Youth Day of Service

The Southern Utah area had a youth day of service on May 8th.  More than 3,100 youth and leaders in the St. George area got together to do over 36 different clean-up projects around the area. Our Stake was assigned to clean up on Highway 18 (going towards Veyo) between mile markers 9 and 10.  The YW leaders in our ward weren't going to be able to go so they asked parents to come and supervise.  We usually go hiking on the Saturday before Mother's Day but we decided to go a little bit later than usual so we could help with the project.  

We woke Courtney up and were at the Church by 8 am to get our assignments and start cleaning up.  They gave us the cute (haha) yellow vests that say "Mormon.org" to wear and keep because they have the old website on them.  We took a group picture, loaded in our car, and we were off.  

Did I mention that Courtney was the only young woman in our ward who showed up?  Yup.  She was the only one so Bryan and I went with her and told her we only had to stay for a little while.

We got to our designated spot by about 8:45-ish and began cleaning up.  It really wasn't a bad place to clean up trash because there wasn't much of it.  The young men in our ward helped and, at around 9:25 we left to come home.

Courtney wasn't happy to wake up early and clean up, especially when she was the only girl, but I was glad that she did it so she could do service for others.

If you want to read about the Day of Service, this is a link to the Church News article: Youth Day of Service.

Courtney refused to wear the cute yellow vests.  

Last Day of Finals!

It was Courtney's last final for Success Academy so we had to celebrate.  She took her English one last Friday, Culinary Chemistry on Monday, Science Research on Tuesday, and Math on Thursday. It was a tough week but she survived (and so did we).

I blew up some balloons, bought her a Texas donut and raspberry lemonade, and waited for her to get home.  She was excited and ate the donut in 2 sittings (whoa!).

Courtney still has to attend her Spanish 2 class and seminary at Snow Canyon.  So it's not really summer for her yet, but she does get to sleep in every morning now.

Martin's Cove for p-day

 Ethan's entire mission went to Martin's Cove for p-day.  Ethan said it was the best p-day he had ever been to.  They had to get up really early in the morning to drive the long hours to Wyoming from Colorado.  But it was worth it.

CVHS Track Meet

The last track meet of the season was held in Cedar City.  The wind was blowing but it wasn't too bad.  The girls had fun at this race.  Between the relay and the 200-meter race, they came and sat with me to talk about boys, school, clothes, and a bunch of other things.  It was fun to hang out with them.

They had the 100-meter sprint for their first event.

Results (she ran it in 15.09):

The girls then got warmed up and ready to run the 4x100 relay.

Courtney is in lane 3 waiting for the baton:

Results (they ran it in 58.57 seconds):

The 200-meter is usually close to the end of the meet, so we had plenty of time to sit and wait.  The girls were hilarious to talk to and we had a lot of fun.  

It was then time for them to warm up and get ready to race.  Courtney's quad was hurting again but she decided to run it anyway.

Results (she finished in 32.04 seconds):

We had to take pictures since this was their last track meet of the season.  They are hilarious girls.

This apparently means that they have ice in their veins.

CCHS JV Track Meet

Courtney had another track meet, this time at Crimson Cliffs High School.  Her quad was feeling better so she ran the 100-meter sprint, 200-meter, and 4x100 relay races.

As usual, the 100-meter sprint is Courtney's first event.  Courtney is in lane 3 (third from right).

Results (Courtney ran in 15.07 seconds, not too bad!):

The girls then got ready to run the 4x100 relay.  They were getting more comfortable passing the baton and felt like they knew what they were doing.

Results (they ran in 59.35 seconds and were 9th of 10 teams):

Courtneys quad was still really hurting her so she didn't run the 200-meter race. She is hoping it will start feeling better soon and she can run without pain.

SCHS JV Track Meet

Snow Canyon High School hosted a JV track meet and Courtney ran in the 100-meter sprint and 4x100-meter relay.  Courtney's quad had been hurting her so she wasn't signed up to run the 200-meter race that she usually runs.

Courtney ran the 100-meter race first.   She is warming up and is in lane 4.

Results (she ran in 15.18 seconds):

The girls then warmed up for the relay race.  The last time they ran the relay, they were disqualified.  They were nervous and didn't want to DQ again.  They did a great job and had fun!

Here they are warming up.  They are hilarious!  They are learning to pass the baton by walking around and passing it back and forth.

This is the video of the relay.  Courtney is the anchor.

Results (they finished in 59.01 seconds and came in 6th out of 9 teams):

Culinary Chemistry

Courtney didn't like her Chemistry class last semester.  This semester they took Culinary Chemistry.  She wasn't too excited about it but thought it would be better than plain Chemistry.  I thought it would have been completely fascinating but whatever.  Courtney learned the chemical reaction in popping popcorn, freezer jam, bread, and all kinds of other foods.  She learned about cooking fish and had some amazing tests.  One of her at-home tests required her to make bread with some kind of leavening agent.  She chose to make banana bread because it has the chemical reaction between vinegar and baking soda as a leavening agent.  

Courtney only needed a little help with understanding the recipe and it turned out amazing!

She got an A. ;)