Youth Conference

We got approval for the location for youth conference and the youth committee decided they need to take a trip to "check the place out."  I got approval from the Stake Presidency, call the owner and got everything arranged.  We left the Stake Center on Saturday around 9:15 a.m.  There were only 2 leaders and 6 youth, so we fit all in one vehicle.

It was a fun drive up to Brian Head and the roads were fine.  We met the owner at their rental shop and loaded into her 4x4 to get to the lodge.  It had snowed so the road was closed.  Her husband had plowed the road so we could get up there.  We got to the road and she tried to engage the 4 wheel drive but we don't think it really engaged because we were sliding all over the place on the way up.  We even slid and hit a rock.  The other leader and I were so nervous because we had 6 youth with us!

But we made the 3 miles just fine and got to this amazing lodge.  It was like glam-ping!  They have a bunk house, hotel, 12 cabins and 12 yurts (that are super nice).  The youth were so excited after seeing everything.

The best part is that the people have a pet deer...yes, I wrote that correctly.  They have a pet deer named "Thunder" that thinks it's a dog.  If you didn't pay attention to it, it would nudge you until you would pet it.  Crazy!

On the ride down the mountain the 4 wheel drive was engaged so we didn't slip but I was still nervous.  We made it home safe and sound and now the kids are so excited for youth conference.  I think that was a the best idea they have had so far!

This is the website it case anyone wants to see where we will be:  SML Resorts

I still got it!

Courtney has been taking a keyboarding class at school and was so excited that she has increased her words per minute.  It made me think about the time I won a hotel stay with a typing contest.  I won by typing 93 wpm.  I was curious to see how fast I type now (18 years after that contest).  The kids helped me find a typing test online so they could see if I really type that fast.  They had serious doubts that I could actually type 93 wpm.

I won't lie, I was nervous because, although I type a lot during the day, I wasn't sure I was still as fast as I used to be.  I was absolutely correct, I don't type the same speed I used to....I type FASTER!!

Yup!  I still got it!!

My typing speed was 106 with 7 errors (93% accuracy)  for 99 wpm.  (I printed the report out so I would have it as proof.)

The kids were speechless and, honestly, so was I.  😲

End of Season Banquet

Last night we had the Flying Monkeys End of Season Banquet and awards ceremony.  It was really fun to see highlights of the year and to hear how all the Monkeys had done this season.  They are a great team and there are around 144 kids who bike with the Monkeys.  The coaches are great and so are all the ride leaders.  They really care about the kids and put so much time into making it all a great experience.

At the end of the night, they had all the Monkeys do one last "Monkey Cheer."  It actually makes you kind of emotional when you know all the goes into making this team a success and how inclusive they are to everyone.

At the end of the night they gave each athlete a frame with an individual photo, team photo and their bike race plate.  One of the coaches is a professional photographer, so she takes pictures at every race.  She catalogs them by race plate and then puts those photos together and each kid gets their own zip drive that is engraved with the Flying Monkeys logo, the athlete's name and their race plate number.  The zip driv was taped on the back of their frame.  It was so neat.

One year down, 3 more to go!

Courtney Concoction

In case you were wondering...yes...we are still battling Courtney's hatred of stir fry.  I still make stir fry and she is still forced to eat it although she tells us that she will "hurl", "barf" and "throw up" if we make her.

The other day I made stir fry.  I knew a battle was coming and put Bryan on alert that I didn't have the energy to fight her so it would be all him.  After hearing her cry for a long time he asked her what she would like him to eat in exchange.  She said, "Would you drink a Courtney concoction?"  He told her he would and I really don't think he knew what that meant.

When Courtney was little, she and her best friend would make horrible creations in the kitchen.  They never ate anything because they were so awful but they used to giggle and make all kinds of horrible mixes.

Courtney had no problem at all eating her stir fry and got right to work making a concoction.  And it was vile!  She mixed milk, ketchup and lemon juice.  And then Bryan drank it!!

Here's the video:  (if you don't have a strong stomach, I wouldn't watch)

I think she was a little too gleeful as she was putting her dad through the horrors of drinking a Courtney concoction.  Bryan set some ground rules for next time.  She can't make him drink anything she wouldn't drink herself.

What an awesome dad!  You couldn't have paid me to drink that stuff!!

State Championships for Flying Monkeys

On November 5th we had the State High School Mountain Biking Championships in St. George.  It was a lot of fun and was the last race of the season.

The way the high school racing works is that they have 4 races in the regular season.  After the last race, the lowest time is dropped and, if a biker finished all 4 races, an additional 25 points was added to his/her score.  Ethan finished 44th out of 73 racers in the Southern Region Freshman Division.

State Championships are considered their own race and it combines the North and South Divisions, so there are A LOT of kids racing!  Ethan had bike problems on his last lap (his back tire tried to fall off and his gears were being weird).  He finished 102nd but I don't know how many raced.  But we were really happy for all the hard work he put into it!

We loved having the race in our home town because it made it so we didn't have to travel as far.  It was great because he had a 8:15 a.m. race start and had to be there by 7 a.m. to warm up.  He is an amazing racer and we are so happy with all the hard work he has put in this year.

The sun was coming up so these videos aren't the best, but here is Ethan's start.  Remember:  look for the green helmet.

End of lap 1:

Finish:

Here are some photos:

Teenaged Son

Garfield made me laugh today because I can relate.

Halloween 2016

Monday morning I was dreading Halloween!  Courtney had piano lessons and soccer practice.  Ethan was supposed to unload insulation with the young men and have his final mountain bike practice.  We had a neighborhood potluck and I was going to be running around getting everyone where they needed to be. Because Ethan was going to be across town unloading insulation, the carpool to mountain biking wasn't going to work. But it all worked out wonderfully!!

Halloween snuck up on us.  I had a cookie order from a friend who always buys my sugar cookies for her son's class party.  I had thought to make and freeze them last week so that was done.  But I had to run errands in the morning which included finding candy and a pumpkin.  All the pumpkins at the grocery stores looked horrible so I asked the produce guy at Harmons if they had any pie pumpkins that were small-ish but were perfectly shaped.  He went in the back and brought me the best pumpkin ever!  I went to the party store and bought some small candy that was on clearance and we were all set.

Ethan wasn't going to get dinner so I decided to run to Jimmy Johns to buy him dinner and put it in his locker so he would have it after school.  I finished that, dropped some invites off to the high school to invite their administration to the State Championships on Saturday, and then ran home to wait for Courtney.  I ran her to piano and then got a text that said "Insulation truck broke down we will unload tomorrow."  I was so happy!

I picked Courtney up from piano and ran her to soccer.  They had a fun practice with their costumes.

Ethan went to hang out with friends until it was time for mountain biking and then the carpool was able to take him there.  They actually just rode to a coach's house and had donuts and goofed off.  But it was a fun ride, Ethan said.

Courtney is a nerd!

While he was gone, Bryan, Courtney and I went to the neighborhood potluck and had a lot of fun with our friends/neighbors.  The kids loved getting together to go trick-or-treating as a group.  Courtney went off with her friends while Bryan and I went home to hand out candy.  I handed out candy while we watched a movie.

Ethan got home, put on his costume and then went to hang out with friends.  I can't remember what he is but he loved it.

They came home tired but they had a lot of fun and my day had been great.  Just by having the insulation truck break down it made life so much easier for me.  Sad, but so true!

Oh, and the Halloween fairy came so Courtney has her 10 pieces of candy and the fairy took the rest.  But not before she left some lip balm and 2 bottles of nail polish.  What a deal!