James is Done with High School!

I am so proud of this young man and all he has accomplished. As he gets ready to head off to BYU, I find myself wanting to soak up every minute I can with him before this next chapter begins. A few of the highlights from his high school years: Robotics: It's been a joy watching him compete, solve problems, and develop so many new skills. Sports: Water polo, a couple years of volleyball and soccer, rec league basketball, and plenty of spikeball at the beach. It's been amazing to watch his transformation since he started lifting weights his sophomore year. Boat Race: Helping his team build the winning boat in the school's annual boat race—woohoo! Dancing with the Pumas: I smiled through every minute of his performance. Academics: He worked hard and found great success, earning enough AP credits to start college as a sophomore. Piano: He entered high school already playing beautifully, and we've loved hearing countless hours of music fill our home. Early Morning Seminary: Four years completed. No small accomplishment. Lifeguarding: He's been incredibly responsible, consistently getting himself up and to every shift on time. One thing I still remember is a comment from his second-grade teacher. She told me James was “limitless.” What she meant was that he was so capable and competent that she could already see he could become whatever he wanted to become. That observation has stayed with me all these years. Now, as he graduates and heads into adulthood, I think she was right. The future may not be predictable, but it still feels limitless. There are so many things he could build, learn, create, and accomplish. More importantly, he has the character, work ethic, curiosity, and determination to make the most of whatever opportunities come his way. I can't wait to watch the adventures ahead unfold. Congratulations, James! I love you, believe in you, and am so proud of you.

8/25/25

 The other day while I was at Back-to-school night for Ryan, Grace texted me the following: Ryan is watching a tutorial on how to set up a Canvas teacher account. This can't be good.  

8/19/25

 James shocking came into the house, grabbed a cut up piece of beet and said, “What have you done to me, Mom? I actually like the taste of this!”

A couple members of our stake Young Women’s Presidency came by to visit Grace and get to know her better. At one point, they realized what a smarty pants she is. Granted, I did brag a little about how she was ranked second in her class when the school year ended last year because she doesn’t give herself enough credit and everyone thinks she’s just a quiet little girl that is easy to overlook. Anyway, it was hilarious because, one of the ladies asked her if all the kids in the family are super smart. Grace replied, “Just every other one.” What a character! I had to clarify that they are all smart. She just meant ranked in the top five of the class. 

 

Ryan has been pestering him non-stop to get his first two classes switched so I emailed his counselor to see if it could be done and she replied that, no, she could not. He insisted I try another counselor. I figured it was kind of nervy so I wrote, “Hi Ms. Sommers, I hope you’re doing well. Would you be able to switch the first two classes of my son, Ryan Grey. He is struggling to make friends in his PE class and knows he has some friends in 2^nd period PE. I asked him if he could make friends in 1^st period PE but he replied that he must have already reached his friend-making capacity because he doesn’t think he is able to. Thank you, Ruth Grey” Ryan was shocked I had included his response to my question and we had a good laugh. 

On the first day of school, I texted James and Grace asking for a selfie from their first day. James responded with a picture of himself frowning and giving a thumbs down. I hope that's not an indicator of how school is going.

James did a great job lifeguarding as his first official summer job. He even won Lifeguard of the Year award for the City of Temecula. Way to go James!

Cheating Question

One time in the last year or two, Ryan came home and asked, "What would you do if I cheated on a test?" In one of my better parenting moments, I felt like the Spirit helped me reply, "I'd help you repent."

I'm not sure what came of that but hopefully he got the message that I'd help him through it.

Learning Styles and How to Save a Life

 I don't think I've recorded these here so at risk of already having recorded them, here they are:

One year, Mike was teaching Jonathan to snowboard. He had taught James the year prior on his 8 year old trip to Lake Tahoe so it must have been around 2017. Jonathan had a miserable first day of snowboarding and couldn't seem to get it. To make it worse, James was doing pretty. I remember Mike telling me he was thinking he may not ever be able to pick it up. I prayed about it and I'm not sure if it was inspired or not but I thought to find a beginning snowboarding tips on YouTube. He watched it as they drove up to the ski resort the next morning and he was able to get the hang on it on his first time that day. Whereas, we initially thought he'd learn through hands-on doing, he actually learned better through watching the YouTube. It just goes to show different learning styles get through to different people.

Also, I've probably recorded this one but just in case... One summer (probably during 2020 or so) we were having a ward beach day. A friend, Lee Ann Gonzales, told me she had seen Jonathan saving a boy's life at the beach. Jonathan, in his characteristic quiet ways, hadn't said anything about it so I had to pry. Apparently, there had a been a boy who was struggling and he asked if he needed help. The boy replied "no" but Jonathan noticed he was continuing to struggle and he ended up accepting it. So Jonathan helped drag him in to where he could touch the ground and got him to safety. He claims he didn't think of using his life saving water skills from his merit badge but I was so proud he took the initiative to help the struggling boy. So, there's probably something insightful I should learn here about how to save a life. I hope he will remember doing this and how impactful it can be when we are struggling to have someone do for you what you aren't able to do yourself. 

July 21, 2025

I was taking Ryan to a baseball hitting coaching session. He asked me to please behave appropriately and not kiss him in pubic. "Please don't do anything embarrassing like kiss me."

We just returned from a great trip to Utah. I was so happy to see Jonathan after his first year of college. I took him out to lunch and he said "Your driving scares me." I replied, "I understand how you feel. My mom's driving also scares me."

Grace was sleeping on the 4th floor of the cabin and in order to cool it down, my dad suggested she open the sliding glass door. I replied that I wanted her to keep that locked so she wouldn't get kidnapped. He said, it was pretty unlikely anyone was going to climb to the fourth floor to kidnap her. I reminded him that there could be acrobats or ninjas to be wary of. 

Michael sadly sold my minivan a while back so we had to put hitch on his work car and squish on our road trip. The hitch is pretty close toe the ground and we were a little nervous about the bags being secured on it. James, while driving kept looking back to make sure the bags didn't fall off. He clarified that he was only concerned about his creatine potentially falling off. Apparently, clothes and toiletries aren't a big deal but he wasn't about to lose his creatine. 

I met up with my parents bringing Grace and James to church. James texted me the exact time they would arrive in minutes and seconds. There's nothing quite as comforting to know your kids will arrive in 7 minutes and 44 seconds. 

Whereas the other kids are starting to think about getting school clothes, Ryan only wants new underwear before school starts. Apparently, new underwear will give him a confident start to 8th grade. 

While visiting my parents ward in Utah, I met Jon Schmidt. I told him how much we appreciate him sharing his talent and that my kids play his music. He asked if they've played anything for church which was the perfect question because James had just played a beautiful rendition of Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise and Guide Us Oh Thou Great Jehovah. He was so gracious and it was certainly a treat to meet him and tell him how much we love his music.

The kids had a good time at EFYs, Splash Summit, the Provo recreation center, ice skating, playing games and getting Macey's ice cream. They had a great time seeing Jonathan, Grandma and Grandpa D. and cousins. James is life guarding so Grandma Neyens picked him up and kindly stayed with until our return on Saturday night.

5/14/25

 James texted me this morning wanting to know the grams of protein in protein powders he had for breakfast. This is very telling of where his thoughts are during finals and AP exams. He is also balancing getting hired for a lifeguard job so we’ve been getting drug and TB tests and fingerprinting and I picked up a lifeguard hat for sun protection and all that jazz.

 

Grace is also a busy bee in school. She just started her swim unit in PE much to her dismay but she’s a pretty good swimmer so I don’t think it can be as bad as she makes it out to be. She volunteers at an assisted living center on Wednesdays after school playing piano for the elderly people that live there. She is very sweet and gave me lots of head scratches for Mother’s Day. She also wrote out the beginning of a story I had told her. It was so cute and shows what a good little writer she is so I’m going to type what she wrote for me here. Don’t worry, it’s only a page long –haha.

 

Once there was a boy in a tree. That is a hollow tree. In a forest. While this was a rather ordinary forest with bushes, berries, branches and bears, this boy was not so ordinary. Of course, he didn’t know that. However, a particular wizard did. 

            The boy was shivering and numbly biting the remains of an apple core. His pack was now empty and so was his hope. It was in this state, wondering if he would die of starvation, hypothermia or a pack of wolves that our wizard comes along.

            “Hullo there.” The boy looked up. A man stood in from of him, not minding the rain, with strange attire indeed. He had some sort of walking stick with an acorn looking thing on the top. He had a pointy hat, somehow sticking straight up and a long, flowy, bluish-grey cloak. His beard was nearly apart of the fabric, being the same color and length. For a brief moment, the boy forgot his dark contemplations (as he gaped at the ancient man).

            “Good grief child. Quit staring of you’ll never be able to close your mouth again.” The boy camped his mouth shut. “Apologies mister” he said abashed. He had been taught to treat everyone with the upmost respect, especially important people. This man must be very important indeed…

 

On days that James swims I pick Grace up at what I call “the grassy park”. I realize most parks are grassy, but this particular one is a little jot from the school and has a luscious amount of shade trees that happen to shade parking spots so despite the extra walking, I think it’s a pleasant place to pick her up, much better than the shoe store where I used to pick up Jonathan and James. Anyway, she arrived and told me with some excitement that there’s a boy at school that has also memorized many digits of Pi. Apparently, he asked her how many digits she has memorized and she told him, “about 100” and asked him how many he had memorized. Unfortunately, he replied so softly that she couldn’t hear his response. I was thrilled that there is a kindred soul at the school that also memorizes digits of Pi in his spare time and speaks quietly in public. She explained that she is so very curious to know how many he had memorized and wishes she had heard what he said. I encouraged her to ask him again and may or may not have said his must be a match made in heaven much to her horror. I asked more about the boy but all I could find out is that he wears glasses and is neither White, Indian, Hispanic, Asian or Black. He also wears a Harvard sweatshirt so she assumes he’s particularly smart. She doesn’t think she’ll ever interact with him again so I guess we’ll never really know how many digits of Pi he has memorized. She seems to have no interest in boys in general but we also often pass a boy that rides his bike uphill with a backpack and huge instrument. I’ve told her that’s the type of boy that has stamina and grit and if she ever were to like one, this may be a catch. We agree that e-bikes, scooters and carpools don’t build character like a regular bike, huge instrument, a heavy backpack and a big hill. 

 

Ryan is turning 13 on Sunday. He really wants a phone. All his peers have a phone. I really want him to have a phone. Michael says he's too tech savvy and will find ways to get past his phone restrictions so he can't have one. I guess he's too smart for his own good.

 I was stopping at an intersection and spotted James on the other side of the road at another stop sign of the 4 way stop. He saw me and smiled and proceeded to look multiple times both ways to show me what a safe driver he is. Haha

4/19/2025

 Ryan says I'm his favorite person because give him foot rubs at night. 

He also says going to bed is his "second favorite part of the day" because I give him back rubs, head rubs and foot rubs. So I'm a close second to baseball. 

5/7/25

March 5th 2025

Ryan was heading out the door to the garage to ride his bike to school.

Me: "Ryan, please comb your hair."

Ryan: "I already have enough girls that like me. I don't need to look better."

Me: "It's not about girls liking you. It's so people look at you and think 'that boy has a mom that loves him.'"

Ryan: "Ok" and combs his hair

I just want to know who these girls are. Even a scary gingivitis campaign to get kids to brush and floss teeth is having limited results with this kid. :)

On Sunday, Ryan's Sunday School teacher texted me asking for me to send her five good things about Ryan. Here is what I thought of:

- He has great character.

- He strives for competence in many areas (athletics, academics, music)

- He's diligent in daily gospel habits (scripture reading and prayer)

- He's super fun to be around.

- He's helpful.

I didn't include this but he is also very detailed oriented and I appreciate that he catches things and notices details many people may miss.

Grace is doing awesome in school and playing lacrosse on the freshman team. She's doesn't seem to like lacrosse so I'm not sure why she is playing but it's fun watching her run around with a stick even in the pouring rain. Apparently, freshman lacrosse girls are tougher than football players in that regard -haha.

James has agreed to go out with random girls I set him up with so he isn't exclusively dating the one girl he has ever gone out with. Here's to new friendships! :)

From 2019

I found this from from 2019: 

Ryan asked me to please separate the curry and fruit on his plate because, “I don’t want my fruit to be curified.”  

Grace has been so helpful.  She makes crepes, cleans up chairs and even tightens the loose screws on the chairs.

 

Michael sometimes goes out to eat with co-workers.  He brought home a fig brownie and left it in the fridge.  I went downstairs to find a phone charger, found the figgy pudding brownies and couldn’t get the song, We Wish You a Merry Christmas out of my head the rest of the evening.

 

For the record, I would like to state that my phone alarm is much more peaceful than Michael’s.This brings back memories of when the boys set duck quacking alarms in the middle of the night on my phone.  

 

I took Ryan grocery shopping with me and had him read me the shopping list.  I was surprised when he read salami since we normally don’t buy that but figured Michael had added that.  When we got home Mike asked, “Where’s the salmon.”  Apparently, Ryan thought salmon said salami.

 

Parent Teacher Conference for Jonathan – English teacher’s face lit up.  He’s my VIP, best grade in class, chit chats with a few friends, laid back.

Ms. Casey knew my name.  He’s a leader.  You’ll hear this from everyone.  

James

 

12/18/24

A few weeks ago, I taught Ryan's Sunday School class and he helped me with an object lesson about how weak things can become strong. We went to the grassy area behind our church building. We filled a 2 liter soda bottle with vinegar and added baking soda, shook it up and then took the lid off and were shocked at how high and far it went. Ryan decided he wanted to replicate this at school so he checked the school website and saw that it isn't allowed to hurt people or property and decided this would be ok to do. So earlier this week he went to the field at lunch and launched the plastic bottle 5 or 6 stories high into the air. He said there were about 15 people gathered around and thankfully, it was right when lunch started so the security guards weren't out yet. What a little character.

Ryan is very observant of details. This can be helpful at times but also keeps us on our toes. On Saturday, we had a ward Christmas dinner and James decided to join the neighboring ward in the building next to ours since he has more friends in that ward. There also happens to be a girl who likes him and he likes her in that ward. Although she seems like a nice girl, she is the first girl he's gone out with so we've been encouraging him to mix it up and not just date her. Anyway, after our dinner had ended we drove to the back of the neighboring building to wait for him. He texted that they were singing The 12 days of Christmas and he was part of "5 golden rings" with his teen friends so he needed to stay for them to dramatically sing their part. However, it was taking quite a while. We started watching Studio C Christmas  sketches while we waited and then Ryan said he glimpsed James walking with Maysen. Mike went out of the car and unfortunately for James, right as he rounded the corner, she gave James a big, long hug with her head resting on his chest. I had a good laugh when we got home and heard about the timing of it all. I took a couple pictures of Mike sitting there in a shirt that says, "Best Dad Ever" to lighten the mood.

James got ahold of my phone and texted himself, "I hereby give u permission to have a life." the he replied from his phone with "w".  Apparently w means "win" in teen lingo. What a jokester.

James had his water polo banquet and got the JV MVP Award. His coach said he is one of the biggest guys on the team (He has been weightlifting at school and preening around the house with his shirt off as of late) and that he'd often get doubled even tripled teamed opening up shots for teammates. He was also one of two guys on that team to get the 4.0 or up GPA scholar athlete award. 

Grace is a sweetheart and asked today if I could get gifts for her teachers since she may as well play the part of being a teacher's pet at school. She wants to give her English teacher Tess of The Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson saying its a book everyone would enjoy. 

Grace has been feeling sick so she didn't attend but James and Ryan went to the temple with our church's youth groups tonight. I'm so glad they went with good attitudes.

All three kids played musical numbers on Sunday. James in two different Sacrament Meetings and Grace and Ryan and James at a Care Center. It's been such a blessing to see them serving and developing their talents.

Ryan

Ryan's School Picture

 

11/20/24

Ryan is very capable when he is determined. James has an e-bike that he doesn't use very much now that he has his driver's license. The brakes were broken and after a couple attempts of not being able to repair them, we knew we'd need to take it into the bike shop. Ryan, with a determination that belies his 12 years, figured out how to install our bike rack all on his own so I would drive the bike to the shop to get fixed. It was no easy task but he figured it out with flying colors. 

He and James went on a camping overnighter last weekend with Grandpa Neyens. James drove his truck which caused me a little worry since it was an hour away. Apparently, he got lost toward the very end of the drive and ended up on the other side of a mountain in the dark. Thankfully they found their way and had a safe camping trip. They saw some neat Indian paintings on rocks and enjoyed a rainy night and a couple of nice hikes.

Ryan says he is concerned that a girl at school likes him and is worried that she "might get him." I asked what he meant and he clarified, "get him to be her boyfriend." It's all we can do to get him to comb his hair and he still needs reminders to shower so the idea of any girls liking him is a little funny. I'm glad he's apparently quite a charmer at school. 

He was asked to give a talk to the primary age youth that will be joining young men's and young women's. We arrived at the church and he adamantly didn't want me to stay in the room while he gave his talk which I knew he hadn't written and said he was going to be appropriate and act like he does at school. With that assurance, I waited outside the door. I couldn't hear very much but he had the entire room laughing at various points.

He also has me rub his feet every night, and his legs, and his back and his head and then often needs everything repeated. 

10-25-24

Texts:

James: Mom, I'm broke. Will you please buy my friends birthday gifts from me?

James: I made the National Honor Society. 

James: I benched 215. That's better than making it into NHS.

Yesterday, I had him get his haircut from a barber since he wanted to shave his head after water polo. I figured a professional haircut may be appealing enough that he'd give it a chance. He said the barber said it was a clean cut haircut that mom's like but that kids don't.Texting about it today:

Me: Did anyone comment, good or bad, on your haircut? 

James: Yes, I think it's up to 8 people that complemented me but 100 didn't say anything so that counts as bad.

Grace's English teacher chose her to get a Prestigious Puma Award. Good job Grace!

10/25/24

 Ryan says he wants me to raise his children until they are five, then he can take over. haha

This morning at breakfast, Ryan said he better be getting lots of Christmas gifts. I was surprised at his demanding attitude and asked why. He said because we are saving so much money from cooling the house down at night and not running the AC. It was pretty cold.

10/12/24

Ryan scuffed his knees badly in his soccer game last Saturday on the turf. We bandaged the one that was hurt the most and he said he needed a ride to and from school because of his hurt knee. Normally he rides his bike. We drove him to school and when I went to pick him up from school, I noticed him riding a friend's scooter. I turned around and by that time he was riding another kid's bike. Apparently, his knee wasn't hurt quite as much as he thought- haha

He needed to put bandaids on his hurts the next week at his game. Grandma Neyens was helping him put them on and he showed her how to fold each one over so none of the sticky part touched his hurt so when he pulled them off, they wouldn't hurt to much. I thought it was pretty clever.

I've been getting him books about boys that play baseball from the library. In one of the recent ones he read, the main character had a big dog and Ryan's had a renewed interest in getting a big dog now. I need to be a little more selective in what books I get him. Haha

5/2024

 A while back I pointed out to Ryan that Grace had filled the entire journal he had given her at Christmas. She has been super diligent and written daily. He replied by saying, "Wow, she must have lots of crushes." Haha, apparently, he doesn't think she writes anything in her journal expect boys she has crushes on. haha

2/20/24

This morning it's been rainy. James drove himself to seminary with me in the car since he has his permit. There's nothing like a 15 year old learning to drive to wake a mom up in the morning!

Jonathan turned 18 on the 16th! We love him so much. I'm so grateful to be his mom. He is officially a National Merit Scholar Finalist! :)