Prescott Family Tree

It's hard to believe

2012-02-07T19:53:00.000-08:00

that 20 years ago today, I gave birth to my second son, Nate. In fact it was about this same time of night on that very night my water broke at home (sorry Kevin!). By the time we got to the hospital my contractions were coming along pretty well. In fact I'd have to say delivering Nate was probably the easiest & fastest of my four kids, but also the most painful. Why you ask? Well, just as I was settling into my delivery room the nurse informed me that the anesthesiologist would be in to give me my epidural as soon as he was done with an emergency C-Section.

Ha ha, that didn't happen... Nate had other plans. He was ready to enter this world and he was delivered without any pain medication. Ouch! To this day Nate is still the same. He has always been his own person & had his own plans. He is head strong & smart, besides being handsome & loving.

When he was a kid his smile could melt my heart & if you ever look at his baby pictures with me, I will always comment on his adorable (one tooth missing) smile. He has always been kind hearted even as a small child, which was surprising at times if you knew his older brother. (Luckily Zak grew up to be a wonderful young man - but that is a whole other post for a different day).

I am constantly amazed at the handsome young man he has grown (& grown) into. I love his sense of humor too - at his high school graduation instead of just calling out his name, he had them say Doctor Nate Prescott. Ha ha. He is always doing silly things to make us all laugh...

I am the luckiest mom in the world to have Nate as my son. Our family would not be the same without him. I love you Nate thanks for picking me to be your mom!

No matter what Nate, your brothers love you!! It makes me happy to see you smile when they try & hug you too. Because I know secretly you really love it!

Be Prepared in All Things

2012-02-05T17:43:00.000-08:00

Saturday morning David went on a stake hike, and I decided it would be a good time to go use my Kohl's cash before it expired the next day. I was feeling super energetic and got up, showered, went to Kohl's, and was home just before 9 am. Just a few minutes after arriving home, the phone rang. It was Bishop. I knew that wasn't a good sign, because his daughter was to be baptized in just over an hour. Why was he calling us??? He said he needed a favor - that he was at the church building and there was sewage backing up in the baptismal font, and wanted to know if they could use our pool for the baptism. Being our stake primary baptism day, there were two more wards scheduled right behind theirs. Then he asked if he could let the stake know that they could use our pool as well. At first I thought he might be kidding, but he said he was serious. Of course I said yes, and went into overdrive. Good thing we had friends over the night before and the back yard was pretty much cleaned up. It just had to be extra clean. It was a baptism and all!

He put notes on the church door to let people know (I'm sure there were a lot of phone calls as well). He and his brother in law or some family member came over and got to work. Eric woke up and looked out the window, comes out and asks, "Mom, why is the Bishop cleaning our pool in his church clothes?" Yay, another volunteer! Hired!! Everything was done and David returned home just in time for the baptism to start.

Before Hurdsmans were done, the next baptism was showing up here. We had the "staging area" in the house for the people for that baptism. After # 1 baptism finished, they went out the side gate and everyone came from the house went to the backyard. We did that for the next baptism as well. The mom and the daughter used the pool bath to change, the dad used the garage door opener and went around the side of the house and changed in my bathroom for all 3 baptisms. Baptism #2 had refreshments, and since Baptism #3 was going on in the backyard, refreshments were set up on the dining room table. They exited out the back, came in the front, grabbed refreshments, went back out front and visited out there. Baptism 1 had prob 50 people, #2 had 45, and #3 about 10-15. We opened the side window of the patio, moved the piano to have the sound go out there, and even used the pool speakers and played primary songs during the time they were all changing.

It really was a cool experience. It wasn't rushed after the initial clean up, and we really felt the spirit during the baptisms! Everything went so smoothly. Sometimes things just work out as they are meant to and when you heed the promptings you get those extra blessings. I even made some new friends!! haha

I've been telling the Relief Society that we are to be prepared in all things (as they are wondering why our activity this week is on living trusts, burial plots, and house organization) :) That is my newest mantra, because you never know when 100 people might show up your house at any given day.

10 Months

2012-01-30T19:59:00.000-08:00

Last week we received a memory card from Troy. It always lifts my spirits when I get to see pictures of him. Lately he's had a few struggles and he's been venting a little bit more. Not complaining, just telling us about the not so perfect life he's living. Tonga really is a different world. Life here is so fast paced and I think that's part of his challenge to acclamate to his new lfestyle. I also think that Christmas was hard for him. That seems to be when he started telling the little events that get to him. But looking at his pictures makes me so happy. Because he looks happy. One of the comments on the slideshow said, "I know it is not always this wonderful, but this is the way he will remember it! He looks great! What an experience!" He does look great! He will remember the wonderful times with great fondness, and hopefully the not so wonderful times he won't remember much at all. I can't believe he's been gone for 10 months, but then again, it seems like a lifetime ago he left. I really miss that kid. (BTW, if you want to see the slideshow, click on Troy's Blog on the right.)

Becky gave a talk in church at stake conference and talked about Hannah giving her son to the Lord. She likened it to how a mother must feel when she sends her son on a mission. It was funny, because when Troy left, I wrote one of those sappy letters to him, and said the same exact thing! I felt like Hannah, but lucky me, I only have to give him up for 2 years! I will never regret teaching my children that this is what they're supposed to do. Because I know this will mold them into better men, husbands, fathers, and church leaders. I also hope that I send another one out in the next few months. Not having him go will be harder than having him gone, because I know if he chooses not to go, he will regret it for the rest of his life. He will miss those powerful experiences that a young man serving God completely for two years will only be blessed with. As Troy recently wrote, "I will never regret my decision to go on a mission". That's a great thing to hear, even when life isn't perfect. But look at his face. He truly is happy.

January 19th

2012-01-20T17:34:00.000-08:00

was the birthday of this awesome missionary! Not sure what day it is in Tonga, hopefully it's still the 19th?

No matter, Happy Birthday Elder Prescott ~

we are so proud of you!! Keep up the good work.

EVENING OUT

2012-01-15T17:22:00.000-08:00

Last weekend we loaded up the family (in two cars because we no longer fit in one) & headed to a cute little Italian Resturant in North Park to hear our good family friend sing. It was so fun to get out with the family & join good friends to listen to the awesome voice of a talented teenager! I've heard her sing before but it has been a while (years in fact!) & she has certainly become less shy. She's got a beautiful sultry voice. I won't be surprised if she eventually ends up on the radio! But not only does she sing, but she plays the guitar & piano as well! Such a talented young woman.... Thanks to her parents for inviting us for an exciting evening out!!

Chicken Soup for the Soul

2012-01-13T08:35:00.000-08:00

Sunday I ended up with a cold, and since there are rumors of me going inactive, I got dressed and ready to go to church. David told me I should stay home, so I did. I guess it was a good thing, but really, how many weeks can a girl miss and not be labeled as "inactive"?? Well one good friend noticed my absence again and called me on Monday to see how I was. Immediately when she heard my voice, or lack thereof, she said she was going to make chicken soup for us.

As we were eating dinner, David commented, "This is REALLY good soup". Eric replied, "Yeah, I think this is the best dinner we've eaten at this table". Thanks, guys!!!

I have to admit, the soup was super delicious and full of flavor. When I told my friend about these comments, she felt pretty darn good, too. So her kindness made a lot of people feel great! I have a few friends who are sick now, too, but I will do you all a favor and NOT make you dinner:) Thanks to my friend for being so kind. I won't give her name up because I know there'll be a long line at her door, but really, most people probably know who the mystery chef is anyway!

New Years Resolutions/Pet Peeves

2012-01-10T17:04:00.000-08:00

I've decided that I need to blog more.... I complain about other people not keeping up their blogs, but yet I am not any better. Anyone who knows me very well knows that I have many pet peeves (majority have to do with other people's driving, but there are a few other random things that bug me)ha ha... anyway, I digress. So instead of complaning, I am going to use my pet peeve as my new years resolution. I am trying to become a better person, you know - so I'm probably not going about it exactly how I should - but regardless I plan on posting more on this blog... so prepare!

I don't have a lot of time... you know I am a mom, wife, full time employee, & seminary teacher so don't expect much! Hopefully I will improve in my writing skills? Something good has to come from this! Ha!! Feel free to leave comments (I've noticed no one does anymore). Maybe that just means no one reads this? so if that is the case I won't be too worried about my spelling or the content of this blog. (J/K)

Other Prescott family members are still more than welcome to add their own posts. (PLEASE DO!!) The more the merrier! Enjoy.

November & December Happenings

2012-01-02T10:37:00.001-08:00

Sorry these pictures are backwards, so start from the bottom & work your way up. :)

November & December are filled with family birthdays. Dee Dee, David & Jamey are all in November (each about a week apart). Then December starts off with Simon, Kevin & ends with Noah (just before New Years).

In between all of the December birthdays we were able to celebrate the return of our missionary (Zak). Yeah!

We were also able to attend the temple for the first time as a family (along with some of our ward members & friends) to do baptisms for the dead. We also attended our annual Prescott family Christmas party - always a good time. We did miss Joy & Max (Grandma & Grandpa) but we know that they are happy in New York serving a mission.

The last (first) picture is of our family on Christmas day at the Langston family Christmas party.

All & all, this holiday season was a wonderful one for our family. We hope it was a great time for your family as well.

Very Special Delivery

2011-12-22T16:59:00.001-08:00

On Tuesday December 20th at 3PM a very special delivery arrived (for our family) at the San Diego airport, this gift wasn't wrapped in colorful paper or a fancy bow but instead this gift was wrapped in a suit & tie, this gift was not something you could buy quickly in a store... this gift was 2 years in the making.... are you stumped? Well, this very special delivery was our oldest son who returned from serving a mission in the Michigan Detroit Mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

He left a boy & returned a man.

We are so proud of him & so happy to have this very special gift home with us again!

Thanks to all of our family & friends who came to the airport & our home to help us welcome him home!

Boraccio

2011-11-11T10:29:00.000-08:00

Eric has been doing theater this year and has enjoyed it so much. It's a lot of work, but he's getting his best grades in all his classes ever, and having fun at the same time. I am also happy because it helps with the sting of lonliness he has for his brothers.

Last night we went to his performance of Shakespeare's "Much Ado About Nothing". Eric did a great job and it was so fun watching him perform. It was a little weird that he played a drunken womanizer, though. At least he got to stretch himself! There weren't enough guys in theater, so several girls had to play men. They all did such a great job and I really appreciate his teacher for spending so much time with these students. It was also fun watching our friend Chance, who we've known since he was about 4 years old. He's grown into such a nice young man and such a good actor.

We're super proud of Eric and all his hard work. He has always been a ham and loved to be the center of attention. Whatever he chooses to do in life, he will do it well.

Who Does This???

2011-11-05T17:24:00.000-07:00

Today we had Souper Saturday for our Relief Society Activity. It was a lot of fun and there was such a great turn out. When I got home I piled stuff on the countertops and was cleaning up. I had a little cup of grease that I had set out from dinner a couple nights ago to get hard and then throw out. As I moved a pan, I noticed this...

I screamed and ran down the hall to ask David (who was taking a nap) if he played a joke on me. He looked at his watch (only 10 minutes into his nap) and answered with annoyance "Yes. It was in the bottom of the pool". And closed his eyes to go back to sleep. So now I can't go in the kitchen to cook or clean. He may be buying me dinner after all tonight, is all I can say!! Who even does this kind of thing? I'm so grossed out, but of course, I had to run in there and get a picture to blog about it. If I can't be in the kitchen, I may as well be at the computer:) I'm kinda wondering if he is the only husband who would dare do this kind of thing! Ah, his sense of humor. Or should I say UGH!!!

Haunted House 2011

2011-10-21T08:27:00.000-07:00

Halloween is David's favorite holiday. He started doing haunted houses years ago in the Spring Valley Ward. Some of those were a little over the top, and he's reigned himself in a bit. But he is still known for his enjoyment of the holiday and willingness to help out. Our friend Becky is the new Stake YW President and was in charge of the Halloween Dance. She got David to be in charge of the haunted house. Thank goodness there was a TON of help this year! I didn't get too many pictures of the finished product, but thought it would be interesting to see just how much goes in to putting on one of these things.

If it were me putting it together, I would just put plastic everywhere. But maybe it's David's construction background that requires wood - a lot of wood - to build anything.

And every haunted house needs a sewer to crawl through! What a great idea!! This is how they put the sewer/tunnel together. Tables to lead them and plywood over the whole top. Not sure what Don is doing there, but I'm sure he was working hard:) Kevin & Eric also worked hard, screwing all the wood so it wouldn't topple.

Freddie Krueger welcomed the victims through the sewer. Jessica, Becky and I stuffed the monsters.

Here we are getting a little closer to being ready. JR was the bloody victim getting his leg drilled. He was so good at yelling "Help Me!" Bishop & Don were bloody construction workers with power tools chasing people into the sewer.

Jessica was in the tunnel and would scream as the visitors would crawl through. When she screamed, all the girls would scream too. That would trigger the floppy rat with red eyes.

There was also a dead baby (prop) that you can see in the back of my car. That was in the tunnel as well. When people would crawl by it, it's head would spin and eyes lit up, and made a creepy noise.

The wooden box that you see has a hole cut out and a picture of Freddie Krueger is lit up as they come through the end of the tunnel. There's a bat that activates that drops down and was pretty awesome too, and of course a few monsters in corners. Kevin was in the last room with some sort of power tool (can't remember) scaring people as well.

As the people left the room, they were relieved that it was over...until they saw monster Ian with a chainsaw. Screams and running out of the building! Awesome!!!

It was a super busy day. Lots of prep time for David, setting up from everyone for about 5 hours, and back at the haunted house and then clean up for another 4 hours. Our only problem - too many power tools!!! (saws, air guns, with tons of strobes, fog machines, and the big light on Freddie's picture) We kept blowing fuses and had to try to get that worked out, so unfortunately there was about a 20-30 minute delay.

There was great feedback and the youth had a lot of fun. The adults were all exhausted Sunday, but smiling and having lots of laughs about the previous day.

The Wait is Over

2011-10-17T07:36:00.000-07:00

Eric is such a good sport - in more sense than one. He got his letter for swim back in May, but had to wait until October to finally get his jacket. I'm so glad he's such a patient boy! He's so excited to finally have it, and it's nice that the weather is a little cooler so he can actually wear it. I'm so proud of him for achieving his letter his Freshman year. What an accomplishment!!

Latest Project

2011-10-03T08:02:00.000-07:00

It seems that everything goes wrong at once. Things are breaking like crazy around here. After getting the pool vacuum fixed, I noticed something laying in the bottom of the pool. I thought "Kirby" broke again. As I looked a little closer, I noticed it was actually a piece of pool tile. We knew that we were going to have to fix these particular tiles sooner than later, but we weren't planning soooo soon, since David's been in the middle of a big project anyway. That would have to wait, since we couldn't run the filter still.

It's amazing how cold the pool gets after Labor Day! He put on his wet suit and snorkel, drained some water, and got to work.

In between working on the tile, he cleaned the pool up a bit.

It's amazing how a little project can take so long, but he finally got it finished and our pool is filling up with the filter running once again.

Now back to his other projects that he's in the middle of, and the ones that haven't started yet. Haunted House, VALT training and fixing the car, just to name a few. He was really thankful to have broken his leg to get those 4 weeks off! Always looking at the bright side, and soooo cute!

Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

2011-09-29T18:03:00.000-07:00

It's been some time since I've posted, sorry... here I was whining about people who have a blog & never post anything. Wow, I should talk! BUT I do have a good reason for it taking me so long (this time).

So many changes in our family, it's been a crazy couple of weeks! I was just recently released from being the stake young women's president - which I was very sad about. I love the girls in our stake! I think living with a bunch of boys makes me appreciate a bunch of teenage girls so much more than the average mom. I am thankful that I don't have to deal with the daily drama that comes along with those girls though! So of course after serving in the stake young women's presidency for about 6 years (not all as president though thankfully), I was curious as to what new calling I would be getting.

I'd love to say I was surprised when they asked me to be a seminary teacher, but I would be lying. Some how (I'm sure it was the spirit) I knew that it was the right calling as soon as it was said. Which is a good thing because teaching seminary is one of the 2 callings I thought I could NEVER do. So when the spirit confirmed it's where I needed to be, I knew I could do it. But do it well??? Well, that's a learning process for sure!! Ha ha

Luckily for me, I know most of the kids in our class- one of which is my son!! No more complaining about how early he has to get up to me... because I am right there with him!

It has also been nice having Jamey get up with us & accompany us to the church to keep the kids in line (ha ha).

Jamey also got a new calling recently... now that he is planning on being home for longer periods of time, they snatched him up! He is the second counselor in the Elders Quorum serving with Trent Black. He's excited for this new chapter in his life. I am proud of him for accepting it as well.

Nate was just called as the second counselor in his Elders Quorum (singles ward) too. It's awesome to see my boys accept callings & serve our Father in Heaven.

Life is moving so quickly for the Prescott family. I can hardly believe how fast our boys are growing up. Where does the time go?

REXBURG!

2011-09-11T16:43:00.000-07:00

This is Jason's new home for the next 3 months. He has a small microwave, fridge and freezer in his dorm that is shared between him and his roommate. There is one wall that is closets with drawers, and a loft bed with desk underneath on either side of the room. One of those drawers is his snack drawer:) The bathroom is long with a lot of storage.

There is not kitchen or sink, so he will be making his kool aid in the bathroom, as well as washing his dishes. YUM! The door on the bottom is his dorm.

We got him all organized and moved in, and thankfully the boxes we shipped got there the afternoon of move-in day. There were activities for the new students, which Jason did a few of them. He met his new roommates and even has a girl following him around already. His roommates were pretty bummed about that!

If you've never been to Rexburg, Idaho, here's the lowdown. There is a main street, (which isn't Main Street) that has all the happenin' places. Mc D's, Jack in the Box, Arby's, KFC, Wendy's, Wal Mart, K mart, Deseret Book, DI, a movie theater and bowling alley. It's about a 1/2 mile long thru this part. Main Street has Taco Bell, the local grocery store, and a Jamba Juice. The college campus is probably bigger than the town, and the temple is right across the street from campus. Why I didn't get any pictures of any of that is besides me!! And that, my friends, is Rexburg!

The big deal Wednesday night was that Wendy's ran out of baked potatoes. Seriously!

Idaho = Potatoes:)

Jason is having a bit of culture shock. School starts tomorrow for him, so hopefully he will be settled in and feeling confident for his first day of college. Emily was saying that the hardest time was the 2nd week of college. I asked why and she said, "EFY is over". That pretty much sums it up. (Especially For Youth is a week long church program that occurs on college campuses throughout the US. There are classes, games, and many activities for the youth.)

Good luck, Jason. I know you can do it! And the best thing about BYU schools is that the semesters are 3 months. Which means a harder semester, but it's over sooner. He is also happy that he is on the Fall/Spring track, so he will get to come home for a San Diego winter. REXBURG!!

Road Trip

2011-09-11T16:19:00.000-07:00

Summer has come to an end, and time to take Jason to college. He reluctantly accepted at BYU Idaho. It helped that our friend, Laura, has already done one year at BYUI. She was so nice to drive with us and tell Jason all about schoool, as well as point out places of interest along the way.

I probably am the ONLY Mormon never to have been to that state! (My parents told me we had been there before, but I was too young to remember.) I was so excited when I saw the first temple at St. George, Utah. We pulled off the freeway and took some pictures. Then had lunch. Utah was feeling pretty exciting to me. It is super clean and the people are friendly. The big plus, is there's a Tai Pan Trading in St. George. Reluctantly we didn't stop, we had to continue on. I was so excited to see more. Little did I know, it would be a few more hours to the next real town.

As we passed Provo where the MTC and BYU are, I got so excited thinking about how Troy recently spent 2 months there. We kept going just past Provo to Orem, where Laura's Grandma lives. (approx 733 miles at this point) We went to dinner together, then to Tai Pan (YAY). Grandma and I sat on the porch swing and talked, looking at beautiful Mt. Timpanogos as the sun set. It was really a sight to behold.

Later, Emily who is from Spring Valley, too, came to visit. She goes to BYU. It was so fun chatting with those girls and Jason.

Wednesday morning we left Grandma's and stopped to get gas before getting on the freeway. The car wouldn't start. We determined it was the battery. That slowed us down a bit, but we were able to take some pictures of that poor little Saturn.

It was really packed!

Jason was such a trooper fixing the car. He didn't complain, but he was getting pretty stressed out with his "crappy tools" and grease on his white shirt. Laura and I were laughing a lot. Jason - not so much.

We finally made it to Salt Lake City, which was our goal for the day. Those two were so sweet to accommodate me and see whatever I wanted to see. Laura has been there several times, so she directed us to the best places to visit. Besides walking into the temple thinking it was the visitor's center, it was all good:)

I can't even begin to explain the feeling in this room. There was an overpowering sense of the spirit!

We were able to go inside the tabernacle. We also went to the Beehive house that was down the street.

Here is Jason at 7/11 in Salt Lake City. Apparently there are no 7/11's in Idaho. GASP!! So Jason had his last slurpee for a few months - unless he wants to take a 3 hour road trip to Utah!

Everyone kept telling me that it was a long drive to Rexburg. They weren't kidding. 14 hours or so. Jason is not so excited for the drive home, but he will be very happy to have a car while he's there!

Back to School

2011-09-11T15:40:00.000-07:00

Tuesday was Eric's first day of 10th grade! I wasn't home to take him to his first day of school this year because I was on the road taking Jason to college. It really made me sad not to take Eric, but he could really have cared less (or so he says). So after texting him for a back to school picture, I pulled out the big guns. I got his dad on the phone and convinced him I NEEDED a picture of him on that day. So David took a picture on Eric's cell phone and texted it to me. Eric even has a bit of a smile!!

Eric has a full load this year, with seminary starting at 6am and 7 school periods until 3pm. He has Spanish I, Biology, Honors Geometry, Honors English, Weights, World History and Theater. I hope he can hang in there and keep up with his busy schedule and classwork. But he won't have any brothers home bothering him during his homework this semester, either!

Swim Lessons

2011-08-18T19:44:00.000-07:00

Jason was asked by some friends to teach their kids how to swim. There are two 3 year olds and a 5 year old.

It has been so fun watching him this week with these sweet little girls. I wasn't really sure how he would do, but kids have always loved him. This experience seems nothing less. He laughs with them, and is so good at teaching them. He looks genuinely happy as he works with them, which makes me even more proud of him. I know, I'm a dork, but one of the things that makes me happiest is to see my kids laugh and smile. So much of the time they are serious or don't show a lot of emotion. I told Troy once that when he laughs it makes my heart smile. They all laugh at me about that, but it's true. It's so great to see them laugh and having fun. And it's so cute when they leave they all wave and say, "bye, Jason!!" over and over again.

I think Jason will remember this week fondly, and hopefully those little cuties will be on their way to being super swimmers.

Wakeboarding

2011-08-17T20:26:00.000-07:00

This last weekend we rented a boat and David spent his weekend in heaven!! Friday morning he went out with the "big boys" and had a blast. Within the first hour he had tweaked his knee and was done for good. He was supposed to have the day off, but that didn't go according to plans either, so he hobbled back to work for a few hours. It was Hurdsman family time, and they went tubing and enjoyed the day at the lake.

Friday evening we were able to get back and try a little wakeboarding and tubing with Nate and Jason's friend Courtney. It was so fun, but just not long enough!!

Saturday morning it was the scout's turn. They tubed and boarded, and had a wonderful time as well. I love to see my husband happy, and I must say that behing the wheel of a boat, or being towed behind it, he is at his happiest. I wish I could make you happy every week of the year, babe!!

Havasupai 2011

2011-08-17T20:09:00.000-07:00

This year high adventure camp was to Havasu Falls in Arizona. It's my favorite place that the kids go to every 3-4 years. The only boy from our ward that wanted to go was Eric, so he tagged on to Spring Valley's ward, with Lemon Grove ward going too. The Prescott boys almost outnumbered the other group!! Simon, Noah, Eric & Jason represented.

Jason and Troy had gone there a few years ago, so Jason went as an adult leader. He was able to show everyone where all the cool falls were.

They jump and dive from crazy heights - up to 50'. This year the highest they jumped off of was 30'. The water and falls are so beautiful!!

It's a long drive to get there. Then they get to hike 1 hard mile down and 10 miles out to the falls. The hard part is getting BACK to the car. I am so proud of one of the boys for hiking out with all his gear, then going back to get others who were struggling and carry their gear out.

The boys all had such a great time. The leaders loved how they all worked together and were one team throughout the week.

I asked Eric what he thought about the trip. His response was "It was horrible and amazing". Just the way high adventure camp should be!!

It's Official!

2011-08-11T17:28:00.000-07:00

We just got the official word this week of when Zak will be coming home.... seems according to transfers he was due to come home December 28th - but the mission president (being the loving, kind man that he is) got special permission from "the powers that be" to send all the missionaries that went out with Zak home before Christmas! Woo hoo, to say I am excited is an understatement indeed!
I don't know if Zak even knows because we found out Monday afternoon (after his email)... I'm guessing he won't say anything to me for a while. If you happen to write to him anytime soon, please don't say anything to him about this. He does NOT want to talk about OR think about coming home until he has landed in his home town. I am thankful that he is doing all that he can not to get "trunky". I will be proud to have him return with honor.

On another note: We are so proud of our friend Marcus for the decisions he is making in his life... & so excited for him as he prepares to serve our Father in Heaven in Madagascar! Those people are so blessed to have a missionary like you coming their way!!

Fun Family Day

2011-07-10T08:36:00.000-07:00

Saturday was the perfect summer day. We had some family and friends over to swim and get cooled off.

Here is Wyatt practicing his "surf's up" move

The kids were so cute and really enjoyed playing in the water this time.

Even their dad got to play a lot between the "daddy sit" game.

Us girls mostly laid on the rafts and talked about girls camp, or held on to something to keep us from getting our hair too wet! Although the boys thought it was fun to see how wet they could get us with their dives and cannon balls.

Finally a picture of the big boys together, even though they were moving on to Black Ops.

The day ended with a bbq at Kevin & Kathryn's, and Jamey arriving home from a very long time away. Perfect!!

Jason's Graduation

2011-06-20T07:44:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday Jason graduated from High School.

He is a great student (except the homework thing again...that's a theme in our household for some reason!!) But he managed to graduate with honors - getting an average gpa of 3.5 for all 4 years.

Jason is a very smart young man, and will be going to BYU Idaho in the fall majoring in Mechanical Engineering. He wants to go there for a year, then hopefully a mission, then go to BYU Hawaii for his last 3 years of college. I think he might need his mom to come visit a lot there!!

After his graduation, friends and family came over to congratulate him and visit.

It was such a good day!!

Here's our friend, Haley. Jason and Haley liked each other for awhile in their Freshman and Sophomore years. She is one of my favorite people, as well as her parents. Her dad is the swim coach at MV and has done so much for my boys. Their whole family is just amazing!!

Haley was Salutatorian, and gave an amazing speech. She's got such a great personality, as well as her gpa of 4.5 or some crazy number like that! Haley will be going to University of Redlands in the fall.

Way to go, class of 2011!! Go show the world what you've got!

Jason's 18th Birthday

2011-06-17T07:27:00.000-07:00

Jason is now 18 years old. As a baby, he won the best crier award hands down! When he was born, I didn't get to hold him much. They had the team called in during delivery - and he was a c-section! I could hear him for hours while I was in recovery just crying. I asked David if that was our baby, and he said he was pretty sure it was. The nurses came in and said to me, "Oh boy, you're not going to take this one home, are you?" For months I knew something was wrong with him, and all the doctors just said it was colic. After doing EVERYTHING I could possibly do, I took him to a chiropractor upon advice from a few different people when Jason was about 11 months old. It was like magic. A few touch of the thumbs onto Jason's back, and wallah, a new baby. It ended up being that during delivery he got twisted and it messed up his poor little body. He still has issues from that!!

So I actually remember the first day Jason laughed and was REALLY happy - where we were and what we were doing. It was winter and we were at the Pine Valley Park playing in the snow. That will give you an idea of how absolutely horrible our first year was.

Jason since then has grown (literally) to be a strong, healthy young man. He is so kind and thoughtful about other's feelings. He is so super smart and capable. He is my go-to for getting things fixed around the house when his dad's not home. Actually, Jason is a carbon copy of his dad. We all love him so much!! Happy 18th birthday to you, son. You make me proud to be your mom.

So here are a some pictures of Jason as he grew up. Enjoy!

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Pinch Me!

2011-06-14T08:13:00.000-07:00

It is hard to believe that six months from this Thursday (June 16th) Zak will have completed 2 years on a mission. In the beginning if you had told me the time would fly by, I would not have believed you... but it has!
I'd have to say that the last year & a half has been hard for me (for many reasons) but we have been continually blessed. I have felt the Lord's hand on my shoulder many times since Zak left & I know it is because he is being a faithful servant. I would never trade this time for anything. Until you have a missionary of your own you truly do not understand the growth & strength that they gain during their time serving.
Zak has become a disciple of Jesus Christ & I know that he is a better man because of it. He will also be a better husband, father & Priesthood holder.
Zak was recently transferred from Port Huron to Canton & is serving with Elder Smith. It sounds like he loves serving with Elder Smith - you can see by the picture they must have a good time together! Saturday we received a copy of a letter in the mail that was to Zak from his Mission President asking Zak to be a zone leader. I know Zak is happy about that because he loves working with President Holmes!
Although we still don't know the exact date Zak will be coming home, it's still crazy to know that we could be reunited by Christmas! What an awesome present!

Zak still found time (occasional p-day) to have some fun on his skateboard.... but in his last area he was feeling like he needed to get rid of it for the remainder of his mission. So he gave it to an investigator that liked to skateboard. He knows that the Lord will bless him to remember all of his tricks & then some when he returns... if he serves by giving 100%.

I am thankful for a son who didn't even think twice about serving the Lord. I know that he has had hard times while he has been gone but it has never changed his attitude about doing the Lord's work. I know that his Father in Heaven is proud of him... because I am too!

Swim Season 2011

2011-06-04T12:09:00.000-07:00

I have been a terrible mother this year. Swim season is over, and I never posted a darn thing! But here it is in a nutshell...Jason was captain for his 2nd year. He had a good year, except being sick for awhile. His times for the year are:

50 free - 24.26

100 free - 58.25

100 breast - 1:05:51

200 IM - 2:28:79

He now has the top 7th spot in the history of Monte Vista for his 100 breast stroke. 21st & 23rd best for 200 Yard Medley Relay, 17th & 18th for 200 yard freestyle relay (Troy holds 22nd place), and 19th & 20th for 400 yard freestyle relay. Way to go, Jason! Hopefully his name will be on the school records for a long time.

He made it to CIF for his 100 breast stroke. It was so cold at CIF, he GAINED 2.5 seconds - which is a lot of time. The skinny kids all added time, and the beefier kids did the same or better as their fastest times. No insulation to keep them warm!!

At banquet last night, he received another letter, captain's star, MVP, and CIF patch, as well as the Union Tribune All-Academic Award for having a gpa of 3.73 and participating in sports.

Eric did great his first year of swim. MV JV's team won league finals, and Eric's relay team came in 2nd place. His times for the year are:

50 free - 30.67

100 free - 1:07:27

200 free - 2:50:66

50 back - 37:35

100 back - 1:20:02

At banquet he got a medal for leagues, and had enough points for doing so good, he got a varsity letter!! He is looking forward to doing swim next year, as well, following in his big brothers' footsteps. Eric already has tons of awards for placing in so many events. He would even like to try dive, like Troy. Troy was the only diver on the school team in the last 4 years. Coach wanted Eric to wait until next year so he can organize his coaching for dive. I'm so proud of them and all the hard work they put out this year. It was a lot of fun, but always a little sad to see the seniors go. I get so attached to the kids and their parents!!

It's been a fun year and we have some great memories to carry with us.

15 Years

2011-05-29T19:12:00.001-07:00

15 years ago today I gave birth to the sweetest baby ever! He was so good, never cried, and slept 23 hours a day for the first month. He was so cheerful and happy. As you can see below, he didn't even wake up when his older brothers would hold him.
He was his own little person. Eric didn't even mind riding his skateboard his own way - on his bottom. He had his favorite run at the skatepark - and this is how he landed.

Something many may not know about Eric: He didn't crawl, he rolled. He would roll, stop, turn his body, and roll some more until he got where he wanted to go. He did this until he was 15 months old!! This was completely different than our other two who started walking at 8 1/2 months! He has been completely happy with a slower pace of life. Our saying for Eric when he was little...Eric is like a snail going uphill, backwards, in the sand. Dead.

Now he is 15 years old, a freshman in high school, and jv league champs. He has enough points to get his varsity letter at the swim banquet next week, and in 6 months, he will be getting his driver's permit. Oh boy!

Eric has definitely brought a different element of personality to our family. He wants to be a comedian or do voice over in commercials. He loves his theater class and has an amazing memory - except if he has homework or not.

We are so blessed to have him as part of our family, and love him so much! Happy birthday, Eric!!

Cutie Patooties

2011-05-20T18:44:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we celebrated our niece Gracie's birthday, she turned 2. I can hardly believe she is already two... where did the time go? She is such a sweetie pie & growing like a weed. You'd almost never know what a struggle she had in the first few months of her life. We are all so thankful for another little Prescott girl! Just look at that face!

This is Gracie's big brother Wyatt. Smartest 4 year old I know! This kid knows every kind of car or tractor/trailer that there ever was. He can talk your ear off with all kinds of facts. We just love these kids & so thankful that they are apart of our lives!!!

Happy Mother's Day Indeed

2011-05-08T15:18:00.000-07:00

First off let me just say, Happy Mother's Day to my mom, my mother in law, my sister & my sister in laws - as well as my friends! I hope each of you had a very special day - one way or another. I think this year was my best Mother's Day so far & as I reflect on the day so far it makes me so very thankful for my family. Maybe Mother's Day wasn't invented to just honor our mother but for mother's to really realize what all they have to be thankful for! At least that is how I feel today.

Yesterday Nate painted flowers on my wall in my bedroom - he is quite the artist! Jamey got me a new mirror for my bedroom. I really hadn't planned on anything because I had just got to re-do my living room & I figured that counted as my birthday & Mother's Day gifts. Guess I was wrong! Then today's Sacrament meeting was great & the ward gave each mother a rose & a candy bar. Yum, my kind of gifts! Something pretty & something yummy. After that we got the opportunity to gather with family & friends to witness Nate being ordained to the office of an Elder. It was an awesome feeling seeing my husband do the ordination & my dad being able to stand in on it too. We missed Uncle David - but we understand! It's tough getting old (ha ha) - we know now that a reminder is always a good idea.

After that Nate had the opportunity to stand in on an ordination of a young man in our ward who was being ordained to the office of a Deacon. It was pretty special to see Nate use his new Priesthood especially that quickly.

Last but DEFINITELY not least we got the opportunity to talk to our missionary! The opportunity only comes twice a year & I look forward to it like nothing else. It is so awesome to hear his voice & crazy to think he will be back in 7 short months. Never in my life has time passed as quickly as it has this last year & a half. He has truly become a disciple of Jesus Christ & I'm thankful that he took the opportunity to serve his Father in Heaven & give his very best in everything he does while he is there.

I hope that everyone has had a special day - one way or another. The women I know are all awesome mom's & great examples to me. Happy Mother's Day!

My New Favorite Apostle

2011-05-01T16:53:00.001-07:00

David A. Bednar, Quorum of the 12 Apostles, visited our stake this weekend. Friday afternoon was Priesthood Leadership Meeting, and then the adult session of stake conference followed. Elder Bednar asked for questions from the Priesthood meeting. David asked the question if Elder Bednar would be able to speak to the young men. Elder Bednar told him that if he had his young men there at Sunday's session of stake conference, he would address them. That night, all the young men were contacted and told that an Apostle of the Lord will be speaking to them, and to be sure to come.

What powerful meetings we had throughout the weekend. There was much direction and teaching we received throughout the weeknd, and a wonderful spirit that we all felt helped build us up and confirm to us once again that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is the one true church upon the face of the earth. It was a very rare opportunity for us to hear from one of the Twelve in our stake.

Today President Mitchell told about the triathlon last weekend and how he saw Noah on the side of the road helping someone during the race. Later, Elder Bednar mentioned "Noah Prescott" three times, which made Noah feel like a pretty special guy. His mom was pretty darn proud, too! Way go to, Noah, for being such a great example!!

I really am thankful for the Church, and for the MANY blessings that come from being a member. I am especially glad that I can raise my children with the knowledge of God's Plan, and that we can be an eternal family.

Triathlon 2011

2011-04-23T21:15:00.000-07:00

I say it every year...this is my FAVORITE activity that the scouts do (minus the sleepover the night before.) Just kidding!! Here are all the participants of the 25th Annual Varsity Scout Triathlon.A few people came to cheer on the boys. A future varsity scout triathlete!!Eric getting out of the water. He did real well this year!!They went in three waves - by different age groups 5 minutes apart. Below is the last wave.

The cutest lifeguard in the bay!

Noah, Seth and Eric did a relay. Jason went solo.

Eric was really happy at the finish line - cuz all he did was swim!!

Mike joined in the fun this year. It was a lot of fun getting to know him better. He really is just an old teenage boy:)

Jason was happy when it was over, too. Although his goal was to get on the stand, he was a trooper when he didn't make it. He came in about 6th, and they only recognize up to 5th. Sidenote: Jason's been sick for a very long time. I'm so proud of him for trying and not bailing out this year!!
Mike was pretty pleased he finished, too!
And our very own Stake President got in the action, too. It's so awesome when the leaders represent!! The weather was perfect for this event, and it's always fun to see old friends that we usually only run into this time every year. I must say, it was a little bittersweet. Driving by the airport while it was still dark out, thinking about March 30th when we were there, I got a little teary eyed. Then thinking of how Troy OWNED this event every year, made me a little sad. Troy started doing this triathlon when he was 12, a year younger than the suggest. He placed!!

I miss my missionary so dang much!!

Today was probably Jason's last year, since he's planning on being at BYUI this time next year. Where has the time gone?!

Baseball Season has begun!

2011-04-02T14:58:00.000-07:00

Noah decided last year that he really wanted to play baseball when the season began again. As much as I had hoped he would change his mind, he didn't. So being the good parents that we are, we went bright & early this morning to his very first game... and they WON!!

This is a picture of his friend Joel pitching.

A few pics of Noah in the outfield.....

Two of him on first base getting ready to run!

I think he was on first base in this picture too, not really sure. Sorry the pictures aren't that great but that's what you get with an I-Phone. He was also the catcher but I forgot to get a picture of him doing that. It was an awesome game, even if it did last 3 hours long. Hoping the next game is a little quicker. The final score was 11 to 7 - The Padres won (of course). Noah did great & you would never know he has never played baseball before! What an arm that kid has!!

Elder Troy Prescott

2011-03-31T10:51:00.000-07:00

Wed, March 30, 2011. Elder Prescott left bright and early to head to the Salt Lake airport. He was met by some fabulous people. They took him to the Provo Temple and ate at the BYU Creamery. Then off to the MTC.

On to another chapter in his life. A BIG chapter. We're so proud of you, Troy. And I can't express my gratitude enough for all the outpouring of love we have felt from so many people. Now go spread The Word, Elder Prescott.

Tongan Mission President Letter

2011-03-16T20:28:00.001-07:00

Today Troy received a letter from his mission president. Here are a few interesting things we read:

The Kingdom of Tonga comprises 168 coral and volcanic islands
Was named the "Friendly Islands" by Captain James Cook
There are many islands of Tonga on which missionaries serve
There are 4 mission boats used to transport missionaries to and from these islands
He will probably wear tupenus (skirts) and sandals most of the time
Pens are at a premium, so bring a couple packages of them
Bring all contacts, contact solution and deodorant to the MTC that he will need for the entire 2 years. (Don't they wear deodorant in Tonga???? Just askin')
Come prepared to live in a manner that shows no affluence. There is an attitude of sharing there that others sometimes don't understand.
If your parents desire to send things, send enough for two, as Tongan elders do not have the available resources that "palangi" elders have and sharing is greatly appreciated.

Two more weeks to go!

BTW, his open house is Saturday, March 26 from 5-7pm @ our house.
Farewell is Sunday, March 27 @ 9am at the Stake Center, 11am Helix Ward. All are welcome to any/all.

What a Trip

2011-03-06T17:09:00.001-08:00

Saturday we were all supposed to spend the day together either snowboarding or at the desert. A good friend of ours had his funeral that day, so we sent the boys on their way. They opted for the desert with a couple friends. On their way home they broke down on the freeway. They were able to pull over and call us for help. They were about an hour away, so David and I both drove out there in separate cars to be able to get all the bikes and the people home.

We had to get everything off of the freeway, but not leaving anything alone to get stolen. Long story, LONGER day. 8 hours later we were all home safely.

Synopsis of the day: 2 motorcycle crashes

1 concussion (he's okay now)

4 extra trips to the mountains

Picking a toolbox and all its contents off the middle of the freeway between cars

5 worn out teens

2 great friends coming to the rescue

and untold "shenanigans" that they're not giving up while they waited (thanks Mark!)

We're just glad it's over; and after several hours today, the car is finally running again. Is it Friday yet?

Prescott Update

2011-03-03T19:56:00.000-08:00

Tuesday Troy went through the temple in preparation for his mission. It was such a great day. Joy and Max were able to officiate in the session and a few friends were able to make it even though it was in the middle of the day. The weather was beautiful and the sun shone inside lighting the up whole place. It was a perfect day.Joy and Max left today for their mission. Before they left most of the family were able to get together to do a little photo shoot and lunch. It was a fun day to spend together one last time before our missionaries leave. We did miss Ashley and Zak, though, but we're so proud of what they're doing and their accomplishments.We will soon have 4 Prescotts out on missions. Hopefully ALL the boys will follow in their grandparents footsteps.

Going Private

2011-02-25T17:25:00.000-08:00

Okay so we have decided to make our blog private... If you'd like access please leave us a message with your email address & we will add you. You have until the end of March, but don't procrastinate or you might forget! (speaking from experience).

Mammoth Getaway

2011-01-31T13:50:00.001-08:00

We were able to have a little vacation at Mammoth this past weekend. We stayed in a really nice condo. The picture of the condo is from the internet, since I never got any myself. Must've not been taken in the winter!! It was so homey and comfy.

There was a bookshelf, and as I was looking at the books the name was familiar on these...the man who owns the condo is a best selling author. NICE! The picture bottom right is at The Village. It was nice hanging out there.

The kids enjoyed the board park. I stayed to the side where there were no jumps.

The top middle picture (above) was where I went down last for the day. It doesn't even look very steep, but trust me, it was. David & Eric went to the left (left side of picture). I missed that turn and ended up going down the steeper hill. It was icy and I did okay for a short while. Then I fell. It was hard to get up since I'm goofy footed and do better starting on my knees instead of my butt. It was too steep to kick my board around, so what's a girl to do? Icy - steep - oh yeah, I slid. Bet you can see my butt marks till the steep part's over:) Then I was able to flip over and continue the rest of the way. I have no pride!!

It was so cold and windy at the top of the mountain. The sign at the top said winds 40-50 mph.

Sunday morning we got up to leave and this is what we saw...lots of snow! Here's a picture off of our porch of David loading up the car. He had to dig out the roof racks to be able to put the boards on top. We were lucky we were able to drive out with just using our 4x4 and no chains. So much different than Big Bear snow! It was such a fun little trip. We were all exhausted by the end of each day and just hung out in the condo. The snow was so nice and powdery, and so much funner to snowboard in than ice! David and I even got a little bit of time to hang out together and just remember who each other is. We all laughed so hard, especially when Eric suggested playing the quiet game when dad got too obnoxious! He said that Uncle Kevin taught him well! Definitely some fun times and great memories.

Tribute to a Loving Lady....

2011-01-27T17:51:00.000-08:00

Growing up I never ever thought of myself as a dog person. In fact I never really understood how people could let dogs in their house or get all emotional when their pet got sick or died.... I guess maybe you could say I was a bit uncaring?
But that was before I had a dog of my own. We had always planned on getting a dog when our kids were old enough to take care of one. But that's not always the way things turn out. Lady came into our lives sort of unexpectedly. She was Jamey's brother's (Brien) dog & he was moving & needed a place for her to stay "temporarily". After about 2 weeks we knew the boys loved her like family & Jamey told Brien that if he wanted his dog back he needed to come & get her right away. As it turns out Brien was hoping this would happen.

That was back in 2000 & as you can see by all the pictures she was a very loved dog. In fact, I think she thought she was human. I've never seen a dog let kids do so many things to them & not get angry or bite. She loved the boys & would always "protect" them when Jamey would wrestle with them. We have so many wonderful memories of our Lady. She kept me company when the boys went out of town. She kept the boys beds warm while they were at school & she loved to follow Jamey around the house. When it comes time to get another dog, I'm not sure that any will ever compare.

Our house suddenly seems empty without her but we will always love her & have great memories of what an awesome dog she really was!
RIP Lady!

Where's Waldo?

2011-01-25T18:04:00.000-08:00

So it's been some time since I've posted pictures of Elder Prescott. Sorry! I figured since I just recently got more, now was a good time to post more.
This first picture is a picture of Zak with Canada behind him. Pretty exciting, huh? Too bad that's probably as close as he will get while he is on his mission.

Ever wonder what missionaries do on their "P-day"? Well this is one of his favorite things to do on his p-day... he said that on this particular day he first had to shovel snow off of the ramp before he could even skate. At least he is staying in shape!

This picture is of Santa with his two favorite missionaries. Elder Prescott & Elder Hunt (Zak is Elder Hunt's trainer).
We can hardly believe that Zak is on the down-hill slide. I must say that the first year went much quicker than I had first anticipated. Thankfully so!!

Mission Call

2011-01-21T11:19:00.001-08:00

Max and Joy just received their mission call to the Manhattan, New York Temple. They are to report to the MTC on March 7, and will be serving for 18 months. We are so excited for them and their new adventure!

If You Can't Beat 'Em, Join 'Em

2011-01-15T19:40:00.000-08:00

David was practicing his song, and Noah decided he wanted to learn it. So David has been teaching Noah & Eric how to play it. Here they are playing the parts together. Funny boys - all 3 of them!

Only My Husband...

2011-01-14T15:19:00.000-08:00

If you know David, you know he's totally OCD. I mean this in a good way! He got in his mind the other day that he wanted to learn how to play the intro to Styx's "Come Sail Away" on the piano. No, he doesn't play the piano, but he knows what the notes are and what the keys are. So he downloaded the sheet music and brought it home.

Two days ago he started working on the first line with one hand, and is doing really well. Then at work yesterday he decided he needed more practice, so made himself a life size keyboard out of paper and somehow covered it in plastic. So now at work while he's on the phone he can still practice. He also started with the left hand so he can do the parts together. I laughed hysterically when he told me this, and had to get a picture of the proof.

Here he is practicing at home. He's going to have the intro down soon and may even continue through the whole song.
He gets his mind made up and there's no changing it. He cracks me up! Maybe we need a ward talent show!!!

Merry Christmas

2010-12-25T08:34:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!!! We hope that all of our friends & family have a wonderful day.

We recently went to Viejas to go ice skating. We had a great time with our family & good friends... we all did much better than I thought we would. No one got hurt!

May we all enjoy the true meaning of Christmas, for if it weren't for Christ we would not have anything to celebrate! Remember that it is better to give than to receive!

Remembering

2010-12-14T05:20:00.000-08:00

Today is my dad's birthday. He would be 90 years old if he were still living. That seems so crazy to think of him that old. He was always so youthful and full of life. It's weird to think, but I was born when my dad was my age now. I couldn't imagine starting over and having a baby at my age. I'm tired and worn out already!

I loved my daddy!! (You can soooooo tell which decade this was from)

By the time he met my mom, he had already served in the war, married, and had 3 boys. They married and got a HUGE surprise!! ME:)

We always were traveling and camping, and visiting relatives. My parents loved taking off in their motorhome for months at a time after all their kids left home.

This is one of my favorite pictures. It's my sister-in-law, my dad, and me. My dad was so much fun and always spending time with his grandkids. He taught the boys how to shoot a bb gun, even making a homemade target where it would catch the bb's so they could reuse them (he was very thrifty). He played marbles in the dirt using a garden hose as the circle, played horseshoes, baseball, and even made a homemade kite one time and tried to fly it at the park with them. That didn't go so well. But it was a sweet gesture.

With the vast age difference, I knew it was important for my kids to know their grandparents from early on and have wonderful memories like I did with my mine. Its so great that my parents always had time for the boys and made fun memories.

It was so hard to lose him, but I am thankful for the soldier, father & grandfather he was. He was an honorable man. Happy Birthday, Dad.

Our Last Water Polo Banquet

2010-12-08T05:34:00.000-08:00

Monte Vista Monarchs 2010 CIF Quarter-Finalists Jason got another letter and CIF patch for his hard work this year.
He also got Grossmont Conference All League Selection honoring him for outstanding achievement in water polo - 2nd Team All League. (I've never even heard of this award before:) Way to go, Jason!!

My favorite is that he got the Coach's Award. Coach Newman started at the same time Jason did 4 years ago, and they've been thru it all together. The team wasn't much 4 years ago, but it has really grown in numbers and their ability. It was really nice of Coach to recognize all of Jason's hard work and determination. Good job, Jason. I'm really proud of you!!!

It's been a fun time helping out with water polo. I really enjoy it and most of all, I enjoy the players and their parents. I will definitely miss visiting with the moms!

Thankful

2010-11-21T19:33:00.000-08:00

Today has been quite the day. First of all, it is my wonderful husband's birthday. He is a great husband and father, and I am so thankful to him for all he does. He has been sick for awhile and just can't shake it, but still tries to make all his marks. We are just going to have to put off celebrating until he gets better. Hopefully that will be soon.

I have been trying to get Jason to work on his college apps for a month. Time is ticking and the deadline is approaching. When Jason gets stressed, he just freezes and can't go any further. Plus, he's been sick for weeks! Yesterday he started looking at the apps and I knew we may get somewhere. To apply to the BYU colleges, he needs interviews from his Bishop and Stake President, and a paper filled out from his seminary teacher. After church, Jason found the Bishop and asked for an interview. He was just interviewed for something else, so we didn't think it would take but a few minutes. Guess we were wrong, and sorry to Bishop's family for keeping him out so long!! And thanks to Bishop for understanding a stressed out teenager with a deadline.

Jason's still not sure where he wants to go to school, but this is a start.

And the topper today was that David was able to ordain Troy an elder. This is just another step in getting Troy prepared to serve his mission. It was so cool sitting in the single's ward Elders Quorum hearing all those men singing Called to Serve, and then hearing the special blessing that Troy received. Later tonight Troy was able to help Max give David & Jason blessings. I am so thankful that he really has a desire to serve. It's so awesome sitting back and watching him grow into a man.

It is a lot of work, and a lot of things that I have no idea how to do to get these two young men ready to leave the nest. I am so torn between getting them ready to leave and wanting to pull back those apron strings and keep them safe in our home where I feel like I can help keep them safe from the world. In 4 months Troy will be leaving, and if all goes according to plan, Jason will leave in 5 more months. I know it's the best thing for each of them to follow the plan we are working on, but it doesn't make it easy.

I really am thankful for the men that live in my home. All 4 of them are unique in so many ways and I am so blessed to have them be part of my family.

Per Dee Dee's Request - can't deny the birthday girl....

2010-11-18T18:07:00.001-08:00

This past weekend, my girlfriends & I participated in the Silver Strand Half Marathon. Angie, Laura & I skated... Actually Angie wore in-line skates, Laura & I wore roller-skates. Emily ran it!
As we were getting ready to start we looked around & wondered why no one else there was doing this on roller skates. Well when Laura & I were the last of the skaters (no others in sight) we understood why! Next time (if there is a next time) we will be rocking some good in-line skates!
It was amazing the different size wheels some of those suckers had! No wonder some skaters were done in 30 minutes!!
This was our before photo - you can't tell but it was pretty darn cold.

Although it was painful & I occasionally thought I couldn't make it, I'm glad that I did. It feels good to know at my age, with very little training I set a goal & actually accomplished it. I couldn't ask for better friends to share it with!! (thanks for the encouragement too!)

Enjoying a beautiful day (actually it was one of the rare down hill spots!)....

This picture is of us after we were all done & on our way home!

Here we are (Laura & I) almost to the FINISH line... TOO bad the road was awful & full of rocks. They sabotaged us skaters. I'm sure if it hadn't been for that we would have gotten a much better time! Ha ha

Happy Birthday Dee Dee!

2010-11-15T18:42:00.000-08:00

Today is Dee Dee's birthday! Dee Dee is one of my favorite sister in laws... we've been around a long long time! (Just ask our husbands). We've had some fun times over the years, but as you can see I don't have many pictures of her!! I could not find any of us together either! For shame.
Dee Dee is my blogging partner, family member & friend. I am so thankful for all the wonderful memories that we've shared together. If anyone deserves a wonderful birthday, it's her! Since she is just a tad bit older than me, I'm guessing she's turning 30 today... YAY! Happy Birthday Dee Dee!

Water Polo Senior Game

2010-11-06T10:55:00.000-07:00

Thursday night was the senior game for water polo. It's my favorite game of the year. They call all the seniors out by name. This year each one had a flower for their mother. It was so cute! Jason came and gave me the flower and a hug in the stands. They played Helix High school, and won by one point. It was an excellent game. They won 10-9, Jason scored 5 of the 10 points, shooting 5 for 5. It was his best game ever!

They are on their way to CIF now. During the pauses at the game, the announcer says funny things mixed with truth about the senior players. Jason's was that it was his fourth year playing water polo. His goal was to go 3 games in a row without being majored*, during his spare time he counsels for anger management, and in a movie about his life, he would like Oscar the Grouch to play him.

*Majored means ejected from the game for 3 flagrant fouls. In water polo, what happens under the water stays under the water, what happens above the water can be a flagrant foul. Since Jason has a knack for collecting flagrant fouls, it was funny. The players were cracking up at the comments, like they are in the underwater basketweaving club, and Justin Beiber would play our biggest player in the movie about his life. It's been a fun year. I guess since they are going to CIF, we're not done yet. Way to go, MV!!

Halloween Part II

2010-11-03T16:35:00.001-07:00

This year Halloween was pretty mellow. The boys started out in our good friends neighborhood & went out with all the smaller kids for a while. Then the older boys broke off & went to look for treats with their friends. I think they had a good time but weren't out too long.... just enough time to get some loot.
Here is a picture of all the kids here.

I thought I would post some pictures of Halloweens past. This one is from 2008: Nate looks like a jungle guy, maybe Tarza on a bad hair day? Zak was some crazy clown zombie with Fred Flinstone's Water Buffalo hat. Simon was his favorite - a bum (didn't take much effort, maybe just added the fake cigarette). Ha ha ha

These two photos are from last year (2009). Nate was Asian & Zak as Peter Pan & Merissa was a pirate.

Good times... long gone are the days when I get to pick out their costumes for them. Sometimes I wish I still could.

Hope everyone had a happy, safe Halloween!!

Halloween

2010-11-01T20:45:00.000-07:00

For Halloween Troy dressed up as a patient. (I could've worn my scrubs and then we would've been a cute pair.) He has been sick since Friday. He called me Friday night from the ward Halloween party to come home. It's so cute when your kids who never need you all of a sudden want you when they're not well. Not sure what he wanted me to do, but he needed his mommy. Ah, how sweet. I went to the store and got him lots of gatorade and sprite. The treats didn't help, and Sunday we went to Urgent Care. They took him over to the ER, and that's where we spent most of our day.

He was not happy I took pictures of him. I tried lots more with the IV in, but they were too blurry from me dodging his arm. Good thing he never looks at the blog. He'll never know!!

He had TONS of blood work done, two urinalysises (????), a CT scan, and a blood sugar test. And guess what....NOTHING IS WRONG WITH HIM! It's a stinkin' miracle. Maybe when he starts eating and gains some of his weight back, I may believe it. Until then, he's very quiet and just lays around alot...not that I'm enjoying it or anything.

Hopefully he'll be back to his old self again. He needs to get a lot done in the next 5 months!!

Time Out For Women

2010-10-30T11:22:00.000-07:00

Last weekend some friends and I went to Las Vegas for Time Out for Women. We had such a fun time Friday night after the first event. We went to Caesar's Palace and walked around the shops, then down to a yummy ice cream place called Serendipity 3. We had no idea how huge the ice cream was going to be. Sandra and I ordered one to share, and Katie ordered one. We could have all shared one and still not finished it. That was dinner. I had a huge sugar rush after that!! Saturday night we went to Benihana's for dinner with one of Sandra's friends. We met people there that made it an interesting night. Have you ever played the 6 degrees game? Well, we all had connections on so many levels it was crazy. Sandra and her friend Krissy knew the same people as the chef and the lady in the picture below. Her husband was raised Mormon, his aunt works at the MTC, she grew up in SV and went to MV, and her husbands' parents live a mile away from Katie's parents in a po-dunk town in Arkansas. The guy sitting next to them had met Sandra at her previous job. How random can you get???? It made for interesting conversation, to say the least.My favorite speakers were Ardath Kapp, Mariama Kallon, John Bytheway and Kris Belcher. Their stories were amazing and it made me so appreciative of the life I've lead and made my problems all seem so insignificant. Mariama's story, especially. My favorite quote that she said about wondering why she never married or had children was that "we all can't have everything". I guess you can have a different perspective when you have seen your family tortured and just be glad you escaped and live a wonderful life in this country. So many of us take that for granted daily.
I will always treasure the time I had on my "time out" and am thankful that Katie invited me to tag along.

23 years....

2010-10-24T13:35:00.000-07:00

Wow, 23 years ago today I married my best friend. I can hardly believe it that it's been that long. I think I love Jamey more today than the day I married him... hard to believe but it is true.
23 things I love about him (in no particular order)....

1. He treats me like his queen.
2. He is the most generous person I know.
3. He never thinks of himself first.
4. He is the best father.
5. He loves his kids unconditionally.
6. He is a hard worker.
7. He is fun to be around.
8. He bears an awesome testimony.
9. He makes me feel safe.
10. He takes good care of me & our boys
11. He will watch TV with me & let me watch whatever I want & never complain.
12. He likes to take me shopping.
13. He enjoys making me happy.
14. He takes our boys with him on work tours (all summer long).
15. He encourages our boys to do good, in all things.
16. He gives me time with my girlfriends.
17. He loves to spend time with me.
18. He works on becoming a better person everyday.
19. He is stuck with me for eternity!
20. He puts up with my selfishness (I am working on this- see #21).
21. He encourages me to be a better person, wife, mom...
22. He compliments me daily.
23. He makes me feel beautiful.

I could go on & on but I promised only 23 this year :) I'm thankful that we didn't listen to "some people" who thought we wouldn't last 6 months.... Happy Anniversary my love! XOXOXO

Haunted House

2010-10-17T16:46:00.001-07:00

The person in charge of activities in the single's ward has fond memories of David's haunted houses from the past. She asked if David would put on another one for their ward party. Yesterday we spent the day preparing for the event. Here is some of the outcome. The first room was Eric laying on the table with Thavee chopping off his leg and Don shooting them with the nail gun (no nails, of course, only air). Then they crawled through a maze. Jessica hid around a corner with a rat that rolls and flashes its red eyes. She would scream as the victims came by and set the rat off. Then in the next room Robert and Mark would scare them out the door to Jason who chased them with the chainsaw (again, no chain).

I really like this guy!! Mark sat in the empty chair holding still to look like he was fake too, until they walked by.

Hopefully the singles enjoyed the fright.

Called to Serve

2010-10-08T17:29:00.000-07:00

Troy received his call letter yesterday to serve his mission. He is going to the Tonga Nuku'alofa Mission, Tongan speaking. He will report at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, on March 30. He will serve for 2 years. At the MTC, he will learn lessons and practice speaking to people, as well as start learning the Tongan language. Here is a link to the website where there is more information about the MTC... http://www.mtc.byu.edu/. Several people have asked "Where is Tonga?" Here's a map. Hopefully you can zoom in. It doesn't appear to look very large here. It is near Samoa & Fiji, between Tahiti and New Zealand near the international date line.We are so excited for Troy to have this opportunity to learn more about the gospel, share it with others, and grow his own testimony. I can't imagine a more exciting place to him to go. Of course, I automatically think of the movie, "The Other Side of Heaven", which is based on a true story of one of the first missionaries sent to Tonga. It was quite the experience. I am a little afraid for Troy, but I know that was many years ago and I'm sure they have updated things a little bit more there, and hopefully rats won't eat at his feet!!

This is the LDS Temple in Tonga. I was a little surprised to find there was even a temple there. That's so exciting! Mormonism is the 2nd largest religion in Tonga, with chapels in almost every village. Troy was so excited and asked an elder in our ward who is from Samoa if there is lumpia there. The elder said that lumpia is "this big" and held up his little finger, and that they will feed him "the whole pig", and said that Troy will be fed 2 meals every day by the members. It looks like we will need to get elastic church pants for that boy!

It seems like March is so far away, especially since we got his paperwork in almost as early as we could thinking he would go right near his birthday in January. We will need to get him a passport and visa, I think, and finish preparing our first child to pack his bags and head to a foreign land where the people are humble and embrace the church. I really do believe that Troy is meant to go there, that our Heavenly Father has lessons to teach him, and in turn, lessons for him to teach others to help him become the man, husband and father that he is meant to be. I am so thankful for the friends and mentors that he has had in his life to help him get to this point. It takes a village to raise a child, and now our child will be going to a village to help others. So thanks to everybody that has helped us get him this far. We are truly blessed to have so many loved ones in our lives.

Good-bye and a Do Over

2010-09-20T16:40:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was released as Young Women President. I truly believe that YW is the BEST calling ever! It keeps you busy, but then there's these faces to see every week... (some are missing) I will really miss the girls. I was asked, "now who will act like my 2nd mom and get after me"? I'm only a phone call or a text away!! Always willing to do my share of nagging - ask my kids:)

I have been trying to remember all of my callings of the past and how long I was in them. I always thought I should write it down, but I didn't. I must have spent about 10 years in YW, 8 in Primary, and 4 in RS.

My new calling is Enrichment Leader. I've been Assistant Enrichment Leader, Enrich Leader, and RS Counselor over Enrichment. I guess I haven't gotten it quite right yet, so I get another shot at it. It's not something I am comfortable with, and haven't learned to love that position yet. Maybe that's the problem. They say you get released when you get good at it or you love it. Hopefully both of those things will happen. I am definitely relieved that I will have more time on my hands, and can't wait until I have a Wednesday night home alone...but I will miss my girls. They are in really good hands, so that helps!! I am just reassured by the treasured relationships I have with some of my previous young women and I know it's not really good-bye.

Crazy Fall Dinner

2010-09-16T19:43:00.000-07:00

Wed night we had a combined youth activity. They got several choices of items to choose from. All of the items had different names listed, so they had no idea what they were ordering. Some were served water in a bowl, apple juice in a sippy cup, etc. Jason didn't order a plate, so here he is being served waldorf salad and olives directly on the tablecloth. Others ordered salad dressing and olives, but no salad. Thanks to everyone that helped! It was a really fun activity.

Water Polo Has Begun

2010-09-09T18:08:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again...water polo season. Jason's #2 red, right in the center. They get really physical. I get tired watching them.
Jason's in the center here, getting the ball from his opponent. (above) Do you see his opponent? That's that thing under Jason's face. Zoom in and you can see there's somebody there.

Eric is playing this year, too. He's the red cap on top of the little boy drowning. Anything to get the ball, but that's the better end to be on!! He plays novice and JV.

Here's Eric again. He's doing pretty well playing, but doesn't enjoy it as much as swim. He also is totally wiped out at the end of the day...not always such a bad thing. Last night he came home at 7:30 (after leaving before 6am) and still hadn't had dinner or done his homework. Hopefully he will be able to keep up this schedule and hang tough.

There are 33 scrimmages, games and tournaments until season end on Nov 5. The fun thing is we have kids in novice, jv and varsity now, so we get to go to ALL the games! And nobody volunteered to do the snack bar, so guess who's doing it?!! Although from the looks of our game last night, I will have tons of parental support.

Tonight started a varsity tournament. They played Torrey Pines. They got creamed! Those Torrey kids sure can swim hard, and drown others really well, too. Jason got evicted the 2nd quarter. Of course they were bad calls:) Now we're off to our 2nd game. Hopefully they'll do better this next game.

Another School Year

2010-09-07T16:51:00.000-07:00

Today Jason has his first day of school as a senior. He looks super excited, doesn't he? If you can't see the clock in the background, it's 5:50 am. Eric is a little more happy to be a freshman. I tried to take his picture outside by the pool like I normally do, but it was so dark it turned out pure black even with the flash.
I asked them how school was when they got home. Their response: "gay".

Although they did laugh a lot about how Stacey is trying to set up Eric with someone already, and how the teachers saw their last name and had comments. Troy sure gave a name for himself - and his brothers:) Eric's biggest complaint was coming home and having to be back at water polo practice in 35 minutes. The enthusiasm has worn off already!

Good luck this year, boys. I hope it's a fun one!!

90210 Day!

2010-09-02T18:01:00.001-07:00

This morning this is the text that I got from my

hubby, I couldn't figure out what he was telling me - especially since we never really got into the TV show 90210 (too old I guess ha ha ha). I texted him back to see if he had lost his mind & this was his text back "it's the date". Ha ha ha
I got a good chuckle & felt kind of dumb.

I don't have much to post but I was sitting here missing my missionary son & thought I would post the most recent picture of him here. He is such an awesome missionary & he makes me more & more proud every day. I wish I could fly to Michigan to give him a big hug but I know it would only make me miss him more. Until the time he has completed his service (only 15 more months!) I will just look forward to that special day... just you bet I will be the first (maybe second to his dad) to give him a huge hug!

I love you Elder Prescott!!

Ski Beach

2010-08-29T07:11:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we rented waverunners and went to Ski Beach. It was so fun!! The weather started out a little yucky, but turned out really nice. While I was sitting there I thought of a friend who likes to jet ski and didn't know about anywhere to go in San Diego. It's not even crowded in the middle of a Saturday afternoon, and here's the proof.
There were a lot of jet skis parked, but nobody was using them. What a shame!!

The boys all had a good time. They took turns driving and had a blast! Meet our adopted son, Mark:)

I went out by myself for a few minutes. It was kinda scary. I think I prefer being in a boat or else on dry ground on my quad, but it was still a lot of fun.

Jason, Mark & Troy

Here's Eric driving his dad. It was such a fun day. We had never ridden jet skis before (is that even a proper sentence????). It was a fun new experience. And yes, David still wants a boat. I think I only heard "Can we go buy a boat now?" only 5 times yesterday:)

Soak City

2010-08-27T21:36:00.000-07:00

David, Jason & Eric were supposed to do a boat trip to Big Bear this weekend with their scout troop. The boat fell through, so they kept their days off. Eric asks David to play video games all the time, and he won't ever do it. Here he is trying to play Halo, and the boys are laughing at him. They've changed a little since Atari and Dragon's Lair:)
Then we went to Soak City. It was so much fun! Here's Eric getting off of the speed slide. Great timing with the camera - I caught him picking his underwear out of his butt. Why does he even wear underwear?????

Troy met up with us after he got off of work.

Here are my guys. It has been so long since we have done anything as a family besides swimming or hanging out at home.

It was such a fun day and I am so glad we got to spend time together.

Getting $5 tickets was a bonus! Tomorrow...another fun family day.

Friend

2010-08-24T13:30:00.001-07:00

Yesterday was a very sad day. I went to the funeral of David's "other mother", Maxine. Maxine was such a wonderful woman and touched the lives of so many people. I have been to many funerals, and I don't think I've ever been to one with more people there to pay their respects.

I got to adopt Maxine when I married into the Prescott family. I consider myself pretty lucky. David and his brothers were like brothers with Maxine's boys. She babysat Andrea's kids when they were little, so she was like a Grandma to those boys.

Here are some of the things I can tell you about Maxine:

she was an amazing cook
she was a dear friend
she was a terrific seamstress
she would be there for you no matter what
she would loan out anything she had to anybody (and she had a lot of stuff)
she had a bigger heart than anybody I know

David and the boys used to have a tradition on Mother's Day. They would make his mom, my mom, and Maxine breakfast and deliver it to them all as breakfast in bed (or out in some cases), because they were all his moms. When she had things around the house that needed to be fixed, he was the one she called - just like his other moms:)

Since her passing last week, I have run across a few things that I use frequently and thought, "Maxine made this for me". She also put on our whole wedding reception for us. She worked so hard and I will always be thankful to her for that. When my dad died, she helped me with the food for the funeral luncheon. When her mom died, we talked about the sadness of losing a parent and how lonely we were without seeing that person often.

My heart goes out to her family and the sadness they feel at this time. A few days before Maxine passed away, her brother died. Her dad left the day of her death to go out of state to another child's funeral. A few months ago another brother and sister-in-law died. They have had their share of grief for a long time! It is so sad to have that loss, but wonderful to know that they are all together now, and we will all see her again. But until then, Maxine, you will be missed tremendously. I know you touched my life, and I hope I can be even part of the kind of person you were.

On Target

2010-08-24T13:00:00.001-07:00

In July there was an event called On Target. This year it was a bigger deal than normal because it is 100 years of scouting.

President Monson, the Prophet, signals from a mountain top near Salt Lake City to hills around him. People on those mountains signal back, letting him know they got a signal. In turn, they signal to other surrounding mountains. The point was to signal coast to coast, and Canada to Mexico. They will get a report in another week or so to find out how it went throughout the continent. Here is David's varsity scout group that participated. They picked Iron Mountain from the mountains available.

Here is Eric shining the mirror into Seth's eyes.

Here are the large mirrors that they put together on tripods to signal to mountains around them.
They could signal over 200 miles away.

David said that this signal is from Mt. Soledad, signaling to let them know they received our group's signal.

The guys said that next time they will go to Mt. Soledad since Iron Mountain was almost 100 degrees that day.

Still a happy group.

Boys playing around.

Don and a telescope.

The guys got so hot. Eric had hiked in Levis. He was so uncomfortable he hiked down in his underwear. Seth had gym shorts under his pants, so at least he was decent:)

Here are the guys at the bottom of the hill. They were so hot and dirty when they were done!!

They had a pretty good time. It happened to be the first hot weekend of a cooler than normal summer. Go figure!

I think it was a pretty cool event just thinking about our prophet starting it all, and people connecting with each other throughout the continent. Maybe that's cuz I didn't have to hike it!! Good job, guys!

Especially For Youth!

2010-08-02T22:08:00.000-07:00

Today the boys headed off to BYU for EFY... I'm not sure who was more excited, me or them? EFY at BYU was one of the highlights of my youth & something that I am so happy that my boys are able to experience. This year we were lucky because cousins & friends were able to go along!!

Here is a picture of the boys before they went to their accommodations.... Notice Simon's hair in this picture.

This is Eric with his group... Not sure what it is about Prescott's but they just love to be different (notice Eric is the only one not wearing the EFY t-shirt). I don't think any of the boys took one.

This is where Troy, Nate & Eric are staying... Nate & Troy look pretty comfortable, huh? I think they were getting settled in here.

I had warned Simon that his hair was probably too long for BYU standards... of course like usual he didn't believe me. I brought along the hair clippers just in case. What do you know? They told him he couldn't check in until he cut it. So he shaved it all off. He wasn't too thrilled. I'm hoping he has so much fun this week that it will make it all worth it!!

Didn't we do a great job? My family don't like long hair cuts so what ever you do you have to do fast! (or it ends up looking something like this)....

Doesn't Simon & Fielding look like they are thrilled to be there?

Getting Simon & Fielding settled....

I sure hope they all look this happy by the end of the week!!! Enjoy it boys!

Young Women Girls Camp

2010-08-02T07:26:00.000-07:00

Our wards' young women went to girls camp two weeks ago. It was a lot of fun. We kept really busy and wore those girls out.Here is our mail post. I found the idea of the pots on sugardoodle (my favorite website ever!!). My counselor, Sandra, decorated them. She did such a great job. David built this stand for all the "mailboxes" to sit on. It's always so much fun doing "secret sisters". Pretty sure this is the cutest post office ever!!!
Sandra, Annette and I shared a tent. This is Sandra's bed. Can you see the tent bulging? It was even bulging out of the doorway. It was a 3 foot high queen size air mattress that she had all to herself. Oh wait, she shared it with two large body pillows and one regular pillow:) Annette and I shared a queen size air bed that was just about 6 inches thick. And can you see that headboard? SO FUNNY! Sandra sure knows how to camp!!!

We did some swimming there. Here's Bishop racing the girls across the pool.

We went on a crazy long hike on Thursday morning. We knew it would get hot, so we got up at 5am and got started. While we were on the hike we went geo-caching, as well as did mock injuries for first aid certification. The hike was about a mile or so to the first geo-cache (all up hill). Then about two more to the next one. There was a stone house at the second site with this rusty bed and springs outside. Whoever lived there really must have wanted to be left alone. We wondered how he got the bed there.

Here's after the hike. We survived it. Only two real injuries on the way down.

Friday we went to Bates Nut Farm. We had fun sampling the chocolates, eating rock candy, and buying junk food. Then the girls "talked" to the animals. They thought it was funny when the animals talked back.

This is our camp leader, Annette. She isn't even in our ward and helped us. We were so appreciative to her for all she did. She was truly a life saver!! Here she was talking and a fly flew in her mouth and she was choking. Being Miss Certification like I am, I pulled out the camera and took pictures instead of helping her. She survived anyway:)

You can't have camp without facials, can you?? Our last night we did a "faith hike". It was learning about Christ's life. Our theme was "Faith in Every Footstep". It turned out really well, again thanks to Annette. She put the whole thing together and it was a great way to lead up to our testimony meeting.

It was such a great time at camp, and I really did get to know the girls better. Camp is a lot of work, but we had great leaders and it went off beautifully!!

Another Swimmer in the Family

2010-07-13T17:37:00.001-07:00

Eric has decided that he wants to be a swimmer, too. Or at least check it out and see if that's what he wants to do. He started doing club swim a week and a half ago. Saturday was his first meet. It is so different than high school meets. Very non-competitive, and the age groups vary. They have an 8 and under group, 9-10, 11-12, and 13 and up. BTW, those little kids are just adorable! It's so funny to see them stop in the middle of the race to fix their goggles, or doing the wrong strokes, or jumping in at the wrong time. Super funny!! Here's a picture of him racing Saturday. So far he only races freestyle. He got two second places for his own events, and two first places for his relays. (They were the only team on one of the relays:)
Here's Eric getting ready for his last relay race. He thinks he likes it so far, and plans on getting ready for water polo next month. Club swim will help him get into shape so he's hopefully a little bit ahead of the other freshmen, or at least not behind!!

Nothing to Blog about....

2010-07-07T20:01:00.000-07:00

I love looking at other people's blogs & sometimes I get upset when they aren't updated frequently... then I started thinking about how often I blog - which is almost never these days. It's really not because nothing is happening in my life, I guess it just because I don't think it's exciting enough to blog about....

The boys are out of school & life has gone from schedules to lazy days. I love it! I just wish the weather would cooperate so it actually felt like summer here. I'm sure within a week or two I will be complaining about it being too hot - so I guess for now I should just enjoy the cloud-cover and misty mornings, but I don't! I'm ready for some sunshine!!!

One very exciting thing that happened is that Zak was transferred to Ann Arbor. I am very happy about that & the fact that he is loving his time serving the Lord! Who wouldn't be happy about that? I'm so thankful that he didn't pass up this opportunity to have an adventure of a lifetime. Memories & experiences that he could never have anywhere else! I am very proud of his sacrifice - I know it is hard, but I also know that he makes the best of every single day! Just look at that smile!

I just love this boy!

Nate's graduation!!

2010-06-25T20:45:00.001-07:00

What an exciting day!! See Dee Dee's post about Troy's graduation for details!!
Congrats Nate & Troy, we are so proud of you!!

Troy's High School Graduation

2010-06-24T19:54:00.000-07:00

Troy did it! He graduated from High School. It was good there was a blonde girl by him. He was easy to spot in his class with over 400 graduating seniors.
My sister drove all the way from Sacramento to be here for his big day. That was so nice of her! She's always had the kids call her "My Favorite Aunt Charlene" (she says that she's their only Aunt Charlene)

Nate & Troy graduated at the same exact time, but at different schools. We had a party at our house afterwards where so many were able to come and celebrate their special day. It was so much fun getting together with family and friends. Teachers & deans from elementary and middle school even showed up. They all played such an important part in the boys' lives. So many funny Prescott stories and memories were shared. There have definitely been many wonderful influences in our children's lives and we will be forever grateful for the love that all of these people have had for our kids. It was a wonderful evening and we are thankful for all who shared in their big day.

Eric's 8th Grade Graduation

2010-06-19T07:22:00.001-07:00

Friday Eric graduated from 8th grade. No more middle school for us!

As he was getting ready for his last day of middle school he asked, "When's the next dance?" He's just turned 14 and my baby is growing up. We did love LMMS. We got to know so many of the staff there and have developed lasting relationships and memories with many of them. Several of them have touched my children's lives and have made a huge difference in their education.He is officially a Freshman. 4 more years of waking up for seminary and I'm done!

After graduation we went to Denny's to celebrate. I really enjoy being around Eric and talking with him. He's a great young man and I sure love him!!

Jason & George

2010-06-17T08:26:00.000-07:00

There was yet another birthday this week. It's the 4th family birthday in the last 17 days. Jason turned 17 years old!!

He has turned into such a nice young man. He is such a good helper and always does little projects for me. He changes my battery in my car, helps me in the yard, and whatever I need done in the house that can't wait (or I can't wait) for David to do.

Jason has been such a blessing to our family! Since it was a hot day, we had a little bit of swimming, food, and as usual, Prescott craziness. Lots of love in the family:)

He hasn't been feeling very well for awile. He went to the Baja 500 the first weekend in June. Need I say more? He ate all the same things as Mark, but it appears he has a new little friend living inside of him. I named him George. So the day after his birthday we went to the doctor and got these really nifty little tubes. The whole process was pretty hysterical. I have a pretty queasy stomach, and it was not so fun putting the "samples" in the tubes. Of course, Jason offered to do it, but that would make me feel like a lame mom. I can say from what I saw that there is definitely a problem! Hopefully the tests won't take very long and he can get treated soon.

Happy birthday, Jason! I love you!!!!

Broom Hockey

2010-06-09T14:31:00.000-07:00

Mom: "What's the single's ward activity for Wed night?"
Troy: "Broom Hockey"
Mom: "That sounds like fun! You should go!!"
Troy: "Are you kidding? I sweep for 3 hours a day. There's no way I'm going!"
Eric: "You should be really good at it then." (Brotherly Love)

Troy is a "porter" at a condo complex in Del Mar. He does a lot of sweeping and cleaning up. He does get a nice ocean breeze, though:)

Eric's 8th Grade Performance

2010-06-04T08:33:00.000-07:00

Eric and his friend Micah have guitar class together. They're way ahead of the class, so the teacher just lets them go outside and work on songs together. The guitar teacher is also the choral teacher. He asked the boys to perform at last night's Spring Choral Concert. I borrowed my friend's camera and didn't remember how to push the record button for awhile, but at least I got the end of the song. They're playing Europa by Santana. Good job, boys!

Is There a Lifeguard in the House?

2010-06-03T15:27:00.001-07:00

The answer would be...YES! Jason received all of his certifications today for lifeguarding/first aid, Title 22 for public safety personnel, cpr/aed for lifeguards, and administering emergency oxygen. He's worked hard going to school, doing swim, and his lifeguarding course at Grossmont College. He can officially say, "I'm medically trained and I can help". Hahaha

Now he just needs a job:) He has interviewed with Santee YMCA and hopefully he will be employed soon.

Universal Studios

2010-06-01T19:35:00.000-07:00

Noah, Miles, Sponge Bob, Elam, & Simon

The boys hanging out with Bart Simpson!

Jamey & Sponge Bob

Me & Jamey (ha ha just kidding, it's Marge!)

This last Friday we loaded up the car & headed to Universal Studios. This time was much better, Jamey was able to come along (as well as Laura & her family) & no one came down with the stomach flu! Yea! It made for a much nicer day & believe it or not it wasn't even crowded! It was the start of a great weekend!!

Eric's 14th Birthday

2010-05-30T07:26:00.000-07:00

Eric turned 14 yesterday. I know I always say it, but it's hard to believe he's that old. He's such a funny kid. He's always wanted to be a comedian or do voice overs for cartoons.He had a little birthday party with some friends over yesterday. I am so glad the weather turned out so nicely.
After the party, David, Eric & I went to Islands for dinner. Then we went to see Prince of Persia. It was a great day and he got all of the attention to himself. Sometimes, being the baby isn't so bad.

Happy birthday, Bubby. You are an amazing young man, and we are truly blessed that Heavenly Father sent you to us.

Swim Awards

2010-05-28T14:53:00.000-07:00

Last night was the swim banquet. It's always so much fun to review the accomplishments that the boys have made throughout the year. Last night was no exception.

Jason got several awards: a bar for his 3rd swim letter, Captain's Star, Varsity MVP, CIF Patch, and Union Tribune All Academic Team Award for being an outstanding athlete and student with over a 3.0 gpa. Jason also made a few school top 20 lists, one being the 11th fastest student in the 100m breaststroke. Way to go! The swim team has a plaque that hangs in the aquatics office
of all the parents who receive "The Reistetter Award" for outstanding boosters. David and I received the award this year for all our support for the team. We even got our own plaque to keep! I also received a HUGE bouquet of flowers for all my help.

It was such a fun evening. I can't wait until next year!!

Gracie's First Birthday!

2010-05-18T19:02:00.000-07:00

Well my pictures were added backwards, sorry! Anyway, yesterday was Gracie's first birthday & on Saturday we all got together to celebrate that exciting moment in her life! It was a fun get together with family & friends (although we did miss David, Dee Dee & boys as well as G&G Prescott). As you can see by the pictures above she enjoyed her birthday cake!

We love her so much & glad she is the newest member of our family (for a whole year)!!

Swim Finals

2010-05-16T12:06:00.000-07:00

Swim season is winding down. This last week was Varsity League Prelims and Finals. In Prelims, Jason didn't do so well. It was just a bad day. He was pretty bummed about it. He made up for it in finals, though.
Here is his relay team. They came in 2nd place for 200 free relay, and 3rd for 200 medley relay.In his individual events, he came in 2nd for his 100m breast stroke, and 5th for his 50 free. He got the best time he ever got in his breast stroke. Way to go!!
Next week, CIF prelims and finals, and then good-bye swim season 2010!!

Spring Dance Concert

2010-05-16T11:58:00.001-07:00

Last Thursday we went to the high school dance concert. It was a lot of fun watching the teens that we know. Troy was aksed to participate in the senior guy/girl dance. It was so cute watching him. He was even front and center for a little while. I didn't know he had the moves he has!! Sitting in front of us was a girl with a t-shirt on that was painted in huge letters I {HEART} TROY. She screamed, "I love you Troy" during the whole performance. It was a little weird, since Troy was dancing with one senior girl, while his girlfriend was in the performance as well, with a third one screaming she loves him. Apparently this girl is just really good friends with him. I wonder if she knew we were his parents:) He did a great job and I'm glad he is learning new things all the time. (Pictures & video not allowed)

Eco Challenge

2010-05-10T08:36:00.001-07:00

Friday & Saturday we had the Stake Eco Challenge. Saturday morning was the Mormon Helping Hands. It was a lot of fun. We camped, worked hard, and did relays, and the weather was perfect! Some of us worked really hard. Mostly Marsha and the men.
Here's Troy's group on one of the relays. Their knot tying wasn't too good, and poor Stacey dropped like a rock. I don't think she'll volunteer for this activity again!

Here's Andrea showing the youth how to use her elephant trunk to knock down water bottles. Can you tell she's yelling, "hey Dee Dee, no pictures"?!!! Tim, Fielding, Jason & Seth waiting for all the groups to get back. They were a fun team to watch!

And the winners are...the youngest boys!! Tyler, Eric, Noah, ??, David. They kicked butt on the whole activity. Way to go Deacons!!

Triathlon

2010-04-25T07:43:00.000-07:00

This is definitely my favorite event of the year. It is so fun watching and cheering everyone on. Especially those that aren't so fast. There's one boy from another ward that goes every year. He is slow. He started swimming in the first heat, and was still swimming a few heats later. I think he doggie paddles his way across the bay, but whatever works! He does it every year and it's amazing the determination he has.David is always a lifeguard. This year he actually had to save somebody. When he got the man to the edge, the man couldn't even stand up. Pretty sure he didn't finish the race.

Jason wasn't feeling well, so he didn't do it this year.

That's a lot of people...and a lot of getting kicked in the head!

It's great that the leaders even participate. The boys do have GREAT leaders.
Troy came in 5th place of the whole race, counting relays and all. (relays are faster because they aren't tired yet) Right after Troy crossed the finish line, I ran over and caught Eric taking off for the run. Then back to the finish line to watch a lot of friends finish. Noah beat President Mitchell by about a second. Eric was a few minutes behind them.

Troy placed 3rd in his age group. Each of the boys were only a few seconds apart in their time. They even ran together and made new friends along the way. It's great that they can be competitive, but still be friendly and good sports. Looking forward to next year!!!!

My son/man got a job!!!

2010-04-22T19:53:00.001-07:00

How does he look in his uniform? Pretty handsome!!!

Nate got a job at the local 7-11. Of course all 4 of my sons have wanted to work there ever since they were little & their dad worked their part time. All of their memories of this 7-11 are great, free slurpees, tons of candy, playing soccer in the back & even filming a short video there. Nate was determined to get his first job & 7-11 is where he wanted to work... I know you may be thinking, wow he aimed really high. But seriously, I'm just happy that he got a job & he's lucky to get to say that his first job wasn't in fast food!!

Hiking

2010-04-20T09:48:00.001-07:00

The scouts always get to go cool places. I hear about them, and sometimes see pictures. I enjoy the time alone when the guys are all gone, but sometimes I want to experience their fun times, too. David and I have been hiking a little bit lately, and Saturday we decided to go to one of their scout finds. This is Cedar Creek. It was a great hike. It's about 3 miles each way. 3 miles down hill, and 3 miles up hill. Down was easy and fun. Up was a little less fun, but I definitely got a work out. It was a beautiful hike, and getting to spend quiet time with my husband was the best part. The falls were beautiful, with a rope swing on the tree where people were jumping from, as well as the cliffs on the side.

There's a little cove where you could swim to and hang out.

And here's just a FEW of the people that were there. It was sad to see about 50 people & 10 dogs there. The secret's out, apparently. It was so crowded we couldn't even get near the water. We did end up sleeping in a bit and not going as early as the scouts normally go. We will definitely go earlier next time, and hopefully we will beat the crowds. I'm so glad I finally got to see it!

Friday Night Fun

2010-04-16T21:25:00.000-07:00

Tonight we had a swim meet and a powder puff football game to watch. It was quite an eventful evening. Jason did really well in his 100m breast stroke even though he's having some health related issues. Way to go, Jason!

On the other hand, we got to sit through a football game watching our oldest son cheer for the jr vs senior girls. The boys all had nicknames. Troy's was princess. They all wore tu-tus. Troy wore his speedo under his. I got lots of pictures and videos, but I was too far away to get any sound to come through on my camera.

Troy is second from left/front row. What more can I say?

EEK, A Mouse!

2010-04-12T13:46:00.000-07:00

When I got home today I saw that something was in the pool. From the back door it looked like a leaf. Nope! It's kinda gross. It's definitely not as bad as sticking your hand in to get the skimmer basket out and finding one in there. Too close for comfort!!

Good thing Jason's going to be home soon. I have a special surprise for him:)

Belmont Park

2010-04-07T12:50:00.000-07:00

Eric & Noah went to Belmont Park yesterday. They did the Wavehouse and the rides. They went on the roller coaster, Beach Blaster, and Chaos over and over again. Poor Noah's been sick lately, and wasn't feeling real well on the way home. The weather was perfect! I'm so glad that all the boys get along so well and have such a fun time together.

Locks of Love

2010-04-01T18:46:00.000-07:00

I did it! I finally did it! I've been thinking about it for so long & I finally got my nerve. This is actually the second time I've donated 10 LONG inches of hair to Locks of Love. For those of you who have never heard of it, it is a non-profit that makes wigs for kids with cancer. In the last few years so many people that I know have been diagnosed with cancer - seriously it went from me knowing NO ONE to knowing about 10 people with cancer! It is a scary disease! Anyway, since there really isn't much that I can do to help my friends/family with cancer - I can donate my hair to help someone else who might want to have a little bit of normal while they deal the world of the unknown.

I wonder what the wig will look like from this pony tail? I would love to see it once it is done, but I doubt I will.....

St. Patrick's Day 10k

2010-03-16T18:21:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago my friend Kathie talked me into doing the St. Patrick's Day 10k at Mission Bay-in two weeks! I never jog, and hardly ever go walking. I was super nervous and started training the following day, but with all the rain and being so sore, I was only able to train a few times each week. Saturday was the big day, and I was actually really excited about it. We agreed to stay together no matter what. We did it, and we weren't last! It was so fun and when my body quits hurting, I'm going to keep it up.:) I'm so glad for the push she gave me. Who knew I would do my first (and only????) 10k at 44...I mean 29!I hate the way I look in pictures, but David was so proud of me he kept taking pictures. He wanted to blog about the day, but he hasn't gotten around to it. He's such a sweetheart. He carried purses, jackets and bags all around Mission Bay for all the girls - broken ribs and all. It was so much fun I just may do it on my own again someday to see if I can beat my own time.

My boys are ROCK STARS!!!

2010-03-09T16:34:00.000-08:00

This coming weekend, the Jakked Rabbits (my son's band) are playing at the Perris Fairgrounds (in Riverside, Ca). Not exactly sure what time they go on but the event starts at 2PM & they are the opening band (see flyer above). The event is over at 9PM. If you are in the area, come check them out!!

If that's not your fansy, then come watch them open for Bad Religion on Friday March 19th at the San Diego House of Blues!!! Yea, you heard me right, Bad Religion!!! They are so stoked... Buy your tickets now cuz this is sure to sale out!!! Woot woot.... I must say I am very proud. For those of you who were wondering, Zak couldn't be more happy for his band. Good things come to those who serve the Lord first!! He's looking forward to playing with the band again when he is done with his mission. Rock on!!

Swim Season is Here

2010-03-07T11:27:00.000-08:00

Friday night was the start of Troy & Jason's swim season. The boys did such a good job. Their times were almost as good or better than where they finished off last year. CIF is looking really good for them this year! David was very bummed to realize he missed their first two meets since he was at varsity training. Maybe he should have stayed home:(

(See earlier post)Saturday morning there was a freestyle meet at Helix. They did pretty good, but freestyle isn't their strong strokes, and they were really worn out from the meet the night before. I didn't get zoomed in, but Troy's mid picture on the diving block.
I did get zoomed in for Jason. He's the scrawny looking boy right in front:)
Here's their relay team. They got 4th place.

Troy and "Asian Man" on the left are in the doghouse with coach. During their 200m (8 laps)event, Troy and his teammate were swimming in adjacent lanes. They thought it would be fun to switch lanes during the race. The rules for club swim are you must end in the lane you start in, no touching each other, and no touching the bottom. As soon as the whistle blew, they dove in and switched lanes (not a great idea to do RIGHT in front of the ref). Everyone was cracking up and intently watching to see what they were going to do. They switched back at the turn of the last lap. They felt pretty safe doing it since this particular meet didn't really matter for their season. The ref went up to them and told them that wasn't allowed in high school swim. They were dq'd and he walked away laughing. Only coach wasn't amused. Hopefully he'll be a little happier by the time Monday practice comes. And hopefully Troy and Andrew learned their lesson, and got their rebellion out of their system.

Warning - Scouting Can Be Hazardous to Your Health

2010-03-06T20:23:00.001-08:00

David was asked a few months back to be part of the Varsity Scout Board (or whatever they are officially called). He not only gets to do his calling, but help put on all things that do with varsity scouting. That includes the yearly triathlon, mountain man rendevous, and all of the training for new varsity leaders. He gets to go to these activities, as well as all the planning meetings. He really loves scouting and to volunteer. Several times a year they have training meetings which are Friday night and Saturday all day. They are like little boys - staying up till midnight and getting up early. At 6am this morning they were playing ultimate frisbee. He went to catch the frisbee, somebody bumped him one way, and his brother, Brien, ran into his side. Three cracks were heard. David, being the trooper he is, sucked it up and worked at his duties all day. He knows at least three ribs are broken, maybe more. That's sure a good way to get out of finishing his "honey - do" list!!

A strange coincidence - the scouts were playing an OTL sort of game a couple weeks ago and Brien ran into a table and broke some ribs. I guess two of the leaders in the group will be taking it easy for awhile.

Grandpa's got a brand new hair-do!

2010-02-27T10:40:00.001-08:00

Those of you who know our grandpa will recognize him in this top picture because as long as I have known him he has had this hair style.... used to be darker but pretty much the same.

Well he gathered us all around & gave us the opportunity to see him go from that to this......

Here he is admiring his son's hair buzzing job....

& finally to this.... His new hair-do, at least for a little while :-) We love you grandpa!!!!

Vegas Baby!

2010-02-16T17:43:00.000-08:00

What's almost as fun as a vacation with your family? A vacation with your girlfriends!! This last weekend some of my girlfriends & I loaded in the car & headed to Vegas... What do Mormon girls do in Vegas?? SHOP of course!! We had a great time. Here are just some of the pictures of the weekend.... I never did get a picture of all 6 of us so hopefully Angie or Laura will post those on their blogs.

Sitting at a stop light looking at the strip.... Not too bad for my camera phone!! The lights look much better in person.

Laura, Angie & I at Serendipity

4 of the girls at lunch before another day of shopping!

This picture is my favorite! Mainly because we had already been yelled at for taking pictures... I guess your not supposed to take pictures in Victoria's Secret. Can you tell I'm trying to be sly? Ha ha...We were patiently waiting for one of the girls in the dressing room.

Happy Birthday Nate!

2010-02-01T18:08:00.000-08:00

The many faces (or hairstyles of Nate)... It's hard to get a good picture of him, he does not like to have pictures taken which is sad because he is such a handsome young man!!!

This past Saturday we had a surprise birthday party for Nate's 18th birthday. It was a success! (which I was afraid he would figure it out before hand... it's hard keeping a secret from a teenager!!). Thanks to all the family & friends who came to help celebrate this exciting birthday with us. I can't believe that Nate will be 18 this coming Sunday... hard to believe it's been 18 years since he was born. What an easy baby he was (especially compared to Zak). It has been an exciting 18 years! I sure do love this kid & am already sad thinking about him leaving for his mission. (Although there isn't anywhere else I would want him to be!!). I love you son, Happy Birthday!!!

Catching Up....

2010-01-22T18:34:00.000-08:00

It's been some time since I've had time to blog... so since I have so many things to be thankful for I figured I needed to find time to post a few things that have been happening in our lives!
Last weekend all of my brothers & sisters got together (oh yea, minus Eric but only because he was sick) at my parents house to visit. My mom went in on Tuesday for open heart surgery & we all wanted to get together to wish her luck. I think this is the only picture I have of my mom & just us girls. I love it!! I think times like this you really realize how special your family is. It was great seeing my brother Todd & two of his daughters - he lives in Utah & we don't get together often enough!!
While we were all visiting with family, Zak was meeting his new temporary family (His Mission President & his wife) in Detroit. Zak is loving being a missionary! Even though we miss him terribly, we are so incredibly proud of him too!! It is so great to hear of his experiences & to know that the Lord is watching over him.
This is a picture of the family minus Zak. It just isn't the same without him!!! But we wouldn't want him anywhere else at the moment!!

18 Years of Troy

2010-01-19T07:59:00.000-08:00

Troy is 18 years old today. I just can't believe it. Troy can make me crazy like no other person can, but I sure love him. He is so full of charm, I can't help myself!

Troy is the most energetic person I know. He's always grabbed life and took it head on. He had several serious injuries, and I just KNEW that he would never even see his 12th birthday. I'm so glad he's survived them all, and he's got GREAT stories to share with his kids.

As I have gone through the pictures of his life, I am so full of happy memories. I love his smile. It was so hard choosing just a few to share, so please pardon a proud mom on this special day!

Happy Birthday, Troy. I truly love you.

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