Wednesday, May 28, 2014

2 Boys Diving

I just love watching diving.  Especially my boys.  Preston is so funny. He was a little too good at diving this time.  Every time he dove he would flip a little too far and land on his back.  Once he started trying to correct it he was back to his bellyflop dives.  I can't wait until we can make it to diving more than once a week!  Most of these pictures are a little far away, but I still like them.
Preston
 Preston's back flop - just past Olivia
 I love this picture of Stockton - just wish I was closer
 Mike & Preston
 Stockton
 Preston
 Stockton - double
 Our railings are about to be installed - yay!
Maysen lost her glasses today.  Not too happy about that.  I really hope she can find them tomorrow.  She looked through each of her classes several times with no luck.  Fingers crossed for tomorrow!

Tuesday, May 27, 2014

S'mores

I took Jorja to swimming today.  Her first time this year!  Swim team actually started two weeks ago, but we weren't able to make it until today.  I put her bike in the back of the car and asked her to bike home. I was planning on rushing to Preston's baseball game.  When I got home, Mike was already there.  That was a surprise!  He ended up taking Preston so I could finish getting my Young Womens' lesson ready.  We were doing camp certification.  I was asked to teach about the purpose of first aid, the four strops in treating an accident victim and cravat bandages.  I was not looking forward to that!  I had gotten permission for Jorja to go to camp with us this year.  When we were splitting off into our certification groups Darlene asked where Jorja was.  I didn't realize that she would be able to get her first year certification, I just wanted her to come with me.  I texted Jorja and she rode her bike down.
Jorja
We made s'mores at the end of the activity.  I didn't realize after all these years I had been making s'mores wrong.  The s'mores made with the fudge stripe cookies were so yummy!  Jenny started telling me all the different ways they have made s'mores.  With peanut butter cups, peppermint patties, Andes mints, orange chocolate.  She went on and on.  I definitely need to branch out more!
We now have baseboards through most of our house.  I only put one picture on here because they are quite boring, but I'm glad they are on the wall!

Monday, May 26, 2014

Pool Boat

We had a low key Memorial Day.  Mike still wasn't feeling very well, but at least he could get out of bed.  He did mow the lawn.  That needed to be done!  I did laundry all day.  I couldn't do it most of last week.  Mike opened the pool and let the kids ride around in the boat.  It was cold! The heater has been giving us trouble.  It is about as old as the pool. I'm guessing about 35 years.
Jorja
 Stockton, Preston, Jorja
 Mike, Preston jumping in the boat, Jorja in the water
 Mike, because what else would you do when you are sick?

Sunday, May 25, 2014

Australia & Romania

I was looking through the church news at Steve & Shannon's house. Stockton's amazing scout master is in there.  President Back.  He is going to be the new mission president of the Sydney Australia mission. They just found out about two weeks ago.  They leave the end of June. Crazy!  He will be a fantastic mission president.  We are sure going to miss him.  The ward is going to miss him.  The scouting program is definitely going to miss him.  Luckily Stockton was able to get his Eagle before he left.  When he comes back, all the boys he helped through will be almost ready to send in their mission papers.  That's scary!
Weston made us waffles before we left their house.  Yummy.  We were finally able to walk on our floors today!  Yay!  It was quite exciting.  The squeaks are gone as well.  Love that!  Now the only place our house squeaks is above the kids rooms.

Mike was pretty sick today.  He was supposed to teach, but he could barely talk.  His entire body was burning up.  He sent a text to Jeff & Duff saying he wouldn't be in sacrament meeting because he was sick, but he would be there to teach.  They told him they would take care of it.  I'm so glad.  He was sure miserable.  I went to my Uncle Glade's mission homecoming.  They just came back from Romania.  Maysen, Jorja and Preston came with me.  I gave everyone the choice of where they wanted to go.  They could either go to my Uncle's homecoming for sacrament meeting and then hang out at their house after, or go to three hours of church by themselves.  Stockton chose the three hours. After we were at my Uncle's for awhile Preston realized that he made the wrong choice.  He was shocked to realize that Stockton was already home.  Haha!  Anyway, the homecoming was really good.  My favorite part was seeing my cousins.  Justin was even there!  I can't even remember the last time I saw him.  When we were moving to Utah he was moving to Arizona.  I mostly talked with Justin and Heather.  It was great.  Matt & Sam came as well as my dad, Cathy and Max.  My dad and Glade talked for a long time as well.  I think they liked that.

Saturday, May 24, 2014

Certified!

We got up bright and early this morning.  Preston looked so funny when I woke up.  We could fit a lot of people in the motorhome if they all slept like him!
Preston
We dropped off Jorja and Preston at my dad's house around 6:00 this morning.  He was waiting for them on the porch.  He fed them scones for breakfast.  I'm sure that was a hit!  It was raining when we got up to the crater.  First we had to do a compass course.  That was pretty fun. Then we were able to go inside.  Our first dive we had a few more skills we needed to pass off.  The thing I haven't liked is we have to do all these worse case scenarios.  I'm glad I know what to do if something goes wrong, but it is not very fun to practice.  I hate the full mask flood. We also had to go to the surface on one breath...like if we were out of air.  The last dive was more fun.  Our only skill we needed was the underwater compass navigation.  That was pretty fun.  Then we just got to explore.  The crater is pretty small, so there wasn't a whole lot to see.  It sure was warm though!  I loved that!

We stopped for sandwiches at Wasatch Back and then headed to my dad's house.  I picked up Jorja and Maysen.  Mike took Preston with him to Home Depot.  I dropped Maysen off at our house and took Jorja to Natalie's birthday party at the ice rink.  I watched until I felt okay leaving Jorja.  She got on the ice all wobbly.  Immediately her friends were there making sure she was okay.  Ella took her by the hand and skated with her for awhile.  I sure love Jorja's friends.  I am so sad they are splitting up these kids!

I was excited to see the floors when I got home.  There is now a pretty shine to them.  Beautiful!
 Preston
Mike and Preston picked up a boat at Home Depot and tried it out in the pool.  I'm not sure what they were doing, but they had fun.
Preston
Once Jorja got home from her birthday party I took her to Dallin's house.  They had invited Jorja over last week, but right before she was supposed to go there we got a text saying Dallin was throwing up.  Poor guy!  Jorja was so excited to go there.  She has had a busy day!  Once I got back from dropping her off we headed to Steve & Shannon's in the motorhome.  They let us hang out there and play with them since we couldn't really spend any time in our house.  Preston and Weston had a lot of fun playing together.  Here they are having a chair race.
Preston
Shannon took me to pick up Jorja.  She was busy playing with Dallin's rats.  Sounds like she had a great time.  She loved playing with their hammock in the basement.  It is hooked up to the ceiling.  They also walked a neighbors dog and earned ice cream sandwiches.
Jorja & Oreo
Mike, Steve, Weston and I played a card game.  Weston and Mike were pretty good, but Steve and I managed to win two hands.  Out of about ten.  Not too shabby.  (I know....very shabby....but whatever...)

Friday, May 23, 2014

The Crater

More work is happening at our house.  The final wood is being laid.  We are not going to be allowed back in here until Sunday morning.  Mike left our bedroom door unlocked so we would be able to get in there. Although when we got home it was locked!  Luckily Mike was able to find the key, because we were sure planning on being able to get to our clothes!  We also left the downstairs door unlocked.  We rarely go out this way.  It was great to have access to the kids rooms.  The sink and toilet are all put back together, so that is great.
My dad picked up Jorja and Preston after school.  He has Max this weekend, so they had a great time playing there.  They love the new puppy even though I think puppies are ridiculous and annoying. Shannon picked up Stockton after school.  He stayed over night with them.  I checked Maysen out of school after her 2nd period class.  She ended up missing her psychology final.  Hope that doesn't come back to haunt her.  Hopefully she can make that up next week.  We met Mike at his work and headed to The Crater for our scuba certification.  We did two dives today.  We have two dives scheduled for tomorrow.  The water is super warm there, so that is awesome.
Maysen, Mike, Stephanie
We had dinner at the Black Bear Cafe then headed to my dad's house to pick up Jorja and Preston.  We were excited to see what our floors look like.  It smells really bad inside, but it is looking really good!
 Preston
We slept in the motorhome tonight.  It is nice to have a place to be where we can escape from the fumes!

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Good-Bye Mrs. Moon

Mrs. Moon is retiring this year.  She was Preston's kindergarten teacher.  He just loves her!  They gave Mrs. Moon an apron with little ice-cream cones everywhere.   The ice creams are made from the thumbprints of all her past students that are still at the school.  So cute! They have their names next to each cone.  We found Preston's name. It had his first and last name.  Nice!
Mrs. Moon & Preston
 Really Preston?
 Stephanie, Mrs. Moon & Preston
 Mrs. Bringhurst & Preston
Mrs. Bringhurst is Preston's teacher this year.  Although he calls her Chen Lao Shi.  Jorja's teacher is also Chen Lao Shi.  He was sitting next to Mrs. Bringhurst.  When I was taking the picture he stuck his head over to photobomb, but I was too slow.  It would have been so funny!  I couldn't get a picture of Jorja with him because she had made it back over to the ice cream counter for more toppings on her ice cream.

I was in such a rush.  We were only able to be there for about ten minutes.  Of course I had forgotten about the party, but Preston really wanted to go.  We hurried home.  My dad was already there.  Thank goodness!  He was picking up Jorja and Preston while the rest of us were at scuba.  The workers were still at our house, so I didn't want Jorja and Preston to be home without me.  My dad had Max today (which is unusual on a Thursday) they seemed to have a great time.  I hurried and got in my swimsuit and headed out.  We picked up Josh and dropped him and Stockton off at diving.  We had a few minutes before our scuba class and the plan was to grab something at Sonic. Too bad when I got in my swimsuit I took my wallet off of my neck and left it home.  We managed to convince Mike to leave work a bit early so we could use his magic wallet.

We had our last scuba class in the pool.  It was a long night.  We got our equipment that we will need for this weekend.  It's nice they let us take it home instead of having to check it out at the store.  I was so tired after class.  Scuba really exhausts me.  I wonder if it is the compressed air that we breathe.  On the way home I realized I forgot to text my Beehives about the activity tonight.  It was at a different time and on a different day.  I hope they remembered.  I can't wait until I can get my life back under control!

Our floors are looking good though.  They are almost done.  There is a little more to do in the kitchen.  They sure look beautiful!
Also, the hole in the ceiling where Mike fell has been patched up.  Mike said, "I am so glad I have no idea what that cost me."  It is nice that we were able to get it fixed so fast.

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Four Hits and a Dive

Holy cow today was crazy!  I started at 4:20 this morning.  I got to bed late last night, so I was so tired.  My quads were so sore from the hike yesterday as well.  I set my stuff up in the back row and only used three risers.  Still it was so hard!  I'm glad I did it though.  I won't be able to go Saturday, and there is no class Monday - that is why I really wanted to make it today.  After a quick shower, and knock on the door from Bryce showing us a leaking sprinkler and taking the kids to school, Mike and I headed down to the cabinet store.  No one was there.  We called Mark.  He was at our house.  Our cabinets are going to be great, but Mark is really forgetful.  No big deal though.  We talked through all the plans.  He had forgotten several things.  Like the hamper in the bathroom, the step stool for the bathroom sink, that our stove has the oven attached and we don't need cabinets beneath it.  Good thing he wanted to go over everything!  When I was at Heather's house Saturday, she showed me this cool door on one of her cabinets that opened to a white board.  I can't explain it well, but I loved it!  Plus I knew right where I would have put it.  When I got home from Idaho, Mike said Mark called and was asking if we had decided between a shelf or just the panels.  I explained Heather's cabinets and asked if we could do something like that.  Looks like it is going to happen and I am really excited about it!  I think it is the perfect solution to something we weren't 100% sure about.
Kitchen plans
Our hardwood floors have started to come in.  Yay!  It is nice not to worry about stepping on random staple things.  I only took one picture while they were working.  Our house looks weird without anything blocking the staircase!  I meant to take pictures of the work done today, but forgot.  We now have wood in the hallway and most of the piano room.  Rob also put sheetrock in our laundry room and over the hole in the ceiling from Mike's foot.  Mike said, "I'm glad I don't know how much that is costing us."  Haha.
Installing the hardwoods
Once Mark left, I spent about an hour packing up things until the Relief Society president came.  We have a new president and she is trying to visit everyone in the ward.  She married a widower.  She said that her family has accepted him, but his family has had a harder time.  She asked if I had any advice.  Oh man!  I want to get with Heather and write down a list of things to give her ~ basically a list of how we wish we would have been treated.  The one thing I told her is to let his kids have memories of their mom.  Death is different than divorce.  They don't have any opportunities to make new memories.  It is cruel to not let them keep the ones they have.

I only had about twenty minutes with them until I had to leave to carpool.  I dropped the boys off and went to Jorja's class.  They were in the middle of the SAGE math test.  Mrs. V let me walk around and look at the questions.  Some were questions that were what you would expect for 5th grade.  Some were ridiculous.  Like one question said something like, "Write an equation using the following criteria.  It needs to have three addends.  Every denominator needs to be different. It needs to equal ____"  I can't remember the fraction.  I thought that was the most ridiculous question.  Also, another thing that was hard was the test was on computers.  I was watching Jorja work on a question that said, "Write an equation  that is 60 less then ten times ten using exponents."  She had written down the correct answer, but trying how to figure out how to show ten squared was frustrating for her.

I left Jorja's class, went and picked up the boys then went to lunch with Mike.  I dropped Mike off (he worked from home today) and went to volunteer in Preston's class.  I finished when school was over.  I took the kids home with me in the jeep.  They loved that, especially since Mike had taken the top off.

Once we were home, we got the boys ready for diving.  Swim and dive team started last week, but we have been unable to make it to one practice.  Right now all the divers are together, so Preston and Stockton are in the same class.  They both loved that.  Stockton was awesome and Preston was adorable.
Preston doing his first hurdle jump ~ isn't the view spectacular?
 Mike teaching the kids that have never done a dive before
 Preston's first dive . . . well, his first attempt . . . 
 Preston trying to dive off the diving board
 Mike helping Preston
 Full on bellyflop
 Success!
 Stockton & Preston hanging out in dive class
 Mike & Preston ~ look at that!  He's getting better!
 Preston ~ by himself!  Head first and everything!
The second we finished dive team, we got Preston dressed in his baseball uniform and headed to the field.  Both Burke and Crew are on dive team and his baseball team.  Busy day for those boys!  My phone was out of batteries, but Preston got 4 HITS!  These weren't just the drop by your feet hit, most of the hits were down the third base line.  It was awesome!  He was up four times and hit it four times.  His swing looked so much better!  He was so proud of himself.  We ended the day at Wendy's and let him get a caramel frosty milkshake.  Preston loves caramel, but that milkshake was kind of like drinking caramel syrup. Neither he or Jorja could finish it.  We had gotten Stockton a chocolate frosty milkshake.  Again, super strong.  Stockton didn't mind.  The more chocolate the better for him.

Wow.  That was a long post.  I read scriptures with the kids and got them to bed while Mike went to his Elders Quorum meeting.  He had a busy day working and meeting with pool cover guys, wiring intercoms, and helping Stockton with his English project.  That project is awesome!  He made three multi-media fusion games about Bill Cosby. He spent so long on it.  I am going to be really irritated if his teacher gives him a bad grade.  Stockton says she hasn't been as mean to him lately, so hopefully she is over whatever bothered her about Stockton in the first place.