Boys Are Gone

Mike took Stockton and Preston to the cabin today. I had the boys pull out their own clothes. Preston packed a ton of stuff. For example, he pulled out more jammies than nights he will be there! He said, "Well, I'll probably just stay in my jammies." Still. That's a lot of stuff!

The boys left after Mike came home from work. They got to the cabin shortly before midnight. Mike had Stockton put in his contacts in case he needed him to drive. Mike has been working non-stop lately. He was exhausted before they even left.

Bubs and his family got to the cabin last night. Brett and his family and Matt and his family went up there today. I'll bring the girls tomorrow. I'm excited!

We had planned a river rafting trip on the 4th of July. Sharon texted me today saying the river was still running high and most of the fun rapids were covered. She said she would rather not go, but just go to Terry and Debie's for their barbecue. We were planning on just doing one run so we could get to Terry's. Although disappointing, this will make it easier; and Maysen won't have to watch twelve kids by herself. It will be fun to watch the Idaho Falls fireworks. I have heard so much about them. They are supposed to be super big this year. Maysen really wanted to see a good firework show last year, but we got stuck at the wrong place in Pigeon Forge. This should do nicely for her.

Wardle Fields

I decided to skip diving for Preston today and hang out with my brothers. I will have him make it up later. Usually they don't let you make-up diving, but I have previously talked to them about if the lesson is changed on me, I'm planning on making it up. That was what happened today. It worked out because we were able to go to the splash park with my brothers and that was a lot of fun. I just wish I had taken Preston to diving yesterday.

Stockton didn't come with us because he had his bowling class at 2:00. Mike said he would be able to drop Stockton off at his class because he had a lunch meeting in Sandy. Maysen, Preston and I first stopped at my dad's house where we met Brett and Matt and their families. Yay! Brett's here! Grace and Anne were so cute together.

Grace & Anne

I think Grace smiles like Jorja. Squints her eyes when she smiles. I mean, look how big her eyes are in the picture below verses when she is smiling. Grace asked if she could put bunnies ears on Anne. They tried to do them on each other too, but that didn't work out so well.

We met a lot of the Leatherwoods at the park. Laura was there! Leslie too. Along with Phil and Cathy, Brian and his family and I think John's wife was there with their kids. Leslie lives in Tennessee now, so it was really cool to see her. While talking to her we realized that our kids were in the same group at EFY. Well, group 5B. There could be hundreds of kids in 5B for all we know. I sent Jorja a picture of Kayden and told her to look for him.

Kayden and his friend Seth, also from Tennessee

The park was pretty fun. Maysen was such a good help. Matt was there with the three kids by himself and Maysen was an extra pair of hands.

Anne & Maysen

This park was so cool! I told Maysen, "Finally a park where kids can get hurt!" It seems like when my kids were little all the cool parks were torn down in favor of lame plastic things. I'm thinking of Star Slide. Anyways, this place was so dangerous. This kids loved it! I probably would have been a wreck if my kids were little though. This Christmas tree looking jungle gym turned around by kids pushing it. There were always a ton of kids hanging off this thing, with no supervision. Same with the slides. Tons of kids were going down it at the same time. Just like the good old days.

Maysen at the top of the Christmas tree

 Just random pictures of the park ~ it sure was crowded!

 It's free and only opened a month ago.

 Anne

 Laura's daughter Autumn is crawling, Leslie's daughter Jordyn is in the blue shirt.

 Brian was super proud of this picture

 Marie & Preston

 Place to get muddy

 Maysen

 Jeff & Anne

 Jeff

 Maysen & Preston

 Jeff

 Brett crawled up on the roof to get one of the Leatherwood's shoes that had been thrown up there.

My dad was documenting the occasion. I was documenting my dad.

Maysen and Preston stayed dry the entire time until right before it was time to leave. They got into a little war. First at the splash pad, then at the waterfall.

 Maysen & Preston

My dad drove us there, which was nice since we don't have air-conditioning. We got back to my dad's house when there wasn't enough time to go home but too much time to go get Stockton from bowling. We hung out there for about ten minutes then arrived at bowling right at 4:00. Except Stockton didn't come out for 17 minutes. We were so hot! Stockton was pretty excited though. He got his best bowling score of all time. It says 158, but he said he actually got a 151. It accidentally recorded a spare when he didn't really get one. I've never scored 151, so I'm pretty impressed. He is really liking this class.

Stockton's score

My dad made spaghetti for dinner. Maysen stayed home, but the rest of us went (except Jorja of course). Mike's favorite thing to do is take pictures of my dad when he falls asleep in weird positions. This is when my dad was making tapioca. Mike even took a video. My dad was oblivious to everything.

Dad

Contacts and Platforms

I was about to start my exercise at 6:30 this morning when Jorja texted me. She said, "One of my contacts ripped, do you think you could bring some new ones up today?" Doh! When she was packing I almost asked her if she had an extra set of contacts. I didn't because I knew she was wearing her new prescription trial contacts, the rest of her prescription hadn't come in when she left. They called yesterday, but I never got a chance to pick them up. I didn't worry about it because I knew Jorja wouldn't need them until Saturday. I ended up driving to Provo this morning and dropping her old prescription contacts off. I also brought my blanket that Jorja likes. That way I felt I drove two hours in a car without air-conditioning for more than just contacts.

Stockton had diving on the platforms today. I just brought Stockton, Preston said he wanted to go to the U tomorrow. During the summer I have been bringing Preston one day a week for two hours instead of two days a week for one hour. Preston decided to go to the U because last time he was only on the one meter anyway and the water was really cold. Well, about 10:00 tonight I get a text saying that practice will need to be changed tomorrow to 2:00-4:00. That is the exact time Stockton is at his bowling class. Now I have to take Preston by himself. I could have easily taken him today and not made an extra trip. Plus, Brett gets to town around midnight and I want to see him. They were going to a splash pad while we were to be at diving. Now, if I take Preston to the new time I will miss Brett for most of the day. I'm thinking I'll just skip diving because I don't get to see Brett very often. I really wish I would have brought Preston to diving today.

Stockton had a good day on the platforms. It was a lot warmer today than last time. There was no wind, so that was nice.

Stockton 1 1/2 off 7

I was excited to get this shot. Look at that entry!

 Here's a close up. Just awesome.

Payton's Home!

I knew Payton was coming home this week and was thrilled to watch a video Jerome posted of Teresa meeting him. I cried. I was about to text Teresa a message when I got these three pictures from her. I was so happy! I couldn't believe she thought to send these to me. She knew how much I'd love them.

Elder Payton

 Weston, Payton, Teresa

 Jerome, Weston, Payton, Teresa

Look at that complete family! Isn't it awesome! My friend Alisha's boy, Cameron, is going into the MTC tomorrow. Wow. So excited for these families.

I wanted to take Maysen shopping and we were about to leave when Stockton mentioned something about his bowling class. Whoops! I had completely forgotten. Good thing he said something. Instead, Maysen and I waited until he came home. We were still able to make it to the store before it closed. We went bra shopping at a store called Lace by Louise. Shannon told me about it on Sunday. I loved it. I felt really comfortable with the owner and I'm so excited to get Maysen a bra that actually fits. Her rib cage is so small that her bras need to be special ordered. Her chest is too big for her to go to youth sizes. Anyways, she has never had a bra that fit properly. I have tried, but the people I had taken her to had no idea what they were doing. I wasn't impressed, so the next time we just went to Kohls and that experience wasn't great. Anyways, I'm really excited about this. I think it will help Maysen a lot. I will need to take Jorja there some time as well. Now that I trust someone, that will be my go-to.

Speaking of Jorja, I got this picture from her today. Doesn't she look happy? She said her day was good and they had a dance today. I asked her where Ebony was in the picture. Ebony was in a different class, but they met up with her later. That surprised me that they would be separated, but I guess they aren't mission companions.

Random boy, Random boy, Jorja, Random boy, Random girl, Random girl

Mike and I met with the sister missionaries tonight. That was good. They were able to help Mike with a few things he didn't know about. Like how when our ward has splits, they are supposed to meet with Mike for fifteen minutes before. Something called RTL (?) We had never heard of such a thing. It was great to talk with them and form a connection. Mike has a lot of work ahead of him, but he will be great at this calling.

EFY

I took Jorja to EFY today. She is pretty dang excited. I was going to take Ebony too, but I couldn't leave until around 11:30. I needed to drop Stockton off at the U before I left. I didn't want him to drive because he has to go straight from diving at the U to his film class in Taylorsville. There's not much time in-between and I just didn't feel comfortable having him do it, especially with all the construction. Stella wanted Ebony to get there right at 11:00, so she had her brother Matthew check her in. Jorja was more than happy to sleep in a bit and go later. I was a bit worried because Stella told me parking is a nightmare, but by the time we got there parking was great. Not only that, but we didn't need to wait in any lines. I waited while Jorja unpacked despite her insistence that she would unpack later. I didn't trust that it would happen. I helped her with her bedding too. I could see her coming back so tired and just sleeping with the sheets not on the bed at all. Jorja still have about fifteen minutes before they needed to meet with their counselor when I left. I think she is going to have a great week! Plus, I love Ebony!

Ebony & Jorja

Right before bed I got a text from Jorja. She said her day was good and was excited that Brenton was there too, just not in her group. She said Bode, Cody and Ryan were there too. They are in Group B, but not in her actual group. Excited to hear about her adventures!

Ebony & Jorja

Maysen came with me to drop off Jorja. She brought a copy of her report card so we could get free Krispy Kreme donuts. Too bad that they said they only give them to six grade and lower. Oh well.

Mike picked up Stockton from diving and dropped him off at film before he went back to work. That was great because I could not figure out how I could do everything. Mike sent me this picture on Sunday. All of us got in the house without the deer even moving.

Today, we had deer in our backyard! Two of them actually. Mike tried to help them find their way out, but it just scared them. He left the gates open so eventually they will be able to figure it out.

Mike loves it when there are ducks in the pond. Preston is Mike's mini-me. They made duck food together. They're pretty excited about that.

 Preston

Ward Mission Leader

Mike and I met with Bishop Waddoups this morning so Mike could get a new calling. He is now the ward mission leader. We thought that was what is was going to be because the previous ward mission leader and his wife decided that they want to attend a Spanish ward to improve their Spanish. We were ward missionaries, and the only ones that attended the last meeting besides Nellie. (Talking with the bishop we all agreed that Nellie would be the best person for this job.) The bishop even got permission to release Mike from his stake calling. Mike had been off limits with the old stake presidency. Bishop Waddoups said he convinced the new stake presidency that Mike would be easy to replace. Anyways, Mike is pretty nervous about this calling. He had a cushy stake calling once he got the computers in line. Mike was hoping that they didn't call him just because he was serving as a ward missionary. The bishop laughed and said he had no idea. That's good that he was prompted to pick him and didn't just look at who was working in that field already. The bishop wants someone who can do this calling with out-of-the-box thinking. That is definitely Mike.

Our stake patriarch, President Christensen, died yesterday. I'm so sad. He usually sat behind us in church and was so nice. During the height of AP testing season, I was prompted to have Stockton get his patriarchal blessing. I remember thinking that if I wanted President Christensen to give it to him we should get this done. I thought he might be getting released or something, I didn't if patriarchs kept their calling forever. I never imagined he would die. He was 72 years old, so younger than my dad. He got sick two weeks ago, I'm not sure what happened, but he had to have emergency surgery. I decided not to bother Stockton right away, even though I kept thinking about it. I wanted to wait until AP season was over so he could catch his breath. Then summer school started up strong that it feels like summer hasn't even started. Another example of me not acting on a prompting. I feel very sad for his family.

Alex and Andi will have their birthday on Saturday, so they were sung to today. I took this picture and texted it to their mom. These guys are adorable! I had three visitors today, which doubled the size of my class. I had made things for five people, one short. Megan said that she had six people last week too. The most I have had before this was four, so I was quite surprised.

Sister Mark, Alex, Andi, Sister Hawkins in the back and Sister Tanner's arm

We went to Steve and Shannon's house after church. We taught them One Night Ultimate Werewolf and Mike and some of the boys played Betrayal at House on the Hill. It was pretty fun.

Zombies

We had fun playing lots of games today. We watched Anne, Jeff and Greg so Matt & Sam could go to the temple. Greg slept the entire time. We taught Anne how to play One Night Ultimate Werewolf. She was on my team. I would squeeze her hand when we needed to look up. We then played Apples to Apples Disney Edition. She LOVED that game! Anne was on Maysen's team. Sometimes she just voted for her favorite character regardless of the prompt. It was cute and she had fun.

Bubs and Ange came over tonight to print a national park pass. Apparently 4th graders can get in all the national parks for free for one year. Ella is in 4th grade. So was Preston. It ends in August. Too bad we just realized this now. This is the first year in awhile that we had no national parks on our agenda. Oh well. We opened the pool for Bubs family. Preston swam with them. I think they had a great time. We convinced Bubs to play the Werewolf game before he left. I think he liked it a lot better than mafia. This will be a great cabin game.

Jorja went to Hailey's house and hung out with Hailey and Allison. While she was gone Mike, Stockton, Preston and I played Betrayal at the House on the Hill. I was the traitor again! Last time I turned into a giant two headed worm. This time I turned into a zombie! (Maysen helped me figure out what I was supposed to do.) I thought there was no way I was going to be able to win, but thanks to Stockton's amazing all blank roll. He had an equal amazing all double roll right before. We couldn't believe he had these two rolls back to back. It was to my advantage though as I was able to turn him into a zombie right away. We got Preston next and Mike was the last one to fall.

 Zombie party where Mike died

 Zombie party where Preston died

Stockton doesn't usually like games that last a long time. (That is why the Ultimate Werewolf game is perfect for him.) Stockton likes this game though. He likes how there are many different haunts. Haunts are triggered randomly. For example, after every omen card (you draw an omen card if there is a raven in the corner of the room you discovered. You can see it on the catacombs.) Anyways, you have to do a haunt roll, which gets progressively harder the longer you are in the game. If someone fails a roll, the haunt starts. The room where the haunt started and the last omen card drawn determine which haunt will be played. When we played the two headed monster haunt, the traitor was the person who failed the haunt roll, which was me. When we played the zombie haunt, the traitor was the person who was the oldest on their character card, which was me. Anyways, Stockton loves the randomness of it and how it always changes. Like most games, this game becomes more fun the more you play. It's nice to actually understand what is going on!

Annoying Quizzes

Stockton took his midterm for biology today. He ended up getting a 90.5%. Not too shabby. He took it at the Jordan Campus testing center. I brought a book and waited for him. Afterwords we went to The Original Pancake House. Stockton got chocolate chip pancakes and eggs. I got French crepes. They were yummy. These ones really remind me of the ones my dad would make when I was little. Especially since these were filled with strawberry jam.

Jorja took two of her online quizzes for pe. They are ridiculous. She is getting frustrated. The teacher said she made the power point shorter so they wouldn't have so much to read. The problem is, they are being tested on things that the teacher took out. Also, lame things like this happen. I'm going to be very upset if Jorja doesn't get an A in this class because of these obnoxious quizzes. Luckily participation os 70% of the grade, and these quizzes are only 10%.

Anyway, only one more quiz and she is done. I told her she could finish it tomorrow. I was able to guilt the family into watching Dr. Who with me. I'm trying to watch one a day while they are home, but it is frustrating. Mostly because they like to tease me that they hate it. I still want them to see until at least the end of the 12th doctor. After an episode of Dr. Who we watched Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog. One of the instructors at Maysen's writing camp recommended it as a great progression of a villain. Neil Patrick Harris is the lead. It was pretty funny and you can watch as he turns more and more evil. Just wish a few parts had been left out.

It's Over!

Mike dropped Jorja off to her LAST day of summer school! Yay! It has been long, but I think she enjoyed it. It is nice to have two classes already over with. She has a little more work she needs to do in her pe class though. I dropped Preston off for cub country. I hope he likes it. Stockton had bowling today, so I dropped him off and then picked up Jorja from summer school. We hurried home and she got changed for another double header softball game. She was so tired and kept saying, "I wish these games were tomorrow!" Mike picked up Stockton and came to the field just before the first game started. Jorja had a great time. She got to play catcher! She was so happy! Tired, but happy. She did great!

Jorja's pop-up

Jorja at catch

Jorja's team lost both games, but they are still fun to watch. They had the first and last games with a giant break in the middle. Shey's mom brought pizza for the entire team. That was fun. They had more energy for the second game, but scored more points on the first game. Jorja was a lot happier the second game. I think she finally woke up.

Mike and I snuck off during Jorja's long break and went to Tokyo Steakhouse. I got the vegetables and it was delicious. We made it back to the park at the top of the first inning. Cutting it close, but not too bad. Jorja did one of her online pe assignments before going to bed. Hopefully she'll finish the other three tomorrow. She is going to love sleeping in! It will be nice not to have anywhere to rush to. We've been so busy I feel like summer hasn't even started yet.

Cub Country

Preston had cub country today. The last couple of years I have gone with him. It was nice just to get him ready and send him off. Mike took Jorja to school since Jorja and Preston needed to be somewhere at the same time. The boys had made shirts for one of their projects. They leaders had them made into a bright yellow so that the boys would be easy to find at camp. Smart. They handed out the shirts when we got there.

Preston arrived home right as I was leaving for diving with Stockton. (Stockton's diving was later in the day because of a swim camp held at the U.) This worked out nicely because I was able to see Preston before we left. Well, actually it would have been better at the original time because then I would have been home with Preston. Oh well. Mike took Jorja to softball practice and I got a text that she left her cleats in the van. Whoops. She left her bag in the van on Monday. Luckily she still had her mitt. Jorja has loved practicing softball constantly. I can't believe how busy she has been this summer! It doesn't even feel like summer has started yet.

Speaking about having a busy summer, I forgot to write about EFY calling me on Monday. Clear back in February I had tried to get Jorja into EFY with Ebony. Ebony was able to get in because she did the early sign up. I've never had my kids go to EFY, mostly because we never hear about it until it is too late. Anyways, it didn't look like it was going to happen. Later I tried to find a time for Jorja and Miah to go. I thought I might be able to pull that off because Miah was okay going anywhere. There were lots of slots for the boys, but not for the girls. Anyways, out of the blue, EFY called me and said they had an opening for Jorja to be with Ebony. I checked with Mike and Jorja to see if this would be something she would want to do and if we could make it work. I also checked with Brett and Rachel because EFY is next week and we would pick up Jorja on Saturday, which would make us late to the cabin. I just wanted to make sure they were okay if we were a bit late. I didn't want to hurt their feelings that they drove across the country and we changed our plans on them. Anyways, we got that all set up so Jorja will be going to EFY next week. Later, Ebony's mom told me that she called EFY and asked if Jorja could be put on a special waiting list because Ebony really wanted to room with her. Wow. I can't believe she pulled it off. Jorja is pretty excited. I talked to Sherry and Miah about it on Monday, right after it happened. I didn't want Miah to get her feelings hurt. Hopefully Jorja and Miah can do EFY next year.

Hot

Nothing too exciting today, just busy. I dropped Jorja off at school then headed to the temple. I was able to make the 8:00 session, so I was happy about that. I dropped Stockton off at bowling, then picked Jorja up from school. I haven't wanted Stockton to drive to bowling yet because I need to pick up Jorja from school while he is there. Hopefully he can drive sometimes once Jorja's school is over. The air conditioner doesn't work in the car right now. I'm not sure how hot it is, but one of the electric signs outside a store said 101 degrees. I don't think that was right, but it is so hot while I drive around. I have the windows opened, but it is really hard to stand. I usually come home with sweat dripping down my back and my front. I have the windows rolled down, but it just doesn't cut it. Hopefully one day we can get the air-conditioning fixed.

Jorja had softball practice today. I picked her up early and Mike took her to Dessa's birthday party. The party ended at 11:00. I told her I would pick her up then. Only after she was dropped off I remembered she is still in school and would need to be up at 6:00! Whoops. Mike usually does anything late at night because I am not a night person at all. This time I agreed to get Jorja. Mike was so tired. He is on call this week and it has been pretty rough.

Stockton had a high adventure activity tomorrow. I knew it was coming up and that it would be at Lake Powell, but didn't know more than that. I had sent an email asking, but didn't hear a reply until late tonight. I texted my friend Stephanie to see what she knew. All she knew is they were meeting at the church at 5:30 in the morning. Stockton and I talked a lot about him going. He would love doing cliff jumping, but he is in the thick of summer school right now. I was willing to drive him the 7 hours to St. George if he wanted to go after his class. Turns out he decided to skip the entire thing. He ended up scheduling his biology midterm on Friday afternoon. He has his bowling class on Thursday. He also has a biology paper due Monday and write ups for his film class due Monday as well. I think it was a good decision to skip this. He did go to the church camp last week. I think he would be running on empty if he tried to fit this one in too. One day life will slow down for that kid!

Running Into Kristi

Happy birthday Mike! Mike sent me this picture of the socks I gave him. He said he opened this present right as Harper hit a 2-run homer. Talk about timing!

Mike

Bubs let me know he was reffing down at the Huntsman Center starting at 5. The boys diving was changed this week from 4-6. Preston was there, but Stockton had class. I watched Preston like a hawk the first hour, making sure no one was picking on him. I ask his teacher to watch him the second hour so I could go watch my brother. She said it was okay. I was a little disappointed because I thought the JO divers wouldn't be there because of the Wyoming competition, but they were there. Tyce said he talked to them about how to be a good teammate. After I got home I started wondering if he just talked in general about it or if he called out Girl A and Boy A on their actions. I hope he called them out. How will they ever learn that this is not acceptable if everyone lets them get away with anything because they can dive into a pool?

Anyways, the Huntsman Center is steps away from where Preston was diving. Bubs was reffing some girls high school camp games. I was watching him and noticed I recognized one of the players. Kellie. I started looking around to see if Kellie's mom was there. She was! Kristi and I were great friends in high school. It was awesome to run into her like this.

Bubs

 Taking a picture of Kristi right as she notices me.

Kristi's dad died when she was seven from melanoma. Right as Kristi turned 40 she went and had a mammogram, they found cancer. She had a double mastectomy, but kept her nipples. I remember talking to her about it because my breast surgeon wouldn't let me keep my nipples. Anyways, a couple of months ago Kristi found a lump in her nipples and the cancer is back. She had to have surgery again. Her brother is also dying right now. I'm not sure what kind of cancer he has, but he is only a few years older than us. His youngest child is 4, I think his oldest is 18 or something like that. Kristi said he has no hope of surviving. My heart is aching for her and her family right now.

Kellie is deaf. She had a cochlear implant when she was super young. Right now they are trying something new. The coach has a headphone and what he says is transmitted right into Kellie's brain. I heard him say, "Kellie, behind you". It's great for things like that. The problem is the coach has a mouth on him. He swears all the time. Kellie hears the words right inside her brain and it makes her super uncomfortable. Kristi said that they are trying to work out the kinks right now.

Bubs

Bubs was talking to Kristi about the cochlear implant. He said the sign language teacher at his school is super against them. Kristi said that they had the implant put in when Kellie was really young. Kellie now wishes she had an implant in on both sides, but the brain has adapted to what she had done. Kristi said if you wait until the child is old enough to tell you what they want, you are making the choice for them. Kellie could always not have the implant turned on, so this way she has a choice.

I hurried back to diving after Kellie's game was over. I managed to catch Preston going off the 5 meter.

Preston and I headed straight to Hidden Village Park. The Smith family reunion was being held there.  We were late, but people were still eating. Sherry and Miah were there when we arrived. Steve and Shannon and their family came probably thirty minutes after we got there. Sherry brought chicken for everyone. After awhile, Mike took Maysen and Preston home. Preston threw up in the jeep on the way home. Maybe this is why?

Jorja had softball practice, so she couldn't go. Stockton was at class. I hung out talking to Brent and Kim and some of the older family that I don't know very well. I was waiting until it was time to pick up Stockton from his class in Taylorsville at 9:30. It was fun to talk to them for a bit. Brent and Kim were asking me about people in our neighborhood. They lived here years before we moved in, and many of the people are the same. For example, Bishop Valentine is the one who told Brent he was having a heart attack while they were playing basketball years ago. Glad he noticed! Brent probably would have waited too long to get checked out before he realized what was happening.

Scoop wasn't able to come. He went to California to help Lisa move. I don't know why he didn't go a few days later so he could come to this. It is so sad how he rarely sees any of his family anymore. I think he feels that as long as he has a connection with Lisa he is good, but the rest of us miss him. I am glad he came to our swim party before Lisa moved. He has never done that before, maybe he will start coming around more often, but I doubt it.