He did it AGAIN. And for the first time.

So did I mention Steve won a truck roadeo again? And I'm not talking about Nicholas's roadeo last week. He went to the Utah Trucking Association's truck driving championships this weekend, as he has each time he's won at Nicholas & Co. BUT THIS TIME HE WON 1ST IN THE 5-AXLE DIVISION. Yay! And that's putting it mildly. =) I think there has only been one other Nicholas employee EVER to win this, and then he quit before he went to the national competition of the American Trucking Association. So . . . Steve will probably be going to Florida. Twice. Once Aug. 9-13 for the ATA's "National Truck Driving Championships" (all trucking industries included), and then he'll go Sept. 23-25 for the International Foodservice Distributors Association's "Food Industry Truck Driving Championships." We apparently are meant to get to know Orlando VERY well, lol. Funny, since the championships of both associations are supposed to move around each year, but we only seem to go to Florida. Ah well. Aside from the long plane trip, I don't mind.

I am just so absolutely THRILLED for Steve. So often I get frustrated for him because it seems like his work doesn't really appreciate him or take note of how well he does his job (even when customers fill out official forms praising him!), and his winning these competitions forces the bosses to take note. He was the first Nicholas driver to win the IFDA championship in 2009. And he'll be the first to go the the ATA championship this year (as long as they send him . . . which we're pretty sure they will).

Our kids got scattered this weekend: Crisha, of course, it already at Catalina Island studying up to teach scouts merit badges; Marina and Jessica went to their dad's in Provo; Jenero, Xeneea, Adria, and Sim went to stay with an aunt and uncle and cousins in Nibley; and Serene ended up staying with an aunt and uncle and cousins in Farmington (we go to drop off a welder and got our baby kidnapped as well). Okay, so that last was not planned. But they offered, and we admitted that Serene would have much more fun there, so Steve and I got a night and day to ourselves. Wow. But how fun to get them all back and let them know their dad won 1st! And how cute was Serene in her Krispy Kreme hat! (She got to go with her cousins and aunt to watch the doughnuts being made.)

AND just to prove we DO have a family all together once in a while . . .

So we're not even going to mention the leg-pulling, persuading, pleading, and near-threatening that happened to get this picture. Sorry not everyone is exactly how they'd love to be for all eternity, but it was the best of the batch, lol!

One little bird about to fly the coop

AAAAAAGH! I CANNOT believe Crisha turns 18 tomorrow! She graduated last week and is officially on her own on Monday when she flys to CA to start her summer job. Gonna miss her so much!

Number One Again!

So it comes as no surprise but with great delight that Steve has once again won the five-axle division at his company's anual "roadeo." The scoring is based on a compilation of three scores: a written test, a pre-trip inspection of a truck for safety and rule compliance, and then the actual driving course. Many of the written scores were in the same ballpark, so that didn't do much to tell us where Steve stood at first, but he did get an early lead in the driving. Of course, then another guy ousted him out of first by 30 points (a big margin), so we were down to looking at the pretrip to truly decide who took first place. Now I KNOW what kind of man my husband is and that it's easy for him to win this sort of thing . . . but I also know that if I act like that, good ol' Murphy will step in with his law and make Steve lose. So I ACTED as though I either don't care if Steve won or as if I ddn't think he really had a shot . . . thus making it possible for my husband to actually have a chance. Clear? As mud, right? Well, it makes sense to me! And Steve IS going to the Utah State Truck Driving Championship next week (after a week in Moab with Varsity Scouts) and he IS going to the National Food Industry Truck Driving Championship in September. So my somewhat muddled reasoning must have worked somehow, right? =) Besides, it also worked that year in Florida when he won there, too, lol!

Belated Crazy Hair Day

So we didn't get a chance to put these up before (I think, anyway, if we did, we're doing it again because the girls are here and want to see how I put things on the blog), but this was the kids' last Crazy Hair Day at their current school. Jessie designed her own look of half and half, Marina was my very own pseudo Dr. Seuss creation, and Sim was a blue-spotted cheetah. I don't think they had ANY fun with it, do you?

P.S. Yes, that is Jessie's natural tongue. Creepy, no? We call her "Lizard Tongue."