Races 1 and 2 Round Up

 

 Jackson started off his Sophomore Mountain Biking race season at his beloved Eagle Mountain. It was hot, but not too hot and dusty, but not too dusty for his 11:05am race. He had a great ride! He came in 25th with a 3 lap time of 1:28:53. As soon as he crossed the finish line he downed cold water like it was going out of style, then sunk to the floor of the Pit Zone for watermelon, Red Vines, meat sandwiches and cup after cup of cold-ish Gatorade.

 

 

Two weeks later he raced again at Richfield. Although also hot and dusty, it wasn't as miserable as last year on this course! Jackson made the trek to Richfield the night before with the Rogers family. They were able to pre-ride the course, get some Costa Vida and spend a fun night piled up in a hotel room. Jim and I arrived just in time for the race (just 4 days after Jim's surgery), and enjoyed watching him, although we could tell he was having major shifting problems. He was frustrated at the end of the race with his 36th place finish and 3 lap time of 1:14:04, thanks to his bike refusing to shift for half the race. But what can you do - besides stop for Arby's on the way home? That's the life of a mountain biker.

Heartburn Healing

After years and years of annoying heartburn, Jim went under the knife for a little stomach/esophagus renovation. He came through with flying colors, not experiencing any of the side effects he was dreading! After a quick night's stay in the hospital, he was back home then off to work just two days after surgery. Not to say that the procedure was any fun, but the recovery greatly exceeded our expectations. Now if he can just survive a month without eating any bread . . .

The Blessing of a Bachelor Pad

 Zack is truly living his best life these days. After starting college at UVU (Astronomy, Biology, Math, English and Institute), he officially moved out of the nest and into the Bachelor Pad near the end of August. Grandma and Grandpa bought a new house that has an awesome guest house just begging for a grandchild to live in it! Zack was more than happy to oblige.

 We had an epic grocery shopping trip to get his kitchen stocked, then he took carload after carload of his things from home. He even moved in a couple of weeks before grandma and grandpa did.

 

 On Sunday night we christened the place with a fine dinner of lasagna and garlic bread, complete with Oreo cheesecake bars (not made by Zack, but instead by his loving mom who is apparently worried he's going to starve).

 

It was only a matter of days before Grandma made his wildest dreams come true by providing him with a grill of his own and a rocking chair for his porch! Zack is currently in training from the Grill Master himself, Jim. He cooked our family a great Labor Day dinner of burgers, and provided Grandma and Grandpa and Jackson a feast of grilled hot dogs after a hard day's work moving. He's basically set for life now. Hopefully he'll find enough time between going to school and working at the Lab to enjoy his new digs.

School is in Session

 With only two kids left in the public school system, we mourned the end of summer with a fondue feast! Add in some back to school blessings and we were ready for the changes that lie ahead.

 Ready or not, Zack began his Freshman year of COLLEGE. He wasn't too excited about getting back into school after a very extended break from school, since he graduated high school early. He's taking 12 credits, with classes Monday-Thursday afternoons to allow for working in the morning, He's going to be busy!

 Since the Keckleys moved away, we decided to take over the First Day of School breakfast in the cul-de-sac. It's so weird that there are so few kids left in school! Portia and Jackson requested Cinnabon, cereal and chocolate milk. (This school year brought to you by the letter C)It was a fun way to start the day!

 Portia is in 8th Grade this year.

 Jackson is entering the final frontier of American Fork High School and the 10th grade.

And me? I was celebrating school at the pool with my friends!

Happy Anniversary Portia's Pantry!

And just like that a whole year passed and Portia's Pantry had been a thing for ONE YEAR! Portia sold almost 5000 cookies in that time . . . Wow.

AFHS Class of 2019

 

Zack may not have taken the traditional route to high school graduation, but his route worked even better for him and got the same end result! We're forever indebted to his high school counselor Tyrel for setting him up to graduate early. After recovering from back surgery and attempting to return back to school in January, Tyrel recommended Zack apply to the school district for an early graduation. Of course, they approved him and he quickly wrapped things up at the high school and started working almost full time at the Lab, doing CAD design of virtual crowns.

 

 After being out of the high school scene for many months, he slipped right back in for the last couple of weeks- going to Senior Lagoon Day, Senior Dinner Dance and graduation assemblies.

When the actual ceremony rolled around, it took 45 minutes to read the names of 750ish graduates, and the minute we walked outside the Marriott Center we were met with a huge thunderclap. We located Zack as fast as we could and took a few pictures as quickly as possible just as the rain really started to come down!

  

Grandma Vicki and Grandpa Richard were nice enough to join us for the ceremony!

 

Afterwards we went to Riverside - Grandma and Grandpa Willes joined us - and we had a great dinner together. Zack was delighted to see Grandma Vicki pull out his very own money cake with $1019 on it! Add that to the money lei I made him and he was off to the bank first thing the next morning!

Remembering Vern and Sue

Memorial Day weekend we thought we'd have a nice Sunday evening together as a family, so we stopped by the cemetery in Heber to say hello to Vern and Sue (luckily we brought Hannah along to snap a picture of us)! Afterwards we went to the barn for some Barncorn (our family's affectionate name for REAL popcorn - not microwave) indoor s'mores and a movie. After we popped all the corn, we realized the movie wouldn't work and packed up for the ride home, eating our popcorn in the car. You can't say we didn't try!

The Cookie Van

 

 

 I know, I know, there's something a little suspicious about a white van and a school . . . but just let that idea go and listen to this awesome story: Portia has been selling quite a lot of cookies to kids at school lately and she had this awesome idea to sell them during lunch. We were going to see about setting up a table inside the school, but then decided it would be easier if I just rolled up in the minivan at lunchtime.So she spent the whole week stockpiling dough balls and spreading the word.

  

Of course it was a totally rainy day and I figured nobody would venture outside to the Cookie Van, but boy was I wrong! The minute the lunch bell rang kids started swarming the van! Portia had taken preorders for almost 2 dozen cookies and sold another 72 cookies in 8 minutes!! Whoa. I'd say that exceeded our expectations.

 During the next week kids were asking when the "Cookie Van" was coming back so she made plans to return one more time before school got out with even more cookies! Sadly, it was a torrential downpour, complete with hail, and things didn't go so well the second time. But she is looking forward to picking this back up when school resumes in the fall!

Miss Four Eyes

Just as the school year was ending, I finally gave in to Portia's complaints about her eyes not working quite right and took her in for an eye exam. Sure enough, she's a little far sided and could really use some glasses for reading! So much for 7th grade . . . but we got a jump-start on being ready for 8th grade in the fall!

Biathlon Boy

 

With a fresh paint job on his bike, Gloria, and new clipless shoes and pedals Jackson is more than ready to get back into the groove of mountain biking. Team practices don't start for a few more weeks, but we found a race series that's underway now! The first race happened to be a biathlon with biking and shooting - how could that not be fun? Surprisingly there wasn't a soul there from the team but he had a great night - aside from two minor crashes - in Heber!

Mama Willey

 

  

 My kids are awesome. Just saying. And they ensured I had a great Mother's Day! After church I had a solid two hour nap and a huge, warm biscoff cookie from Portia's Pantry! I was treated to notes and treats and even a Costa Vida gift card. What more could I want?

Oh! I know! A chat with Jake. I had it in my head he'd just be giving me a quick phone call since things have kind of changed with the weekly phone calls. But no! He wanted a full on video call! It was awesome and so great to see him doing so well! Happy Mother's Day to me!

Happy 42nd!

 

 When you celebrate this solidly, turning 42 is no big deal! The celebrating started Saturday night with Tsunami for dinner (mmmmmm, sushi). Then Sunday was the Super Bowl, so we ate more good food, including this peanut butter, caramel, chocolate cake - not made by me.

 Monday Jana, Shannon, Shannon, Payslie, Brandi, Margot and I did a late morning Orange Theory class then stopped at Aubergine for acai bowls and cheese bread for lunch! Jim and I may also have gone to Slab for dinner Monday night.

 Tuesday was the actual birthday, with even more celebrating! Another Orange  Theory class with so many friends and our favorite coach, Justin.

 After a quick shower Cami, Emily, Brandi, Shannon and I went to Fueled Kitchen for brunch - can you even see those amazing pancakes with strawberries and chocolate? Then we spent a couple of hours shopping at Fashion Place (because nobody's pants fit anymore after four straight days of eating) for returning home to be responsible moms (especially those of us with a flu-riddled Portia at home).

Our dinner stop was Tacqueria 27 for yet another awesome meal! My dad joined us, and Portia was even up for a trip outside the house, so she came too. (Also, let it be noted that the "Great Snowstorm that Alpine District Didn't Cancel School For" began during my birthday dinner. It snowed a foot overnight, but school was ON!)

Super Sales for Super Bowl Sunday

 

 

 Portia just closed out her 8th month as CEO of Portia's Pantry. She has sold just over $5000 worth of cookies! She gains more Instagram followers with every passing day, and we decided it was high time for real professionally printed bushiness cards and . . . wait for it . . . a website! Go check out Portia's Pantry!

 

At the beginning of the week, she had a special request for half size cookies to serve at a mission call opening. We decided to make that a thing for larger, catering style orders. When she posted about it in relation to Super Bowl Sunday the orders literally started pouring in!

 

 

On Saturday she sold 265 cookies! Some half size, some full size. It was non stop baking from 10am to 6pm! Not too bad for a 12 year old.