Swim Banquet

The swim season is officially over.  Jake just started up swimming again with the club team, but for now, the high school season is over.  Tonight was the banquet.

We had a nice dinner and then they had an awards ceremony.

Jacob got the Beach Bum award.

Once again, they spelled his name wrong (spelled differently than last year's wrong spelling).

He got the award because we went to Hawaii right in the middle of the season, not because his bum was always hanging out of his swim suit (my first thought :))

 I only got one picture with some of his friends.  I was busy chatting with some of the moms.  I guess that's how things sometimes go.

I'm so glad Jacob likes swimming.  It has been so good for him and it makes me happy to be surrounded in things that remind me of my youth.  I can't believe he's going to be a Junior next year.  Time is flying!

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

 I was looking for a reason to get the boys winding down earlier at night.  I swear, Allie and Jake go to bed earlier than them.  It's nuts.

So, I told Nathan to go pick out a book and I'd read it to them each night.  He brought up Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  

I feel like we just read it, but that's ok.

So, why do I bring this up now?  Tonight, as we read about Augustus Gloop falling into the chocolate river, I could hardly stay focused.  It's a chocolate factory.  They're making chocolate for all the world to eat and there's just a river of chocolate in some random room of a factory.  They let gross kids and their parents come in from the outside world and just walk around without putting on special clothes or even booties to protect the floor (which also happens to be edible grass).  

Charlie's grandpa has been laying in a bed for years with 3 other people and now he's walking around in the factory.

They complain that Augustus Gloop had a terrible cold, but there he is, face into the chocolate river, drinking it.   And when he fell in, no one stopped production and figured out a way to clean things.  I'm just telling you that I, for one, wouldn't touch a Wonka chocolate bar after that...let alone accept the mug of chocolate that was scooped up from the river and offered to Charlie a few minutes later.  

Where are the regulations?   The standard of what grosses people out has changed now because of Covid.  More people are worried about things that they never worried about before.  If it means there won't be chocolate rivers with gross kids falling into them...I'm game for all the regulations... :)

So, that's where my mind was tonight as I mechanically ready the words of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.  Quality time with the boys for sure.  :)

100

Allie wants to try out for the drill team.  She's been working toward that goal for a long time.  Recently, she's been taking classes at the gym to get her aerial and back handspring.  Last week, the coach told her to do 200 cartwheels a day.  200.  So the girl has been doing it.  Sometimes, if it's late at night before she can work on them, she only does 100.  We just hear a thump, thump, thump from the other room and we know she's working on her cartwheels.

 I thought it was funny to see her in her Eeyore jammies tonight.  

It's paying off though.  She's getting closer and closer.  I've never seen a kid work so hard for things as my Allie girl does.  Fingers crossed she makes the team.  

Snow Art

This morning, I was running late for the carpool.  Allie was already outside and I was helping Jake get something done before he had to get out the door.  

When I finally got out to the car, I expected Allie to be out waiting for me.  Instead, she was hurrying to put the finishing touches on her snow art.

I thought it was pretty impressive!

 

Orem

My mom decided to get some new carpet in the top floor of her house.  As part of my commitment to come down and visit her more often, we scheduled a day for me to come help her move furniture out of the hall and one of the bedrooms so they could lay carpet.

I got the kids home from school and then headed out after dropping Allie off at dance.  Mike was good to let me take off so I could hang out with my mom.

One of the first things I did was to text this picture to the siblings.

That statue has been kicking around at the shop or our house since the early 80's and I knew everyone would know exactly where I was if I sent the picture.  It was also a safe place for the naked bum guy to hang out while he waited for new carpet to stand on.  

We got up bright and early and had Lori's oldest boy help us move things out.  We carried a bedroom set downstairs that my mom doesn't need anymore and then shifted everything else.

It cracked us all up to see everything jammed in the one room.

                                      

It's crazy how fast two simple rooms of furniture can fill up a space.  

I was glad to be able to be there to help my mom out.

We got it all done early enough to take Lori out for a birthday lunch and even made a stop at Costco.  

It was so great to be able to be of use to my momma.  The carpet is going to look great! 

Tulips

These have been sitting on my counter for a week.  They are still pretty!  I love tulips.  Mike and Jake arranged to bring them home for me and Allie.  

 They're starting to die, but we'll keep them out another day or two.  They're just so pretty!

A Snowmobiling Adventure

We woke up today and the sun was shining.  We decided to go snowmobiling.  Jason and Nathan were up for the adventure.  Allie had gym and Jake had plans with friends, so we left with just the littles.  

The sun may have been shining down in the valley, but once we got to cub river, we were in the clouds.  It started snowing as we got to the hills.  

I'm not an experienced rider, so sharing the snowmobile with Jason in powder wasn't my favorite thing.  

When Mike took him, I started getting stuck left and right.  Poor Mike had to keep pulling me out.

Nathan did great riding on his own.

After a little while, the storm started to get worse and Mike decided to call it a day.  We headed out and came upon a dad and his daughter.  They were frantically waving us down.  They were stuck.  Nathan and I stopped by them and Nathan started telling them how prepared we were to help them out.  I knew that unless Mike came along, we were useless.  Mike realized that Nathan and I had stopped so he came over and helped the dad and daughter out.  They told us that they had left another snowmobile stuck further away.  Mike got us all to the trail so he could turn back and rescue the other sled (they were completely lost, and so was I).  I got stuck again near the trail so Mike chose Nathan go go with him and drive out the other snowmobile once they dug the guy out.  I could tell Nathan was nervous, but he did it and drove back out like a pro.  

Once they were back to the trail again, Mike left to go help another group out of the powder.  Nathan came up and confided in me that he was nervous.  I reassured him that we were back to the trail now and that we'd be fine.  He still seemed a bit stressed so I asked what he was nervous about.  He said "I guess I'm just nervous because I'm at the age now where I have to do things on my own".  

He was cold and wanted to just be a kid and ride out with me or Mike, but he was on his own snowmobile and he had to man up and get it back home.  I felt so bad that he felt that stress, but at the same time, he was more capable than me.  So I was proud of him.  He's a good kid.  

  

Here we are with the dad and daughter that we helped.  Maybe someone else would have come upon them, but they would have been in trouble if no one had.  The snow was so deep, they were lost, and they were riding old snowmobiles that they "had no business riding that high up" (according to Mike).   

Mike teases me that I worry about him when he goes out snowmobiling.  After today, I realized that I really don't have much to worry about.  He is so competent out there.  The wife of the guy who was there with his daughter today had a right to worry.  The daughter kept saying "my mom told us not to get off the trail...and look what happened".  

I know there are things outside of Mike's control that I could worry about.  In fact, a guy that Mike knows was killed in an avalanche today.  I'll never stop worrying about that.  But I know that Mike has common sense and he knows what he's doing out there.  As much as I was annoyed to keep getting stuck, I knew all I had to do was stop and wait and Mike would come to my rescue.  He always did.  I know he wants me to love snowmobiling, but I just don't.  I love being out there.  I love seeing winter in the mountains in a way I'd never be able to do without a snowmobile.  But I don't love riding in powder.  It makes me swear.  For the most part, I have quit swearing.  My kids hate hearing me cuss and as much as I don't want to, sometimes a swear pops out when I drop things or get hurt.  When I'm riding on a snowmobile, I make up for all the unsaid swears.  It's impossible for me to not curse when I'm trying to turn and I can't...and then I see that I'm headed for a tree...

Ugh.  Anyway, it was a great day.  We were glad to get back to the truck.  Jason's feet were frozen and Nathan couldn't move his fingers.  We were glad to have been able to help that man and his daughter.  We were glad for the adventure.

Life is good and I'm so grateful for each day that we get.  

Peanut Butter Cookies

I am so sick of the hours my kids spend in front of a  screen.  So, when I caught them staring at the tv after dinner tonight, I made Jason go do his homework and since Nathan didn't have any, I told him to figure something else out.  Mike chimed in that he should make peanut butter cookies.  

I had to leave to pick Allie up from dance in 20 minutes, so I told him we had to hurry...  

We did it!  I let Nathan do most of the work and then I left him to bake them while I went to get Allie.  

I don't have any pictures of the finished product, but he did so great!  

It's kinda cool when you take on a project that you didn't think you'd have time for and then you do.

Sure, there are still messy dishes in the sink, but we also have delicious cookies.  So there's that. 

PCCR

I went to Jake's PCCR.  We planned out what classes he'll take next year.  I can't believe we were planning his Junior year.  He's getting so grown up!  He's got good grades and he's excited for science classes and he's doing well in math.  I'm so grateful because there have been times where we've both stressed about the homework he was working on.  We've also had to have a conversation about college and if I needed to set lower goals for him than I had in my head.  I worried that he'd fail all his classes and be lucky to get a high school diploma.  I was being dramatic of course, but I'm glad he's doing well now.  His grades count now and he's got it figured out.  Phew.  (at least for now!)

We signed him up for some concurrent enrollment classes.  It's so nice that he can take college courses in high school.  That'll save some cash.

Jake is a cute boy and he was so good to let me take pictures of him at the school.  I love you Jake Bobba Ganoosh!  I'd love you even if you were a little pill, but I sure am glad you're not.  :)

 

Beautiful Sights Out My Front Door

Jason got invited over to a neighbor's house to play in the hot tub.  Shortly after that, Mike remembered that he was supposed to bring Jason to a missionary discussion for one of Jason's friends.  So we called him back home.  

I was making dinner and Mike said "that's a funny sight" and laughed as he looked out the window.  I grabbed my camera as I walked to the door...

It was way better in person...

Speaking of sights that were way better in person, we had a beautiful sunset.  It lit up the skies on both sides.  If I hadn't been too lazy to get shoes on, I could have chased a better location for the picture...

 Still very pretty.