Stockton! I apologize! We have been 'all hands on deck' the last few weeks getting ready for the Amazing Race. Mike has taken four full days off of work to work on this. On sad consequence is I am super behind on the blog. So.... I'm skipping some days. Hopefully I'll be able to go back, but until then.... we finished! Last year the teams in the Amazing Race finished one hour faster than we thought. So, this year we added more challenges and made it harder. It took FOUR hours to finish! Ahhhh! I think the kids loved it. One team didn't seem to enjoy it, but the rest seemed very happy. We had several people tell us it was their favorite day activity they have been on. Marshall told me that he would never forget this. One big thing I didn't anticipate was a giant line for the Ferris wheel at Scheels! They had to wait in that line for twenty plus minutes. Whoops. I have some random pictures of the race. Mike is working on a video now. He hoped to have it done to show at the after activity, but that didn't happen. He worked on it nonstop, but just couldn't pull it off. With the longer activity and more challenges, he had a lot more footage to go through. Also, he is a perfectionist. He would rather have a video that he was proud of done in a few days than rush through one that wasn't as great. Anyway......
The kids met at our house. Chloe brought her cousin Mia because her date had a soccer scrimmage he couldn't miss. Parker's date got sick and wasn't able to come. The girls were able to convince Parker to come anyway. She brought her little sister Reese. Mike had each of them pick a character. The race started with them being given ten minutes to build a vegetable car to race down a track Mike made. Kind of pinewood derby style, but with vegetables. Mike had a timer programed in the track. The kids were sent to their next locations based on the order they finished that race. Jorja and Bode got ninth place. There are eleven teams.
Jorja & Bode's team picture
They ran to the Okerlund's house where they had a fashion show. Megan had gathered sooo many different clothes. The kids had a set amount of time to put together an ensemble, then walk the catwalk. They had to do a hair flip, turn, blow a kiss, wink and a few more things before they were given their next clue. That sent them to the church. It was a detour. We had sticker by number books set up and Just Dance. We estimated the stickers would take about eight minutes and Just Dance about four. But most people chose the stickers. I think because they came to it first.
Reece & Parker, Bode & Jorja, Kate & Race
We had a quadruple U-Turn station. Autumn, Chloe, Aysha and Jorja were all U-turned. I'm glad I did four though so there were more people in the same boat.
They then ran back to our house where they had a bomb challenge. Mike and Preston designed a digital bomb. There were about six colored wires and codes to know which wires to cut. They wrote the bomb defusing manual in very bad English. (Green wires do not cut) Also, there were corrections made after the printing. (Green should say white) If the serial number on the bomb was even you had to cut the wires when the light was off, odd and cut when the light was on. There was a button that had to be pushed down when you cut the white wire. It was super confusing, but also really cool. And I don't have any pictures..... Mike has them all on his phone. Mike and Preston made four different bombs. (When it 'exploded' it just made a sound and the bomb would need to be rewired.)
This is a picture from a few weeks ago before Mike got the wires in.
The teams next went to Ellie's mom's house for a Tetris puzzle. Ellie's mom was so nice. She was throwing a baby shower a few hours after the kids came. Nice that she was willing to host the kids. The answer to the Tetris puzzle was a combination for a lock that they were going to use later in the game.
Mia & Chloe, Helam & Autumn, Bode & Jorja
The next place was Gavin's house to do a silks challenge. They did a 'candy cane roll' on the silks. Some teams hated it. Most teams LOVED it. Bode said it was his favorite challenge. Gage said that too. I know others did as well, just can't remember. Shannon had Nate taking pictures to send to us. Zoe was helping her mom as well. They were soooo great. Shannon was throwing a birthday party for Sammy, her little girl, after we left. So nice of her to do this for us!
Shannon helping Jorja, Zoe helping Bode, Nate getting ready for the pictures
The teams then went to a park where the combination locks were. Mike had 3D printed some cases that had tokens for them to ride the Ferris wheel at Scheels. Megan Okerlund was there to give them their next clue.
Bode & Jorja, Kate & Race, Guy in black that got super mad at Bode & Jorja
Which was to take a selfie with Abraham Lincoln and text it to a number. That number happened to be Maggie's number. She won the Amazing Race last year and is now at Utah State. Once she got a picture from them, she texted back a picture of herself that gave them the next clue.
Bode, Abraham, Jorja
I was waiting at Chick-Fil-A to give them their next puzzle (and $5 so they could buy something and we didn't feel bad by using their tables) This puzzle was a LINE puzzle that was super hard to make and quite confusing; but once you understood it, it was pretty cool. Ella & Devin didn't like the puzzle at all! Ellie & Jorja both said that was their favorite challenge. Anyways, once you put the papers in order, they spelled out ALTAFH. They had to figure out to go to the Alta Field House. We had a sign on a gate telling them to look for an old man wearing Alta swag. Teach him how to video on their cell phone and have him video them singing the school song. Here is Jorja & Bode's version. They kind of speed through it - haha
The next challenge sent them to Chloe's house where they learned to make sushi! Chloe's mom was so amazing! They finished the tile to the entry way to their house the night before. She was super nice and just perfect for this challenge.
Jorja & Bode
The next stop was the Okerlund's to play Operation. Mike had made a giant size operation board and 3D printed the pieces. He put metallic tape around the edges and wired a salad prong to it. He had a sensor that would beep like a heart rate monitor. If the edges were touched it would go faster. If they were touched too many times it would say DEAD. (When they were touched it would say OUCH) Megan got lab coats, face masks and gloves for the kids to wear. If they messed up they went to the back of the line. I think Jorja & Bode and Aysha and Abram were the only ones to get it on their first try, but I'm not sure about that.
Bode & Jorja
Jorja and Bode ended the race in 4th place. That was pretty great considering they started in 9th, got U-turned, and there were 11 teams.
Jorja & Bode
4th place
Once the race was over, Mike worked non stop on the video. I ran down to the flower store to pick up Jorja's boutonnière. I had given them a piece of ribbon and told them a white flower with some sparkles. It turned out soooo pretty! I hurried home and started sewing Jorja's dress. I had already sewn the ribbon down the middle of her dress vertically, but Jorja decided she wanted it around her waist too. It did look much better that way. I took the dress with me when we went to Camee's to get her hair done, and I finished the dress about five minutes before she needed to leave. Cutting it close, but she looked great.
Jorja at Camee's
I wanted a picture of Jorja before she left, but was only able to stop her in the hall. Haha. It's hard to tell how beautiful she looked in these pictures, but the ones later will make up for it.
Jorja
Bode & Jorja at Bode's house
Jorja & Bode
Mia took the pictures of the kids. She takes amazing pictures and is also Chloe's cousin. They took pictures at the same place they had dinner. I think it was above some store Parker used to work at. The lady made the food for them and had it all decorated.
Bode & Jorja
Bode & Jorja doing the robot ~ I bet it was Jorja's idea Haha
Autumn, Parker, Chloe, Aysha, Seurette, Annie, Kate, Ellie, Jessie, Ella, Jorja
Autumn & Helam, Parker & Gabe, Kate & Race, Aysha & Abram, Ella & Devin
Ellie & Carson, Annie & Marshall, Chloe & Joe, Jorja & Bode, Seurette & Gage, Jessie & Jack
Next stop....dance. It was in the gym and then there was clean up after it. Then they went to a gym that Aysha's parents own and played around there for a few hours. Jessie drove Jorja and Seurette and their dates. They stopped at In and Out on the way home. Jorja was tired when she got home, but she had a lot of fun. I couldn't stay awake. I started to feel sick after she left. My throat hurt very bad. Glad I made it through the race before I got knocked down! Glad the race is over. It was so much fun to work on and put together though. I'm happy the kids loved it and appreciated it. I'm thankful for all the help of the other mom's. And Gavin's mom who just did it to be nice! People are awesome.
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