Fun and Games

HQ Triva

Earlier in the year, my brother-in-law, BJ, introduced us to a quiz game called HQ. You download an app on your phone, and then once or twice a day, they go live with a fun trivia quiz. The quiz is usually 12 questions long, and each question has three possible answers. There is also a possibility of getting an extra life every once in a while if you play consistently. You would think that a multiple choice trivia game wouldn't be that hard to win, but the questions are very hard at the end, and it is super challenging to make it all the way. I played for several months before I got to the last question for the first time. When I finally did win, there were a lot of other winners as well, so when the $5000 prize was split between everyone, I ended up with 17 cents. Ha! Even though the winnings weren't great, I still felt pretty proud of myself for winning. 


During the NBA Finals, HQ was hosting special games that were worth significantly more money. Each game added $100,000, so by the 4th game of the Finals, the prize that the winners split was $400,000. That night Jonathon was in Wisconsin at a conference, and the kids were all in bed, so I was just playing by myself. That was probably the best HQ game I ever played. I pretty much knew all the answers and didn't even need to use my extra life. On the last question, my heart was racing because of all the adrenaline. When I realized that I had won again, I was pretty darn excited. When the prize was divided among all the winners, I won $161.57! Nobody was there to celebrate with me, but I did a little dance in my living room.

A few months later, we were playing on a Sunday night at Jonathon's parents' home. Everyone was gathered around the table during the final few questions. The quiz had been particularly hard that night, so there weren't many people left for the final question. I had used a free life earlier and was still in. The last question was about the song "The Piano Man," and we immediately knew it. Since there were only 224 people (out of 685,000+ that started) who won, I made $111.61! I have been lucky to win on some of the best possible days. We enjoy trivia, so the $273.24 I have won overall has been a fun extra.

3D Printer

6th grade was incredibly rough for our sweet Christian. He is such a good kid, and it was painful for me to see him feel so sad and frustrated throughout the entire school year. His teacher was nice, but it was her first year teaching an advanced class, and she struggled mightily. The CAS teacher the year before, Mrs. Metz, was one of the best teachers I have ever seen. She was amazing at discipline, keeping attention, and challenging the gifted kids. This stark contrast made it difficult for many of the kids in class. Mrs. Raymond lost complete control over some of the more challenging students, and she was notorious for not setting and keeping deadlines or due dates. Christian would work hard to finish an assignment that was due, only to show up at school and find out that no one else had done it so the due date was extended or forgotten. This made him so angry and really made him not want to try hard on anything. His math teacher also pushed them extremely hard and gave them tons of mindless homework. Christian understood the concepts and did well on the tests, but really hated the time-consuming work.

If it was just the academics that was difficult, he probably would have been fine, but there was a lot of bullying going on as well. The CAS program (Center for Advanced Studies) got moved into Sunset View Elementary 3 years ago, so it was still relatively new. All the new kids coming into an already established school was pretty tricky, especially because all the other classes knew that they were the "smart kids." It seemed like all the CAS kids experienced some kind of bullying, mostly verbal, by the other kids in the school. It got so bad that the teachers and principal finally had to step in. They gave all the 6th graders assigned seats at lunch to help them make friends. This hurt Christian even more because he was the only one from his class at his table. He felt very alone and very isolated. I advocated for him to his teacher, but she said ultimately it was the decision of the principal. She also said that she had been worried about Christian all year because he had seemed unhappy. I was grateful to know that she was paying attention, but sad that she hadn't done anything more to help the situation.

To make matters even worse, one boy in Christian's class was making life particularly difficult for him. He caused chaos in class, said rude things to lots of the kids and teacher, and would bug and torment Christian at recess. The things he did sounded pretty harmless at first (bumping him out on the playground, tearing his hood because he would grab at it, etc.), but it got to be constant, and Christian was pretty miserable.

As parents, all we could really do was build him up the best we could at home so that he could handle whatever happened at school. We could see that he needed some major motivation. We decided to reward him if he fought through the challenges and finished out the year strong. Jonathon and Christian both really wanted a 3D printer, so we decided that if Christian finished his big projects for the year and worked hard to get good grades, we would buy a 3D printer. The one they wanted was very expensive ($600), and not something we normally would have done, but we could sense that this was a pivotal moment for our boy. I am glad we followed that inspiration. Christian worked very hard, earning his Masters Degree in the University of Learning program and getting good grades, so we bought the 3D printer. It was like Christmas at our house when the printer arrived! Jonathon and Christian spent several days building it together and learning all of the new cool things that it could do. They printed an awesome dragon, a dog, and several other things. They are having a blast bonding over their techie interests. The printer was a physical reward, but I hope that to Christian it is a symbol of enduring to the end, overcoming challenges, and never giving up.

Hiking the Y

One night, Andrew was really bored and wanted to do something together. On a whim, we decided to go hike the Y. I am not very good at spontaneity, but I was in the right mood, so we quickly gathered our stuff and headed out. We don't hike very much, so about 5 minutes into it, Christian and Hyrum were already tired and grumbling. I quickly doubted the wisdom in our little excursion, but luckily, Hyrum got his second wind and ran with Jonathon and Andrew to the top. Christian struggled more, but I stayed behind and walked with him. We talked about doing hard things and having a good attitude. It was very hard for him, but it was so rewarding when we finally made it to the top. We sat down at the base of the Y, ate a snack, and took some pictures. Hiking is not something that I really enjoy, and I know Christian doesn't either, but I hope the lessons that he learned will benefit him later in life and help him to know that he CAN do hard things.

Lego Brick Slopes

Right before school started, the kids begged me to take them to a Lego convention that was held at the UCCU Center in Orem. It was called Brick Slopes and was geared toward kids who love Legos. My boys definitely fit that bill, so I decided to take them. We invited their best friends, Rubin and Graham, to go with us too. The boys loved it! We spent 2 hours there looking at Lego creations, building Lego mini figs, racing Lego cars, and doing the Lego scavenger hunt. There was even one activity called the Lego fire walk where they took off their shoes and intentionally walked on a path of legos. What?!? I thought the whole idea was ridiculous and silly, but they thought they were so cool hurting their feet on the Legos. Haha! I am glad that we were able to spend the afternoon doing something that was exciting for them.

International Days in Price

Kym and Joe invited us down to Price to attend International Days with them. It is basically just a fun celebration and carnival that they hold every year. We needed some adventure in our life, so we headed down for the weekend. When we got there, we headed straight to the carnival. The kids got to choose a few rides to go on at the carnival, and then they played in the bouncy houses. When everyone was ready for dinner, we headed back to Joe and Kym's new house and had dinner with them. That night the kids watched a movie, while the adults got to play games. It was nice to relax and have some fun. The next morning, the kids went on a little hike in the hills behind their house and then we all went swimming at the Helper pool. It was so fun because the boys are getting old enough to take care of themselves in the pool. Hyrum still needs to be watched, but he is getting much more independent. That allowed more time for Jonathon and me to enjoy swimming and playing around. After lunch, we headed back to Provo. It was a nice little reprieve from the ordinary.