Marlins Park

Stockton was supposed to be at the pool at 11:00 for a two hour workout. It was a complete downpour when we arrived. I decided to leave my shoes in the car and go barefoot. I was wearing my tennis shoes. We got Stockton checked in and I was able to talk to someone about letting Stockton dive 3 meter exhibition. They are going to let him dive with the 20+ group. Stockton's regular 3 meter event is on Sunday. That will be nice. Who knows what the weather will be like though. The divers dove in the rain. The downpour stopped by the time Stockton was out there. At least the rain is warm and there is was no lightning. The pool itself is awesome. It is the most efficient use of space I have ever seen. The pool isn't that big square foot wise; but they are able to fit a 5,7,10 meter platform, 4 3 meter boards, 4 1 meter boards and a hot tub. Why or why didn't BYU use this floorplan? If I had several million dollars this would be cool to build on 16000 S and 1300 E, where my old dance studio was. That building has been torn down for years and nothing is there.

 Stockton's on 3 meter

 Stockton diving off of 1 meter

 Stockton on 1 meter

Stockton said that it was interesting the level of divers that were there. Some are super, super good, some feel like rec divers. Stockton didn't think there were many divers like him, middle of the road divers. After the two hour warm up we went back to our hotel. Luckily our room was ready. Yay! Nate took Stockton and Gavin to the Marriott where one of their diving friends was staying. The hotel was right on the beach. They played around there for a bit. I didn't see Stockton for the rest of the day and haven't really had a chance to talk to him. I do know that they played in the ocean before they had to be back at the pool for another 2 hour warmup. Stockton was annoyed at the snack bar at the pool. He wanted to get an Icee to share with Gavin. It was $3. After he ordered it they brought him an otter pop. Nope. That wasn't going to fly with Stockton. He turned it down and got nothing. The divers went to Appleby's after and then to Ted's hotel for another meeting. Ted told them to 'embrace the rain' and this competition is for the mentally tough. They finished the night by playing cards in our hotel room. Stockton was dead asleep by the time I got home at midnight.

Once Stockton left for the Marriott I blogged, unpacked and took a nap. Brett and Rachel got here this afternoon. Eve kept saying, "I want Stockton". Hahaha! That is funny. When she sees him she will probably be terrified of him. We went to this place that is across the street from our hotel. It was pretty cool and reminded me of Maysen.

Basically everything you order can be either a grilled cheese or macaroni and cheese. I had the Philly Cheese Steak grilled cheese and it was yummy.

 Eve

 Eve, Brett, Grace

The last stop of the night was at Marlins Park to watch the Marlins/Nationals game. We were so happy when we realized that Marlins Park has a retractable roof. Yay! Yay! Yay! Brett brought me a Nationals hat to wear. The game was fun. The Nationals won. It was crazy how empty the stadium was though. Kind of felt like being at a Minor League game. I swear the Bees have more fans at their games.

Harper

 Marlins Park

 I think Rojas is up and is about to tie the game with a two RBI double.

 Taylor just short on making an amazing catch. Instead it was a two run double.

 Brett & Stephanie

 We were a few rows behind the bull pen.

 Harper hanging out during a pitching change.

 Now that's a cool hat! How fun!

 Marie pointing to Harper

In other news, the rest of my family enjoyed Overstock Lagoon Day. Mike decided he didn't want to go on too many rides this year, so he let Jorja bring Hailey. Mike said it was the least crowded he has ever seen Lagoon on Overstock day. That is saying something! At one time Jorja and Hailey were the only ones on Tidal Wave. They each sat at one end. They were also the only ones on the white roller coaster. Mike said they redid the entrance on that and also redid Terroride.

Hailey, Jorja, Preston, Maysen

 Jorja, Hailey, Preston's arm/head

 Jorja reacting to a text I sent, Hailey

 Preston & Maysen

 Preston still isn't feeling too well

He played bingo and ended up winning three prizes pretty close together. His first game he played he won bed sheets. I'm sure he's excited about that. Next he won a massage chair. Last he won socks. Winning sure perked him up!

Preston

 Chair Preston won

 Happy Preston with Maysen

 Preston & Maysen

 Hailey & Jorja

The kids were pretty burnt out by 8:00. The one bad thing about Overstock Lagoon day is your body doesn't have enough time to adjust when you go on the rides so close together. Usually you wait in line for awhile before you can go on another ride. At Overstock Lagoon day it is just non-stop rides one after the other. So much fun, but hard to make it through the day without getting sick.

Lemon

I spent most of the day getting ready for Florida. Laundry, packing, trying to finish up graduation announcements, errands. I decided I would hand deliver Brett and Rachel's announcement to them, but I'm pretty sure I left it on the kitchen table. The weather in Florida isn't looking too great. Stockton will be diving in an outdoor pool, so this weekend might be interesting.

John & Cassie's daughter, Mallory, had surgery today to remove a tumor on her thumb. It looks like everything went as well as it could, so that is a relief! Jorja had her orientation for Chick-Fil-A today. They had it at a bakery store. She texted me a picture of her new badge while I was on the plane.

Hailey picked up Jorja from orientation and they went to the State soccer game at Rio Tinto Stadium. They won in overtime. It sounds like Alta threw in the ball from the sidelines. The ball ricocheted off a Viewpoint player and into the goal. Pretty crazy to win that way. Alta won state last year, this is the first time the Alta boys soccer team has won state back to back. How fun for Jorja to be there.

Stockton and I took the red eye tonight. I didn't pay extra to choose our seats and didn't realize how early I could check in. As a result, we weren't sitting together. We were on the same row, both in the middle seats. It sounds like I got more sleep on the plane than Stockton did though. Gavin and his dad, Nate, flew out ten minutes after us on JetBlue. We were on Delta. We landed in different terminals but were able to meet up at the car rental shuttle. Lucky for us Nate rented a car and was willing to be our chauffeur. This was the sight in the parking lot at Sixt rental. It made me laugh.

The boys were hungry so we stopped at Burger King for some breakfast. We then went to our hotel hoping they would have a room available. The lady laughed when Nate asked if they had early check-in. She said early check-in is usually 12:00, this is super early. She found a room for Nate though. They only had king beds available. It was great though. Nate and Gavin slept on the bed. There was a pull out single bed that Stockton slept on and I slept on the cushions of the bed on the floor. We got a couple of much needed hours of sleep that way.

The 95 Theses of Alta

Jorja asked Mr. Packer, the student government advisor, if she could do the ping pong tournament. This is the first year that Stockton has been there that they haven't had a tournament. They had it every year Maysen was there too. One of the many frustrating things for Stockton is the attorney general is in charge of the ping pong tournament. That is the office Stockton ran for and lost. The kid that won just didn't do the tournament. Jorja asked him several times if he was going to do it. He always said he was, he just never did. Mr. Packer told Jorja that it was too late for her to do the ping pong tournament. He said that he even got a huge list from someone taped to his door with 95 reasons of why they should do the ping pong tournament. Turns out, it was Stockton that taped the reasons to his door. He wrote them all himself and printed them out on five sheets of paper, all taped together. Stockton was so funny when he described his secretive mission. He had this whole elaborate plan of looking up teacher schedules to figure out when Mr. Packer would be out of his room, finding lulls in class time to sneak into the halls, and taking detours that let him avoid the janitors and hall monitors. He kept the whole operation a secret so nobody could bust him later. He said he had had everything written up for two weeks before finding the perfect moment to tape it on the door without being seen. He would even stop by Alta on the way to his English class at SLCC to check and see if there was an opening. Now that's dedication. His English class started at 7:00 am on the SLCC campus.

Mr. Packer is the World History teacher. When Stockton was a sophomore he learned about Martin Luther's 95 Theses in his class. The original had 95 reasons why the Catholic Church was corrupt for practicing indulgences, which was when the church leaders told the people that they were doomed to hell unless they paid money to have their sins forgiven. So Stockton decided writing his own version would be the perfect way to get his message across.

Too bad it was all for naught. No ping pong tournament this year; but another example of Stockton's awesomeness.

Soccer Playoffs

Jorja got sent in the hall during Chinese today. The first time her teacher has ever sent someone in the hall. Jorja said it was the first time she has talked in Chinese. (She doesn't feel super comfortable around some of the other Chinese kids. Weird because they have been in the same class since 2nd grade. Jorja was so shy back then and she feels trapped with how she used to be when she is in that class.) Anyway, Jorja asked someone why there was so many bagels. Mrs. Peng got super mad and sent Jorja into the hall. Jorja asked her after class why she sent her out. Mrs. Peng told her that she "was too happy". Only three more class periods of Chinese. Jorja's grade did drop from an A to a B- after today. Let's hope Jorja can pull that up because it would be so annoying to lose her 4.0 because she was too happy one day.

Alta soccer had a playoff game during school. Jorja was so excited to miss school for this. Stockton did not think that was a good idea. He did have lots to do in his Engineering class. Jorja missed seminary, lunch and English. She had the best time. 

Heather & Jorja

 Raychel, Abbey, Jorja, Heather

Alta was down 3-1 against Skyline at one point. They ended up winning 3-4. They play for the state title on Thursday. Alta won state in soccer last year, so that's pretty cool.

Raychel, Jorja, Abbey, Heather

Jorja, Madison and I hurried down to Chick-Fil-A after school to drop off Jorja's paperwork. The kid there said she was supposed to bring it to orientation on Thursday. Hope that's right. I took the girls to Walmart to pick up pictures for Jorja's scrapbook. It took FOREVER to get someone back to help us. We went to Zupas and then home. Jorja also had trek dance practice today. She seems to be having fun with that. Talon is her partner. He is tall, so she has a hard time when they are back to back and she is supposed to kick her legs while on his back. Anyway, I'm glad she gets to do the dance. She likes it.

Stockton's Recognition Night

Today was such a great day! I took Jorja to Chick-Fil-A after school for her second job interview. She got the job! She is pretty excited about that. My dad took Preston to diving which was so nice. There was no way we were going to be able to get him there. Mike stopped by Walmart and picked up Stockton's graduation pictures we finally printed out. I love how they turned out!

Stockton's graduation pictures

Alta had their Principal Recognition Night tonight. It is pretty much the only time academics gets honored, so it was great. Also long. Really long. I remember not getting a great seat when Maysen had her night. The school has a reception for about thirty minutes before the ceremony. I snuck into the auditorium and saved three seats. I was glad I did! I also picked up a program on my way out. Immediately I noticed something wrong. I'll get to that later. Anyway, Stockton was honored, a lot. It was well deserved too. He was one of eight 4.0 kids. Each of the counselors said a little bit about the 3.9 students they were over. The principal talked about the 4.0 kids. It's too bad Alta doesn't have valedictorians anymore. Eight isn't an unreasonable amount.

 Stockton getting a box and a plaque for his 4.0

Stockton was surprised how many people cheered for him. He said, "I got Nate Brown level cheers." He also laughed when they said he was 2nd in the state diving competition. He was actually 3rd thanks to Camden having an insanely good meet that day!

This is part of the program that was wrong. All the Sterling Scholars that are printed here are from last year. I couldn't believe it! I wanted to say something to the principal. I was waiting for him, but then other people came up to talk to him. I wondered if he knew about the mistake. I guess I should have made more of an effort. He didn't know. He announced last years Sterling Scholars and was quite embarrassed when he realized what happened. He said, "Okay, all the Sterling Scholars come up and get your rope!" It was kind of funny. I was wishing he would have the kids say their names and category as they came up.

The rope is really cool looking. We didn't think he got a rope for Sterling Scholar. It wasn't on the list. I picked up all six of Stockton's ropes awhile ago. They were $6 a piece. It was much cooler to be awarded the rope, plus it was free! He also got a yellow/silver rope for the Honors diploma, which is the highest diploma offered.

Sterling Scholars getting their ropes

 Stockton receiving his hawk medallion

A few days later Stockton was called out of class and asked to go to the office. He was in the middle of taking a math test. Good thing those tests are easy for him. Alta had reprinted the program so if we wanted one with his name in the Sterling Scholar spot for a scrapbook we could have one. That was nice of them to do.

At the end of the super long ceremony the principal had the Sterling Scholars come back up and be recognized. That was nice. Too bad they didn't mention that Addie Wray won the entire thing! That is a huge deal!

Jack, Amber, Maggie, Lydia, Nate, Rachelle, Emma, Hannah, Anna, Addie, Stockton

It was pretty funny how loud people cheered for Stockton. As he was walking back after receiving his Hawk Medallion someone yelled, "I like your sideburns!" The Affleck's were sitting behind us and commented that Stockton looked like a rabbi. Hahahaha! We were wondering what was in the box the 4.0 students were given. Stockton thought it was probably laffy taffy. It wasn't. It was a watch! Alta High School and 4.0 GPA Award are engraved on it. How cool is that?????

Jorja, Mike, Stockton

 Jorja, Stockton

 The Watch

We went to Iceburg after to celebrate, then home to bed. Tonight was so cool, but it was LONG! I am TIRED! Stockton sure is amazing. It was nice for him to be recognized for all of his hard work. So many people came up to him and congratulated him. As Madison would say, "He was the star of the show!" Hahahaha