Niagara Falls

I woke up early this morning and finished packing.  We made it to my dad's house a little before 6:30.  I sure hope I didn't forget anything.  I know I forgot my luggage tags they gave me, but I'm didn't plan on checking my luggage anyway so hopefully that won't be a problem.  I have such a tiny bag and my dad has such a giant bag that I'm wondering what it is I forgot.  Most likely it is the fact that my dad is the tour guide.  He packed lots of books because he was looking for different random quotes.  Anyway, we had no problems with our plane flights.  That's always good.

Stephanie and Ron

Once we arrived we went straight to dinner, then headed over the boarder into Canada.  We had to go in the bus line, obviously.  We were stopped at the boarder for probably an hour.  The line for buses was so long!  When it was our turn, the entire bus has to get off and show the passports and answer a few questions.  The bus line is also the RV line. Yikes!  We went over Rainbow Bridge.  The bus driver said the other bridge is faster.  (He would have taken that one, but on his agenda it said he was suppose to drop off a couple at a hotel on the New York side.  Turns out that was left over from another trip.  I think that couple probably didn't have a passport.)  Anyways, I want to remember that for when we go to Niagara Falls in the summer.  Once we were over the boarder, we were able to get out of the bus for a few minutes and look at the falls.  It is hard to get a good picture to show how pretty it actually is.

Horseshoe Falls @ Niagara Falls

 Ron (Dad) and Stephanie

Our next stop was our hotel.  We knew Brett's family was already there. Our bus driver told us we might want to turn off the roaming on our cell phones so we won't have huge charges.  That made it a bit more tricky to find Brett.  First we found our room and unloaded our stuff. The front desk had given us Brett's room number, so we walked down and knocked on their door.  No one was there.  We decided to try the pool, they weren't there either.  We were walking to the lobby when I saw Brett down the hall.  Yay!  Brett and I were wearing matching shirts that our dad had given us.  How awesome is that?

Brett & Stephanie

Brett's girls were as adorable as ever.  They were so happy.  We talked in the lobby for awhile.  Grace loved giving me pamphlets.  What toddler doesn't love the giant pamphlet shelf?

Grace, Marie, Mina

Mina really wanted to see our room.  While we were there Marie drew us pictures.  Mine said, "Stephanie is the best" then Marie drew a picture of the two of us on the back.  She also made my dad a sign that said, "You Rock Ron!!"  Haha!  My dad had name tags for Marie and Mina.  They loved that!

Marie & Stephanie

The girls wanted to show us their room.  When Brett arrived yesterday they asked him if he wanted a free upgrade.  Their room was bigger.  It had a bathtub in the middle of the room.  There was a giant mirror over the bed.  Here we are making faces in the mirror.

Stephanie, Gracie, Marie, Mina

I guess at 10:00 every night there are fireworks over the falls.  Well, I don't know about every night, but there were fireworks the last two days.  Brett and Rachel said they walked a long way to see the fireworks last night.  When they went off today we saw them from their window. They had a perfect view.  It was great!  We can't see the falls from the window, but the fireworks went up high enough for us to enjoy them. My dad told the girls the Mugawugi story before bed.

Marie, Mina, Grace, Ron (Grandpa)

The pullout bed was quite small.  I asked Rachel if one of her girls would want to come and share my bed.  Marie came with me!  I got to have a sleepover with her!  She fell asleep pretty fast once we were here.  I took a picture because she looked adorable.  I'll have to post that tomorrow.  I uploaded my pictures and then had to wait until morning before they were finished.  Just a little bit slow.

Preston's Talk

Preston gave a talk in primary today.  He was so cute.  I'm not sure where it is right now, if I find it I will come back and add it.  He sounded so grown up and articulate.

I spent most of the day doing laundry and packing.  We did watch the Amazing Race and were pleased with the result.  I stayed up pretty late and hope to be ready to leave at 6 am tomorrow!  I still have a few more things I would like to do.

Crazy Aunt Mona's High Tea

I begged and pleaded and was finally able to convince my kids to walk a mile and a half with me to go to breakfast.  Mike and I went to the Bear Paw years ago with the Kaylors.  I still remember it.  The walk wasn't bad.  Preston and I ran most of the way.  Breakfast was delicious.  Mike was teasing me for ordering oatmeal when there was a ton of delicious things to try.  I couldn't make up my mind, and I wanted to try the oatmeal.  The granola on top was my favorite.

On the way back we stopped at the St. George Tabernacle.  Preston liked the star chairs.  He wanted to play musical chairs and you were out if you weren't sitting on a star chair.  There were tours going, so I wouldn't let him play that!

Preston

 Jorja & Stockton on some steep, historic stairs

 Jorja's new friend

 Jorja by a lock gate.  Not quite Paris . . . 

I loved watching my family walk home.  I am so lucky!  It would be perfect if Maysen was here with us!

Jorja, Stockton, Mike, Preston

 Jorja & Stockton

We packed up and headed to Mona's house planning to get there at 1:00.  As we drove out of the RV park I noticed that the invitation said 3:00.  Whoops.  We stopped at a store and bought a few things then parked in a church parking lot.  Mike slept while the kids played catch outside.  Jorja loved that! We made it to Mona's at exactly 3:00. Mona's kids were all there.  Mona had all these fancy little sandwiches. Tons of different kinds.  She was pretty excited about it.  Steve and Shannon got there before we had to leave.  Here is a picture of the blood relations.

Mike, Holly, Mona, Alan, Cynthia, Steve

The kids were troopers because they didn't know anyone.  They didn't complain, but were ready to leave after we were there for a couple of hours.  Jorja checked my email on my phone and noticed that there was no email saying softball practice was cancelled.  She wasn't too happy with me.  I did get her all cozy on the bottom bunk with headphones and she watched Sandlot for the first time.  She liked that. Mike and I split the driving today.  I did a lot better on the way home.  I was much more confident.  We got home just after 10:00.  Maysen did perfectly fine without us.  She had to drive herself to her group meeting.  She hates driving, so this forced her to drive.  It is nice to be home in our cozy bed with my entire family near me!  What a great life!

Preston's lizard friend

AP Season is Finally OVER!

Stockton took his AP Geography test today.  He said he thinks he did okay on the multiple choice, and at least he knew what the essay questions were asking.  When Mike came home and asked how he did Stockton told him he didn't want to even think about it anymore.  I understand that!

Mike came home around 4:00 today.  We finished packing and headed to St. George around 5:00.  Maysen stayed home.  She is all by herself and thrilled about that.  She has a group project tomorrow.  She tried to change the date, but was unsuccessful.  Mike thought it would be good for her to stay home by herself.  He said, "I don't want the first time her being alone to be when she is in college."  True.  Jorja was not happy about the fact that Maysen got to stay and she did not.  She is upset about missing her softball practice.  It is supposed to rain anyway, so hopefully she'll get over it.

We made it to St. George around 10:30 tonight.  I drove for about an hour and a half and Mike drove the rest of the way.  It was a little scary during the construction zones for me, but I managed.

Jorja the Catcher

One of my Beehives from a few years back is the starting catcher for her high school softball team.  She is a freshman.  She is fun to watch! Erica has been so excited that Jorja is interested in softball, especially catching.  Today she brought over her old catcher equipment and GAVE it to Jorja!  Holy cow!  It was a ton of stuff!  She wrote Jorja this super nice note too.  Erica spent a ton of time explaining everything to me.  Jorja was in the door for practically two seconds when I found her like this.  I snapped a picture and sent it to Erica.  She texted back, "This makes me SO happy!"  Adorable.

Jorja

I made sloppy joes tonight.  Matt, Sam and Anne came over.  Matt helped Mike unload the batting cage poles from the motorhome.  It was a ton easier getting them out than getting them in!

Mike's Birthday

Mike is 41 years old today.  He had the day off and made a list of things he wanted to do.  We didn't get to all of them, but we tried our best. Mike wanted to open presents in the morning before the kids went to school.  He was surprised to find out that I actually bought him some presents!

Preston, Mike, Stockton, Jorja

 Jorja with an ice cube tray and water bottle labels.

She was the last one home, so had last pick of the presents.

 Stockton with a shelf to put on top of the stove in the motorhome.

 Horrible selfie of me with a paper towel holder.
Mike looks cute though.

 Mike's main present was a gps for the motorhome

 Mike surprised me with a present he bought himself!

Some weird sandwich maker thing that he thinks is the greatest.

 Preston is so excited about his peep molds he found.

 Maysen gave Mike marshmallow sticks

Mike had projects he wanted to work on and he wanted me to make a cake while he took a nap.  This is the cake I made for him.  Jorja did not realize it was a sunflower.  Come on!  Totally looks like a sunflower!  It was delicious.  We ate the cake after the kids got home from school, before Stockton left for diving and Jorja for softball.  The problem was the cake was very filling.  Mike wanted to go to Sizzler after Jorja's game, but no one was in the mood for that at all.  Sizzler would have totally won.

 Mike

Mike and I drove the motorhome over to Steve's house.  He is letting us borrow his poles for his batting cage.  They are huge!  It was kind of tricky getting them in.  Steve rigged the back window of the motorhome open.  They fed the poles in to me, then ran along and picked up the other side.  We had to wedge them in pretty good so they wouldn't ruin the motorhome while we were driving.  We made it home, but are quite exhausted.

I'm pretty sure Mike had a good birthday.  He seemed to be happy all day long.  Although who wouldn't be happy on their birthday?  It is fun to spend it with him.  Nice to have him home.

Captain Phillips

I hung out at Camping World looking for birthday presents for Mike.  I picked out four different things and let the kids pick out what they wanted to give him.  Preston already had a present that he is super excited to give.  I even wrapped the presents and hid them before Mike came home.  I HATE wrapping presents!  I can write about all this because I am once again behind on my blog.  I couldn't get pictures to transfer from my phone, so that tripped me up for awhile.  It is finally working again!  Woohoo!

Maysen and I watched Captain Phillips.  She is going to miss the beginning in film class because she will be taking the AP English test. We stayed up a little late to finish the movie.  Her test is tomorrow. Whoops.  We weren't up too late, so she should be fine.  This will be her last AP test this year.  Hooray!

Six Wolves

We did it!  My six wolves all earned their wolves tonight.  Two of them passed off everything last week.  The other four finished tonight.  The last thing to pass off was outdoor cooking.  Mike came and helped them grill hotdogs and we had a swim party.  So much fun!  I am so proud of them.  They worked very hard to get this passed off so fast.  We beat the June 1st deadline!  Woohoo!

My dad came and took Jorja to her softball game.  He wasn't able to stay and watch her because he had to take Max to soccer.  That was okay because Mike and I were able to get to the game before it was over.  On the way to the game we grabbed the mail.  I got this adorable letter from Marie.  I loved it!  It made me so happy!

Here is the translation in case it is hard to see with the flash.....

Dear Aunt Stephanie,

I had so much fun playing Daminion.  I wish we could play together.  I want to visit you.  Maybe you are going to visit me?  It was fun calling you on the phone.  You should call me some time.

Love,

Marie

Mothers' Day

I had a great Mothers' Day!  Mike and the kids got me a new blender. Our other one has been running on fumes.  We got it when we were married 19 years ago.  Mike got me a Blendtec.  Then we spent the next bit watching "Will It Blend?"  Preston was laughing hysterically. Preston gave me a cute necklace with a moon on it that says, "I love you to the moon".  He also gave me a box.  When I opened it there was a card that said, "I love this person the most in the whole world."  Or something like that.  I can't find the card now.  I must have thrown it away when I threw away the wrapping paper.  Anyway, when I opened the box there was a mirror.  He also gave me a card he made for me at school.  It says, "I love you because you do so much for me.  You make me happy.  You always hug me.  You are the best!"  When I open each level of the card it says just a bit more.  "Mom, I love you because. . . You do everything for me.  You always cheer me up when I'm sad. Even when you're upset you still hug me.  I love you to the moon and back!"

The primary kids sang "I Often Go Walking" today.  One little boy meowed the entire song.  Jorja and Stockton were cracking up.  Mike and I sat down in Gospel Doctrine when I looked at my phone.  I had received a text a few minutes before asking if I would teach Jorja's Sunday School class?  So, Mike and I walked out of Gospel Doctrine and headed down to her class.  I'm glad they texted me.  The last two weeks no one has shown up.  I should just prepare a lesson and teach anyway.  The lesson was on reverence and revelation.  I decided to teach my Gospel Doctrine lesson from a few weeks ago.  So we talked about The Unmerciful Servant and the Good Samaritan.

Maysen gave me a card she made in church.  I meant to take a picture of it, but I didn't.  The words are what was great anyway.  She said, "Dear Mom, You are a mom.  You are my mom.  You are beautiful and clever and sweet and all things that I want to be.  Thank you for being my favorite teacher and my best friend.  Love, Maysen"  I better not lose that!  It made me so happy.  I love her.  I'm glad she likes me!

I got to do lost of fun things today.  I played catch with Jorja, wiffle ball with everyone, watched Dr. Who with everyone, Mike made homemade bread, Mike and Maysen played Settlers of Catan with me.  I'm sure I did more, but that is what I can remember off of the top of my head. What a great day!

Maysen, Stephanie, Stockton, Preston, Jorja

Stephanie

Maysen

I just remembered one more thing.  Jorja has been loving softball and is so sad to see the season come to an end.  She wanted to know the next time she could play.  I talked to Erica at church and she told gave me some different ideas.  Plus, they said they would give Jorja Erica's old catchers equipment!  Wow!  I hope they do.  They might forget, but if they do that is so nice!  Mike and I looked at a couple of different things.  We talked to Jorja about them.  We ended up signing her up for a softball camp at BYU.  It will be the same week Stockton is there at dive camp.  Jorja is going there by herself, not knowing anyone, and has barely started this sport.  For my super shy girl, she is mighty brave!

More Rain

It rained all day long again.  Poor Jorja was so disappointed to miss her practice.  This is the last practice she would have been able to go to because we have plans during the one next week.  She is not happy about that.  Mike also took her yesterday and bought her a new bat, helmet, and baseball pants.  She has loved softball.  Hopefully it won't rain on her games next week!

Mike was planning on working in the yard all day.  That had to change. He did work in the motorhome a bit.  He bought some speakers so the kids can hear movies when we are driving.  Over spring break we tried to listen to the session of conference we missed, but it was so hard to hear.  All of the kids had to bend over the lap top and it was still tough. Hopefully this will help.  I can't remember if he got them installed or not.  He was debating putting them under the cabinet or in the cabinet doors.  Under the cabinet you wouldn't see them as much, but he was worried the bottom wouldn't be as sturdy.  I think he is going to put them in the cabinet doors.  We would see them, but when we needed to use them the people at the table wouldn't get their ears blasted off and the people on the couch could hopefully hear.

The kids helped me put liner in our kitchen cabinets.  We got several shelves done.  I had wanted to do that for awhile.  I still have more to go, but it requires scissors, which makes it feel like a craft . . . and I hate crafts!

We ended the day watching Soul Surfer.  We had been meaning to see it for awhile.  It was really good.  It was so scary waiting for the shark to attack.  We didn't know when it would happen, so every time she was in the water we were thinking it was about to happen.  That was one big shark!

Two Down One to Go

It's over!  Maysen finished her AP US History test.  She doesn't know how she did and didn't really want to talk to me about it, but I'm sure she is thrilled she doesn't have to study anymore!  I went to help at the Blood Drive today.  I can't give blood (I don't weigh enough), so I thought I might as well sit at the desk.  It was poring rain outside for most of the day.  It has rained a lot this week.  Jorja's softball game was cancelled on Wednesday and she was so disappointed.  I went with my dad to a pre travel meeting for a tour we are going on this month.  My dad was listed as the tour director and I was listed as the assistant tour director.  What?  That made me laugh.  As long as my dad tells me what to do, I'm sure I can do it.  I am going with him on the New York tour. I'm excited because Brett & Rachel and their family are meeting us in Niagara Falls.  I can't wait to see them and their girls!  I can't believe how big Mina is from all of their posts.  It's going to be great!

Only Ones

I spent a lot of time today quizzing Maysen for her AP US History test. She is pretty nervous about this one.  She wishes her AP English and History test dates were switched.  She would love more time studying for this one!  Especially since she was focusing on her AP psychology test on Monday. Anyway, I had fun studying with her.  I love learning about history, and Maysen had all kinds of stories that she had learned to tell me.

While Maysen and I were studying, the other kids were watching Anne. Matt and Sam had gone to a fireside.  Sam said they were sure glad they went because they were the ONLY people who showed up!  Wow. That's crazy!

Sloppy Joes

Josh couldn't come to diving again.  Poor guy.  I can't believe how long it has taken him to recover.  Stockton sure misses diving with him. Lately it has been just him and Gage.  He gets so tired, and doesn't have much fun.  Mostly because he never gets a chance to talk to everyone because one of them is always on the board!  Mike's son, Jordan, dove today.  Stockton liked that.  Jordan dives for BYU, so he is always great fun to watch!

I made sloppy joes for the Waddoups today.  Stephanie Waddoups is my age.  She was diagnosed with breast cancer the day after her husband got put in as our bishop.  Boo.  Brings back some not so fun memories.  I do remember my brothers getting tired of casseroles, which is why I decided to bring sloppy joes today.  Hopefully they like them as much as my brothers did.  I doubled the recipe with plans to save some for my family.  The container I bought was bigger than I thought and I didn't have any left over.  My kids were thrilled.  They don't like sloppy joes like my brothers did.

Beat

I went to my early morning exercise class today.  Bobby does it different every time.  I like that.  This time we had to pair up with a partner.  They would count our reps and we would see who had the most.  Bobby did this once before and I got so sick.  I remember throwing up in the bathroom before I went home.  I told myself I wouldn't do that to myself again.  Too bad I lied.  There is something about someone counting what you are doing, and also wanting to win. I was so sick again, but at least I didn't throw up.  I don't know if it was because I pushed myself so hard or because I ate a ton at the Hodson's right before I went to bed.  Either way, I was beat!  I came home and fell asleep.  Jorja woke me up to take her to school.  Wow!  I had never done that before.

Today was a relatively easy day.  I figured out what each of my scouts needed to get their wolf and contacted their parents.  We are so close to finishing!  I just hope we have good weather for our outdoor cooking on Monday!

Russia Novosibirsk

Wow!  What a fantastic day we had!  It started off with Maysen taking the AP psychology test this afternoon.  She felt really good about it. One down, two do go!  She has worked so hard this year!

Judy and I took the scouts to the fire station today.  When we got there the engineer asked if they had any questions.  Griffin raised his hand.  I asked if it was a real question.  He smiled, shook his head and put down his hand.  Preston raised his hand and said he had a real question.  "What is the average amount of calls you go on in a year." He sounded so grown up.  The engineer's eyes got real big and he said, "I don't know if I've ever been asked that before.  I have no idea."  It is hard to explain the adorableness of the situation, but man do I love that boy!  We got a tour of the fire truck and a tour of the fire station.  No pole here.  Some of the boys were disappointed about that.

I tried so hard to memorize their names, it didn't work.  I wish I had written them down.  I will call them 'engineer' and 'paramedic' because that is what was on their shirts. 

 Mr. Engineer, Griffin, Braxton, Matthew,

Preston, Burke, Luke, Crew, Mr. Paramedic

Mike took Jorja to her softball game today.  He said she was so excited by the time she got to the field she couldn't even sit still.  Her coach said she could play catch.  She got to do it for two innings. She was great!  She loved every second of it too!  I made it in time to watch Jorja catch, thank goodness!

Jorja

My nephew, Michael, received his mission call!  He got it on Saturday, but waited until today to open it.  Now that's patience!  It was also Jessica's birthday today, so that was nice to have something so fun on today.  (Jessica is Michael's sister that died of a blood clot when he was in 6th grade.) There was so much food at their house!  Lisa and Nathan had prepared dishes from all over the country.  There was a big map where we could put our guesses.  One stateside guess and one out of the country guess.  I voted for Ghana and Michigan.  The exact same guesses his mom had!  Maysen voted for Australia.  I was hoping he would get President Back for a mission president.  How cool would that be?  Preston voted for the moon.  He had Mike jump and put his sticky note on the ceiling.  Not sure he had much of a chance to win.

Stockton videoed Michael opening his call.  I can't figure out how to post it.  I might try to do that on another day.  Anyway, Michael was standing on a chair in the middle of the room.  So many people were there!  He read that he got called to the Pocatello Idaho Deseret Industries Service Mission.  He was to serve in the Mandarin Language. Aimee had to stop him as he was reading and whispered, "That might not be your real call."  Aimee had manufactured a completely different call!  Lisa couldn't believe it!  She said she hid the call so Aimee wouldn't do it.  Aimee found it anyway.  Aimee served in Spain and was able to look at her own call and put in her own books that it looked exactly the same.  Michael totally believed it too.  So funny!  Michael is a good sport and he and Aimee had talked often about how funny this would be to do.  He just didn't think she would do it to him!

The second time he read his call he found out he was called to the Russia Novosibirsk Mission.  Speaking Russian, obviously.  He will be leaving the end of September.  Stockton got videos of both calls.

His mission is going to be so cold!  I think it covers Siberia and goes all the way up to the Arctic Ocean.  I'm not positive about that though.  I do know it said to purchase his winter coat and boots over in Russia. Apparently they don't make them warm enough over here.  Yikes!

Dinner and Anne

We had family dinner tonight.  My dad made lasagna.  Well, I think Cathy made the lasagna.  It was yummy.  I neglected to take any pictures, so I thought I would post some pictures I took of Anne last week.  Matt had to meet with a professor, so I got to play with Anne for the morning.  I took these pictures to make Stockton and Jorja jealous. I texted the first one to Stockton while he was at school. He wrote back, "We have Anne today?"  Nope.  I had Anne.  He had school.

Anne

 Stephanie & Anne

Scout-A-Rama

Well, they don't call it the scout-a-rama anymore, but I keep forgetting the new name.  Preston, Luke and I went to see what this was all about. My other scouts were busy.  Mostly with lacrosse.  Luke's birthday is today!  8 years old!  He is my newest scout and he got to start scouting off like this!

Luke & Preston

 Preston

 Preston loved this!

 Luke

 Luke & Preston

 Preston & Luke

 Preston

 Preston

 Luke

Schedules

I can't believe it!  I got Maysen into physics.  With the good teacher! Okay.  I'm going to back up.  Today was such a great day!  First, Brooke called!  She is going to stay with us the day before Lagoon.  I'm so excited!!!!  Next, I went to lunch with Shannon for her birthday.  Her birthday is actually tomorrow.  She is going to be 48.  That is how old my mom was when she died.  Weird.  Maysen had an appointment with her counselor.  This counselor had told us before that if Maysen got in the vet program, she would help us get the other classes she needed. Today she told Maysen that she needed to just check Arena Scheduling every few hours and see if physics opened up.  We weren't too optimistic about that approach.  Our other option was to have Maysen take physics online during the summer.  Anyway, I decided to log on to Arena Scheduling to see if we would have any luck.  The rest of the grades were able to start messing with their schedules today, so there was a slight chance there would be some movement.  Nope.  Class was full.  I then went to look at Stockton's schedule.  I had forgotten to log out of the 3rd period/science filter.  I looked at Stockton's schedule and then hit grade book to check his grades.  Right as I did that I noticed a 1 had popped up next to the physics class!  A seat had just opened!  Too bad my computer was going slow and heading to Stockton's grades.  As fast as I could I got it back to Maysen and I was able to snag the last spot in the physics class!  Yay!  We now have everything pretty much figured out.  This is our current plan, and we think this is how it will stay.

Maysen is going to do an internship with Sam during the summer. This will be great because she can get some experience and she won't have to work through the school.  Erica has had some busy work that she has had to deal with, so it will be nice to bypass that.  Stockton is going to take an online health class.

This will be Maysen's schedule when school starts:

A days:

Early morning seminary

Vet school

Physics

Statistics (Statistics will only be the first semester.  Then she will move seminary here and not have to go early morning anymore.)

B days:

Early morning seminary

Vet school

AP Government

AP English

That looks like quite an intense senior schedule for me.  I'm glad she has no desire to waste her time.

Stockton's schedule is just as tough.  He will have the same schedule the entire year.  I hope he likes his classes!

A days:

Calculus

Robotics

French 2

Honors Chemistry

B days:

Calculus

AP World History

Seminary

Honors English

YIKES!