Halloween

It looks like I managed to only take two pictures on Halloween.  I loved having Halloween on a Saturday.  I started off with an exhausting exercise.  We then did chores and chores and chores.  Mike and Jorja dyed her chef hat with tea bags so it would match her apron better.  We went to Lisa and Nathan's house for chili and scones.  Delicious.  Mike brought a crock pot with apple cider for them.  Maysen and Stockton went trick-or-treating with Preston.  Stockton soon found his friends and hung out with them the rest of the day.  Jorja had some friends come up and go trick-or-treating with her.  She was so happy!  I also met Katlyn's parents for the first time.  Jorja and Katlyn have become quite close.  It was nice to meet her parents.  Mike served his mission with Katlyn's uncle.  Katlyn's aunt is April Hardcastle, so that is pretty cool.

Saysia ~ tardis, Kate ~ nurse, Katlyn ~ cupcake, Jorja ~ chef

Mike made apple cider.  It was awesome to be home with Mike.  So nice of Maysen to take such good care of Preston!  Ha!  I found more pictures!  I had run out of room on my phone, so I had Stockton take some pictures for me.

Maysen ~ vet...notice Zeke on her arm

 Preston ~ Little Mac, Stockton ~ Ness, Maysen ~ vet

Stockton was quite proud of his costume.  It is Ness from some old Nintendo game called Earthbound.  Stockton makes me laugh.  He loves obscure costumes.

Day Before Halloween

Jorja was excited to dress up for school.  She decided to go as a pirate. She is an adorable pirate.

Jorja

Maysen had early morning seminary, then no school until around 11:00.  She didn't have her vet class today, so I had the morning with her.  We went and saw Preston's Halloween parade at school.  Preston dressed up as Little Mac from Mike Tyson's Punch Out.

Preston

I dropped Maysen off at school for physics, then picked her up about an hour later.  She had a pretty easy day today.  When Jorja got home we hurried up to Mike's work.  Maysen and Stockton also got dressed up as pirates.  The kids went trick-or-treating to the different desks.  The floors were mostly decorated.  Mike's wasn't.  He said it was because they do real work there.  The top floor was all Star Wars.  It was crazy! I think it went though the first three movies....something like that.  The Jabba the Hut and Ewoks were pretty cool.

Stockton, Jorja, Maysen, Preston, Mike

Mike and I went out to dinner at Mimi's Cafe.  One of his friends gave us a gift certificate after the work swim party.  So nice!  We finally had a chance to go, and it was delicious.  My favorite was the pumpkin muffin.  Weird that a muffin was my favorite, but it was so so good!  We then went to the adult session of stake conference.  Mike and I sat on the stage in the back.  We listened to Sister Park talk about losing her son 21 years ago when he was 10 years old.  I think it was meningitis. So sad.  Her talk was really good though. Mike and I snuck out early. Mike forgot to bring his pain pills and he couldn't stand his tooth anymore.  I hate that tooth.  I really do.  I can't believe how much pain it has caused Mike.  I didn't realize that it was a filling that has been causing him this much pain.  The tooth that was filled?  His wisdom tooth!  Why didn't the dentist just pull that blasted thing?  It has been horrible and I'm not feeling any of the pain.  I do get woken up frequently as I watch Mike deal with it.  I don't like to see him hurting. I hope the pain stops soon.

Book Club

I was invited to participate in Preston's book club at school.  His group read The Chocolate Touch.  I just got to sit with the kids and ask them questions about the book.  It was pretty fun, and I loved being with Preston.

Stockton had a great time at Johnny's party.  He gave Johnny a bouncing ping pong game that Lincoln has.  I can't remember the name, but Stockton said Johnny really liked it.

I took Maysen to statistics.  I read a book in the parking lot.  It was really hard to see the words towards the end.  I'm guessing with daylight savings Sunday it will be impossible.  I'll miss reading a book in the car.  Maybe I'll just go to a restaurant.  I like being alone better though.

Long Way Home

I don't know why I took this picture, I guess I thought it was funny to see Stockton bouncing on the diving board in his clothes.

Stockton

Stockton and I stopped at Walmart on our way home today.  I planned to stop at the Walmart just off the freeway.  Stockton put Walmart in our GPS as we were driving.  I wasn't sure if I would notice it coming from the other direction.  Well, it took us to the wrong Walmart.  Plus, it took forever to get there.  Road closures due to road construction. We finally arrived and Stockton was able to find a present he was happy with for Johnny.  Johnny's having a birthday party tomorrow. Stockton wanted to go to it so much that he changed his diving from Thursday to Tuesday and missed the Chili and Chocolate party. Johnny just turned 16.  He lives on our street and has Down Syndrome.  Johnny is also the coolest kid.  I love how all the boys his age adore him.

Thriller

The Young Women have been practicing Thriller to preform at the Chili and Chocolate for over a month.  Jorja has hated it.  She has begged me not to go to the different practices.  Today was the big day.  I was excited because the practices would be finally over.  Jorja DID NOT want to go to the performance today.  I was a little annoyed and forced her out of the house.  Just do it!  They were meeting at 4:00 to do hair and makeup.  I definitely did not want to do that!  Jorja came back awhile later to get a different shirt.  She looked crazy and so happy!  I took her picture while she was home for just a few seconds.

Jorja

Jorja had the best time today.  She absolutely loved getting dressed up. That is something my girls and I do not have in common.  I don't mind wearing Halloween costumes if someone picks it out for me and gets everything ready, but I hate thinking about what to wear and I hate coming up with ideas.  My girls love that.  Maybe it is because they were both born in October.

Jorja

 Jorja and her amazing leader Sue

 Jorja, Sue & Presley

 Jorja and Sue ~ Sue is the BEST!!!

The Thriller dance was awesome!  They started playing the music and the girls came out from everywhere.  My favorite were all the girls coming out from under the stage.  The girls did such a good job, you could tell all their practicing paid off.  Jorja was happily in the back.  I spent most of the dance watching her and Riley.  Riley was absolutely amazing.  That girl was born to be on stage!

Riley kneeling, Laycee's back, Presley on stage

and I think Olivia #1 is the other girl.

 Laycee, Olivia #2 and Kristin

Olivia #3 and Riley 

After Thriller they had a short Halloween parade for those in costumes. Mike and Maysen showed up about one minute after the parade was over.  If they were ten minutes faster they could have seen Jorja.  That statistics class sure has been hard to work around.  Stockton didn't come tonight.  He went to diving and had a ton of homework.  I brought home a plate of chocolate for him.

Jorja's a Teenager!

Look out world!  Jorja is 13!  I'm still trying to wrap my head around this.  Jorja is pretty excited about it though.  Maysen and Stockton had the day off of school.  Jorja was happy that she didn't.  She wanted to be at school with her friends.  That just blows Maysen's mind.  Jorja's friends decorated her locker and made her feel really special.  Here are a ton of pictures I took of Jorja before school.  They all look pretty the same, but I couldn't decide which I liked best.

Jorja ~ 13

Jorja didn't want me to bring her anything special for lunch today.  She was excited because they were serving chicken parmesan.  Jorja wanted a Chick-Fil-A platter for her birthday and she wanted to play softball.  I called Matt up and asked if he would bring wiffle ball stuff.  My dad came with Max as well.  We played in the dark, but Mike brought out some spot lights.  We were only able to play about two innings, but it was pretty fun.

Jorja's big present was a new iPod touch.  Her old one wouldn't support many of her favorite apps.  She couldn't listen to the Friend at night anymore.  I know Jorja really would have preferred a new phone, but I couldn't bring myself to get her a one this young.  We'll probably get her one when she goes to high school.  Anyway, Jorja would use the nickname 'Silverwater' with her friends.  She even had that as part of her e-mail address.  Mike and I had [Ag H20] engraved on her new iPod.  I was so excited to show her that!  I couldn't even wait to show Maysen and Stockton.  I showed them both a few days ago.  Well, it turns out that Jorja now hates the name Silverwater and got herself a new email address yesterday.  Seriously.  Can't she just enjoy the cleverness of her parents?

Jorja wanted a Cold Stone cake for her birthday.  It does make it really easy to just buy the kids a cake, but it is not nearly as fun.

Jorja was with me when we got candles for Maysen's cake a few weeks ago.  We got a 1, an 8 and a 3.  I could not find Jorja's 3.  Mike scraped off part of Maysen's 8 and we called it good.

 Happy Porge

 Jorja & Mike

 I love this girl!

 Preston & Jorja

Happy birthday Jorja!  We sure are blessed to have you in our lives. Please don't turn into an annoying teenager!

Cider and Pumpkins

We have a lot of apples!  What to do with them?  Well.....Mike and Preston worked on the apple cider press today.  Mike still wants to stain it, but right now it is functional.  The apple cider was delicious and so much faster to make than with the food processor.  That is how we did it last time.  The kids like it better because there is less bits.

Mike's newest contraption

Mike and Preston

The apples go through a garbage disposal and are caught on a mesh rag thingy.

Mike ties up the mesh rag thing and puts them at the bottom of the laundry basket he cut off.  This time he tried it with only one rag, but he really wants to have about four different rags so he can do a ton of cider at once.  Once in this contraption you press down.  Not as Preston is doing here, but with a car jack.  That really makes the juices flow!

Preston

 Mike & Preston

 The final product

 Preston approved

We headed down the street for the annual pumpkin and chili party.  I love it when someone else takes care of dinner!  Usually someone else does because I'm horrible that way.  Stockton decided to carve Gargamel as we were walking down there.  He did a great job!  He even won 2nd place.

Stockton

 Jorja & Katlyn

 Stockton with a glowy jacket

 Much better.....Stockton with Gargamel

Stockton won a bowl, towels, pumpkin spatula, pumpkin bread mix, Halloween chocolate chips and a harvest bread tin.

Stockton with his loot