New Plan

We were running a little late for (9:00) church. Instead of stressing and walking in late, we decided to go to our (hopefully) new ward. That started at 11:00. We arrived at church, stress free about ten minutes early. The only problem was no one was there. Not a car in site. It must have been stake conference. Time for a new plan. Mike set up the projector in the loft and we watched the priesthood session of conference. The kids were great and watched all two hours.

Stockton has been after Mike to work on his Arrow of Light. One of the things they worked on was a chess belt loop. The kids know we are getting them a Mario chess for Christmas....that might be their only present. Anyway, Stockton has been anxious to play it, so we got it out just for the day. He loved it. Jorja did too. Later we played Settlers. Maysen drew a picture of us as cats with different resources. It was cute.

Happy Halloween!

We went trick-or-treating with the cousins today. Stockton slept over last night, so he was able to spend ALL day with them. That made for a happy, happy Stockton. Preston was so cute when he was trick-or-treating. When the door would open, he would walk right in. At one house I said, "Say thank-you" and he turned around and hugged the person at the door. It was so cute! One quick side-note. I know we are trick-or-treating on Saturday because Halloween is on Sunday. They do this in Georgia too, so it is not just a Utah thing.

Maysen, Stockton, Jorja, Weston, Brandon, Jacob

Maysen ~ Scourge
Stockton ~ Dimentio
Jorja ~ frog

Weston ~ Lego Man

Preston the Leopard Looking at his Loot

Taco Time

My dad's cousins, Peggy, Sally & Jane were in town. They have been taking my grandma around for the last few days. Tonight they were making their yummy tacos. I haven't had those in ten years. Not since we stayed at Peggy's castle when Stockton was a baby. That was fun. Anyway, it was nice to visit with them. Peggy's daughter just finished her college diving career. That would be cool if Stockton lasted as long as she did! My dad went early so the cousins could teach him how to make their tacos. He wrote down the instructions in meticulous detail. Now we won't have to wait another ten years to have these again! Right dad?

Little Lost Porge

Jorja had her Halloween party today at school. They sure do Halloween A LOT differently here then they do in Georgia. First they had a costume parade. Not just a little parade, but a 'every parent invited' parade. The costumes were great also. Several brought their dogs. Jorja's teacher was a cook and her dog was dressed up as a lobster. Tons of kids had masks (a big no-no in Georgia). There were even a couple of little kids that were dressed up the same as their school-aged sibling walking in the parade. It was really quite fun.

After the parade, Jorja had her second grade program. I got an awesome seat right in the front row. I could see every single second grader - except one. Does anyone have a guess who that was? Seriously. There was a girl in front of Jorja that had the most gigantic butterfly/fairy wings. I could see the kids on each side of Jorja, but the only time I could see Jorja was when fairy girl bent down. I would have just moved, but I had Preston on my lap. I knew if I moved, I wouldn't be able to have a seat, then I would have to spend the entire program watching Preston. Jorja did a great job though. Scoop & Cori came and watched her. She loved that.

Jorja

After the program, I went home and spent the rest of the day working on homeschool. I had made Stockton a list of things to do, so he was working the entire time I was gone. That was good. When I was working with Maysen on the piano, I heard the phone ring. I ran downstairs to get it, but I just missed. It was Mike. I tried calling back, but just got his voicemail. Finally I gave up. I was working with Maysen on the piano again when I heard the phone ring. Again I raced to the basement. Mike again. I missed the call. This time I was persistent and called him three times until he answered. He said, "Jorja's school called. She has been waiting to be picked up for an hour." WHAT!!!! I had no idea it was short day! Short day is usually on Friday. They don't have school on Friday, so they moved it to today. There was no note, nothing. I guess people just know. That would have been a great thing to be informed about. I had absolutely no idea. Someone even asked me at the parade if it was early release. I said, "No, they would have told us." Even with that short conversation it didn't cross my mind that it was short day. Every day I get to the car pool lane 30 minutes early so I can be the first or second car, and here my little girl was sitting in the office for over an hour. When I got to the school, I found a little frog with big circles under her eyes. I can barely even think about it. My cell phone was in our bedroom (which is at the back of the house), there are seven voice mails on it. I'm sure most of them are from the school & Mike. I can't listen to them, it will make me to upset/sick to my stomach. I'll have to have Mike listen to them.

No Braces!

Jorja got her braces off! Maysen did not. Maysen wanted her braces off. Jorja did not. Jorja thinks she looks weird without her braces. I think she looks beautiful.

Jorja

Maysen will have to have braces on until around March. Then she will most likely get a permanent retainer. She was pretty disappointed. We will have to pay over $1,000 more for her braces. I shouldn't have paid for Maysen's braces up front. Lesson learned.

Happy Birthday Porgie!

It's great to be eight! Jorja turned EIGHT years old today! I can hardly believe it! We had a busy, fun filled day. While Jorja was at school, I baked her and Lincoln a cake. Lincoln (my nephew) turned FIVE today. How fun to have birthdays together.

Jorja ~ 8 years old

Jorja & Lincoln's cake

After school I took Jorja to the store and let her pick out a webkinz. She picked the fox that is on her lap in the picture below. She told me she was going to name it Socks, which I thought was great because it looks like he has black socks on her feet, but she ended up naming him Mozilla.

Preston, Jorja & Stockton

Jorja & Stockton

Jorja

After we opened a few presents, we went ice skating with Bubs & Ange. Lincoln takes ice skating lessons, so we met them there.

What's up with this picture?

That's better.....Stephanie & Jorja

The kids had a great time. Jorja said, "I wish I could ice skate everyday!" Preston went non-stop. He will sleep well tonight. He started on the ice before I had a chance to get my skates on. He's fearless.

Lincoln & Jorja

Jorja

Preston

Besides Bubs & his family, my dad & Max were there. Also Steve & Shannon and their family came. My kids were glad they came. They have fun with them. Today was a really great day. I think Jorja had a ton of fun. She deserves it. She is the sweetest, kindest, most thoughtful little girl. For example, when I picked her up today from school, she showed me presents she had bought for each of the kids. She spent all her Grizzly bucks on them. She is so kind and giving. I am constantly amazed by her. I love you Porge! You are wonderful!

Sleepy Porge

Jorja had asked me several times for a pillow pet....specifically a frog (surprise, surprise). I never got her one. I never mentioned it to my dad either, but that is what he gave her for her birthday. She was thrilled.

SNOW!

We woke up to snow today. It's awesome. Now it is all gone, but soon it will be back!

High Dive

Stockton loves his diving class. Here is a video of his diving experiences this week....in no particular order. I can't wait to watch Maysen & Jorja dive with him! Preston's going to be rough....oh well. Stockton's teacher is pretty great. Notice when she is teaching Stockton how to do a back dive, she is stepping on his toes! I love it!

Oh Deer!

The absolutely coolest thing about staying where Mike grew up is the deer. They are always around. It is amazing! One day I ran downstairs and yelled, "Come see the deer!" Stockton replied, "Who cares. There's always deer in Utah." No Stockton, not everywhere....just here.



I can't remember if I ever wrote about when Mike tried to get "pet deer". One day we looked out back and two deer had wandered into the fenced garden. Obviously the door had been left open. Mike said he wanted pet deer, so he snuck up and shut the gate. Man did those deer go crazy! They started running back and forth trying to jump the fence. Mike snuck back up and opened the door then ran away like crazy. I wish I had that on video! Mike and I were watching, hoping that the deer would now see the door was opened, when we see Jorja walking up there from the other side of the house. Mike tears out of there to grab her...that was pretty scary.

Shannon & Branson's Wedding

My step-sister, Shannon, was married today. They were married in the Salt Lake Temple. The sealer did an incredible job. He was pretty funny, but he also talked about a lot of important, basic principles of the gospel. And some things I have never thought of before. He talked about the importance of saying prayers together morning & night....and then saying personal prayers. He talked about starting family home evenings, and suggested that they use this time before they have kids spending family home evenings really getting to know each other. Talking about things that you normally don't get around to talking about. One thing he said - that I know my sister-in-law also named Shannon would get a kick out of - He told Branson to find time today to give Shannon her first priesthood blessing from him. He also told her that he should never turn her down when she asks for a priesthood blessing. (I got quite a giggle out of that one . . . long story.)

After the wedding, we went to The Lion House for the wedding luncheon. I ate too much. Why do I do that? Oh, because food is delicious.

The reception was pretty fun. My kids were suppose to get presents and bus tables. Yeah, we didn't do that. We spent time eating ice cream. Seriously, they had an ice cream bar and it was delicious. I asked my dad if the kids could have seconds. He said, "They can have as much candy and ice cream as they want." I assumed that applied to me as well. Between candy and ice cream, how can you go wrong?

While I was busy talking to Kathy Leatherwood, Mike & Bubs found a door to an extra room to hang out in. Bubs watched the Yankees lose to the Rangers, Maysen & Stockton read books, Jorja, Ella & Lincoln drew on the white board, Mike & Preston played pool. Pretty fun. At the very end of the day, they handed out bubbles and everyone was told to go outside to blow bubbles as Shannon & Branson drove away. We were gathering up the kids in the back room when in walks Shannon. Mike said, "How nice of you to come to me so I can blow bubbles here." Then he started following her around blowing bubbles at her. I know I can't explain it right, but it was pretty funny.

Shannon & Branson Haacke

Mike, Steph, Preston, Stockton, Maysen & Jorja

Preston

Stockton & Jorja

Mike, Matt & Maysen...

not cooperating with my picture taking desires.

They had bags for everyone to fill up with candy...

The kids thought that was a great idea.

Jorja

Preston

Stockton & Maysen

Bubs enjoying the Yankees loss

Preston

Jorja

Ella, Maysen & Jorja

Mike blowing bubbles at Shannon

The other news of the day is, we had the house & pool inspected. The pool is in pretty good shape, but the house needs a lot of work. There doesn't seem to be major problems, just a lot of little things. The inspector said, "This house wore me out." We have some more things we need to check out now . . .

Ange

I had to pick up a package at the UPS store down by the airport. While I was down that direction, I thought I would stop by and visit Ange. That is the great thing about living by family, I can just pop by whenever I want. Although I don't know how Ange feels about that. Anyway, I hadn't seen Ange since I moved here, so that needed to be fixed. Ange was feeding lunch to Lincoln and Ella. I hadn't seen them either, so it was great. Ange and I talked and planned things for Jorja & Lincoln's birthday next week.

Later in the day, I took Maysen & Preston out to buy shoes. The store didn't have one item I needed/wanted, so they sent me to Jordan Landing. After quick directions, I thought I was all set. But, the directions were wrong and I had no idea where Jordan Landing was. After I finally managed to get there, I couldn't find the store. The place was huge. I drove around the various parking lots for at least 25 minutes. Needless to say, I was very frustrated and happy when I was finally home. Now I am going to bed.

Doing It Again

Stockton's diving classes are a month-to-month deal. He loves them. I just now signed him up for November. I decided to sign up Maysen & Jorja as well. I hope they like them as much as he does. The only problem with the diving is Stockton gets car sick on the way home. Weird. I open the car door as fast as I can and he books it to the shower. Usually he feels better once he's in the shower. Today he actually threw up. Don't worry, he opened the shower door and threw up on the floor so it wouldn't get on his feet.

Mallory Marie

She's FINALLY here! She's over a week late, and Cassie was in labor for over 13 hours...but she made it! John says she's "super cute." Who can doubt that. I can't wait to see pictures. Mallory weighed 7 lbs. 4 oz. and was 20 inches long. Cassie was lucky to have her mom with her when Mallory was born. Her father, step-dad and step-mom were also at the hospital. I think Mallory is getting spoiled already! Congratulations John! You are going to be a great dad!

Future Preston

Dear Future Preston,

I love you so much. I love it when you say, "I like you and I love you". I love how you always want to be with "Zorzha". I love how you like to play the computer with Stockton. I love how you like to 'knock Maysen down with a hug.' I love how you always want to be with me. I love your laugh, your smile, your hugs and kisses. I love everything about you. I am so happy you are in our family. There is one thing I would like you to know. Although we have moved you across the country, there are toilets here in Utah. They work just like the ones in Georgia did. I don't know why you refuse to understand that. I tried to reason with you today. I told you that soon you would grow out of your puppy underwear, so you might as well wear it now. Apparently that was not a good idea. Now you don't want to turn four because then you can't wear your puppy underwear. That was not the point. I want you to wear underwear. I think it would be great! I know one day you will wear underwear, but I'm wondering when. Preston, one more tidbit of advice. When Stockton tells you to look, don't look. He's just trying to steal your pizza rolls.

Love,
Mom

Parry Family Dinner

So.....the other day we put an offer on a house. Yesterday they countered and we accepted. I guess with all the excitement at Cornbellys, I forgot a little detail like this. Anyway, if all goes well, the closing date is November 15th. We have a little over a week for due diligence. Basically we can pull out of the contract if we don't like something, like the schools, wards, the inspection....whatever. Our family went to sacrament meeting at our ward here, then we took the kids home and Mike and I went to sacrament meeting at what might become our new ward. We thought we would just sneak in the back and check things out (see if there were kids). We had been sitting down for about one minute when we hear, "Mike?" There was Bryce Johnson. I didn't expect to see him of all people. We talked to him for a bit. We told him we had an offer down on a house on Rollingwood. He said, "Rollingwood? I live on Rollingwood." He lives across the street from the house we have the offer on. He said his 10 year old boy had been praying for another 10 year old boy to move in on the street. There were so many people from high school there. Mike & I haven't kept in contact with very many people, so it was a bit overwhelming....but in a good way.

Later in the day we had a Parry Family dinner, Utah style. We figured if they can do it in Arizona, we can do it here. It was so nice to have family over. Chad & Elisa came, Heather & Zac, Nathan & Bobby, Matt, Bubs, Dad & Cathy and lots and lots of kids. Ange and kids stayed home and had a throwing up party, my guess is that was not as fun. Matt, Zac, Maysen, Mike and I played Ticket to Ride. Zac pretty much dominated. Sorry Matt, but he did. I ended the day talking to Rachel on Skype. Family, family, family. It is so good to be home! Or have technology to enjoy those away.

Cornbellys

Fun, fun day! This morning we went to Sherry's house. I wish I had brought my camera! Sherry was watching a dog that looked exactly like Preston's dog Shiver. He thought that was great! He did not want to leave. Especially when he was driving around on the Powerwheel 4-wheeler.

This evening we went to Thanksgiving Point to the Cornbelly maze. It was fun....although Mike could barely breathe on the way home. Preston loved running around everywhere. He especially loved pushing the button to hear a chicken joke. He thought it was funny when we went in the little kid maze, but he took a shortcut and ended at the ending of the main maze. He talked about that for a long time!

Maysen loved burying herself in corn. Stockton loved the pumpkin dodgeball, and being the one to get tons of people to climb on top of this hay thing....

Maysen, Stockton, Jorja and I went through the haunted house maze. The best part was this tunnel that had spinning lights. It was so hard to walk across! I was proud of Jorja, they recommended being 10 to go through, but she did great and loved it. The weather was perfect, and we had a fun, fun day.

Stockton, Jorja, Mike, Stephanie, Preston, Maysen

Steve, Jacob, Weston, Erica, Brandon, Shannon
Erica, Weston, Jacob, Brandon, Maysen, Jorja

Maysen

Jorja & Weston

Stockton & Brandon

Preston

Stockton

Preston

Maysen

Recreation Day

K12 had a recreation day today. They invited K12 students and their siblings to a rec center. I was the only one who had to pay. I like that. I think it was the Holladay Lions rec center. Something like that. We just went swimming. There was a little kid slide/play area, zero entry, lazy river, and a big kid waterslide. Preston had so much fun. He thought he was invisible when he went under water. He kept going under then asking me if I saw him. I should play along, but I didn't. I kept explaining to him that you are NOT invisible when you are under water. He just didn't believe me.

Jorja loved the big kid waterslide. Maysen & Stockton had fun as well. Stockton spent one hour (not an exaggeration) playing under this small bucket drop thingy. The bucket would tip when it was full....about the size of a regular beach pail bucket. There were three of them. Stockton would wait for it to fall then pretend he was knocked completely over. Seriously, one hour. The great thing is we were able to count this towards school...now that's cool. The even greater thing is, I only had to keep my eyes on Preston. Life is so much easier as the kids get older. Hang in there Ange, Rachel, Christen & soon to be Cassie!

Diving Class

Here is some video clips of Stockton's diving class yesterday. I can't believe the battery ran out before the high dive. Just take our word for it...he was awesome.

Not the Smartest Cat

So, Preston was sick today. My only clue was he kept throwing up. He would act fine, play as normal, then BAM! As we were eating dinner, Preston started walking around the table when he started throwing up. I ran and grabbed his throw up bowl. He filled it half way. I put the bowl on the floor and stripped Preston so I could put him in the shower. Mike ran and got some towels to clean up the mess. As Mike was cleaning up Preston's mess, in walks the cat. He walks right up to Preston's bowl and starts to eat! Yuck! The cat isn't even suppose to be in. Oh boy.

Stockton had another diving lesson today. Mike videoed it. The camera ran out of batteries right as he was able to go on the high dive. Doh! Stockton did a flip off the high dive. What a nut.

Winter, the Artist

Every year,

overnight,

Winter paints the

world white.

He's in the clouds,

hidden from you,

no matter WHAT your

point of view.

If he can close

the schools, then he's

just created a

masterpiece!

--Stockton

Baptism Date

We have been trying to figure out when Jorja will be baptized. Her birthday is October 26. When we were in Georgia, we were going to do it on Halloween. Nice that it is on a Sunday. Now that we are in Utah, they won't let us choose our date. We have to do it with the Stake. The bummer is, Jorja will be baptized with people she doesn't know and people she will never see again. The wards in the stake rotate who is in charge of the program, so Jorja won't know any of the speakers. I have to say, Georgia baptisms are definitely the way to go. I guess I don't like letting go of control.

Anyway, the stake baptism day is the same weekend that my brother is blessing his baby in Ohio. We were hoping we could talk them into letting us do it on a different day, but no, they wouldn't budge. I asked Jorja about moving her baptism until December. She cried and cried. She said, "I already had to move it off Halloween, I'll move it to a different day in November, but I can't wait any longer....I have been waiting for so long!" Man! Killing me! Anyway, I talked to her about it again when I found out the baptism would be Saturday at 5. There was no way my dad would be able to go to both. She cried, then came up to me and said, "Tell Grandpa it's okay. I prayed about it and I can wait." She is so sweet. I told her that being baptized on 12-11-10 is much better than 11-13-10. Easier to remember. The only catch is we might be in a different ward then and need to learn their rules.

John and Cassie when you read this, don't feel bad about the blessing. I am so excited dad will be able to be there with you. I did not want our family to be the reason he missed this occasion. I am so excited for you and will feel so much better when I know your little girl is here safely! We love you!!!!

On a side note.....my house I grew up in was taken off the market today. Weird. I was actually leaning toward that one this morning. Wonder if they'll put it back up, or if they decided not to sell, or if someone put in an offer. At least I got to see it before it was gone.

Maysen's a Teenager!

Maysen turned 13 today. I wish it didn't come so fast. Jorja said yesterday, "It's Maysen's last day of being a child. Tomorrow she'll be a teenager, then she'll be an adult." Too fast.

Mike took the older three kids to church at the ward here while Preston and I went to see Heather's baby, Lily, be blessed. It was SO GOOD to see Heather! It has been ages and ages since I have actually seen her. I am so excited to live close to family!

Maysen had already received her biggest present. Lion King tickets. She also got a laptop battery that we gave her before the trip across the country. The biggest present she had left to open was a Quad. She really wanted one.

Maysen shares a birthday with her cousin Taylor. He turned 16 today. Maysen has always wanted to celebrate their birthdays together. Mike's family all came up today for cake. It was so nice! I loved it. Reminded me of old times. We also got to meet Melissa's fiance, Derek. I can't believe she's getting married! Melissa went out and picked apples in the dark with Maysen, Erica, Brandon, Jorja and Weston. The kids had a lot of fun with that. Taylor was funny and would just pick up Maysen and take her where ever he wanted to go. He liked to go cousin catching. I wish I had a picture when he came up the stairs with Jorja on his shoulder and Preston under his arm. Preston had a giant grin. Super cute! Have I mentioned I love being around family?

Maysen the Teenager

New Quad
Birthday Cake
Make a wish!
Maysen & Taylor

I don't think John & Cassie ended up giving Maysen her birthday present. We were hoping little Mallory would come today. I didn't hear, so I guess it never happened. Drat! I guess it works out for us. Stockton would have been really jealous if Maysen got to share her birthday with two cousins!