Halloween

I took Jorja and a few friends to the temple this morning. Yesterday when they were planning it on a group text, someone asked who could drive. Jorja responded that I could because I get up way early. It is rare when I sleep until my alarm. True to form, I was up at 5:00. The temple wasn't super crowded, so that was nice. I saw Renee Murphy there. She introduced me to a Guiterriez boy. I can't remember his name right now, but I think he graduated with Matt? I graduated with his brother Mike, I think. I'm sure I spelled his name wrong too. Renee asked if he remembered me or any Millburns. She said that she thought we were in the same ward. He laughed and said he hardly went to church at all back then. Nice to see him in the temple. I told Renee how much I loved her daughter's talk on Sunday. It was a great talk. Also, Renee told me that the rules to handing the towels to the kids had changed. I no longer needed to dress in white. I was able to go in my dress with my shoes off and hand it to them. I was wearing a super long dress, so the bottom got soaked, but it was still cool. I dropped the kids off at Joe's house and he made them a giant breakfast. I love late start days.

Joe, Evan, Jorja, Hailey

Preston is our last kid going to his last Halloween parade. We found a hat for him. He found a mustache and double stick tape. Mike gave him one of his shirts to wear. Done! He was happy with it though, and that is what matters. Jorja made this hat with Mike back when she was five. She searched for a pattern, printed it out and brought it to Mike and asked if he could help her make it. Haha! That is my Porge.

Preston

 Proof I made it to the parade.

Jorja dressed as a sunshine again, but her headband broke at school. She reglued the triangle things when she got home and was able to wear it with her friends trick or treating. I didn't get a picture, so here is a slightly different picture from Saturday. Jorja didn't wear her yellow eyelashes or lipstick though, and Hailey braided her hair in two braids. She looked really cute.

Brooklyn, Maggie, Jorja

Maysen called me today. She had a hard day. She is worried. I asked her if there was anything I could do to help her. She said to just keep the blog up to date while I'm in Australia. I will do my best. I'm glad she can look at it and get some connection to home.

I dropped Jorja off at Evan's house and a group of people were going trick-or-treating. I started watching Game 6 of the World Series the second I came home. Preston was getting ready to go trick-or-treating himself. I thought Mike would take him because he could care less about the World Series. I'm not 100% positive he even knows who is playing. He does know that there will be free tacos tomorrow because a base was stolen. Anyway, Mike was on call and couldn't leave home. I took Preston around by myself. He was so cute. He talked the entire time about what he wanted to do for Halloween next year. He said if we started working now we could do it. He wants to set up a projector and have a game like pong on it. Then he wants people to play the game and the winner gets two pieces of candy and the loser gets one. He also thought a stacking game would be good. Depending on the levels of how high you stacked, that would be the candy you received. Seriously, the entire time we were walking he was planning this. He is 100% his dad's child. I love it.

As I was stepping inside I got a call from Jorja. She asked if I could come pick up her and her friends and let them hang out at my house. They were at the top of Pepperwood. After a little sleuthing to make sure we had everyone we made it back home. One of Jorja's friends was a little sad. I sat with them in the kitchen while everyone else was watching the Incredibles. I think that is what they were doing. The World Series was still going on and my phone kept dinging with my brothers texts about the game. I mentioned to this friend of Jorja's that they were more important than the World Series. I hope I helped. I hope they didn't feel so alone. We didn't talk much, I just sat next to them. I think they needed space. I just wanted to stay nearby so they would know they were important. I read in my book I reviewed that sometimes being nearby is enough.

Stockton spent his Halloween applying for the University of Utah. He texted me questions while I was out trick-or-treating. I helped him off and on until close to midnight. He was quite spent at the end of the night.

Stockton

I also stayed up late talking with Jorja. I'm going to miss these kids when I leave tomorrow. I hope they do okay while I'm gone. I'm so anxious about it. I don't feel like I'm being prompted to stay home, I feel like I should still go to Australia. I'm just anxious that they will be okay without me. So many things could go wrong. I'll be praying for them hard while I'm away. My family is everything to me.