Gingerbread and Christmas Pageants

I brought gingerbread houses for my primary kids to decorate.  I debated about having a gingerbread party at my house, but then decided that too many of them wouldn't be able to make it.  Christmas is such a crazy time of year.  Plus, I thought they would love doing this during church.

The primary sang in sacrament meeting today.  Preston and I went up together.  After we sang, Mike and I snuck out and he helped me set up everything in the kitchen.  I met the kids in our regular room.  We had a prayer and I told them that this lesson was going to be different. They could ask me any church related question they wanted and I would do my best to answer.  This would all be done while they would decorate gingerbread houses.  Needless to say, they thought this was a great idea!  They did ask questions.  For example, Avril wanted to know how the church started.  That led to a discussion about Joseph Smith and the restoration of the priesthood.  She knew all of the pieces, she just hadn't seen how they were put together.  There were also questions I couldn't answer.  Like, how was Heavenly Father created?  How did everything start?  They were really cute discussing this.  One of the kids wanted to know who came first, Adam and Eve or the dinosaurs.  I love what kids think about.

Luke, Crew, Georgia, Addison, Ava, Avril, Eliza

 With filters

My entire class was there except for Burke.  Not a good day to miss class!  I came home and started cooking.  I wanted to make rolls and veggie bars for the pageant tonight.  I almost got the rolls to the rising stage before the home teachers came.  I should have just done it anyways and been five minutes late.... oh well.  We were about ten minutes late to the party, but I needed to cook my rolls once we arrived.  Scoop was there for a few minutes.  I don't think he was happy we were late.  He wanted to hug the kids before he left to head back to St. George.  It really is sad that he is not a part of their lives.  It's weird that he doesn't stay for his own family party.  I hurried to get the rolls in the oven.  I went back to look for Scoop to say hi and he had already left.

Anyways, this year Maysen was not with us, obviously.  Preston was a shepherd, Stockton and Jorja were wise men.

Preston

 Derek as Joseph, Nova as Mary

 Taylor is the innkeeper, I think Champ is the donkey (not sure)

 Leo did not appreciate being baby Jesus

 Erica was an angel

 The three wisemen ~ Jorja, Stockton, Weston

 The cast.  Preston is now next to Jorja

 Nova and Leo, who has now accepted his role as Jesus

 Preston playing with the donkey's ear

The kids love having the pageant at Brent and Kim's house.  Stockton cheered when I told him it was here.  He said, "I'm glad it's not at the warehouse.  The only thing to do there is to have contests to see who can sit next to the fireplace the longest."  Haha!  Stockton seemed to forget about visiting with family, that is important too!

Diving and Piano

Stockton had his first high school meet of the season.  It was at the University of Utah.  Stockton did really well.  He got high marks on his first four dives.  His fifth dive is a twist, which he hates.  He landed it, but not with high marks.  His last dive he usually nails, his front 2 1/2 tuck.  It was not his best.  It was closer to the board than usual, which is good; he just didn't get it as straight as he normally does when he enters the water.  Anyway, he placed third.  I think he was only .5 behind second place.

Mike playing with the camera on his new phone

Mike took the pictures, but for some reason not I couldn't pull them all up.  That's okay, at least I got two.

 Stockton

 Stockton ~ back 1/2 ~ 203B

Stockton has gotten a lot better at this dive!  This is the dive that tripped him up at State the first time.

Mike, Stockton and I went to Red Robin after the meet.  Yummy.  We hurried home and headed out the door to Preston's piano recital.  I was texting him on the way home asking him to get dressed.  He dressed himself in a church shirt, black sweat pants that are too big and black tennis shoes.  I do need to get him new church shoes.....Anyway, Mike and I were really nervous for this recital.  Preston did not practice as much as he should have.  For example, yesterday when I asked him to practice he said in a robot voice "Does not compute...avoiding confrontation."  Whatever.  Sometimes he plays his pieces okay, and other times it is a train wreck.  We had no idea what this would be. Luckily for us he did a nice job.  It wasn't perfect, but it could have been awful!

Preston

 Audrey, Preston and others with Sister Newman

 One with Audrey smiling at me

Jorja went to the Harry Potter movie with Leah and Natalie.  Leah's mom dropped them off and I picked them up.  We stopped at Iceburg. They ate their shakes while I listened to the last of the BYU/Colorado basketball game.  BYU won.  Yay!  Jorja, Leah and Natalie want to try and go to a movie once a month so they can bond.  All three of them are in the Chinese program, so who knows what will happen to them next year.  It will be great if they became good friends before the unknown happens.

It's The Weekend!

Yay!  I love the weekends!  I volunteered in Preston's class today.  I talked to Maysen for an hour, which was nice.  Preston had short day today.  We played Dominion.  I wanted to sign him up for ski school. The afternoon program where they will take you to ski lessons on Friday.  He did this a few years ago, but it hasn't been offered for awhile.  When I asked him about it tears filled his eyes.  He said, "But Friday is my only day where I don't have to be anywhere.  Jorja won't be on the bus with me and then I can't play games with you."  I'm glad he likes playing with me.  I do love the time we are able to have to play. I'm glad he is good so it is fun for me!  I sure love that little boy!

We called Maysen for family prayer tonight.  She has asked us if we would call her yesterday for prayer.  Of course I said yes.  My heart dropped this morning when I read her blog and she wrote about waiting for her family to call.  Whoops.  I apologized to her today. Yesterday I was so upset by things I learned at Stockton's counselor appointment.  Mike got home really late, so it was already a disjointed night.  Maysen was nice about it and the kids had fun talking to her on the phone.  One more week and she gets to come home!  I'm so excited!

Bad News, Good News and Ping Pong

I had Stockton's CCR today.  Juniors meet one on one with their counselor.  I guess two on one since I'm there too.  Stockton was late. They had sent the message to his psychology teacher to send him down, but his teacher just ignored it.  Ten minutes later they sent another message with a note 'parent is here'.  Finally his teacher let him go.  I like Stockton's counselor, but I found out two annoying things today. First, we have been working towards the Regents scholarship. Maysen received this scholarship.  It is open to anyone as long as they fulfill the requirements and go to a college in Utah.  If you get the highest level, which Maysen did it amounts to around $6,000.  It is also a staking scholarship.  You can have this one even if you have received other scholarships.  This is the reason Maysen's college semester this term cost us $50 including housing.  In order to get this scholarship you need to score high enough on the ACT (I can't remember what that is, but Stockton already nailed that).  You need to take two years of foreign language.  French done.  Three years of social studies.  Finishing the third year now.  Biology, chemistry and physics. Done, done, and having an awful time with physics, but doing it now. Four years of English.  Planning on that.  Four years of math.  Math shouldn't be a problem, right?  It is.  The problem is, every math class has to be harder than the one before it.  Stockton took calculus as a sophomore. This year is AP statistics.  His counselor asked me to call Regents and find out what to do in his situation.  The lady on the phone was completely condescending to me.  She told me his only choice was to take calculus 3 at a college.  I expected several choices.  Even if they were hard.  I said, "Wait, he will have a year between his last calculus class.  How is he supposed to be able to jump right into calculus 3." She didn't care.  I told her that my daughter received this scholarship without taking any calculus.  She said, "Well, he shouldn't have started so high."  WHAT?  I said, "His entire life he has been held back with his math.  Forced to stay with everyone else.  Not allowed to challenge himself and not allowed to see how high he can go.  This was the first time he was allowed to take math on his level."  She said, "Well, the Regents scholarship isn't for everyone."  You are kidding!  The Regents scholarship isn't for him because he excels?  What a joke.  So annoyed!

If that wasn't bad enough, while we were talking with Stockton's counselor I asked about the Chinese program coming next year.  Jorja will be in it.  Ms. Court shook her head and said the Chinese program wasn't coming to Alta.  I was stunned.  I asked what happened.  She said, "Politics.  Other parents threw a fit to get the program at their school.  It got taken away from Alta two days go."  I started to cry.  Yep. Then and there.  My heart was breaking for Jorja.  I know how excited she is to go to Alta with Stockton.  To make her start at a new school....again!  This is ridiculous!  I called the district when I got home.  I talked to the person over the duel immersion program.  She said, "I don't know why you would have been told that, no final decision has been made.  I would know if it had."  So, there is a chance. A small chance, but a chance.  I wish I was a person of power and influence so people would care about my opinion.  I asked if it was at a different high school if they could take the one class and then go back to their high school.  It is only ONE class a day.  She said no.  Annoying. I don't want Jorja to stop this program.  She is supposed to take AP Chinese next year and then college level Chinese classes for the next three years.  When she graduates high school she is supposed to be one class away from a Chinese minor.  This is what we have been told all along.  If they were going to make these kids go to Corner Canyon (I'm assuming that is the high school that it will be at) they should have had the kids go to Draper Park instead of Indian Hills.  Jorja lost all of her friends because they went to Draper Park.  They should have kept the kids together.  This is the problem with being the first in the program. The district can tell us things, but then go back on what they say.  So sad for my Porge right now.

Stockton had his ping-pong tournament today.  He was pretty excited about it.  He was sending me, Mike and Weston updates.  He made it to the third round.  There he lost 9 to 11.  I think he would have had a better chance if it was going to 21.  There was one score that barely nicked the table.  If that hadn't happen, Stockton would have had a much better chance of winning.  The guy he lost to won the next round and made it to the finals.  They play the finals in front of the entire school.  Stockton thought that would be fun.

I took Jorja and Preston to diving today.  My friend McKenzie was there.  She had tears in her eyes.  I hadn't seen her since her surgery on Friday.  I asked if everything was okay.  She smiled and said she had just gone back to the doctor and he told her that there was no evidence that cancer had ever been there.  She was so happy.  Yay for something good happening today!

Mike didn't get home until around 10:00 tonight.  He had a presentation at a mini Openstack conference in Salt Lake.  He said it went well.  After the conference he went out to dinner with people from Midokura.  He ended up talking with the CEO of Midokura for a long time.  He was asking questions about the church and missions.  He asked if Steve Young went on a mission.  I had told Mike all about Steve Young when reading his book, so Mike was grateful he knew the answer.  Later the guy said, "My kids go to school with Steve Youngs kids."  Haha!  Didn't see that one coming!

Jorja's Smile

Happy day!  Jorja got her braces off!  She was terrified that the orthodontist would change his mind.  Nope.  Done deal.  We need to go back in over a week for a retainer though.  Weird.  They still put a permanent retainer in, but I guess she needs another one for awhile too.

Jorja ~ before

 Jorja ~ after

 I couldn't decide which one I liked best....

 What a beautiful doll!

I think she's happy they are off

Jorja and Preston had diving today.  They were the only ones there today.  They loved that!  I talked to Maysen during their lessons.  That was fun.

Jorja and Preston

Preston ~ back pike jump

 I failed and held my phone the wrong direction

Jorja back dive

Laurel helping Preston with a back dive

Preston was super nervous...I can't imagine why!

So....in other big news....John and Cassie are moving to Virginia!  Brett and Rachel are only living there for six more months.  Mike also lived there for awhile.  Too bad my brothers couldn't coordinate their lives better!  I was kind of sad yesterday when I thought John wouldn't be able to go to the cabin for Christmas.  Cassie and I came up with an awesome plan that will work.  We just have to move things around, but yay! yay! yay!  Christmas at the cabin with John!

Eleven

Grandma Honey died eleven years ago today.  Wow, that's been a long time.  Jorja said, "I thought I was two when she died."  Nope.  Jorja had just turned three.  She was two the last time she saw her though.

I took Stockton to diving.  Yesterday they spent most of it on dry land. He had to be sore today!  Today most of the time was spent in the pool.

Jorja and Hailey managed to get to Bahama Bucks today.  I guess it was free snow cone day.  Mike picked them up on his way home from work. Some boy was hanging out with them.  Mike tried to get details, but Jorja was not forthcoming.  Mike did give him a ride home too.  He told Mike that he doesn't wear seat belts.  Mike said, "Well, you're dumber than you look then."  Seat belts are always used with us!

Cousin Lunch

I love living close to some of my cousins.  We met for lunch at Blue Lemon.  It is right in-between Heather and Jordyn's offices.  Kendra lives across from the capitol, which isn't too far away either.  Usually Larkin is able to come, but she said she was busy for a long time.  She drives from Provo, so it is harder for her to get away.  Anyways, it was great seeing these girls!  I could spend every day with them and not get sick of them.  Ha!

Evelyn, Kendra, Paisley, Jordyn, Heather

Stephanie

I tried to take the selfie, but with my short arms it didn't work out too well.  Heather mentioned she should have taken it, but she always gets stuck doing that.  The curse of being tall.

Stockton and I went to diving today.  I was so tired.  I only got four hours of sleep.  I usually stay in the car for an hour before I go in and watch Stockton for the second hour.  That way I don't get a ticket.  I leaned the seat back and fell asleep.  I awoke to someone looking in my window.  That startled me.  For a minute I thought it might be a parking ticket guy.  I opened my door and talked to the college student. He said, "I'm sorry.  I just hit your car."  Whoops.  I slept through that! You could see where he it the car because there was red paint.  It just happened to be in a spot that got damaged years ago.  His poor car was brand new and shiny.  He had lots of scrapes on his front bumper. Poor kid.

Refugees

I had to laugh when Brother Kimball came into primary portraying Samuel the Lamanite.  Brother Kimball is the best!

Brother Kimball a.k.a. Samuel

Stockton and Jorja both got their temple recommends renewed after church.  We then came home and packed things up.  For Christmas our ward wanted families to sponsor a refugee family.  They had lists of families and things they needed.  Three families could sign up for each one.  We signed up with the Richs and the Andersons.  Too bad Sister Rich found out she had breast cancer days after signing up.  They still managed to collect several things and dropped them off at the Andersons.  Brother Anderson had a laptop that he didn't need anymore.  It ran really slow.  Mike spent a lot of time Saturday fixing it up.  Beds were also on the list.  We gave a set of cabin bunk beds that Glade made.  We had been saving them for Matt and Sam.  They were planning on using them, but said it would be okay to give them to the refugees.  That was nice.  I went and got new bedding and pillows for them yesterday.  Anyways, Brother Anderson has a truck and he loaded the bunked in that.  We followed them down to Salt Lake to drop the stuff off.  We had an address, but no other way to contact them to see if they were home.  Luckily the mom was home.  She has four little boys. The littlest one is one month old.  Her husband was at work when she got there.  She asked us if we could put things into the garage.  I think she was nervous having strangers just show up.  We set up the bunkbed in the garage so they could see how it fit together.  It looked like a lot of people have been dropping stuff off to them.  I'm glad so many people are willing to help.

Driving behind the bunk beds

I am glad we were able to finish that project today.  Christmas time gets so hectic.  It is nice to have one thing off of our plate.

Fingernail

This morning I went to Nothing Bundt Cakes to buy a cake for the Mortensen funeral.  I signed up to bring a dessert, but realized I had no time to make one.  Stockton and I went early.  We dropped off the cake and then met in the primary room for choir practice.  We sang in the choir at the funeral.  When we came home, Matt was here with his family.  Anne wanted her nails painted.  This time she wanted to do some of it by herself.  Anne has been begging Stockton for months to paint his nails so they can be 'matching'.  Anne talked Stockton into letting her paint one nail.  She spent a lot of time painting it with clear polish, so no big deal.  She must have put thirty coats on it.

Stockton and Anne

Anne then wanted to stamp Stockton's nail.  She picked bright red polish.  Stockton's clear fingernail now turned into a bright red one. Anne was so happy.

Mike and I went to the ward Christmas party tonight.  It was only for the adults.  We were supposed to bring cookies to exchange.  Luckily I put 'make cookies for mom and dad's party tonight' on Jorja's chore list.  Mike, Preston and I were playing a game of Pandemic before we left.  It made us a little bit late.  There were tons of tables set up and it was hard to figure out where to sit.  Some chairs were leaning against the tables.  We wondered if that meant they were taken, or if the chairs not leaning against the tables were taken.  We finally decided that the chairs leaning against the table were not taken.  We picked two at a random table and sat down.  We were only there for a few minutes when someone came and said we were in their seat.  It was pretty awkward.  Leanne Perry saw the exchange and grabbed us to sit at their table.  That was really nice.  We were at the table with the Perrys, the Parks and the Larsens.  (Ange knows Brother Larsen.  He delivered all of her babies!)  Anyway, we had a great time.  The food was really good. Even though it was awkward, we were happy we ended up on the table we did.  The other three couples at the table are all empty nesters.  It's fun to listen to them.  The Perrys just got back from Thailand.  Sister Perry was my visiting teacher before they left on their mission to Vietnam.  Mike and I were the babies at the table.  I liked that.

Festival with Preston

I had book club with Preston today.  It was so much fun!  I love it!  I love that these boys are loving The False Prince.  Walter finished the book already, but was great about not giving out any spoilers.  I can't wait to meet with them in two weeks when the book is finished!  After book club I went to lunch with Preston, put up a bulletin board for his teacher, corrected spelling tests and then checked out Preston ten minutes early.  We hurried down to the Festival of Trees.  It gets so crowded in the evenings.  Jorja went a few days ago with the Young Women.  Stockton said he was okay missing it this year.  Preston and I had a lot of fun.  I let him lead the way.

Pokemon mini-tree

Of course the gingerbread village was our favorite.  AMAZING!!!  I mean, come on!  Loot at this ferris wheel!  I would love to have this kind of talent.

 Rice-Eccles Stadium

I'll have to get fondant sometime for the gingerbread houses.  Lots of houses used them this year.

Barn

 Water Polo

 The Aggie A!  Adorable!

 Mickey

 Lego

 Candy Land

 Star Wars

 Finding Dory

 Angry Birds

 Poke-Potter

 Charlotte's Web

 Frosty the Astromech

 I only took a picture of one large tree.
It reminded me of my brothers.

Preston loves looking at the playhouses.  Mike would love a playhouse like this!

It would be funny if the slide went right into the swimming pool.

 I loved this giant advent calendar.

 This made me think of my Porge.

We got warm toast with jam.  Preston loved it.  It was a lot of fun to hang out with him.

Jorja, Katlyn, Kate and Hailey all went to Create after school.  I picked them up at Walmart and took them to our house.  They had fun being silly downstairs.  I'm glad Jorja has found a good group of girls to hang around with.

Sunni's Shower

I spent most of the day working on a Christmas project.  I started watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer while I was doing it.  Haha!  I'm not sure what I think about it.  My sister-in-law loves that show.  She even has GRRARRRG on her license plate.  All I knew was it was from that show.  It looks like it comes from the very end where a weird cartoon zombie walks across the screen saying that.  Made me laugh.

Mike took Jorja and Preston to diving so I could go to Sunni's shower. I talked to Sherry and asked if I could give her handprints.  I think Sunni's baby is due in February, so that will be fun to do then.  Nice that it won't be during the crazy Christmas season.  Although, I am looking forward to going there with Collin on Christmas Eve!