Biathlon - May 18, 2015

Monday - May 18th

Alissa participated in her schools biathlon this year.  She did it last year also, but just the running portion.  This year, she wanted to do both.  She had to borrow my bike, since she has grown out of hers.  We did a lot of waiting around.  They had the group who was only riding bikes go first, then the group that was only running.  The kids who were doing the biathlon got to sit around and wait.  Their race was last.

 Parker and Brinley got tired of standing around, so they decided to sit in the back of the truck while they waited.  Also, it had started to rain by this point, so the truck was good protection from the rain.

 This is at the starting line when they finally started Alissa's race.  The rain started coming down really hard just before it was time for Alissa's race to start.

 Brinley got too cold, so she sat in the truck and played games on my phone.  This is the picture she took of her truck time.

 Here is Alissa at the end of the race.  They first rode their bikes, then ran the rest of the way.

 She was exhausted at the end of the race.  She laid down on the wet ground for just a minute, then she got up and walked around a little to cool down.

 Alissa rested in the truck and drank her Gatorade before she went to class.  By the time Alissa finished the race, Brinley had fallen asleep in the truck.  It was difficult for me to get her to wake up enough to go to school.  Brinley missed the first part of school, so she could watch Alissa in the Biathlon. 

 Parker couldn't wait for a chance to ride the bike around.  While Alissa cooled down, Parker took his turn riding the bike around.

 Tomorrow is Parker's birthday, so Alissa stayed up too help me decorate.  We found some balloons that good for making balloon animals, so Alissa, Roger and I had some fun trying out our balloon animal making skills.

The Kids and Their Friends - May 14, 2015

Thursday - May 14th

Alissa took her camera out with her and took some pictures while they were hanging out with their friends today.

This is Alissa's friend, Malaiyah.  She lives directly across the parking lot from us.  It's a lot of fun having friends live so close.

 Simon is friends with Alissa and Parker.  He loves to play video games with Parker.  They do that as often as they can.  He goes to the same school as Alissa and Malaiyah, so they all walk home together.

 From left to right: Parker, Simon, Malaiyah, Teirnynn, and Brinley.

 This is the mud doughnut they made yesterday.  Now that it's dry they can pick it up.

Just a Normal Day - May 13, 2015

Wednesday - May 13th

We didn't do anything too exciting today.  After school, the kids just played with friends.  Alissa took her camera out to take a few pictures.

 Brinley asked me to come out and take a picture of the pretty clouds.

Alissa's Camera - May 12, 2015

Tuesday - May 12th

Alissa has been wanting and asking for a new camera.  I keep telling her she will have to wait until her Birthday or Christmas, but I remembered today that I have an old camera that still works, sitting upstairs in my closet.  I told her that she can use that camera for now.  She loves it!  I gave it to her shortly before bedtime, so she didn't have much time to play around with it.  Here are the pictures she took.

Mother's Day - May 10, 2015

Sunday - May 10th

I had a pretty good day.  My little family did a good job at making me feel loved.  They let me sleep in.  I love sleeping in.  They pretty much let me relax all day, they gave me lots of love and attention, and they gave me some pretty good gifts.  I got some puzzles (I've been in a puzzle mood lately, so I was really happy about that), a game called Liars Dice, a funny letter from Brinley where she compares me to a dog, a homemade card from Alissa, and my favorite video editing program with some DVDs.  We all had a lot of fun playing Liars Dice and I am super happy that I will get to put together my home videos.  I am way behind.  I haven't put any videos together since the first part of 2012.  The kids have been waiting for me to put together more home videos for a really long time.

So, Brinley's cute letter to me was really funny and cute.  She compares me to a dog.  The night before she made this letter for me at school, we watched a clip from America's Got Talent and there was a really cute, really smart dog that danced with it's owner.  That's why she had dog on her brain.  I think it is funny.  Here is the letter she wrote me.

Roger's not so great at wrapping gifts.  He's also very impatient about waiting to give gifts.  He just gets too excited ad he can't wait.  He gave me one gift the day he bought them, then he showed me the other gifts they had gotten.  I tried to convince him to wait until Mother's Day, but he just couldn't wait.  I didn't want to take the gifts yet, because I think it is fun to give gifts on the day the gifts are meant for.  so, even though I had already seen the gifts, I made Roger keep it a secret from the kids, so they could surprise me with them today.  Since, the gifts weren't wrapped, they wrapped them up in towels and in their shirts.  It was funny.

Ground Breaking Ceremony For Kids' New School - May 8, 2015

Friday - May 8th

We went to the ground breaking ceremony for the new charter school the kids will attend next year.  It is called Athenian Academy.  I'm so happy to have another option for school.  We keep ending up living in the North Park School boundaries and I have had so much trouble with that school.  I'm so relieved to not have to deal with them any more.

Erin came home from school with Alissa today so they could hang out for a while, so she got to come with us to the Ground Breaking.  They had shovels so the kids could help with the ground breaking.  The kids liked it a lot.

I made a new friend!  Her name is Natalie Earl.  She is an Earl!  The Earls (her husbands grandparents)  lived in Montana, near my mom's family when they joined the church.  Grandma said that the Earls helped them a lot when they joined the church and they became really good friends.  eventually, the Earls moved to Tremonton and My mom's family moved to Salt Lake.  They stayed in touch and would come to Tremonton to visit the Earls often.  My mom had fond memories of coming to Tremonton and playing with the Earls.  When we first moved to Tremonton, my mom and Grandma told me their names and told us we need to go meet them.  So, Roger and I did.  They were very nice and we had a lot of fun visiting with them.  They told us we could come back anytime to visit and let the kids jump on the trampling or just run around because they had a lot of property.  We never did take them up on that offer though.  I kept wanting to meet one of the younger Earls.  I fully expected that I would because Tremonton is not that big.  anytime I met someone with the last name Earl, I'd ask them if they were related, but they never were.  But today I finally met someone related.  she also happens to be good friend with Elizabeth Spotten (my good friend and old neighbor).  We had a lot of fun talking.  She seems very nice.  It's funny what a small world it is.  Hopefully I will get to see her more, since our kids will be going to the same school.  They are also selling their house.  I had looked at it online, since, Elizabeth Spotten had told me about a house near hers that is for sell.  They are going to be moving into the house that we visited the first time we went and met the Earls.  Carol Earl recently passed away and they will be buying her house.  Grandma Mathison and her still keep in touch.  I'm sad to have to tell Grandma of her passing. 

Happy Day - May 5, 2015

Tuesday - May 5th

I'm heading to bed tonight, feeling like today was a really good day.  Nothing really grand or big happened, but I just feel really happy.  I love my life.  I love my little family and all the happiness they bring me.

Brinley went to activity days this evening and when she came home, she had a surprise for me.  At activity days they decorated sugar cookies to give to their mom.  So, she brought me (and one for herself) a yummy cookie.  She also brought a fun little M&M game that came with a small bag of M&Ms.  We got to chose a M&M out of the bag, then ask each other the question that went with the color of M&M we got.  It was a lot of fun playing that with Brinley and it was really yummy.  Before we played our game, Alissa yelled to me to come outside quick and see how cool the clouds looked.  I love clouds.  They are so fun to watch.  The clouds tonight looked really cool, so I grabbed the camera and Alissa and I stood outside enjoying the clouds for a little while.

The other good from my day, was that I got to spend the day with Roger and Parker.  My family just makes me feel so happy.  I love them sooo much!
Roger took this picture of Parker when they ran some errands this morning.

Here are the cool clouds that I had to take pictures of.  I love clouds!

My New Old Phone - May 3, 2015

Sunday - May 3rd

When Alissa and Roger were in Salt Lake yesterday, they stopped at my sister, Kristy's work and she gave them her old i-phone for me to borrow.  I was getting really tired of using my old phone.  I really love my smart phone.  It was tough to be without a smart phone for a while.  Roger set up the phone for me this morning, so I was checking things out.  I took this picture of Brinley, so I could try out the camera.

 Brinley came in the living room to talk to Roger and I.  She was a little fussy.  Anyway, next thing we know, she's asleep on the floor next to us.  She can fall asleep anywhere.  It seems like, she falls asleep wherever she is when she's tired.  I had to catch her one time when she fell asleep sitting on a stool.  She's also fallen asleep on the kitchen floor a few times.  She'll come in to talk to me and sit down on the floor, then slowly lay down and fall asleep.  She's a funny girl.

Daddy Daughter Trip to Salt Lake - May 2, 2015

Saturday - May 2nd

Alissa is super emotional lately.  She came home from school yesterday and just couldn't stop crying.  She cried and cried and cried.  It made me feel so sad.  She said she was just sad.  She refused to play with any friends, she just wanted to sit in her room and cry.  She spent the whole evening crying.  When I'd go talk to her, she tell me about her sadness - She hates living here, she misses our old house, She hates school - those are her biggest problems.  She just kept saying that she just wants to get away.  She needs to get out of the house and go do something fun, so she can stop thinking about everything that is upsetting her.

Anyway, nothing we did or said was working to get her to calm down.  I tried to cheer her up when she first came home, but I didn't feel like I was getting through to her, so I left her to her crying and came downstairs to get some stuff done.  When Roger woke up, I told him what was going on and asked him to go talk to her.  He is really good at making people feel better and motivating people to think more positively.   I thought for sure Roger would get through to her.  But, she was still really sad and crying when he walked out of her room.  My heart was breaking seeing her like that.  It just hurt so bad to see her so sad and hurting.

We left her to her crying and did our best to do our normal things.  I made dinner and got Roger off to work.  Then I went upstairs to talk to her again.  I tried everything I could think of to encourage her to be happy, but she was still crying when I walked out of her room.  She said she was too upset to come downstairs and eat, so I brought her food up to her.  She stopped crying when I brought her food up to her.  She said she was trying really hard to be happy.  I talked to her a little more.  We talked about ways that she could be happy and a solution to one of her problems - to get out of the house - we planned to go and do something fun today, we just hadn't figured out what yet.

I left Alissa to eat her food and she decided to watch some home videos to help cheer her up.  Then, Roger called and he told me that he thought maybe it would be good if he took Alissa on a trip to Salt Lake, just him and her.  They would ride the frontrunner downtown and go sight seeing.  I knew Alissa would love that.  After I told her, about Roger's idea, she cheered up a lot quicker.  She thanked me for coming in and talking to her.  She said the advice Roger and I had given her, really helped her to feel better.  It was just a crazy day.  It was rough seeing her so sad.  And it was rough trying so hard to get through to her and feeling like nothing was working.  Alissa is normally a very happy person.  It was weird not having my happy Alissa for that little while.  I didn't like it.

Anyway, she eventually snapped out of it and going to Salt Lake with Roger, really helped her out a lot.  She needed that outing.  I'm glad to have my happy Alissa back.
Here are the pictures they took on their outing.