Billy Joel

I spent the day today making gingerbread. I now have 25 houses baked.

If Mike had a bucket list I know one thing that for sure would be on it. Going to a Billy Joel concert. Mike even went to a conference in California last year where Billy Joel was supposed to perform. Except he cancelled at the last minute. Today, Mike was finally able to see him. He loved it. We were up high, but it didn't matter. It was great. Too bad there was some kind of outage at work and Mike had to check in often. Even during Piano Man. We were planning on going out to eat before the concert, but work was too crazy. We ended up getting JDawgs at the arena. That worked out just fine.

Mike & Stephanie

I'm not sure if these videos will show up, they were a pain to upload.

This one should be For the Longest Time

Once Billy Joel put on his harmonica the crowd went nuts!
They knew Piano Man was coming. It was awesome.

We got home close to midnight. I snuck into Stockton's room to look for his bowling shirt. I wanted to wash it. He had bowling today, but he is supposed to get his bowling picture tomorrow, I think. That's about it. I don't have much to say, but tonight was a really fun night.

Kristin Chenoweth

Jorja had a long day today. She finished her softball tournament, and her softball season. Her first game was pretty early and it was cold! Mike and I took Jorja to Dunkin Donuts during her break between games. The temperature was much better for her second game. I love how much Jorja has improved. Her catchers stance is amazing. Look how flat footed she is. I can't believe she finds this comfortable. She can stay like that for a long time. Her legs are pretty strong.

Jorja

I like this one. Jorja's catcher stance and lovely catch by Raina in left field.

Evan and Hailey came over this afternoon. Evan was here first, then the other people they invited said they could not come. I made Jorja, Evan and Preston watch a Chinese soap opera while they waited for Hailey. I watched it with them. I had no idea what was going on, but I did not fall asleep. How can I stay awake through this and not be able to stay awake during any other movie in existence? Just kidding . . . but I do fall asleep a lot. The show was about 45 minutes, and Hailey watched the last bit with them. Mike and I went to see Kristin Chenoweth down in Provo. I let Evan and Hailey stay here. After talking to all three of them and getting them to promise me that I wouldn't regret this. The line was so long to get into the Marriott Center. The phone rang right as I was sitting down. Luckily because of the lines they started the show late. Jorja was on the phone asking if Isaac could come over. I wasn't sure what to do. I told her it would be okay as long as his parents were aware that we weren't home. Stockton and Preston were both home. I asked to talk to Evan and made him promise me to keep Jorja and Isaac in line. I told him to be as annoying as I would be if I were there. He promised me he would do his best. I regretted not talking to Hailey and asking her the same thing. Jorja said Hailey did a good job helping Evan out. The kids were gone by the time Mike and I got home.

Kristin Chenoweth was amazing! Her voice was incredible, she was so kind and gracious. And funny! So funny. We were laughing and cheering all night. I can't believe someone that small can sing like that. Her voice is powerful, and she has such control. It's funny that a lot of popular singers now use computer generated software to make them sound amazing. Then you hear someone like Chenoweth. I loved it. Plus, she is 'Itty Bitty'. I loved that character on Pushing Daisies. I loved Kristin Chenoweth before this, but I really love her now. I'm so glad Mike got us tickets to see her.

State Diving

Stockton had his state diving tournament today.  All the kids came to watch him.  He did really well.  He was very happy.  Last year at state he struggled with his back 1 1/2.  This year he nailed it.  The best I have ever seen him do it.  Stockton placed 3rd.  That is what he expected. Chris is usually 80 points ahead of him and Mickey is usually 40 points ahead.  Chris and Mickey are both crazy good.  Not quite as good as Kimball was last year, but still amazing.

Maysen, Jorja, Preston, Mike

 Preston wanted a close up

Stockton 1 1/2

Back 1 1/2

2 1/2

Stockton climbing the awards stand

Stockton, Chris, Mickey, Michael

Stockton

After the awards the divers brought a mat up to the 5-meter for a little slip and slide fun.

Instagram collage

 Maysen and Jorja patiently waiting

We went to Pizza Pie Cafe.  Kind of like Stevie B's, but not as good.  I ate a lot.  Stockton said, "I didn't know anyone could eat so much."  Ha! It was delicious.  It's fast Sunday this weekend, so I filled up!  We watched a quick episode of The Goldbergs before I took Jorja and Preston to Airborne for Max's birthday.  Jorja played with Preston until he felt comfortable.  Then she hung out with me until it was time to go. We ended up leaving Preston with my dad.

Mike and I went to see A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder tonight.  I was excited to see this because I know this is Jordyn's favorite play.  Let's just say I'm not a night person.  The play started at 8:00 and I kept falling asleep.  I was pretty annoyed with myself.  Why don't they ever have broadway shows in the early morning?  That would be perfect!  It was fun to get out with Mike.  The kids were even all asleep when we got back.  What an easy life we have!

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!

BYU/Gonzaga

After cleaning the bathrooms with the kids, showering and getting ready for the day, I was anxious to get to the temple.  It is the last day of the month and we kept putting it off.  We realized we would probably miss the session at Draper, so we headed to Jordan River.  Mike said he hadn't been back to that temple since I got my endowments out.  Wow! That was a long time ago!  As I was walking to the dressing room I ran into Shannon.  Talk about timing!  It was fun to go through the session with her.

After the temple, Mike took me to a Hawaiian barbecue place.  It was pretty tasty.  We were debating on going to eat before the temple or after.  I was worried if we went before that I would end up sleeping through the entire session, or wanting to.  When we got home, Mike finished making sock frogs with Jorja.  Well, one frog is finished and I think they have one more to go.

I got to pick the activity for date night.  I had thought and thought about what I wanted to do.  Finally I decided.  I wanted Mike to watch the BYU/Gonzaga basketball game with me.  He had to watch, cheer and not fall asleep.  It was a great decision.  Such an amazing game!  I think it was 21 years since they had an upset that great.  Maybe it was 31 years, I can't remember.  I do remember that BYU never trailed the entire game.  In basketball.  Against the number 3 team in the country. Incredible!  It was so fun having Mike watching the game with me instead of falling asleep and getting scared if I cheer loud.  Much better this way.  I didn't think BYU would pull it off.  Such a great game!

Racquetball

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

Veronica Mars

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

John B. Millburn

Mike and I went to the Family History Library today.  Bro. Gray had told me there was something at the library I had to see.  He gave me the microfilm number.  It was an article written in 1905 about the death of my great-great grandfather.  The title was John B. Millburn Shot Down. It was crazy!  They printed all of the witness statements and everything. The story we were told was completely different than the one in the newspaper.  We were told that he was shot by the deputy of the day because he was looking for Butch Cassidy.  Butch Cassidy and my grandfather were friends.  We were also told he was unarmed.  The story in the newspaper is different.  He was shot in front of the saloon he owned and he was completely drunk.  He also had a gun and was threatening someone who was walking past his store.  This is one quote from the newspaper.  "What did he say in his language?  (The epithets applied to Bryner by Millburn as narrated by the witness Burns are not printable - Editor.)"  Oh boy did that make us laugh!  Most of the front page was taken up with this story.  They also had his biography a few pages later.  Besides the fact that it was a sad way to die, it was really cool to be able to read.  A huge step back in time.  It was awesome.  I'm so glad Brother Gray told me about it.

Stephanie

Mike and I decided to get something to eat.  We were walking around to see what was open.  We ended up eating at The Garden Restaurant.  It was delicious and check out the view!  We couldn't have planned it better if we tried!

Stephanie

 Mike

 I think it's funny how it looks like there is a chair in the temple.

Today is also my parents wedding anniversary.  They would have been married 44 years.  Stupid cancer.

Cats

Mike took me to see Cats today. Let me just say that I didn't get it. That was the weirdest thing I have ever seen . . . and not in a good way. Maybe if I knew a little about what it was about, or the songs or anything . . . it was just bizarre. It did help to notice that the musical was based on different poems. It seemed like they tried hard to tie the poems together, but I just totally missed the point. I guess I'm not cultured enough. The people behind us sure seemed to get it as they thoroughly enjoyed themselves. Although they kept comparing the cats on the stage with their various cats at home. Reminded me of Angela on The Office. I can't believe that play was on Broadway for so long. The cat that sang Memories was amazing, and the magical cat was fun to watch, but that was pretty much it. The Fox Theater was beautiful. We had never sat in the balcony before, and I liked that a lot better. It was cool looking at the stars in the ceiling. We love the castle walls the are around the stage, it's beautiful.

We stopped at Landmark Diner on the way home. We decided to stop if we could get free parking. We found a spot that said one hour parking. We crossed the street to the diner when this crazy looking guy starts running to us, yelling at us. It is about 10:30 at night and downtown Atlanta can get pretty scary. He started talking to us about our car was going to get booted if we parked there. I told him it was one hour parking. He said that you have to pay and to come with him down the street. So we followed him down this dark street away from everybody (I know . . . we're crazy!), but down the street is a new parking meter where you pay with credit cards. We never saw it there. How are people suppose to know? We thanked the crazy guy and decided to still go to the diner since we were out of the car. On the way back the dark empty street the crazy guy was still waiting for us. He wanted money for saving us the trouble of getting booted. Mike gave him a dollar. He looked disgusted with us. I was hoping he wouldn't go and slash our tires.

We shared a yummy milkshake and ate some greasy food. On the way out we looked for the crazy guy again, now that we had a few more dollars, but he was gone and our tires were in good shape - thank goodness! Some days I miss Seattle! On the way home we talked about all the ways Seattle was less scary than Atlanta.

We had fun though, and it was nice to have the kids all asleep in their own beds when we got home. I love having a live-in babysitter!

Mike & Stephanie ~ taken by Maysen