Passing the P

Sue stopped by after dropping the girls off from Young Women.  I gave her the 'P' flag that we used to put in the girls' yards to challenge them to pass off a Personal Progress item.  Jorja came home with b giant cup full of candy.  Oh boy.  Jorja has started to get quite crazy when she has sugar.  Most of the cup was filled with sixlets.  I love those!  Maysen and Jorja had a camp certification activity at Jaime's house.  Stockton met at the church and listened to Kristin talk about her professional experiences.  Stockton said it was good.  Josh loved it.  Kristin is so fun to listen to.  Plus, it's cool to hear about training dolphins.  Even though she lives in the desert she was able to follow her dreams.  Love it.

THIRTY!

Mike was able to stay home from work today.  He works such long hours, then when he is home he usually puts in more time before he finally falls asleep.  Now, about every other week he gets an extra day off.  It is so nice.  He did a ton of stuff around the house today.  He cleaned out one side of the garage.  That is still a mess since we have a ton of wood from Mike's dad's ceiling still in there.  He also taught my scouts for me.  He taught them about tools and then had them help him repair our gate.  It was great!

Maysen got her ACT scores in the mail today.  I wanted to open it, but Mike wouldn't let me.  I'm sure if he wasn't here I would have waited, but I was so anxious!  As soon as Maysen walked in the door we handed her the envelope.  Mike, Stockton and I all stood around her while she opened it.  I said, "I'm hoping you get at least a 28.  Sorry if I just made you feel bad and you got lower than that."  She looked at her paper and said, "Is the composite score my score?  I got a 30."  We all cheered so loud for her!  I gave her the biggest hug!  What a great job!  I was a little nervous for her because when she came home from the test she told me that she didn't finish the math portion and had to guess at the last questions.  I think she said she didn't finish the science portion either and made educated guesses at the end.  The day before the test her dad showed her how to do ohms.  She didn't have time to do the problems, but she knew enough to make educated guesses.  Anyway, so proud of her!

Preston did the lesson for Family Home Evening.  It was pretty funny. He made signs that said, "YOU MADE IT" and he nailed them to the fence.  We met downstairs and he hid a hammer in the dark.  We had to look for it.  Jorja found the hammer first.  She went outside and had to use the back of the hammer to get the nail out and get her paper.  Jorja then came down and hid the hammer in the dark.  We went until everyone had a chance to get their paper out.  Actually, not everyone had to find it in the dark.  I got to find it with the light on.  When we each had a paper Mike asked, "What was the point of your lesson?" Stockton said, "It is easier to find hammers with the lights on." Preston said, "No, Heavenly Father will help you in life like the light helped you find a hammer."  So cute! 

Easter Egg Hunt

Our family dinner was planned for 5:00.  We decided to start hiding eggs at 4:00.  Mike and I had to get our temple recommends renewed and we were gone at the appointed time.  The kids started hiding the eggs without us.  On top of roofs was a favorite place.  I'm glad no one got hurt!  The picture below is one of my favorites though.

Stockton, Jorja, Ella

My dad made french dip sandwiches for dinner.  Jorja's request.  It was delicious.  Even Maysen liked it.  Jorja invited Audrey over.  She went before church, but Audrey was still asleep.  She asked her dad if Audrey would like to come over for the Easter egg hunt.  He thought she would love it.  Jorja made Audrey 40 eggs and hid them with the rest of the family.  Her mom sent me a text tonight thanking us for including Audrey.  She is an only child, she loves to be included.

Ella, Jorja, Max

 Preston

 Ella

 Jorja

 Maysen

Abby, Max & Ella

 Ella & Max

 Maysen

 Stockton

We have two trees on each end of our pool.  Mike hates them!  Once a year they are so pretty.  It only lasts for a couple of days at most.  The rest of the year the tree drops the dead leaves into the pool.  It is incredibly annoying to Mike.

 Same tree, different angle

I am so tired!  I think today was a success, but boy was it a lot of work! My kids loved it though, I think the other kids had a great time as well. Matt didn't stay after to play Dominion because I noticed my sink was leaking!  Hopefully Mike can get that fixed.  I'm glad we caught it when we did. Frustrating!

Lots of Eggs

Today was crazy busy once again.  I woke up early and did my super hard exercise class.  I rushed home, showered and took Jorja to her softball clinic.  That lasted for almost three hours.  Mike took Maysen to her AP History lecture.  That lasted all day.  After the clinic, Jorja and I shopped for things to put in Easter eggs.  We got home in time to get ready to feed the missionaries.  As soon as the missionaries left, it was time for General Women's Conference.  Maysen, Jorja and I stayed home and watched it on tv.  The girls helped me stuff Easter eggs while we watched.  We will have 10 kids come tomorrow.  We wrote the names on the eggs.  We have 40 eggs a person.  I realize now why it has been several years since we did an Easter egg hunt.  Our last one was when Mina was a baby!

A in Math

Jorja has late start today.  Her friends picked her up around 8:30 and they went and decorated Mrs. V's room.  Mrs. V was their 5th grade teacher.  She was great!  I wished many times that Stockton had her instead of his 6th grade teacher.  (She taught 6th grade that year.)  He would have had a much better year if that was the case.  This is the last year for the principal of the elementary school.  I wonder why he is leaving.  He has been fantastic.  I hope the next one is just as wonderful.

Maysen and Stockton had today off.  Their quarter ended yesterday.  I checked skyward to see if any of their grades had changed.  We were predicting Stockton to get all As and Maysen to get all As except for an A- in math.  When I got on skyward I saw Maysen's math grade had changed to an A.  I was floored!  Maysen and I were pretty happy about that.  As long as her psychology grade comes up to an A she will get another 4.0.  Her psychology teacher takes forever to update his grade book.  He has assured Maysen that she has an A.  She wanted to stay after and do extra credit but he told her she had nothing to worry about.  She said, "So if I don't get an A it's on you."  He answered, "Yes, if you don't get an A it's on me."  Haha.  Maysen makes me laugh.

I watched Anne today.  It is super easy to watch Anne when my kids are home.  She played with them the entire time.  Especially Stockton.  It makes me laugh how she HATES to go to me when my kids are home. Stockton played with her all day.  He is going to be a great dad one day.

Anne and Stockton

 Anne, Maysen, Stockton

I told my kids that there are two shows I would like them to watch with me, they could choose.  They yelled, "Not Pushing Daisies!"  They know me too well.  I loved that show.  They watched one episode with me and hated it.  They claim it gave them nightmares.  The other show is Dr. Who.  That is the one they choose.  We watched the first episode tonight.  I warned them that it takes a little while to like the show and not to judge it by this first episode.  Mike thinks it is hilarious that I like this show.  He says he never in a million years would have expected me to like it.  I keep telling him that it tells such good stories, in a totally bizarre way.  Stockton didn't want to watch it because it is popular.  I ignored that reason.

Today is Weston's birthday.  He is 12.  Crazy that all of Steve and Shannon's kids are now out of primary!  I bet Weston is thrilled with that fact.

Mitt Shopping

Sam and Anne went with Jorja and I to look for mitts.  We went to Scheels.  We were debating about there or Walmart.  I'm glad we went to Scheels.  We found a mitt that Sam loved.  It was great because they also steamed it there.  As we drove away Sam said that it felt like this mitt had been used everyday for a year.  Jorja had fun playing with Anne.  Anne loves to growl and it is hilarious.  She growled and growled at the bear, but was a little nervous to get close to it.

Anne and Jorja

Maysen had her 'time with dad' day today.  They made ice-cream. Cookies and cream.  Mike had forgotten to stop at the store to get the stuff on the way home.  Luckily I had some heavy cream in the fridge.  I was going to use it for one of my pies on pi day, but ran out of time.  I'm glad they didn't buy another one!

Maysen

HE DID IT!!!

Stockton passed his running test!  I'm so proud of him.  I went down to watch him run and was waiting by the track.  It was quite cold.  After awhile I got a text from Stockton saying that they would be running inside.  This is a good thing!  The inside run is shorter than the outside one, even though they have to run around it ten times.  Stockton figured out that he had to run each lap in 1:10 in order to pass.  He ran so fast!  The fist couple of laps were under a minute.  His slowest lap was 1:06.  He finished with a time of 10:16!  Holy cow!  Not only did he pass, but he got full points on the run!  Stockton only needed the least amount of points because he got full points on all the other tests.  Yay! Stockton doesn't need to take pe next year!  This class is not the most exciting class either, it is basically aerobics.  It would be good for him, but he has no time in his schedule at all.  Hopefully he can take health during the summer.

Maysen stayed after school and the plan was to meet at the track or I would text her when we were done and see how she was doing.  She finished earlier than I anticipated and waited for us outside.  I didn't think about texting her to let her know the run was inside.  They were running near the ceramics room so I thought I would see her if she left, but she went through a different door.  That's too bad.  I think she would have enjoyed cheering on Stockton.

Maysen has worked so hard in her ceramics class.  I'm hating that class.  It causes her so much stress. That class causes her more stress than all three of her AP classes combined!  She will finish the quarter with 100% in that class, but she sure has worked for it and worried about it!

I got a text from Jorja's new softball coach!  Yay!  He also sent out the schedule.  Jorja will be on the green team.  I hope she likes this.  I need to get her a mit.  Maybe Sam will help me pick one out for her.

Laundry Day

I did laundry all day today.  For reals.  At least I get to watch Dr. Who while I do it.  Stockton switched Maysen for his piano lesson.  He went right after school so he could go to diving today.  The only problem was his piano teacher didn't show up.  He practiced at her house until her husband said it sounded good and he could go home.  She called me a few minutes later.  She was so embarrassed.  She got mixed up on the days.  One of her other students cancelled so she asked if Stockton wanted to come now.  He couldn't because of diving.  He is also convinced he had his lesson.  I didn't make him go to Young Men's today.  They were just playing basketball anyway.  Stockton hates that.  Instead he spent time learning programing with Mike.  Maysen went to a 'chopped' activity and Jorja tied quilts.  Today is also John's birthday. I hope he had a good one!

11:43

For scouts today we made pizza.  Judy made homemade crusts for each of the boys.  They put their sauce, cheese and toppings on.  I had let their parents know they would be coming home with pizza for the family.  They need to set the table and do the dishes.  I thought this would be the easiest way to pass off the cooking dinner for your family requirement.  We also talked about the food pyramid and made a menu of a days worth of meals.  Crew was so cute when his mom picked him up.  (I had texted all the moms and asked if they could pick up their scouts instead of having them ride their bikes.  I don't know how they would get the pizza home on a bike!)  Anyway, as Crew was walking away he said to his mom, "Now you don't need to make dinner."  Crew has five brothers and one sister.  Just like my family.  Crew is the youngest.  I would be shocked if that pizza fed their entire family.

Mike and I took Stockton to the track today.  Stockton will pass his class if he runs like he did today! He ran the mile and a half in 11:43.  A few seconds faster than he needs to run.  He was so sick when he finished.  Eating all the pizza before he came didn't help that at all.  At least he knows he can do it, although he is going to be pretty mad if he doesn't make it now!

Stake Conference

We walked to Stake Conference today.  The stake center is down by the graveyard.  Preston started getting hungry the last half hour.  That was when I realized he didn't have any breakfast.  Whoops.  Luckily Jorja had some m&ms she was able to give him.  One the way home we walked through the graveyard.  First we found Grandma and Grandpa Hirschi's grave, then up to Grandma Honey's and Grandma & Grandpa Smith's grave, then my mom, then Jessica.  It's nice that they are so close together.

We had a goodbye reception for the old bishopric tonight.  The Bishop was telling us how they ended up with their mission call.  BYU-Hawaii was looking for him.  They found some lady in our stake, I can't remember when her calling was.  They asked her if there was a retired Marriott executive living in our boundaries.  The Bishop wasn't retired, but it was him they were looking for.  He will be working with BYU-Hawaii and helping with the travel and tourism department.  A lot of the students are from the islands around Hawaii and tourism is a main source of income.  Bishop Lundgren also grew up in Samoa, well, his family lived there when he was 11-14.  Anyway, because it is technically a volunteer mission he is paying for everything.  He took an early retirement and their house is something like $2500/month.  Tiny too, but close to the beach.  This will definitely be an adventure, and he will be so good in this position.

Cinderella

We slept in the motorhome outside Steve and Shannon's house last night.  I didn't sleep well.  We ran out of propane and I was pretty cold. I got up early and headed to the gym.  I'm glad we brought two cars!  I had all sorts of nightmares last night.  Weird things like getting to my gym class and not having my exercise clothes on.  I had to do the super crazy hard class in long pants and a long sleeve shirt with no water. Glad that didn't really happen!

I took the girls to see Cinderella today.  The boys had no desire to see it with me.  I bet Jorja wished she had stayed home.  She was funny. During the movie she would put her hands on her forehead and look up.  She looked like she was in torture.  She didn't like the movie.

Once we got home, Stockton and I headed out for the track.  I ran the first lap with him.  He told me I was running too fast, that this was a sprint.  I told him that it is easier to slow down than speed up, to try and keep this speed as long as he can.  I barely made it around the track one time.  Stockton has to do 6.  Plus he has to be in lane 6.  He finished the mile and a half in 11:56.  Still too slow, but at least he beat the 12:00 minute marker!

Stockton and I rushed home from the track and I threw on a skirt as fast as I could.  I was about 10 minutes late for the dinner with the stake presidency.  Apparently Mike is in the stake presidency.  Luckily the priesthood meeting went long, so I wasn't obviously late.  Mike and I sat at the table with President Christensen, our stake patriarch, and another stake clerk, but I can't remember his name.  Their wives were with them as well.  After dinner was the adult session of conference.  I crawled into bed about 10:00 completely exhausted.  Busy, busy day!

Dinner with Spencer

I took Stockton to the track after school to practice for his retest on Wednesday.  He ran the mile and a half in 12:24, or something like that.  He was so disappointed because it was slower than he ran it on Tuesday.  Tuesday was so hot that he really struggled.  Today was almost 20 degrees cooler, but it was still really hard.  He is very frustrated.

Mike drove the motorhome down to Steve and Shannon's house. Spencer is home from Harvard.  We had dinner and played games. Lisa, Nathan, Aimee and Michael were also there.  It was fun to see Spencer and totally weird that he goes to Harvard now.

Mike and Steve each had a battlebot that they fought.  Just like the old days.  Stockton had one too, but for some reason his battery stopped working.  I think that was the problem.  Jorja and I watched the battle from the top of the motorhome.  Maysen and Preston watched the battle from the roof of Steve and Shannon's house.

No More Diving

This morning I helped teach preschool at the homeless shelter.  Becky does this every week, but her partner was out of town.  Katie and I went and helped her today.  This was Becky's first time at the shelter in Salt Lake.  Usually it is in Murray, but they are tearing down the Murray location and building a better one.  That meant for a lot of families crammed into the Salt Lake location.  The preschool was fun, but exhausting.  I can't believe Becky does that every week!  She also brought breakfast.  She had made muffins and had carrots, oranges and go-gurts.  Becky took me to lunch when we had finished.  She is amazing.

We got word today that the UHSAA unanimously voted to not sanction diving as a high school sport anymore.  We are so disappointed.  I'm glad that Heavenly Father answered my prayer yesterday.  I know things are going to work out.  I don't know how, but I'm so glad I got that reassurance or I would be furious and heartbroken right now.  I was talking to Mike and asked him if diving went to a club sport, would the boys be able to letter?  He doesn't think so.  He told Josh and Stockton that they might be the last ones to ever letter in diving in the state of Utah.  I also asked him if diving becomes a club sport, would the boys be able to compete on the 3-meter?  Right now high school diving is just on the 1-meter.  Mike said he had never thought of that.  I think that would be the best thing to come out of this situation. Stockton loves the 3-meter.  I'm pretty sure they would need to compete on the 3-meter in college.  I know the other dive competitions that Stockton goes to compete on the 3-meter.  This might become a good thing.  Still, the board at the UHSAA is lame.  Diving was fun for the boys today.  Mike just played games with them so they could let of steam.  They played 'tuck, pike, dive' which is where Mike yells one of those after they jump and they need to do it.  Soon they had to do double, then triple.  He even added a twist.  They also played a game where they would all do a dive and whoever scored the highest would get to pick the next dive.  It was nice to watch the boys have so much fun after todays disappointment.

UHSAA Board Meeting

Mike and I had a busy day yesterday.  We went to the Oquirrh Mountain Temple in the morning.  We had lunch at Village Inn and then Mike went to the temple again with the youth to do baptisms. He's racking up the blessings!  Yesterday Stockton also took the physical part of the pe test.  He got full points on sit-ups (he had to do 48), pull-ups (he had to do 9), flexibility (he had to reach 30 cm ~ actually he was able to reach 10 cm past that!).  The only thing he didn't pass was the running.  To get full points he has to run the mile and a half in 10:45.  The slowest he can go to get any points is 11:48. Stockton ran it in 12:15 or something like that.  It is frustrating because to get full points on the run if you are a girl is 14 minutes.  You can still get points if you run it in 15 minutes.  That seems like a huge difference!  Anyway, he will get to try again next week.  At least he only has to do the run.

I went to the UHSAA board meeting today.  They were planning on talking about getting rid of diving as a sanctioned sport.  Actually they already decided to get rid of it until someone told them they should let the divers and their coaches have a bit of a say.  The diving was scheduled to come on the agenda at 10:30.  The meeting started at 9:00.  I showed up at 9:00.  I wanted to make sure I was there in case they decided to talk about diving earlier.  Stockton's coach was there when I arrived.  Mike Tuckfield was given 20 minutes to present the case for keeping diving.  I thought he did a great job.  My hopes were dashed at the end.  It was obvious that the board had no intention of keeping diving.  Mike asked if anyone had any questions.  He was told he had 3 minutes left.  The Jordan High principal raised his hand.  He took almost the entire 3 minutes to ask his question!  Basically he said, "Why should we sanction you anyway, we don't even buy you a trophy." Wow.  Because the diving coaches pitch in and buy the state champion their own trophy the board doesn't think they need to sanction this sport.  I was so annoyed.  Especially since Mike had pointed to the Jordan High principal earlier and talked about how they had good communication with each other in the past.  When he asked that ridiculous question it was like signaling to everyone else that he doesn't think divers are worth anything.  One of the things Mike talked about was how diving helps fill a niche for the student that doesn't necessarily have the build to be a football player or a basketball player.  One guy leaned over and whispered, "That's what soccer is for."  Annoying.  I was pretty upset when I got home.  I knew they just didn't care about taking this way from my son.  I knelt down and said a prayer asking Heavenly Father to soften their hearts.  I felt such peace as I said that prayer.  I felt that Heavenly Father was telling me everything would be okay.  I don't know if they will keep diving or if things will still be okay if they get rid of diving.  I'm not sure, but I really hope they keep it.

I will finish this entry with two Time with Dad pictures.  Preston had his time with dad yesterday.  Mike and Preston worked on making a conveyer belt to go with a robot game they have.

Preston

Jorja wanted Mike to play softball with her.  She is nervous/excited about playing softball this spring.  I hope she loves it!

Jorja

Limerick

There once was a small toy who tried.

To make all children satisfied.

She spun and jumped.

Clapped and thumped.

'Til the day that her batteries died.

--Jorja

Lacrosse

Stockton and I went and watched Brandon's lacrosse game.  They were playing against Stockton's high school.  I don't understand lacrosse at all, but it was fun to watch and the weather was great!  The Covington's were there.  I talked to Sister Covington about how the UHSAA is trying to get rid of high school diving.  She said she knew someone on the board and she would call and talk to them tomorrow.  I hope she does. I really do not want to see diving get cancelled!

Bishop Waddoups

We have a new bishop!  Bishop Waddoups was called today.  Along with Mike Masters and Jonathan Tanner.  Bishop Waddoups was in the bishopric when we moved into this ward.  He was a counselor to Bishop Valentine and Bishop Lundgren.  He was released 6 months ago.  Talk about a short break!  He will be great.  The best thing is, he has the greatest signature of all time!  Hopefully I can get him to sign my temple recommend.  Stockton's is almost up too.  Bishop Waddoups signed his last one, maybe he can get him again.  Mike Masters was Stockton's scout leader with President Back when Stockton was a deacon.  Both of them totally helped him get his eagle before he turned 14.  Stockton was able to pick a pin to give to two different people who helped him along the way.  He chose President Back and Brother Masters.  Excited for his new calling.  Brother Tanner has been Stockton's teacher advisor.  He is great.  His dad is one of the counselors in the General Sunday School presidency and just came back from serving as a mission president in Brazil.  Fancy.

Bishop Lundgren talked for a few minutes today.  He referenced his talk he gave at ward conference at the end of January.  He said he was tempted to make it the most memorable ward conference ever by telling everyone about his new mission call.  I can't believe he has known about it that long!  One of the stories Bishop Lundgren told was about being at a crossroads in his life.  He was given an amazing opportunity at his work which would require his family to move to Washington D.C.  He wasn't sure if he should take it or not.  He thought he was crazy because it would be a huge boost to his career, but he just didn't feel 100% good about it.  While he was in the temple in a different city, he was struggling with this problem.  He was sitting outside the temple presidents door when he started talking to a stranger.  This man said something like, 'The Lord doesn't need any more CEOs or presidents of companies.  The Lord needs good husbands, righteous priesthood holders and involved fathers."  Bishop Lundgren said he has used this as a template for his life.  I like that.  I am so lucky because Mike is all of those things.

Maysen taught her sunday school class today.  Her lesson was on teaching the atonement using comparisons.  I heard she did an excellent job.  I wish I could have watched!

3.1415926

Maysen had a lecture for AP US History at school today.  This is why she isn't able to volunteer at the zoo this year.  So sad about that!  The interviews were only held today, no exceptions.  This lecture was mandatory.  I might have tried to talk to her teacher about it except one of the mandatory training days for the zoo was the same day they were doing a practice AP test.  She just couldn't miss it.  Totally disappointing.  Anyway, Maysen was one of four or so students chosen to read a book written by the visiting professor.  They were able to meet him afterwords and have him sign their book.  They were also told they would be given a signed poster from him.  We were expecting an Abraham Lincoln poster or something like that.  I laughed so hard when Maysen showed me the poster she was given.

Maysen

Today is pi day!  We love pi day.  This is an especially big pi day because it is 2015.  Usually we celebrate pi day at 1:59, this year we tried to hit 9:26.  Lisa and Nathan invited us over for a pi party.  So many pies!  They were delicious!  My banana cream won best overall. We got a box of girl scout cookies.  Lisa and Nathan always do fun things.

Notice Melissa's avocado banana pie.  Yummy!

 I also made a peanut butter, banana marshmallow pie.  I loved it!

Preston wanted a picture of him eating pie right at 9:26.  We watched the clock until it turned the correct time and took the picture right away.  It wasn't until later I noticed that the lower clock has the wrong time!  Drat!  We should have waited longer anyways because I know the next two numbers are 53.  We could have tried to get a picture at 9:26 and 53 seconds.  Then I wouldn't have been able to get a picture of Stockton.  I need one of those!

 Preston

 Stockton

I tried not to eat too much, but the problem is: pie is delicious.

Lincoln Lecture

Maysen and I went to a presentation about Abraham Lincoln tonight. Maysen was the only student who showed up.  The big presentation is tomorrow.  I'm glad we came.  Matthew Pinsker is from Dickinson College.  They have this cool website.  If you are ever itching to learn more about the civil war, check out house divided.dickinson.edu.

Writing Journal

On Mondays I volunteer in Preston's classroom.  One of the things I do is put the new journal topic sticker on the next blank page.  I love doing this because I can see what Preston has written from the week before.  For example, look at this gem.

I thought Mike would love this next one.  I even went back to my car to get my phone so I could text him a picture.  Preston sure loves his dad!

Chicken's Not for Saturdays

Preston:  "We need to go to Chick-fil-A again, but Chick-fil-A is more of a lunch thing . . . that means I can only go on days off because chicken is not really a Saturday thing."

The Golden One

The dragon swims in foaming seas,

His roar it shakes the greatest trees.

His tail it scrapes the cavern's wall,

He's waiting now to see you fall.

His eyes glint blood red in the night,

His scales glow golden in the light.

His icy breath will kill you fast,

Now Silver Ones, breathe your last.

His jaws will snap at ones too slow,

His claws await the final blow.

Even though you're unaware,

You can bet your life he's there.

You can run and you can hide,

You can't escape his all-seeing eyes.

And when you're found you'll know you're done,

Beware!  Beware, the Golden One.

                                                             ---Jorja

Fun Games

Another late night, another awesome BYU game.  These last few games have been fun.

I had scouts today.  It was Burke's first day.  We are really going to work hard in these next few months to get their wolf before the scouting changes on June 1st.  I think we can do it, but it will sure be a lot of hard work!

For family home evening we have been reading some of my dad's blog, his old journal entries from when I was a kid.  My kids think it is hilarious.   

BYU-Hawaii Mission

We will be getting a new bishopric next week.  They announced that today.  Bishop Lundgren has retired and been called on a service mission.  Bishop Lundgren was pretty high up in the Marriott Corporation.  He has been called to BYU-Hawaii to be a liaison between BYU-Hawaii and the Marriott.  How awesome is that!  They will have a two bedroom house on the beach.  That's the kind of mission I would like to serve one day! 

Late Night

BYU played pretty late tonight, plus daylight savings is tomorrow.  I decided to fall asleep to the BYU game instead of watching it in the movie room.  Turns out it was way too interesting.  I am going to be tired tomorrow!  At least I enjoyed the result of the game!

You Have Got to be KIDDING!

Yesterday I got a text from a mom at another school.  Her daughter dives and she took some pictures of Stockton for me.  She sent a picture of a letter her daughter came home with.  It said, "...I wanted to make you aware that diving at a high school level in Utah is in serious jeopardy.  The UHSAA (the governing board over high school sports) has recently voted to remove diving as a high school sport.  After the vote was taken, they then decided that they should allow parents and coaches to voice their opinions and feelings about diving before a final decision was made.  The UHSAA will be holding a meeting on Wednesday, March 18th.  Diving will be on the agenda......"

Breaks my heart.  I have so many feelings about this, obviously.  Diving has been so good for Stockton.  Not only does he enjoy it, but it has helped him develop social skills and learn how to thrive in uncomfortable situations.  (One example, Stockton has a really hard time with noises and crowds.  He has had to learn how to deal with this. It is still a work in progress.  One reason he did not do as well at state as the other meets was the noise.  The swim team was competing at the same time and there were lots of cheers and chants going on.  It is good for Stockton to work through things that are hard for him.  Even if these things are easy for other people, it still takes a bit of work for him.)

One thing I do know is that if diving is cut out, Stockton will not find another sport to take its place.  He will just be home with his computer and his family.  Not that there is anything wrong with that, but it is nice to have something he loves on the side.  I sure hope this does not happen.  Worst decision ever.

Major Brett

Brett was promoted from Captain to Major last Friday.  He sent us some pictures today.  Sunday Marie Facetimed us and told us that her dad doesn't have bars anymore, he has leaves.  Something like that.  So cute.  That is not why she called us.  She called us to tell us that she beat her dad at Dominion.  Way to go Marie!  Love it!

Anyway, my family has been emailing back and forth a bit about the pictures.  I haven't said anything because I'm not cleaver enough to participate in these type of conversations.  I'm going to document them because I love my brothers.

Brett:

Greetings family people,

Just wanted to let you guys know that last Friday I was promoted from captain to major.  I figure this is something that I should let my family know about.  We did the little promotion ceremony down at gitmo, which was pretty cool - even though an iguana photo bombed us.

That is all,

B

Brett and the General (not the train, but probably important)

 Brett

 Iguana

Matt:

Major Millburn,

First of all, it's not a photobomb if you take a picture of something and that something is in the picture.  Secondly, congratulations, that is awesome.  Thirdly, do they punch you when they put the rank on your uniform like they would do to us?  Fourthly, do you have to do a bunch of push ups as a punishment for getting promoted?

Matthew Paul

Bubs:

That's awesome, congratulations.  By the way, Iguanas taste like chicken, with tons of bones to watch out for.  True story.

Brett:

Matt, the first pic of me standing next to the general had the iguana in the bottom right - photo bombing.  Clearly you didn't study the pics as much as I did.  Luckily there wasn't any push up punishment or rank punching.  They probably knew I couldn't take it mentally or physically if they did.

Mike:

Sweet!  Gradulations!  How was your speech?  Looks like you gave one from the photos...did you tell any jokes?  Good work!

Brett:

For my big speech I said, "I just flew in from D.C. and boy are my arms tired. . . . arms tired. . . . is this thing on?"

And then I said how my grandpa will be happy that I am not a captain anymore because he hates captains.  His captain ran off when they were under fire.  And how he took their radio with him.  That's what I said, more or less.

Beeyodsaveek

Pictures of Jorja

Cori sent me some pictures of Jorja from her Chinese celebration last night.  Most of them look the same, but I couldn't decide which ones to pick because I think she looks so pretty in all of them.

Jorja is third from the left

 Preston, Jorja, Natalie

 You can see my hand in a few pictures
trying to stop Preston's nonsense.

 Jorja and Natalie

I had a scout meeting tonight.  I was hoping to understand the new scout program.  There will be a new cub scouting program that starts June 1st.  I have decided to try and get all my boys to earn their wolf badge before this date.  Even Burke that comes in next week.  Crazy goal, but I think it is possible.

Chinese and Pirates

I dropped Maysen off bright and early to take the ACT test today.  As a result, Stockton does not have to be to school until 12:00.  I wanted to take him to lunch since I had him to myself.  He told me it was free pancake day at IHOP.  That was our plan.  Although when we stepped outside we had a problem.  SNOW!  A lot of it!  There has hardly been any snow this year, but right then it was coming down in buckets!  I cleared the snow off of the windshield and we headed out.  It was slow going.  There were cars all over the road.  The road was pretty slick.  We decided that by the time we got to IHOP we wouldn't have time to eat. We weren't sure how long the wait would be with the free pancake thing going on.  I turned and headed to a pizza shop by the grocery store.  We trudged through the snow only to find out it was closed. Great.  We got back in the car and made our way to Smokey Mountain Pizza.  We were the only ones in the entire restaurant.  Stockton thought that was pretty great.  He got pizza and garlic bread and I got a sandwich.  It was pretty good.  We scarfed down a little bit and then got some togo boxes.  Stockton ate in the car while I slowly made it to school.  We got there on time, and I made it home accident free.  Talk about a success!

Maysen felt like she did really well on the English portion, but she didn't finish the math or science section.  She felt like the questions she answered she answered correctly.  Hopefully she was able to guess right on the other ones!

Maysen and Jorja had New Beginnings today.  Jorja and I weren't able to go and we were very sad about that.  Mike and Maysen went to New Beginnings.  Mike left really early for work and came home about 5:30. He thinks he fixed the problem.  Hopefully that won't happen again. I'm glad he was able to make it home for Maysen.  It was a pirate theme.  Maysen LOVED it!  Mike sent me a lot of cute pictures.

Maysen the pirate 

 Maysen's table.  She was in charge of knowledge

 Severine and Maysen introducing Presley to Young Women's.

 Maysen and Sister Yauney.

Maysen is receiving her Honor Bee.

 Kind of blurry, but these are the Laurels.

Maysen, Mallory, Severine, Melissa, Emily, Regan, Sarah, Sister Yauney

The reason Jorja and I could not come to New Beginnings was she had a Chinese festival that she was singing at tonight.  She stayed after school every day for a couple of weeks to get ready.  She was so excited about this because it was going to be several different schools, even Jazzie's!  The only problem was on Friday she found out Jazzie couldn't come because it was her New Beginnings.  Jazzie's birthday is in July, so she was getting introduced to Young Women's.  Jorja was introduced last year.  Even though it was sad to miss it, it would have been a bigger deal to miss it last year. 

The festival was at the new high school.  Holy cow!  It is so nice!  As soon as we walked in, Jorja's friends found her and hurried her off to practice.  I wandered around with Preston.  He made this lantern.

Preston 

They had a cool dragon you could go and get a picture with.  I wanted to wait and get a picture with both Preston and Jorja, but the dragon was gone when Jorja was finished...and my phone died.  Here is a blurry picture of the dragon as it was dancing around.

This afternoon I texted Scoop and told him about Jorja's performance. Scoop and Cori came to watch.  That was really nice.  Especially since they had just found out about it.  The doors to the auditorium were locked.  Cori texted me letting me know they were here.  I told her I would find them.  I left but I didn't want to have to walk all the way around again.  I did the only logical thing I could.  I stuck my shoe in the door and ran through the high school with only one shoe.

When Jorja finished rehearsals she was really upset because she found out Jazzie was here, but had already left.  She didn't get to see her because she was practicing.  I was walking her back to the stage, but I needed to get Preston who was finishing a dragon puppet.  I asked Cori if she could walk with her.  Cori said she perked up when she saw Ella.  I'm glad Jorja is making other friends.

My phone died and I managed to get no pictures of Jorja.  Cori has some.  Maybe I'll get them one day.  I did snap this picture.  Preston's pretty happy.  That was sure nice of Scoop and Cori to spend the evening with the three of us.  Especially since they knew Mike and Maysen wouldn't be here.

Scoop, Cori, Preston

Jorja sang her song with her other friends.  She sure hates being in front of people, but she did a good job.  I can't believe how well she does at Chinese.  I love listening to her.  I just wish she would let me hear her talent more often.  Cori and I walked Preston to the bathroom. When he came out he ran at full speed and jumped into Cori's arms and just hugged her.  That is one sweet boy.

Sleepy Mike

Around lunch time Mike accidentally broke something he was doing at work.  He had to stay late to try and fix it.  I think he said about six people stayed with him.  Super nice.  He got home about 1:30. Long day!

Preston and I had scouts today.  We went to Judy's house.  She taught the boys about birds and helped them make bird feeders.

Maysen put some last minute studying in for the ACT.  She takes the test tomorrow.  AHHHH!!!  I can't believe she is that old.  Crazy how fast time moves.

Today is my grandma's birthday.  She would have been 92.  I miss her. She is the best.

Testimonies

Today was fast Sunday.  Now that Preston is eight, everyone in our family fasts.  We always start small and work up to a full 24 hours, at least that is the goal.  I asked Preston if he thought he could fast from bedtime to 8:00 in the morning.  This was how that conversation went. 

Preston:  How about 6?

Me: How about 8?

Preston: How about 7?

Me: How about 8?

Preston: How about 8?

Me: Okay

Preston: Wait!  How about 7:30

Haha!  Anyway he did great and fasted until around 8:15.  We have 9:00 church this year, that is why he ended his fast at 8:15.  Hopefully soon he will be able to fast from bedtime until after church.

Maysen got up to bear her testimony today.  I was shocked.  That is not typical of Maysen.  She talked about patriarchal blessings.  She talked about how she had questions that she had fasted and prayed about. Her questions were about college, mission, marriage and if Heavenly Father really knew who she was.  All of her questions were answered. She said that when she says her prayers at night she usually says that she knows she can do hard things.  In her blessing it said almost word for word what she says in her prayers.  That really helped Maysen realized that Heavenly Father knows who she is, and also that he listens to her prayers.  She was very eloquent and gave such a wonderful testimony.

A few minutes after Maysen sat down, Preston whispered to me, "Can I go sit in one of the chairs to talk about my fast?"  I was a little surprised and murmured, "I guess so."  Preston hopped right up and went and sat on the stand and waited patiently for his turn.  I was terrified!  Was he going to be silly? That is what he usually tries to do when he has a lot of people looking at him.  I whispered to Stockton, "Is he going to say 'My mom made me fast until 8 and I wanted to end my fast at 7:30.'?"  I was so nervous!  After awhile, Preston came back down.  The lady was talking a long time!  Once he got down the lady finished. Preston ran right back up.  Maysen whispered that Preston asked, "Do I just go to the microphone when she finishes talking?"  Preston was so cute up there.  Luckily he wasn't trying to be silly.  He did tell everyone he fasted overnight until eight in the morning.  That got quite a laugh. He said he fasted for everything Heavenly Father and Jesus did for us and that he felt happy when he ended his fast.  It was really sweet.  It is also nice to be reminded that we don't have to fast asking for help with something, we can also do a fast of thanksgiving.

Many people came up to us today and quoted Preston's line about fasting until 8:00.  They all loved it.  One guy said, "Since it was said over the pulpit it is now doctrine.  I will now only fast until 8:00. Yep, don't think it works that way.  Anyway, Preston made a lot of people smile today.

The stake patriarch is in our ward.  He was giving the closing prayer. Before he said his prayer he said he wanted to give his testimony.  He talked about giving the blessings and the humbling experience it is.  It was pretty neat.

Maysen spent several hours today taking a practice ACT test.  They have a scoring template in the back of the book.  She did the best on English and Reading, obviously.  Math and science were a little harder. She scored a 28.  Hopefully she can get a few points higher when she takes the real ACT on Tuesday.

Mike, Maysen, Jorja, Preston and I all played Settlers of Catan on Maysen's board.  Mike won.  The game was pretty hard because the board was so crowded.  We have the expansion, so we were able to have other houses.  We forgot that they also add resource hexagons.  Mike and Maysen will need to make a few more.  Stockton didn't want to play.  I told him he didn't need to, but if he didn't play he should read Of Mice and Men.  It would have been even more difficult if Stockton had played, so this plan worked out.  We played until the missionaries came and then played after they left.  I had a miserable game.  Preston got to the point that every time a 10 was rolled he would get an automatic city.  I went several turns without gaining one resource. Long game for me.