Veterinary Science

So happy!  Maysen really, really, really, really, really wanted to do the veterinary science program at the technical center.  The problem is, it is not our school district.  She would be allowed to take the program if there were slots still available and she was chosen.  This year they allowed the students in the home district to add the class with arena scheduling.  Basically they just had to click a button to get in.  Maysen had to write essays and send her grades and different information over. Today I got a phone call from the technical center asking if she was still interested in the program.  I told them she was a thousand percent still interested.  They said they had a slot available for her in the morning. The afternoon slots had filled up.  That was okay.  We are completely fine with morning classes!  I am so happy for her!  I know it is a hard program, but it will be a great way to spend her senior year. The vet program will take up four classes the entire year.  We had to change her schedule around a bit.  Good thing the arena scheduling is open and now the remove button is there.  We were able to get statistics, AP government and AP English.  The only class that we couldn't get was physics.  The class is full.  Maysen is going to talk with her counselor tomorrow and see if she can get in that class. The other option is to do physics online during the summer.  It will be interesting to see what Maysen decides to do.

Maysen

Jorja and I went and watched Erica play softball today.  Jorja has been really excited about softball lately.  Erica is a freshman and is the starting catcher for the varsity team.  She is really good!  It was so fun to watch her.  Mike was excited about Maysen getting into the vet program and wanted to get Maysen a cake.  Jorja and I surprised Mike at the store to help him pick it out.  I hope Maysen loves this!  Even if she ends up hating the vet program I think taking this class will be a good thing.  It would show her that isn't what she wants to do with her life.  She is not planning on being a vet, but she loves working with animals.  It will also be nice to only be on the high school campus for half a day next year!

Payson Temple

Mike came home early from work today.  We checked out Preston a little bit before lunch.  He went to school wearing his suit and looked absolutely adorable.  Preston was at recess when we got there.  The lady said, "He should be easy to recognize.  He is wearing a suit and orange tie."  I was surprised she noticed, but she kept saying over and over how adorable he looked.  I obviously agreed.  Mike and I took Preston to the Payson Temple open house.  We were only able to get tickets during the day.  We didn't want to check the other kids out of school this close to AP tests.  Besides, Preston is the only one who can't go in a temple right now.  It was fun to have some one on one time with just him.  We were there a bit early and took the time to walk around the temple.  It is beautiful!  The color reminded us of sand.  It blended into the mountainside in a cool way.  Preston had his 3ds and took many pictures of his own.  I loved watching him!

Stephanie & Preston

 Preston & Stephanie

 Mike & Preston

 Preston, Stephanie, Mike

 Stephanie watching Preston taking pictures

The temple was absolutely beautiful!  They had an apple blossom theme throughout the temple.  The chairs looked so fun.  The sealing rooms were huge!  In the marriage waiting room there was a picture of a black girl in a wedding dress.  I think she was in a wedding dress.  I can't really remember.  I absolutely loved the picture.  The girl was gorgeous.  Okay, I did a quick search to see if I could find the picture.  I couldn't, but I did find out a little about it.  The picture was of a pioneer woman.  One of the first settlers in Utah Valley.  Her name was Jane Elizabeth Manning.  It is an original painting done by a local artist. Stunning.

Preston

 Preston & Stephanie

After the temple we took Preston out to eat at a Chinese restaurant.  I can't remember the name.  It wasn't my favorite.  I don't think my chicken was cooked all the way.  Several times I had to use my napkin to get rid of the food in my mouth.  I felt sick the entire way home and for most of the day.

Maysen was supposed to register at 3:00.  This year they picked the schedule and then you could change it, supposedly.  The annoying thing was they gave her Squires for physics.  There is no way in the world we would have put Squires on her schedule.  The teacher we wanted was filled up.  If the scheduling was done like last year Maysen would have gotten the good teacher for sure.  I was frustrated and not feeling good.  I ended up snapping at both Mike and Maysen.  Not the best end to a previously great day.  I did stay and watch Stockton dive. That always makes me feel better.  It was just him and Gage again. Stockton has really been working on his twist dives.  They are so much better.  He did an inward full twist that was so good!  I had never seen him do that before.  He was so high!  I love watching Stockton work for something.  Most things come pretty easy to him.

Auction

Maysen, Jorja and I were able to go to the Young Women/Relief Society service auction tonight.  Jorja brought a plate of her delicious chocolate chip cookies.  I auctioned a gingerbread house to be decorated later.  The twins won Jorja's cookies.  They loved them!  Lots of people were bidding on them, because they know how delicious they are!  Presley won my gingerbread house.  She wants me to make it now and not wait until Christmas.  I think I'll ask her mom when would be best.  Jorja won a softball clinic with Erica.  Erica plays on the high school team and is really, really good.  Maysen won free pet sitting. That will come in handy for our trip back east!  I won two dozen cupcakes.  This lady in our ward makes delicious cupcakes.  Erica and I were both bidding on them.  It came down to a pick your number.  I wanted Erica to win, so I picked the number 1.  Erica picked 3.  The number was 1.  Whoops.  I think I will give Erica one dozen cupcakes and keep the other dozen for myself.  She didn't end up winning anything.

Little Late

Preston was late for school today.  Just a bit late.  He takes the bus to school every day except Mondays.  I volunteer in his class first thing in the morning on Mondays, so I am able to take him to school.  This gives us a bit more time together in the morning, and I love it!  I helped him practice his piano and then we played games on the computer.  All of a sudden we looked at the time and noticed school was starting. Whoops!  Sometimes it's gotta be great to be the last child!

We had scouts today.  Matthew has earned his wolf!  Yay!  Hopefully the rest of them will have it in two weeks time.  Pretty great.  Mike and I went and watched Jorja play softball.  She sure loves it.  When we came back it was time to get the kids to bed.  Preston and I played a quick game on the computer before bed.  He wanted to play another one, but I was trying to shut it down.  We were practically wrestling over the lap top.  He was trying to control the track pad and start a new game.  I was trying to control the track pad and shut the game down.  It is surprisingly hard to do!  Preston was laughing hysterically while we were doing that.  I eventually won because I am bigger and he is eight.

It's Over!

I survived teaching my class today.  No one walked out that I noticed.  Glad that is over with.  This sweet old lady asked me to say the prayer in Relief Society.  I was startled and said, "No way!  I'm still shaking from Gospel Doctrine!"  I think I scared her.  I hate saying prayers in public.  More than teaching Gospel Doctrine.  I did add that Kanani would say the prayer.  She was sitting next to me.

We had a pretty lazy Sunday.  It was great.  Mike did a great Family Home Evening lesson.  As part of the lesson, we watching Gordon B. Hinckley introduce The Proclamation on the Family.  That was given a few weeks after Mike and I were married.  Crazy how much the world has changed since then!

Jorja also made a lot of cookies.  They were delicious.

Samaritan

Jorja was really busy today.  She had softball pictures this morning. Jazzie invited her over for a few hours, then softball practice again for two hours.  Wow!  She loved it though.  Audrey came over while Jorja was at Jazzie's house.  Jorja was gone, so she played with Preston. They built a giant fort and had a great time.  She was here most of the day. Max came over tonight because my dad went to the adult session of Stake Conference.  I talked to my dad a bit about my lesson when he came to pick Max up.  My dad is giving a talk in Stake Conference tomorrow.  We will most likely be teaching at the exact same time.

I found an article in the Ensign from 2007.  It was by John Welch who was a professor at J. Reuben Clark Law School at BYU.  Anyway, the article is titled The Good Samaritan: Forgotten Symbols.  Wow.  That was interesting.  He shows how the Good Samaritan teaches the Plan of Salvation.  Almost every word has a meaning.  The shortened version is, "The man who was going down is Adam (us).  Jerusalem is paradise, and Jericho is the world.  The robbers are hostile powers.  The priest is the Law, the Levite is the prophets, and the Samaritan is Christ.  The wounds are disobedience, the beast is the Lord's body, the inn (which accepts all who wish to enter) is the Church, the manager of the inn is the head of the Church and the Samaritan's promise he will return represents the Savior's second coming."  I had never, ever thought of the parable like that.  I loved this.  The article went into great detail. For instance the words 'went down' (A certain man went down from Jerusalem....  The story in Luke 10 implies that the man went down intentionally, knowing the risks that would be involved in the journey. No one forced him to go down to Jericho.  He apparently felt that the journey was worth the well-known risks of such travel....  I love that. Just like we all made the decision to come to earth even though we knew there were risks.  We decided the journey was worth it.

Ceramics Stress

Mike had the day off today.  He spent a lot of time working on the pool. He is trying to figure out why the filter isn't working properly, also why the salt water chlorine thing isn't working like it should.  Hopefully he'll figure it out soon, the kids are ready to swim!

Mike and I did stop by the high school this morning to see Maysen in an assembly.  She had been randomly chosen to participate for a chance to win a new car.  There were 50 people chosen.  She was in the green group.  There were ten people in that group.  They had this ball machine and picked out a ball.  It had the number 8 on it.  Maysen was number 10, so she was out.  Maysen wasn't too disappointed, because she knew the chances were small.  She was bothered that she only had 10 minutes in ceramics.  That class drives me insane!  Mostly because it stresses Maysen out.  Even though she got an A last quarter with over 100%, that class caused her more stress than all three of her AP classes put together!  It is doing the same thing this semester . . . and the AP tests are right around the corner!

Jorja stayed after school to retake a math test that she got 85% on.  She got 100% this time.  Her teacher will average the two scores together. I'm glad she decided to retake it!

Preston, Mike and I played Dominion.  Preston added Pokemon cards to the game.  Luckily they were 11 coins to buy, so no one ever bought one.  I was worried how it would actually work, but Preston was pretty excited about the entire thing.

Mike and I went to the Draper Temple tonight.  When we were in the Celestial Room I could hear the rain poring down.  After the temple we went to dinner at Tokyo.  I want to take Jorja and Preston there again. It's been a long time since we have done that, I think they will really love it.  Maysen and Stockton would have no interest and I'm afraid it would be a waste of money.

Lunch with Anne

I watched Anne today.  I decided I would surprise Maysen and Stockton and bring Anne to eat lunch with them.  I got Anne's lunch all ready and then headed to the high school.  The only problem was, I couldn't find either of them.  They both eat their lunch quick and then head to their class.  Once the bell rang, Anne and I headed down to the gym.  I knew Stockton had PE and we were hoping Anne could wave to him before we went.  We found him at the top of the bleachers playing Geometry Dash.  Anne started calling, "Tock-ten!  Tock-ten!"  Stockton came down and played with Anne for a bit.  We stayed and watched Stockton run 4 laps.  Then they started a dodgeball game.  I thought Anne would love to stay for that, because she loves balls so much.  We took a seat in the bleachers to watch the game.  The only problem was, Anne wanted to play!  She kept calling, "Ball!  Ball!"  I took her out shortly after.  Jorja's lunch was about to start, so we headed for the middle school.  Anne was able to surprise Jorja and eat lunch with her. I think they both liked it.

Stockton was exhausted after diving.  Today and yesterday it was just him and Gage.  Rarely is it like that.  It is so tiring when there are only two divers!  He liked it a little better today because they spent the entire class of the 3-meter.  Stockton will be so happy when Josh can dive again!

Wrong Game

Jorja had a softball game today.  She was scheduled to bring treats and was pretty excited about it.  Mike wasn't going to be able to come.  He had to stay longer at work so he could pick up Stockton from diving. Usually Josh's mom drives them to and from diving on Wednesdays, but Josh's ear is still hurting.  I can't believe how long his ear has bothered him!  Poor Josh.

Jorja and I got to the park a little after 5.  We saw a lot of pink players and a lot of yellow players.  We didn't see any green.  I looked up the information again and saw that today Jorja had the late game!  It didn't start until 8:00.  Whoops.  We went back home and Jorja was able to take a little nap. At least Mike was able to come with me since the game started so late.  Jorja did great!  She is loving it.  She even got her first hit today!  Two RBIs with it as well.  Pretty happy Porge.  Pretty tired Porge.  Such a late night for her!

Schedules

My dad came up this morning to help me with my lesson on Sunday.  I have to teach Gospel Doctrine.  I'm not excited about it.  I'm quite terrified.  I taught Gospel Doctrine once in Georgia and shook the entire time I was up there.  I don't like talking in front of adults.  If I have to, I would rather it be a sacrament talk because then I know where I'm going.  I'm not going to have a weird left field question that I have no idea how to answer.  At least they have two different Gospel Doctrine classes here.  Hopefully everyone will show up to the other class.

Maysen was supposed to do her schedule for next year today.  In the past, the kids have been able to build their own schedules.  They choose the class times and the teacher.  I have loved it!  It looks like this year the kids don't get to choose their own teacher.  I'm not sure if they get to choose their own class time.  I guess we'll see.  I loved how the schedule was put together the other years.  We would ask around and find out things about the teachers.  I loved having some control. Stockton really, really, really didn't want English first thing in the morning.  It had been like that the last two years and he was sick of it. This year he had English as his last period.  Little things like that have been nice to control.  I wonder why they changed.  Scheduling the other way made the kids feel more grown up.  Anyway, we got a message saying there was a problem with their system and we would have to do it later.  Maybe they should go back to the old way.

I had pack meeting today.  Maysen, Stockton and Jorja served at the food bank.  Maysen was furious with me because I wouldn't let her take her ds on the ride up.  Maysen and Jorja worked with potatoes. Stockton sorted food.

The Haunted House

We all went to watch Jorja play in her softball game today.  Jorja's team has mostly people who have never played before.  The other team did not.  Sometimes the 'run if the catcher drops the ball on the third strike' rule can be very annoying.  Especially if it is lucky if you strike someone out!  Jorja is still loving it though, so I'm loving that!

After the game we went to Mulligan's and played miniature golf.  We played The Haunted House course.  It was really nice and the weather was perfect.  Mike took Jorja and Preston home and stopped at Arby's. I took Maysen and Stockton home and stopped at Kneaders.  We tried their banana bread.  Stockton is a fan, especially since there was no nuts!

Dieter F. Ostrich

We followed my Grandpa to Camille's homecoming.  She did a great job.  I think it is funny that she is from Idaho and served in Colorado. She seemed to really love it though.  It was nice to see my family, even though it was just for a bit.  I talked to Jackson and Chelsea for awhile. Jackson is planning on going to dental school.  I wonder if he will end up at VCU like Mike?  Jackson said he wanted to go to any school that would take him.  Chelsea is getting her degree in illustration.  I love her art!  We didn't stay to get food at Rozie's.  It was tempting because it is always delicious, but we were anxious to get back on the road.  Brad is the bishop, so they were having people meet after the block.  I didn't want to get back home right before bedtime because we had done that last week.  I wanted to let the kids unwind for a little.

Unwind they did.  Stockton and Preston got about 75 stuffed animals and played a succession in the presidency game.  They were pretending the stuffed animals were the first presidency and twelve apostles.  They put them all in 'wheel decide', spun the wheel to see which one kicked the bucket.  Then they would add a new stuffed animal.  On and on. This little ostrich started in the first presidency and survived through all 75 animals!  The boys have sense named him Dieter F. Ostrich.

Dieter F. Ostrich

Camille's Homecoming

Jorja went to her friend Kate's house to play today.  It is the first time she has been there.  We have been hearing a lot about Kate recently. Jorja calls her 'KitKat'.  They seem to have a lot of fun together.  I'm glad Jorja is branching out and making more friends.  She still misses Jazzie terribly.

Preston and I picked up Jorja from Kate's house and dropped her off at her softball practice.  Then I took Preston to get church shoes!  And the crowd goes wild!  Yay!  This is a major cause for celebration.  I never remember he needs church shoes until Sunday.  He has worn black crocs to church for a year now.  Preston was not excited that I remembered to get him shoes.  Sometimes I wish I was a better girl.  I wish I knew how to shop, do hair nice and put on makeup.  I don't want to learn how to do those things, I just want to know how to do them.  I could probably learn the last two, but shopping is torture.  The only time it wasn't was when Alisha would help me shop.  I walk in a store and immediately want to turn around.  I feel so overwhelmed.

Anyway, Preston and I managed to get him some church shoes and some tennis shoes.  The tennis shoes were hard because I refused to get him shoes with Ironman, Batman, Spiderman or other such nonsense on them.  Why do they even make those for kids his age?  We hurried home and were able to get the last things packed in the motorhome. We drove the motorhome to pick up Jorja from her softball practice. We then drove to the Walmart parking lot, which is also connected to Payless.  Mike went to Walmart while I took Jorja to get church shoes and Maysen to get tennis shoes.  We got some, but it was horrible. Jorja doesn't want any shoes that show her toes.  She wants church shoes she can wear socks with and she wants them white.  We finally left with a 'good enough' pair.  Oh well. 

Maysen, Jorja and I then walked to Zupas for a dinner we could eat on the way.  We are headed up to Idaho again for my cousin Camille's mission homecoming.  Well, my cousin Rozie's daughter Camille's mission homecoming.  I was going to drive by myself until Mike suggested we all go.  We got to my grandpa's around 9:00 at night.  We went inside and talked to him for awhile and then slept in the motorhome in front of his house.  I love that we can do this!

Gossip Tapioca

I finally finished Brandon's stocking today!  Yay!  I have been re-listening to Conference while I finished up.  It was great a few days ago when the snow was falling to be stuck inside sewing and listening to conference.  I have such a great life! 

Mike and I went out to dinner tonight.  We went to a place called Gossip Tapioca.  I have been wanting to go there for awhile.  It is my friends favorite place to eat.  They serve Vietnamese food.  Jacqui texted me while I was ordering to help me out.  Too bad she wasn't here to shame Mike into trying something other than sweet and sour chicken.  It was pretty good though.

Mine was really good as well.  I'm not sure exactly what it is called. Something like Bun Thit Nuong Cha Gio.  I don't think that is exactly right though.  I loved it.

We also loved their drinks.  We decided to try them with the tapioca in them.  They are giant tapioca balls.  I thought it made the drinks interesting, but Mike didn't like them.  Jacqui told me that she likes the tapioca but her kids call them snot balls.  Gross!

Almost Gone

The snow is mostly gone.  It was fun while it lasted.  One day in April was kind of fun.  Lots of days wouldn't have been so great.  Mike did have a cold drive to the temple this morning.  He said it was pretty busy today.  Not at all like last week!  Glad we could make it then.

April Snowstorms

It snowed today.  It snowed and snowed and snowed!  It probably snowed more today than it did all winter!  It sure was beautiful, but I was a little nervous with my snow tires off.  I got the kids to school before the snow was too bad.  I did not want to go anywhere today!

Front Yard

 Back Yard ~ Snow with Blossoms

 Back Yard

Jorja was supposed to have a softball game and softball pictures. Those were cancelled.  Stockton had diving.  I hinted that I would be more than okay if he skipped today.  He didn't want to.  I went out and shoveled the driveway.  I dropped Stockton off at diving and got home in one piece.  Yay!  Snow in April is quite frustrating, but a snow covered world is so beautiful!

Random Pictures

I found a few extra pictures from our trip on Mike's cell phone.  I thought I might as well stick them here.

Preston roasting Peeps

 Peep on fire!

 Mike, Preston, Stockton, Jorja

 Stockton, Maysen, Preston, Stephanie, Jorja @ Devil's Gate

 Sign at our campsite.  So many choices!

 Mike and the girls loved this gate at the Crazy Horse Monument

First Ups

Back to the daily grind.  Not excited about it.  The kids went back to school.  Mike went back to work.  I volunteered in Preston's class and did cub scouts.  The one new thing we were able to do today was Jorja had her first softball game.  I was so excited!  Mike took a picture of Jorja's first ever 'at bat'.

Jorja

Jorja walked both times she was up at bat.  She scored every time.  I really thought they were going to get her out when she ran into home, but she was a bit faster.  It was a really fun night.  I think Jorja liked it.

Six States, Two Days

Yesterday we started in South Dakota.  We went through North Dakota and ended in Montana.  Today we started in Montana, went through a smidge of Wyoming, Idaho, and ended in Utah.  Six states.  The ride home was beautiful.  We went through parts of Yellowstone.  Wish we could have stayed there longer.  One day . . . .

We drove through Island Park, Rexburg and Idaho Falls on our way home!  We were able to stop and see Grandpa Parry.  Steve and Sharon brought a delicious dinner over.  It was so good to see all three of them!

Maysen, Preston, Grandpa, Stockton, Jorja

Now with Stephanie

We arrived home around 8:00.  School starts tomorrow.  This has been a really fun week.

Buffalos and Burros

Okay, the buffalos weren't nearly as fun as the burros.  We left this morning with plans to go to the Jewel Cave.  We thought we left in enough time to take the wildlife loop.  We probably would have made it if we didn't get stuck by the burros.  Three of my four kids loved it, so no harm done.

 Preston the Dog

 Here they come!  Michael & Lisa warned us to bring carrots.

 Maysen

 Preston

 Jorja had the best seat!

 I love this picture!

 Back to Jorja

 Good-bye Burros

 These two did not want us to pass.

Luckily we threw carrots to the side of the road to distract them.

The reason we were unable to go to Jewel Cave was we wanted to get to Reptile Gardens before they closed at 4:00.  We didn't think we would make it if we had to wait for the next tour at the cave.

 Preston

 Stephanie, Maysen, Stockton, Jorja, Preston

 Yertle the Turtles!

 That's a LONG tail

 Stockton & Preston

 Maysen & Stephanie

 Maysen

Stephanie

 Maysen

 Preston

 Jorja

 Stockton

 Cheyenne

 She has lived here for 11 years

 She was wounded by a bullet

 Poor left wing

I really, really, really wanted to find the center of the United States. When Alaska and Hawaii were added to the country, this spot was determined as the geographical center of the United States.  We were so close, how could we not try to find it?  This spot is a little out of the way, so they made a monument in a nearby town. . . .although we could not find that one!  We drove 7.8 miles on this dirt road.

We found the barn on the right and were supposed to see a flag flying on the left.  There was no flag there, but we did find the flagpole.  The instructions said to "feel free to climb through the barbed wire fence". So we did.  Well, actually we hopped the gate next to the barbed wire.

 Stephanie

 You can barely make out the flagpole in this picture

 Stockton, Maysen, Preston, Jorja, Stephanie

 Center of the Nation!

 Mike & Stephanie

 Preston

 Stockton ~ another perfect Windshield Geography location

 Stockton & Preston

 Maysen & Preston

 Stockton, Maysen, Preston, Jorja, Mike

 The view at the center of the nation

 Stephanie & Mike

Luckily Mike didn't die next to this hay

Stephanie next to the cows wearing a cow shirt

 Now the drive back ~ I drove this part!

We stopped a little before the North Dakota border.  We had been cooking dinner and pulled off the side of the road to eat it.  It sure was pretty.

 Proof that we went to North Dakota!

Preston, Stephanie, Maysen, Jorja, Stockton

 Preston, Stephanie, Maysen, Stockton, Jorja

 Preston, Mike, Maysen, Stockton, Jorja

Preston then wanted to run across the street and take pictures in front of the South Dakota sign.  We didn't see any harm in that!

Preston, Jorja, Maysen, Stephanie, Stockton

 Preston, Jorja, Maysen, Mike, Stockton

We were only in North Dakota for about an hour before we made it to Montana.  I had Mike pull off so we could get another picture.  There wasn't much room on the side of the road, so it was a bit scary.

Maysen, Stockton, Jorja, Stephanie & Preston

 I think this picture of Preston is funny.

We got the Jorja and Preston to sleep and drove for another hour before we stopped at a Walmart.  Mike and I ran in and got some milk and a few treats.  We slept in the parking lot here.  Long day!  Fun day!