March Lacrosse

"In like a lion, out like a lamb"? I wish!

March has been a month of contradictions for us. One day 60* and sunny, the next day 30* and snowing. Yup. It has not been a fun month. We all so desperately want summer weather! Ugh.

And, of course, since March is (sort of) the start of spring, that means it is time to resume lacrosse!

Will has been going to practices for several weeks now. These pictures were taken today while I waited for him to pack up his gear at the end of try-outs. (Will is in the center of each shot)

Yup. Yesterday and today were the try-outs for teams and positions. All the practices up to now were in prep for this try-out. There are enough boys to make an 'A' team and a 'B' team. The 'A' team will be made up of more experienced players.

Tomorrow the teams will be announced at practice. Then practices will continue with all the boys from both teams working out together, probably.

Will is one of only a few defensive players, and one of only 3 potential goalies. His chances of being put on both teams is high. I think he is kind of hoping for that, actually. It would give him double the playing time.

I, however, don't care which team he ends up on. I just want him to have fun!

Oh. And if you think the weather looks pretty miserable and cold in these shots... it was. On the way home, though, he complained that I had the heater up too high! He was plenty warm from the exercise he had just done. Go figure!

Flowers from Bill

Bill has been donating his time to other family members after work each evening this week. First he was at Crystal and Jeff's house helping them with their sprinkler system. Then he was at his mother's house tilling her garden.

He must have been feeling guilty about being gone. It is true that our sprinkler system is not in, yet; but our garden is tilled beautifully and awaiting the proper moment for planting... Thanks, hun! When he came home from his mother's he was carrying this bouquet of daffodils for me! They smell so nice! I have no flowers because my yard is entirely dirt. I am definitely going to plant some daffodils and grape hyacinths asap! And tulips, and roses, and ornamental grasses, and lace leaf maples....

Actually, I just planted 3 rose bushes, a raspberry bush, a blueberry bush, and a blackberry bush.

And so it begins.

Friday Night at the Watson's

After running a few errands, and going on a quick Rubio's dinner date (oh, that is such a YUMMY place to eat!  I love shrimp tacos!!), I sat down to finish shelling a box of walnuts that the neighbors gave to us.  Meanwhile, Bill prepared everything he would need to go on an early morning mountain biking adventure tomorrow.

Helena helped me shell the walnuts while we discussed the logistics of the date she had been invited on tomorrow.  A boy named Matt invited her to go with a group of other friends to the Festival of Colors at the Hari Krishna Temple in Spanish Fork.  It is apparently THE event that most of the high school kids are planning to attend this weekend.

After helping with the walnuts, Helena went to try on her prom dress to make sure it still fit.  We bought it several years ago, you see.  A store in the mall was relocating and didn't want to have to move the merchandise, so they had a massive clear-out.  We found a gorgeous dress for only $20!!  I had no way of knowing if she would ever need it, or if it would even fit when the time came; but I couldn't pass it up!  And now?  It fits perfectly and she looks AMAZING in it!

So, Helena was twirling around and planning all the details.  Meanwhile, Will and his friend, Dallan (who is spending the night), were in the downstairs bathroom having a cologne war and messing with outrageous hair styles.  I went down there and teased them about getting ready for a double date.

Cloak and Dagger Dating...

... aka, HELENA GETS ASKED TO PROM!

Last night, Helena went with the Young Women of our ward to sell parking tickets for a local sporting event to raise money for girls' camp. Not long after she got home, she got a strange call from a guy friend (named Nick) telling her to come outside. When she stepped out, she noticed the cake and message that you see pictured above.

She brought it to me saying "I think I'm going to cry!"

My first thought (before reading the note) was, 'Oh. It's nice that the YW would make you a cake, but why would that make you want to cry?' That was until I read the note.

Nick then sent her a text to inform her that it is not him.

So, I can assume from the "We" in the invite that Nick was a party to it and that he and his date will be going double with Helena and her date.

Helena had a good time digging through the cake to find out who was asking her to the prom. He wrapped each letter of his name in tin foil and mixed it into the batter before baking. It became pretty obvious who it was after only finding a couple of letters, though, because the first letter found was an "O". Not many of her male friends have an "O" in their names. In fact, she only has two friends with an "O" in their names. After finding the third letter, there was no more doubt. It is Connor.

Soon, Helena realized that she would need to come up with some clever/cheesy way to answer him. She decided to take my suggestion, so here is what we did...

Helena typed up the message you can see in the bottom left of the picture. Then she folded it up and sealed it in a Ziploc baggie and taped it up. Then we dumped a bag of ice into an empty laundry bucket (ice that Bill graciously went out and bought last night... Thanks, Bill!), placed the message on top, and dumped a second bag of ice on top of all. She then filled it with water and we placed it in the garage freezer until morning.

At 6 a.m., Helena and I drove to Connor's house and left her answer (a frozen block of ice) on his doorstep. She sent him a text to let him know his answer was waiting, then we went home to get ready for the day. It didn't take long to hear from him, though. He sent her a text that said, "Holy Crap, Helen! Haha." (Some of her friends have nicknamed her 'Helen').


So, there you have it. My blow-by-blow of Helena's first invite to Prom. It also happens to be her first invite on a date, too! I am very happy for her and hope she has a wonderful time!

MATT GOT MARRIED!

You heard me.

Holy cow.

My first clue came when I sent him a text at the beginning of March requesting a verification of his snail mail address so I could send his birthday present (his b-day is March 9th).  The address he sent back was an off base address.

I was surprised and asked (in text) if he had moved off base?

Yes.

So I asked, 'When did that happen and who are you rooming with?'

No response.

Hm.

Then, Bill called Matt on his birthday to give our birthday wishes.  Bill and Matt were joshing around for a minute before Bill asked 'What's new?'

Matt told Bill that he had gotten married!  But, he also jokingly replied that he now had 3 kids, so Bill decided that Matt must be joking about all of it, including the part about being married.

I wasn't so sure.

I checked his facebook status, which still said 'single'.  However, a buddy had left a birthday wish on Matt's profile that said (essentially), 'congrats, when do I get to meet the wife, and you better change that fb status!'

Within a few days the status changed to 'married'.

We both tried to reach Matt, without success, until this past Sunday.  I got hold of him and tried to get as much info out of him as I could.  He seemed reluctant to share and surprised that I seemed to feel like we had a right to know.

Here is what we know so far;

Her name is Kimberlyse, Kim for short.  She was born August 15, ????.  They got married on Valentine's Day (Feb. 14, 2010).  She is a massage therapist and holistic something-something (sorry, I wrote it down, then lost the paper).  She is not a vegetarian.  She does not have any children from previous relationships.  She was already living in a house, so they don't need help with housekeeping set up.

Things I did not ask:

Is she a member of our church?

Is she pregnant?

I know that last one sounds rude and nosy (which is why I did not ask), but they did get married very quickly (I don't think they knew each other for more than a month before the wedding) and that kind of rush to the alter makes most people wonder and look for reasons for the hurry.

Sweater Weather

You know, I really want it to be warm out!

There are only 43 more days of school left.  8 1/2 weeks of school.  It will be warm and wonderful at the end, but I really want warm NOW!

Today it rained, it snowed, and was a very chilly sunny, too.  The wind is high, which is why we had so many different weather conditions in one day.  I am bundled into a sweater, but it is not quite warm enough.  I want to crawl under a blanket and just sleep away the cold weather!

Bleh.

Junior Year Registration

Today was the beginning of the registration window for the upcoming junior class of 2011. 

The online registration site has said all along that registration would begin at 3:00 p.m.  I was glad, because that meant that everyone would have time to get home before we needed to get online.

Yeah.

Helena called me at 2:10 p.m. in a panic to tell me that registration ACTUALLY BEGAN AT 2:00!!!

Apparently, news of the early opening caused a firestorm of panicked texts amongst the students.

I was still at work!  She was stranded walking halfway between home and the school! 

After calming her down, I realized that I had (by some miracle) recorded her login info in the memos feature of my phone and Helena had a copy with her of the registration plans we had made last night.  I had her dictate the planned schedule to me and told her I would call her back if there were any problems.  Then I logged back into my work computer to see what I could do.

Fortunately, I managed to get her into almost all of the classes she wanted!  Some of them were down to 6 or less seats left.  The Government/Citizenship class she wanted was full, so I put her into a Psychology class in that time slot (she wanted to take that, too, so it was all good).  Also, she wants to take Ballroom, but that is an audition only class, so I filled in that time slot with two 'filler' classes that she would enjoy just in case she doesn't make the team.  If she makes the varsity team, we'll drop those two and add Ballroom.

So.  Here is her schedule as it now stands:

A Day

1. English 11 Honors
2. Latin 1
3. Physics
4. Seminary

B Day

1. Shakespeare (1st sem.)/Modern World History (2nd)
2. Digital Photo / Psychology
3. Orchestra
4. College Prep Math

The Shakespeare/Mod. Wld. Hist. will be dropped if she makes the varsity Ballroom team.  College Prep Math is because she is NOT mathematically minded.  It is like the Math Analysis class I took my jr. year.

She is also registering for Finacial Literacy this summer on the online highschool with her friend, Caitlin.  With that, and the schedule above, she will have all but 1.5 required classes and 5 elective classes taken care of.  She plans to take another class in the summer between jr. and sr. year, so she will only have 1 required class left by her senior year.

Whew!

Statement from Governor Romney on House passage of the health care bill.

"America has just witnessed an unconscionable abuse of power. President Obama has betrayed his oath to the nation — rather than bringing us together, ushering in a new kind of politics, and rising above raw partisanship, he has succumbed to the lowest denominator of incumbent power: justifying the means by extolling the ends. He promised better; we deserved better.



He calls his accomplishment “historic” — in this he is correct, although not for the reason he intends. Rather, it is an historic usurpation of the legislative process — he unleashed the nuclear option, enlisted not a single Republican vote in either chamber, bribed reluctant members of his own party, paid-off his union backers, scapegoated insurers, and justified his act with patently fraudulent accounting. What Barack Obama has ushered into the American political landscape is not good for our country; in the words of an ancient maxim, “what starts twisted, ends twisted.”



His health-care bill is unhealthy for America. It raises taxes, slashes the more private side of Medicare, installs price controls, and puts a new federal bureaucracy in charge of health care. It will create a new entitlement even as the ones we already have are bankrupt. For these reasons and more, the act should be repealed. That campaign begins today."

Saturdays are for fun...

Usually, the first half of Saturday is spent either cleaning or sleeping in. 

Today I did a little of both.

This afternoon, Bill took Will out in the wilderness somewhere to drive a dune buggy and shoot guns.

I know.  You are thinking; "somewhere in the wilderness?!  Shouldn't you know specifically where they were?!  What if they got lost or injured?  How would you direct search and rescue efforts?"

Again, I know.  I really ought to be more on top of that sort of thing.  Bill goes off into the mountains on his mountain bike so often and to so many different places that I have stopped keeping track of where he goes.  I should have him write his anticipated location on the white board in the kitchen before he leaves each time so I don't have to try to remember it.  The names of the various canyons all sound the same and mean nothing to me geographically.

Anyways, they came back safe and sound and Will enjoyed himself quite a bit.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Helena and I went out for lunch at Cafe Rio, where we ran into acquaintances from her ballet days.  They were a younger dancer and her mother; the latter being the chaperon in charge of Helena for the final part of her European trip last summer.  We invited them to share a table with us so we could catch up with each other's lives.  It turns out that the younger dancer had also quit the ballet scene just recently.

After lunch, we went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to look for a pot rack for over the stove.  The only one they had was WAY over priced, so we loitered for a little while trying out the demos of some shiatsu massage chair thingys before heading over to the movie theater...

At the theater, we walked right into a showing of Alice In Wonderland.  We only missed maybe one trailer (funny how they are still called 'trailer' even though they are now shown prior to the feature).  It was a fun show!

After the show, we zipped over to WalMart to pick up some groceries, then hurried home so Helena could finish her homework.

Now it is just about bed time and I am looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow, too!

Educational moments?!?

Here are two elementary school stories for you...

One of the 1st grade classes was going over their spelling list earlier this month.  One of the words was 'THREE'.  The teacher said, "On the count of three, say three.  One, two, three...";

"THREE!" shout the kids.

The teacher tells them she will use it in a sentence.  The spelling sentences are scripted out of the manual, just so you know...

She reads, "A man can't have THREE wives."

Who is the idiot who wrote that sentence for first graders, anyway?!  She admits she hadn't pre-screened and repented reading it as soon as it was out of her mouth.

A little girl in the class raises her hand and says...

"I know.  My Daddy had Mommy and a girlfriend, and my Mommy was really mad!  And that was only TWO!"

!!!

A first grader!  No lie.

I am just glad the school boundary shifts moved all the polygamist families out of our boundaries a couple of years ago!  I can only imagine the comments from the kids then! 

Polygamists, you say?  Yeah.  There is another story for you.  Remind me to tell it some other time.


Here is another story that is not as funny.

A second grader named Cameron got in trouble for who knows what yesterday, so his teacher sent a note home to his mom... in the care of the little miscreant.  Uh-huh.

This afternoon at lunch his teacher was furious because she had thought that he was 'absent' this morning, but then found out...

Actually, his mom had dropped him off this a.m. (never having gotten the note).  He decided it would be best to just lay low for the day.  He never went in.  No one realized he'd gone AWOL because he was just marked 'absent'.  Another parent found him wandering around outside (exactly where I never found out) and brought him in FOUR HOURS after he had been dropped off by his mom!

A second grader!

Oi!

My frustrating girl

Helena playing with a plastic bag...

I am learning how to let go and allow my children to live their own lives.

It is probably the hardest thing I have had to do so far as a parent.

When they were little and neglected homework or chores, a little nagging mom factor was all it took to get my way.

Now I can nag until I lose my temper and my cool... but it won't change anything. In fact, it seems to have the opposite of the desired effect.

There is simply a limited amount of things I can do. After that, I have to let them make the decisions on the outcomes.

For instance, Helena's grades are not anywhere near where they should be. She tells me the classes are hard. Duh. They are supposed to be! She is supposed to put in the extra effort to learn what she needs to know. She doesn't put in the effort, though she thinks otherwise.

I have nagged (she ignores it). I have yelled (she mocks it). I have begged (she walks away). I have thrown temper tantrums (she laughs at me... I can't blame her there!). I have offered my help (she doesn't want it), I have even tried to arrange tutors (she really threw a fit about that one)! I have taken away all electronic devices. She is only allowed on the computer for educational purposes. She is grounded from friends (except when they come over to work on homework/group assignments with her) and parties. She isn't allowed to get her license until grades improve.

I am not sure when she will decide to step up to the plate and deliver so she can have a better quality of life. I just know that I have to stop stressing about it because it is really beyond my control. After all, I have my own life to live! I can't keep ruining my own mood just because she is screwing up her life.

Oh. But it is hard!

I have a bad attitude, I think...

In Relief Society today the lesson was on the Creation.  A very easy and concrete lesson, don't you think?

I thought so, too, until the teacher made a comment that made me squirm.  The gist of what she said goes something like this;

Since is says right in Genesis that God created the earth out of unformed matter, the Big Bang theory must be wrong.

?!?!

I need to state right now that I know that the teacher is not paid to preach.  I know that everyone comes from different backgrounds and education levels.  I know I need to sift through personal comments and find the kernels of gospel truth.

However, I could not let the comment slide.  No one else seemed to be upset at her conclusion, but I hate the thought that some young (or even older) sister might be accepting everything as gospel truth!  I raised my hand and pointed out that Genesis is refering to the creation of the Earth, not the Universe.  I also mentioned that the Big Bang theory states that all matter that currently comprises the universe was at some distant time all compressed into one point and that the universe as we know it was created in an explosion of that matter that is still expanding outward at a measurable rate.  But the point is... it WAS matter before and after the Big Bang.  There is no reason to preclude God's hand in that theory and we don't have to choose between science and Christianity.

There were other awkward moments in the lesson and I raised my hand a few more times to put in comments that hopefully balanced out some of the most ignorant moments, but after a while I just gave up and endured the remainder of the lesson.

I have a testimony of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ; and of the restored gospel on the earth.  Relief Society is usually my favorite part of church.  It is usually so spiritually uplifting that I can just let this afternoon go... at least until next month when this sister teaches again.

Check out my school blog...

I am not sure if you knew, but I have another blog.  It is my classroom website, actually.  I don't write much about my work here, because I write it all on that blog. 

So, if you want to see what the other half of my life is like, I cordially invite you to click HERE to go visit it and see all the fun stuff I get paid to do!

Puppy love

How can you resist the cute-ness factor of a puppy?

Kirsten's and Paul's mini dachshund had a litter of puppies not long ago. We played with them when we were over for dinner last Sunday.  These puppies are actually cousins to our dogs, Bella and Demi.  The puppies mom, Gretchen, is our dogs' 'aunt'.

Dinner was fantastic, too... but somehow I didn't get any pictures of the yummy food. Just lots of pictures of puppy cute-ness.

Not to worry, though. Our house has a two dog maximum limit. Puppy cute-ness is nice to visit, but I don't need more of it around my house!

A Pepper Moment...

Sorry there is no photo to go with this post, but it is dark and  my phone doesn't have a flash.

Last night, Bill was trying to figure out which 'luggage' to use for his 3 day weekend mountain biking get-away to Southern Utah (he left this morning).  He tried Helena's carry-on before settling on one of her older school backpacks.  In the meantime, he emptied all of the residue of Helena's last voyage onto a side table in the living room and left it there.

Tonight the living room is dark because the kids are watching a movie and I am on this computer.  Suddenly, Pepper came streaking across the room... with a tampon in his mouth! 

Not to worry, it is still in its wrapper.  The tampon was amongst the detrius that is waiting to be cleaned from the table.

Yeah. I know.  Kinda gross.  Tampons scattered in plain sight in the living room?!  I don't clean on Fridays.  That is a Saturday morning kind of thing.  Besides, we are having a quiet, stay-at-home weekend.

Anyways, we all had a good laugh, watching Pepper bat it around and treat it like a toy until Helena took it away from him.

March Snow Storm

It is really rude to wake up to 6+ inches of snow on the first week of March! We have been having weather in the low 50's for a few days, so this was not welcome at all! Fortunately, much of it melted by the next day, though there are still pockets of residue in shadowy and north facing areas.

I really appreciated the pergola this winter! It catches the snow that would have accumulated on the back patio right in my path to the garage! No more snow shovelling just to reach my car! Of course, that means it drips like crazy when it is melting, but I can live with that. I think it is a small price to pay to save me some labor.

Still love my classy red doors!

Ugh!

We were supposed to have a French tutor come over this afternoon to help Helena study.  She is a senior at BYU who is volunteering tutoring time through BYU's 'Y Serve' program.

When the tutor first called and volunteered her service, Helena was UPSET!  She doesn't like change, and didn't like the idea of a tutor, especially since she is passing the class.

After a week to reflect, though, Helena helped me clean the house thoroughly (so as to leave a good first impression) and was looking forward to meeting her.

She was a no show.

I am guessing that she forgot.  I can't really get angry, since she would have been volunteering her time.  I didn't pay her, after all.

Still, I am proud of my girl for rising to the occasion and being willing to give it a shot.  Hopefully we can get it to work sometime in the next few weeks.  It would be good to have someone with real French language skills to converse with Helena and help her with it all.  I can read it and maybe write it 'un peu', but I'm no conversationalist.