Starting Line

Maysen had her LAST day of Drivers Ed class today.  She is so glad to be done with that!  This morning was crazy.  I took Maysen to class, Jorja to swimming, Stockton and Preston to swimming, picked up Maysen from class, picked up Preston, hurried and gave Preston a bath, picked up Stockton, piano teacher came, drove Maysen back to school for her range test, packed and headed out the door to meet Heather at 2:00.

Heather, Zac, Devin and some random stranger named Jason all drove down to Capitol Reef in Southern Utah.  Jordyn met us there a few hours later.  We got our race packets, had a spaghetti dinner and headed to bed.  We have an early start tomorrow!  Excited and nervous at the same time.

Jordyn, Heather and Stephanie

Flying

Stockton had fun at diving today.  He loves it when his coach bounces him on the board.  Everyone else just jumped off of the board, Stockton choose to do a flip.  It looked so cool!  Especially the first time.  He went so high!  I asked his coach if he could do it again so I could video it.  It still looked pretty cool, but it was nowhere near as high as he got the first time!

Stockton flying

Jorja and Preston had an Intersection today.  They were supposed to make cookies and take a plate over to Audrey.  We made chocolate chip cookies.  Jorja wanted to give Audrey a balloon frog too.

Jorja with her plate of cookies and a frog on top

Good thing I took a picture because as soon as Jorja was out the door she dropped the frog and it popped.  Whoops!  She made a different one for Audrey.

 Preston loves to be like his sister.
His balloons don't turn out the same though.

I spent most of the day working on the Amazing Race.  I'm getting excited about it.  I hope I can make it awesome.

Frying Pong

One of Stockton's "chores" today was to play his dad in a game of ping pong with a frying pan.  That went over well.  Mike wanted to have a fun one today.  Stockton has been working so hard on his merit badges. He had his Board of Review for Boy Scouts today and has now earned his Life.  Impressive.  It is pretty awesome having a just released member of the Stake Presidency as a Scout Master.  His goal is for every deacon to earn their Eagle.  Wow.  These boys work hard too.  Tonight they were out doing yard work at a members house.  Last week they cleaned up the extremely neglected church playground.  Stockton came home tired.  I love it!

Our Young Womens' President also has a deacon.  A side effect of our awesome Scout Master is I now need to step up my game.  I have been asked to try to have the Beehives earn their Young Womens' medallion as Beehives.  Or at least have them well on their way.  Luckily I have been working towards this already, I just will need to keep better records and check in with the girls more often.

Stockton playing Frying Pong with Mike

Mike just got back from taking Maysen driving.  This is the first time she has gone far enough to encounter stop lights.  She was pretty nervous.  They drove to a 7-11, got gas and doughnuts.  Maysen also wanted to practice parallel parking.  Mike think I needed a lesson too. Mike loves to parallel park. I swear he goes out of his way to find a tiny spot he can squeeze into to show off his skills.  I would rather park where no cars are and WALK!  Maysen did great.  She practiced three times and seemed pretty comfortable by the end.  Tomorrow is her first road drive with drivers ed.  I'm so glad Mike was able to take her out for a bit today so she won't be as nervous tomorrow.

Super Cold Swim Meet

We had a swim meet today.  It was SO COLD!  At first it was pleasant, just windy.  That was annoying though.  Julia and I were scoring the diving.  (Writing down the judges scores.)  The wind kept blowing the papers everywhere.  I tried to record Stockton, but I missed his best dive.

Stockton ~ 1 1/2

Stockton scored a 7 on his 1 1/2 and his reverse (which I didn't get on camera).  There was a girl judging for the first time.  Stockton's scores on his reverse were 6 1/2, 7, 5 1/2.  It was funny to hear a 5 1/2 after the 7.  One of the judges said to her, "Are you kidding?  Did you see his form?"  I was excited to watch his dive later, too bad I hit the wrong button.

Stockton ~ inward

Stockton scored his highest score of the season.  106.25.

The kids sold snow cones again.  Too bad the weather didn't help them out much.  Mike sang out, "Warm up with a cold snow cone!"  It was funny.  Luckily they didn't have to pay back the syrups this time.  Their expenses were only $15.  Stockton and Jorja both earned $25, Preston earned $10.  Preston was so cold.

The kids did great with their swimming though.  Preston makes me laugh.  I love watching him start his swims.  He is so cute!  I hate hearing my voice on the videos, I should have just tried to take a picture instead.  I think Preston took two minutes to get across the pool on his freestyle.  Adorable.

Preston ~ freestyle  

Jorja got her best time so far on her freestyle.  She even won her heat!

Jorja ~ freestyle 51.00

Jorja also swam her breast stroke in under a minute for the first time ever! (I think)

Jorja ~ breast 59.69

Preston ~ back stroke

Preston with his ribbon

 Jorja

 Preston ready for backstroke

They cancelled the meet after the breast stroke.  Jorja was so happy! She still had two events left to swim and it was getting very cold!  The kids came home, sat by the fireplace to warm up, then Jorja finished the day by making a balloon flower.  Isn't that what every kid does to unwind?

Jorja

Choices

Jorja planned the Family Home Evening lesson today.  She prepared a yummy food and a gross food for each person.  We were then blindfolded and had to choose which to eat.  Originally the plan was to have the Holy Ghost help, but she decided to eliminate the Holy Ghost out of her lesson.  She said we made a bad choice and had to face the consequences.  Mike pointed out that sometimes you get lucky when you choose without the Holy Ghost, and sometimes you don't.  Jorja was so happy.

Stockton chose a chocolate covered banana

instead of a banana covered in ranch dressing

 Preston chose marshmallows in barbecue sauce

instead of marshmallows in caramel

 Mike chose to drink blue raspberry snow cone flavoring

instead of peach juice

 Stephanie chose to eat a pretzel cheese whiz sandwich (YUCK!)

instead of a pretzel caramel sandwich

I have no idea why Jorja put Maysen's choices on the back of her hand...

Maysen chose to have a piece of cheese

instead of a red pepper

Stockton and Preston were brave enough to try again.  Luckily they both guessed correctly because the wrong choices were disgusting!

Stockton chose to have yogurt

instead of barbecue sauce, fry sauce, ranch dressing etc.

 Preston chose peaches

instead of a completely disgusting concoction Jorja put together

Stockton and Preston were being so cute together.  I tried to get a good picture of them, but one of them is so wiggly!  I am so glad Stockton has a brother!

Stockton and Preston

It sure is a wonderful life!

THE Writer's Conference

I took Maysen to a writer's conference in Ogden.  She spent the entire day there.  I was able to come back at 4:30 and listen to the question/answer session.  Maysen said she liked the beginning of the day better than the end.  Next year the Key Note Speaker is Jessica Day George.  That would be cool.  Hopefully I can convince Maysen to go to this again.

Stockton had a scout camp last night.  He didn't seem to be too thrilled when he came home.  Especially since he had a speed bump.  (He didn't do his piano before he left.)  His speed bump was fill and move a wheelbarrow full of gravel.

Preston also had a speed bump.  He didn't do his handwriting sheet. His speed bump was to vacuum a room of my choice.  I had him vacuum the kids computer room.  He did a great job.

Both Preston and Stockton were awesome about not complaining and asking to do their jobs.  Stockton was worn out from scout camp.  He crashed on the couch for awhile.  He was complaining about his neck. I'm guessing it wasn't too comfortable in the tent.

So Many A's

Maysen and Stockton's grades came in the mail the other day.  Yep, they're awesome.

Maysen

 Stockton

Oil with Maysen

Preston was so excited this morning to show me he got dressed by himself.  Gotta love that summer outfit.  Thick sweater and pants that are way too short.  I love that he got dressed by himself, but I made a mental note to go downstairs and check his bed.  Sure enough, it was wet.  Makes me laugh that Preston easily turns a negative into a positive.  He is awesome.

Preston

 Preston had no idea why I wanted him to stand like this,

but he is a good sport.  Backward pants Preston, that is why.

Mike had a pool guy over today.  It was a different pool guy then we had been working with since the beginning of April.  I wish we had found him months ago!  We now have a date that our pool will be worked on. The middle of July.  It is still far away, but at least we now know when we will get our pool back!

Stockton finished his Citizenship in the Nation merit badge today.  He is working on Personal Management and will have that finished by Sunday.  They are having Board of Reviews on Tuesday.  Stockton will have earned his Life then.  Wow.

Mike took the family out to a pizza place near his work.  It is kind of like a Subway restaurant.  You can choose your crust, sauce, and as many toppings as you want.  I got every kind of tomato.  My kids thought it was the worst thing they had ever seen.  Stockton said, "Her death came from eating such a disgusting pizza."  I thought it was delicious.

Mike had Maysen help change the oil in the van when we got home. He loves doing things like that.  I'm glad he enjoys teaching the kids so many different things.

Maysen

 Mike and Maysen

 Maysen

 Maysen and Mike

Windy

Preston loves his swimming ribbons.  He was wearing them all morning.  His medal was one he received at church.  So cute!

Preston

We picked up Stockton from dive practice and went straight to 7-peaks. My dad and Max came with us.  Bubs and his family met us there.  It was fun, but the wind made everything so cold!  The kids lasted a couple of hours before they were ready to leave.  That is the best thing about season passes.  You can leave and not feel guilty.

Color Run

Jorja had a birthday party today for Kylen.  She wrapped the present herself.  Even though Kylen is one of her good friends, she still was afraid to go to his door.  I asked if she needed me to walk her.  She said yes.  I told her, "You realize I look ridiculous."  Again, yes she did.  I was wearing sweats for our youth activity with a skirt over it for a skit. Oh boy.  Lots of parents were there dropping their kids off.  Lovely.

Jorja

We had a camp kickoff activity today.  First was a presentation with every ward doing skits about one of the values.  Our value was Virtue. Athena wrote it.  She was a bum singing on the streets to earn money. We see her as we are on our way to the temple.  Athena has an amazing voice and sung a song that Monson wrote for her.  (Monson is Kanani's husband.  Kanani is our ward camp director.)  Anyway, after all of the skits we went outside for a color run.  Although there was no running involved.  People would come around with dried tempra paint and throw it in our faces.  I was saying something to Maysen when I got pegged one time.  Lots of chalk dust in my mouth.  I don't recommend it. Anyway, it was pretty fun and everyone had a good time being silly.  I think even Maysen liked it.

Maysen 

 Although Maysen didn't like that orange dominated her shirt.

 Camee and Jaime

 Lauren, Rachael, Paige, Sephora, Senora, Athena

Zoe, Whitney, Sarah

Riley, Nicole, Emily, Katie, Maysen

 Emily, Camee, Athena

 Camee with a chalk handprint

 Maysen at the end of the day

 Rachael, Zoe

 Stephanie, Nicole

 Stephanie & Maysen

Needless to say, both Maysen and I had showers when we got home. The paint is now *mostly* off.  Apparently Maysen laughed and told me I had red eyebrows.

Snow Cone Stand

This morning I picked Maysen up from Drivers Ed and then ran a quick errand.  I needed to grab some crickets for Jorja's frogs.  I left Maysen in the car with the air conditioning on.  I was only going to be a minute. As I was walking back to the car, I got a text from Jorja.  She said the TV broke again.  I wrote her back and then hopped in the car.  I said, "Guess what?  The . . . " I then realized that Maysen was not sitting where I left her.  I looked for her thinking she had moved to the back where her regular seat is.  As I turned my head I could see a toddler asleep in his car seat.  He was kind of stirring because I was pretty loud. I turned around even farther and saw a boy around the age of 8 playing his DS.  He was shrinking down as I was scaring him half to death.  I looked at him and said, "I don't think this is my car.  Do you think this is my car?"  He smiled and with the widest eyes he shook his head - although he refused to look at me, he was staring straight at his DS. Yep, that was awesome.

I told the story to the kids when I got home.  Preston got a paper towel. He ran outside and looked at our license plate number.  He wrote it on the paper towel in a sharpie.  He gave it to me and told me to look at the license plate before I got in any more cars.  Thanks for the help Preston.

Anyway . . . . today the kids had their first home swim meet.  A couple of weeks ago I overheard Alycia saying she was going to call the 'snow cone' guy to see if he would sell snow cones at the meet. I guess they did that a few years ago.  I talked to Mike when I got home, then e-mailed Alycia to see if we could be the 'snow cone' guy.  The kids were so excited about this!  We ordered ten new flavors.  The kids each got to pick two flavors.  Luckily they arrived this morning!  I was getting a little nervous!

Mike asked Jorja to make a sign.  Stockton helped her.  He went and looked up in his marketing book which colors make people more hungry.  Too bad she was out of red and orange paint.

Jorja and Stockton's sign

Mike came home early from work to help set up the stand.  It was great. The kids worked there the entire time, they would just leave when their events came up.  They were so happy doing this.  I was timing on one of the lanes, so I couldn't help at all; but whenever I looked over it seemed like there was always a line.  That made for some very happy kids!  We had about $130 in expenses.  The rest of the money was split up between Stockton, Jorja and Preston.  They each earned almost $50. Nice way to spend the down time at the swim meet!

Stockton & Jorja with random customers

While Mike was helping the kids, his best friend when he was little showed up.  He had come to our house first and Maysen told him where to find Mike.  Maysen was funny telling the story because she could hear noises and couldn't figure out where they were coming from.  She went to check it out and while she was standing in front of the door it rang.  That was Alex.  She went back to her writing, but could still hear noises.  Pretty soon she heard the microwave.  She cautiously checked it out and saw Sam.  Funny!  Sam and Matt had come to get some camping stuff out of their storage unit we have in our backyard.  Matt had called but I was helping at the scoring table for diving.  I knew he was planning on coming, so I didn't worry about it.  Maysen said, "I didn't know you were here!"  Sam told her, "I didn't know you were here either.  If I had known that I would have made scary murderer noises!" Awesome.

Mike & Alex, Preston, Jorja, Stockton

The kids did great at the swim meet as well.  Stockton scored a 104.03. His last dive was a backflip half twist.  I have never seen him do that dive before, and he did it so well!  Jorja swam the breast stroke in the relay.  She swam her 50 free in 53.93 (about 1 second slower than her best), her 50 breast in 1:01.59 (I second faster than her best), and the 25 fly in 31.19 (about 3 seconds slower than her best).  I don't know how fast Preston swam his free.  Last week he swam the 25 free in 1:39.99.  He thought he was so fast!  He swam his back last week in 1:54.34.  This week he swam his 25 back in 2:05.63.  I know because I was the one timing him.  He is adorable!!!