The girl has had two lacrosse games this week. They lost the first 7-9, but she scored her teams first goal. Knocked the ball out of the other girls stick and then picked it up, ran it in and scored. Pretty spectacular. They won 10-9 last night. Their team was down by two and ended up scoring three goals in the last couple minutes. Some girl from the other team was chasing down one of our players and ran smack into Ken and then started stomping after her telling her she better watch out. It was kind of hilarious because of how she looked when she was doing it. Probably wouldn't have been too funny if she'd gone after her with her stick. The girls don't wear helmets because it's supposed to be a no-contact sport. I guess the guys get pretty rough because they play full contact. I might have to check out a game. Could be entertaining.

The kid goes on his campout tonight. I'm heading out to Cabela's or Sportsman's in the next little bit to get him a new sleeping bag. The ones that we have are a little temperamental and all we need is for a zipper or something to malfunction while he's there and he freezes or something traumatic. And I might as well make the whole "first scout campout" a big deal. Maybe get him a new flashlight or something. Anything to hopefully make this a good experience for him since he's so excited about it.

We went to the eye doctor on Monday ... guess who got to try out contacts when they came in on Wednesday??? That's right, the kid did. He did pretty good. Can't get them in by himself, does pretty good getting them out. We just want him to be able to wear them when we are in Hawaii this summer for snorkeling and all the other stuff we've got planned. Because his prescription is so bad the contacts he has to wear are thicker and heavier so they slide off his finger pretty easily when he tries to put them in, hopefully with practice he'll get it pretty quick.

Spring break is flying by for the boy. He heads back to Moscow on Sunday. He's covering the Treefort Music Festival for the campus radio station he works for. I think he had fun last night. He sounded pretty excited when he called me at 11:30 last night when he was walking to the car to come home. He's got to hang out with his friends a bit and had a little excitement pulling out of the driveway with his dad's car. That passenger side view mirror comes in handy when your backing out, until you take out the recycle container with it ... and then your mom makes you help her friend's son replace it before your dad can get back from his business trip to Philadelphia. It's been fun having him home. He's got less than two months til he's home for the summer. Crazy, this years been flying by.

The hubby's been in Philly since Sunday. We pick him up late tonight. Hopefully he makes all his connections. It didn't happen last time. Then it's laundry dash to get everything done by Sunday so that he can take off again on Monday. Hopefully it's a quiet weekend. Too bad he gone for the younger kids spring break. I guess I'll have to try and find stuff for us to do.

Just wanted to give a big shout out to the Sister from church who Facebook messaged me today on behalf of her husband. Up until you asked so nicely in your message, I had absolutely no idea that my child had any sort of social issues or learning delays. Thank you so much for pointing out something that no doctor, counselor, psychologist, preschool teacher, classroom teacher, resource teacher or speech and language pathologist has ever pointed out before. I can't believe we've missed something this glaringly obvious for the last 11 years. Thank you so much for asking what type of punishment or discipline would be appropriate for him in a primary class when he doesn't act like a "normal" child would. Because seriously, punishment will solve all of our problems. It's done wonders for the last 11 years. Lets not just try to correct the behavior and keep reminding him of how he should behave while showing him that he's loved and valued in a primary setting. Let's belittle him and get angry and punish him for not behaving normal. And while we do all that, let's ignore the new kid that just moved in and has decided that tormenting my child for not acting like all the other kids is fun and isn't adding to the problem. Now that I know that my child has developmental delays and social issues and you've told me how to fix them ... I figure I'll try to tackle world peace and childhood hunger.

Now to convince myself that the kid will survive his first scout campout this weekend ... while the hubby is in Philadelphia. Luckily they are just camping out near Kuna, so not too far away. Considering he hasn't spent the night anywhere but at his grandparents house, hopefully he and his leaders and the other boys won't come home scarred for life. Thank heavens the new kid from the previous paragraph is already 12 so I won't have to deal with the fallout from that on Saturday.

The boy is home for spring break this week. He came home yesterday and it's been good to see him. His first year of college is going to pretty well I think. Grades seem to be okay. He got accented to be an residence advisor next year which is great. We won't have to pay for housing or food. That saves us a small fortune ... close to four grand a semester. I won't say he's excited about it, but he's finally getting an idea of how much everything costs so we wants his money to last. Better late than never to finally get that idea.

The girl has her first lacrosse game tomorrow ... it also conflicts with her choir concert, which is a grade. Hopefully the coach gets that school functions that you get graded on are first ... no matter what. So, she's going to her game for a half, then rushing to get to the school in time for her group to perform. She's pretty nervous. Hopefully she plays well, she's been working hard at home as well as at practice. We also had a boy show up Thursday night to decorate her room and ask her to prom ... pretty exciting. Now we've got to find a dress. Hopefully it won't be too hard ... or too expensive. We've also signed her up for AFY (Adventure for Youth) with her friend Megan. It's in July and at Badger Creek in Teton Valley where I grew up. Not cheap, but I think that it will be good for her, probably better that EFY or BYS. They are super excited. They get to go white water rafting, horseback riding, rock climbing, do archery and tons of other outdoorsy survival type stuff while focusing on church stuff as well. I think they get to dance and have a talent show at well. I love that we are able to provide that kind of stuff for her.

Biggest complaint so far today .... my stupid Nike running app not giving me the correct mileage from my run on the treadmill this morning and then not letting me sync it up to put in the correct mileage. So, my 5K run was recorded as about 2.75 miles instead of 3.12.  I hate it when that happens. But, in reality, it's my fault because I'm supposed to have it in an armband, but really dislike wearing it, so I shove my phone in a pocket on my hip, so if I don't move my hips enough when I run it throws the whole thing off.

 

It was a quick run this morning. I should have gone longer, but had a hard time getting Carter out of the house for school this morning on time. Crazy things happening around here right now. I had to get to the grocery store and home by 11 so that my visiting teachers could come. Someday I'll get my act together and actually get Carter out of the door at the right time to get my stuff done. I did get a really cute skirt and shirt at Fred Meyer while I was grocery shopping to wear to my friend's daughter's wedding that's coming up soon. So excited to finally get something new to wear. It's been awhile since I've actually gone shopping for something other than running gear.

 

Yesterday was Fast Sunday. After my Sunday School class I just couldn't make myself go to Relief Society. So what did I do??? I ran home and found chocolate. Hershey's Nuggets. It's been that kind of week. Well actually that kind of year so far. I tell me 16-17 year olds that I teach in Sunday School that sometimes that hard decisions aren't the big ones. I don't have a problem following the word of wisdom. I don't have a problem with morality or fidelity or killing people or stealing. It's the small stuff I struggle with. Like keeping my fast going ... or like I tell the kids ... sometimes the hard choice is getting to church. Especially when I'm alone with the kids all the time because of business trips or drill weekends or whatever else comes ups. I can't remember the last time we actually sat together as a family. If my husband's not on a business trip, I'm gone. Up to Moscow to see Ryan three weekends ago. Heading to Utah this weekend. By myself. Again. Sometimes I wonder if we are going to survive this 20th year of marriage. It's been the toughest one yet. You'd think we would have gotten the whole thing figured out by now. It so has not happened yet.

 

A few months ago we had a joint 5th Sunday third hour meeting for the Relief Society and Elder's Quorum. The bishopric member that spoke talked about taking care of the part member and non-active families in the ward and making sure that they know that they are loved and wanted at church. All I could think about was what about the members that show up every week and do everything they are supposed to. Take care of everybody else. What if they are struggling??? That's me right now. Take care of everyone else. Take meals here, with a good attitude. Do my visiting teaching. All inactive or part-member families, with a good attitude. Go to church every week. With an okay attitude. Feed the missionaries once a month, trying to think of anyone, besides my neighbors they could try to teach (if they go to my neighbors and give them a Book of Mormon, the neighbors put it in my mailbox. No, I'm not kidding, it's happened). I'm struggling ... I've got a kid at college choosing not to go to church, not to go to institute, having issues that doing these things would help with. Not one visit from the Bishop up there since he moved in to the dorms. Not one visit from a home teacher. I'm trying not to have a bad attitude about all that we do for everyone else and people look at us and think, they're here every week, they're doing just fine. Doing their callings. Going the extra mile for everybody. I know ... I just need to say my prayers and read my scriptures more and everything will work itself out (big old snarky emoticon here)!!! Okay, better attitude coming up right now.

 

I need to come up with some ideas for the rest of March. Carter is getting out of school at the end of the week and won't be back in school until April. What to do, what to do?? Got to come up with some stuff to entertain that kid!! He's a crazy one. And no, he doesn't like to go running with me. I think he's allergic or something. At least he thinks he is.

 

My friends son is coming home on Wednesday from his mission. Just in time for his sister's wedding. I can't believe he's been gone for two years. I guess I'll have to bake him some cookies or something to take to the airport. He's flying in from Australia. Crazy long flight. Like 26 hours to make it from Adelaide to Boise, ID. I get to go to the airport and take some pictures for them. So excited for all of them. He wants steak for dinner. My friend says she doesn't know how to cook a good steak so she's making hamburgers. I told her that I was coming over with my grill pan and some steak and I would cook it for him. He's been gone for two years and wants a steak. He's going to get a steak. Love that family. Love my friend. She snuck off with me for the chocolate  yesterday. Shhhh, don't tell our families or anyone in the Relief Society!!