Just another typical Saturday

Yesterday was a busy day,  Derek got up early and we dropped him off at Brother Sillinpaa's house @7:00 a.m. to meet with the other 11 year old scouts.  From there they went to Aarowhead pool to knock out the swimming merit badges.  Derek is my best swimmer, he has had swim lessons the longest of any kid.  I knew he would do well.  My friend Liz,who is in the Stake Primary Presidency was over seeing the event and she sent me these pics.

I think they look cool all together like this

11 year old scouts earning swimming merit badge.

After Derek was dropped off -Dax, Trey and I worked on the weed mess in the front yard.  Our grass looks terrible in the front, and it is because these weeds are spreading and killing the grass.  I had been working on the weeds early in the morning during the week before the kids got up.  I'm had made progress, but there are so many patches in them.  This time I'm determined to remove them 100% so they stop coming back.  We had a good time working.  As Dax and I pulled the weeds Trey would clean them up and dump them.  He called it the Weed Hotel and then Weed Prison.  He would make big piles of the weeds (the Hotel) then once they went into the trash can it became Weed Prison.  I enjoyed his stories he entertained us and helped the time pass for him.  I don't know about Dax as his grass allergies started bugging him after a bit.

We worked for about an hour until it was getting too hot.  Then I cleaned up and Curtis and I went to the Temple.  I had some family names I had been working on and it seemed a good day to get it done.  As we were on our way I got a text from my friend Tiffany Andersen, asking if Trey could play with her son, Soren that day.  I told her he could play, but we were one our way to the temple, so he wouldn't have a way to get over there. Tiffany just had foot surgery, so she still couldn't drive either.  Curtis and I decided Dax wasn't doing anything and it would be good for Dax to ride his bike over with Trey to Soren's house.  It isn't that far and they need to have more experiences like that.  Dax was reluctant (because he didn't want to)  I asked him if he knew how to get there, he said yes (they had done this one previous time, but Derek was with them and he is a better navigator), but I briefly went over the instructions again.  We went into the temple and turned our phones off.

We came out of the temple a few hours later, then went to lunch.  We got home and Derek was home, and we asked Dax how the trip to Soren's went? Apparently not that good.  First Trey's bike tires were low, so instead of pumping them up, or using another form of transportation like a scooter, Dax decided to walk.  It was about 10:00 by now and the temps are heating up.  Then they went the wrong way, ended up way far away by his friends Dallin Thomas' house (not terribly far, but far enough off course)  Then some other people from the Ward who live in that area near the Thomas' (John and Miriam Soubie) saw them all drenched in sweat and asked them what they were doing.  Lucky the Soubie's rescued them and dropped them off at the Andersen's house.  Then Dax walked from the Andersen's to home.  I don't know what they would have done is the Soubie's didn't rescue them.  We definitely need more experiences like this and finding their own way to their friends house.  It is too bad that society has turned us all into helicopter parents and the kids don't get many opportunities to be as independent as previous generations.

First Day of School-Jack the Bully

Dax Johnson 10th Grade Arizona College Prep

July 20th 2015-First day of School

Trey and Derek getting ready to head out to school

Trey Johnson 1st day of 1st Grade Mrs. Condos Hancock Elementary

Zaiden and Derek 1st day of 6th Grade

 The day is here, summer is over.  We went to meet the teacher the kids have a pretty good idea of who is and who isn't in there classes this year.

I was hoping Trey would enjoy 1st grade more than Kindergarten, and Derek would not have to worry about the Jerks from 5th grade.  Trey came home very happy.  The first day went pretty smooth for everyone, but I have to give some background story.

When school got out in May, I got a phone call from Derek's 5th grade teachers Mrs. Barutha and Mrs. Doerneman.  The 5th graders had an assignment to write something to the incoming 5th graders.  Derek's teachers were concerned because Derek had written such a negative letter.  We were on our way to Mexico so I never actually spoke to the teachers we just kept playing phone tag with each other.  I asked Derek what it was about and he said he wrote how the kids were mean and 5th grade is terrible and Derek doesn't have any friends.

All year long Derek had been complaining about this kid, Jack, and his friends being jerks to everyone, Jack calls everyone freaks and other names, picks on everyone, and really is a big arrogant jerk.  Derek can have a bit of a temper and he also told me how he would walk up to Jack, get right in his face and say "You Suck Jack"  This made me feel that although  there  was some animosity between the two,  Derek wasn't completely innocent either so I didn't think much of it.  Although he did continually complain about Jack.  All summer long he would tell me how when he goes back to school he is going to beat up Jack.

In the mean time as friends came to play this summer and as I spoke to their Mom's this kid Jack randomly kept coming up.  I heard the exact same complaints from these other kids (and Parents) that Derek had been telling me.  I finally realized that this Jack is a big bully and a problem to everyone.

A week before school started, when the teachers had gone back to work,  Derek's 5th grade teachers called me back to discuss this letter that had been written back before school got out.  They were very concerned about Derek, I was impressed that they still called me back after all this time.  We discussed it and I told them I talked to Derek etc. and I understood the situation.  They made sure that Derek would have a friend in his 6th grade class, so they made sure Zaiden and Derek got put in the same class.  I was very grateful they were looking out for Derek and that they did that.  I told them I thought the real problem was this bully Jack, and I told them I had been hearing about him from other kids and parents. This had been going on for a few years.   They took his name and said they would let the administration know.

When we went to meet the teacher we were happy that Jack was not in Derek's class, but two of his minions were.  Derek was still dreading school, the Bully and his Gang.  We assured Derek that the school had been notified, and if he still had a problem Curtis would go in and take care of it.

This first two days of school were ok,  no drama from Jack, by Wednesday it was back to the same story. Thursday morning I called the principal, Mrs. Hull.  She said she was made aware of it before school started and they had made changes so they wouldn't be interacting with each other.  I told her it was happening on the play ground and there was a big group of them.  She suddenly realized why we were still making a big deal of this, and the things they had done were not enough.  She said they would be watching.

On Thursday Derek didn't come home from school at his normal time.  I went out to find him and he was outside the house in tears.  He said they were picking on him again and he can't bear to go to school and deal with this anymore.  I finally got him inside so we could talk about it (it was hot outside I didn't want to be out there anymore, it was hard to get Derek to budge he was so upset).  He really did not want to go back to school as long as Jack had not been dealt with.

On Friday morning Curtis went into School with Derek and met with Mrs. Hull and Shari Ballard, another administrator.  Derek went in with a list of  about 15 names,  all of Jack's friends that had been harassing him. They had a good discussion.  Before Curtis and Derek went in to meet with Mrs. Hull, we told Derek if he didn't feel safe or comfortable with the situation after the meeting he did not have to stay at school.

Curtis came home alone (a good sign)  he felt they had a good handle on the situation and it would be handled.  Later in the day Curtis got a call from Mrs. Hull saying she had talked to Jack and he admitted to everything Derek accused him of.  Jack said he would work on changing.  Mrs. Hull also talked to Jack's  mom,  she was embarrassed and said she would also work to improve this behavior.
It felt like a victory for Derek.  Although, one of the minion friends still picked on him once he got back to class.

On Monday Derek went to school and two of the minions (in his class)  apologized to Derek.  He said he also overheard Jack's friends saying that Jack had In-school suspension.  Curtis told Mrs. Hull that since Jack started this whole bullying thing with his friends it needed to end with Jack telling his friends to knock it off.  It seems to be working.

Derek never saw Jack all week.  I don't know if he had in school suspension the whole entire week, or if they were just never in the same place at the same time.  Either way we are happy it was dealt with.  Derek is much happier at home and going to school now. That first week was rough. 

Often times I had heard that Hancock had a bullying problem and they don't really care to do anything about it.  I agreed with that.  Previously Dax had been bullied and it wasn't really handled that well, but we also never took it to Mrs. Hull.  I know Mrs. Hull is tough on bullies and she will end it.  She has earned that A+ rating for a reason.  Our home is much happier now.

" JAWS" Dive in Movie

 Leading up to Dax's Birthday... On Monday, I had Dax go clean out the car.  He was out in the garage doing his job when he  came inside yelling for my help.
He had stuck his hand into a cup holder to clean in out and got stuck with this ugly burr.  We tried to pull it out, but it wouldn't come.  He thought it was barbed or hooked on the end it would rip his finger up if we kept yanking.  I tried to soak it in Epson salt to loosen it, but it wasn't working, and Google told me that method usually took a few days, best bet was to go to the Dr.  So we did.

 They got us in almost right away, she was able to clean it up and pull it out, no hooks attached, which was good. $214.80 later, his finger is feeling much better.  Glad it wasn't worse.  I think sometimes it takes someone besides a family member to get the job done.




Happy Birthday Dax #15

Each year we do a swim party for Dax, but this year we decided to spice it up a bit.  We had talked about doing a dive in a movie for a while, we decided Dax's birthday was a perfect time.  Dax wanted to watch Jaws.

We prepped for the party, then watched the weather.  We knew it was expected to be pretty rainy the day/evening of the party.  We talked about postponing it.  We realized no matter when we did it there would always be some type of conflict, certain people couldn't come, weather, other previously scheduled events etc.  We decided to move forward.  Usually rain in AZ is fast and furious so we would endure.  The kids did a great job of helping us set up.  We didn't want to get 100% set up because rain was expected just before the party.  It rained a bit, then we proceeded to finish the set up.  Just as we were ready to start the movie, more rain came. We just fed the kids more food and postponed starting the movie.

Dive in View with shark attack water

More rainy fun

Teddy, Brigham, Dallin, Dax

We battled rain most the night.  When the lightning started we watched from the porch

There were times I felt like this night was a disaster.  A few friends couldn't come that normally would have (more than I thought), the rain, making the kids get in and out of the water, moving the equipment etc.  It turns out the kids had a great time, and some didn't want to leave when their parents picked them up (we had a late start with the movie and rain).  Most important Dax absolutely loved it and had a great time.  He said the best party ever. It was a success after all.

Happy Birthday Boy, Dax, with Brig Andersen

For Dax's gifts all he wanted was a gift card to "Steam" some gaming website.  The entire $90 was spent immediately upon receipt.  A travel shaving kit bag (he is getting old enough he needs this)  and a graphing calculator to start school on Monday.

We won the Speaking in Church Lottery

A few weeks ago we get a call from the Bishop asking if Curtis and I will be in town on July 12th.  Yes, we are one of the few people that stick around all summer, we will be there.  Our number was up, it was our turn to speak in church.  He asked if one of us we speak on Baptism, and the other would speak on the Holy Ghost.  I took Baptism, Curtis took the Holy Ghost.

We had a few weeks to prepare, but still it takes quite a bit of time to prepare and get it to talk come together in order for it to be good.  I didn't feel like my talk was coming together and I was feeling a little overwhelmed with it, then I get asked by the Primary if both Trey and Derek can give the talks in Jr. and Sr. Primary about Following Jesus Christ and his example . Uggh,  one more talk to prepare.  Which it was only one talk, because I had them pretty much give the exact same talk.  The only difference is Trey used an example when he followed Jesus and shared in goggles with someone at the pool.  Derek used an example when kids were being mean to other kids he told them to knock it off.

Then I was asked by Judy Hampton who was teaching R.S. if I would help her with her lesson by getting up and talking about one of the articles in the Ensign about the Temple.  I was starting to feel like we were the ONLY family in town this week.

I know most people dread speaking in Church, I think Curtis actually enjoys it,  I have mixed feelings about it, Derek had a great attitude, Trey just has a bad attitude  about church in general right now.  The one person who was really disappointed was Dax.  He loves to speak in church and he was the only one in our family who was not asked. He did not win the lottery this week.

Our talks went well.  Trey did an excellent job (he is such a great reader)  I'm sure Derek did great as well, he had a great attitude and he presents himself well.  I admit I didn't do that great in R.S.  I read the article earlier in the week, then I focused on my talk.  By the time R.S. came around I could barely remember what I had read, and I should have refreshed.  Judy said to me afterwards she heard a quote  30% of the people do nothing in the church, 30% do something, and 30% do everything,  this week we did everything.

Sweet Summer Fun

Friday July 3,2015

Derek went out Boating to Saguaro Lake with his Scout Troop.  Most of the boys were out  of town so it was just Derek, Garrett Kubricky and James Cannon.  Derek had never been boating before and didn't know what to expect but he had a great time.  We had some good rain in the morning, it was cloudy and overcast throughout the day.  Perfect for a July day at the lake.

As usual their awesome leader, Mike Cannon, documented the fun.

Garrett and Derek, Garrett wants them to "Gun IT"

Garrett, Derek and James is holding on for dear life

HAHAHA- WIPEOUT

July4th- Happy Birthday America.  We didn't do anything spectacular, we swam, we got grossed out watching the Annual Nathan's HotDog eating contest (a tradition for us).  Trey decided if he was at the hot dog eating contest he would have the job of holding the plate of hotdogs for the contestants. Then we went and ate our own hotdogs, with lots of condiments and chips.

Once it got dark, I pulled out the glow necklaces I got for the kids.  Derek and Dax walked over to the park to check out the action.  I was happy they wanted to go do something outside the house for once.  We met  up with them later on.  We usually watch the Fireworks at Ryan Park across the street.  This year as we were walking out, we decided to watch from the lake just across from the Park.  I went over to find Dax and Derek at the park while Trey and Curtis set up at the lake.  I found Dax and Derek we walked to the lake and just as we had met up with Curtis and Trey with chairs and everything set up for us, the sprinklers went on and started spraying us.  It was kind of funny.  We moved because now the grass we wet.  We ended up watching the fireworks from the playground at Hancock.  Which was nice because they kids could run around and play on the equipment and not bother anyone while we enjoyed the Fireworks..

We went home and lit Sparklers.  Curtis bought these Sparklers a few years back when Chandler first made it legal to buy them.  They kids never seemed that interested it them so they just sat in a cupboard.  This year they loved them, and we even lit more the next night.  So fun to finally see them enjoy 4th of July, my favorite Holiday.

Monday July 6th.  Dax Trey and I finally finished the 1000 piece Mustang puzzle that we started at the beginning of the summer.  It was definitely a challenge.


Tuesday July 7th-  Our Cousin Jacob Suarez is in town, so he came over and spent the night.  They boys had a great time as usual with Jacob.  He is here for a few more weeks so we hope to see him again. I like hearing the boys play with Jacob.  Jacob is a pretty smart kid, and he always plays these games with this great imagination of his.  The kids always have a great time and have hours of fun with him.

Wednesday- Dax went to a swim party with the YM/YW at Paul and Karen Scott's house. Great fun for him.

Friday- Derek's Karate class had an "open studio night" at the Rec Center.  Derek invited Dax and Trey.  They went and taught each other some Karate, ran around and punched things.  The movie Karate Kid was also playing.  They had a fun time together and it was nice to see them out and about doing things.

06/29/2015-
Monday-Derek went to Kumon and Karate.  He is progressing well.  I know he gets frustrated, but I'm proud of him for doing this during his summer break.
After dinner we Dax, Trey and I walked over to the pond to feed the ducks some "Brolls"  They were a mistake.  I was trying to make pizza dough, after I mixed it I realized that I used bisquick instead of high gluten flour.  I cooked them anyway.  They were just ok.  I would eat if I was starving, but not when I had the good stuff around.  The ducks were happy.  We put the "bread crumbs" on the ground then watched the ducks come to land and eat it up.  There was a white one that looked like the Aflac duck, and a black one, then a few other ordinary ducks.  We watched a beautiful Sunset.  Trey wanted to go to the other end of the pond to do his "par core" he walked over there then came back.  There was a big Sand Piper bird hanging out where he wanted to be.  He came back because he thought it would be mean.  I told him the bird wouldn't hurt him, but probably go away as he got closer.  I walked over with him and as soon as we got closer the bird flew a to the other side of the bank about 10 feet.  I think they are cool looking birds especially when they take off and land.

Tuesday-  I had the kids help me clean up the house and the play room.  Of course there was a lot more messing around than actual work. "Fidget Fingers" (Dax) got his finger stuck in the futon.  We got it out with cold water.

Dax went to see Dr. Tony.  He told me of all the professionals we have taken him to see He feels like Dr. Tony has been the most beneficial.  That makes me happy for many reasons.

Derek went to do a Flag Ceremony for a Republican meeting.  My friend Shadow is the District Chairman (or something like that) she called Mike Cannon (the scout leader) to have the boys do this and it fills a requirement.  Wahoo.  They did well.

06/20/2015

Monday- Dax left about 8:45 a.m. to drive up to EFY in Flagstaff  (Especially For Youth) with Dallin Thomas and his mom Janae.  While they drove up to Flagstaff, we kept Weston Thomas here to hang with Derek and Trey.  Trey went to Lego Jedi class in the morning, with his friend Jeremy.  Derek, Weston and Trey had a great day.  Janae drove up to Flagstaff got the boys signed into EFY turned around came right back and pick Weston up about 4:15, then Derek was off to Karate and Kumon.  While at Kumon Trey and I went next door and had an icecream at 31 Flavors.  Trey was a little disappointed it wasn't Kokomo (Frozen yogurt place) but he decided the ice cream was still good afterall.

I don't know if Dax understood what EFY was all about, he didn't seem all the excited or even certain he wanted to go.  When we signed him up back in February we told him because it was a Flagstaff, near Papa and Uncle Steve, if he absolutely hated it he could call someone to pick him up and we wouldn't make him do it again.  As time went on we decided that he really needed to stick it out and try to make the best of it. I have worried for months that he wouldn't enjoy it (although we felt he still needed to go) This is the text I received from him Monday night "Hi Mom, EFY is pretty good so far its fun and very wholesome. Only day one so far but I'm excited. Love you all, hope dad loves his bd (birthday) and this phone has no punctuation"  (I added the punctuation)  This made us happy to hear, it may not be so bad afterall.

Tuesday-  Trey was off to Lego camp again,  I had tennis lessons.  Derek caught Oreo trying to kill a bird.  He heard it squealing,  he looked around and Oreo had a bird in her mouth.  He got the bird away from Oreo, it had some minor cuts on its wings.  We picked it up and moved it to a safe place, brought out some peanut butter, bread crumbs and water, and hoped we wouldn't have another bird casualty.  I went to pick up Trey from his Lego class we came home and the bird was gone.  YEA, a happy ending for the bird.  I think it was in shock for a bit, but it recovered.

This is the text I received from Dax "Hey Mom, day two EFY is actually pretty fun, I took my first classes and signed up for the talent show under a gospel comedy routine.  I love you all and enjoy EFY"  We are so happy and relieved he is enjoying it. We are not too certain about the comedy routine for several reasons,  we texted him back and tried to talk him out of it.  I got this text later in the day.

"Headed to bed soon, loved dance.  I won the dance off.  Good nite love you. PS judges like my act and I'm keeping it tame."

This is a great week for Dax to be up in the cool pines of Flagstaff.  Today's temp was 111 and this is supposed to be the coolest day of the week down here.

Something terrible happened here at home.  The wi-fi went out for about an hour.  Curtis was at basketball so he couldn't reset the router.  Derek was ok, but  Trey was really having a difficult time.  It told him to go read a book. He got one of the "Sweet Pickle"  Books, "Quail can't decide"  We read it together and we read it with funny voices for the characters.  Trey got the giggles and we had a good time together.

Wednesday-  More Lego class for Trey, after that Derek and Trey went with me to Sam's club to have lunch and then do Birthday shopping for Curtis.  Derek had scouts at Mike Cannon's home where the swam and passed off some requirements.

I got a text and a video from Janae about Dax winning the "Tuesday night dance off".  Her son Dallin, captured some of it on video. Dax really was working the crowd.  I told Janae I was so worried about Dax not having a good time up there, her reply  "he is ruling EFY!!!"  Who is this kid that is so reclusive at home?  He did tell me one time he felt most comfortable in a large crowd.  The video proves it.
 

Thursday-  Happy Birthday Curtis.  We gave him some new ties, a new cell phone charger, the kids gave him some gum (a B-day favorite for Curtis) and a new blue tooth speaker that he can use out at the pool.  He came home from work about noon, then we all went to lunch together at Oregano's.

Received this text from Dax "Hey Mom, sorry I haven't responded sooner, but I lost my bag.  Anyway I had a blast at pizza night and EFY is spectacular."  Sounds like every day is getting better and better.

Birthday Boy

I picked Trey up from his lego class and they had built a sky skraper that touched the ceiling, then the demolished it.  The kids loved it.

We got another text from Dax late that night "Dear parents, today at EFY we had testimony meeting.  I have never felt so assured of the spirit.  I didn't make the talent show but me and my friends are loving EFY"
Friday- I dropped Trey off at his last day of his Jedi Lego class, then Derek and I headed up to Flagstaff to pick up Dax.  I knew my Dad would need help, and we would pick up Dax and Dallin early Saturday morning to head back home. Derek and I had a nice drive up.  Flagstaff was nice and cool.  Derek did a great job entertaining himself, he found Papa's Pellet gun and shot it in the backyard.  He did a good job with it, Papa is just getting old and cranky.  He would get very frustrated when he would see Derek with the gun, then he would remember that he actually let him shoot it.  Derek handled it well. I don't know that I want to take the kids up anymore.  It just seems it's getting to be too much for my Dad to handle.  We went to dinner at the Chinese Buffet, then  My brother Steve and his family came over, Derek hung out with his cousins Zane and Seth.  They had  a great time until Papa got too cranky.  I got this text from Dax "Thank you so much and EFY has been as great as you said.  I would come again and thank you for being the great mother you are. BTW check out is six thirtyish."

Saturday- I woke up early, then headed over to NAU to pick up Dax and Dallin about 6:45 they were out and ready for pick up.  They had a fabulous time.  We picked up a quick breakfast at McDonalds then headed back to my dad's house for breakfast and to pick up Derek.  We finished breakfast, loaded up the car then drove home.  We were home by 11:00.  Derek was happy to see Dax.  He always misses him when he goes away. Pretty uneventful drive home.

Curtis and I went to Cheesecake Factory for an early Fathers Day dinner.  We came home and watched the "Imitation Game" with Derek and Dax  Interesting movie about how the first computer was invented.