Eve's Birthday Drive

Rachel, her girls and I left my house a little after 7:00. Grace and Eve fell back asleep, so that was nice. Around lunchtime we stopped at McDonalds and got pancakes and oatmeal. Rachel was hoping to stop at Arches really quick, but we ran out of time. Well, we could have done it if we wanted to get to Mike's house in New Mexico around midnight. We did stop at Wilson's Arch and took a quick hike up there. The weather was perfect, so it was a nice little stop.

Wilson's Arch

 Mina, Marie, Eve, Grace

 With Rachel

 With Stephanie

I hiked up with Eve. We went a less-steep way. We were able to get to the top first. Of course, I it freaked me out watching the girls up there. I'm not good with heights. Unless it's a rollercoaster, then I love it. Or behind a wall, like on the eiffel tower. Anyways, after a bit I took Eve and headed down. I couldn't watch the crazy girls. They weren't being out of control, I just get super nervous.

Eve & Marie

 Mina, Rachel, Grace

 Rachel and Mina

 Marie, Mina, Eve, Grace

 With Rachel

 With Stephanie

We finally made it to Mike's house around 9:30 at night. Mike and I were walking around his awesome yard when we found a scorpion. It was huge! Mike caught it in a jar.

Mike

The kids were all asleep, but I had a great time talking to Mike and Christen. Rachel got the girls all settled then came and chatted with us. I ended up laughing with Mike and Christen until about 1:00 in the morning. Rachel didn't make it that late. I snuck into Blake's room and slept in the extra bed there. It was great.

Stockton gave his final presentation for his film class today and also took his final. He told Mike it went well and was pretty easy. He is now finished with his first summer class! One more week for him and he gets to start summer!

Double Birthday Cakes

We left the cabin this morning. It is so pretty there. This is not pretty. There were so many bugs on the way up. At one point I thought it was raining. Mike took a picture so he could use it home teaching with the story about the bugs on the car.

 Parrydise

We got back in time for church. I had Preston 3D print me some tiny swords before I left. I brought pudding cups and we buried the swords in them. We had a family dinner after church. Bubs brought a cake for Ange's birthday tomorrow. Sam brought a dairy free cake for Eve's birthday tomorrow.

 Stockton, Jorja, Maysen, Preston

 Birthday twins! Ange & Eve (Anne photobombing)

 Eve liked Ange's cake

 I laughed when I saw Greg on the table

 Jorja did lots of nails. Here she is working on Mina.

 Abby

 Ella'a hands

 Ella

 Marie

 Anne

 I laughed when I saw Eve sitting in a bucket

 Grace LOVED playing with Jorja (Grace wanted the yellow kitty and she wanted Jorja to have the pink one.)

 Jorja with Jeff, Grace, and Anne

Baptisms and Weddings

Mike and I went to a baptism today. Harry Waddoups wife was baptized. It was beautiful. Harry and Anna teach my old primary class. They invited them to the baptism. What a cool thing for them to experience. The missionaries came over to our house after the baptism. I think one of them had a migraine. They told Mike they liked being at our house. Mike said, "Really? No one chooses us." Or something more witty to that effect. They did their companion study over here.

Mike and I left to Idaho today. We towed the lawnmower that was just fixed. We went straight to Taylor's wedding. They had it in his parent's backyard. It was beautiful and the treats were delicious. We were waiting in line and Jason & Emily came up behind us, with David & Mandy and John & Renee. That was fun! We sat at a table with David & Mandy and their kids. Tyler came and chatted with us too. I went inside and hung out with Tammi for a bit before we left.

Mike and I went to the cabin and got there about 10:00. The heating element on the water heater had broken and the fuse had blown. Luckily Mike had bought extra supplies to fix it when that happened. Brad and his youth group took down a broken tree that badly needed to be taken care of. The view out of the window is so much better! I'm so thankful for them for doing that.

It was weird being at the cabin just the two of us. I'm not sure that has ever happened before. It was very peaceful. Wish we could have stayed just a bit longer.

Preparing

I took Jorja to the orthodontist today. Her teeth look so beautiful. Her orthodontist wants her to wear her retainer for at least six more months. She also has a permanent retainer on her top and bottom teeth. I asked Dr. Watson if the night retainer was a new thing he was doing or if Jorja's teeth were different from Maysen's and Stockton's. He said that it was a new thing. Hopefully Maysen's and Stockton's teeth don't move.

Jorja and I went shopping after her appointment. First we stopped at Jamba Juice for breakfast. Jorja got an acai bowl and I got oatmeal. Then we grabbed a few shirts at DownEast. The lady ringing me up said one of the shirts wasn't on sale. I told her that was not what the people in the back had said. She said, "Okay, I'll give you the sale price then, but I haven't been giving it to anyone else." I did ask about that shirt, so I was good with that. Jorja and I then went to Dick's Sporting Goods and got her a new catchers bag. It's a little smaller than the one she has now, but at least it doesn't have a giant hole in it and it has two working wheels. Jorja likes it a lot.

The missionaries came over this afternoon. They were stressed out of their minds. They haven't been able to find a key to the closet with the baptism clothes. We called everyone we could think of. Just got answering machines everywhere. On the last person they were going to try we got someone to answer. They knew where the clothes were and had a key! She agreed to drop it off at my house because the missionaries had to leave for another appointment. 

After I got possession of the key, I went down to Matt and Sam's. Sam helped me make a program for Anna's baptism. And by help, I mean she did the entire thing. It turned out great though. We could have done a better job if we had the information earlier. Because it was so late, I told Sam I only wanted it black and white. I got home a little before ten. Mike is going to print them out at the stake center while he fills up the font.

While I was gone, the missionaries came and so did Melissa. Melissa is borrowing our dinner train for Leo's birthday party. I got to bed after midnight today. It was a long day.

Still Sick

Poor Porgie felt awful today. So did Maysen and Stockton. They all have sore throats. This is surprising for Stockton. Usually his body gives out on him the second he has a vacation. Right now he is dealing with studying for quizzes, finals, and doing final projects. I expected him to get super sick next weekend, not right now.

Jorja still went to softball. I didn't realize she hadn't eaten anything all day. I had her gargling with lemon and oregano, but I forgot to make sure she ate. She didn't feel well, so she skipped it. (She did make brownies though.) Anyways, I guess at softball she was running hard while they were practicing pickles. Jorja started having breathing problems. Jana, the coach, is super nice. She had someone get Jorja peanuts and gatorade. That helped Jorja a lot.

Mike had a meeting late tonight. He came home after 9:00. He was a little disappointed with the turn out. He did come home with four giant pizzas a giant cookies that were left over from the meeting. Looks like I know what we will be having for dinner for the next few nights!

Shopping

I took the boys to their last diving class of the summer. Camden's dad was there and I visited with him. I haven't seen many adults during the summer because most of the kids have taken Front Runner and Trax. That doesn't really work for us. Stockton could take Trax, but usually he had a class shortly following diving that we never bothered with it. The boys had a great time. We stopped at our traditional 7-11 afterwords.

I took Jorja up to the Lace by Louise to get her a new bra. She was not happy about it. I told her I didn't want to make the same mistake with her as I did Maysen. Luckily for Jorja she didn't need to special order anything and was able to leave the store with one. I think she was pleased with her experience. At least it wasn't humiliating like she was expecting.

I wanted to check out the Nordstrom sale to see if we could get a deal on any jeans for Jorja. I stopped by South Town first before I realized Nordstrom's was at Fashion Place. We went there next. Jorja looked at the price tag on the first rack we saw. On sale the jeans were $120. Yep, not going to happen. I had Jorja try some jeans on because we were there. They didn't fit, so it was easy to walk away. Jorja wasn't feeling well by this time. I stopped at Straws on the way back and she got a marshmallow milkshake. That made her throat feel a bit better.

I did get the rest of the family to watch another episode of Dr. Who with me. It was the new doctor, but I know there was an episode missing. I'll have to figure out how/where to find it. Weird. Maysen wanted to watch Milo Murphy's Law. The kids had fun with that. Mike and I went to bed while they were still watching it. I'm old.

Planning a Baptism

The missionaries came over tonight. We met with them to talk about Anna's baptism. Anna is about twenty years old, and because Mike is the ward mission leader he needs to head things up. I agreed to do the program, Mike is going to conduct. The missionaries are supposed to get the clothes and send me the program information in the coming days.

Stockton and Jorja went to the youth activity tonight. It was a drive-in movie . . . kind of. They brought blankets and pillows and watched The Incredibles at the pavilion by the church. It started pretty late, so they got back pretty late. I think they had fun. Jorja hasn't been able to go to any young women activities for a long time because of softball. I'm not sure what I think about that.

Jorja spent most of the day with her friends. They went 'hiking', played at a park then went back to Isaac's house. One of the things they did was play Monopoly. Isaac couldn't believe she has never played that before. When he asked me about it I told him there were so many great games around, why waste time playing Monopoly? Jorja said she didn't really understand what was going on during the game. Isaac would usually get excited and take her turn for her. I think she had a great time today. Jorja seems to need to be around peers. I'm glad she has found a few good friends.

24th of July

We celebrated the 24th of July by doing nothing and it was glorious. Well, I did do laundry and take Stockton to diving. Other than that we were home. We thought about going out to the pool when the fireworks started, then decided to just stay in.

Mina's Surgery

Rachel and Mina left early this morning. They had to be at Primary Children's Hospital at 6:00. Brett sent us this picture of Mina waiting for her surgery.

Mina

The purple plaid blanket was given to her by the hospital. She is very attached to it already. The other three girls were great while Rachel was gone. Grace and Eve loved playing with the Pet Shop. Marie used to call this Pet City. When we were cleaning out things to give away Mike wanted to get rid of this. I told him we couldn't because Marie loved it so much! It has been awesome to have this week. Kept the girls entertained for hours!

Eve & Grace

Rachel and Mina got back from the hospital right as we were walking out the door to church. Preston and I hopped in the car with them. Rachel stayed for sacrament, then slipped out and took the three little girls home. Marie stayed and went to class with us. Mina would have been in my class if stayed. I usually only have three girls. Sharing time was kind of crazy because they had everyone sit on the floor on blankets. They had a pretend fire and Sister Madson dressed as a pioneer and read them a book. They handed out pioneer treats too. My girls were thirsty and asked for a drink. I took them to the drinking fountain and the library where I grabbed crayons and scissors. When I got to my room I was shocked to find five other kids! An adult was with them and was kind of upset I took too long. I'm thinking, "I'm not late! I have ALL my kids with me! How was I to know that my class would almost triple!" It was a little stressful, but I made it through.

Rachel and the girls left soon after we got home. Mina was cute with her purple cast. They even put a purple cast on the stuffed animal she had brought with her.

Grace & Mina

We just relaxed the rest of the day. I was able to convince everyone to watch a Dr. Who with me, which they hate. Then we watched Strange Brew. That was one of Mike's favorite movies growing up. Kind of like how my brothers loved Mystery Men. I fell asleep during the movie. I don't know why I can't stay awake during movies. In my defense, I did have an exhausting week. 

Broken Wing

Today was crazy and sad. The last two nights Ella and Abby have slept in the girls' room with Marie and Mina. When Marie was saying her prayers last night she prayed that Bubs and Ange wouldn't come for a long time. (They got home about 1:00 this morning.) Marie and Mina have just adored Ella. Jorja kept joking that "Ella was the new Jorja." Probably because Ella was around and Jorja was always gone. Anyways, it has been awesome how well these kids have gotten along. So nice for me too. It made this week a lot easier!

I took Jorja to softball this morning. She had a three hour practice. Isaac and his little brother Ben came over. Ben is one of Preston's friends and is in his Chinese class. When Jorja was at Isaac's house on Tuesday Ben was goofing around and grabbed her phone out of her pocket. He dropped it on the concrete and it shattered. Isaac felt horrible. He texted me asking if he could help pay for it. I asked if he and Ben could come work in our yard for a few hours and we would call it even. I thought it was really kind of Isaac to ask, but there was no way I was having him pay for something his little brother did. Plus, I know how awful Jorja would feel if Preston broke Isaac's phone. Mike went to rent a wood chipper, but it was too big to fit in the van, so we had to do without. I was talking to Isaac's mom while we were waiting for Mike. Rachel was just getting Grace in the car when someone came running upstairs saying Mina had broken her arm. I ran out to stop Rachel so she could check on her. Both of us thought it was probably just a little hurt and needed a bit of Mama love. Well, Rachel decided to take her right into the hospital. That was a wise choice. They were gone most of the day. Turns out that Mina broke her elbow and will need to have surgery on it tomorrow. So sad! From what we can figure out, the girls were having a dance party downstairs. Mina was standing on the footboard of Jorja's bed, balancing on one foot. She fell and her elbow smashed into the floor. Dance parties are dangerous!

That kind of threw everything into chaos the rest of the day. Mike had Isaac, Ben, Jorja and Preston out working on the tree limbs. Restacking, trimming, moving. It was too crazy to get the chipper, but at least it should be easy when we are able to get it.

These little girls watched The Last Unicorn. It was scary in some parts.

Amelia, Grace, Eve

We went swimming after the yard work was done. Bubs and Ange swam with their kids. I was in the pool watching Eve. Ben and Preston were playing. Jorja and Isaac spent the entire time playing with Grace. She was in heaven! At first she was scared of Isaac, but before the day was over she told him she was his third favorite cousin! (Jorja was her second and Trevor was her first.) Preston and Ben left the pool after awhile and played on the video game cabinet.

Ben & Preston

Mike had made homemade lasagna this morning. He had it in the fridge ready to go tonight. It was perfect. We did lasagna train. Mike would put a plate of lasagna on a train car. When someone was ready for seconds they would put their empty plate on the train and wait for refills. Preston was so proud. I took Isaac and Ben home after dinner. Ben was so sweet. He told me a couple of times how much fun he had. Preston loved having Ben over. It worked out quite nicely.

Rachel got Grace and Eve asleep while I was dropping Isaac and Ben off. I have no idea how she did it! Maysen, Jorja and I went to Leatherby's with the oldest girls. Maysen and Mina both were in their jammies. Marie earned a trip to Leatherby's by reaching a goal on her multiplication tables. Marie's school was anti memorizing multiplication facts. That is the craziest thing I have ever heard. Brett and Rachel have worked hard this summer with Marie trying to catch her up so she won't be behind when she enters 4th grade in Florida. Marie picked The Golden Nugget and was quite pleased with her choice.

Mina, Rachel, Marie

 Stephanie, Maysen, Jorja

Mina fell asleep on the giant red beanbag downstairs. That is where Rachel and Eve have been sleeping. (They do have a bed, Eve just prefers the beanbag.) Rachel said the beanbag was perfect for Mina because she had to keep her arm elevated. With the beanbag she was able to position her arm correctly and still able to sleep.

Missionary Train

Brett left this morning to fly to Virginia. He will pick up his car from a neighbor's house and then drive to John & Cassie's. Time went way too fast. Why can't we just live on vacation?

The little girls love it when Jorja does their nails. It is so cute to see how still these normally crazy girls will sit.

Amelia, Eve and Jorja

 Eve

 Amelia

Rachel took her girls except Grace up to her sister-in-law's house for the day. She told them she would watch her kids. I fixed pancake on a stick for the rest of the kids. I'm healthy like that.

Grace, Amelia, Abby, Ella

 With Lincoln & Preston

Rachel and Marissa came over to swim with their girls. They swam with the kids outside while Mike and I had a crepe train with the missionaries. It was kind of crazy. Mike has recently gotten the call as Ward Mission Leader. He has piles of stuff to make his way through to understand everything he needs to do. On Thursday the missionaries texted him asked where dinner was. Our ward is in charge of finding dinner for the missionaries every seven weeks. We had no idea that this was our week. Mike probably was given the information somewhere, but we have still yet to find it. I texted the Relief Society and they sent out an email. Jeanette Yauney fed the missionaries on Wednesday. (Stephanie Waddoups could have that day as well, but Jeanette's email came in first.) No one else responded. Mike talked to President Back and Bryce Johnson at the temple yesterday. President Back fed them on Thursday and Bryce and Becky fed them Saturday. Whew! We will have to keep on top of that for next time. Anyway, Mike did crepe train and the missionaries LOVED it! Mike knows how to make everything super fun.

Preston, Sister Jenkins, Sister Hutchinson

I fed the rest of the kids crepes after swimming. Marissa had made Rachel dinner, so they ate there. I heard they even had a birthday cake for Marie!