Padz

We left Wyoming about 6:30 in the morning. The roads were bad, but not the worst we have ever been through. We made it home just after 9. I dropped Maysen and Sam off and went straight to church. Stockton was having his Priesthood Preview. I snuck in the back just as Mike was getting up to give his talk. He did a great job. He talked about Preston's baby rules (which made Stockton smile) and how when you get the priesthood the baby rules don't apply anymore. Baby rules by the way are things like: If I see it it's mine, if I want it it's mine, if you have it it's mine, if it's yours it's mine . . . . Anyway, I was glad I was able to make it, even though I just came in my travelling clothes.

While I was gone, Mike took Jorja to American Fork and got her a red-eyed tree frog. She named him Padz. She has been working really hard to earn enough money for him. I think Mike helped her out A LOT by giving her jobs we would have normally had her do for no money, or paying her more than normal. Anyway, she really wanted this frog because she is the VIP next week and gets to bring a pet in on Friday. Along with Cricket, she wanted to bring this one. Plus, she has her daddy wrapped around her little finger.

Jorja & Padz

Stockton had some reading he needed to do for school. He does not like the book he is reading and wonders how it ever got published. (He is reading The Golden Fleece and the Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles.) Anyway, Jorja and Preston were having a great time playing the piano in the room Stockton was trying to read in. I talked him into reading in our bed with the heated mattress on. He looked so cozy I just had to take a picture.

Stockton

That is about all for today. It was fun to take Maysen on a quick get-away. Maysen really enjoyed it . . . but it is so good to be home!

Little America

So last night we ran out of gas. I had been looking for gas for almost an hour. Garmin even steered me wrong twice! We ended up running out of gas two miles from a gas station. So, we started walking. All three of us. Man those big trucks boom by fast! Sam was able to flag down a random stranger who agreed to drive us to the gas station. I bought a can to put the gas in ($14!) and then the guy took us back to our car. Very thankful he helped us out, and extremely thankful he wasn't crazy! Sam and I were laughing when we were back in our van because the guy says to us, "Don't you know it is dangerous walking out here in the dark?". Of course we knew it was dangerous. Did he think we planned to run out of gas? We were also very blessed. When we drove our car to the gas station to fill up, the same station we had just left . . . it was closed! If we had walked we would have been out of luck. As bad as running out of gas was, it couldn't have worked out better . . .

Anyway we made it to Sam's house about 11:30. Sam came with Maysen & I on our road trip. Her parents live in Cheyenne. We woke up to yummy waffles this morning. Maysen and I then drove around Cheyenne looking at street names and school names and how the buildings are laid out. Next we drove to Laraime. We wanted to go to a museum there. It wasn't exactly what Maysen was looking for. We then went to the geological mesuem. That was perfect. It was exactly what she was hoping for - she loved it.

We met Sam at McDonalds around 2 and were on the road soon after. Things went pretty well but it was very windy! We were making good time. I was wide awake when we got to the Little America hotels. It wasn't windy or snowy. There was one problem....there was a flashing sign that said the road was closed in 35 miles! We are only two hours home, but are stuck here. We ended up getting a room. It is quite nice, but $109 that I didn't want to spend. I think Little America has the road closed on purpose when the weather is questionable.....

Anyway, it doesn't look like Sam will make it to her 7:00 meeting and I might not make it to Stockton's Priesthood Preview tomorrow morning.

How Much Do I Love Maysen?

Enough to drive all the way to Cheyenne Wyoming for her. She wants to research the setting for one of her stories.

My Baby is FIVE!

First of all, we had pet deer this morning. Jorja looked in the backyard and saw deer there! Mike has always wanted pet deer. Too bad we noticed three minutes after he left for work. There were actually four deer in our back yard. Luckily they were able to get out without falling in the swimming pool or freaking out. Too bad I couldn't figure out the settings on the camera fast enough to get good pictures.

Oh Deer

We let Preston open his presents this morning. He was excited! It worked out great, then he was able to play with them all day long. I asked Preston if he wanted to go to lunch. He did not. He just wanted a Slurpee. Perfect. I can do that.

Stockton & Preston

Preston

Stockton & Preston

Stockton, Preston, Maysen

Preston & Jorja

I spent the rest of the day playing with Preston, making his cake and getting ready for his 'party' with Erica. Preston was born the day Erica turned 10. Preston really wanted to go to a place that had a big water slide that he could ride. Most of the water slides have height restrictions. That would be sad if everyone in the group could go down except for Preston . . . on his birthday! Shannon found a rec center out in Herriman that had a big water slide with no height restrictions. Plus they have diving boards - 1 meter and 3 meter. Perfect. There were only a couple flaws in our plan. First, they had a high school swim meet today, so the schedule on their website was no longer accurate. Basically they didn't open the diving boards at all. Too bad.

We got there about 45 minutes before the cousins. Preston had a great time. He loved going down the little slides and after awhile he worked up the courage to go down the giant slide. Mike went down first, then Preston, then Maysen. The guy at the top asked if Preston could swim across the pool. He can, it just takes him awhile. Preston LOVED it! As soon as he came down he wanted to go again. Soon I sat on the steps at the bottom and would be able to meet Preston when he came down. I would have him swim to me, but he wouldn't have to swim the entire way. Stockton and Jorja each were able to go down with him. (Preston went down by himself, they were just either ahead or behind him.) Preston was in heaven! Until they had to close the pool because someone pooped in it. GROSS! At least it wasn't our kid.

The pool was closed for about 45 minutes while they cleaned it. The cousins came in the middle of this. We sat at the edge shivering while we waited. Stockton and Preston were at the top of the slide waiting. Finally we decided to go play on the climbing wall until the pool was opened again. As we were walking out, Preston slipped and hit his head on the concrete. He wouldn't let Mike hold him, but I was able to carry him out. He was so sad. After a few minutes, Mike asked me what was wrong with my lip. I told him nothing. That was when we realized Preston was totally bleeding. Mike looked at the back of his head and said, "Steph, you need to see this." I told him I didn't. He said, "Really, you need to see this." I said, "Really I don't." I couldn't even look. Thank goodness Steve and Shannon were there. They have four boys and deal with stitches a lot. Steve said it looked like his head split a little bit, but then the goose egg pushed it out more. We got ice and it stopped bleeding some, so we didn't take him to the emergency room. Poor boy. We knew we couldn't let him get back in the pool. He was so sad. Happy birthday!

Anyway, Shannon, Preston, Jorja and I went home a little early and got things ready for cake and ice cream. Preston had a good time giving Oscar doggy treats. We sang Happy Birthday, gave presents (Preston got a board game and we gave Erica Out of My Mind), ate cake and ice cream and headed home. That is about it. Preston had a mostly good birthday. I can't believe my baby cakes is five. I don't want him to grow up, and yet I love watching him grow. Funny how that it.

Preston giving treats to Oscar

Puppies make this sad boy happy.

Preston's cake

Yummy

I tried to write on Erica's cake.

Not a great job, but the cake was delicious.

Preston & Erica

Happy birthday Preston and Erica! We love both of you!

Iowa

My dad took Preston to the aquarium for his birthday. He picked out a loud frog toy thing. He loves it. He also got cold stone ice cream and was pretty happy about that.

Jorja came home with school pictures (cute) and her IOWA test. She did very well. Her teacher was quite impressed with her scores. I will just list the national percentage because it would be way too boring to go through everything. Reading: 92 Language:89 Math: 99 Total: 97 Great job Porgie Porge!

Make Something

Preston likes to 'help' me when I clean the bathrooms. He decided to go through some drawers and found my old retainer. I told him what it was and said that because I didn't wear it for a long time my teeth are now crooked. Preston is THE WORST when it comes to throwing away anything. Preston immediately says, "We can make something out of it." No we can not. I told him that would be gross. He says, "We can make something out of it for Halloween." Ewww. Preston, some things are just meant to be thrown away.

There is a new high school being built in our school district. The district is taking suggestions as to the name, mascot and colors. They also wanted to know why the choice was submitted.

Maysen suggested Rocky Mountain High School. Mascot: fox Colors: red and yellow. Her reasoning was foxes are fast and clever. They are intelligent and creative and that is why we go to school. Her choice of colors were red and yellow because they make orange and foxes are orange.

Stockton suggested Stockton High School. Mascot: dragon Colors: red and blue. Stockton's reasoning was Stockton High School just sounds right. Dragons are cool and red and blue just go together.

Jorja wanted Draper High School. Mascot: poison dart frog (surprise) Colors: dark blue and black. Jorja likes the sound of Draper Dart Frogs and she chose the colors dark blue and black because that is one of the colors of the poison frogs.

Back on the Board

Last night before bed I checked the calendar to see what I needed to do. I had written 'Mike off'. That was a nice surprise. We had forgotten about that. Work gets so crazy around this time of year that each person in Mike's group was able to pick a Monday or Friday to take off. They were assigned/picked their days a few weeks ago. Love it.

This morning as I was about to walk out the door to take Maysen and Stockton to school, Jorja was looking for a toothpick. When I came back, this is what she had done. I love it. Both Maysen and Jorja had a snowman by a fire. Mike was teasing them about it. Ange mentioned that it would be funny if the snowman was roasting a marshmallow. It looks adorable. Great job Porge!

Mike and I spent his day off cleaning our bedroom. We still had boxes and boxes stashed in their from our move that we hadn't been able to get to. We went through every box today. It took all day long. I am so glad that is over and I'm glad we were able to have the time to do it. Our bedroom is awesome now! I love not having the boxes everywhere . . . just reminding me that I haven't moved in all the way yet. We are taking back the house!

Stockton went diving up at the U today. It was nice to be back with Monica. I think it is great to work with Monica and Mike as coaches. Their coaching style is completely different. Mike pushes Stockton to try new skills quickly, Monica focuses on technique. It is a really great mixture. Right now Mike is coaching in Bountiful. I have no desire to drive that far. We are only working with Monica one day a week because Stockton has scouts on the other day. It wouldn't be that big of a deal, but Mike is one of the advisers. I don't want Mike to be there without Stockton.

Anyway, Monica asked Stockton if he would like to go to a diving meet in Oregon. It is an AAU meet, so he would need to register as an AAU diver. No idea what that really means. There is no way he would win right now, but it would be a great experience. We are going to pass on this meet, but are quite excited that he is progressing enough to be offered fun and exciting experiences. Monica really wants him to go to regionals in March. I guess we will prepare for that. I don't know where regionals is, but we might as well get ready just in case we decide to go. I loved watching Stockton today. He looked so happy to be back on the board. He was so tired at the end of class. I thought class would be from 5-7. I guess it really was from 6-8. Monica said she would love Stockton to come from 5-8. Stockton was pretty wiped out by 7:15. He said he needed to work up to 3 hours. Especially when he was only expecting two. We did stop by 7-11 on our way home for a Slurpee and a donut. Stockton loves that tradition.

Finally Decorating

We FINALLY were able to decorate the gingerbread houses today. We get out of church at 4:00 and Bubs arrived shortly after. Once we got the frosting ready, we were able to let the kids have at it. They were so excited! Not to mention very patient with us. My dad made delicious french dip sandwiches. My grandma and Sam came over for dinner as well.

Maysen decorated Mike's house for two reasons. 1. We haven't finished putting the roof on hers yet. 2. She was able to practice and decide what she would like for her gigantic house. Mike and I are going to decorate our house together . . . we didn't get around to doing it today. Maysen, Stockton, Jorja, Lincoln and Ella are all donating their houses to the Festival of Trees. I'm pretty excited about that. It's going to be fun to see them there.

And now, pictures of our chaos below. It was organized chaos, and quite fun as well.

Before

Ella

Lincoln

The Porge

Jorja, Sam, Preston

Stockton McSnitcher

Stockton

Bubs & Ella

Ella

Jorja & Preston

Preston, Maysen, Lincoln

Stockton

Jorja

Abbs

Ella & Bubs

Ella

Bubs & Ella

Lincoln

Lincoln making faces because I'm taking his picture. I love it!

Stockton & his house

Ella

Jorja & her house . . . she really wanted a dog house as well.

Her frog pond in front is quite cute.

Ange & Lincoln

Ange's house

Bubs' house - notice the baseball field in front.

Ange & her house

Bubs & his house

Going home! Lincoln, Abbs & Ella