiding somewhere.  Nope.  I was about to turn around and go home when I decided to call the museum.  I asked what the cost of admission was.  They said it was free!  Parking was free too!  Woohoo!  Anne and I got back on the freeway and made our way to the museum.  The kids were on the bottom floor listening to a presentation when I got there.  Anne didn't want to listen, so we played in the hallway.  At the end of the presentation, all the kids got to touch a snake.  I was able to snap a picture of Preston.

Preston

Preston was so excited to see us, especially Anne.  He begged me to let him hold her.  According to him he has never held Anne before.  I don't think that is true.  The picture was adorable though.

 Anne & Preston

 The first one is my favorite, but her is another just because....

Anne loved the museum.  She kept saying, "Ah-mals!"  One time I put her down to stand and she screamed, "No! No! No! No! No!"  It was so funny.  She did not want to leave.  Again with the No!  So funny.  We got back to my house probably 20 seconds before Sam got there.  Sam was excited because her boss decided to retire.  The new boss is going to be much more flexible with her schedule.  Hallelujah!

Tonight was also my last activity with the Young Womens.  A few weeks ago I asked Jorja if there was any activity she would like to do.  Without a second hesitation she said, "Iceskating!"  So, iceskating it was.  I figured it would be the last time I would have any control over it, so I might as well make sure we do something Jorja wanted to do.  The Miamaids also were going iceskating, so that made it nice.  I decided to get the cool donuts from Beyond Glaze for the girls.  Jacqui and I would whisper as we ice-skated about how weird this was and how sad we are going to be to leave these girls.  I'm so going to miss them!

Den Meeting

I have been so worried about my new scout calling that I can't keep the tears out of my eyes.  I keep thinking of everything that could go wrong. I also feel like I am going to need to apologize to the boys and their moms that they have me instead of Sue.  I just can't wrap my head around it yet.  Mike told me that I needed to fast about it, so that is what I decided to do.

Today we had our last Presidency meeting.  Lots of tears there too! Jacqui is so nervous about her new calling!  She has been called as the __________.  That would be way worse than scouts!  I told them that I was taking Sue's calling.  They thought I would do a great job.  I just cried and told them all of my worries.  I told them I wasn't convinced that this is what Heavenly Father wanted me to do, that it was probably just an afterthought calling.  "We need someone, oh look, she is available.....let's get her."  Then I said that the only thing I could think of for calling me to this is I went to high school with Griffin's mom. She would probably feel comfortable sending Griffin to me.  They are non members who live in our ward and Griffin has been coming to Sue for scouts every week.  Also, Blake just turned 8.  He is also a non member on our street and one of Preston's good friends.  I could probably get him to come to scouts.  Becky said, "What could be more of a reason than to call you to this group at this time.  If you could give two non member boys positive interactions with the church at this age, what could be greater?"  I know.  Still, it's scary.

I sent Sue a text asking her if I could talk.  She wrote back and asked if I was the new wolf leader.  I told her I was and I was terrified.  She invited me to their den meeting that was today.  Judy was out of town so it was easy for her to say she invited me for extra help.  They did a bead craft.  The boys are great, but crafts!  Yikes!  I can't even begin to describe how much I detest crafts!  I actually like doing them if someone is right next to me helping me with every step.  If I am in any way in charge I feel like my head will explode.

Sue talked to me after the meeting.  She explained different parts of her calling and things she has been doing.  She also told me that Sister Madsen had told her she was going to ask for me to replace her.  That made me feel better somehow, knowing that this calling came from Sister Madsen and not just from some big list that needs to be filled.  I know they are changing a lot of things right now.  Anyway, somehow that knowledge made me feel better.

Later tonight I ended my fast.  I prayed to Heavenly Father asking if this calling was from Him and what He wanted me to do now.  I got an overwhelming answer that was undeniable.  I don't know why, but I feel that yes, this is what Heavenly Father needs and wants me to do at this time.  I am so thankful for this answer.  For some reason I really needed it with this calling.  Maybe I needed it so I would be able to let go of my girls.  I sure am going to miss them.

Scouts

Yesterday I got a call asking if I could come and talk to Brother Bingham before church.  I was pretty worried about it.  I told Mike that I will probably be asked to do scouts or primary because it was Brother Bingham talking to me.  That meant I wouldn't get to be with Jorja anymore.  I was so worried it would be scouts.  I was worried because I didn't want the calling just because it was logical, I wanted to know I was doing what Heavenly Father wanted me to do.  I knew Sue was leaving that calling and Preston was in her den, so logically it made since to have me do it.  Sure enough, that is what Brother Bingham asked me to do.  I started crying right then and there.  I have never done scouts before and it terrifies me!  I hate planning parties, doing activities and I hate being in charge of CRAFTS!  Now I will have to do an activity once a week.  How am I going to be able to handle that? Brother Bingham was shocked about my reaction.  He told me this was going to be a lot easier than what I have been doing.  I told him that I had a lot of help through Young Womens.  I had two advisors to help me with activities.  With scouts I feel I'll be completely on my own.  I will have an assistant.  She is an older lady that lives down the street. Her name is Judy.  I'm not sure if she will plan any activities or if she will just show up during scouts.  She is on a three week cruise in the Mediterranean right now, so it will be awhile before I can ask her! Anyway, right now I'm at the terrified stage.  I will do my best, I'm just really scared about this.  At least I'll have Preston with me, although that almost makes it worse!  Worse for Jorja that is.  She is going to be so jealous.

While I was waiting for sacrament meeting to start I took advantage of writing in my Personal Progress book.  I had finished two value projects I was working on.  One was bringing the cupcakes to my beehives, the other was spending over ten hours as a counselor in the Young Womens.  I can't remember which one this was, but at the end of my evaluation I wrote 'I have loved these girls.'  Today was ward conference and they do the sustaining of the church members.  Mike whispered that it was mean we would have to stand up when we knew we would be leaving.  It was pretty sad.  I gave my book to Jorja while they were doing this.  When they called my name I stood up and looked behind me.  I caught Sue's eye and she gave me a sad face.  Tears immediately came to my eyes.  It is going to be so hard to leave these girls!  As soon as I sat down Jorja leaned over and asked if I was still her leader.  I was surprised because I had just stood up to be sustained as the Young Womens 2nd counselor.  I told her I was.  She pointed at the words, 'I have loved these girls' in my Personal Progress book and said, "That's past tense."  Oh my Porge!  I love her!  I am going to miss having this experience with her!  I told Mike that I don't know if I keep crying because I am scared of scouts or because I know that for sure I won't be going back to Young Womens.  It's probably a little bit of both.

Birthday Parties

Jorja and Preston went to Audrey and Blake's birthday party today.  It was at Airborne.  I think it is cute that they have their parties together when they are neighbors, boy and girl and two years a part.  They get along great though.  Jorja and Preston love playing with both of them, so it works out great for us too!  I sat in the birthday room and read a book.  I was so tired from my Banks workout this morning!

Stockton had a dive meet at Herriman today.  He went early with Josh. Mike drove the motorhome, even though it was only 30 minutes away. The kids loved it.  Stockton did really well, but not as high as last week. He scored 176.20,  three points lower than his high.  Not bad at all.  On the way home we stopped and picked up a Little Caesars Pizza for Stockton.  Jorja and I ran across the street and got her some KFC.  It was a little chilly, but it is January!  This has been a crazy, warm winter!

Racquetball

Mike and I are going to try really hard to have one date night a month. Well, we want to go to the temple one night and then something different for our date night.  Tonight we went and played racquetball. It was fun except Mike won all the games.  I did not do well.  Thems the breaks I guess. We were going to go somewhere after but decided we would just rather go home.  We are full of excitement!

Bee Scooter

Stockton won a bee scooter from Gameit awhile back.  It finally came. Stockton thinks it is so funny and loves to ride it around.

Stockton

 Maysen and Stockton

Stockton made a funny video of him riding the scooter.  I think it is on his phone.  He doesn't say anything, he just silently rides to scooter from one end of the screen to the other.  Totally made me laugh.

Handprints

I finally got these beauties sent off a few days ago.  Sherry made them for me.  I love them!  She also made one for Parker, but I was able to give that one straight to Mike and Christen.

Joseph Smith

On Sunday we talked about Elder Anderson's talk on Joseph Smith at the last conference.  He gave a challenge to the youth.  One was to find a scripture that you know to be true and to share it with others.  The other was to read Joseph Smith's testimony.  Read it often.  Consider recording it in your own voice.  Today we had an activity to do just that. Eleven of my fourteen beehives came.  Two of them were on vacation. Wow.  To an activity that was going to be spiritual.  It was wonderful. First each of them shared a scripture they knew to be true.  They came prepared.  We had marvelous discussions about all sorts of things.  One of them shared a scripture about how good will be called evil and evil good.  That turned into a discussion on modesty.  The girls were so great.  I loved it when they shared their favorite scriptures, they had well thought out reasons.

We then read Joseph Smith's testimony.  We stopped at different words and made sure the girls understood what the words meant.  We talked about Satan attacking Joseph Smith so he wouldn't be able to pray.  Kristen related that to today.  She said that Satan doesn't do a full on attack like he did here with Joseph Smith, but it is more like us forgetting, getting busy or tired.  I can't word it right, but she I loved it. I printed out copies of Joseph Smith's testimony.  I had shortened it to just the actual testimony, because the entire thing would be too overwhelming for the girls.  That is one reason we went through the entire thing, so they would know what I didn't put in.  I wanted them to know that even though it was shortened I didn't change what Joseph Smith was trying to say.  My favorite part is, "I had actually seen a light, and in the midst of that light I saw two Personages, and they did in reality speak to me; and though I was hated and persecuted for saying that I had seen a vision, yet it was true....I had seen a vision; I knew it, and I knew that God knew it, and I could not deny it, neither dared I do it."

Anyway, we sent the girls into different rooms so they could have a chance to record the testimony in their own voice.  Then we had treats. I couldn't believe how well this activity went.  The spirit was so strong and the girls were amazing.  What am I going to do without them?  I'm not looking forward to February.

Running

I have decided I'm going to write up my feelings and not post them until later.  I am so behind on my blog, and one reason is because what I am spending most of my time thinking about I can't say!  Anyway, a few weeks ago I wrote about some sad news I received.  That sad news is the Young Womens presidency is going to be released.  We have been serving for almost three and a half years.  I have loved it.  I am not ready for it to end.  Yesterday, when I was waiting to get something out of the clerks office I saw Sue.  I sat and talked with her and told her how much Preston loves scouts.  Brother Brown poked his head out the door and motioned for Sue to come in to talk to him.  As soon as she went inside my heart dropped.  I turned and found Jacqui who was around the corner and said, "Brother Brown is talking to Sue right now!"  She smiled as soon as she came to the same conclusion as I did. She said, "She will be great with the girls."  I know, but Sue has Preston right now!  I don't want him to lose her!  Once Sue left Brother Brown asked to talk to me.  As soon as the door closed I said, "Please tell me Sue is still with the scouts."  He smiled and said, "She is actually taking your calling."  NO!!!!!  At the same time, YES!!!!  Sue is one of the most amazing people in this entire ward.  She will definitely be able to handle my 14 beehives.  Not everyone would be able to do it, they can be a challenge.  She will also love those girls completely.  The sad thing is, she will be leaving Preston.  He loves her.  She does such a great job in scouts.  She is going to be missed in that calling!

Anyway, I decided to go running today.  I got to the end of my street and Sue was there.  She had been running with a friend.  I went up to her and tears immediately filled my eyes.  She said, "You know."  Yep. She said, "It was not my choice.  I asked Brother Brown if the Bishop was okay with this."  She is so sad to be leaving these boys.  She asked how many beehives we have now.  I told her 14 and her eyes about popped out of her head!  I had been working on a paper to give to the new 2nd counselor.  One that had all the girls names, phone numbers, and different things about each of them. Also other various pieces of information that would be good to know.  Sue walked back with me and I got it for her.  Now she will be able to get a grasp of her new girls before this change takes place in a few weeks.  Sue told me that Kristen and Kari will be staying.  Yay!  If Jorja lost both Kristen and I on the same day I think she would lose it.  Kristen has become Jorja's best friend in the ward.  She lives across the street.  Jorja texts her all the time.  Kristen loves it.  Kristen is a year younger than me and has never had the opportunity to be married.  She is amazing.  Our entire family adores her.  I am so glad she will still be with Jorja.  I told Sue that Kari is actively looking to move.  Right now she lives with her parents and she is anxious to move out.  She also attends a singles ward after going to church with us.  She was planning to move by January, but then the girl she was going to room with changed her mind.  Anyway, I think she will be moving really soon.  I told Sue to please put me on the short list when Kari moves.  I would love to be back in beehives.  Sue as a counselor, Kristen and I as advisors.....what a dream!  (I mostly didn't want to be overlooked because I had been in there for so long.....)

Well, I didn't get a whole lot of running done, but I don't think it was a coincidence that Sue was on the corner when I went by.  Especially since I rarely run!  I am glad she is the one that was called to take my calling.  I know she will be great.  I'm just sad for Preston.  I'm also sad to be leaving as well.  Hopefully I'll get back with Jorja somehow!

Cupcakes

I made cupcakes for Olivia and Laycee today.  Red velvet with cream cheese frosting.  Only Cora left until I finish my goal!  These cupcakes were actually Jorja's.  She also wanted red velvet, but with buttercream frosting.  I love how they turn out.  I'm glad Maysen figured this out! So pretty!

5th Place

Stockton had a diving competition at BYU today.  He got 5th place with a score of 179.15.  That is his best so far!  It was also the first time he bested Josh.  Stockton was pretty excited.

Stockton took a quick shower and then we hurried off to see Charlie Brown.  Alta was putting it on.  It was weird.  No real theme, just a bunch of comic strips put together.  At least Preston was able to pass off 'Go to a live event' in his scout book!

Temple

Mike and I finally made it to the temple together.  My dad had dinner club, so he dropped off Max as we were leaving.  He was picking him up right as we got home.  After he made milkshakes for the kids of course. Luckily Max is super easy and Jorja and Preston love playing with him. Maysen barely knew he was there.

Ceramics

On the way up to Idaho I got a phone call from the community college saying that they couldn't get Maysen into the online art class.  That's disappointing.  When I got back, Maysen and I had to come up with a new plan.  I heard back from Maysen's counselor today and our new plan is going to work! Maysen will be taking ceramics next semester. Ceramics and Film Studies will be her two art classes.  I'm glad we were able to fit them in!  Now we just have to figure out how we will fit English, Math, Physics, Seminary and Government into four time slots next year.  The fun never ends here!

Speed Dating

Maysen DID NOT want to go to the speed dating activity tonight.  She was very upset we forced her to go.  Tears were shed.  Still, it is important to learn to interact with other humans.  I don't think she had the best time, but I don't think it was as horrible as she anticipated.

Movie Night

Stockton had a stake speed dating activity.  He was not excited about going to that one, but he ended up having fun.  They had five questions they had to answer.  Stockton's dream vacation is Vermont.  Who knew?  Also, if he could meet anyone in history it would be Adam.

The beehives weren't invited to the stake activity.  Sometimes I get a bit frustrated about that.  Like when they are playing games, or doing a color war.  That's just weird not to invite the beehives and deacons. This activity I was okay being left out.  We wanted to do something just for fun.  Kristen decided she wanted movie night.  She brought pizzas for the girls.  Mike had popcorn.  We had a lot of girls there and it ended up being so fun!  Kristen brought Ella Enchanted, but some of the girls had seen that one many times.  She ended up running home (she lives across the street) and brought back What a Girl Wants.  I think that is the title.  Anyway, it was a nice relaxing night.  I think the girls had a lot of fun.

Snowy Day

According to a lot of people in the know, this was supposed to be a gigantic winter.  Well, they were wrong.  Or I understood them wrong. I understood Farmer's Almanac to warn of a crazy winter.  I guess it has been crazy.  Crazy in the lack of winter!  It really has only snowed twice. Once on Christmas Day.  How amazing is that?  It also snowed today. The boys were supposed to get their hair cut.  Preston had scouts at the exact time of the haircut.  (This appointment was set up before he was in scouts.)  I called this morning and changed it until tonight.  When the time came I had no desire to get in the car.  It was snowy and icy. What good is a haircut if you smash your face up on the way?  I was able to call and reschedule for next week.  It was nice to stay home on such a cold day.  Preston has worn his boots almost every day since winter was supposed to come.  Today he wore crocs.  Go figure?  I went to pick him up from scouts, but he was almost home.  His poor feet were freezing!

Teaching and Cupcakes

I got to teach Young Womens today.  My lesson was on the Holy Ghost. It went really well.  I was able to utilize my dad's talk he wrote for Maysen's baptism and a few things I did for Preston's baptism.  I love teaching these girls.

I also brought cupcakes over to Ebony and Annabelle.  My goal is to give them to all the beehives before the end of this month.  Well, the beehives who haven't received any yet.  The cupcakes today were vanilla.  Yummy!

Bear River Diving

Mike, Stockton, Preston and I all went to Stockton's dive meet in Bear River.  Warm ups began at 9:00, so we left around 7:00.  Mike drove the motorhome.  That was nice because I was able to sleep for a lot of the way.  I was still so exhausted from yesterdays driving.

Preston was so cute during the dive meet.  Every time Stockton was up he took my 3ds and would video Stockton.  He took that job very seriously.  He would jump up, climb down the stands to get a good view and then do the job.  Stockton loved being able to see how he did.  They both loved playing the video in reverse!

Stockton did really well.  He took 4th place.  He changed his back flip and reverse to one and a halts. His twist he changed to an inward half twist free.  He was pretty nervous about doing them, but he didn't flop on any of them!  That was his goal.  4th place is not too shabby either.

Taylor's Open House

I drove up to Idaho to go to my cousin Taylor's wedding open house. He was married in Texas in December.  I went by myself.  My dad had a big meeting that he does once a year and Heather was in California. Mike was at work and my kids were in school.  The roads were great for the ride up and I was able to hang out with my grandpa for a couple of hours.  That was really nice.  It was fun to see family for a bit before I needed to head home.  Ordinarily I would stay overnight with my grandpa and head home in the morning, but Stockton has a diving competition at 9:00 tomorrow.  It is in Bear River which is about the half way point from our house and Idaho.  It would have been perfect to bring up the family and then stop in Bear River on the way home. Our neighbor, Josh, dives with Stockton.  His parents are heading out on a cruise tomorrow and asked if we could bring him.  That is the reason I ended up coming home today.  When I was just past Ogden I stopped at a gas station to walk around.  I was getting pretty tired.  I called Mike.  He told me that Josh decided not to go.  If only I had known that yesterday, it would have changed everything!  Oh well.  It was rough getting home, but I managed.  I pulled in about midnight completely exhausted.  I am glad I was able to go though.  It is nice to be close enough to family to be able to do things like this!

Jorja Goes to the Temple

Jorja went to the temple for the first time today.  We went to the Draper Temple pretty early.  Mike works at the temple on Thursday and he really wanted her to come when all his friends are there.  I'm pretty sure all his friends are old men, but he was excited about it.

Maysen, Stockton, Jorja

I couldn't really get a good picture when it was still so dark outside. There were a lot of people at the temple today.  We were all waiting in the lobby until the baptistry opened.  Mike peaked around the corner and waved for us to come in.  Another guy that was waiting said, "She said to come in."  I laughed and said, "Except it is a he not a she!" "Really?"  "Yes!  He's my husband!"  So funny!  Mike introduced the kids to all the different people.  He hurried them through and got them ahead of all the big groups.  Maysen felt a tad bit guilty about that.  I told her it was one of the perks for having her dad serve there once a week.  Mike said it was because it is easy to fit three kids in instead of a big group.  One of the workers told me that I could dress in white and hand the towels to the kids when they finished.  Too bad he told me that too late for today, but that information might come in handy another time.  Anyway, today was a lovely morning with three amazing kids and their dad.

Schedules

I met with Maysen's counselor for over an hour today.  Maysen has decided she wanted to do a veterinary program next year.  That is perfect for her, the only problem is it will take four classes.  Next year she needs English, math, physics, government, seminary and a full year of art.  Yep, we need to figure out something!  Maysen has two classes next semester that she doesn't need.  One is web design, the other is study hall.  Web design could be an awesome class or a waste of time class, depending on the teacher.  Ms. Court, Maysen's counselor, told me that the current teacher has decided to take an early retirement and it is looking like that class will be taught by different long term substitutes.  Okay.  We will be getting out of that one!  Study hall would have been nice with three AP classes and a college finance class, but art will have to take its place.  We were able to get Maysen into film studies and we are hoping she can take the online art class at the community college so she can get credit there too.  I can't believe how many hours I spend looking at the kids schedules. Just when I think I have it figured out, I don't.  Ms. Court said Maysen's is more complicated because there is so many things she can do and so many avenues she can take. Hopefully we will make all the right decisions because it is exhausting trying to figure out!

Remember Jar

We met at Kari's house for Young Womens.  She had them do a remember jar.  Instead of resolutions, they are supposed to write their achievements on a slip of paper and put it in the jar.  At the end of the year, they can read about all they have achieved.  The girls seemed to really enjoy decorating the jar.  It is so fun to be here with Jorja.  She is just embracing Young Womens and I love it!

Wrong Bus

Poor Preston took the wrong bus home today.  I was watching out the window looking for him.  I told myself that I would wait until 4:00, then I would call the school.  About five minutes before four Preston called me.  Thank goodness he knows our phone number!  I taught it to him when we were doing "homeschool".  I'm so glad!  I could hear the worry in his voice when he was talking to me.  He said, "Mom, I missed the bus."  I told him it was okay and I would get him.  I just needed to know where he was.  Turns out he was at Walter's house.  Walter noticed Preston was on the wrong bus before Preston did.  Walter told Preston he was on the wrong bus and asked if he wanted to come home with him to call me.  I am so thankful for Walter.  He turned what could have been a traumatic experience into a funny story.  I was impressed that he noticed the problem, thought of a solution and followed through on that solution.  So thankful.  It took me about thirty minutes to get to Walter's house.  He lives a LONG ways away.  Preston waited outside for me the entire time.  Walter waited with him.  Amazing.  I can't imagine Preston being lost that far from home.  I was so glad to get my little boy back!

For Family Home Evening we talked about 2014 and things we remembered.  We talked about hard things we did and our favorite memories.  Jorja said that she didn't do anything hard in 2014.  I said, "What about Chinese?"  Mike said, "You went to a new school and your friends went to a different school.  You had to make new friends, that was hard."  Jorja burst into tears.  She cried and cried.  She couldn't even talk.  It was so sad.  Poor little girl.

Preston's paper was cute.   His favorite activity is scouts.  His greatest lesson he learned was casting a fishing pole.  The hardest thing he did was catching a lepord trout.  What he loved about 2014 was his Baptism!  (That's how he wrote it.  Baptism!)  In 2015 he wants to learn Chineese.  He wants to get better at sewing.  (That's random) His goal for 2015 is to Beat super mario galaxy.  Sounds like a worthy goal.  Kind of goes along with Stockton's 2015 goal 'punch out Mike Tyson'.  At least he added 4.0 GPA.  I love my family.

9:00 Church

We are back to 9:00 church and I am loving it!  I am a morning person. My kids are morning people. Poor Mike.  He has learned to adapt.  It was so nice to have most of the day left when church was finished. Such a change from 1:00 church.  I will miss the extra hours of lesson preparation though, but the trade off is worth it.

I also got some sad news today that I'm not ready to talk about.

That is all.

Taking Back the Basement

The basement looks great!  Mike and Stockton got the pingpong table cleaned off from our remodel.  Jorja and Mike scoured the downstairs bathroom.  It looks so good!

Babysitting

We watched Bubs and Ange's kids today.  They did really well.  I even got Abby and Millie down for a nap at the same time!  The kids had fun with them.  Fun living close to family!

Bubble Calendar

Stockton's gift was waiting for Maysen when we got back from the cabin.  He got her a bubble calendar so she can pop a bubble everyday. Here's hoping that nobody is incredibly rude and thinks it would be funny to pop all of her bubbles.  Also, I hope no little kids find it.  It is quite cute though.  In the pictures you can see a paper chain.  The kids love making a paper chain at the beginning of the school year.  They make it out of their old homework.  The arrow is pointing to where the 2nd trimester ends.  Jorja is on trimesters.  There is an arrow pointing to where each of the quarters end as well.  2nd quarter ends in 10 days! Right now both of the kids have all As.  I hope it stays that way!

Maysen