Maysen's Home!

I took Jorja to the orthodontist this morning.  Once I dropped her off at school I headed straight to Logan.  It was so great to see Maysen!  I took her to the grocery store while I was there.  She's able to get there, it is just a ton easier with a car.  Plus, I was paying so she was extra fine with that.  I brought Maysen home.  We arrived home after the kids but before Mike.  I expected the kids to rush Maysen and be so excited. Especially Preston.  Yesterday he tried to start an argument with me claiming he loved Maysen more than I did.  Anyway, they barely acknowledged the fact she was home!  I said, "That was not the reaction I was anticipating."  Stockton said, "Wait.  Is that Maysen?  I thought it was Cathy."  Weirdo.  I guess Stockton remembered my dad and Cathy were planning on bringing Max, but their plans changed.  Still, Cathy has never entered our house and said, "I'm back!"  Or whatever it was Maysen said.  Anyways, it was great having Maysen with us.  Maysen and I headed back out shopping for some dishes.  The plastic ones she got can't go in the microwave.  Plus, they say top rack only which is annoying with the large plates.  Anyways, we found a perfect set of four for her.

When we got home Mike made Maysen homemade spaghetti.  Maysen humored me and we watched a Dr. Who.  I humored her and we watched a Fairly Oddparent episode.  Then it was time for bed.  This day went by way too fast.

Hand Catch

Today was crazy busy.  Jorja had to go to school early for a NJHS meeting.  They voted on officers.  Jorja asked them how they chose who to vote on.  They applied, everyone was given a form during their interview.  Everyone except Jorja that is.  She was the first one they interviewed and they forgot to give her the form.  Too bad.  Jorja also had to stay late for a WEB meeting.  Mike had to come home from work early to pick her up.  I couldn't get her because Stockton had already taken the car to diving.  I drove Preston up to BYU for diving later. Preston is loving it which is making me so happy!  Preston and I stopped at Rita's on our way home.  His school had a fundraiser there. We grabbed him a custard/slush thing and were out of there super quick.  I dropped him off at home and headed to the park where Jorja was playing softball.  Jorja got to catch two innings again.  She is getting really good in that position.  I don't know how she can stay in that super low crouch for so long.  Her stance is great.  I only saw Jorja up to bat once.  She got hit by the pitch....kind of.... It came right at her and her reflex was to catch the ball.  So, it hit her hand.  I wonder what the actual rule on that is.  She got to take her base but it seems like people could just stick their hand in the way.  Although maybe because her hand was in the batters box.....anyways, I'll have to ask Bubs if there is a rule on that and what it is.

New Time

Mike got a new toy today.  I set him up in the bathroom and was excited for Stockton to walk in there after school.  Stockton didn't even flinch.  He's no fun.

Preston and I went to diving today.  There was a parent meeting.  They are moving the time of the JO divers.  (Junior Olympic)  There new time will be 3:00-5:00.  Stockton gets out of school at 2:25.  Great. This is going to make things more difficult.  Mike and I were talking about different options.  We decided the best plan would be for me to meet Stockton at his school on his diving days.  Mike could bring Preston down later.  We are thinking Stockton could go on Mondays and Wednesdays or Thursdays.  Preston would go on Wednesdays and Thursdays.  If they only overlap one day then Mike would only need to come down once a week.  I will be going down three times a week. Guess Stockton's not going to need to be driving down there anymore. I was a little worried about him driving once the snow started.  Too bad Maysen didn't decide to go to BYU.  I would be able to see her all the time.

Represent

There is a whole lot of attention given to people (especially football players) who right now are kneeling during the national anthem.  They are protesting the rights of blacks.  I loved one picture that is not getting a lot of publicity.  Two football players helping first responders hold the flag.  The two football players are on the Detroit Lions and were former BYU players.  This makes my heart happy.

Kyle Van Noy & Ziggy Ansah

Ziggy Ansah is from Ghana.  He came to the United States on an academic scholarship to BYU.  There he learned to play football.  I'm pretty sure he understands what amazing opportunities we are able to have that people that live in other countries are not lucky enough to enjoy.

Anyways, Jorja went to the batting cages today with her softball team. I think she had a great time.  We stopped of at the church on our way home to attend the combined Young Women and Relief Society activity.  We made lunches and hygiene kits for the homeless shelter. Stockton was going to play frisbee golf (I even borrowed one of Matt's frisbees), but the activity was cancelled.  Too bad.  I think he would have had a great time.

Cassie's Stocking

I finished Cassie's Christmas stocking today.  Sewing the back on this one took longer than I expected.  It had some weird things like the bow that goes in back of the stocking, but I didn't want to sew the back to that.  Also, there were several color changes.  Anyway, I love how the stocking turned out.  The paintbrushes were my least favorite part, but I survived them.

I ordered Collin's stocking.  I usually have my next project waiting before I finish the one I am working on.  Oh well.  I have several cross stitches that I haven't been able to pull out for years because of my stockings.  I'll be able to work on them for a bit if I feel like it.  At least I'll have Collin's in time for conference.  That is when I really have a lot of time to work on something like this.

Stockton went to diving today.  It is weird sending him down to Provo by himself.  This way we will have a car to take Jorja to her softball practice on Wednesday.  Preston can't go on Mondays because of scouts.  They did a service project today.  Preston came home hot and sweaty.  Mondays are a great day for Stockton to go to diving because Tuesdays are late start.  He couldn't do Mondays last year because I had scouts.  It will be nice for Stockton to not have diving back to back. That way he can keep up on his homework.

Two Loses

We played Dominion a couple of times today.  Stockton won the first game, but just barely.  We were actually tied, but I had gone one more time than him.  These kind of things wouldn't happen if I took score all along like Matt does.  Mike, Preston and I played one more game before bed.  Preston killed us.  It wasn't pretty.  He used a Hamlet/Amulet strategy that I didn't see coming until it was too late.

Parry Family Swim Party

I tried to get all the Utah Parry family over for a swim party.  People are so busy right now, so not a lot could make it.  Larkin and her family came and Derek and his family came.  Bubs also came with his family and Matt and his family stopped by really quick during their busy day. It was so much fun!  Derek called me this morning and he sounded just like his dad.  It was crazy!  I don't have any pictures from the party. I guess I was too busy enjoying people I don't see often enough.  Derek has just started his new job in Salt Lake.  He works for a law firm.  Our bishop is the one training him.  Good thing Derek has liked him!

Jorja has been busy practicing nails.  Ange and her girls let Jorja practice on them.  Jorja was thrilled.  She is getting a lot better.  Pretty good considering a few weeks ago she had never really painted nails at all.  Millie loved her nails.  She kept saying, "They're pink!"

Ange and girls

 Jorja

Mike has finished 3D printing an entire set for Dominion cards.  He is sure loving his printer!  Yay!  I finally got a decent present for him! (One that he didn't pick out himself.)

Mike humored me and watched the BYU/Utah game with me.  We went to see my dad at half time.  It is his birthday.  We dropped Jorja off at Kate's house on the way.  Too bad for her because we got to eat my dad's delicious birthday cake.  Jorja loves Reese's.  We watched a little of the 3rd quarter with him before we headed back home.

We started watching when we saw two obnoxious targeting calls.  I can't believe they threw out two of BYUs best defensive players back to back.  That rule has got to change because no way did those plays deserve to have someone thrown out of the game and then the first half of the next game!  Because we saw my dad we were a little behind the actual live event.  I knew I was getting text messages, but I refused to look at it because I didn't want someone to spoil what was going to happen.  My brothers and I have been texting during the games.  Mike took the phone about fifteen minutes later and said he wanted to see if Jorja texted us.  Good thing he did because Justin and Lisa were at the cabin and couldn't get in.  For some reason the code wasn't working. Whoops!  After riding LOTAJA they had to wait fifteen minutes outside the cabin.  How annoying for them!  I guess I better let Mike check the phone when I do things like that.  Anyway, too bad BYU lost by one point.  Utah fans are going to be so annoying!  At least we have stake conference tomorrow.  That should make it not so bad.

Stockton took the ACT today.  Might as well get one done so he can see what it is like.  There were a lot more people there than Stockton anticipated.  Four rooms full.  He said that it was a lot easier than the practice ACTs.  That is a good sign.

Battlebots

I volunteered in Preston's class for the first time this year.  I really like Mrs. Mickelsen.  I was able to take Preston home with me.  I like short days.  I also picked up Jorja and Katlyn from school.  They were working on a school project.  They need to do a bake sell somewhere. Wonder what they are going to come up with?

We watched the Battlebots championship tonight.  Mike was so excited about it.  We were rooting for Minotaur to win it all, but he lost in the semi finals to the eventual winner.  Jorja's friends all went to the Alta game tonight.  Jorja stayed home and painted her nails.  She is having a lot of fun with that.  Alta won Timpview, which wasn't supposed to happen.  Good day all around.

Our 21st Anniversary

Today was such a great day!  Mike stayed home from work, or worked from home.  I'm not really sure.  It was nice to have him around.  We went to lunch at Outback.  Scoop and Cori had given us a gift card there a couple of years ago.  It was perfect to have a nice meal that cost us $2. Mike is building me a table for our anniversary.  He was hoping to have it done by now, but I made him take me to Arizona last weekend so that fouled up his plans.  He mentioned that he had another gift for me. Uh-oh.  I had to think of something for him quick!  Luckily I knew what I wanted to get him, I just didn't know if he would think it was dumb or not.  I ended up getting him a small 3D printer.  He loves it! Yay! Preston loves it too.  Mike and Preston printed out Dominion card holders.  This way we can play Dominion while we are driving in the motorhome!  That will be fun!

Mike got me a DVR player to use on the regular tv.  That will be nice.  It looks like we will be able to record conference this year after all.  He also got me a 3 month sling TV subscription so I can watch BYU football games.  That was the one thing that was going to be hard about giving up the satellite.

We had a busy afternoon.  I went to Back to School night for Preston. This is the last time I will have three separate back to school nights. Weird.  I was able to get home before Mike and Jorja had left for her softball game.  Jorja played catcher for two of the three innings.  She did fantastic!  She also got a really hard hit into right field.  Once when Jorja was up she walked, but on the fourth ball the girl tried to steal home.  She got out and that was three outs.  Too bad she didn't steal home when Jorja only had three balls!  Kind of felt like a strike out walking off the field.

Jorja the catcher

It's sad this day is over.  It was such a fun, relaxing, enjoyable day. What a great life I have!

Learning Back Dives

I am going to have to figure out a better system to get the kids where they need to be.  Jorja didn't start diving this month because she found out she has softball practice during the week.  Yesterday it dawned on me that we have no way to get her there.  I frantically texted my dad who was nice enough to drive her to and from softball practice today. I'll have to figure out a better long term plan. At least it only lasts this month.  For a little while I thought I would need to tell my dad not to worry about it, Jorja wasn't going to practice.  Jorja called me from school.  Her back was hurting her so bad she couldn't concentrate.  I brought her home and gave her a back massage and an advil.  We spent sometime looking on Amazon at different nail plates.  She picked one she wanted that came in a bundle.  I'm going to give her one when it comes and save the rest for her birthday.  She also picked out a holder for her plates.  I drove her back around lunchtime and she was feeling much better.  She felt fine after school and said she was feeling good enough to go to practice.  I hope she doesn't end up having a back like mine.

Stockton drove himself down to BYU.  I came down almost an hour later with Preston.  I was able to watch Stockton for awhile before he was finished.  Preston has always hated back dives.  He is scared of them.  His coach, Keyka (I asked and wrote it down!  Yay me!), made them really fun for him.  He loved doing them this way.  Too bad he can't keep the mat up with him forever!

Keyka & Preston

I ended up getting home just a few minutes after Stockton.  Stockton took a shower at BYU before he left.  I also got to drive in the carpool lane home and Preston's class isn't as long as Stockton.  It might make sense for me to take both of them, except I would have to check Preston out of school for that.  Hard to justify checking him out when he is just going to be sitting there watching for awhile.  That would solve my Jorja softball problem though . . .

Softball at Sunset

Mike and I went to Jorja's softball game today.  She did great.  She was able to catch for an inning again and did an excellent job.  She is having a lot of fun with this team.  Jorja was worried after the first practice, but that is a distant memory now.

Jorja at bat

 Jorja catching

Jorja's games start so late, but at least it is not hot while we watch and she plays.  It's kind of fun for her to play under the lights.  Mike and I have also learned and we read scriptures as a family before we left.  I gave Preston specific instructions to put himself to bed at 8:00.  We came home to find him sound asleep.  As long as I remember to tell him to put himself to bed he will do it.  If I forget, no way.  He enjoys my forgetful mind.

First Nails

Jordyn has gotten Jorja and I hooked on her nail hobby.  The problem is, Jordyn made it look so easy!  Jorja and I spent hours trying to do her nails, and they don't look anywhere near as cool as when Jordyn did them in ten minutes!

Our first nail plate

 First try by ourselves

Jorja and I worked on them over at Steve and Shannon's house.  Mike and the other kids played games while we did this.  I heard a lot of laughing, so I'm guessing they had fun.  Mike took the kids home and I stayed for a bit after and talked to Shannon.  We had two separate cars because I was at the store with Jorja when it was time to head over.  We decided it was easier to take two separate cars.  Turned out to be a good decision.  That way the kids didn't have to wait on me!

Home in Time for Dinner

I didn't wake up until 6:30, which was 7:30 our time.  Yikes!  I started driving right away.  I drove for four hours and then switched with Mike who drove the rest of the way.  We got home a little after 4:30.  Family dinner at our house was at 5.  Bubs and his family were already there when we arrived. We have to go down to the end of our street and turn around in the circle when we are driving the motorhome.  That way we can back the correct way into our driveway.  We were doing this, but when we came back to our house my dad was about to pull into the driveway.  He had to backup to let us through.  Talk about great timing though.  My dad made French dip sandwiches.  They were delicious. Jorja requested them and said she thought about them all day long. Speaking of Jorja, I got this text from her while we were at the game.  I had to laugh.  Not about her sore throat, but about texting Mr. Chen.

Cactus Kickoff Classic

I didn't set an alarm, but I think I was on the road by 5:30.  I drove for four hours before Mike took over.  He drove the rest of the way.  We decided to park in the stadium RV parking.  It was expensive, but then we didn't have to worry about the RV getting towed while we were watching the game.  We arrived one hour before the parking lot opened.  We met Mike in the Cabelas parking lot.  He drove us to Johnny Rockets for lunch.  Isn't Mike's family adorable?  After eating Mike dropped his car at the hotel and we all piled in the motorhome. We were there about an hour before the gates opened.  The kids and I played Tiki Topple while we waited.

Skye, Blake, Mike, Larkin

Of course they were missing Christen and Parker, but I didn't mind . . . because we got their tickets!  And what amazing tickets they were! Mike doesn't mess around with his sports!  Mike also got Mike and I BYU shirts.  He almost got the first BYU drop box in Arizona.  He was there in five minutes.  Fast enough to get shirts, but not the first one there.

Stephanie & Mike

When Mike texted me about coming to the game he told me that his tickets were in section 134 row 1.  I assumed 134 would be up one level. Section 34 would be ground level.  Still, I thought the tickets would be amazing.  They were much better than I anticipated.  It was so much fun!

Skye, Blake, Larkin

 Skye, Blake, Larkin, Mike

We had cup holders and were given little pom poms to wave.  We had each brought in our own 'unopened' bottle of water, so the cup holders came in handy.

 Blake loved the pom pons

 Skye's thinking her siblings are weirdos

There were security guards like this guy in the blue shirt that stayed looking at us the entire game.  Skye asked me about them.  I explained to her what streaking was.  She looked at me weird.  Mike (my Mike) said, "Think about it like a sport.  It makes as much sense as the rest of this does."  Haha!  Mike makes me laugh.  It was so nice of him to drive ten hours down and ten hours back to sit through a game that he would rather not watch anyway.

Security guard, Skye, Blake, Larkin

Our seats looked straight at the goal line.  We were on the Arizona side and got to watch them warm up.

Blake had to go to the bathroom several times during the game.  The first time was before the game started.  Cosmo started coming to give high fives to the girls.  I saw Blake walking down the stairs.  I called to him to hurry.  Glad he did because we got the cutest picture of him and Cosmo!

Cosmo & Skye

 Cosmo, Larkin, Blake & Skye

 Mike's view of Blake & Cosmo

 My view

 This one is my favorite

My texts weren't coming through the stadium very well.  That made it extremely difficult to find my friend Alisha who was at the game with her family.  I also missed out on a lot of hilarious texts that were going back and forth between my brothers.  Here is an example. . . 

Bubs: Did they score?  My internet connection just blanked out.

Matt: Yes and missed the extra point.

Bubs: So kicking issues this year again eh?

Brett: The kicker is obviously embarrassingly terrible.

Bubs: One day it would be nice to have one of those kickers who can kick 55 yard field goals like Utah always seems to have.

Matt: Did I just see Mike and kids cheering with Cosmo?

Brett: Yes.

Matt: Nice.  He had the passion.

John: Bummer, I missed it.  Who am I, the kicker?

Brett then texted this picture

I don't know why I thought it was so funny, but I did.  Plus, it was awesome how Brett texted us the picture.  Christen's brother also saw Mike on TV and texted this one to Christen.

Those pictures were taken when there was one second left in the half. Arizona was going for a field goal and Cosmo was trying to get the crowd going crazy to stress out the kicker.  He ended up missing the field goal which was very good for us.

I called my friend Alisha a couple of times because my texts weren't getting through.  It did not work well at all.  Neither of us could hear anything!  Luckily I managed to get a text through before the half and they came down to find us.  I think it's been about five years since I have seen them.  I have definitely aged.  Alisha has not!  It was such a short visit, but so amazing to see her!

Matt, Stephanie, Alisha

I miss the days when we would spend all day every day together. Maysen and Cameron would play and Alisha and I would just talk.  I was so sad when they moved away from Georgia.

Stephanie & Alisha

 Cassidy, Cameron, Alisha, Kennedy, Matt

There was a contest in the second half where the jumbotron asked everyone to look like a cactus.  The jumbotron did a close up of me. They liked my cactus!  My friend Jacqui was at the game.  She texted me, "NICE CACTUS!!  The best.  You won hands down!"  Haha!  The trick of a good cactus was to have one hand crooked and then dance like a weirdo.  I wish they would have shown Blake.  He was hilarious. He had his hands in a touchdown sign and his face was so serious. That made me laugh!

Of course the game was amazing at the end. . . Luckily.  Blake had to go to the bathroom again with just over a minute left in the game.  Mike looked at me and said, "I'm not taking him.  No way am I leaving." Luckily we had a lot of empty water bottles by us.  I was on one side, Mike the other and a giant ledge was in front of Blake.  No one could have seen what was going on if they wanted to.  Skye and I kept talking about how BYU wasn't listening to our advice.  Take the ball from the other team and score a touchdown!  Luckily a crazy young kicker has nerves of steal and was able to win the game.  They kicked it right by us, but we couldn't tell if it went in from our angle.  We watched the crowd behind the goal posts.  Most of them were BYU fans, then there was the Arizona band.  Luckily it was the BYU fans that went nuts.  We were more than happy to join along!  Again I laughed at my brothers' texts. . . 

Matt: Good thing missed extra points never come back to hurt you.

Matt: Good job team.  I never doubted.

John: Me neither.  I was pure composure the whole time.

Haha!  I can just imagine John's pure composure!  We stayed for awhile after the game to give high fives to the players as they ran around.  Larkin had two shirts on, so she took her top shirt off and had it hanging over trying to get signatures.  She didn't get many, but she got some good ones!

Larkin, Mike & Blake, Skye

 Micah Hannemann

 Kalani Satake

 Jamaal Williams

 Taysom Hill

Some obnoxious kid kept asking Williams for things.  "Can I have your gloves?"  "I need these"  "Your headband, can I have your headband?" "I bought this one!"  "Your wristband"  No reply, he moved on.  "A picture, can I have a picture?"  Should have started with that one first kid.  Taysom signed Larkin's shirt and then came back a minute later and asked if he could borrow her sharpie so he could sign a football for someone else.  Nice!

Larkin & her shirt

Larkin was not happy with her shirt at the beginning because it is gigantic.  Now I think she loves it.  It was much nicer driving home with a win.  First step was getting to the motorhome, next step was dropping off Mike and his kids, last step was heading down the road. We drove until two in the morning.  After we had gone an hour we decided we would try and make it to Flagstaff and park in their Walmart.  I asked my phone for directions to Flagstaffs Walmart.  We were going the wrong way.  Whoops.  Mike had asked his phone to drive home.  It took us through Las Vegas, which added an extra hour to our trip.  By the time we found out about it, it was too late.  Oh well. We found a nice rest stop to park though.  Mike loved it because it was dark and quiet.  We ended the night by reading Maysen's blog.  She has it set to publish at midnight.  Usually I don't make it that long.  Not tonight!  Today was such a long, fun day!  I'm so glad Mike gave us tickets and Mike drove me down!  Hopefully BYU can win next week against Utah!

Last Minute Plans

I got a text from my brother Mike this morning.  It said, "I have 2 tickets to the BYU game tomorrow if you want to make a quick last second trip to Phoenix.  I all be there with Skye, Larkin and Blake." Wow!  I wasn't planning on going, and we were planning on staying home to work on our table . . . but how could I pass this up?  Jorja had late start.  I dropped her off at school and headed to my dad's house. He didn't seem interested in driving 10 hours there and back.  I went downstairs to ask Matt and Sam.  They had a trip to St. George planned.  Matt tried to figure out a way to work it out, but he couldn't do it.  Look how cute these kids are though.

Jeff & Anne

I talked Mike into taking me.  He isn't a fan of football, so it took a bit of convincing.  Luckily he loves me and didn't want me to miss out. Stockton and Preston had diving today.  Preston was home early because of short day, so we went up with Stockton.  I dropped Stockton off and then Preston and I had dinner at Kneaders.  His dinner was a loaf of pumpkin bread.  He loves that stuff!  Preston had the best time at diving today!  Laurel worked with him.  She was so good!  They were working on his dives.  Laurel told him to pretend someone wants to bomb the building and Preston was holding the detonator between his toes.  If he unclenched his toes the bomb would go off.  The next time she told him he had three detonators.  His toes, his knees and his shins. After he came up Laurel his dive was this good.  She held apart her fingers.  It would have been this good (hands are now wider) if he would have stayed tight all the way into the water and not released once he hit the water. Anyways, Laurel was great with him and Preston loved diving today.

Laurel and Preston

During free time, Preston jumped off of the five meter today and he DOVE off of the three meter!  He wasn't scared one bit!

Preston on five

Preston jumping off of five

Preston diving off of three

Mike met us with the motorhome in the Burlington Coat Factory parking lot.  I sent Stockton and Preston home.  I explained to Stockton how to get home and watched him take off.  His first turn he swung a little wide and almost got in an accident!  I screamed, but luckily the other car was observant.  Stockton made it home safely, thank goodness!

Mike and I drove a couple of hours down the road.  We stopped at a gas station in Scipio.  This will be a fun adventure!