Month in Review

We are a little behind so here are the highlights from the last month.  Jenna competed at Gem State for 2 days at the end of March.

I'm always thankful when her coach decides to do all of the girls' hair because she is MUCH better at it than I am.

There is so much hairspray and gel in this that Jenna was able to sleep on it and use it again the next day without a single hair coming lose.

Over spring break we went to S.G. where we got to meet cousin Elliott W. for the first time.

We went hiking and got to hang out with Gramma and Grampa and cousins.

AJ, Britton, Jameson, Adam, Korinne and Jenna on right.

Cousins and games = hours of entertainment

I took the boys to the Children's museum, which was perfect for them.

AJ under the car, Jameson working on the tire.

They played in the water with cousins after finishing at the museum.  It wasn't terribly warm, but that didn't stop them from having a great time.

Around 10:30 p.m. the night before we were leaving for home we found out about an accident that happened to one of the members of our ward. Chris Checketts was in a terrible snowmobiling accident and was life-flighted to a hospital in SLC.  He was 55 years old and in the prime of his life.  His daughter was getting married in 2 weeks and we know the family well. Before we left St. George the next morning we knew he wasn't going to make it. He was on life support and the family was just waiting for family members to arrive before they took him off. We went straight to the hospital on our way home from S. G. I dropped Adam off and then took the kids to my parents house so Adam could spend some time with them.  It ended up being one of the most amazing experiences for Adam because about 15 minutes after he arrived at the hospital Elder Gary E. Stevenson, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, also arrived to see the family.  Elder Stevenson's son, Craig, just happened to be on the mountain when the accident happened.  He heard the police scanners and went to see if he could help.  Chris Checketts was with his son Jake at the time of the accident but because of weather and the location of the accident it took emergency crews 4 hours to get him off of the mountain which was just too long for his injuries. Elder Stevenson's son was the one who helped Jake get down the mountain and knowing the scope of the tragedy and their personal connection to this family (both families are long time residents of our beautiful little town of about 6,000) he called his Dad to let him know about it.  Elder Stevenson contacted the family and asked them if he could come and see them in the hospital. It was conference weekend, but Elder Stevenson said, "Pick a time between 5 p.m. and midnight and I will be there." True to his word he arrived shortly after Adam around 5:30 p.m. on Friday, April 5th. He ministered to the grief stricken family members and offered comfort and counsel.  Adam was a witness to it all and was able to assist him (along with others in the room) in giving Jake a Priesthood blessing.  Chris died the next day which just happened to be his 56th Birthday.  As a birthday gift he was able to donate 2 kidneys.

With a wedding just 2 weeks away the family decided to have the funeral as quickly as they could so the 2 events could be as far apart as possible. Adam really had to scramble to schedule multiple buildings (stake center for the funeral, another chapel for the luncheon because of a scheduled blood drive at the Stk Center that afternoon). He worked behind the scenes to resolve the many conflicts and then conducted and spoke at the funeral on Wednesday. There were so many people at the funeral that it looked like Stake Conference in the middle of the week. I think this was Adam's 6th funeral as Bishop. It is a full day for him since he is the one there to open the church for the funeral home in the morning and is there until the last family member leaves the luncheon in the afternoon.  This one was especially difficult, but the family was so amazing through it all. Yes, they are devastated, but they have chosen to see the miracles in the midst of tragedy and have truly celebrated Chris's amazing life with love and hope for the future.

In other news Britton ran for Student Body Office at Ridgeline for next year and won his election! At our high school they call it the "Executive Counsel" and they are responsible for a LOT at the high school.  He is really excited but will be CRAZY busy next year. This is exactly how Britton likes to roll, however, so it's all good to him.  

Last night was Ridgeline's Junior Prom and since Britton is one of the Junior Class Officers Adam and I were asked to chaperone the dance. After we had been at the dance for about an hour we noticed all sorts of parents showing up. They were gathering all around us and we couldn't figure out why they were there so we asked one of them, "Oh, we are here for the Promenade." WHAT?! Britton neglected to tell us there was such a thing.  Apparently all of the Juniors are announced by name and walk down the stairs to the clapping and cheering of the crowd.  In my high school the Juniors were announced like this and then did a big choreographed dance, but at Ridgeline they just announce the Juniors, name the Prom Royalty and then call it a day.  Had we not been chaperoning the dance we would have missed the entire thing. When I asked Britton about it afterwards he simply said, "I can't figure why parents would even want to come so I didn't even think to tell you guys about it." That is typical Britton for you. He is definitely not a sentimental guy.

Britton and his date Sidney walk down the stairs after being announced.

Britton and his date (middle) clapping for other couples.

Jenna also went to Prom. She borrowed a dress from a friend and had everything else she needed so she looked stunning for exactly $0. Nice.

Did you know that they now make boutonnieres with magnetic clips so you no longer have to pin them? Mind blown. No more awkward pinning moments when your date picks you up. Kids have it so easy these days. 😊

Jenna's group

Britton's pictures are coming. . .

 Now Adam and I can honestly say we went to a Prom together. 😀 It was kind of fun to have 2 of our kids at the dance with us. We decided that not much has changed in 25 years. High school dances are still high school dances.

Time for Daylight Savings

For Christmas Korinne got a few ski passes so she could go skiing with her friend Cara. She enjoyed her days on the slopes this winter.

On February 21st "Shrek the Musical" opened at the high school and Britton was the Captain of the Guards.  He tried out on a whim having never done anything like it before, and really enjoyed being in the show.  He said that he wasn't going to do it again next year, but we will see. . .

On February 23rd I went to the Utah Classic ballroom competition with Jenna. Grandma and Grandpa P were also able to come for part of the time.

 

Jenna competed in 2 individual events and placed 4th in the Cha Cha and 1st in the Quickstep. She was really excited about doing so well.  It was her first time winning an event at a big competition.

The next day Jenna turned 16 years old!

Later that week she went into get her drivers license. It's official, we now have 4 drivers in the house!

On March 2nd Jenna, Korinne and I met Grandma and Grandpa and cousin Tanner Marcum at Roots Tech in SLC.

On March 4th I took Jenna and a friend down to Hale Center Theater for her birthday present, tickets to "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder".  We went to a Monday 4 p.m. performance. On the way home we were just passing Ogden when the low tire pressure warning light came on.  I immediately started to get over to the slower lanes when we heard a lot of thumping sounds and I pulled off to the side of the highway.  It was a complete blowout with strips of tire coming off the wheel.  It was dark, and cold and the spare tire was bolted into the back and I couldn't get it lose.  We were over an hour away from home and in quite a pickle.  We were trying to get the jack out and even found some instructions but I didn't have a lot of confidence in my tire changing abilities especially in the dark . I have a college friend who lives in North Ogden so I texted her to see if maybe we could get some help but before she could get back to me a very nice young couple pulled over to help us. They had passed us earlier and decided to turn around and see if they could be of assistance.  I was VERY grateful because the guy was super strong and knew exactly what to do. Even so he had a difficult time getting the tire off because some of the lugnuts had been stripped. I know there is no way I would have been able to change it by myself after watching how long it took him to do it.   I've decided that I will no longer drive the red car to SLC without Adam.  Every time I do catastrophe happens and now I'm kind of traumatized.

The next day we had to get 2 new tires for the red car.  Later that night I was trying to leave and take Korinne to Young Womens when the garage door started to go haywire. It just kept going up and down about 2 feet and wouldn't stop.  I couldn't get it to go all the way up and I couldn't get it to go all the way down.  Adam wasn't home (of course) and the kids were scared because it wouldn't stop going up and down and there was nothing we could do to stop it. Finally I pulled the emergency stop and it slammed down. The spring was broken and the car was stuck in the garage. Ugh.  Once Adam came home we were somehow able to drive the van out of the 3rd bay (after a 148 point turn) so we could at least use it until we could get the garage door fixed. Yeah, it was a very expensive week for us.

Trying to get the van out of the garage.

I started a new job last week.  I teach English online to kids in China during the wee hours of the morning.  I've been teaching for 2 weeks and it has been an adjustment to get up at 4:30 a.m. every day, but the actual teaching part is pretty fun.  I'm in charge of my own schedule, but basically the peak times to teach and get bookings from students is between 5-7 a.m. every morning.(Well, peak time starts at 3 a.m., but 5 a.m. is the absolute earliest I'm willing to teach.) Friday and Saturday evenings are also peak times. I've discovered that getting up at 4:30 isn't too bad as long as I go to bed by 8:30 p.m. the night before. Basically I'm on east coast time without living on the east coast.

This is my classroom set up in the basement bedroom.

Britton had a soccer tournament in St. George this last weekend. 

We weren't able to go down and see it, but Gramma and Granpa C were able to go to his games and see him play.  He got quite a bit of Varsity playing time so he was pretty happy. It's hard to believe its already time for soccer again. Ready or not, here we go!

The Big Four

We used to go out with our friends quite a bit, but as all our kids have gotten older it has become even more difficult to get together so I had to document our dinner with friends on Feb 1st.

Adam was at the head of the table and wasn't in the picture, so I took a quick one just of him. As you can see, he really appreciated my efforts.

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One of our topics of conversation was the changing of ward boundaries that will most likely take place in the near future. A few wards in our stake have gotten so big that it is only a matter of time before they realign boundaries and possibly create a new ward. Although we don't have a lot of information, we figure this is one of the reasons that Adam is still Bishop.  He reached his 5 year mark in November, but because there are so many things still up the air they haven't released him and haven't given him any information about when they will. When it comes to big changes like this people assume that the Bishop knows everything, but the opposite it true, Adam knows absolutely nothing.  We are all in a "wait and see" holding pattern so he just carries on like normal.

On Feb 2nd, (Grandma P's 70th Birthday) I went with Jenna to the Dancesport ballroom dance competition at Thanksgiving Point.  Her team didn't do a team event, but they did do syllabus events as individual couples.  In years past Jenna has never advanced through the rounds at this competition because they don't divide the couples into divisions based on their experience and ability, they just throw everyone together whether they have been dancing for 2 months or 10 years.  She competed in the Waltz and the Samba and made it to the Semi-finals in the Waltz (3 rounds) and to the Quarter-finals in the Samba (2 rounds). She was thrilled.  She and her partner were the only couple in the company to make it to a semi-final round so she was happy with it. 

Jenna and a few teammates paying Scum while waiting for their next event. I only have video of her dancing so no still shots to post here.

Jenna reading to AJ.  AJ is VERY attached to Jenna. She is pretty much his 2nd Mom around the house.

Grandma P was in Argentina for her 70th Birthday, but we went over to her house and put up some birthday decorations the night before they returned from their big trip to Antarctica.

AJ has been waiting for 364 days for February 6th to roll around.  The anticipation for his Birthday was almost more than he could bear.  He talked about it constantly for months before his big day.

It's my Birthday!

Adam took him to McDonald's for his birthday breakfast and he said  AJ walked in the doors and yelled out, "It's my Birthday!" for everyone to hear. That is so AJ, it's just how he rolls.

Presents!

He loved decorating cupcakes and opening presents and getting a lot of attention on his big day. He is now 4 years old and has grown so much in the year and a half that he has been home.  When he came home he was wearing size 18 month clothes and wasn't even on the growth charts for his age, now he is wearing 4T clothes and is right in the middle of the growth charts.  He is completely caught up to his peers when it comes to language even though he didn't hear a word of English until he was 2.5 years old. It's amazing, really, to see how far he has come in such a short amount of time. Now the wait for next year's Birthday begins . . . 

For Christmas Britton, Jenna and Korinne each got a ticket to Wicked.  Yesterday the day of the show finally arrived and we traveled for the matinee performance in SLC.  

Jenna sat down and being the Broadway fan that she is, opened the program and immediately recognized the name of the actress playing Glinda. "Oh my goodness! It's Kara Lindsey! She played Katherine Plummer in the Newsies with Jeremy Jordan. I'm totally fangirling!" And yes, she was incredible and really nailed the part.

There is nothing like seeing an actual Broadway play with a real Broadway cast.  They were AMAZING and during the intermission we were all a little giddy with how awesome the show was.

Being a part of the musical at the high school Britton has a newfound appreciation for how difficult it is to do what these cast members were doing.  He could identify ever bit of technique he had learned about and was blown away by the performance.  We kind of loved and he loved it so much. He almost didn't come because it was the same day as the Sweethearts dance that he had been asked to, but his date was a Broadway fan herself so she understood the dilemma and planned to do the day portion of the date the night before so he could go to Wicked the day of. We rushed home after the performance and he left for his date at 6:30 p.m. (Pictures are coming)

Adam stayed home with the boys and they had fun at Pizza Pie Cafe and watching a movie from Redbox.  They also each spent a little bit of time with Grandma and Grandpa P.