Tie-Breaker

So Dallin and 6 other guys from the southern UT CAP groups decided they should give the northern group a run for their money for Utah Wing Drill Team competition this year.

Dallin competed with the Titans 2 years ago when they took 3rd in the nation. Last year, the team took the National Championship. Being the helpful, dedicated friends they are, these "southern" boys wanted to keep the Titan's ego in check and skills sharp by surprising them with some competition they weren't planning on.

They organized themselves, put together and coordinated 5-6 practices. Three out of the group were part of the Titans 2 years ago but last year, the state decided that it was too much in resources and commitment to let cadets join the team that lived far away. The other 4 have never competed.

The state competition was last weekend in Salt Lake. The winners go on to region and then to nationals. There are 5 events: standard drill, innovative drill, inspection, mile run and a written test.

Dallin's team took 2 events, the Titan's took 2 events and they tied in the mile. (Yes, down to .01 in time.) In the event of a tie, they include 2 tie-breaker questions in the written test. On the first question, 2 from each team got it correct. It was down to the last question as the tie breaker - I think you can guess where I am going with this -

Dallin was the only cadet to get the second tie-breaker question correct. The overall 1st place went to the southern cadets!

Since their goal was to help their friends be the best (and since they didn't have enough cadets on their team to go on) they graciously stepped aside for the Titan's to compete at region in a couple of months. But in the process, they gained some serious respect and bragging rights as they narrowly out-did the National Championship Team.

You guys rock!

Fall on Fishlake

Today was the perfect day for a drive to Fishlake. We missed Tay but he stayed back to go to a friend's farewell dinner.

It's tricky timing to get just the right combination of fall color on the mountain. If you wait one day too long, a strong wind can blow all the leaves off and then it's just barren, pre-winter blah.

It reminds me of when Eric was born. Driving to Richfield to the hospital that morning, the valley was ablaze with yellow, orange and red. It was beautiful.

Super 6

Eric had his birthday last week. He invited all his cousins to a Pokemon journey. They searched for and captured many Pokemon - thanks to the help of Kadi and Amanda!

His birthday dinner request was of course, steak and mashed potatoes. He also wanted hamburgers and hot dogs but we were able to narrow it down a little. He also asked for yellow cake with chocolate frosting but I surprised him with a Poke-Ball cake. He thought it was really cool.

It took me a couple of hours to get it frosted right. It still turned out very novice but I am pretty impressed with my little self. I do not do pretty cakes but thought this should be easy enough. It took longer than it should since I spent about half the time I was working on it "discussing" unpaid medical claims and over-paid premiums with the insurance company. Great timing, as always!

Eric was thrilled with all the fun gifts and Spencer was very sad over his lack of presents. Christine loved on him and said she would make him his own little pizza next week at the restaurant. He said, "Not a little pizza, make me a giant one, OK?" That kid is never too sad to negotiate!

Twins Together

Eric likes to wear his Lightening McQueen shirt to school because his cousin Julian has the same shirt and another one of their friends has Lightening McQueen shoes. The three of them are "twins together". Eric will call Julian to coordinate outfits. This morning when he called, Christine answered and he asked her if King Julian could wear his matching shirt today. Chris told him it was dirty and he couldn't wear it. To which Eric replied matter-of- factly, "I'll tell you what my mom and I do. When my shirt gets dirty we put it in the washing machine and turn it on. Then we put it in the dryer and then it's clean for school." Christine assured him that she was familiar with the concept of laundry but it still wouldn't be ready for him to wear today.

18

18. I remember 18 like it was ... last week. Not quite like yesterday but pretty recent.

Now, I have an 18 year old kid. How did this happen? There should be warning signs on all your babies that say, "If you blink, they'll be all grown up."

So after a BBQ and drive-in movie at our house with grandma and his friends, he's all official. He's even talking about moving out for his last semester of high school to take college course for dual enrollment. (I'm not crazy about that one.)

He is a fun kid and I'd like to keep him until next fall. At that point, I'll have to let him go to college or on a mission. I'll have to let him leave home, have some experiences, get his teeth kicked in and take the next step in his adventure.

For the Record

I was contacted by our Sheriff’s office that my skills as a SWAT Medic would be needed during the week. There was a large pot growing operation north of our county.

The next morning, I showed up for a briefing on our assault.

There were about 60 people in the room from all of these different agencies. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Utah Department of Public Safety (DPS), Central Utah Narcotics Taskforce (I can’t type in their acronym. It’s not really the type of identification that you want on the back of your T-Shirt. I mean really. Who names their organization that?), Joint Special Operations Group (JSOG), DPS/West Jordan, Millard County Sheriff’s Office K-9, Garfield County Sheriff, Sevier County SWAT Team, Search and Rescue, EMS, U.S. Forest Service, Utah Department of Technology Services, , San Juan County Sheriff’s Office, Department of Natural Resources, the Utah Department of Public Safety Helicopter and the Sheriff’s Office.

Initially, I was asked to be on the outer perimeter team. At the last minute the Sheriff asked that I stay posted at the Incident Command Center because I could be used in several capacities. I could be a Spanish translator OR the guy in charge of talking to the press if they showed up OR a medic OR the guy to go and get the doughnuts. At first I was bummed that I wasn’t going to be able to go up on the mountain and arrest someone but then I learned that the guys that went up to the grow had to spend the entire day ripping out all of the 4’ to 6’ tall pot plants. Well, you all know how much I love weeding (ha ha) but this takes “pulling weeds” to a whole new level. Instead of being up on the mountain eradicating the marijuana grow for 8 hours, I was down at the Incident Command Center eating pizza, drinking Gatorade and helping refuel the UHP helicopter. It was so cool.

We did catch one suspect. The other ones got away. The DEA said that these guys guarding the grows are part of the Mexican Olympic Pot Growing Track Team and that they almost never catch them because they know where to run and hide on the mountain.

Later in the day I did hike in the mile and a half (with a 1500 foot elevation in ¼ mile climb) to the grow.

HOLY CRAP! 20,000 mature marijuana plans = 15,000 lbs = 60+ helicopter loads off the mountain = 3 dump truck loads to the land fill to be destroyed by DEA. That’s a lot of pot.

So, I didn’t get to arrest anybody but I did get to be on the news the next day.

It was a very long, hot and dusty day. It was very interesting, though. I like doing this sort of thing. It breaks up the day to day routine of work. Plus, my Jeep was on TV. That was the coolest part.

Spencer-isms

"Now that's what I'm talking about." In reference to his requested cheese sandwich.

"Those are not my choices. My choices are to sit in the car (what he was asking for) and to play outside."

"All my friends are 3 but I'm not, I'm 9-1-1."

"Mom, watch me jump like a real boy." or "Look at my clothes, I look like a real boy." Maybe someday the blue fairy will come and make him a real boy.

"Grandma, your purple shirt is so beautiful."

Click on this last pic to see his expression. Is that not the saddest thing you ever saw?

Editor's Note: Thank you, Patti, for reminding me that I left off the funniest one.

The kids and I were at Nicole's house to watch fireworks after the Demolition Derby during the County Fair. Spencer wanted help using the bathroom, so I went in with him. He sat on the toilet and looked over to the side and noticed the toilet paper. And I quote:

"I'm not using that sh**." What did you say????

"I'm not using that sh**. It has flowers on it."

I really had to contain myself. I had never heard him use that word, which he used it properly. And why did he notice or care that the toilet paper was embossed with flowers? What a stinker!

Tightwad Dance Invite

A very darling girl asked Tay to the Tightwad Dance at the high school. From what he describes, you ask someone, they pay for the date and it has to be as cheap as they can make it. (Sounds like Mormon College Dating.)

She put a ton of balloons in his room with this poster on his door. He had to pop all of them to find the message. It was very cute.

His reply (which he didn't even give me the option of photographing for posterity) was 2 liter soda bottles that said, "Orange you glad I'm giving you an answer?", "I think it would be Grape to go with you to Tightwad!" and something else on a bottle of Dew - which is Tay's signature beverage.

Where Do You Hide Your Weed?

... apparantly on the mountain in our secluded little county. This was the 3rd bust in our area this year and the largest in the state. Check out Tal on KSL News.

I will have Tal relay all the gory details.

The First Last First

This is the year of last "firsts" at home with Taylor.

Today was his last first day of school at home. When I was getting a little melancholy, Tal was quick to remind me that he has lots of "firsts" left - first day in his own apartment, first day of college, mission, marriage. Uh-huh, my point exactly: ALL not at home!

I did force my oldest boys to let me take their picture. There are a few rights as a mother and that is one! Kadi and the little boys are always happy to comply.

So now I have 2 in high school, 1 middle schooler and 1 in Kindergarten. I love getting the kids back to school - getting into a routine again and our schedules are a little more predictable. But after about a couple months I am ready for a break from the grind. I think the best school schedule would be 2 months on then 2 weeks off, all year long. Oh, maybe 4 weeks off during the summer months. It just doesn't make sense that we cling to the farmers school schedule when nowadays, the kids aren't needed to work the farm all day long during the summer months. Why do we still do such a long summer vacation? The first few weeks to month of school in fall is spent catching up - what a waste!

I guess when I am in charge of everything, I will add changing the traditional school calendar to suit me.