16 Awesome Years

Today is our anniversary! Sixteen years. I don't know how I was able to con Mike into wanting to marry me, but best con ever! We had such a fun day today. Mike was able to work from home today, so that was great. Mike, Preston and I went to lunch at Kneaders. Preston loves Kneaders. Or as Preston calls it, Meaters. Preston LOVES pumpkin bread. We brought a loaf home as well as a loaf of caramel apple bread. The children's verdict? Everyone loves pumpkin bread, no one loves the apple bread. As a matter of fact the apple bread causes plugging of noses and gagging noises. Accompanied along with tears.

We decided to celebrate our anniversary by going to Airborne Trampoline Arena. Basically it has zillions of trampolines, even on the walls. We went for an hour and the kids were exhausted by the end. There is also a dodge ball area. They had signs saying to ask about the dodgeball league at the front desk. Stockton wanted to know about that. When I asked they said they were planning on a dodgeball league, but didn't have a good response....but we were welcome to come and play dodgeball at any time. I'm thinking - how are we going to find enough people to do that? Stockton's thinking - why don't you take down the sign then? Too bad. Dodge ball would be super fun with trampolines to bounce off of.

Maysen & Stockton

Stockton

Maysen

Jorja

Preston

Maysen & Stockton

Maysen

Maysen & Preston ~ they played together for a long time....so sweet.

Maysen attacking me with a dodgeball

Jorja ~ some random kid kept following her around and hitting her in the face with dodgeballs....I had her come sit with me for awhile.....

Jorja

I thought it was cool how you could see outside through the tramp.

We now enter our rulebreaker series.....

Maysen ~ the sign on the wall says No Diving

In Maysen's defense, she didn't dive once she noticed the sign

Stockton ~ The sign says No Tricks off the Platforms

In Stockton's defense, he views rules more as suggestions

Jorja ~ the sign says Do Not Climb the Walls of the Tramp

In Jorja's defense, she is a very cute Porge

Jorja ~ this is how the kids looked at the end of the hour

I'm guessing they had a great time. Preston said next time we should buy a different color wrist band. He didn't realize that the color was determined when you entered the building..... everyone jumped for an hour......

After I dominated at Dominion and put the exhausted children to bed, Mike and I went out for frozen yogurt. I love my life, I love my family and I love my husband. I don't know what in the world I did to deserve to be so blessed, but I'll take it! Today was a wonderful, wonderful day.

On a side note, thanks Cassie for the anniversary card. It even came today....nice planning. I am not even good at sending thank you notes and birthday cards..... maybe one day I'll work on that. Love you and miss you guys!

The Definition of Cool

Lots of firsts happened today. I volunteered in Jorja's 3rd grade class for the first time. Maysen, Stockton and Jorja had their first piano lesson today. I have always wanted to have them take piano lessons, in Georgia there were really no good options. Utah is a different story. Their teacher is named Ann Marie and she comes to our house. That is awesome.

Mike took Maysen shopping today. They went to a fabric store and DI. I think Maysen is working on a Halloween costume. She loves Halloween. She loves planning her costumes. I don't like thinking about costumes at all. Maysen loves DI. She came home with a tree for her room. Now everyone wants a tree. Mike came home with a singing fish. He said, "You can't have too many singing fish. We could have a wall of singing fish. That is the definition of cool." I wonder what dictionary he is using.

Black and White

Preston is funny. He absolutely loves homeschool. I gave him red and yellow finger paints today. He was excited to discover that they turned to orange. He surprises me all the time with words that he can read. I'll ask him who taught him that word? He will say, "I taught myself." I gave Preston black construction paper and chalk. This is how our conversation went.

Me: Do you think white chalk will show up on this black paper?

Preston: It's just like it's inverted. Did you know white inverted is black and black inverted is white?

Me: Who are you? Stockton?

Preston: (confused) No, I'm Preston.

Man that kid is priceless. I am already dreading next year.

Labor Day

In honor of Matt sleeping over last night, we made a bunch of waffles. They were delicious. Except I made too little, so then I doubled the recipe and now have a ton of batter. Oh well, waffles are delicious. We played a lot of Dominion today. All that matters is I now have the trophy. (Okay, Matt, Maysen, Mike . . . pretty much everyone possessed the trophy today, but I have it now!) Steve & Shannon and their family came over today for swimming and games. Weston loved the pool. Stockton was so excited for them to come over, he spent a lot of time in front of the window . . . and on the grass . . . Stockton and Mike also finished their Useless Machine today. I will need to take a video, because truly there is no explanation.

Weston

Weston, Erica, Preston, Jorja

Dinner

First Sunday of the month = family dinner. I love being able to have dinner with my family once a month. My dad made meatloaf and salad. Jennie brought potatoes. I made rolls from scratch (and didn't blow it!), s'more bars and caramel apple cider. Yummy. My kids loved the rolls. Maysen even asked if she could have them for her birthday. Everyone of my children turned the rolls over and made comments about how the bottoms weren't burnt. Yep, my children have such confidence in my cooking abilities.

Jorja & Ella

(Jorja is wearing a nametag that has her name in Chinese)

We had a major Dominion game today. We played with four versions, used fifteen cards and played until five decks were done. The game went pretty long . . . a little too long for Stockton's taste. At the end, Maysen won. After Sam left and all the kids (and Mike) went to bed we played again. We played past midnight . . . it was worth it because I won.

Sam, the edge of Matt's head, Stockton, Mike, Jorja & Maysen

Foam Race

The reason Mike and I made the trip to Idaho Falls this weekend was to run the 5K Foam Race with my cousins. I haven't run at all since college when I needed to run for PE class. I started running a bit everyday a couple of months ago, but I never ran more than two miles without stopping. I am glad I prepared myself that little bit because this race was hard! For me anyway. We were running at the sand dunes . . . that is tons harder than concrete. It was a lot of fun. My grandma and grandpa came to watch. Along with Mark & Jackie, Brooke & Courtney, Jake & Riley, Steve & Sharon, Glade & Diane, Devin, Chad & Eden.... that is who I can think of off the top of my head. Courtney was awesome enough to take pictures of us during the race. We brought our waterproof camera, so the pictures aren't the best quality, but I was excited that I had something to show the kids.

Before: Jana, Paul, Heather, Justin, Lisa,

Jordyn, Jordyn's friend (I think Lindsey), Stephanie, Mike,

Lauren, Lauren's friend

GO!

This race was, of course, nothing to Paul. He was first until he tripped in the swimming pool a few feet in front of the finish line....he then was second.

Paul

Jana

You needed to be fourteen or older to run. Andrew wanted to run, so when the race started he just started running with his mom and dad. No one stopped him. I'm glad about that. I wish I would have tried it with Stockton, except I don't think he would have liked it too well.....until the end when you get to run through all the fun stuff. There was a kids race that was one mile long. I wish I had known about that. I would have had my kids run it for sure!

Justin, Andrew, Lisa

I did pretty well until we reached the climbing walls. There were four walls to go over. Two smaller ones and two really tall ones. I was at the top of the last wall when Heather and Jordyn just ran around it. They shouted, "Good job Steph!" That was when I realized I wasn't very smart. I should have skipped the last two because the tall ones really wore me out!

Stephanie & Mike

The hardest part of the entire race was running through the mud. I could barely move through it. It was much easier when we were able to crawl. My shoes felt like they had concrete on them for the rest of the race, and I had to run the last half holding up my pants.

Mike

Stephanie

Mike

Stephanie, Heather & Jordyn....I'm pretty sure...

Stephanie & Mike

If you notice in the picture below, I am now holding a pocket knife. I found it when I was crawling through the mud. I was so proud. If you also notice, Jordyn is reacting to Mike putting mud in her hair. She tried to push Mike in the mud, but missed him and knocked me over. I lost the pocket knife. Shortest possession ever.

Heather, Lindsey, Jordyn, Stephanie, Mike

Stephanie....looking for the knife.

I did crawl around for awhile, but no luck.

Andrew

Jordyn

Mike and I - I couldn't see for quite awhile!

Mike

Stephanie & Mike

Mike & Stephanie! We made it!

Paul, Jana, Steph, Mike, Lisa, Justin

Heather, Lindsey, Jordyn

Lauren's friend, Lauren, Andrew

Thanks Paul for letting everyone know about this. I had a great time. If I ever run it again, I am going to have Mike bring the portable shower. Washing off in the sprinklers after was the worst part of the race!

Mike and I took a quick shower at grandma's and hit the road. We got home around 4. I'm pretty sure my dad spoiled the kids. They loved it. He made them milkshakes last night and again after lunch. Jorja talked him into it. He said he would if they ate something healthy first. Jorja and Preston each ate a raspberry, Maysen at a piece of bread, and Stockton ate a carrot. That sounds just like my kids. They also played Dominion again and my dad won. Maysen and my dad tied, but Maysen went first so the victory went to my dad. Mike changed the sign to proclaim my dad's victory while we were still at my grandma's house.

I gained possession of the trophy. My dad wasn't here to defend it. So sad. It didn't last long though, the trophy is now shouting the praises of Lord Elsinore (Mike).

I'm about exhausted now. Living in Utah is awesome.

Nerd Supplies

Mike and I drove up to Idaho Falls today. The kids stayed home. My dad came and slept over so they wouldn't be alone. When Mike was bringing in our things, he carried in a big orange tackle box. I asked him what was in it. He answered, "Nerd supplies." Okay. I needed to ask Paul some questions about our race tomorrow, so I told my grandma I was heading to the Fullers. She mentioned that Brooke was there. What! I was so excited! Mike turned around and decided he needed something to keep him busy while I chatted with her.

Brooke's baby is so cute. I mean really, really cute. I held her the entire time we were there. She just looked around and was content. Then she fell asleep. I can't remember Preston ever being content like that when he was a baby. He was always bunching up his legs like he had a stomach ache. Holding Timberlyn was peaceful.

Stockton called Mike while we were at Brooke's house. He was excited because they played Dominion and he won. Mike changed the sign in the playroom to say he was the Dominion champion. Stockton thought it was cool that he could do that all the way from Idaho Falls. I will have to agree with him.

Failing School

Stockton came home from school today and said he was going to be on the news. He said they were out at recess playing dodgeball and were asked to go back to their classroom and look like they were doing work. I was relieved that Stockton didn't end the day on 'triple red' like he did when Sonny Perdue (Governor of Georgia) visited his classroom in Kindergarten.

We were downstairs playing Dominion while we were waiting for the news story. (We got Seafarers for our anniversary . . . yes, it is still a week away . . . ) When the headline came up it was titled Failing Schools. What? We all busted up laughing. Here Stockton was excited about the possibility of being on TV and then it is about how his school is failing! Pretty funny. Turns out they picked his school because it was not failing, but we got a laugh out of it anyway.

Stockton was shown about three times. I took pictures of a couple. They showed Stockton talking to his teacher as she says, "Good job" and then it cuts away really fast. We were wondering if she said his name and they are not allowed to say students names . . . don't know.

Mrs. Ramey & Stockton

Stockton

Stockton between the water bottles

Other events that happened today include: Preston and I went to Kneaders. They had free samples of their pumpkin bread. While I was paying for our food, Preston ate all the samples. I did buy a loaf to take home and that was gobbled up quickly.

Stockton decided he didn't want to do the dive show. He has been having a hard time at diving because the practices are now after school when it is open dive time. It is longer lines and quite more chaotic. He wasn't sure about diving to music either. Stockton seems to have a hard time with crowds and music. We are planning on watching the dive show, then we can decide next year if he would like to do it. It sounds pretty cool. They have BYU divers, U of U divers, Mayan divers, and littler kids like Stockton diving off all the different size boards. I can't wait to see it.

Jorja won Dominion tonight. Now the trophy proclaims the praises of Princess Qhing wa. (Princess Frog). But only when Jorja's wand points at it. For all other wands it says things like, "You don't command me." Mike has a lot of fun. Speaking of fun, it was one year ago today that Mike quit his job in Georgia. I can't believe we have been here for almost a year. Time flies when you are having fun!