Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Jorja Table

I found this on Jorja's phone. It made me laugh.
I had parent teacher conference for all three kids today. Of course I don't have those for Maysen anymore. Preston's was in the morning. His teachers kept saying things like, "The Chinese program was made for kids like him." Preston read me this power point thing he made in Chinese. I asked him to translate it into English after he finished. One of the slides said, "My New Year's resolution is to play more games with my family." Hahah. That boy loves games! I finished the rest of Jorja and Stockton's classes after school. I talked to Mr. Packer for a long time. He loves having Jorja in student government. He told me he really hopes she will be in student government next year. So do I!

I hurried home from parent teacher conference and got Jorja to our stake women's conference. I hate to say this, but it was so boring. It was at a church we rarely go to and we were freezing! They had turned the heat down because someone thought it was too hot. Then Jorja and I were right in an area where a breeze was flowing through. It felt like a door was propped open. I had a sweater and my winter coat on and I was shivering the entire time. Poor Jorja was just in a light dress, no coat. I couldn't concentrate on anything because I was so dang cold! Not the best experience.

Tuesday, February 27, 2018

Free Pancakes

I forgot to mention that Gavin slept over last night. Today is 'free pancake day' at IHOP. Stockton really wanted to go at 6:00, right as IHOP opened. Jorja wanted to go at 9:00. I went with Stockton's choice because he needed to be at school for Academic Decathlon at 9:00. Plus, this way Preston was able to come with us. Anyway, Stockton, Preston and Gavin had diving yesterday. When they were dropping him off they thought it would be a better idea to just let him sleep over. Worked for me! Anyway, we made it to Drew's house at 6:00 this morning and then made it to IHOP shortly after. I asked the server how the free pancake day worked. He said, "Well, it starts at 7:00 and finishes at 7:00." Oooof! I am so glad I didn't make Mike come with me. He wouldn't have been too happy. He is on call and was up until 3:00 working on an outage. It ended up being fine. I ordered two pancakes and asked if we could have plates to share while we waited for 7:00. Chocolate chocolate chip and red velvet. The fancy pancakes are not free, so this way they got to have something different first. It was a really great time and the pancakes were delicious!
Jorja and Gavin
 Drew, Stockton, Gavin, Jorja
 We finally have the free ones!
 Preston was there too.
Everyone came back to our house. I talked them into watching Mystery Men. For some reason I had wanted Jorja to watch this when Drew was here. I thought he would like it. I think I liked it the most because I laughed through most of it. Especially when it reminds me of times my brothers have used the quotes. It is always awkward when there is an embarrassing part that you wish wasn't there, then you watch it with your kids and the bad part is amplified by 1,000. Why do movies have to be ruined! Stockton was able to watch the first half hour with us before he left for Acadmeic Decathlon. I dropped Gavin off after the movie. Drew stayed until about 2:00. Jorja and Drew are goofballs. They spent most of the day laughing. They made a cake but we didn't have eggs, butter, or oil. They used random stuff instead. Like mayonnaise. Weird. Stockton got home around noon and fell asleep on the couch for a few hours.
Stockton
You can see The False Prince in the background. John texted me pictures of finishing the book with Mallory. I grabbed the book to send a quote to him. I'm so happy Mallory loved it! The False Prince is one of my very favorite books. Mike sent me a picture last month of Skye with her book. Jennifer Nielsen came to her school and she was able to get her book signed. That made me so happy! I loved it!
John and Mallory
 Finished!
Skye ~ I love this!
Jorja had the second half of her softball tryouts today. She came home a bit disappointed. She didn't do as well today as she did yesterday. It was hitting. She is a much better fielder. We hurried home from tryouts so Jorja could go to a movie. Jorja and Carter had been trying to see The Greatest Showman with Stockton and Addie. They finally made it there today. While they were waiting for the show to start Jorja found out that she didn't make the softball team. She is disappointed. Raina and Tayleigh both made the team. She is happy for them but sad that she won't be able to experience this with them. She did have a great time at the movie. She liked it more than Stockton. He is not a fan of musicals. He loves his sister, that is why he came.
Addie, Jorja, Carter, Stockton
Parent/Teacher conferences were also today. I had Jorja come with me to talk to a few of her teachers. I wanted to meet with her Chinese teacher while Jorja was there. Jorja is scared of her. She started tearing up during the conference. I'm still glad I  brought her because her teacher was able to explain some things to her that she didn't understand. Hopefully she will get that grade up. We also made it to Jorja's woodshop teacher. Jorja's grade dropped because she accidentally turned in her digital photo fee receipt to woodshop and her woodshop receipt to the photo class. We got that straightened out too. I'm feeling a lot better about her grades now than I was this morning!

Monday, February 26, 2018

Softball Tryouts

I checked Jorja out of school so I could take her to get a sports physical. I had no idea you needed to have one done before tryouts. Tryouts are today, so typical Stephanie, I'm getting it done today. I really liked the doctor. Mike told me I would. Clear back in November, while I was in Australia, Jorja had a weird attack. Kind of like a panic attack, but weirder. Hailey videoed it. Jorja had no control over her left arm. It was going crazy, it was jerking everywhere. Jorja was crying out, "What is happening?"  If I remember right, Hailey said that lasted for about 45 minutes. She also said that her heart felt like it had a lot of pressure on it, her vision was going spotty and she was dizzy. Later when we got home, I found this picture on her phone that she took right after her spaz attack. Her right side of her face is droopy. Anyway, I have been worried about this for awhile, but she didn't have any symptoms after we got home. I thought that since I was at a doctors office I would ask her about it. The doctor said she wanted to research a few things. It might be nothing, but because it was her left arm and her right side of her face it might be something on her brain. Well, that's just lovely.
Jorja
The doctor gave us a school excuse, but there wasn't a time written on it. Jorja and I took advantage of that and went to brunch at The Original Pancake House. I really enjoyed that. Jorja had softball tryouts today. She was so nervous! She came home pretty happy though. She felt she played well. Yay! I'm so happy for her!

Sunday, February 25, 2018

Backs are Back

Well, they have been back for about eight months now. President Back was the mission president in Sydney Australia. They came back in June. The boys in our ward have a great relationship with him. Especially the priests. He was their scout master and he was amazing. Every single one of these boys loves him. I hope Stockton gets a mission president just like him. Anyway, Becky Johnson asked the Backs if they could talk about mission life and preparing for a mission. I came too because I love listening to them speak. Stockton and I left about ten minutes before the bread came out of the oven. We got this text from the understanding souls at home.
Mike, Jorja, Preston
I'm going to jot down some random notes I took when the Backs were talking.... Not easy. Hardest thing you will have done. You need to get up at 6:30 every morning. You will have personal study for one hour, companion study for 30 minutes, language study if that applies. You will be with your companion 24/7. Only away from each other when you go to the bathroom.If you can get along with every companion in the mission field you can get along with anyone in the world. Figure it out. Love your companion. Three things to prepare: LOVE the Book of Mormon, gain a testimony. It's all about love. As soon as you start serving, you will start loving. #1 most important thing is to be obedient. Decide to be 100% obedient before you go. White handbook with lots of rules. Love casteth out fear. Read the Book of Mormon everyday. No less than a chapter a day for the rest of your life. If you don't have a relationship with your Savior you are in trouble on your mission. Matt 11 last two verses. Come unto me... Couldn't do it without the help of Heavenly Father. The Savior serves with his missionaries. D&C 84:88. Worthy, prayerful, he is working with you and it's a delight. Repent. Purpose of missionary, bring people to the atonement of Christ.... Pray and pray and pray and pray. Prayers work. Weekly planning sometimes up to 4 hours a week. Lots of rejection. Heavenly Father is using you young ones because it works the best. OYM - Open Your Mouth. Missionaries love meetings. Zone conferences 6-7 hours. Spirit builds you up. You need that. When your faith is high you can do it.

Questions: What do you do when you have a companion that doesn't want to follow the white handbook? ------- Pray. There is free agency. End of the day love them. You get up and do your stuff anyway. You can slip into disobedience so easily!!!

How do you decide when you should go? --------You are called for specific certain people. You prepare yourself every way. Come to know the Savior. Do your duties diligently and you will know when to go. You stay worthy. Repent all the time. You'll know. It's important to go. It's incredible.

It will be the hardest most wonderful thing you will ever do in your life. Be happy. Be positive. Two great qualities.
President and Sister Back, Stockton, Hannah, Ian, Isaac, Logan, Zoe, Darby
Ashley, Jordan, Johnny, Kelsee
 President and Sister Back, Stockton, Hannah, Ian, Isaac, Logan, Finn, Luke, Zoe, Darby
Ashley, Jordan, Johnny, Kelsee

Saturday, February 24, 2018

Macbeth's Last Day

There were a ton of deer running across our front lawn today. I think Dash on his skateboard coming down the street freaked them out. I wasn't fast enough to get really cool pictures.
We got to Macbeth early. I wanted to get great seats. Turns out that for some reason the entire front row was reserved. Our seats were not great at all, despite arriving an hour early. Oh well. I called Ange and asked if she wanted my dad's ticket. She wanted to go with Bubs. We were able to get them a standby ticket. That was so nice of them to come! I was glad I told the boys what the story was. It is pretty hard to follow along without knowing. I think Preston would have had a really hard time sitting through it if we didn't have that conversation. He was great today. Stockton hung out with Gavin and some other diving friends for most of the day. They went hiking and then played games at Gavin's house. I told him to meet us at the school at 6:45. He did. I was waiting for him with his ticket. He barely looked at me as he grabbed the ticket because he saw Acea waiting for a standby ticket. Acea is his good friend from last year. He was the math sterling scholar last year. He is up at Utah State right now. Stockton loved seeing him!
Acea, Stockton, Nate (Macduff)
 And Mike trying to photobomb
 Mike, Jorja, Stephanie


 Jorja & Drew ~ Jorja was SO EXCITED Drew came!
 Ange, Jorja, Bubs
Mike, Preston and I headed home. Stockton stayed to talk with his friends and wait for Jorja. Jorja convinced them to go get ice-cream. Stockton, Acea, Nate and Jorja went to McDonalds. They had an ice-cream cone that lasted two minutes, then sat and talked for an hour. I asked Jorja if she felt like a third wheel. She said, "Only when they talked nerd." Hahaha! Stockton, Acea and Nate are the biggest nerds in the best way. Both Stockton and Jorja had a fantastic day.

Friday, February 23, 2018

Speed

I am behind on my blog once again. Blame my computer. It likes to crash. All the time. I find that very annoying. Okay, on to important information. Stockton navigated like a champ through super slippery roads early this morning. He said the roads were awful going to SLCC. Glad he made it without incident despite slipping a couple of times. Also, Stockton and Preston have been having a battle with my blocks.
I was scheduled to do the concessions for Macbeth today. I was telling Stockton how boring it was going to be. He suggested playing Colt Express, "You will have service, won't you?" We can play Colt Express with each other on our phones. When he said 'service' I got excited. "Stockton! You can come with me and get service hours!" Stockton was in his jammies, but I convinced him to come. We had a great time! Once the play started we played Speed until intermission. It was so much fun, even though we accidentally tipped the cooler which caused a giant puddle right at the entrance to Struiksma's room. Whoops!

Jorja went out to Chili's with the cast after the show. I found these blurry pictures on her phone. I think she had a great time. She does look happy.


Thursday, February 22, 2018

New Sisters

Jorja had an early morning breakfast at Ebony's house for her birthday. I can't believe Ebony is 16! I love her! Stella invited lots of girls over for a birthday breakfast and then took them to school. How fun!

The new missionaries came over today. They talked with Mike and I for about an hour. Sister Kalliainen is from Washington and Sister Gregerson is from Georgia. The two places we have lived outside of Utah. We really liked them. Sister Gregerson is brand new, straight from the MTC. I informed them while they were over here that Jorja was now their new best friend. They were okay with that, even though they have never met her. Sister missionaries are the best!
Sister Kalliainen and Sister Gregerson

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

First Performance

The roads were pretty bad this morning, so I took Stockton to his English class. His heater has stopped working in the jeep. It was pretty cold on the way back home. Jorja had her first official Macbeth performance today. I decided to come down and see if I could get in. All the performance are sold out. A lady at the door had an extra ticket that she gave to me. That was awesome! It was a lot of fun watching Jorja. I was glad I had read up on Macbeth and knew what was going on. It would have been hard to understand it otherwise. I decided I need to make sure Preston knows what is going on or he will be miserable the entire play! Jorja looked beautiful on stage! She has loved this play, which is great because it has taken up all of her free time for the last two months!
Jorja and Sophi

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Old Yearbook

I started looking through my sophomore yearbook looking for something. Then I got distracted and wanted to see what message Mike wrote me. HE DIDN'T! I forgot that he never signed my yearbook sophomore year. He didn't come to yearbook day. I didn't go to the yearbook stomp that he went to. Mike told me he would sign it now if I wanted. Haha. I did find a message from Laura. It made me laugh. She did always boss me around. I never minded though. I texted this picture to Laura. We are going to meet for lunch tomorrow. Yay! Yay! Yay!
Jorja missed most of her classes for Macbeth. The only class she went to was woodworking. Good hair guy is in there, so that is a bonus. Jorja talked me into letting her skip young womens to go to senior night for boys basketball. She went with Hailey. They were going to be doing Where's Waldo for the activity, which is usually my kids least favorite activity of the year. Alta lost by about 30 points, so I don't think the game was super fun. Although I don't think Jorja ever pays attention to what is happening on the floor.
Jorja and Hailey

Monday, February 19, 2018

Snow at Home

Here is another picture I found of Jorja at the cabin. I am so glad we are safe and warm at home right now! I had to take Jorja early to Macbeth. The roads were awful! So much snow! They ended up finishing a couple hours earlier than I thought. Today was their last dress rehearsal.
Leo & Jorja (Sherry & Mike)
Jorja convinced me to drop her off at Isaac's house so she could hang out with Isaac and Evan. I did not like that. Mostly because I didn't want to leave the house. Finally she talked me into it. It was scary just getting out of the driveway! I dropped Jorja off, then spent the next two hours trying to clear our driveway of snow. I didn't do a great job, but it was good enough for Mike to be able to get up it with the van. That's what I was going for.
Home
Our home got more snow than the cabin! I would have loved to have snow like this up there! Mike left the cabin to come home around 5:00. I was so relieved when they were finally home. Mike had a great weekend. It is wonderful when he is able to spend time with his family.
Steve & Mike

Sunday, February 18, 2018

Quick Trip

Today was a great day. Mostly we went to church and played games. Lots and lots of games. I played the Farming Game with Michael, Melissa and Derek. I had a chance to win, but choked and rolled a one on 25 acres of fruit! Derek ended up winning. Stockton had a lot of people playing werewolf with him. There were a lot of lively discussions going on. I think they had a great time. I played Dominion twice with Mike, Preston, and Steve. Stockton played the first game with us and won because he randomly bought an estate the last turn. He won me by one point! I can't remember who won the second game, so it probably wasn't me.
Weston, Taylor, Brandon, Nathan, Stockton, Derek, Michael, Connor, Jacob's back
 Jacob, Weston, Taylor, Brandon, Nathan, Stockton, Derek, Michael, Connor's hair
 Mike, Preston, Steve
Miah, Weston and Jorja were all talking on the couch. They are all freshman. They started talking about dances. I said, "Jorja can only go to Girls Pref if she goes with Stockton or Weston." Jorja turned and asked Weston if he wanted to go to Girls Pref. I got Steve and Shannon's permission. Jorja's pretty excited. I think it will be cool to go with Weston for her first dance. It will take the pressure off and they can both see what dances will be like. She has a long wait because it's not until May!

I also talked to Lisa for awhile this morning about Jessica. Jessica died when she was 19 from a blood clot. It's been almost ten years. She would be turning 29 in May. I wonder what her life would be like. I did find out that Aimee is engaged! Yay! Aimee is in medical school in Texas. She is getting married in June. How exciting! Jorja and I took off just before 8:00. We were only at the cabin for 25 hours. Yikes! I decided to go through Idaho Falls because there was a storm advisory in Wyoming. The roads were great until about 9000 S. Then they were horrible! It was past midnight and the snow was falling a ton! I was incredibly happy when we finally made it home. Jorja slept with me again. I was so happy to be safe and home with my little girl.
Nathan, Jorja, Melissa, Nathan
Jorja texted Mike while we were on the road and asked him to get a sibling picture. Now that Lisa lives in California it is harder than ever for these four to be altogether. I'm so happy Lisa and Nathan were able to make it!
Lisa, Sherry, Mike, Steve
 Sherry took this picture of her and Stockton. What the crazy?

Saturday, February 17, 2018

Spoons

Today was a LONG day, and I only have one picture. Jorja had Macbeth practice until 2:30. I picked her up and we hurried up to the cabin. Lisa and Nathan got there today too. They brought Taylor and Michael. It is Michael's first time here. The roads were great for us. We arrived just after sundown, I'm guessing 7:00. I can't remember. We stopped at Alpine Market, filled up with gas and picked up Mike. He was there with Steve and Shannon. Lisa had dinner waiting for us. Once dinner was finished we had a giant super competitive game of Spoons. Some blood was shed, but it was fun. I went out night skiing with the brave ones. Jorja couldn't go because she had a Chinese essay that was due at midnight. This is the only picture I have of today and I have no idea if it is even right side up.
Mike and I shared the lava room with Sherry. Jorja, Connor and Miah also slept in there. It was fun talking to them while we were falling asleep. Connor was telling me about a major Stockton is interested in. I wish Stockton had been there!

Friday, February 16, 2018

Macbeth and Parrydise

Mike took the boys up to the cabin after Stockton's English class. Mike's family is coming up this weekend too. Mike's so excited. I stayed behind with Jorja. She has play practice this weekend. Boo! The kids didn't have school today, except Jorja who had to be there for Macbeth. When she was finished we went shopping. I got her some new jeans. The ones I got her at the beginning of the year have holes in the pockets. At least she used them! We stopped by Barnes and Noble to look for a book. We couldn't find it, but Jorja had me take a picture with Macbeth. She also got her cast shirt today. She does look adorable in it. I'm glad she has loved this experience. Macbeth doesn't sound like the funnest play to be in, but she has loved it! Although it has taken up most of her free time for two months! They perform next week. I got a ticket for my dad, but he can't make it. He comes back from Israel Friday, so I got Saturday tickets. Too bad it's Max's last soccer game at the same time. I bet John would have loved to go. Too bad he lives in Virginia.
Jorja
I got in an argument with Jorja today. It was the last open gym for softball that she could go to. She wouldn't go. She promised me when I let her skip the open gym so she could go to a movie with Stockton and Gavin that she would go to all the other open gyms. She hasn't been to one. Play practice has been in the way, and then she was sick. I was furious. I think she is going to look back at this with regret. I went to bed early and Jorja came in and apologized. Well, she said, "I'm sorry I'm such an awful daughter." Not what I was going for there. I just want to be able to know she is going to do what she says she is going to do. We talked for awhile and Jorja came in and slept with me. I hope she knows how amazing she is. Jorja had a Hank Smith CD playing while we fell asleep.

Meanwhile, up in Parrydise. There was snow! Yay! Not as much snow as usual, but sometimes you have to take what you can get. Mike sent me these pictures from the cabin. He said the roads were great for him.
Derek and Melissa were the first to make it there. Steve and Shannon got up there late. Sherry was the last I think. The roads were horrible for Sherry. Very foggy. I'm glad she was safe! Steve came with his three youngest boys and Sherry had Connor and Miah. Xander was sick and stayed home with Matt.
Leo and Nova
Mike was able to get the scary fuse box replaced. It will be nice not to worry about the water heater going out at random times.

Thursday, February 15, 2018

Second Interview

I took Stockton to the temple early this morning. We had family names, so I was able to be baptized too. We finished without incident. Yay! I got back just in time to take Jorja and Olivia to school. Stockton took a quick nap while I did that. He was up late working on things for his interview today. I woke him up and we drove down to the SLCC bookstore in Taylorsville. We were looking for an Engineering notebook. Stockton lost his and he was having notebook checks today. We looked everywhere for that thing. He thinks he might have left it on the computer when he was in class. Stockton thanked me for driving him everywhere. I told him that his is the reason I love not working. I love being for them when they need me. We are all so lucky Mike has been successful in his career. I got Stockton back a few minutes late to advisory again. It turned out not to matter because the 4.0 banquet was happening. Stockton sat with a bunch of the other sterling scholar candidates. Stockton and Nate were wearing suits, the girls were in dresses. The spent time bonding over their nerves. Jorja didn't go to the 4.0 breakfast. She didn't have a great experience at the last one, so she had no desire to do that again. Jorja looked so pretty today. She curled her hair and it looked great. She had her ballroom Foxtrot test today. One of her friends must have snapped pictures because I found this on her phone.
Jorja and her partner
Stockton came home and worked until it was time to leave for his interview. He has been making an app to study his academic decathlon stuff. He wanted to show it at the interview. When he moved it to the laptop he was planning on bringing all of the font disappeared. AHHHH! Finally he just took a video of him playing it on his computer and called it good. He was also brushing his teeth why he was doing this. Somehow he got toothpaste all over his suit! AHHHHH again! I tried to get it off. It disappeared, but I told Stockton I wasn't convinced it worked. I asked him to check once he got there to make sure it was gone for good. When Stockton walked in Heffner, his sterling scholar advisor, stared at him and said, "What happened!" Well, turns out Heffner was prepared for anything. She had these eye glass rags, or something like that, and was able to get the toothpaste off. She also didn't like this tag he had on his suit coat. Not a price tag, just a normal tag of the designer. Heffner was getting the toothpaste off of him while someone else was using a sewing kit to get the tag off. Stockton thought that was pretty funny and it put him at ease. Stockton was a bit nervous, because he had no idea what math question would be asked and he hasn't had calculus for a few years. Mrs. Waters talked to him for awhile yesterday. She told him that at this point the judges don't expect you to get the answer right, they are more interested in your thought process. Anyway, Stockton did great on the interview. They only asked him one question and he got it right. Everything went much better than expected. Yay! Yay! Yay! No matter what happens at least he will be able to look back on this experience with no regrets.

I took Preston to diving today. Stockton had his interview while we were at the pool. I was so nervous for him! Once we got home we decided to try and get the organ. I called Matt and he agreed to help. Thank goodness! Hopefully we can fix it. It sure does bring back a lot of memories. Stockton then stayed up until midnight tonight working on the Utah State honors application. He got that turned in a few minutes before it was due. Oh man! That kid sure works hard!