NOT Fans of Certain Sister Missionaries

Mike was outside working on something on the 4-wheeler. For some reason a lot of people were watching out the window. I heard them all gasp/laugh at the same time. Bear had finally decided he could get through the gate Mike put up. He backed up and launched himself through the bottom. This is Mike's temporary solution.

These pictures uploaded in the wrong order again, and any time I try to move them around they delete... so annoying. Anyway... here is my story. Stockton texted me early this morning with the following text thread picture and said, "So some sisters texted President on the 26th and this was their conversation. We were not thrilled. I am so sorry. Happy birthday Mom! I hope it was okay. I'll call you soon."

I texted back and asked if the president thought they were talking about siblings, because this is what the church said when the mission calls home were changed.

I think that is what happened. It is sad that it happened the day before my birthday. Stockton said he was working on his coming home stuff he had to fill out at the church at 9:00 when the sisters came and asked him if they were allowed to call home on families birthdays. He said yes, you can call home on parents birthdays. They were happy to show him the text message. Just a few hours before my birthday. I am annoyed with them. I think they were just trying to get extra phone calls and ended up making it so I couldn't talk with Stockton. Stockton is such a rule follower, which I absolutely LOVE. I just wish he would have followed the missionary handbook instead of the sister missionaries vague text. The worst part about it was Stockton spoke in church ON MY BIRTHDAY! We could have watched him speak for our church! Many of his little cousins could have watched their older cousin speak about Christ for church. It would have been amazing. Stockton didn't tell me about this on Christmas because he knew he would be talking to me that morning. Little did he know that some lame sister missionaries would ruin this. (I don't care if I sound mean, I'm mad at them.) Stockton tried leaving me secret messages. He left this message on  his journal plates he is writing. He had the zoom link there, but took it down after church. He said he kept praying that I would see his messages. I didn't. Mike thought it would be funny if the mission president sent out a clarification today saying that parents birthdays were allowed, so the only day you couldn't call on your parent's birthday was December 27th. I'm positive that this was a miscommunication. I am so sad that I missed watching him speak in church. I would have loved that. It would have been the best birthday present. Those sister missionaries are dumb. 

We took the kids skiing at Kelly Canyon today. Rachel and Marie came too. We were able to talk with Stockton on the hour drive to skiing and the hour drive back. I know I shouldn't be too mad when I get to talk with him a lot. It was just the worst timing. I worried the entire day that I was going to miss his call and I was always asking someone to watch my phone if I was away from it. I talked about him calling all day long. Then I worried that he forgot it was my birthday. It made me a little sad. Then when I found out I could have watched him speak in church as a missionary I was so disappointed. I would have loved that so much. I'm so annoyed at those girls.

Anyway, it was great talking with Stockton. He told us about being at church when he was serving in Tucson. They had three minutes before church started and wanted to do some good. They had met someone from New York who had started visiting the ward. She didn't live in the boundaries, but came to church with her uncle. Stockton randomly decided to introduce her to the Ferguson family. They started fellowshipping her and she has become super close with that family. She sent Stockton this text message on Christmas. That made him so happy.

It was great talking with Stockton and I'm glad we got to talk so long. Too bad we were always on the road so we couldn't see him. I had asked him on Christmas if we could do a zoom video thing for my birthday so we could see him. I thought it would be cool for everyone that was here. At least my family got to talk with him. Just would have been super cool for the little kids too. I also asked Stockton to send me a picture of the big shirt he got from Nikki's family. He sent me this picture. They gave him the leprechaun too. It doesn't look too big here, maybe more so in person.

Stockton

Skiing was fun and not fun. It was soooo cold. We waited in line for TWO HOURS to rent stuff. We had no idea it was that long of a line. Then we waited so long we didn't want to give up. When we finally got our stuff we split up with Rachel. She took Marie to a small hill and we went up on the chair lift. I had gone to the bathroom and when I came back Maysen and Preston were already on the lift. I was a bit scared because I wanted to do something super easy to get muscle memory back. We ended up going down some blue hills and I wanted to cry. I just kept thinking about how bad I hurt myself years ago skiing. I did not like going down those hills at all. I'm sure I would have been fine at the end of the day, but I did not like it at all for the first run. The kids did great. Maysen and Jorja were so happy to be skiing. Preston fell so many times on the first run and would just laugh and shout, "Fell again!" He had THE BEST attitude. He was doing great by the end of the day. We only were able to go down four times I think. Our passes were until 4:00 and we spent two of those hours in line. Oh well. The kids still loved it. I was so cold by 4:00 and was not sad at all to go home.

My dad gave us his Christmas presents tonight. He gave us a print version of his blog and a flash drive of him telling stories. For the kids he gave them giant candy bars. He had asked us what each of their favorite candy was. I laughed when I saw Eve got Mr. Goodbars. Haha. My dad sure struck gold with this. Pretty cheap present and the kids were thrilled! Collin's face when he opened his pack of marshmallow cookies was awesome! He cheered jumping up and down. He was so happy! Hahaha Grace ended up eating all of her candy and told Brett that her tummy hurt and she wished she had eaten zero. Life lesson there!

Trevor, Mallory, Mina, Marie, Dad, Grace, Eve, Preston

With Collin

With Brandon

I stayed up until 1:00 in the morning playing Hokie Golf with my dad, Brett and John. It was fun. I totally thought I would win. I had an awesome hand on the 17th hole and was winning by quite a bit. Too bad my 18th hole was awesome and Brett ended up squeaking out the win.

Skiing with Dad

I took Stockton to the doctors today for his regular check-up.  His doctor loved that I printed out the scouting form for her to fill out while we were there.  (I hope I printed the right one!)  His doctor is awesome. I love how much time she spends talking to each of the kids.  Stockton is in the 5% for weight (85 lbs.) and moved up into the 6% for height! Woohoo!  59.69 inches.  One quarter of an inch away from five feet. He can not wait for that!  Stockton didn't do so well on the eye test.  They are guessing he has 20 X 30 vision.  Not terrible, but not ideal. Stockton did not like the idea of glasses at all, which made him kind of grumpy.  If you asked why he was grumpy that made him REALLY grumpy.  Fun.

Mike came home from work around lunch time and took Preston skiing.  The kids had the day off of school.  What a fun way to spend it! Preston has wanted to go down some hard hills.  Today was his chance! Mike sent me a video of him going down a black diamond. That is something I never, ever want to do.  Preston had a great time.  So glad he is making such wonderful memories!

Preston

Jorja's friend Olivia came over.  They had such a fun time.  They played checkers, played in Jorja's room, in the motorhome, rode bikes and baked cookies.  Olivia's dad came to pick her up while the cookies were in the oven.  Too bad.  They did make one giant cookie.  It turned out great!

Preston and Jorja

 Jorja

Ski Day

All the kids had the day off of school today.  We decided to go skiing.  I talked to Matt last night and he was planning on going night skiing. Mike and I had an extra 5 punch card, so I asked him if he would like to come with us.  This morning when we were getting things ready, we couldn't find the extra punch card.  Well, we couldn't find Mike's.  We think it fell out of his jacket at some point.  I had to call Matt back and let him know we didn't have a ticket after all.  Embarrassing.  We told him we would pay for half of his ticket, but he decided to go night skiing instead.  It was cheaper that way.  He has to do something for one of his classes.  Too bad, Mike had only used the card once, so we lost four days of skiing.  Mike did buy me some new skis yesterday.  I don't mind renting, but Mike wanted me to have my own.  It will be nice not to pay $30 every time we go skiing.  I told the worker that I am a very scared skier, so whatever skis would help with that. 

Anyway, Mike went to work in the morning and picked up my skis on the way home.  Skiing was fun, but so cold!  We were quite frozen by the time we were done.  Maysen, Stockton, Preston and I went down the hill together.  Mike and Jorja were together.  Jorja is getting better, but she is slower then the people on skis.  I took the other kids back up the lift.  We got separated again.  Stockton had quite a big fall.  Maysen tried to stay with Preston.  I helped Stockton up and soon I couldn't find anyone.  At the bottom I found Stockton waiting, but no Maysen and Preston.  I looked everywhere I could think of.  After awhile I saw Maysen with Jorja, still no Preston.  Jorja said that Mike went to look for him.  Less then two minutes later I see Mike with Preston.  I was so relieved!  Mike said that he went around the corner and saw Preston walking up a hill carrying his skis.  Preston didn't look like anything had been wrong and just said, "Hi Dad!"  He ended up skiing to the parking lot, but said he remembered me pointing to a building and said if we get separated to meet there.  I'm so glad he remembered that!  I'm so glad I said that!

Our older kids were quite cold and ready to be done.  Not Preston.  He wanted to go down a hard hill with his dad.  I took the other kids to the car to warm them up while Preston and Mike took one more run. Preston says they went down a black diamond.  I don't think it was a black diamond the entire way, but might have been for a part.  I know they were talking about playing on the half pike thing, or whatever it is called.  He had so much fun with Mike.  I'm glad he is loving it.  I wish my other kids had been able to learn as young Preston.  Skiing once a year just doesn't cut it!

Preston's Wish

Jorja pointed out to me Preston's snowflake that was hanging in the hall by his classroom.  Adorable.

In case it is hard to read, his snowflake says: I wish that I could be the best skier in the world and be knowend as it.  Love that little boy!

Skiing

I got up bright and early to exercise while Mike got up bright and early to prepare the tent trailer.  We no longer need the tent trailer now that we have a motorhome.  I was so happy to see it go!  I wasn't that excited about it in the first place, it is older then we are!  Mike has liked working on it though.  It will be nice to get it out of our garage.  Bye-bye!

We decided to go skiing this afternoon.  There is never an ideal time to go, but it seems like the season is almost over and we haven't even made it up there once!  Preston LOVED it again!  No surprise there. The other kids had fun.  I was so scared on my way up the first lift.  I had asked some random guy in line what kind of hill this was.  He said he thought it was green and blue.  Okay, I can handle that.  I rode up the chairlift with Maysen, Stockton and Preston.  I was so scared! There is no way the hill we were over was green or blue!  How was I going to get down?  Would they let me ride the chairlift back down?  So scared! Mike and Jorja were several people behind us.  When we got off the lift I whispered to him that I was scared.  He just said, "Don't be."  Said the guy who grew up skiing.  I had only gone skiing three times before I was married.  Mike has no idea how terrifying this is to me!  Anyway, much to my relief, the back of the mountain had a green hill.  Happy! Happy!  Happy!  I went down part of the way with Maysen, Stockton and Preston.  About half way down I switched Mike. He went down with them and I stayed with Jorja.  Jorja is on the snowboard and goes a lot slower then the other kids.

Preston

 Stockton

 Mike & Jorja

 Jorja

Mike took the kids up to Preston Peak.  Preston was so excited about that!  He was upset that Mike's phone died, he really wanted a picture up there.  Jorja loved seeing the Snurfer.  Just like at the cabin.

Jorja and I went to the beginners hill.  She fell so hard on her tailbone. Ouch!  Maysen and Preston called out to us from the chairlift.  Preston was not ready to go when the rest of us were.

Preston

 Maysen

Mike and Preston made kabobs when we got home.  Preston was so happy cooking!  Man, he was so happy all day long.  I love it when that happens!

Preston

April

My dad came up this afternoon to look at Mike's birthday present.  He said he would come back later for a real tour.  He then came with me to the school to help the kids get on their ski stuff.  Mike set up an appointment with April for 2:00.  April is a cabinet person and is helping to design our kitchen.  Mike was unable to make it, so I needed to be there.  I got the kids dressed and ready and my dad helped them get on the bus.  I'm sure they would have been fine without him, but I felt a lot better knowing he was there.

April came over and blew my mind.  She wants to flip our kitchen so all the appliances are where our table is right now.  I don't know how I feel about that.  I actually really like how our eating area is set up. Especially with the cabinets from Mike's house.  I don't know if there would be a place for them if we did it April's way.  I really, really, really wish Mike was there for that meeting!  Good thing I didn't have to make any decisions.  April is going to work on a few different designs and show us what she comes up with in a few weeks.

I went to the school about twenty minutes early with a book to read. The buses were already there when I arrived!  Glad I came early.  Jorja hasn't had the best experience.  She was too nervous in the blue group, so they moved her down to red.  She doesn't like the red group because they go way too slow.  She was only able to go down Chickadee (the beginner hill) once.  That's not even worth all the hassle!  They have several red groups, she was really hoping to be in the same group as her friend Dallin.  They go down the bigger hills, but not as fast as they went down in the blue group.

Preston on the other hand has loved it!  I asked him if he liked skiing today.  He says as serious as he can, "No mom.  I LOVED it!"  So funny! I wish our other kids could have started this young.  Skiing once a year just doesn't cut it!  Glad Preston gets to experience this though. Especially since he enjoys it so much.

Spinner Dinner

As soon as Preston got home from Kindergarten, we headed up the mountain.  Skiing, just the two of us.  It started off a little rocky.  Mike had told Preston that he would buy him skis.  He meant eventually. Preston wanted me to buy the skis at the ski rental shop.  It took quite a bit of convincing to get him in the rental skis.  He also insisted on having poles.  I figured getting poles would be the least of my problems today.

We made our way to the Magic Carpet.  Preston LOVED it!  He thought it was so cool.  At first he was a little scared to get on.  He told the worker that he wanted his mommy to go with him.  I told Preston I would be right behind him.  He thought it was so fun!  We rode that three times before we went over to the lift of the bunny hill.

Preston on the Magic Carpet

 Preston with his poles

 Preston on the ski lift

Preston was pretty nervous going down this hill.  He wanted me to do train with him the entire way down.  That was really hard to do holding two poles!  I convinced him to stash his poles at the bottom.  He let me keep them there the rest of the day.

Preston scared me one time as he was getting off the chair lift.  He started to get off too early!  Luckily I had a pretty good hold on his upper arm and I was able to keep him from falling.  The worker yelled, "Good catch Mom!"  The next time we were up the worker kept calling out to Preston, "Not yet!  Not yet!"  Yikes.  That was so scary!  He reads and takes things literally.  Like everyone in my family.  The sign said, "Prepare to exit lift".  Maybe I needed to have a discussion on exactly what the word 'prepare' means!

Soon Preston became quite good at getting off the lift.  We practiced making S turns.  He liked that.  Once he got off the lift and started down the hill.  He sure doesn't need his mom now!  Well, that's not quite true. He likes to do the train when we get closer to the bottom.  He is still a little scared of that part.  I was so proud of him though.  He loved it!

Preston doesn't need his mom anymore

 Hi Preston!

 Awesome day!

While Preston and I were having fun skiing, Mike was making dinner with Stockton.  Stockton wanted to do "Spinner Dinner".  We have a spinner with 13 slots.  It is our Article of Faith wheel.  We spin it every day and say whatever Article the wheel lands on.  Stockton used that wheel and had something for different numbers.  1 or 2 = carrots, 3 or 4 = apples, 5 or 6 = chicken nuggets, 7 or 8 = scones, 9 or 10 = french fries, 11 or 12 = brownies, 13 = free choice.  Man oh man, it was a fried food kind of day.  Stockton did great getting dinner ready.  They made all the fried food from scratch.  He told Mike, "I never realized that you spend hours cooking dinner."  I'm glad he had such a good attitude today.

Stockton's dinner

Skiing . . . Again

I took Maysen and Stockton skiing this morning.  This was the first time I went skiing without Mike's help.  I missed him so much!  Besides the fact that I like being with him, I was completely out of my element.  It took me forever to figure out how to get Maysen's skis on her.  She never has had that problem before.  Seriously, thirty minutes.  At that point I just wanted to go back home.  Luckily we figured it out and were able to have fun the rest of the day.  Stockton is better than both Maysen and I.  He wanted to go down some hills that scared us.  We did it anyway because we love him.  He stayed on the small hill most of the time because he loves us.  It was a great day.  As we were leaving I realized I hadn't taken any pictures.  I made them stop and pose for one.

Maysen and Stockton

Stockton Skiing

Mike took Stockton skiing today.  Just the two of them.

Stockton

 Mike also fixed the grill!  Yay!  Yummy food again!

Solitude

We bought passes at Solitude this year for our family.  Today was the first day we had a chance to make it up there.  Everyone went but Preston.  Hopefully we can get him to come next time, but he isn't very excited about it.  Jorja wanted to learn how to snowboard, so Mike spent most of the time snowboarding with her.  Maysen, Stockton and I went skiing.  Mike went down a few runs with Stockton at the end.  I am a chicken when it comes to skiing.  Hopefully Mike can take the kids up one-on-one sometime this year.  They will get so much better if I'm not in the picture!  Plus, I think they would love the individual attention from their dad!  Mike took some pictures and videos.  I'm not sure if the video is going to work, but I might as well give it a shot!

Jorja

 Stockton

We also finished the Book of Mormon today!  Perfect way to end the year.  Steve and Shannon and their family came over for New Years Eve. John and Cassie went to my dad's house.  We played a few games and ate a lot of food.  Too bad I didn't get a picture of my family.  I wonder why I didn't think of that!  The kids are always silly after the ball drops. They run around saying things like, "First one to touch this light switch in 2013!"  Mike said, "Who will be the first one to fall face first in the snow in 2013?"  Brandon and Weston ran outside and did that!  No coat, not even any shoes!  Then Mike said, "Who will be the first one in the snow forts in 2013?"  Again, Brandon and Weston ran out there with no coat and no shoes!  I wonder who will be the first one to catch pneumonia in 2013?