Getting Ready

Jorja is pretty darn excited for her birthday party tomorrow.  We went and picked up the take home Color Me Mine kit today.  She had already picked out the pieces she wanted her friends to paint.  Preston came with us because he wanted to paint something too.  He picked out a dragon.  He agreed to let Jorja paint with her friends and then he can paint when they leave.  Jorja has a frog tower, so I'm sure she will still be painting when Preston starts.  We also picked up the Cold Stone cake today.  Jorja really wanted one.  It will be nice not to have to run down in the morning to get it.  Jorja wanted a little bigger cake and was willing to have this one for her birthday party and actual birthday.  I hope she has a great time.  She is so excited she can hardly sleep!

Quick addition on this post.  I forgot that today was the Chili and Chocolate party.  I took the three youngest kids.  Mike and Maysen ended up taking Ezekiel to the vet.  He has not been looking good and Maysen has been so worried.  They were able to get medicine for him. Maysen needs to give it to him twice a day.  She also needs to force him to soak in warm water for twenty minutes twice a day.  Hope this does the trick!

Math Retake Score

I got home late tonight after a stake leadership meeting.  I checked Skyward before bed.  Maysen's math retake grade had been posted. She was so scared to take this test!  Her original score was 84.  If she scored lower, her teacher would take the lower grade.  Such a scary thing to do right before grades are final!  A B+ is a good grade, it would be sad to go lower than that!  I was in shock when I saw Maysen's grade.  I took my laptop downstairs to show her.  She scored a 94! Incredible! Maysen said, "How did that happen?"  Haha!  Wow!  I couldn't believe it!  I was so proud of her!  What a risk she took. Granted, she studied hard and worked with her teacher to figure out what she did wrong before.  Her grade is now an A-.  She is .14% away from an A.  Notice the decimal there.  She is so close!  If she gets an A in this class she will probably get a 4.0.  I hope her teacher bumps her up a little.  We'll see. Regardless, I am incredibly proud of my little girl!

Gentleman George

Mike told the kids about their great-great-great grandfather the other day.  His name was George William Smith, but he went by George W. This is how we are related to Henry B. Eyring.  He is descended from George W's brother, Thomas X.  If I remember right.  Anyway, George W was born in England in 1823.  He married Catherine Wooten when he was 22 years old and she was 17.  They were baptized into the church three years later by Elder John Mead.  Thomas X also joined the church.  They were the only ones in the family that did.  In April 1854 they left England for New Orleans on a ship named The Clara Wheeler. Their fifth child was born in Echo Canyon as they arrived in the Utah Valley.  A little girl they named Annie.  Two days later they made it to Thomas X's house.  He had arrived in Utah two years before.

In England, George made straw hats.  By necessity, he now had to learn to become a farmer.  He was terrible at it.  He had a hard time plowing straight, so his rows were always weavy.  Makes sense for a weaver I guess!  He also always worked in his 'swallow tailed coat', because this is the only coat he had left.  All the others had worn out.  This is how he earned the nickname 'Gentleman George'.

George William Smith

Soon after they arrived in Farmington, they were asked to go help settle Muddy Valley, Arizona.  There were already settlers there who paid their taxes and even had a representative in the legislature.  When the state lines were officially run, it was discovered they had actually been living in Nevada.  Nevada was not friendly to Mormons and demanded years of back taxes.  The people could not afford this and received permission to abandon this city.  George W arrived in Muddy Valley about the time this was happening.  He ended up staying a few months, one winter, and then going back to the Salt Lake Valley.  He settled right around where Mike now works.  Life is sure easier for us now!

Math Retake

I took Maysen to school early today to retake a math test.  She was pretty scared about it, but wanted to do it.  The reason she is scared is because math is hard for her and this teacher doesn't take the last grade, she takes the most recent grade.  The quarter ends on Friday.  If Maysen doesn't do well on this test, it will be a really bad thing. Maysen has a B+ in this class, she is hoping to raise her grade.  The math test she is retaking she got a B on.  There is a huge chance that she will do worse on the retake.  That will be horrible if her grade drops to a C.  So scary!  Maysen went to school early yesterday to have her teacher help her with some problems she missed last time, she also studied really, really hard.  I was so nervous for her the entire time she was gone.  I'm not a big fan of the teacher's policy.  It seems that it favors the kids who get Cs and Ds.  Fingers crossed!  I'm proud of her for trying to raise her grade.  

Stockton was able to talk to his AP Geography teacher and get the points back.  It did not matter at all on his final grade, he is so far in the A category.  Stockton spends hours and hours on homework in that class, he deserves every point he gets!

Sister Madson came over today to visit with Jorja.  She told me several times how sweet Preston's card was.  Right before we came over her entire family was talking about their dog and looking at pictures of him.  She said Preston's card was the nicest card she had ever received. Wow.  In my presidency meeting this morning, Becky was talking about not delaying promptings.  Her dad is a General Authority and works closely with President Monson.  He is always telling her how President Monson stresses acting immediately on promptings they receive.  He stresses that to everyone in the church, but REALLY stresses that to the leaders.  Becky said to not spend forever trying to decide if it is a prompting or not.  If you think about doing something nice, do it because it is nice.  I am going to try to follow through on things I think about.  I am not good at that at all!

Special Plate of Cookies

Stockton got his Field Study assignment back.  He had to make an overhead map of the high school.  He made his map in a program on MSPaint.  Stockton got five points marked off because his teacher said he needed his own map.

Stockton was so frustrated because he spent a lot of time making this map.  He found it annoying.  He has a solid A in the class, so this makes no difference at all.  Still.  Anyway, I wrote his teacher and she asked for Stockton to come in and talk to her.  He will have to do that tomorrow morning.  I'm sure he is thrilled.

The primary president was supposed to come over to visit with Jorja today.  She called this morning and cancelled.  Her black lab was really sick and the only time the vet could come and put him down was at the exact time of our appointment.  They have had this dog for 14 years. She was really upset when I talked to her.  I told Preston about it when he got home from school and he wanted to make a card.  I had made cookies for the after-school treat and he wanted to bring her a plate of cookies.  I left Preston to work on his card and took Jorja to the library and the store.  I wish I would have taken a picture of his card!  It was so sweet!  He colored the entire thing.  He left a note that said something like, "Sorry about your bad day.  I would be so sad if something like that happened to me.  I hope you like the rest of the day and the cookies."  (Okay, I asked Preston what he wrote and he just took my laptop and typed it.  Adorable)  He also drew a picture of him bringing cookies to her.  Preston and I went over to her house right before his bedtime.  It was unbelievable.  He made her so happy.  She just cried and cried.  She told Preston she would keep his card forever.  She bent down to talk to him while tears ran down her cheeks.  Preston reached up and patted her head.  She told him he was such a nice boy.  He nodded and said, "I know."  That kid!  I love him!  I am so glad he added a small amount of joy to her day.

Driving Home

Mike and I crawled down from the overhead bed about 5 in the morning.  We headed out and got a few hours done before we heard people moving behind us.  We had left the curtain up so that the lights from the road wouldn't wake anyone.  I looked behind the curtain to see Sam making pancakes!  She made bacon and eggs as well.  Mike was so happy!  He would love it if I ever made things like that while we are driving down the road.  He thought it was so cool!  Anne woke up and we were able to set down the crib and get the table back up before breakfast.  Anne did not enjoy the rest of the ride home.  Her mean parents made her stay in a carseat!  She did not understand that at all!

We drove to Sam's sister's house and picked up Sam's mom.  Bubs had dropped Sam's mom off there on the drive up and we picked her up on the way back.  Nice that she was able to have a quick visit there.  We dropped her mom off in Bountiful and headed home.

Mike drove the entire way.  It was a long day for him.  We got home before 10.  That was good because Mike had to stay up all night and work starting at 10.  I did not envy him today!

Mallory's Birthday Party

We lucked out with our timing on this trip.  Mallory's 4th birthday is tomorrow!  We won't be there for her actual birthday, but we got to go to her party!  Cassie had the party in the clubhouse where they live.  I went over an hour early to help her.  It took us awhile to unload things and we were just starting to really be able to work when a mom showed up with three kids.  She was more than a half hour early.  She said they came to help.  Her idea of helping was sitting on a bench while she watched her other three kids drive Cassie crazy!  They were bouncing around her asking, "Can I do the balloons?  Can I do this?  Can I do that?"  I couldn't believe the mom just sat there and watched and let her kids harass Cassie.  Cassie would say things like, "Why don't you girls go play outside?"  The oldest girl would say, "No!  I don't want to go outside!"  Cassie had only invited one of the girls.  The other two were siblings.  The mom guilted Cassie to letting the other girls come. They were all in party dresses, what was she going to do?  Cassie told the mom that she was worried because she didn't have enough stuff for all three of them.  The mom hadn't even RSVP'd for the one girl she invited.  The mom told Cassie to not worry, that her girls would share. The mom left once the party started.  Long story short, her girls did not share.  Tears were shed when the older girl didn't get a blower.  She also successfully defeated the little 4 year olds at the party games.  Oh man, so annoying!  The rest of the party went great.  John did a fishing station and Maysen helped by using her loud voice to get the children to listen.  It was pretty funny.  Cassie was exhausted by the time the party was over.  I don't miss the little kid party days!  The only picture I have of the party is of Stockton holding Brandon.  I thought I had taken more, but I think I took the pictures with Cassie's camera.

Brandon & Stockton

 Jorja, Trevor, Mallory walking home from the party

We gave Mallory a Belle dress and tiara.  By we I mean my family, Bubs' family and Matt's family.  The dress was on sale, I was so excited. I remember wanting to get these for my girls, but I could never justify it.  They just didn't love princesses/dress up that much.  Maybe they would have if I had got them some of these?  I guess I'll never know.

Mallory

 Mallory opening Grandpa Millburn's present

 Frozen figurines.  She loved them!

 Bubs' family gave Maysen a birthday card.

 Maysen

 Stockton

 Mallory, Stockton, Preston, Jorja playing a flower game

 Trevor, Mallory and Jorja eating ice cream

Our plan was to sleep outside and leave as early as we could.  Again, we wanted everyone in the motorhome so we could just leave.  We weren't sure what we should do with Anne until Mike came up with this genius plan.  That crib was sturdy!  Mike seat belted each leg in and the entire crib didn't budge.  The crib is where the table usually is.

The rest of the day was spent watching the BYU game - sad - and playing Dominion.  Matt stayed up really late with John and Cassie to play Ticket to Ride.  They started about 11:30, but I didn't think I could do another game.  Both Maysen and I were tempted though.  I'm not sure what time Matt got in, but he was there when we drove away in the morning!

Great Wolf Lodge

Today was our last day at Great Wolf Lodge.  We decided against eating the breakfast buffet.  Instead we ate in the motorhome.  Much cheeper that way!  I got kind of frustrated because no one wanted to go swimming with me.  Seriously?  This giant watermark and no one wants to go?  I ended up guilting them into riding some of the rides with me.  I really wanted to ride the Tornado with Mike, Maysen and Stockton and I really wanted to ride the family inter tube ride.  Too bad the family ride would only fit 5 people.  Maysen got out and went down with Mike.  The kids suffered the water park for two hours before I was ready to leave.  I was a little upset because I was thinking how much my brothers and I would have loved a place like this growing up.  I love watersides, I wish there was someone in my family that liked them as much as I do.

We got everything out of our room before we went to the watermark.  It was so nice having the motorhome there!  We were able to change and go back and enjoy the rest of the festivities.  We spent the next several hours playing MagiQuest.  So much fun!

Jorja fighting the red dragon

The silver dragon is harder.  You have to do this memory game.  That's not terribly hard.  What makes it really hard is you need to register it within 3 seconds.  You have to hit the dragon four times, I think.  The dragon only has to hit you twice.  Easier said than done, but still pretty fun.

Stockton helping Maysen battle the silver dragon

We also helped the bear from the constellations back into the sky by finding the lost amulet and jewels and we helped the pixies regain their power to fly. 

Preston

 Preston & Stephanie

Jorja had a unicorn topper on her wand.  She didn't like it because every time she went to the tree to get her next assignment a loud unicorn would appear.  She did get that topper when she was in Kindergarten.  There was a dragon topper that matched her wand exactly.  We asked her if she would like the topper for her birthday, but we would let her play with it now.  She LOVED that idea!  Preston loved it too and convinced us to do that for him also.

Jorja and Preston with their new dragon toppers

We ended up eating all of our meals in the motorhome.  In exchange, we let the kids get a giant ice cream cone at the ice cream parlor.  They all thought that was a great idea!  Our next adventure was outside on the Howlers Peak Rope Course.  I had no idea that the cost of admission included your entire stay.  If we had done this yesterday the kids could have come back whenever they liked!  It was kind of cold, because it had been raining most of the day.  We still had a great time. All of our kids were tall enough and no one was afraid!  I was worried about Jorja.  We did something similar at Stone Mountain years ago and she freaked out!  I liked this one better than Stone Mountain because you didn't get stuck behind anyone.  There were so many different ways you could go.  Plus, this had several zip lines.  So much fun!

Jorja on Howlers Peak

We also played the Great Forest Challenge.  Six people go to four different rooms to compete in seven tasks.  Or something like that.  It was fun because our whole family got to be together.  The first room we had to step on fish.  Then we had to step on fish but avoid the red fish and eels.  The next room there was this table thingy.  We had to move our characters through mazes.  Stockton was so fast at that!  We then had a laser challenge where we had to walk through a room of laser beams.  Mission Impossible style.  That was great!  It was funny to see Mike doing cartwheels through all the lasers, even if it did make our score go down.  The last room was throwing balls at things that were projected on the walls.

After that we were ready to go.  The kids did humor me and let me take some pictures.  Too bad they all have spooky eyes.  I guess it is close to Halloween.

Maysen, Jorja, Stockton & Preston

 Maysen, Stephanie, Preston, Jorja, Stockton

 Maysen, Preston, Stockton

 Mike & Stephanie

We drove back to John and Cassie's house and got there around 9:30. The kids stayed in the motorhome and went to bed.  I think Preston was already asleep before we got there.  Mike and I went and played some games with my brothers.  So fun to be with them!  We have a pretty amazing life.

MagiQuest

We hit the road about 5 am.  It was nice because Mike and I just climbed down from the overhead bed and drove away.  We got two or three hours under our belt before the others woke up.  We had run out of water in the motorhome, so flushing toilets was a little tricky.  Mike and I kept looking for somewhere we could fill up.  He even pulled off the road at two different places he thought would work.  No such luck. Then out of nowhere we came to this great rest area.  They had free dumping/water filling station.  It was great!  It also had a McDonalds, so we let the kids get breakfast from there.  Mike wasted no time putting on his Oregon sticker.  He was pretty excited about that.

Mike

 New map piece!

Mike talked me into driving for a bit.  This is the first time I have ever driven that thing!  It is so scary!  Well, not really, I'm just more worried I'm going to do something to ruin Mike's favorite toy.  I drove for a bit until it looked like we were coming to construction.  I did not want to do that!  I pulled off the freeway exit and Mike took my place.  We got back on the freeway and the construction was over.  It was just for that one exit.  Whoops.  I am glad I didn't need to drive through Portland. The roads were narrow and the streets were busy.  It was a little nerve wracking, but nothing like San Francisco!

Stephanie's first time driving

We got to Cassie's house around 1:30.  We dropped off Ange with her three kids and unloaded everything that didn't belong to us.  Well, we tried.  We ended up driving off with one of Bubs' pillows and Lincoln's headphones.  Mike took a quick shower while we were unloading everything.  We left as quickly as we could and continued our trip to Washington.  Stockton hasn't been back to Washington since we moved when he was 21 months old.  This is Preston's first time in Washington. Jorja went with me when she was a baby.

New map piece!

We got to Great Wolf Lodge around 3:00.  My kids were so excited!  We went to Great Wolf Lodge in Virginia about five years ago.  All of the kids have been begging to go back.  We are only staying one night here, but they let you play around the day you check in and the day you leave. This giant balloon spider was in the front lobby area.  Wow Jorja!  Try making that!  (Not really, please don't try....that would be a lot of balloons.)

There is a giant indoor water park that I think is amazing.  My kids are more excited about MagiQuest.  The kids each had their own wand from five years ago.  We also had been to MagiQuest in Myrtle Beach, so there is a lot of information stored in their wands.  Mike and I have had our own wands for awhile that Mike bought off the internet. Maysen changed her wand name from May to Yakima.  Jorja changed her name from Mario to Silver.  I can't remember what Stockton had his name set to, but Preston's was set to Mischief.  That name suits him!  Mike and I had our wands set to Lord and Lady Elsinore. Although they spelled Elsinore wrong.  I went back and got the right spelling on my wand.  Mike didn't get his changed.

Preston was so little the last time we played MagiQuest.  I followed him around and we did our tasks together.  He loved it!  These pictures are from our sun/moon/star quest.

Preston

These next pictures are of Maysen.  She is trying to slay the red dragon. Usually she likes dragons, but this one is mean!  Plus it is pretty fun. The podium in front of her has different ruins she has earned.  She uses the protection ruin while the dragon is attacking her with fire. Then she will freeze the dragon and the last step is to fire an ice arrow at him while he is frozen.  She will repeat this until she is victorious!

Maysen in battle.  Preston watching wearing wolf ears.

 The life is displayed on the corner things with the sphere on top.

 Maysen's life is on the left and the dragon's life is on the right.

Maysen has frozen the dragon and is about to shoot an ice arrow at him.  She wins this round!  Once you figure out how to do it, it is pretty easy.  The silver dragon is much harder!

When we decided to take a break from MagiQuest we headed to the pool.  Preston and I went down these tube rides over and over.  They were so fast!  It was great!  He was laughing so hard.  We were in a double tube and I would hold on to him with my feet as best I could. One time he went down the entire slide with his hands up over his head!  We were zooming and the ride was completely dark with random lasers.  So much fun!

Next up was dinner time!  It was pretty late and we were hungry when we finished with the pool.  The restaurant in the hotel was about to close, but they let us in to see what they had.  They weren't going to put any new stuff out though.  It looked pretty tasty and we were going to go for it.  Luckily I saw the price before we pulled the trigger.  $18 a person!  Yikes!  Especially for just the left overs.  That changed our mind quickly.  There was also a pizza place, so we did that.  Filled us up and most of the kids probably liked it better anyway!

We went back to our room to get in jammies and read scriptures.  Then we let the kids play MagiQuest until 10:00.  That is when they turn off the sensors.  It is so fun watching a ton of kids running around the hotel waving magic wands.  My kids are in heaven!

Heading Out

As soon as the kids were home from school we hit the road!  Well, we didn't get off until 5:00 but that worked!  We drove the motorhome to Sam's sister's house.  She lives just past Boise.  Lincoln, Ella and Abby came with us.  They did great!  We got to our destination just before midnight.  Bubs and Ange were planning on sleeping inside with Millie. Ange is going to ride with us tomorrow.  The plan was for me to sneak inside Sam's sister's house and wake up Ange when it was time to go.  I did not like that plan.  At all.  First, I did not want to sneak into a strangers house, even if I was invited.  Second, I didn't want to wake Ange up.  Third, I didn't want to be anxious about how long it was taking to get everything settled.  I just wanted to get up and go.  Mike and I did convince Ange to sleep in the motorhome, although she ended up walking around outside with Millie until 3 am!  Yikes!

Meetings

Today was a crazy busy day.  Stockton had a CCR today.  College Career Readiness.  Stockton was annoyed because they scheduled it at 1:20, right during his French class.  He said, "Why couldn't it be during computer science where we literally do nothing!"  His counselor was running late, so we waited about 25 minutes before it was our turn.  Stockton had to fill out a form.  One of the questions asked what was his favorite class.  I told him to do it like Apples to Apples.  Cross out the ones he doesn't like until there is only one left.  He ended up with 3-D animation as his favorite class.  They have just started working with the 3-D stuff and he really likes it.  He didn't like the 2-D flash stuff.  Neither did Maysen.  Stockton's counselor said that she thinks they have a Video Games Programing major, or that they might be getting one soon.  That would be awesome!  I asked her about the different CTEC classes.  They might also be getting a video games programing class there.  Stockton really liked that idea!

We had a Chinese Immersion meeting at the middle school for Jorja.  I was a little late, but still made it.  Next year Jorja should have 1 1/2 Chinese classes.  This year she has 2 1/2 classes.  I hope they can still progress as fast as they should with less class time.  Mr. Chen is going to be her teacher again, so that is fantastic.  Jorja is right where she should be as far as the language goes.  Chinese Immersion is the coolest program!  I wish Maysen and Stockton got to experience it.

The Celebration Continues

My dad took Maysen to Cold Stone today, then Mike took her to the pet store.  Man, Ezekiel requires a lot of paraphernalia!

October Birthdays

My family came over for dinner today.  Jorja made a cake for the October birthdays.  Millie's birthday was on the 8th, Maysen's on the 10th, Jorja & Lincoln's birthdays are on the 26th.  My dad made yummy roast beef and Bubs made delicious gravy.

Maysen, Lincoln, Millie & Jorja

 Stockton photobombing

 Preston

Looks like the cake was a hit!  We had fun showing my dad some Studio C sketches.  Too bad that we dilly-dallied enough that we didn't get to play Dominion.  Apparently Anne likes to drink milk.  Rice milk.  She refused food and just wanted to milk.  Matt and Sam had to leave so she wouldn't starve.  That's okay, at least we convinced Sam to come to Oregon with us this week!

Meet the Mormons

I woke up early to exercise.  I woke Mike up when I got home and had him make crepes.  He had slept longer then he meant to.  We were able to have a nice breakfast before I took Maysen to take her practice ACT test.  She was gone all morning!  We picked her up around 12:30.  She did pretty good on her test.  She scored around a 28.  Her English and Reading are really high, but the math is pulling her down.  We didn't let Maysen rest long because we went straight to Meet the Mormons.  I enjoyed it, but it was a little hard for Preston to sit through.  Luckily the seat rests can be folded up and he was able to lay on my lap.  He did really good for a little boy.

Jorja had fun making an October birthday cake with me.  It had about six different colors in it.  I hope it turns out yummy!

Maysen's 17th Birthday

Turns out Maysen was very, very happy with her water dragon. Adorable.

Mike, Maysen, (Jorja & Stockton)

We gave her the water dragon this morning.  Thought she would love to know it was waiting for her when she came home from school.

She has named him Ezekiel.  Although we have no idea if it is a he or a she.  I asked the lady at the pet store, but they had already but him/her in the box.  She said he/she would be too skittish to check for a few weeks.  We will just assume it is male.

Ezekiel

 Or Zeke

 So happy!

Jorja and Preston had the day off.  Maysen was jealous.  We went to Sonic for lunch and picked up some food for Maysen.  We met her at lunch.  Maysen couldn't remember if I was going to bring her something.  We had kind of talked about it, but when I dropped her off at school I forgot to remind her.  She glanced in the cafeteria and saw Preston in his bright orange clothes.  That came in handy!

Scoop and Cori came over and gave Maysen a present.  They gave her a straightening iron, 2 brushes and hair clippy things.  Like to keep your hair out of your face while you are using the straightening iron.  Scoop also threw in a pack of cards into the gift bag.  We played Hearts with him for awhile before they had to leave.  That was really fun.

Maysen wasn't really hungry, so she asked Mike if we could do the crepes for breakfast tomorrow.  We had cake for dinner today.  Maysen picked out a Cold Stone cake batter cake.  It was really good! I am not a cake batter fan, but in the cake it actually made sense!

 Maysen

Next were presents.  She got more than just the water dragon.  Spoiled little child.

 Jorja gave her a opossum Webkinz

 Maysen & Jorja

 Preston gave her Monster Manor on her ds

Preston & Maysen

 Kit-Kats from Stockton

 Preston, Stockton, Maysen, Jorja

Maysen also got a cell phone.  Her old one was starting not to work well.  Also, it wouldn't support Instagram and other such things.  Mike and I try to encourage her to do anything social, so we want her to be able to Instagram when she would like to.

Maysen & Jorja

 Sisters.  Love it!

All in all, I think Maysen would consider her birthday a success!  We sure love that (not so little anymore) girl!