Mike'n'Michelle

Nuttin' For Christmas

2011-12-23T04:02:00.000-08:00

So here is our annual Christmas installment of the Schultzoo. This is the fabulous post where I alter some Christmas song or story to fit our lives. This year I have selected the song "Nuttin' For Christmas". Enjoy!!!

I camped at Yuba during June;
Somebody snitched on me.
Took the monkeys to the zoo;
Somebody snitched on me.
Swimming lessons were such fun;
Madi stitches--her first one;
Mommy teaches Kindergarten;
Somebody snitched on me.

Oh, I'm gettin' nuttin' for Christmas
Mommy and Daddy forbad.
I'm gettin' nuttin' for Christmas
'Cause ain't nuttin' that we haven't had.

Damon's playing--in first chair;
Somebody snitched on me.
Madi always playing fair;
Somebody snitched on me.
Damon's badges to advance;
Zombie scars and torn up pants;
Vampiress in scary stance;
Somebody snitched on me.

Oh, I'm gettin' nuttin' for Christmas
Mommy and Daddy forbad.
I'm gettin' nuttin' for Christmas
'Cause ain't nuttin' that we haven't had.

I went to see old Santa Claus;
Somebody snitched on me.
The choir sang of the Christmas buzz;
Somebody snitched on me.
Madi's Hula dance was great;
"Dueling Jingle Strings", can't wait;
Next year I'll be good, just wait;
Somebody snitched on me.

So you better be good whatever you do
'Cause if you've "had", I'm warning you,
You'll get nuttin' for Christmas.

Merry Christmas to all of our friends and family! Sending hugs and kisses, love you!

Parading Around

2011-06-11T19:14:00.000-07:00

Well, we have spent the last two weekends at parades for Damon and Madison. Last weekend was the Eagle Mountain Pony Express Days parade. Madison was in the parade for Hula and Damon was in the parade for Football. They both had a great time and looked fabulous. This weekend was the Saratoga Springs Splash celebration. Madison was in the parade for Soccer camp and Damon was in it for football. Mike and I have spent the last couple of weekends working on our tans (at least in the morning) and shuttling the kids to parade routes.

Madison spent the week at soccer camp with the high school. The girls soccer team put on a youth soccer camp that was wonderful. The players from the team were teaching the girls, and Madison loved it!! We just wanted to post some pics of soccer and parades. Enjoy!!

Getting Ready For Summer

2011-06-02T10:56:00.000-07:00

The calendar says June and the weather says April (if we are lucky) but either way, we will take three months off of school. We just wanted to post some fun pics that we have taken over the last couple of months. So here is a quick rundown of everything going on. Chris and Alicia announced that they are pregnant and due in November. Madison is absolutely ecstatic she is hoping for a girl so, "I can show it my ways." The rest of us are just excited for Chris and Alicia and their first baby. We knew that we wouldn't see them again before the baby was born so we had a shower for them while they were here in town.

Mike's parents and Tim and Beverly were able to come out and visit at the beginning of May. We had a great time. We spent a day at Boondocks, a day swimming/snorkeling at the crater in Midway, and an evening playing games at his brother Ryan's house. Rilee and Makayla were able to stay with us that weekend so they could see their dad and grandma and grandpa. The cousins had a great time together; poor Damon was the only boy but he held his own. We were sad to see them go but glad they were able to come out and visit.

The kids had a great Easter. They enjoyed coloring eggs and then hunting for eggs and candy. We had an egg hunt with our friends the Thuesons and all of the kids ended up with more candy than they needed. The next morning, the kids had more eggs to find because the Easter Bunny left them an egg hunt. Again, they had more candy than they needed but they also received a new hat.

Madison had her end of year dance recital. She took hip hop this year and loved it. She did an excellent job in her performance and is going to continue hip hop this next year. She also wants to take ballet/jazz. She likes all of the different styles and wants to improve her skills. She thinks that she may want to do competition team next year. The girls looked so cute in their costumes.
Mike and I went to the U2 concert with Chris, Alicia, and a group of friends. We had a great time. We decided to try general admission this time and with the help of friends who stood in line for us, before we could make it to the concert, we were able to get into the "inner circle". This means that we were right up by the stage and had a great view. We are glad we were able to go and were able to go with friends.

Two days after the concert, Madison had her tonsils out. She was excited and nervous all at the same time. She was excited because she wouldn't be sick all of the time and she would get to eat lots of ice cream, but was nervous about the surgery. She had it done at the Primary Children's portion of the Riverton Hospital. They were wonderful with her. She played video games and colored while she waited for surgery. She was only back there about 20 minutes and then she was in recovery. She has been amazing. She has hardly complained at all and really wants to go out and play because she feels so good. We are thankful that she is doing well and glad that she won't have to deal with being sick all of the time.

As for all of us, tomorrow is the last day of school for Damon and Madison; my last day was last Wednesday. We are all ready for summer and look forward to some swimming, camping, and relaxing (as soon as the weather cooperates).

Love y'all!
Michelle

(Pictures: Damon and Madison on Easter, Madison and Clifford sleeping with their sleep masks on, Madi's dance group--she is the one on the left with her arm raised, Madi at her performance, Madi doing a stall--they had to do this in their dance, Madi and Alicia at the baby shower, Mike and Michelle at Boondocks, Cathy and Bill and the Grandkids at the crater, Madi snorkeling, Damon at Boondocks)

Saying Goodbye to a Special Family Member

2011-04-23T05:43:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was one of the hardest days that we have had in a while. We had to put our dog Bailey to sleep. Damon and Madison cannot remember a time without her. She was 12 years old (which is very old for a large dog) and finally developed arthritis so badly that she could hardly walk, and it was causing some other issues with the nerves that run along her spine. Unfortunately, all of these things don't make it easier to let go. So, as my way to deal with it and to help Damon and Madison cope, I have decided to post a few pics and some goofy things that she would do.

Bailey was like having a bear skin rug on the floor. You could almost step on her and she would just lie there.
She was so mellow, the kids could do just about anything with her and she would just smile and wag her tail. This included dressing her up, using her as a pillow, having her pull them in the wagon, and trying to get her to play house with them.
She loved to go out and play in the snow.
She sat near (took care of) Great Grandpa Larson when he lived with us and let him pet her and talk to her. I think it was good for both of them.
One year she downed two Easter baskets worth of candy that the kids left sitting on the floor when we went to church. (including the chocolate rabbits and the bubble gum)
She would wrestle with our other dog and then take off running out the door so that he had to chase her down or she would wait until the other dog set the dog toy down (because he was waiting for her to play) and she would grab it and take off.
She liked to swim in everything from the lake to the kids wading pool.
Last, but not least, she loved to be around the kids, including all of the neighbor kids. She was content to just be around them and watch them play and laugh.

Not that I think that dogs can use the internet in heaven, but just wanted to say:
We love and miss you Bailey

Finally, a free moment!

2011-04-14T20:20:00.001-07:00

Okay, I think that the roller coaster, that we call life, has slowed down enough for me to hop off for a minute or two. I am not even going to try to catch everyone up to speed. Just know that things have been crazy as usual with jobs, school, jr high school, Mike's schedule change, and everything else in between. However, we have been very blessed this year and would like to share some of the latest events with you.

The kids and I are currently on spring break. We decided not to go anywhere too far because we have a lot of things that we need to get done, and we need to slow down for a day or two (hasn't worked yet but we try). We took the kids to baby animal days at the Jensen Farm in Logan. Even though it snowed like crazy for the day or two beforehand, we still went up to see the animals (Madi would never have let us live it down if she missed the babies). At least they had moved the animals inside the barns. (Pics: The kids holding bunnies, One of the baby bears being rocked to sleep, The kids petting one of the wagon horses that was tied to one of the trees, and The kids petting the pigs)

This last picture is for Grandpa Larson. (Not one pink flamingo but an entire flock) I am not sure what flamingos have to do with the farm on a nice day, but they looked very funny standing there in the snow! I think we may have to call the number and have a flock delivered to Grandpa.

Mike promoted to Lieutenant in December and we were able to go to the promotion ceremony on Tuesday. It was neat to have an actual ceremony. It was worth the wait. He loves his new job and is now experienced. He has almost four months under his belt. (That makes him an expert right?!) We are so excited for and proud of him!

Today we took the kids snorkeling at the Homestead resort in Midway, UT. You snorkel inside of the crater. We all had a wonderful time and really didn't want to get out of the warm water. It stays around 90 degrees which is a big jump from the 40 something degrees that we had today. I didn't take any pictures of the kids snorkeling because we have not had luck with digital cameras and water; we decided it would be safer to keep it at home where it was dry. (I don't feel like replacing another camera. Ha ha)

We are doing well, busy as ever. The kids are gearing up for summer and already planning the activities that they want to do. Mom is counting down the days until she actually can get more than 4 hours of sleep and doesn't have to fall asleep with red pen and papers to grade. Mike is looking forward to getting home earlier because he doesn't have to drop the carpool off before he goes to work.

For now, Damon is finishing up his 7th grade year and loves it. He has done well in his classes and really likes the variety that he gets to take. He is taking orchestra and enjoys the chance to play his violin with other kids, they went to a orchestra festival a couple of weeks ago and had a great time. He is taking algebra which is unusual for 7th grade but he and some of his friends were ready. He really likes the class and I like that it challenges him.

Madison is finishing up her 3rd grade year. She was sad to see her teacher leave for health reasons a couple of months ago but likes her new teacher, even if he is a boy teacher. She is doing very well in all of her classes and has beautiful cursive handwriting. (She could teach Damon and Mike a few lessons). She is still dancing but taking hip hop this year instead of ballet/jazz. She likes the attitude that hip hop has (I know you are all surprised by that). She is also still taking violin lessons and really likes her teacher. She has even passed off her last set of "Twinkles" and is excited to move on to other things.

We send all of our love to all of our family and friends. We wish we could see all of you all the time!

Love ya,
Michelle

It's Madi's big week

2010-05-22T15:51:00.000-07:00

Well, the last week or so has been all about Madison. (Which is never a bad thing!) She had her second grade end of year program and her end of year dance recital. Her program was cute. The kids sang songs from America. ie. Buffalo Gals and Momma's little baby likes shortenin' bread. She was really rockin' out as they sang.
Her end of year dance recital is a major production. It is definitely worth it. The dances were awesome and the costumes adorable. Madison's class danced to "Fireflies" by Owl City. Madi says that one day she may decide to join one of the award winning competition teams.

Pictures (in order): Madison and her teacher Mrs. Milton (she is an awesome teacher).
Madi's school program.
Madi's school program.
The final pose for their performance. (pic taken at dress rehearsal)
Right before today's performance.
Dress rehearsal. (Madison is the one on the right that is in mid leap)
Recital. (back row, second from right)

No comment

2010-05-02T09:17:00.000-07:00

So, this is the scene that Mike came home to this morning. He drove home in white out conditions and then arrived home to see this. It is MAY!!!! (Nothing more needs to be said)

Enjoying Spring

2010-05-01T08:56:00.001-07:00

Mike was off of work last weekend and we took advantage. We spent Saturday in Logan. We went to baby animal days at the Jensen Historical Farm, went to the Blue and White football scrimmage at Utah State, visited Gossner's to buy cheese, and went shopping at the sock and pajama outlets. The weather was beautiful, and the kids loved the baby animals. They were able to pet goats, pigs, horses, and sheep. They held ducklings, chicks, and rabbits, and then they rode the ponies. We also panned for gold and walked down to the pastures to see the buffalo herd.

My friend Britney, from New York, whom I haven't seen in a very long time was in town this weekend and we were able to visit with her and her mom on Sunday. We had a great time. Wish we could see them more. My mom's birthday was on Sunday and we had dinner and cake with her as well.
This week was also Madison's Greek festival. She decided that she wanted to be Aphrodite the goddess of Love. (She originally was going to be Athena, but decided for the goddess of love instead). Here are some pictures of her before she went to school.

We have one other piece of news to share. Chris, who is finishing up his doctorate, defended his work in front of the committee this week. They were very impressed with his work and experiments. Now, he needs to defend publicly and then he graduates. Congratulations Chris!

Sending our love to everyone!

Michelle

Easter

2010-04-04T20:44:00.000-07:00

"I'm dreaming of a white Easter, just like the ones they have in Gnome. Where the eggs are frozen, and children listen to hear bunnies in the snow. Oh, I'm dreaming of a Utah Easter...." Yep, it was one of those kinds of Easter today. I'm sure the Easter Bunny had a blast hiding the eggs in all of the snow that we had. It snowed a good three inches of wet snow last night between about midnight and 5am. (Good thing we had an Easter Egg hunt with the Thuesons yesterday. Thus the pictures with the grass visible) Yuck! The bunny hid some neat eggs for the kids. They are made to look like grass, wood, and rocks. They blended really well with the white snow. However, Chris (who lives in San Diego---where it never snows) pointed out that the best camouflage would have been to use plain eggs and forget the dye.

Despite it all, the kids had a blast looking for eggs and had a good Easter. They had baskets full of goodies and had plenty of candy for breakfast. (That would be the breakfast of champions!) Then, we headed to my parents for lunch. We had a good time and were able to visit with them and then talk with Chris and Alicia on the phone (During an earthquake). We also were able to visit with Mike's parents on the phone (however, we are no longer speaking with them because we feel it is unfair that they are spending Easter on the beach. The BUMS!!!) j/k

Well, I am headed to bed. Only one more day of spring break for me. (Not sure that a Friday and a Monday off really count as spring break, but I'll take what I can get.) The kids are off the rest of the week so they can spend it pestering Mike. :)

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Sending everyone, that is away from us this Easter, hugs and kisses!!

Michelle

Science fair and basketball

2010-02-13T11:11:00.000-08:00

So, lately we have been busy with science fair at our house. I have the science fair at my school, which involves me keeping track of 50+ kids progress on their projects. Damon has also been working on science fair for his school.
Damon and Austin did their project on how well Alka- Seltzer dissolves in different liquids. They did the whole thing themselves and did an excellent job. Their projects were judged on Tuesday and the boys took Honorable Mention. We are very excited and proud of both the boys.

Alka-seltzer in Maple syrup after 1 hour

We have also been gone to basketball games and practice. I included some pictures of that as well. Both of the kids are doing great in basketball. Damon is awesome at defense and has been able to polish some of his offensive skills. Madison has made leaps and bounds and will actually fight for the ball. And, mom is always the crazy one yelling herself hoarse at the games. :)

Winter fun

2010-01-17T10:19:00.001-08:00

It's that time of year! Time for all of the winter sports. We started this year off with a little sledding. Unfortunately, my camera ran out of batteries before I could get pictures. Here are the couple that I did get.

Yes, those are helmets. Since Damon had already knocked himself silly at school, we weren't taking any chances. Good thing we already had ski/snowboard helmets. We did have a great time and would like to go again soon. We just need some fresh snow.

The kids also started Jr. Jazz basketball this week. Madison has been excited to play since she was about 4 years old. Damon took a year or two off but decided to play again this year. They both are doing very well. Damon had a basket and a really good steal in his game yesterday. Madison did a great job on defense. She did get hit in the face with the ball, but now she knows that she has to pay attention when her team has the ball. However, she did suck it up and head back out to play. She is one tough princess.

We were able to go to the Jazz basketball game as a family the other night. The kids each got a ticket for playing and so we all went to the game. We had a great time.

Things are good here. The inversion has set in so Salt Lake is covered in yuck and smog. It makes me thankful to be outside of town. I am currently enjoying the beautiful sunshine, something that I haven't seen in town for a couple of weeks. We have finally had some warm days. I think we almost hit 40 the other day. (Hey, we take what we can get)

Madison ready for a pass.
Damon practicing his dribbling at half time.

Madison heading back down the court to play defense.
Damon just passed the ball off to his player and she heads to the basket.

Ending another year

2009-12-25T19:54:00.000-08:00

( Las Vegas, Oct. 2009)
So, I am going to tell you something that will come as a huge surprise...(wait for it)...we have been crazy busy for the last few months. (hee hee) So here goes:

Twas the night before Christmas and all through our house,
All the Schultz's were stirring and rushing about;

There were stockings to hang and cookies to share,
And NORAD said Santa soon would be there;

The children were nestled in Grandma's soft beds,
While thoughts of new toys danced in their heads;

And Mom fell into bed
with nary a shirk,
While Dad settled down
for a long night at work

When somewhere near dawn
Dad arrived with no clatter,
He had finished his shift
and he couldn't be gladder.

Away from his work he
did go like a flash,
All of the officers were tired
and ready to crash.

The moon on the breast
of the new fallen snow
Did nothing for the temp
which was really quite low,

Some time during the night
what did appear,
but a miniature sleigh,
and eight tiny reindeer,

St. Nick filled the stockings
and under the tree,
There were presents for everyone,
including me,

The children did wake
and the presents were opened,
Time together we spent,
only kind words were spoken.

We reflect on a year
spent with family and friends,
Hard to believe
that the year's at its end.

To California for family,
Las Vegas-U2
So many people we're
missing. What do we do?

Send our hugs and our kisses
by phone and by mail,
Our thoughts and our prayers
should be of some avail.

Hear us exclaim
as you finish this readin',
May peace, love and joy
be with you this season!

( U2 concert, Oct 2009) (Damon playing shuffle board, Oct. 2009)

(Hiking Red Rock Canyon, Las Vegas- Oct. 2009) (Madison Swimming, Oct. 2009)

(Damon's Class, recorder concert- Dec. 2009) (Madison's ballet review- Dec. 2009)

(Madi sharing her list with Santa) (Annual visit from Santa on the fire truck)

.
( Look at the stash of presents that we both got!)

(Showing off their snoopy, gingerbread house- they put it together by themselves)

One of Everything

2009-08-09T20:20:00.000-07:00

So as the summer winds down, we would like to share what we have done this summer. We have done one of everything it seems, so here are some highlights...
One knights of freedom knighting ceremony:

One liberty girls retreat:

One trip to Logan:

One cub scout day camp:

One visit from Grandma Schultz and Uncle John:

One trip to kangaroo zoo:

One hiking/geocaching trip:

One camping trip:

One webelos award ceremony:

One littlest pet shop birthday cake:

One gaggle of girls on a treasure hunt:

One rock and roll birthday cake:

One herd of boys learning their moves from 007 James Bond:

One week of football tryouts:

One cheer leading performance to prepare for:

And one set of parents that are exhausted by the first of August! We can't wait to see what the school year has in store for us!

What a beautiful day!

2009-06-06T20:23:00.000-07:00

So, as some of you know, this has not been a typical spring and start of summer for Utah. We had some seriously warm days in February and March and then had lots of snow late into april. Not that I am complaining, we definitely need the water. So the last month or so has had its ups and downs. It will be really nice and warm and then really rainy and cool. Today was great! We had the Pony Express Days parade for Madison. Her hula group had a float in the parade and so we went to watch it. The weather was perfect, warm but not hot. We had sun and the girls looked so cute on the float. Madison wore her tahitian costume and spent the entire parade standing on a bench waving and shaking her hips. Kim, the Hula teacher's mom, thought that Madison was great because she danced the whole time.

Damon loved the parade. He was catching candy that the people were throwing. He also saw the truck for the Utah Valley Thunder football team which is helping to sponsor the youth football and clinics for the Eagle Mountain football. He also high fived most of the new high school's football team. (They are the Westlake Thunder, and the new school opens in the fall) This will be the high school that Damon attends and he was way excited as they walked by and the cheerleaders that followed them. He also thought that it was really exciting that the youth football teams had a truck in the show and that they were blasting the song "thunderstruck" from the back of it. (I foresee my life involving a lot of pep rallies and highschool football games.)

Of course, the parade could not be complete without an injury. Madison was climing on the truck after they parked the float and slid off the bumper. She hit the trailer hitch and scraped her knee and leg. You will notice that in some of the pictures she is not very happy. Most of those were taken after the accident. A couple of the pictures of the float show Madison, but her back is to me. She has the light colored skirt on and is standing and waving.

Celebrating all week

2009-05-30T18:10:00.000-07:00

We began our celebrating on Sunday of this week. We had a BBQ with my parents to celebrate Memorial Day. The food was wonderful and we had fun visiting. Monday started off right! I was put on call for work and so I was able to hang out with Mike and the kids for the day. Late that afternoon, we met at a park for a picnic with some friends. Carrie & Ben, Wade & Jenny, Brenda & James, are all people that I went to highschool with and that will still claim me. We had baked potatoes at the park and the kids ran around like maniacs while we sat and visited. It was great fun. We really need to try to get together more often (unfortunately, it takes at least three months of planning before we actually get schedules coordinated). The kids celebrated this week because they were done with school and excited to start the summer. Wednesday night we brought the fire pit out and had a fire and roasted marshmallows. (I'm not sure why Madi is wearing a sun dress and a winter coat?! She is quite the fashion Diva!)

We then celebrated today, Saturday, with Madison's dance recital. She was so cute and their dance was perfect. Nothing like little girls with attitude shakin' it to the song "Fabulous" from the High School Musical movie.

Quick Rundown

2009-05-22T18:50:00.000-07:00

So, it has only been two months since I last posted. Not like much has happened. (ha ha). Here is a quick rundown (actually, it is quite long) of the Schultz family for the last couple of months. I have included some pictures.

First, we went to California for Mike's Grandmother's funeral. (Yes, of course we snuck to Disneyland for a couple of days. I can't believe that you even had to ask.) We had a wonderful time. We were able to visit a little with Pat and Sherrie but would like to go out a visit a little longer next time. The funeral was beautiful and the cemetery is an old mission that overlooks the ocean. (Definitely a peaceful and serene place.)

We had a good Easter. The Easter bunny did not disappoint. We had an Easter Egg hunt with our friends the Thuesons. We also went to Baby Animal days at the Jensen Historical Farm in Logan, Utah. Madison loved petting all of the cute animals and holding them. Damon liked petting the animals (although he probably won't admit it). He also liked the blacksmith shop and the hatchet throwing.

Mike and I each had a birthday. I can't believe I am married to such an old man. ( You know that I am 21 and holding while Mike gets older every year.) We each had a good birthday and kept things relatively mellow. We were able to celebrate both birthday with my parents and Chris and Alicia. We were in California close to my birthday and Chris and Alicia were here close to Mike's birthday.
Madison managed to finally lose her two top, front teeth. They were loose forever and eventually were sticking straight out of her mouth. Yes, she looked like some hillbilly. She was quite excited about the two dollar profit that she made out of the deal. She has still been dancing, doing hula, and just started cheer leading. She is in a class with the older girls, and this has added to her delusion that she is already a teenager. She will be having her spring dance recital, hula performance, and a parade performance in the next couple of weeks. I promise to post pictures when I have them.

Damon has been busy as well. He just had his pinewood derby and did well in the races. His car did not place in the top three but was in fourth place. He designed his car to look like one of the star wars ships, complete with battle damage/wearing and guns. He has been "relaxing" because he has a busy summer coming up with sports. (I'm not sure when video games became relaxing)

The kids have been busy with school and just finished up with school. They finished a little earlier than the traditional school. I am glad that they are done; they need a break. Next year they will not do the online school because they were both drawn for the Charter school. They are very excited and have several friends that already attend.

Mike tested for Lieutenant and placed fourth on the list. He is excited and hoping that he will be able to promote in the next year. We are all proud of him. He also received a commendation from the Sheriff for creating a training class for the kitchen employees, who are from an outside agency that the office contracts with, and we were able to go to staff meeting and see him receive his award.

We have been working in the yard. We spent last weekend spreading 15 tons of gravel by hand. We aren't quite done yet, but we both went back to work and haven't had time this week. We still need to get the garden, the dog run built, the bark down in the flower beds, the backyard cleaned up, and the house cleaned and organized. (You can see that I don't have much on my "to do" list.

Through it all, we have kept our sanity...well, most of us have.

Love ya!!

Number One

2009-04-05T00:06:00.000-07:00

So, the kids made it through their Destination Imagination competition. They went to state and won. There were only ten teams at state but they definitely dominated the competition. I was really impressed with the way that they put everything together and how organized they were when it came time to compete. They now have the opportunity to go to the global competition in May. I think we will wait for a couple of years before we try that. We are just getting our feet wet and don't want to get in over our heads in the first year. We want the kids to take a good experience away from this and are afraid that they would be frustrated and disappointed if they went up against some of these teams that have been competing for years. I copied, and posted, the article that appeared in the paper.

Madison's age group didn't even have other teams to compete against so they couldn't compete; but we all agree that they took a first place as well.

Thursday, 02 April 2009

Cathy Allred - Daily Herald

A winning team for the Utah State Destination ImagiNation Challenge Saturday used duct tape to secure a prop and win its acting challenge. "Duct tape solved the problem for the main big challenge to get it to stand up, because it was a part of the background video for the acting challenge," said team member Myla Colletti, 11. "Screws weren't doing it, holding it up. It was wobbly."
Fifteen children from five Utah County cities took state at the finals for the Destination ImagiNation Challenge last weekend.
Sponsored by the Hutchings Museum and Lehi American Legion Post 19, the group consisted of three teams. Of those, one team will go on to the international competition.
"The Hutchings Museum is proud -- as I am sure the Lehi veterans are, as well -- to have provided a place for these kids to prepare for their teamwork and creativity challenges," said museum program director Valerie Meade. "I'm so excited that all their hard work paid off so well."
Destination ImagiNation is a little-known competition in Utah, but in other parts of the world it is popular with educators and children.
A community-based, nonprofit, volunteer educational organization founded in 1999, Destination ImagiNation teaches kindergarten through university-level participants about critical- and creative-thinking skills.
More than 250,000 children and young adults in all 50 states and more than 40 countries compete each season. Two- to seven-member teams focus on finding solutions to two separate types of Destination ImagiNation challenges: Team Challenges and Instant Challenges. Then they present their solutions to appraisers in tournament-style settings.
"In Oregon, Destination ImagiNation, it's huge," said team manager Melissa Price, who is from Oregon. "Usually [Oregon] has a regional competition at the beginning of March. Here there are not enough teams to have regional anywhere and they only had six teams at state."
Other states have 20-30 teams competing at regional events. In Utah, one of her teams didn't have any competition at the state level and the other teams had only one team they went up against.
"Hopefully, I can help get the word out for next year so we can get some more teams," she said. "I feel it's important for the teams to have more competition."
That's not to say preparation for the state competition wasn't tough. The children had been practicing since January, three to four hours each week.
"Every Friday afternoon and work, work, work," Price said then laughed.
There were two teams, the Huskies and the Atomic Air Force, whose members were kindergarten to fifth-grade level. The other team, The Sharp Shooters, is the one going to finals and has three members of junior-high-school age.
"Well, I think they start to learn to work as a team," Price said. "They also learn what to do when something goes wrong. They really learn to work with different personalities. It's fun to watch. By the time the process is through, they become great friends and they really learn to rely on one another."
She said the most difficult thing for parents to do is to not help or guide them.
Adults are not allowed to help in any way, the children have to solve all the problems and do all the skits by themselves. It's completely child-led.
"It's kind of hard for parents to watch while the kids come up with a solution," Price said.
Now the teams are faced with how to raise enough funds to pay for getting to the Global Finals in May at the University of Tennessee. There were 18,000 competitors, all kids, from all over the world at the finals in 2008.
She said they need $5,000 per team to get the props and team members there and to pay for lodging and food.
"We are certainly trying to earn the money to go," Price said. "At least one of our teams is going to go."

Sharp Shooters - (Back Row)
Myla Coletti, 11, Lehi
Erika Meade, 12, American Fork
Summer Price, 14, Provo
Robbie Robinson, 11, Orem

Atomic Airforce - (middle row)
Damon Schultz, 10, Eagle Mountain
Jason Spoons, 9, Provo
Jeffery Coletti, 8, Lehi
Hunter Thueson, 10, Eagle Mountain

Huskies - (front row)
Kelsey Nettles, 8, Lehi
Reilly Price, 9, Provo
Sadie Thueson, 8, Eagle Mountain
Jeniel Zimmerman, 7, Orem

Weekly wrap up

2009-02-25T23:15:00.000-08:00

So, here we come to the end of another week, and I am finally getting around to posting on our blog. First, I will tell you about Valentines. The kids had a skating party the Friday before Valentines. We went to Classic Skating (yes, it looks like it did when we were kids) and they exchanged valentines, had treats, and skated/ scootered. I know you are wondering; no, I did not skate this year. I was feeling less adventerous than normal. I do crack up when I watch the kids and see how excited they are to do things like the hokey pokey on rollerskates. I laugh because we were the same way when we were that age. Mike worked on Valentine's so dinner dates are not doable. We had gone to dinner as a family the week before and we went to Famous Daves. The kids love the food there and there is a ton so we figure we ate enough to make up for that dinner and the one that we would normally have on Valentine's.:) Mike did send me flowers and they were beautiful roses of a variety of colors and in the cutest vase.
Well, the weather here has finally started to warm up. Yea!!!! This last weekend was in the 50's and the kids should have been outside playing. However, they decided that they wanted to spend the weekend inside, sick, and Mike joined them. I just tried to steer clear of all of them. Damon and Mike both had the stomach flu and Madison had an ear infection in both ears. So, knock on wood, I haven't been sick yet and don't plan to be. Mike is off for the next four days so we are hoping that we can all get outside and enjoy the weather. All of us need to get out and enjoy the sun!

Just an Update

2009-02-07T20:04:00.000-08:00

This is just a little post to catch up on our lives. First, I must start out with very important news...the Utah State Aggies have been ranked in the top 25 in three different polls. They won again tonight and are hoping that it will improve our ranking. (Utah state, hey, aggies all the way, go aggies, go aggies, hey hey hey!) Now that we got through that; I can't believe that we are now into February, it is flying by. It was beautiful today and the kids were able to go outside and play. Madison and her friends were out running around and playing littlest pet shops. Damon and his friends were out in the back yard shooting plastic cups with their BB guns. They had quite the target range set up. I was just thankful that they could go out and play; they have had cabin fever for the last month or so.
The kids are enjoying school. Madison loves her science, art, history, french, and language arts. She is not too fond of Phonics because she thinks that it is too much work. Damon is loving his literature, history, science, german, and art. He doesn't love the language arts or the composition because it involves too much writing.
Mike is keeping busy at work. It is that time of year when all of the crazy, homeless people want a place to stay so they get arrested. Three hots and a cot. I am keeping busy with everything going on. Needless to say, our house looks like a bomb went off. (Please don't plan on visiting unless you give us a month's notice so that we can dig out the front room) LOL. I keep waiting for the neighbors to call for search and rescue.
Our families are doing well. Mike's parents are enjoying the beach and the warm weather (we are all jealous). My parents are doing well, they are planning their next Disneyland adventure for March. Chris and Alicia will be out in April for her brother's wedding. We are excited to actually see them twice in the next couple of months. Tim and Beverly (Mike's brother) are keeping busy in Florida with work and teenage girls. Ryan and Kim (Mike's brother) are busy with work and family. Chris and Alicia (My brother) are busy with grad school, research, and teaching preschool.
Just for the record, Mike has decided that we both need to get in shape. He wants to lose weight and tone. He thinks that my stick arms and chicken legs are in need of some muscle. So, the other night we started and we brought out the new excercise ball with all of the whistles and bells. We followed the nice DVD workout that came with the ball and the lady on it was very nice and very helpful. The next day we both hurt, could hardly move, and decided that the lady on the video was actually evil. We will see if we decide otherwise in the next couple of weeks.
All is well and we are glad that everyone else seems to be doing well.
Love ya,
Michelle

Heat Wave

2009-01-23T22:03:00.000-08:00

This posting is dedicated to those of you who reside in locations on the far east and far west side of the country! We just wanted to let you know that we are having a heat wave...today it was around forty degrees. I was afraid that I might have to break out the bikini; however, before you become alarmed, or sick, I left it in the drawer. That being said, I will give you a little update on life. Lately, Mike and I have been working and the kids have been busy with school. In our free minutes, we are hiding in the house in our three layers of clothing. The other night when Mike and I went to bed we checked the temperature and it was a balmy three degrees outside. (I know that you are all jealous and would love to come and visit for a week or two) Now, I do like the winter and having the occasional snow storm (or every other day like it was in December) is fun; that being said, when it is too cold to snow, or leave the house, or get out of bed, I long for the warm weather. As you will notice, all of the background music has been changed in honor of the occasion. I can't complain too loudly because we have not had the inversion out here like they have in downtown and so we do get to see the sun. I also have been dying to take up skiing again and it looks like we will take some lessons with the kids in February.
Nothing much is new here. Mike is working on several projects for his Lieutenant. She keeps him busy, which keeps him out of trouble. (ha ha) He is also looking forward to/ dreading the Lieutenant's test that is in the spring. He is excited to take it, but no one is exactly sure what the format will be; so it is hard to study for it. He is, of course, worried about how he will do on the test. (We all know that he will do awesome on the test!) I am busy with work and trying to decide exactly where I would like to apply for nursing school and finishing up my last prerequisite class. (Nope, one college degree is not enough for me; I must have variety...or is it insanity?!) The kids are both doing the Destination Imagination competition. This is a world wide competition that trys to get kids to work together, be creative and think outside of the box. There are set challenges that the kids have to pick from , and then the team must figure out how to complete the challenge which includes building things, presenting things, and solving problems. No adult intervention is allowed so we can watch but cannot give suggestions or help the kids with building anything. Damon's group has decided that they are going to build a very light weight structure that must hold a significant amount of weight. His challenge also must include two artforms that have been merged to form another art form. There are four boys on his team. The team has come up with their art forms that they are combining and are currently working on the design of their structure. The next step in this process will be actually creating the structure and testing it. Madison's age group does not actually compete but they work on their own challenges and solve problems together. When the older kids go to competition, the younger kids can still go and perform in the challenges but they are not graded at that age. Utah does not have many teams so we go straight to state competition. From there the next step would be the national competition.
Damon has started the Knights of Freedom group. This group is based on the childhood of famous Americans books. The boys have books that they need to read and then meet twice a month to discuss the books and have activities. The boys are very much a part of planning and conducting the activities. This is great because it gets him out of the house, he gets to read some really cool books, and it gives him a variety of responsibilities that he must carry out. He had his first meeting the other day and seems very excited about it. He gets to read Benjamin Franklin first. He is currently in "his off season" for sports. He decided not to play basketball this year and instead is hoping to play lacrosse early this spring. (Hmm, another sport that involves hitting people and there is less padding. I'm not sure what I think about this. )
Madison is her usual, social, self. She is currently in hula, dance, and liberty girls. The liberty girls is like the knights of freedom. Liberty girls is based on the American Girl books and the girls have books that they read and then activities that go along with the book. Her group is just finishing up the Kirsten books and will be starting another series at the beginning of March. The girls have decorated cookies, painted trunks, sewn little quilts, and decorated sun hats as some of their activities. Each of her activities have involved a book discussion and then activities that have something to do with the book itself. She loves it and she loves the group of twelve crazy, giggling girls.
Okay, I am finally done. We just want to tell everyone "Hi" and let them know that we are still alive even if we don't get to talk to everyone all of the time.

Love ya,
Michelle

Surviving the Holidays

2009-01-11T18:39:00.000-08:00

Well, we made it through the holidays. We had a wonderful Christmas and the kids had LOTS of presents under the tree. Some of their favorite gifts under the tree were:

Madison- A Barbie house that is taller than she is, Raggedy Ann dolls, Littlest Pet Shop Vip, jewelry, and polly pockets, a gift card, and a book about Mango the green cat.

Damon- A long board, An MP3 player, A short wave radio, some reading books, and some drawing books.

However, their favorite gift by far was the Wii that Grammy and Grandpa gave us. It has even given the kids incentive to keep the basement clean! We spent the day with my parents and went to see my Grandma and my Aunt's family. We had a great day even with all of the snow that we had.

We rang in the new year with a pizza party with the Thuesons. We even made it to midnight, of course, we left at 12:15 am. What can we say...we are real party animals! The kids are back into school and madi is in dance and hula. Damon is taking a break and is looking forward to lacrosse this spring.

Well, hope that this finds you all well. Love ya!!

Well, here it goes...

2008-12-20T03:50:00.000-08:00

I finally was able to download the pictures from our very unhappy camera. These are some of the pictures from our cruise. We had a wonderful time! We went to Cabo San Lucas and Ensenada. Damon and Madi had a blast on the ship. We all enjoyed the shore excursions, and the kids are wanting to go again. Hmmm, I think we will have to save our pennies!! Anyway, here are some pictures that we took while we were there. We sailed from San Diego, spent one day at sea, spent one day in Cabo San Lucas, another day at sea, one day in Ensenada, and then returned. We did a little cruise to Land's End in Cabo and then went on a tour and the kids played in the ocean. In Ensenada (not pictured here) we went to a Mexican fiesta and did some shopping. The kids looked awesome for formal night on the ship, and they had a blast at camp carnival. They made new friends which they did activities with and even ate dinner with a couple of the nights. Of course we came home to winter weather. (yuck)

Love ya,

Michelle

Catching up

2008-12-15T03:13:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I fell off the planet for about a month. We really are fine but things got a little out of control for a couple of weeks. We had a fabulous time on our vacation and really didn't want to come home. I will tell more when I am at my home computer and can post pictures to go along with it. We thank Chris and Alicia for putting up with us and a sick Damon for one night. Sorry that we shared the lovely cold that is going around and won't go away. We returned home a couple of days before Thanksgiving and hit the floor running. Mike and I both had to work the day after we returned and worked through the holiday. Then it was back to school, more work, and the start of the Christmas season. We have also had dance programs, school activities, and everything else. I promise to post pictures of everything. Unfortunately that may be a little while. We had to buy some disposable cameras while we were gone because the camera had a little accident. No worries, I just have to figure out where I put the cameras and then get them developed.

We did have Thanksgiving dinner with Chris and Alicia. This involved going out for pizza and pasta at Pat and Oscar's. It was quite yummy. Then we had a real Thanksgiving dinner, on Thanksgiving, at my parents house. We worked it in between sleep and going back to work. (Actually just Mike had to work that night, I worked the night before. hee hee)

The kids are gearing up for Christmas. They have lists a mile long and think that they are going to get everything. Damon wants anything that is electronic and Madison wants everything that is cute, fuzzy, pink, or can have it's clothes changed. (Pretty much everything) The good news is that Mike is off for Christmas this year and I only have to work four hours on Christmas Eve. Then, to top it off, we get the New Year's holiday off too. Our children won't know what to do with themselves. They will actually have everyone together at the same time and no one will be sleep deprived while celebrating.

All joking aside, we really are blessed to have the jobs that we do. We are so happy to be able to visit our family members that are scattered around the country. We are also thankful for our family and friends that actually put up with us, especially Mike and the kids (they can get a little out of hand).

I do promise to post pictures of what I have and fill you in on the details.

Later,
Michelle

Missing Time

2008-11-09T19:19:00.000-08:00

Somewhere between August and November I lost some time. I believe that I am missing about two months. I am unable to figure out where the time has gone, but I hope to find it soon because I desperately need it back. I was not ready for Halloween, I am not ready to be gone to California, I am not ready for Thanksgiving, and I certainly am not ready for Christmas.... That being said I suppose that I am out of luck and will have to face the here and now.
We did survive Halloween, and Madison was able to down her entire stash of trick or treat candy in a matter of 48 hours. I believe that Damon is still working on his candy. The kids made out like bandits while trick or treating. Madison was Elizabeth Swan from Pirates of the Carribean and Damon dressed up like a zombie Doctor.

Mike entertained himself by decorating the yard for Halloween. Later, Mike went ghost hunting with Corey while the rest of us went to bed. (Sane people don't hang out in old grave yards on Halloween night. Now you see why Mike and Corey were there. ) For those of you wondering, yes they did find some "paranormal activity" in the graveyard in Eureka. No, you don't want to know what it was. I informed Mike that if any of his spooky little friends followed him home that he would be sleeping in the graveyard.

We have had the kids pictures taken and I have posted a couple of there here on the blog. I will also be sending pictures out with Christmas cards so watch for that. We will post pictures when we get back from our trip.

Just a little side note...we have reason to celebrate; my brother Chris just found out that he is having some of his research published in one of the science journals. He has had research published before but he was a second author on the project. This time it is his project and he is the author! Congrats Chris!

Fall Fun

2008-10-25T22:04:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I have posted anything. Not to say that nothing has been going on; everything is going on and that seems to be the problem. We have been busy with school, dance, football, halloween, friends, and fun. So, here is the scoop. Despite having been busy, we were able to take a nice trip to Logan with our friends the Thuesons (Yes, people other than our parents will claim us!) We had a nice drive up to Logan, visited the Gossner cheese factory to load up on a car load of cheese, and then we drove up over Logan canyon and down to bear lake. Unfortunately, it was cloudy and rainy that day so it wasn't as pretty as it could have been. We were able to take some neat pictures so I thought I would share. Hope that you are having a nice fall (those of you who live in warm climates, such as florida and southern california, keep the weather comments to yourselves :) ) Thanks, Chad and Wendy, for putting up with us and our crazy kids!!!

Way to go Damon, we are proud of you!!!

2008-10-09T13:28:00.001-07:00

Okay, so I finally am getting around to posting pictures of Damon's football. Please note that Damon is number 40. You will recognize him as the defensive lineman that is not built like a monster truck. Most of the kids that are on the line are what they call x-men; they weigh over a certain amount and are not allowed to carry the ball and other restrictions. Mind you, the x-men all weigh twice what Damon weighs but that does not stop Damon from wanting to play defensive line and go up against these boys. He had an awesome year and is looking forward to next year. It is cool that this is the one and only year that they will play under the name Saratoga Spartans, next year the new highschool will be finished and they boys will play under the new high school name. (It's neat to be the first and only spartans)

He is down in his defensive stance. Making a tackle by the ankles.

Off the line and hitting hard

Attending the coin toss as defensive capt. Notice how close Damon is lined up, he's ready

Bring it on

Congratulations Damon

2008-09-21T20:00:00.000-07:00

So, it won't surprise anyone that I forgot the camera again on Saturday. I guess it is okay because it was really rainy and wet and would have been hard to get good pictures of Damon. Damon had been doing well during the game and has finally figured out exactly what he needs to do in the "crawler" position to break through the offensive line. This position is the equivalent of a nose tackle (yes, all 60 pounds of Damon plays defensive line). However, in the third quarter of the game something happened to Damon; we are not sure what, maybe a screw finally worked its way loose, breakfast finally kicked in, or someone lit a fire under him, but he was unbelievable. He was knocking kids twice his size over, got a hand on the quarterback as he was handing the ball off, and then held on to the runner one time and pulled him down while taking two other kids with him. He was hilarious, you could see the excitement and energy as it finally clicked. He did such a good job that his defensive coach asked him to be Defensive Captain in the next game!!!!! Way to go Damon!!!!

Catching Up With Madison

2008-09-14T17:25:00.000-07:00

Today's post is catching up with Madison. Princess Madison has been exceptionally busy lately. Her social schedule is full with first grade starting, fall semester for dance starting, hula, and soccer. So here is the rundown for our social butterfly. She has started first grade and is participating in the alpine district online school. This is the same school that Damon did last year. Madison is loving it. She is taking language arts, phonics, math, science, history, art, and as her foreign language she has French. She likes the work and the variety of activities and field trips that they have done. So far this year we have been to the art museum for a special exhibit and This is the Place Monument; she is looking forward to another art exhibit and the Halloween party next month. Madison is taking ballet/jazz again this year and is quite excited about the class. She came home last week showing Mike the new moves that she had learned. (She now has dance moves to compliment the songs that she goes around singing) She is still taking Hula and just had her summer concert last night. The girls are looking forward to dancing twice at the Scarecrow festival in October. She loves hula because she gets to "shake, shake, shake, shake your booty". Madi has discovered a new hidden talent this fall. She is an amazing soccer goalie; this is quite a feat for someone who ran around the entire season last year holding hands with her best friends on the team and discussing the outfits they were wearing. She still socializes while running on the field but has become very focused when she is goalie. This makes me a little nervous since she has no fear and is diving face first onto the ball while people are still kicking it. (However, should one of the boys kick her, my money would be on Madison to win that fight. She doesn't put up with anyone!) We are very proud of Madison and how hard she is working.

My next goal is to catch you up on Damon. I wasn't able to take pictures at football because I forgot one week and he was injured the next. I promise to remember the camera and give you the scoop.

Love ya,
Michelle

Remember when...

2008-08-24T23:06:00.000-07:00

This comes from my friend Amy. Thanks Aim, this is neat? Here is a fun little game...Leave a comment on my blog of a memory that you and I have had together. It doesn't matter if you've known me for a short time, or a long time, anything you remember! Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you. It's actually pretty funny to see the responses. If you leave a memory about me, I'll assume you're playing the game and I'll come to your blog and leave one about you. On your mark... Get Set... Blog!

We have returned

2008-08-13T23:51:00.000-07:00

For those of you who didn't know, we have returned home. (I'm sure that this is a relief for some of you and a warning for others, depending on which end of the country you are on.) Overall, we had a wonderful vacation and really enjoyed spending time with Mike's family. We are proud to report that Mike's mom is on the mend after having back surgery while we were there. According to her it was Madison's wonderful nursing care that helped her feel better. We were also there to celebrate her 50th birthday. (She will die when she finds out that I posted this on our blog. I guess it is a good thing that she isn't allowed to go upstairs to the computer for a few more days.) ;)

I guess that I should give everyone a recap of our vacation. We ended up in Florida a day late because of some weather/mechanical complications with our plane. (Lets just say that a one hour plane ride to Denver became a five hour flight that caused us to miss our connection which left us in Denver for the night. Don't even get me started on the remainder of our airport/ rental car experiences. We spent the first couple of nights in St Petersburg/ Tampa Bay area of Florida. We went to the Dali art museum, the beach, and the clearwater aquarium. The kids fell in love with a dolphin at the aquarium named Winter. The dolphin was trapped in a crab trap line when it was a baby and lost its tail. No worries, the dolphin has adapted and even has a prosthetic tail which it is learning to swim with. We also spent time at the beach.
Next, we headed to Orlando where we went on an air boat ride, visited the city of celebration, went to Disney's Bizzard Beach (A definite must visit), The Blue Man group, and the kids went on a kids night out to Wonderworks with the condos that we stayed in.
We proceeded to Jacksonville from there. We spent time with Mike's parents and Tim, Beverly, and girls. We stayed with Mike's parents and we were able to see Tim and his family several times. Madison is quite excited to have new "girl" cousins to visit and she seems to think that she is the same age. (Note that the girls are twins that are seventeen and one that is eighteen and just graduated) Tim also gave us incredible seats for the Jacksonville Jaguars football game. We had a blast. The seats were about 15 rows up on the 50 yard line. We could have thrown a paper airplane and had it land on the Atlanta players. We spent several days on the beach where the kids enjoyed skim boarding, body surfing, shell hunting, and playing with starfish that they found.

We did spend a couple of days in Savannah, Ga and had a great time walking through the historic distric of downtown Savannah.
Overall, we had a fabulous time! However, we are glad to be back at home. We miss everyone there in Florida and hope that they come out to visit soon. ( We are trying to talk Tim, Beverly, and the girls into coming out for a visit. We would really like to have them in the winter when they could enjoy the snow. )
Of course, it has taken me two weeks to finally finish this post. We started back to work the day after we returned. With school starting this week we have been up to our eyeballs.
Well, enough rambling.

Michelle

An Early Birthday

2008-07-19T12:12:00.000-07:00

Since Grandma and Grandpa Larson are going to be gone until close to the time we leave, we celebrated the kids' birthdays early. Here are a couple of pictures of their presents. You will have to thank Grandma and Grandpa for the mess of polly pockets and the giant lego dinosaur that walks and roars.

The Count Down Begins

2008-07-12T01:58:00.000-07:00

Well, for those of you who haven't heard Mike and I shouting it from the mountain tops; we are going to florida at the end of July for three weeks. That being said, July is in full swing and we are still a long way from being ready to go. Let me just share some of the things that I have observed as we are preparing for our trip. First, one should never have to look at a website to tell them how and what they can pack for a trip... (example) I have had to check the number of bags that we can have, what products we can take, and whether our carry ons are the correct size. This is way too much, what happened to I pull the suitcase out of the closet, throw some clothes and toiletries inside, and get on the plane?! Apparently I know have to have a degree in physics, engineering, and chemical science to pack for a trip...throw the kids in the mixture and you have to include a jobs as zoo keeper. The second thing that I have learned is that giving yourself a list of projects three months in advance still means that the week before you leave you will be trying to get it all done. Third, I need to call a disaster crew with heavy machinery to clean my family room downstairs, the two little monkeys that play down there are apparently not enough. I am afraid at some point we are going to lose a family member to the mess that is down there. (Again see the above note about projects needing completed) Four, dog proofing your house before a trip is worse than kid proofing your house before they come home from the hospital. Finally, despite all of the stress that we go through before the trip begins and while we are there, and when we return home, we are still thankful that we have the opportunity to travel as much as we do and are happy to be going out to see Mike's parents after a couple of years without a trip to Florida.
In other happenings, we had a good fourth of July holiday. We had a BBQ and fireworks with my parents a couple of days before the fourth because we were all off work that night. On the fourth of July the kids and I went to fireworks in Riverton; this was an awesome display and we had the perfect seats (they were made even better by the fact that we could get right out and head home without waiting for an hour), unfortunately, Mike had to work and spent the night watching prisoners. The day after we went to a neighborhood block party where we barbequed and then had fireworks. The kids had a great time running around and playing with their friends.
Other than the holiday, the kids have been playing with their friends; and Mike and I have been trying to get things ready to go. We will let you know if anything exciting happens between now and when we leave. I am hoping to post some pictures while we are gone.

Later,
Michelle

LAX at the Y

2008-06-30T13:58:00.000-07:00

Today both me and Damon got to experience a first. Michelle decided that I should get to learn how to post in our blog, so this is my first blog. Damon finished up his first day of lacrosse camp at BYU. The BYU lacrosse coach is running the camp along with some of the players. according to Damon it was "awesome" and "just like Football, only you get to hit people with sticks". Needless to say he loved it. We had him put on his equipment so we could take some pictures, throw in some blacklights and he could be trying out for Tron II. We will keep you updated as things progress, Madi will be starting a new sport for her as well this fall, she will be starting fast pitch softball.

Not Much New

2008-06-30T01:57:00.000-07:00

This is just a little post to catch everyone up on what we are up to. The answer is not much. We have been busy around the house. Mike has had the last few days off and has been busy with yardwork and cleaning around the house. I have worked several of the days that Mike has been off which isn't much help for him. We have been working on some of the problem areas in our yard and still have a few to go, the problem is that it suddenly has become 100 degrees outside and too hot to work outside.
We went to Lagoon on Friday with our friends the Thuesons. We had a great time and the kids loved riding the rides. I think that was the first time that Madison has been there and Damon would have been about 2 when we last went. Needless to say, the kids were out before we could get on the freeway to come home.
Mike was hit by a tire the other day while driving. He was on his way to work and the truck next to him lost a tire, wheel and everything. The tire was then rolling down Mike's lane and he had nowhere to go. Thank goodness the tire hit the front of the car and then rolled up and off the side instead of up the hood and through the windshield. The front bumper has a big melted tire print on the bumper, the bumper is cracked, and the skirting in bent down. The guys insurance company is coming out tomorrow to look at the car. We are just thankful that Mike is okay.
Later,
Michelle

So We Didn't Win the Trophy

2008-06-22T01:56:00.001-07:00

Well, I hate to say that Damon's team did not take first place. He did play the whole game and did a great job. It was too bad because half of his team was out of town. They did a great job and had a great season, now we are on to Football. Well, I guess that we have been doing football for a month because Damon has been doing camp. He also plans to try his hand at lacrosse. I guess that we will see how this works. I guess that since we didn't break anything in football we will try in lacrosse.

Baseball Update

2008-06-18T02:24:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it has only been a couple of days since I last posted but I wanted to give everyone an update. Damon's team played their first playoff game on Saturday and they won, very convincingly. The second game was last night and they won 12 to 10, a little too close this time. However, this is the team that was first in the league (we never played them in the regular season). The next game will be on Thursday and that will be for the championship. I plan to post some pictures of Damon playing but will probably wait until the championship game so that we get pics from a couple of games.
Everything else in our family is good. We are just getting things in order for our trip to Florida and trying to keep the kids occupied and out of trouble for the summer.
Hope that all is well with you!
Michelle

Catching everyone up

2008-06-13T18:11:00.000-07:00

Madison lost (had pulled) her first two teeth!!
The proud pinewood derby racer. (His car lost a wheel and didn't make it to the end of the track)
Madison's Dance group taking a bow in the finale.

The star herself, Miss Madison!!

Well, I haven't posted for a little while so I thought I would let the pictures do the talking. I have more that I plan to post sometime soon. Also check some of the other posts for pictures that have been added since they were first posted. (I am still figuring this blog thing out)

We love ya!!

Wahoo!!!

2008-05-25T00:11:00.000-07:00

Alrighty, I just want everyone to know that the second and third surgeries that I scrubbed for were fine. There was no passing out and I didn't have to leave the room. I also got to assist with the stiches and then I did the staples to close up the incision. I was so excited. I plan to scrub another time or two this week. I need to get my training done so that I can scrub by myself and work my shift as the scrub on my shift.
The kids are terribly excited about school being out next week. Damon has a field trip on Thursday and Madison has a water day, field day, movie day, and carnival next week. Needless to say, they are pretty much done for the year.
Madison has her dance recital next weekend and they both play their last baseball game next week. Damon's team has a tournament and they are currently in second place for the league.
We are spending the holiday weekend at home because I work tonight and Mike works tomorrow and Monday night. (I hate when work interferes with my social life) We did take the kids to Chuck E Cheese with our friends on Friday and then we went to the movies that evening. The kids loved Indiana Jones and they saw Prince Caspian last week. They think this is great, two movies in two weeks is a world record for us.
We are planning to do some camping in a couple of weekends but we are struggling with an exact location because it has been so cold and wet here that we are afraid to head into the mountains around us. We are thinking of heading south or southwest. We think that we might go hunt for some topaz and fossils. This makes the kids excited (and the dogs excited) because they get to run around looking for rocks and playing in the dirt. Which reminds me, the kids have spent the last couple of weeks bug hunting. Grandma and Grandpa contributed by buying the kids a bug viewer that they can catch bugs and put them in and then it magnifies the bug. However, I am tired of having jars with miscellaneous bugs sitting around the house so I contributed by buying them a bug cage for their fabulous pets. They spent the evening yesterday and the afternoon today catching bugs. As I was leaving for work, I had to check out the whole mess of potato bugs that they each had in their cage.
Well, hope that all is well with everyone.
Love ya!!

Celebrating A Birthday

2008-05-15T22:00:00.000-07:00

The poster of Mikey pictures.
One of my favorite sayings now sits on Mike's desk.
Happy Birthday Sergeant Schultz!!!!

Well, we have survived another week. Mike celebrated his birthday on May 10th and enjoyed going to dinner and opening his presents; however he was not so fond of being embarassed at work. The jail was doing a pot luck dinner so I worked it out with another sergeant and the watch commander to go in and surprise Mike at work. (We all know that Mike likes to embarass and harass the rest of us so I figured it was payback time) I took a large cake, balloons, a poster with many pictures of Mike over the years, and a gift for his desk. I arrived and waited for the other officers to finish dutch oven cooking outside while Mike was inside getting things set up. To Mike's surprise, I came in when they brought the other food in. I don't think I have seen Mike that shade of red in a very long time. Everyone enjoyed it and thought it was great to see pics of Mike and to give him a bad time about his birthday.
Madison has officially lost her first two teeth. She had one of her permanent teeth coming in behind her baby teeth on the bottom. We went to the dentist and he went ahead and pulled the baby teeth so Madison is missing her two bottom teeth. She is so excited to get her big teeth and she was so very excited to have a visit from the toothfairy.
Mikes brother was married on May 10th; congratulations Tim and Beverly. They were married at sunrise on the beach in Florida. We were sorry that we couldn't be there but we will see them this summer when we are out there.
Damon and Madison are finishing up the last couple of weeks of school and getting ready for next year. They both will do the Alpine online school next year and we have ordered the curriculum for that. They each will do Math, Language arts, Spelling, Literature, Art, Science, History, and then Damon is taking German and Madison is taking French (because that language is fancy). Damon has one more field trip this year and they are going for a picnic in the children's garden at Thanksgiving point. Madison has a water day and a field day on her last week of school and she is really excited about that.
We are getting ready for Madison's spring dance recital next week. Damon will start football camp the beginning June and then will start his season in July. Madison will take a break for the summer and then will start dance again in august and will probably do soccer in the fall as well.
For everyone else, we are hanging in there and are working and trying to get all of our projects done before we are gone on vacation. Keep in touch.
Michelle

Just trying to survive...

2008-05-05T00:40:00.000-07:00

So here we are at 2am on Monday morning and I have decided to share my ramblings at work with you. I am on day four in a row of twelve hour night shifts so you will have to excuse me if I don't make sense. Things have been crazy at our house. Damon has been doing his end of year testing for school so we have had him in to the district several times in the last week. We are finishing up the school year with both Damon and Madison. I can't believe that Madison is done with Kindergarten and Damon is done with 4th grade. With all of this going on Mike and I have worked the last four days at the same time. (So much for cleaning the house and caring for our children) I guess I shouldn't feel too bad because the kids had been counting down the days to sleeping over and grammy's and grandpa tater's. (The kids are really not sad when we work the same nights) The kids have been exceptionally excited about playing the Wii at grammy's and they had a bowling night on thursday and golfing night on friday. (Saturday was spent watching movies)
We are gearing up for summer and the kids are fully involved in baseball already. Damon's team has done well and he enjoys playing with them. Madison has only been to one game but is loving it too. We all got new bikes so that we can get into shape this year and now we are just waiting for the weather to cooperate. We had a couple of nice days and so we bought bikes and then the next day we had snow again. I understand that we need the water but I have had about all of the snow and cold that I can take. It makes it even worse when we talk to my brother in sunny San Diego or Mike's family in fabulous Florida. They think they are freezing when it is 60 degrees.
We are getting ready for Mike's birthday this week, despite his protests. He thinks that he is going to squeak this one out under the radar. He thinks by telling everyone that he doesn't need anything or doesn't know what he wants that we will leave him alone. Wrong! He should definitely know us better than that. Unfortunately, he will be at work for his birthday so we will have to celebrate the day before. (Don't you hate when work interrupts your social life)
Speaking of social life, we were able to go out to dinner with a group of our friends last week. This is the group that I ran around with in highschool and we finally got everyone together for dinner. Getting us all in the same place at the same time takes an act of congress and two miracles. We have one friend who is executive management and her husband is working on his masters degree as well as caring for a baby and a preschooler, one friend that works for the newspaper and her husband who is going to surveyor school and working full time while caring for they baby, one friend who is full time military and just recently returned from Iraq as well as dating a new girl and seeing his kids every chance that he gets, and then you have Mike who works for the jail and me who works for the hospital. Mike and I have decided that we have the most interesting/awesome group of friends. We were stoked to have a night out with friends and with no kids. (How often does that happen)
Now on to the most exciting part of all...for those of you who have talked with me lately and know that I went to scrub school to scrub for c-sections. I finished my classes a couple of weeks ago and was so excited to start my supervised scrubs. I decided that I would come in this last thursday and scrub for the 7:30am C-section. I was excited and nervous, ate some breakfast, made it to the hospital in plenty of time, dressed in my scrubs, and started to help set up. We got everything set up and waited about 15 minutes for them to bring the patient in to the room, by this time I am sweating buckets and deciding that wearing a tee shirt under my scrubs, tube socks, and a mask with the face shield attached was not such a fabulous idea. We get started with the section and my mentor is standing across from me and we are each standing next to one of the doctors who is doing the section. Now, I am excited, nervous, sweating, and standing under OR lights. We get through 75% of the c-section and are just getting ready to cut the uterus and deliver the baby. I decide that this would be a nice time to try to blackout. I backed up from the table and called for the circulating nurse (the only person not scrubbed in for the operation). She backs me up to the wall where I slide down to the floor and sit with my head between my knees. Needless to say, this was the most traumatic and embarassing thing that I have happen in quite some time. So now, the running joke with Mike is that they will have to sterilize a chair for me to sit on so that I don't have to sit on the floor. I have learned a couple of things from this experience...first, do not wear a tee-shirt under your scrubs and under a non permeable rubberized gown; second, your thickest socks may be fabulous and very comfortable but are not so fabulous when you are trying to stay cool while scrubbed in; third, fruitloops are not the breakfast of champions and do not set well when you are excited and nervous and hot; fourth, go with your first instinct and wear the mask that you like and the stupid safety goggles instead of going with the convenience of the mask/eye shield combo. Overall, it was a good learning experience unfortunately it was not necessarily the way I like to learn. I hope that I do better on Tuesday.
Hope all is going well with everyone, keep in touch.

Love ya,
Michelle

2008-04-22T02:30:00.000-07:00

Well here we are starting a new week and it finds me at work in the middle of the night. We have had a busy week but are recovering from our vacation. Madison and Damon went back to school on Monday despite their moans and groans. They seem to be falling right back into the routine. Damon is doing his end of year testing this week and next. Madison has her kindergarten program on Wednesday and is very excited to dress up like a bug. How appropriate since we call her our Madi bug. Damon had his first baseball game on Saturday and he did well despite the terrible wind and dust storm that he played in.
I am getting braces tomorrow to correct the shifting that my wisdom teeth caused. So yes, I will be the brace faced nerd for a while. Madison thinks this is really cool and would like me to get pink braces because that would be cute. We shall see. Mike is busy with projects around the house and yard while he is on his days off. He might actually get to relax one of these days. :) He just found out that his brother Tim will be getting married next month to his long time girlfriend Beverly. He is sorry that he can't get out there for the wedding but did have to harass Tim about getting married on his birthday. Mike thinks that since his birthday is such a huge event, it will make it easier for Tim to remember the wedding anniversary. Congrats to Tim and Beverly!! Beverly thanks for making an honest man out of Tim. (Well, thanks for trying anyway)
Well, I guess that sums up the last week. We hope that all is well with everyone.
Love ya,
Michelle

Our Blog Debut

2008-04-16T19:16:00.000-07:00

Well, it is the event that you have all been waiting for...the debut of our blog. I decided to take the plunge and create a blog. (I have no idea what I am doing so you will have to bear with me.)
As any of you who know us realize, our live and house is a constant zoo thus the URL Schultzoo. Should be easy to remember.

All is good here in the arctic tundra of Utah. I say that because we have had multiple days of snow in the last two weeks. We did have some reprieve in the form of a trip to Disneyland where they were having record heat. We went from snow here at home to 100 degrees in Anaheim. (We definitely were not complaining!!!) Mike is a Sergeant in Health Services at the Salt Lake County Sheriff's office. He has crazy and unbelievable stories that he brings home from work. Michelle is now working at Alta View Hospital in the Labor & Delivery/ Postpartum unit. She likes the change and is glad that the patients in the women's center are not nearly as sick as the ones on the med/surg floor. She is just finishing up her scrub class and will be scrubbing in for C-sections. Damon is getting close to the end of his 4th grade year and has loved it. His favorite subjects are science and history. He is just starting baseball season and is already looking forward to football season. Madison is finishing up her kindergarten year and has really enjoyed school. She loves to read and excited that she can read more books on her own. She is starting baseball season and takes hula, ballet, and jazz dance.

We just spent five days in California. We started by surprising my mom for her 60th birthday. (She thought she was going to surprise us by showing up in California while we were there but to her surprise it was a birthday celebration for her.) We then spent the weekend in Disneyland with my parents, Chris and Alicia. We had a blast. We were also lucky enough to visit with Pat and Sherrie (Mike's step-parents) while we were there. The kids love visiting them, especially since they let the kids feed and pet their koi. They have a huge fish pond in the back yard that entertained the kids for hours. Thanks to Pat and Sherrie for putting up with us on Sunday!!!

Well, I guess that is enough for one week. Mike is back to the grind tonight and I go back tomorrow. No rest for the wicked, right. We hope that everyone is doing well and that we can keep everyone posted on our comings and going with this blog.
Love,
Michelle