Saving the Cake

Spencer and Grace were married in November. The cake was ordered a couple months in advance and it was our job to pick it up the morning of the wedding and deliver it to the home where the family celebration was to be held. Spencer told me he was excited to see the cake. He had given the bakery creative license and couldn't wait to see what they came up with. 

You can imagine my surprise when I looked in the box and found a plain white cake base. I told the baker about my conversation with Spencer and how he was expecting them to decorate the cake. She understandably looked horrified. It turns out it was just a big misunderstanding. Spencer thought he'd given them creative license, paid a deposit, and would pay the rest later. The bakery notes said he ordered a plain white base and had paid in-full up front. At this point, it didn't really matter who was right. I had a plain white cake base and limited time to drop it off and get to the ceremony. 

Several ideas popped into my mind during the drive and by the time we arrived, I had a plan. Grace loves poinsettias so we had those for some of the table decorations. They had curly gold things in them so we were able to use those as well as the flowers. I had some pretty gold ribbon with me, again for the tables, that we incorporated as well. Fortunately, the family whose home we were using knew that the sap of the poinsettias contains harmful chemicals so they advised us to wrap the poinsettia stems in plastic wrap so they wouldn't leak on the cake. Good save! 

Here's the finished cake. Not bad for a 10 minute decoration job, if I do say so myself. While Spencer eventually told Grace what happened, she had no idea during the celebration itself. Fortunately, this is the worst thing that happened all day and it wasn't even that bad. Whew!

 

Class of 2019

Sterling just finished his junior year of high school. He also just graduated with the class of 2019. Somehow, a year earlier than planned, I find myself with another graduate in the family.

I have to hand it to him. Last November Sterling told me he didn't think he could do another year of high school, and then he set out to find a way to finish early. We have several students at our high school who graduate a semester early, but Sterling wanted more than that. He wanted to be done this school year.

The principal wasn't against it, but frankly told him that he didn't have the authority to change policy, specifically the part of the policy that said a student had to attend for at least seven semesters, so he sent Sterling to the superintendent. Thankfully, the superintendent was on board. The district leaders had been discussing a competency-based pilot program they were hoping the school board would approve. Removing the seven semester requirement was a perfectly natural companion to this, and both passed with the school board's full approval. Now the policy simply reads that students must meet all graduation requirements. At that point it was up to Sterling to comply.

It was a crazy semester at times as Sterling had not only his eight regular classes at school, but also four online independent study classes to complete along with a few other requirements. But he did it and he did it well. He graduated on Friday with high honors.

Congratulations, Sterling! We can't wait to see what your bright future holds.

A Shrimp Bug Contraption

You've probably never heard of a shrimp bug. That's because we made up the name. Years ago at certain times of the year, we would find these large bugs in our basement that sort of looked like a cricket, but they were brown with super long antennae and really long legs that could jump like 3 feet or more. They were terrifying. Their bodies sort of resembled a shrimp so we named them shrimp bugs and we all hated them. 

We later learned that they are actually called Camel Crickets, but we still call them shrimp bugs. We still get them. We still hate them. Unfortunately, we've had more than usual this year.

Sadie found one on the stairs last week after everyone had gone to bed. It was pretty late, but she was determined to make sure it wouldn't crawl (or jump!) into her room during the night. Here's the contraption she came up with:

You can see a few purple and pink ponytail holders on the stair behind the black folder. Sadie initially fired those at the bug to see if she could just annihilate it outright. It never moved so she thought maybe it was dead. See the markers and highlighters under the tub against the wall? She tried those next, throwing them at the shrimp bug which annoyed it enough that it crawled up the wall. She trapped it against the wall with the plastic tub, but then she was stuck. She couldn't let go or the tub would fall. She reached as far as she could and was barely able to grab Sterling's music folder which she propped against the bucket while she ran for tape. Once she secured the bucket to the wall, she kept the folder there for extra support then put her trash can next to that for added peace of mind. 

When I went downstairs the next morning, this note was on top of the bucket:

"Caution Massive Shrimp Bug!!! (caught by me so give me a medal of bravery)... or a blizzard  -Sadie Stowell

What a funny girl. :)

Fortunately for us all, camel crickets aren't invasive. They don't bite or get into food or otherwise cause trouble. They are just really big and ugly and terrifying. Sadie is the only one who sleeps in the basement and that's the only place we've found them, but I'm not worried about her. She's obviously got it under control.

Too Many Ducks

I know, I know. It's been forever. Life is good, it really is. I just haven't taken time to document the good stuff. But tonight I realized that there have been several things lately that have made me laugh or smile and I need to share! This one is definitely good for a laugh. I've watched it four times so far and I crack up every time!

Gotta love it! :)

Violin Recital: Rondo

Jeff's parents drove out from Idaho last week to see Spencer and Sterling in Guys and Dolls. They planned on leaving early this morning for Colorado to see more grandkids, but we were able to talk them into staying an extra day for Sterling's violin recital.

Boy, was it worth it!!!

Sterling played the Kreisler arrangement of Mozart's Rondo. It was AMAZING!!

I hope you love it! (It made me cry.)

Rain Delay

At 11:00 this morning, I received this message from our school superintendent: Due to expected continued rainfall and its impact on road conditions, all schools in the district will dismiss 2-hours early today. 

School has been canceled due to snow and ice several times, but we have never missed school because of rain. I wasn't completely surprised by the cancellation; we've never seen rain like this. We've got little streams running through Jeff's office and our storage room downstairs. We have some rental properties and a couple of them are sporting huge lakes in their backyard. They don't normally have lakes in the backyard...

This next one has a creek that runs just behind the bushes at the front of the photo, but right now you can't tell where the creek ends and the backyard starts. The bridge to the backyard is completely submerged. Do you see the burn pile in the middle of the photo? That sits in the backyard and is several feet tall. But right now it's just a little mound sticking out of the water.

Tonight was supposed to be opening night of the high school production of Guys and Dolls. Spencer and Sterling are gamblers in the play and we've been so excited to see it! But they postponed tonight's show because of the rain. We're hoping for sunshine tomorrow. The show must go on!

Lip Sync Battle 2017

My boys were a hit at the Youth Lip Sync Battle on Saturday. Their number was a definite crowd pleaser and lots of fun! The competition was a little stiffer than last year so they didn't bring home the trophy, but from the many comments they received afterward, they should have! :) It was all in good fun so there were no hard feelings.

I love seeing what these three come up with. The choreography is all theirs and came together pretty quickly once they decided on a song. They were having a blast! Enjoy their performance of "Once There Was A Snowman," by Inside Out.

Great Aunt

I'm a great aunt. Yep. My niece on Jeff's side of the family had a baby last week and, just like that, I became a great aunt.

Doesn't that sound so old? Seriously. There's your grandma and then there's your ancient and grumpy great aunt. It reminds me of a scene from one of our favorite and most quotable movies, The Emperor's New Groove. Watch from 1:27 through 1:48.

I've had that scene running through my head all week. It cracks me up, especially when my kids imitate it. Yzma is only pretending to be the great aunt in this scene, but it works so much better than if she had pretended to be their grandma. She is the picture of old.

We're super happy for Briana and her new little guy, Liam, so I will try to dismiss my perceptions of the term "great aunt" and wear it as a badge of honor instead. :)

Drive Your Tractor To School Day

Today's the day! It's "Drive your tractor to school" day. This is what I saw when I dropped my boys off at the high school this morning. 

Ag classes are a big thing at the high school and many of these kids have been raised on the surrounding farms. It's in their blood, so it's nice that they let them bring their vehicle of choice to school once a year.

This phenomenon is new for me. I didn't see many, if any, tractors in my suburban Utah upbringing. But in Small Town, Illinois they are everywhere. This is where my kids come from and that makes me smile.

In For Repairs

It was bound to happen. After almost 22 years of marriage and 6 kids, Spencer has been awarded the "First Broken Bone" medal. We're feeling pretty blessed that we made it this far without prior visits to the Orthopedic Surgeon. That's not counting Jeff, of course, who broke the rod in his leg 11 years ago and had to endure several surgeries to make it right. His was a pre-existing condition from before our life together.

Anyway.

Spencer's break happened last Thursday in P.E. when he was shoved during indoor soccer and went down hard on his hand. He broke his radius. He was in a temporary cast over the long weekend and received his real cast this morning. The good news is that this should be a quick fix. The doctor informed Spencer that, surprisingly, his growth plates haven't closed yet. His exact words were, "You have the growth plates of a 15-year old." Usually, by age 17, they would expect to see the growth plates closing. Bones heal faster in kids who are still growing so the doctor said he could graduate to a splint in less than 3 weeks if all goes well. :) Of course, Spencer was thrilled to know that he's still got some growing to do!

Fortunately, Spencer broke his right arm and he's left handed. There are many reasons why this could have been a lot worse. We're still counting our blessings!

Makeover

Sadie is a funny girl. I know this picture isn't great, but can you see her "sunburn?" I put that in quotes because she's not sunburned. It's makeup. She was just playing around with her collected stash of makeup and gave herself a pretty convincing sunburn. For the record, it was almost 70º today - which is crazy for February, by the way - and she spent a good chunk of time outside so she could have convinced us the sunburn was real.

It immediately reminded me of another picture of my Sadie after she gave herself a little makeover several years ago. It's not so different from the first with a little red makeup smeared on the bridge of her nose. :) Of course, this one looks less like a sunburn and more like attack of the killer lipstick.

We've come a long way. :)

Mom Trophy

Motherhood isn't always a thankless job. Sometimes the validation comes in strange ways, but I'll take what I can get. :)

Nephi and the Brass Plates by Sam

Sam went all out on his final project for his religion class at BYU. This Lego stop-motion film was quite the undertaking! Even if you're not familiar with The Book of Mormon, you'll love this clever rendition of one of the best known Book of Mormon stories - Nephi and the Brass Plates. If you want to read the story, it starts here in 1 Nephi chapter 3. (Click next at the end of the chapter to finish reading the story in chapter 4.)

You're going to love this!! :)

Cosmo - The Coolest Mascot

Jeff and the boys were in Utah last weekend. Spencer went on a BYU tour which got him pretty excited to fill out his application in a couple weeks. They were also able to spend time with Sam and enjoy several campus activities as well as time in the mountains. The main reason for their trip was to attend the Priesthood session of General Conference, which was a great experience!

One of the highlights of their trip was the BYU vs. Toledo game on Friday night. It was a close one from start to finish! BYU squeaked out the win, 55-53, with a field goal in the last 2 seconds of the game. It was definitely a nail biter, but we couldn't be happier with the results!

This video is from the halftime show. Our Cougarettes are the best, literally. They have won the Hip Hop National Championship 16 times! Throw in Cosmo, BYU's school mascot, and you're in for a real treat! This cougar can dance!! At the time of this posting, this video has over 1,300,000 views. I'm not surprised. If you're anything like me, you'll be watching it more than once! :)

It Must Be Fall

I love it when people have a sense of humor. Happy Fall!

Redneck

We've got some hummingbird regulars in our yard. It's become quite entertaining to watch them through our big dining room picture window as they fight for the feeder and hang out in our tree. The other day, one of them flew right up to the window and just hovered, looking in and scoping us out.

We were sitting at dinner the other day when Jeff looked out the window and said, "Oh look, there's a redneck hummingbird." I chuckled to myself at his description, picturing a little backwoods hummingbird who was married to his cousin. I pointed out that it was called a ruby-throated hummingbird, not a redneck.

(It still makes me laugh.)

Imagesource

Great Ideas

Sadie and Soren are pretty good little friends. They love playing games together. Sadie is a willing lego partner and even gets in on Nerf wars. They were sitting together the other day, apparently scheming and laughing their little heads off. Then Sadie disappeared for a minute or two. I should have known they were up to something...

Apparently this was Soren's idea and Sadie decided it was a good one. She's been asking when she can start shaving. Do you think it's time?? 

Give me strength. ;)

Lip Sync Battle

Saturday night was a Stake Youth Lip Sync Battle at church. (A Stake is just a group of wards or congregations in a specific geographical area.) They've never done anything like this before out here and my boys were excited!! They decided on a less-than-serious song by BYU Vocal Point (of course!) and worked out their moves. At stake was a "solid gold plastic trophy," and there was plenty of good competition for the prize.

My phone died before the boys ever set foot on stage, but fortunately Jeff's parents were in town from Idaho and Carol filmed it with her phone. Jeff made a cameo appearance which was a hit. (Jeff is the Stake President and loves working with the youth!)


At the end of the evening, the youth chose their champions. "The Stowell Boys" won the trophy. It was a fun event! :)

The Stowell Boys - Winners of the first annual Lip Sync Battle (with their friend, Anna)

BYU Vocal Point: Ultimate A Cappella Mashup

I was just wondering the other day when Vocal Point would come out with a new song. We haven't tired of listening to their other stuff, but we're always up for one of their new adventures.

This one doesn't disappoint. Filmed in one take (and one shot!), it's pretty cool visually, but the music... The music is goooooooood!

This is what you get when 25 years of BYU Vocal Point alumni come together. You're going to love it!

(I can't wait to see Sterling's face when he hears this!)

Scott Sterling is Back

I'm pretty sure everyone and their dog has seen the first Scott Sterling video where our soccer star saves the day...with his face.

Well, he's back and playing volleyball this time. It's the National Championship game, no less, between the Tarhills and the Bulldogs.

Funny stuff. :)