Lagoon in June

Last night we camped at Lagoon with Bubs & Ange. It was fun, but freezing! Preston & Jorja squeezed into mine & Mike's sleeping bag. Mike was kicked out. He tried to sleep in my old snuggie we brought for Preston, then ended up sleeping in Jorja's sleeping bag. (She had her sleeping bag inside ours, so I slid her out of it and gave it to Mike.) He was so cold and could not straighten his legs all night. It was a pretty long night for him.

This morning we walked to Lagoon. My family has a reunion there every year. I love it. We haven't been able to go for four years. Finally we can go again! It was great and the weather was perfect. Preston had a great time. We rode the rides you get wet on in our swimming suits. (Rattlesnake Rapids and the Dishwasher a.k.a. Cliffhanger) Lagoon-a-Beach was the most freezing I could ever remember. Water like ice. We only lasted one waterslide. Luckily I was the one who was watching Preston, so I didn't last even one. Preston went down three kiddie slides, one that had a giant freezing waterfall he had to go through. He was so cold!

Stockton loved going on the scary rides again. He rode Wicked and Colossus twice. (Once he rode Colossus by himself.) There was not one scary ride he turned down. Bubs got Lincoln to go on Wicked. Now that's crazy! My kids did really well today, but they had no desire to wait in lines after spoiling them last week. Many of the rides were declared not worth the wait. Preston really wanted to ride the merry-go-round . . . . specifically the one puppy on the merry-go-round. We ended up being first in line, then some people got off the ride because they said they couldn't find a seat. So, three little kids and two adults ended up in front of us. As soon as we could get on, we raced to the puppy, but it was already taken. Preston didn't like that. He was crying thick tears. I asked the lady if we could wait until next time so he could ride the puppy. Luckily she was okay with that. Preston got on the puppy and petted him the entire ride.

I love being with my family. It was awesome to see Grandma Parry there! (and grandpa too!) We were hoping they would spend the night at our house, but grandma wasn't feeling too well, so they went back to Idaho in the evening. Mike & I took a lot of pictures during the day, but judging by the outcome you would think it was only us and Bubs' family at Lagoon. We did have a really great time and love having such a fun place to see my family. (Plus I think it's a pretty sweet way for Bubs & Ange to spend their anniversary!)

Jorja

Preston, Jorja, Maysen

Maysen & Ella

Jorja & Preston

Maysen & Ella

Jorja & Preston

Jorja

Stockton & Ella

Ella

Preston

Stockton! Love this one!

Preston

Lincoln

Ella & Preston

Abbs

Ella & Preston

Abbs

Ella & Preston

Lincoln, Preston & Ella

Preston

Lincoln & Preston

Of all the pictures we took, I was really excited when Mike showed me these. They reminded me so much of pictures from ten years ago. Maysen has told me several times this is her earliest memory. I love it!

Jorja & Preston ~ 2011

Stockton & Maysen ~ 2001

In conclusion: I love Lagoon. I love Lagoon with my family and I love Lagoon with no lines. If only we could combine those two, that would truly be magical! Thanks to all my family for continuing this tradition . . and thanks to the weather for being great!

Almost Family Photo

Mike's work e-mailed this photo they took of our family at Lagoon day on Friday.

Mike, Stephanie

Jorja, Stockton, Maysen

We also received an e-mail that Stockton placed FIRST in his diving competition on Monday. Way to go Stockton!

2nd Grade is Finally Over!

Jorja had the LONGEST year this year! She started 2nd grade August 5th and finally had her last day today. Jorja has grown up a ton this year. She looks so much older. Maybe because of all the transitions she dealt with. Here are a few of the changes: Started school in Georgia, ended in Utah. Started in English, ended in a Chinese Immersion program. Started with braces, ended without braces. Started with bangs, ended with long/no bang hair . . . okay so the last two had to do with her looks, but she really has become quite beautiful. I was so excited for her to finally end school. She has worked so hard. I was also anxious because the other kids finished a week and a half ago. This has been a great, long/hard year. I'm glad it's over! I'm glad we were able to move to Utah, even though we miss our friends in Georgia. I'm glad Jorja was able to get in the Chinese Immersion program and that she has worked so hard! Congratulations Jorja! I love you!

Jorja & Mrs. Trombino ~ 1st day of 2nd grade

Jorja ~ last day of 2nd grade

Jorja & Talon . . . the cat is going back tomorrow!

Doans

Today we tried again for Maysen and Stockton to be tested by the district. We had an appointment for noon. When we arrived we were told we would need to reschedule again. Annoying. Stockton and Maysen were very broken up about it.

The rest of the day was spent getting ready for the Doans! I was SO EXCITED to see them! Ethan is going into the MTC tomorrow. We had a delicious dinner of ribs, corn on the cob, corn bread, lemonade, pineapple, watermelon and apple pie. I think I'll be full for a week! It was fun to hear about Georgia and everything that had been going on since we left. Mike also showed them a little of the commercial he was working on. They spent hours helping Mike with it before we left. Mike doesn't have it nearly finished, but they were laughing their heads off. I am so happy they came to see us while they were here!

Elder Ethan Doan, Shannan, Rick

When I was putting Stockton to bed tonight he said, "The only thing I can think of that will be good about going back to school is pizza every Monday. I can't think of one more good thing." I said, "What are you not looking forward to?" Quick as a wink he rattled off, "Don't get out early, walk single file, girls get to go first in everything, fire drills, tornado drills." I started laughing and told him there will be no tornado drills . . . but there will be earthquake drills. Maysen came up with "starting on time, listening to announcements and she will have to 'socialize'." Stockton then added, "a ton of text books in a crammed desk, go to and from school, homework, and cut & paste worksheets . . . I HATE gluing!"

I also told Preston that I was going to homeschool him next year. His reaction was, "What? No!" I told him it would be fun things like gluing marshmallows on the letter A. He laughed and then said that over and over. Then he said, "Gluing marshmallows on the letter B. Gluing marshmallows on the letter C . . . . I think you get the picture. I am going to miss the kids, but it will be nice to give Preston attention this next year. He kind of got pushed to the side a lot, so I'm looking forward to focusing on him.

First Swim/Dive Meet

Stockton and Jorja had their first diving/swimming competition for our neighborhood pool. The wind was blowing so hard! Maysen wanted to come and watch Stockton, but I talked her out of it. I wanted her to stay home with Preston. Stockton did really well. I don't know what his final score was, or who won the meet. The meet started late, so they just said they would e-mail the results. None of the divers complained . . . did I mention it was cold?

Stockton

Stockton: Reverse Dive

Backward Dive

One and a half

Jorja swam the freestyle, back stroke and freestyle relay. She was a few seconds slower than Saturday. I wonder if the cold had anything to do with it. She swam her freestyle in 37.7 and her back stroke in 38.84. On her relay, Jorja dove in the water a few seconds before the girl hit the wall. When I mentioned this to Jorja she said, "I know I dove in early, but I was just so cold." Hopefully the weather will cooperate the next time!

Cold Porja

Jorja: freestyle

Jorja's cheering section

Preston, Ella, Ange & Abbs, Lincoln

Quick note: I know above I wrote about Maysen watching Preston. She did. Mike brought Preston & Ange's family to watch Jorja's back stroke. In and out . . . like it should be.

Messy Face

This morning Stockton and I made brownies. When I explained to him I needed someone to lick the bowl, he was all for it. Preston discovered and joined in the action as well. Great job Stockton, your brownies were delicious!

Preston & Stockton

My dad, Bubs & his kids, and Matt came over for dinner. Dinner was delicious and the company was great. Matt, Mike and I played a game of Dominion (which I won), then a game of Pirates. I was doing awesome. I had a ton of money, but I could not get a pistol or a Schooner! Drove me crazy! Mike and Matt were doing terrible. They each had larger ships, but had no crew! Well, after they attacked a merchant they had no crew. The merchant sailed to me. I was going to let it pass, but at the last second decided to attack. I had a doctor, so I could call it off. Too bad it hit me all four times in the cannon round and I was out of the game! I forgot about that little tidbit. It worked out well though because the second I was out of the game I heard little feet running. Preston was up. (This was close to midnight) I got him water and put him back to bed. When I went in the boys room, Stockton was really struggling. He was having a hard time breathing, it reminded me of so many nights/days with him when he was little. Unlike when he was little I could now not pick him up and carry him to the bathroom. I begged him to come with me and let the steam help him, but he wouldn't budge. He wouldn't let me get him any medicine at all. I laid with him while he struggled until he fell back asleep. I was worried, but also not worried. While he sounded terrible, it was not near as bad as it had been years ago. I could tell he was getting more air down him . . . thank goodness for growing! After about a half an hour he fell back asleep, I left him in his bed and hoped for the best.

Matt ended up defeating Mike in a pathetic Pirate game. While I was running about dealing with the boys I overheard Mike say, "We could just both work for twenty turns in a row." Haha!

Diving Board

Jorja had her time trials for swimming this morning. I was one of the timers. I was surprised that I liked it. It was nice to be busy while we were at the pool. Jorja was so cute. I told her that the cool thing about swimming is how individual it is . . . it doesn't matter where you are at at the start of the season, you just try to improve your own individual scores. Jorja's times were: freestyle: 34.40, back stroke: 36.21, breast stroke (or as Jorja likes to call it, froggy stroke): 46.08. All of these times were for 25 meters . . . I think . . . one length of the pool. I haven't learned all the swimming lingo yet. Anyway, I thought Jorja did really well for just starting a few weeks ago. I am excited to see how she will improve this summer!

Mike and I have spent the last several weeks measuring and measuring some more. We wanted the perfect diving board for our pool. Our diving board was delivered while we were at Lagoon yesterday. The kids didn't know about it. Mike spent most of the day in a small hole while installing the board. We wanted to keep it a surprise, so Mike opened the base and installed it before opening the box with the board. When he opened the box with the board there were different instructions in there with different measurements. Mike had already installed the base using the measurements that came with the base . . . so after hours of work he had to take it out and try again. The kids discovered him before he was finished. He wasn't able to get it exactly to his liking, but was able to declare it good enough so we could try it before bed.

Preston

Stockton

Jorja

Mike

The Bravest of Them All

Today was a fantastic day! First of all, the weather was perfect. Second of all, we spent the entire day at Lagoon (minus Preston). Third of all, overstock.com rented out the entire park so there were no lines. I must admit, third of all was pretty awesome. What could be better than walking up to every ride the entire day. The only "long line" we waited in was for free lunch. Stockton enjoyed the unlimited soda refills.

Maysen, Stockton & Jorja all rode The Spider a few times. Of course they loved Scrambler & Tilt-a-Whirl. I think their favorite was Wild Mouse. They rode that several times. Stockton was the bravest of them all. He went on Wicked with me then Mike. He also went on The Rocket....both Blast Off & Re-Entry. So fun!

Once we were riding Dinosaur Drop in kiddie land. I was with Stockton, Jorja & Maysen were together and Mike was by himself. Mike saw someone he knew and called out to her. He said, "Mindles! I'm riding the dinosaur ride . . . by myself . . . " It looked so funny, I was laughing pretty hard. It was fun to see Mike being social. Hadn't seen that side of him in quite awhile. I mentioned this to Mike on the way home. He said the other day at work someone said, "Did you see the game last night?" Mike said, "What game?" Someone else said, "What sport?" Only one poor sap likes sports on the entire floor. Mike's in heaven.

I did get to meet some of the people that hired Mike. Nate asked how we were liking Utah. I told them we loved it and thanks for bringing us out here! He said it was an easy decision to hire Mike and they couldn't be happier with him. Maysen told Nate, "Thanks! We owe you everything." I'm not sure he heard, but I thought that was really nice. I'm glad my children are so happy here. There were several people that laughed when their husbands introduced them to Mike. They had heard stories about him. Others asked about his robot. Carter said, "That's why we hired him."

While we were out having a blast at Lagoon, Preston stayed with my dad. I asked him if he had a little fun or super fun. He said, "Super fun. Only because we played on the swing set." When we were leaving we could only find one shoe. Preston started sobbing, "We got those shoes in Georgia! We will never find shoes like that again and I love those shoes!" Luckily Cathy found the other shoe and the crisis was adverted.

In conclusion, today was fun. I hope the weather next Friday is as wonderful as it was today.

If I Were . . . .

If I were a frog I would sit on a lilly pad and hop around all day long.

If I were a doller I would be bought with, and people will coulet me.

If I were a book kids will read me at school, and love me or hate me so much.

If I were a cow Farmer will take care of me, then kill me and eat me for dinner.

If I were a tree I would blossom and loose my leafs and birds will make nests on my branches.

If I were the world people and animals (like frogs) will walk on me and be glad they have a world.

--Jorja

You Have to Know

Preston fell asleep this afternoon. Boy do I hate it when that happens. As a result, he is still awake . . . it is almost ten. We brought him up to the guest bedroom so he wouldn't bother Stockton. I let him read in bed. I was trying to do laundry. After being interrupted for the thousandth time (okay, probably the eighth time) I was getting frustrated. Preston called out again, "Mom! Do you know where my water bottle is?" I groaned, "No!" He came into my room and said so sweetly, "You have to know, you're mommy." Man, how sweet is that? One water bottle, two stories, three hugs and a billion kisses later . . . he is still awake. Oh, I just heard a yawn! Hopefully he is down for the night because I am tired . . . and I love it.