Tevin talking in Sacrament Meeting

This Sunday Tevin has to speak in Sacrament meeting. I'm excited to hear him talk. It will be his first time. He gets to choose any subject from the For the Strength of Youth Pamphlet. He has narrowed it down to Tithes & Offerings, Physical & Mental Health or Repentance. He is really nervous to talk. I'll let you know how it goes! Lorin said he wants to take the day off of work so he can come hear him speak.

Here is his talk. He wrote this all by himself! He did a great job!

Tevin’s talk

Hi I am Tevin Noorda and when Brother Worthington came to my house on Wednesday and asked for me, I knew I was in trouble and only had seconds to hide before he ask me to give a talk.  I was right he gave me a talk.  My topic that I have chosen from the for the strength of youth book is education. I chose this because I think education is important for our future life but we just don’t know it. The more time we spend on education the better future we will have. Even though school isn’t always the funnest place ever, it pays off as we get older for high school, college then eventually a job. The more education we have the better our job and income will be. So as we are young we should get the most out of our education because we use our knowledge every day even though we don’t notice it.  For example our responsibilities and the chores our parents give us need knowledge to be capable of doing them.  Education can also save our life or other people’s lives. In life or death situations we need to know what to do. For example if my dad messed up he could die since he is a firefighter so he needs to know what he was taught and be very careful. So as we grow older we have more responsibilities that need more education. So the more we learn now the easier it will be later. School isn’t the only way to get education the scriptures also educate us. The scriptures teach us about Heavenly Father and his plan for us. Also we can search the scriptures for answers to our questions. The scriptures also teach us about how to be more like him and about our savior Jesus Christ.

I would like to bare my testimony that education is very important in our lives and others lives even though it’s sometimes boring.  Without education the world would be berserk and I know that education is used each and every day. I challenge all of you to think about how you educate yourself everyday and how you use it.

In the name……

Scriptures

Do any of you out there have irreverent children? I hope I'm not the only one! Tonight we were doing our family scripture study and I'm pretty sure no no one could tell you what we read. We started with a prayer then Dakota was the first to read. She would say a word then someone else would say the next word and so on and so on. Only- they voices they used..... creepy killer voice (Dakota), singing voice (Dakota) super fast voice (Tevin) weird accent voice. Everyone did it. Then Tevin and Lorin would each read a sentence when it was Tevins turn. Then during Slates turn, he had some weird names Cumeinhah was one and Dakota says "Hey you, Cum-in-he (Come in here) and started laughing hysterically! It just went like that for the entire 22 verses. Our family is crazy! All of them! (Except me of course!)

Tevin ate salad

On Sundays we usually have a big family dinner where everyone comes over and we have something delicious and just enjoy each others company. And usually there is some sort of vegetable or salad with the meal. Tevin NEVER eats any salad because he wont touch a vegetable with a 2500 foot pole. But guess what? This past Sunday, he ATE SALAD!!! Is that the craziest thing ever! I'm pretty sure I almost fell off of my chair when he pointed it out to me. I thought he was sick or something. He even said he liked it! I was just wondering who that cute kid was sitting at my table and what had he done with my son Tevin?

Jamen & Rose

Jamen and Rose came to visit this weekend. It is fun having them here. Rose is so cute! She is always ready and willing to help out with anything. Anything. They also brought Roses little brother MClain with them. He is just a bit older than Tevin. I LOVED having him here. They are becoming good friends. I'm so glad Tevin has a good, nice friend. And MClain is funny too. It worked out that they were here for Dakotas birthday. I'm glad they could help her celebrate that day. They also got to be here to see her off on her Homecoming date. I'm glad Dakota has a sister her age!

Then they had to leave. That's always a sad day! I hope they drive carefully! Love them!

Our Bishop

We have the BEST Bishop ever! I am pretty sure he is my all time favorite bishop of ever. When I was the YW President in our ward I was so impressed with how much he loves the youth and does everything in his power to help them understand that. Everything. He truly knows what is going on in each of their lives. He values their opinions and they know that. But the thing that really made him my favorite was one time I went in for a PPI and he asked if we could start off with a prayer. Of course we could. He asked if I cared if he said it. Of course not. Then he began to pray. But is wasn't just a prayer. It was a prayer for me, for my family and for my calling. It was a prayer of him pleading for the powers of heaven to be with me. To help give me strength. I was in tears before he finished. I could feel the Spirit and the love my bishop had for me. I am pretty sure that if Bishop Piet asked anything of me- I would do it, no questions asked. Anything. Walk on coals? You got it! Sell my house and move to Timbucktoo- OK. Anything. I know he was called to this calling by the Lord. He is there to help those of us in his ward, under his stewardship. He is just a good man.

The other day I was talking to him and somehow the length of time he has been in was mentioned. I told him- Sorry, but for all of us in the ward--- I hope you never get released. He pretty much threw up in his mouth I am sure. Then said, well its coming up on 4 years. (most bishops are in for about 5ish years). I told him that was unacceptable because Tevin had 6 more years in young mens and that he needed to be in there for him. I told him I would call the 1st Presidency and get him an extension. He just laughed. I don't think he knew I really was serious! I am so thankful we have such a wonderful bishop!

I am glad Lorin and I can count he and his wife, Gina as friends. They are BOTH just amazing. Gina is one of the sweetest women I know. She is always thinking of others and doing things for them. After the accident I was in in June, she kept bugging me to let her do something- bring or take me to lunch. I kept telling her I was fine and didn't need anything but she kept on asking. I finally told her Ok and she brought me Cafe Rio. It really meant a lot to me. First that she thought of me. Then that she went out of her way and took time from her busy life and brought me lunch. I cant ever eat there or pass one of their stores that I don't think of her for a moment and of her friendship and love for me. She truly is a wonderful, amazing woman!

Update

This is just a quick update-

Lorin has been working at the temple on Wed. for about 1+ years. He is loving it. I am so glad he has this opportunity. One of these days I want to go and do the same. Just to spend time in the temple every week. I would love it. 

Speaking of the temple, Dakota and Slate are there tonight with the youth in or ward doing baptisms for the dead. Lorin just stayed up there after his shift. Its kind of weird to think that in Sept. Tevin, my baby, will be able to go with them. ALL of my kids will be able to go to the temple. Now that is a great thought!

Madeline, Hadley and Bridger came over for a few hours today. They are so stinking cute. Hadley just came up to me and said I was her favorite grandma and hugged my leg. How do you not just fall head over heels in love with that? Bridger wanted me to just hold him for about 30 min or so. LOVE IT!!! Except for the fact that he had no pants on and loves to hang onto his wiener  That's a little disconcerting. And Maddie Pies is the best helper ever! She sure loves to scrub toilets! 

Also- Darci has perfect timing. Right after she got here to pick up the kids, Bridger came up to her saying- poop, poop. She thought he needed to go poop so she followed him into the bathroom and discovered he had already pooped about a 2' long green poop IN MY SINK!!!! Disgusting! But oh darn, she had to clean it up! She was dry heaving as I just kept on folding laundry! Let me ask you this though? What in the heck possessed him to CLIMB up onto the toilet then into the sink and poop? I mean---- he had to get on the toilet anyway right????? Kids! Good thing he is so STINKING (literally) cute!!

Tevin came home from school yesterday with a slight and I mean SLIGHT fever. I did learn something new however. If you pick your kid up from school because they have a fever, you will have to keep them home the next day. They have to be 24 hrs w/o one. LAME-O!!!! I took him to the Dr this morning just to make sure. He did have a little kinda croupy sounding cough once in awhile. They tested him for the flu and strep. Negative. He has been fine ever since I brought him home yesterday. Hmmmmmm. I really hope this doesn't become a habit. 

Tevin baseball tournament

This past week was the championship baseball games for Tevins league. The whole season they only lost 1 game. He was pretty excited about it. There was 2 games. The first was The Giants- they won but it was a very emotional game (I had to leave early but from what I understand, Lorin became "one of those parents". I hear he was a little embarrassing) because the other team was being kinda stinky to our team and the umpires. It was a sad win. But we did win and move on to play the Sin City Sluggers. It was an awesome game. They scored, we scored. They made an out we made an out. Our boys were playing their hearts out. Tevin made a couple of really great stops out in the outfield. He was playing so great! All of them were. But bummer! They lost. They came in 2nd. But seriously it was a really good game! The other team totally earned their win. And it was interesting to watch the differences in the coaches. It was surely a much more enjoyable game that's for sure. Proud of you Tevy! Love you!

Poor Tevin

Not sure what is happening in this picture??????

Thinking about what is about to happen.

So about a month or so ago, Tevin had an appointment with the Orthodontist to determine if he needs to get braces because the crazy kid has an extra baby tooth and it wasn't falling out to make room for the permanent extra tooth that was coming in. It was making his mouth all crazy looking. Soooo, the lucky kid learned that he has to get braces AND..... Wear head gear AND.......... get 2 teeth pulled. He was totally freaked out. Can't say that I blame him! I did have to wonder to myself----- This kid has a lot of issues. Why does it seem like he has a bunch of things happen to him that really doesn't happen to other kids in our family. Just sayin' Head gear???? Now that's crappy! I think that is what he is most upset about. So to start the process off, we made an appointment for 2 weeks ago with the dentist to have them pulled. He wanted me to go back with him but there really wasn't any room for me in the work area and plus- I am pretty sure it would've totally sicked me out. I mean really- Seeing your kid get teeth ripped out of his head, who wants to see that and then relive it over and over in their dreams? NOT ME!!!!  The nurse (or whatever her title is, asked me to leave and wait in the reception area). I gracefully exited the room and went and settled myself nicely with about 10 magazines. I WAS READY to spend some time out there. Much to my dismay (Kidding, seriously kidding)- it only took about 20 minutes. That is only enough time to browse 1 magazine by the way. I felt so bad for the poor kid. He came out with a mouthful of bloody gauze sticking out. Truly glad I didn't have to witness the teeth coming out. And it seemed to just keep dripping, dripping..... dripppppinnnnnggggg. Too bad its not Halloween, he could've made a killer vampire! Killer- get it! I mean really- how often do you get to be a vampire with REAL blood? NEVER! He was a trooper though. I was really proud of him. He didn't want to be there but he did it and was so brave. Good job Tevy! Love you!

 Now if only that dang Toothfairy would come home off vacation and leave the poor kid some money already!

Championship game

Friday night was Tevins championship baseball game. For the title! Winner take all. We were slated to play their arch rivals, the Red Sox. We have played them 2 times before during the season and we kicked their behinds to the curb both times. This turned out to be a very intense game. We were winning for a while. Then they were winning for awhile. Then we came back, then they came back. Back and forth, back and forth. It was crazy. The parents were getting a little emotional OK maybe a lot emotional. That poor ref. he was getting slammed by both teams. It was a little embarrassing. I am not one of those parents who yells a lot or even likes to be by people who are yelling. Its little league baseball for  heavens sake! They are 10 year olds. Just make them feel like they are doing the best job ever! They will learn. But my oh my. Emotions were high! We ended up losing. It was a very sad day! But Tevin was excited! He got a trophy to put in our trophy hall of fame. It was pretty fun watching him play. He can really run fast and has a really great arm. It is fun looking back over the season. Tevin has a hard time with new things or change. I signed him up and he was excited to be on the same team as his friend Jacob. But then he was totally freaked out when he found out they wouldn't be on the same team. He started fighting me every step of the way. I hate baseball. I hate practice. I don't feel good, can I stay home tonight? He had a really hard time. But I have to admire the kid, he stuck it out. He didn't know one single kid on the team but he continued going- Forced to or not, he continued. And look at him now! He loves the game and he is really pretty good at it! He has been able to make new friends and learn to do something new and hard! So all I have to say is..... GOOD JOB TEV! And the White Sox! GOOD JOB!!!!

After the game we went to Golden Spoon Frozen Yogurt to celebrate! Yes! Even 2nd place deserves a celebration! Tevin got the hugest ice cream! He couldn't even eat it all! I love frozen yogurt! I think we would've gone there to celebrate last place! And look at the smile on that kid! Worth it all!

Tevin super cool new hair-do!

That's my cute friend Cara! 

So Tevins baseball team has a tradition that for their last game, they cut their hair into a Mohawk and dye it the color of their teams uniform. This year it was black. I asked Tevin if he would like to do it and surprisingly, he did. So I called my friend Cara (Soooo last minute) and she did it for him. He really loves it! He was so excited! I must admit- I haven't ever let any of my other kids have such a crazy hairstyle, I really don't know why I agreed to it. Maybe because this has been such a weird year for Tevin. I don't know. But it does look pretty cool. There is a problem though. I sent Brighton to the store to get the dye (semi permanent) and she came back with the permanent kind. So I have let him keep it longer than I would've because Cara said that even if I shave it off, he will still have a black stripe down his head for a couple of weeks because the dye will have dyed his scalp. I would rather he has this crazy haircut than to have to go to school looking like a skunk. I know people at church were totally thinking I was a crazy mom, but I don't care. It has made him happy for a while.

PS- I think he had the coolest Mohawk on the team! His stood up the very tallest and was the blackest! (Thanks to Brighton for that!)

Tevins Baseball Team Party

Yesterday was Tevins Baseball Teams Party. We decided to have it at the Walters backyard pool. It is like Disneyland! They rent their pool out for $50.00 and hour. It is well worth it! This pool is seriously AMAZING!!!! It has 3 slides, a platform you can jump off of, a bridge that you could drive a semi over. It is 10' deep, has multiple waterfalls, has a hot tub and a firepit. It has a swim up bar where the boys ate their pizza and a sunken kitchen. It is so beautiful. I think it is Lorins dream pool. The kids were having a great time! They played and played. They didn't want to leave. Imagine that! Kids who don't want to leave a place that has water! The party was fun and the coaches decided they want to have their parties there every season. There was pizza, wings, soda and chips. It was a kids heaven! Even Tevin who doesn't really eat anything, ate a ton!  We were able to stay for 3 hrs. Good times! Good times!

Crazy Week

Have you ever had one of those days that just seems to be totally crazy? I think I have been having a few of them in a row but this week it just seems to be catching up to me and I am going crazy. OK maybe I already was crazy but now I think its a bit worse. So let me just tell you about stuff I need to do this week. You might say- What the heck is she whining about! I have 10 million more things going on than her. If so- I applaud you! And feel sorry for you.
Monday- Exercise- 5:00 am, wake Tevin up at 6:10 am, keep waking him up for the next 30 min. Finally get frustrated with him, send him out the door with a chicken/ cheese tortilla for breakfast, picked kids up from seminary, take them to school, supposed to clean the house- didn't because I was watching a really cute boy. OK- I did sneak a nap in there with him. Cutie Pie. Then Slate to an Ortho appt. (Across town- And I mean CLEAR across town!) Then Slate & Dakota to Jamesons office for him to sign some physical papers. Then home for approximately 37 seconds to pick up Tevin for batting practice. Then hurry and straighten the house up before bed.
Tues-Exercise- 5:00 am, wake Tevin up at 6:10 am, keep waking him up for the next 30 min. Finally get frustrated with him, send him out the door with nothing  for breakfast (I did tell him to eat breakfast at school), picked kids up from seminary, take them to school, went to volunteer in Tevins class. Stayed almost 4 hrs. Then off to do errands- Bank, fabric store- looking for upholstery material to recover my swing in the back yard. No luck on that one, Darn it! I know there were about 10 more errands I did yesterday but I sure cant remember what they were.
Wednesday- Exercise- 5:00 am, wake Tevin up at 6:10 am, have the most wonderful surprise of my life- Tevin jumped out of bed and ran and got into the shower before I even started to wake him up! AWESOME!!!! Send him out the door with ALFREDO for breakfast (I know- who eats Alfredo for breakfast right?) and yes I did make it this morning, it wasn't leftovers! Picked kids up from seminary, Made Slate & I a really super delicious yummy mushroom, onion, asparagus and eggs on a whole wheat tortilla. MMMM! Then got ready for my YW Presidency meeting. Went to the Post Office and Winco, went and picked up Darci's cute kids to watch them for a little while while she had her awesome Activity Days Tea Party. (It sounded so fun!) Then came home and made 4 poodle skirts for the 5th grade teachers at Tevins school for his 5th grade end of the year party.

 Made mac and cheese for the kids for dinner. No- I didn't make anything for anyone else, they had to fend for themselves.

I am sure you didn't notice how they may or may not have looked like homeless children- yes, I left the house with them like that, no, they did not arrive at my house looking like that and also did you see that Hadley is definitely ready in case the wind starts blowing- her "baseball" hat is velcroed under her chin instead of in the back. 

Then off to Tevins tournament baseball game. Stopped at Wal-mart on the way home (At 9:30 pm) arrived home, made all of the kids super happy when I asked them to help clean up the house and now I am writing this.
Whats left for the week- Tevin has scouts tomorrow. I need to make 150 necklaces for Tevins 5th grade party. I need to go to the temple. Clean up the yard for the bridal shower Brighton is having for her friend on Tues. Clean the house up before someone sticks to the toilet and has to call 911 to be chipped off of it. Mail some 2 month over due thank you notes, finish some vinyl for Darci's friend, find some pictures for Tevins party, drop off some stuff at the DI, call the eye Dr. and schedule my eye surgery and exercise everyday at 5:00 am. I think I am tired just thinking about the rest of it.

Tevins last baseball game

My friend Jennie was going to sign her son up for baseball this year. I kind of jumped in and invited myself to sign Tevin up. We were hoping that they would get onto the same team. No such luck. I guess at this age you have to try out. It would've been so nice to be able to carpool to practices or games. Bummer! Tevin was really worried about it after he found out that he wasn't going to be on his friends team. He fought me every step of the way- I HATE baseball! I don't feel good, can I stay home........ He really has a hard time with change or trying new things. Its a good thing it cost a buttload of money to sign him up- otherwise I might have caved and let him quit. OK, I wouldn't really have let him quit, but it sure would have been a lot easier than listening to all the whining!  But the crazy thing is, that he is really good at baseball! He has done really well this season! Especially considering that he has NEVER played in his entire life and that he has pretty pathetic parental support too (I really don't know how to play so I am not much help). He made an amazing pop-fly catch out in right field that was the 3rd out for the other team and helped his team go on and win the game! His whole team ran out and high 5'd him after that one!!! His coach told Lorin and I that Tevin has the most amazing hand eye coordination he has ever seen in a kid his age. He said if he continues with it he will be a really great baseball player. I hope he does continue, at least for a few seasons. Anyway- it is his last game this weekend. I am sad to see it end. He has made some new friends, learned he can do things he's never tried before and also that he is really good at this. It has been a good journey. Good luck Tevy! Good luck!

This is him and his friend at tryouts! Crazy boys!

These are of him at tryouts. He was so nervous but he did so awesome! He was actually one of the only ones that hit the ball when they were batting. And he has an awesome throwing arm!

Tevins Track Meet

Every year at Kitty Ward they have a 5th Grade track meet. It is held at one of the high schools. This year there were 3 other elementary schools invited. Tevin was so nervous the day before. He kept asking if he could stay home from school. But then on the morning of---- He popped right out of bed! (and he just doesn't do that!) I told his teacher they needed to have track meets every day! Tevin was participating in the 50m dash, the 200m relay, the football throw and the softball throw. The 50m dash was the very first event. He was so nervous! They lined up in groups of 6 at the starting line. The whistle blew and the first group was off. I kept watching  for Tevy but he didn't come. He still didn't come. Where was he? Did I miss him? FINALLY- in one of the very end groups- there he was. He lined up. There went the whistle and he was off like a shot!

.
He ran and ran! He was out in front! Who knew he could run so fast? He totally won first place!!! Blue ribbon for him!! He was so excited! I was so glad he was off to such a great start!

Look how focused he is!

WINNER!!! WINNER!!! CHICKEN DINNER!!!

He did so good for the rest of his events. In the 200m relay, his team got 6th place but his teacher told me he was the anchor leg and he almost caught his team up! He was AWESOME!!!!

Then..... later that night- his baseball team had a game. They were playing the Redsox. It is their rival team. You know- if there was a team to beat, this one was it! They were behind 2-6 it wasn't looking to hopeful. Then- can you say COMEBACK!!!! They totally came back and knocked them out of the park! The final score was 9-6! Can you believe that! It was a pretty awesome day in sports for Tevin!