Distraction is going to cost me!

Joey is a mystery more often than not. Okay, not really. He is actually very predictable. For instance, in the mornings he thinks he needs to be on the computer. And usually it involves games of some sort, lately watching a youTube video of one or another. The rule is he needs to wait until Mackenzie is off to school and his teeth are brushed (his teeth have never been cleaner!) And he has swallowed his pill as opposed to hiding it somewhere he thinks mom will not find!!!
Thursday morning my parents and I planned a visit to the temple and we left a little before he had to leave for the bus stop. I came back from my parents just to tell him to make sure he locked the door. It does not include gaming at all so you can see how that would go unnoticed, right?
Well, after the session my mom wanted to go get lunch but I had this feeling I needed to check at the house, only because one time Joey was so distracted that he missed the bus and ended up walking to school and missed two periods (and never told me!) and I needed to make sure he was gone. Well, I got to the house and the door was locked! I was pretty impressed that my little man remembered but then as I unlocked the screen door I realized the front door was wide open! And it was hot!
Yep, my little man had left the door open when he left for school! FOR THREE HOURS!!!
I was spending good money cooling off the front porch!!! I was going to ring his little neck!!! All I can say is it is a good thing school had a few more hours to go because I was going to throttle the kid. (I didn't, by the way! I had calmed down and it has become a good story. I am sure when I get the electric bill, it will be a whole different story!)

Joeys coming Home!

After three weeks of blissful quiet, we headed up to Flagstaff to bring home my little man. Even Mackenzie missed him! And he looked so happy to see us! I think this the longest he has been away from home! But what a mess he was! His ankles were almost brown from caked on dirt, his face had not been washed in days. And if the lake had been close enough, I think I would have thrown him in! He insisted that he did a lot of laundry, you know, cuz last time I made a big deal about it. When I asked him how many times he showered, he admitted he only showered twice.

IN THREE WEEKS!!!

Apparently getting his swimming merit badge counted. (four times in the water) Thank goodness chlorine has its own cleaning agents! Needless to say when we got home that boy and I had a date with destiny!! We cleaned his face with facial cleanser for the first time ever. After the experience he promised me he would shower every other day. Why don't I think of these things before he goes to camp?

HIs phone came back unharmed from camp. I was somewhat surprised. And the 300 minutes, 300 messages died as we pulled into camp to pick him up. I was impressed! I thought he would use up those minutes long before he finished his job.

 

All fun aside, I love my kid! I really did miss him and I hear he wants to do it all again next year! I am proud that he wanted to give up so much time to volunteer and that his heart is growing fond of service. He is growing up to be someone I am proud of. 

 

Speaking of growing, please keep him in your prayers,  We are hoping and praying every day that he gets taller and every little bit helps :)

 

 

 

We dropped Joey off at camp and then I headed up 10 days later to make sure he was okay. Travis could not get off so Tami and Jim were going to come with us. Tami totally forgot she had a presidency meeting. You see, she was just called to be the first counselor in the Relief Society in her ward. So I went up with Jim, Zach, and Josh. Mackenzie stayed with Emily. Yeah, she has had enough of Camp Raymond, lol!

 

Joey's job was the quartermaster, or he was in charge of the equipment shed. He loved it and he was good at it! He checked stuff in and out every day. He was so proud of his shed!!!

 

I  must admit I didn't miss him as much as I thought I would. Actually it is probably because he did call me. In fact, he called me at least 4 times a day! -And the reason I came up in the middle of his session is because I got a call from him a few days before that was unbelievable.

It was 5 in the morning and the call came in and he was crying and screaming that I needed to come and get him. It was raining so hard and the wind was blowing the tent in all directions. He cried and cried and wanted to come home. No matter what I said, he could not calm down. He even put the phone down and was hysterical for a bit until he realized I was still on the line. I told him to go to the mess hall and wait the storm out. He would feel better. He finally said he would. I called him back about three hours later to see how he was doing. He said he was fine and in regards to the conversation we had earlier, I should forget about it. He didn't want to come home after all. That must have been one storm!!!

Meanwhile, when I got there his tent was a mess! And I made him clean it up. Jim just laughed and Joey decided I didn't need to visit him anymore but I threatened him that I would be there every day unless kept his laundry up. Jim kept laughing. (Joey did find three shirts that he insisted were left at home.) Zach smiled and thanked his lucky stars that it want him! Hah! Wait till we get home, buster!!!

 

Meanwhile, Mackenzie got new glasses. Aren't they cute?

The Fourth

We kind of spent his and hers fourth of July this year. Britt wanted to go to Benson to celebrate their traditions. My favorite was the parade. I took Loren, Britt, and Mackenzie with me and we left Sunday night. The next morning was the parade. Mackenzie was in it. The rest of us watched from the sidelines. It was pretty good for a small town. Tons of tractors, even Ronald McDonald showed up on a tractor. There was a band but they performed on the back of a flatbed truck. I was not impressed.

But I was impressed with the Barney Auto Sales entry. They had a bunch of trucks on top of a trailer with kids riding on the vehicles and walking next to them. Dakota, Cheyenne, and their families were there and even Mackenzie got to ride up on the white truck. But best of all was this girl!!!

 

She is the reason I come here and I love her to death. This trip was a bit hard and this girl made sure I was taken care of. She gave me her time even though so many of the Barneys were there and I will love her forever for it!!!

We stayed for fireworks and then headed home.

 

Mackenzie's First Year at Girls Camp

 

Mackenzie went to girls camp for the first time ever! I was so worried! She was held back in school because she was too immature for first grade. She still acts a little childlike but that's okay. She is the baby and I gotta hold as long as I can, right? Anyway, she did very well! Tami was there and she kept an eye on her and Angela was her YCL. -  One leader commented that she always had a positive attitude when a lot of the girls didn't. That makes me so happy to hear! She is always making sure everyone around here feels better, Joey is her exception, of course, but that is a whole other story! I think she will be even better when her friend Alex  is old enough to go next year!

Special thanks to my awesome sister who took these wonderful pictures!!!

 She loved adventure day the most and but really she loved everything about it. She loved her leaders and said they were a lot of fun! One was Marie Montgomery, the 1st counselor in Stake Primary to my second. Wonderful lady!!!
 

Our Little Trip

 Such a busy week! Joey reported to Camp Raymond on Sunday, Mackenzie is headed to girls camp, Zach is going to  comic-con for a few days at the end of the week, which leaves Ashley and Travis here on their own. Oh, well. They are adults. They will figure it out!
 

With Joey and Kenzie busy for the week, I thought about it and decided I wanted to do something too! Britt and I played around with the idea of going to Salt Lake and doing Lagoon and what better time to go than the same week the little ones are busy! If Joey continues to go to Raymond I think this might become a tradition.
 

We bought our tickets and we left the same day Mackenzie headed up to camp! ME being the most responsible person in the world forgot my drivers license!!! They finally let me board with my insurance card! (Yeah, I called Travis as soon as I could and he promised he would send my Drivers License to Jeff's house ASAP!)

We flew into Provo and then took the FrontRunner into Bountiful where Jeff and his little family picked us up! They are so cute! They talked and talked the whole night. They didn't know our names but they called us friends. 'My friend this, her did that'. So cute!!! I can't wait to be a Grandma!!! 
Their front room window looks up to the Bountiful temple! It is so beautiful!!! And the girls had a lot to say about it! They went on and on about how Moroni got hurt and had a hole in his back. A few weeks ago lightening struck the Moroni statue on the Bountiful temple and it needed to be replaced.  The Meridian temple was not ready for theirs yet so Bountiful got it. and the girls were so excited that Moroni was better! If life were only that easy!!!
 

The next morning we woke up and Jeff called me into his office (He works at home). He was so cute, concern all over his face. Apparently I did not plan very well after all and it turns out that Lagoon opens the next day! I talked with Britt and we decided to play in Salt Lake for the day instead.

WE went to Temple Square, Joseph Smith memorial,  the conference center, and then to the mall for shopping and lunch.  Jeff picked us up early and we headed back to his house, stopping to get a kiddie pool first. We set it up and the girls and I played in the water while Britt had a nap. It was so nice catching up with Jeff. I really miss not having him closer!!! And he is so cute with his girls! They had the best time showing off, trying so hard to not to get wet in the pool, and enjoying having someone new capturing their attention. And honestly, I loved it too! Did I mention I cannot wait to be a Grandma?

 

Lagoon was the next day and I had a great time with Britt! The lines were short enough that even though we only had four hours to play, we still accomplished all we wanted to. We even caught the FrontRunner back into Provo. Funny, I had never seen Salt Lake that way before. It was very cool! (I barely got my drivers license in time!)
 And, to top the whole night of, we ended our trip with a four hour delay!!! We did not get home until probably 1 am. Luckily Mackenzie wouldn't be home until the next afternoon.
And I did get a glimpse of Travis before he headed up to Flagstaff that morning to get Joey! It was a great little trip and I am so in love with those two girls!!!! My parents are headed up next week to see them and I hear they have a big surprise, I kind of have an idea but I will keep that to myself for now!!!

Britt's favorite ride!

 

 

Camp Raymond

After packing for over a week, getting him a prepaid phone (heaven help everyone whose phone number he knows) and fitting that little body into two men's uniforms, we are here!

 

We did it! We dropped him off at Camp Raymond. We took the three younger ones with us and made it a day!

We arrived and we needed to put together his cot. Luckily the tents were already put up. We didn't get a chance to meet his roommate but we did see Landon Schnebly and he helped us get what we needed. He is waiting for his mission papers and we are so excited for him! He will be up there the whole time and he said he would keep an eye on Joey for me. That is one tall order!!!

 

!

The campsite was set up in a circle with a shade canopy in the middle. Kind of like the pioneers when they circled up at their campgrounds.

Here he is in front of his home for the week!

Zach, kind of helping but not really. He was too busy giving Joey a hard time and annoying him. Funny how the rolls changed so quickly!

 

He says he is going to call me every day. I love this kid! I am going to miss him! And our house will be so quiet!!!

 

Kenzie was not impressed. She is ready to head home. She has her own camping experience to worry about this week!

Gary's Visit

I got a call out of the blue from Gary!!! He was coming to visit!!! He was working at the Phoenix Convention Center for a week and wanted to stay a few extra days and visit with us so he called me! I was so honored!!! He came in the weekend before Graduation and we had a great time! We had dinner with Tami and Jim and that was a lot of fun! 

 

The next day we went to the ghost town with a bunch of the kids.
He said he got a kick out of the Zach and Joey, especially their relationship with each other. Apparently he thought they were funny and they made my house a fun happy place to be.

 He even came to church with us on Sunday. And then he joined us for dinner that night. It gave us a chance to catch up. In fact, we found out Garrett, his 2nd oldest son, was getting married while they would be visiting Jeff and it was decided that they were going to come to the wedding!!! That was perfect timing!

 

It was wonderful having Gary here! It is always awesome when my two worlds collide, but I will admit that I missed someone else  just a little bit while he was here!!!

 

Here is his beautiful Family. I will get the names wrong I am sure but they are Chandler, Garrett, Bryson, McKay, and the twins and I can't remember their names!!!

Class of 2016!

Congratulations to my niece, Danni Pace, who graduated with honors! So proud of this girl and love her to death!!!

 

 

 

My sister and I! We have been to 4 graduations together and four more to go!!! Couldn't do it without her and vice versa, I hope!!!

 

End of the Year Projects

Depending on the child. my favorite part of the end of the year is the projects. For instance, Mackenzie needs to turn in her book report in the form of a cereal box. She did cute! She cut out the front and has a picture in the inside of the box to represent the book and the written information on the back. Smart girl, that one!

 

Joey, on the other hand, has a very interesting project. In his math class he was given "15,000" from an uncle, Joey being his favorite nephew, to spend on stuff. The remaining money going to his brothers and sisters. So my little man decides he wants to buy a coffin. He has always wanted to sleep in one ( his eternal slumber doesn't count. Apparently you need to appreciate a casket while you are alive! Obviously I missed that life lesson!) He not only buys one but two! You know, gotta have one for his friend when they decide to spend the night. He then buys a mini fridge, a purple one at that, because he doesn't want to leave his room. He did get a dresser. I am proud! (...Just found out its to hold his 50" TV as well as his clothes...) And a vending machine! You know he needs to make money off himself apparently!
Oh no! I missed the treadmill so he can burn off all those calories from the fridge and the vending machine! ...And the skeet ball machine!!! I love my son!

The rest of the money was spent on Minecraft stuff! A desk, A computer, a camera, and other nonsensical items for becoming a Minecraft addict. He did get some curtains, though, to keep all the light out. (looks like he is never leaving the room! I am surprised he didn't spend money on a porta potty!) And the total bill came to 15,000, which leaves nothing for his brothers and sisters!!! Ain't he a sweetie?

Can I just say he really needs to go to camp this summer?

I Am Not A Farmer!!!

Yep, Last fall Travis brought home baby chicks! They were so cute and fluffy and little balls of tiny soft down fur! I loved them! We all did!
 And then it was time to move them outside! And of course they had to be free range but that was okay because they were cute!!!
And then he brought home more. Adult chickens who have an attitude. They were mean to our little ones, but they gave us eggs. So we kept them, although the meanest we secretly named Dinner! And this went on for a while.
And then Travis got to missing those little cute fluffy things and brought home three more babies. Well. those three were picked on my the other small ones. There was a pattern!!!
The very little ones grew up and one of them happened to be a rooster. I figured this out one early morning while he was working on his CockAdoodleDoo! He worked and worked on that thing, sometimes 25 or more times before 6 AM! Well, you can imagine his cuteness quickly flew out the window, or the coop, which has become their new home. (And they don't like it!)
Did you know that chickens fly? And over fences? And they love to eat grass to where there is none left?  I learned that the hard way!
Meanwhile, I woke up one morning to a surprise! I was at a meeting the night before and I completely missed the excitement of the evening. I received a text from Travis asking me if I was mad. I said I didn't understand. He said to go look outside. And there sat a rabbit. It was white and I thought it was cute!!! Until I tried to touch it! Turns out it was a wild thing and the owners finally caged it and got rid of it. Of course they found Travis!!!
So in my backyard I have 9 chickens, one a rooster who has already taking an interest in my hens and a mean wild rabbit who thinks it's going to build a tunnel under the house to the front yard. What is a person to do?
Yep, cage them in. Except farmer Travis bought plastic chicken wire and the bunny likes to chew it. We shoo the chickens into their yard only to have the rabbit chew a hole for them to leave. Why? Because the chickens have the best food!
I fix a hole and there is a new one! I fix that one and there is one where the original one is. I get them all shooed into their yard and a knock on the door saying there are chickens in the front yard. If I were an Indian my name would be Crazy Chicken Shooer! All I do in a normal day is babysit chickens!!!
And the rabbit! It got out of it's cage and we can't catch it! We have tried to set trap, lure it with food, but it seems to laugh at us! I hate that rabbit! I feel like I have become a bad rendition of Elmer Fudd from those Bugs Bunny cartoons. (I have a whole new outlook on that cartoon!!! Who knew Elmer was the real hero?)  I finally told farmer Travis that it was me or the rabbit. He's working on giving it a new home. He better and soon because one of us is going crazy and the other is laughing while eating all of the chicken feed!!!
And I need to step away from my poor computer now because I am getting carried away and I will tell you the fate of my poor rooster tomorrow!

Joey in trouble at school

Joey was suspended from school. He was playing soccer and a big kid, one who has been picking on him for a few months, got into his face demanding he be goalie since the last three balls made it in. Joey was cornered and he hit the kid. Then two other boys stepped in and Joey started swinging at them too! (I don't think he hit them) A few other kids separated them and the substitute came and sent Joey to the principals office. He stayed there and had a discussion with the principal and vice principal. He was suspended for two days, It should have been 5 days but considering the other kid was bullying him he got off with only two.

We had a very busy weekend with decorating for Stake activity Day and then the funeral of Grandpa Jensen Yesterday so it went by really fast. I took him in this morning and we met with the Vice Principal again to make sure he was allowed to be on campus. He explained how Joey needed to come and tell someone when he was being bullied and let the authorities take care of it from there. Joey wanted to go to a different school next year but he has since realized it will be the same in anywhere he goes. This is something he will need to get used to.

I got the impression that the vice principal's opinion was that Joey did good. Sometimes you have to stand up for yourself at least once and the kids leave you alone and maybe even respect you a little bit. But because he broke school policy he had to be disciplined. I think Joey will go into the next situation a little differently and will hopefully have a clearer head. And I also hope he grows a little taller this summer before he comes back next year!

I left campus a little overwhelmed. I was leaving my little man there with someone who might hurt him if given the chance. I had to have faith the teachers and administration would have his back. I knew they would but for that one moment I really struggled walking away from him.

Sometimes Parenting sucks !

Lion King Jr.

Well, I can't mention Peter Pan and not mention The Lion King Jr! Yep, my little man jumped onboard the musical bandwagon and tried out for Taylor Jr High's musical! He got in! Yep, I am just as surprised!!!
 But really, he is very dramatic, squeals like a girl, and has facial expressions even Norman Rockwell would envy! But he only made it in the ensemble. And let me let you, that is where he needed to be! Acting in front of a lot of people really isn't his thing, Shell shock comes to mind. Sometimes I wasn't sure if he knew the songs or the dance moves but he did and he was cute! He was a cheetah, a blade of grass (one of my favorite songs, actually) and a wildebeest.
They were only in production for three nights and I got to help strike the stage Friday night and the drama behind the scenes would rival any showing they had! The girls were crying, carrying on as if they would never see each other again, ( the cast pool party was the next night!) Even Joey was getting misty eyed (his glasses were fogging up, geez, mom!)  In all my years of band and winning 1st, and not winning 1st, I have never seen so much tears!!! Gotta love Jr. High!

 

this was Zazu! She was the entertainment before the show! The Hyenas would chase her and the kids would growl at them and they would run! So cute!!!

Times, they are a changin'

I think the hardest thing about getting older is that the kids do too. Ashley is contemplating moving out within the next few months, Britt has made a few bad decisions that lead to consequences beyond her control, and Cortney is struggling as well. Zach is finishing up his junior year and getting serous about saving for his mission this summer. This leaves me with Joey and Mackenzie. Mackenzie just turned 12 and recently had her ears pierced. That was so fun and also hard to watch as well. She is moving on to Young Womens!! So proud of my girl!

Joey also has some fun times ahead! He is officially a staff member for Camp Raymond! He reports the first week of June for training and then three weeks later he gets to spend three weeks helping boys pass of merit badges and overall helping the camp to run smoothly! I am so excited for this opportunity for him. Normally I would be all sad hat he will be gone so long but my little man needs to learn the value of serving and what better way than serving in this capacity. I think I will be visiting every weekend, though. I will tell him I am extremely hot and needed to cool off but really I will be going to check on him. In the meantime, I need to help him brush up on doing his own laundry and cleaning up after himself! Yep, a harder task I will not have for the next 5 weeks!

Exciting bit of news! Cameron Farr, Debi Farr's oldest son, is the camp director at Camp Raymond! I am so excited!!! I love Debi! She has been a dear friend for the past 20 years and knowing that her family will be up there helping to take care of Joey is such a relief!!! And maybe I will get a chance visit with her at the end of it all! It is so hard for her to travel back and forth from Connecticut so who knows? Carly and Cheyenne will be there too so it will be pretty cool!!!

Peter Pan

Zach tried out for the musical and he made it! He was so excited! He was a pirate.

 He has decided he is done with band. He was never a strong sax player and he never really fit in so he has moved on to other things, drama!

Drama students are so different than band kids. They are loud. obnoxious, and not afraid to be different. And that is a perfect place for Zach. I think it was brave of him to stay with it as long as he did and also brave to know when to walk away. He is much happier and is having a lot more fun! Mrs. Stones is keeping him very busy and I think he is looking forward to next year and continuing on with the class!!!

I had a lot of fun helping with costumes. It was weird making them look different as opposed to being the same as with band uniforms. I think I could get used to this!!!

Anyway, Peter Pan was wonderful! The kids all did a great job! There were little Schneblys running everywhere! Okay, just Sadona and Sarah, although Landon was in it and Judy was Wendy! So much fun! Danni was an Indian! I did not see it as many times as Tami but it was great when I did and I am stinkin proud of my boy!!! And, as always, thanks to Tami for taking the pictures!!!