Utah State

Preston had his art/engineering show at the elementary school today. Mike came home from work in time to go to it. We ate at a ribs food truck thing, that was pretty good.

Preston and Mike

 Preston's mini golf hole

 Preston and his turtle

Maysen had a final for her Health Psychology class today. Mike ordered her a pen drawing tablet. It came today. I thought the box was really pretty.

Stockton FINALLY decided on a college. He picked Utah State. He was offered the presidential scholarship there. That will cover four years of full tuition and fees. It is the same scholarship Maysen has. His friend Acea has really liked Utah State. Acea was Alta's math sterling scholar the year before Stockton, so his opinion means a lot. Anyway, here is Stockton ready to push the 'accept scholarship' button. Too bad we missed the deadline for the alumni scholarship for both Maysen and Stockton. In our defense, they have an insanely early deadline.

Stockton

Jorja didn't feel too well today. A lot of people at school congratulated her for winning president. She would just mumble thanks. I think the stress of campaigning caught up with her. Jorja's permanent retainer broke today. Boo. She also applied to Chick-Fil-A today. She found out you can work there starting at 15 1/2. This video was taken minutes after she submitted her application.

Stockton and Jorja have started hanging out with us in bed every once in awhile. I love it, even though it is super crowded. It is the only time I have wished for a king bed.

Be an Example of the Believers

Stockton and Jorja

Jorja gave a talk in church today. It was fantastic. She was poised and articulate. Sister Christensen told me afterwords that Jorja just glows. That made me laugh because that is Jorja's favorite compliment. I snapped a picture before church started. Josh came and talked to Jorja while she was sitting on the stand. He ran for a class office for the first time this year. He will be the Junior class public relations officer. He was so excited he looked like he was going to pop out of his skin!

Bishop Waddoups, Bro. Mogensen, Jorja and Josh

I recorded Jorja's talk on my 'voice memos'. Here is the transcript:

I was asked to give a talk on how I can be an example of the Savior at school and among my friends. Now keeping that question in mind, I'm going to take a minute to go over the apostle Paul's epistle to Timothy when he says, "Be thou an example of the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity." (1 Timothy 4:12)

The first two mentioned kind of go together and that's word and conversation. Words have the power to lift people up, but they can also be used as destructive weapons to tear people down. In this day it's hard to go about your life avoiding profanity. It surrounds the air and when it's so commonly used around us all the time it can be hard not to fall into that habit ourselves. We can be an example of the Savior as we choose only to use clean and loving language which will lift up those around us. That's the first one. Being an example of the believers in words and conversation.

The second one is charity. Charity is defined as the pure love of Christ. We can gain and practice charity by choosing to see others through Christ's eyes. For the past couple of months I've been praying each morning to see others through Christ's eyes and to gain a portion of his love for them. Sometimes I have to spend a couple of days or a week on a certain person trying to gain a true love for them and other times it's just recognizing what Christ sees in everyone that we aren't able to see through our eyes. Even though there are still those people that get on my nerves sometimes, I can truly say that over the months I've been able to come a lot closer to my peers and I can honestly say that I feel a deep love for everyone that I know and I'm so grateful for that. I've always thought of charity as pure and sincere kindness and I think one of the best ways we can show pure and sincere kindness in school and anywhere else is just reaching out to those who need it. I'm sure most of us know highschooll can be a dark and lonely place and there are people all around us who we don't realize need a helping hand. I know that I've had my days where I go to school and I feel lonely and I hope and pray for someone to come up to me and include me. It's just made me realize that we don't know what everyone's going through and even the kid who might seem the most popular or cool at your school might just really need a true friend. My mom always tells me that it never hurts to be kind and I really think that those are words to live by because you'll never regret being kind to someone, you just never know who needs it. So that's the second one, be an example of the believers in charity.

Third is spirit. When you are an example of the spirit you radiate light around you like a lighthouse. How cool is it to be the person that people come to when they have a bad day. I know for me when my friends come up to me and open up to me I just feel really touched that I'm someone that they feel safe around and I try my best to be a good listener. When we live as examples of the spirit, people will be drawn to us in their times of darkness and through Christ's help we can bring them safely to shore. One important thing that I think separates us from other churches is our ability to not only feel the spirit but that we can keep it with us. Other churches, they can feel the spirit. It comes in and out of their lives like air comes out of a balloon. It goes in and out, inflates and deflates; but for us, the spirit surrounds us like the air surrounds us. At times that can make it hard to recognize the spirit just like we don't recognize the air around us unless we really think about it; but as we live worthily of the spirit, others will be able to feel it surrounding us. So that's the third one, be an example of the believers in spirit.

Next is faith. We must trust in the Lord and his word. Our faith, or lack of it, influences all we do. Our faith brings us courage to make hard decisions. Communication with our Father is vital and we can't take it for granted. If we pray and read the scriptures regularly we will have increased faith in Him and can be more confident following his plan, even if it doesn't involve what we want at the time. Search diligently, pray always and be believing and all things shall work together for thy good. I promise that as we choose to live our lives in faith we will receive blessings that we can't even begin to comprehend. That's the fourth one, be thou an example of the believers in faith.

Now last is purity. We must treat our bodies as a temple and fill our minds with clean and pure thoughts. Live the commandments and the teachings in the For the Strength of Youth packet. Staying pure allows us to receive his blessings. Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. That's the last one, be an example of the believers in purity.

I'm just going to close with a quote from Thomas S. Monson that says, "As we follow the example of the Savior, ours will be the opportunity to be a light in the lives of others." I promise that as you live as an example of the believers you will light a path for others and bring blessings to not only you but to those around us.

I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

In other non-important news, I was spotlighted on the wall outside of the relief society room. I think this paper stays up for a month. 

 Jorja relaxing after church

We have 9:00 church, so I was able to watch the Jazz/Rockets game. Not the best game this year. The game was on ABC. We have an antenna so we can get that channel. It worked great at first, but once kids started going in the kitchen above me I couldn't see anything. After they left the kitchen it still wouldn't work. Mike was able to move the antenna in a spot where the tv came through. He spent the last part of the game holding it there, even though we knew the Rockets were going to win. That's a nice husband.

Mike helping me watch the Jazz/Rockets game

Stockton picked up Gavin and went to Nate's house to see him opening his mission call. He is going to Arkansas, Marshallese speaking, or something like that. Mike and I went to the trek fireside with Jorja. She had a speaking part in it. She was one of the narrators and did great. Today was a busy day for her. She has had a busy week. She is glad it is over.

Big Tree

Mike went in our backyard and this is what he found. Sad. It probably fell in the huge windstorm a few days ago. This was such a surprise. We had no worries about this tree falling. Luckily Mike didn't set up the batting cage yet. That thing would have been destroyed.

Preston

 Jorja's frogs were buried here.

 Preston

This is not going to be fun to get rid of.

Jorja spent the day with Hailey and Madison. They were downstairs for awhile, then they made cookies for Jaren. I drove Jorja and her friends to Jaren's new house. They are moving into our neighborhood and are in the process of fixing up the house. I talked to Jaren's parents for awhile. Both of them separately told me how thankful they are for Jorja. Jaren has had a hard time making friends since he moved here from California at the beginning of the school year. Jaren's mom's name is Karity. I have no idea how to spell that. His dad's name is Jeff. Karity's dad was there. Karity's brother is Shandon Cole, so she was telling her dad how Mike was a SBO with Shandon. When he realized I was in the same grade he said, "So you knew Shandon too?" I said that I did but I knew Casey and Carly Cole better. He was shocked I knew them. Apparently Karity lived near us until she was three years old. I did not know that. Anyway, it was nice getting to know Jaren's parents a bit.

I finally pulled Jorja away and took the girls to the store. They wanted to go to Plato's Closet, then I took them to the mall. I just sat in the car at the mall because there wasn't time for me to go home and back before the mall was going to close. Jorja invited me to come with them, but I had had enough shopping for the day. Jorja seemed to have a great time.

Jorja, Madison, Hailey

Mike and I talked to Maysen for awhile about a story she is writing. I'm so excited that she comes home in a few days!

Three Good Things

Three very good things happened today. First, we called SLCC to talk about Stockton's missing credit. I had found the plan the counselor made with Stockton and realized where the mistake was. They had Stockton as missing one elective credit. His counselor had a note that he could borrow a credit from his art/diversity class to use for an elective credit if he got a C or better. That class was a four credit class, but he only needed three. They just didn't move the credit down. We talked to the people in the graduation office and explained our situation. They called back a few hours later and said that it was their mistake and everything is fixed now. Whew! That was stressful!

Jorja went to the temple this morning with Hallie. That is a good thing, but it wasn't one of the three I was thinking of. We haven't been on Friday morning before. We got there 20 minutes early and the place was packed! Yikes! Somehow Jorja and Hallie finished in record time. They were able to slip in front of a couple of big groups.

Jorja and Hallie

The second good thing is the election is over. Jorja W-O-N! She was stunned! This was the outcome she really wanted, but thought it wasn't possible. She put everything she had into this election. I am so happy for her! For the last few weeks she has been wearing a necklace Mike and I gave her for Easter. It is a little bird. The necklace came with a quote that said, "What if I fall? Oh, but my darling, what if you fly?"--Erin Hanson. Look at that. Jorja's flying. She told me that if she had known she would be sophomore president when she was in 6th grade she would have been so scared she would have cried. Jorja has sure changed a lot from 6th grade!

Jorja ~ sophomore president, Carter ~ junior historian

 Jorja calling her dad to let him know she won.

Jorja and I went home to tell the boys the good news. They were in the process of making a cake. We talked them into pausing the cake so we could go to Bahama Bucks for our after election tradition. I'm so proud of Jorja. I'm proud of her for being brave, for having the courage to follow promptings, for being willing to put herself in uncomfortable situations, and for being kind. She is going to have a fantastic year!

One really sweet thing I wanted to mention. Maysen told me last week that she would rather Jorja win her election than she get her efy job. Separately Jorja told me that she would rather Maysen get her efy job than win the election. I love that both would have given up something they really wanted to see the other succeed. I love my girls!

The third good thing today is . . . the Jazz won! They finished out the series against the Thunder. Yay! They have been so much fun to watch lately. I hope Rubio is healthy by the time the next series starts. I did tell the kids that I would rather have the Jazz lose and they win (and graduate). They thought that was very big of me. :)

ONE Credit

Brett and his girls left this morning. They are hoping to make it to Mike's house in New Mexico before Mike's kids have to go to bed. Hopefully that works out for them. Stockton and I are going to Florida at the end of May. We are crossing our fingers that we will get to see Brett and his family then. We will be near Fort Lauderdale, not Orlando . . . still.

Stephanie and Brett

Jorja had her last day of campaigning today. Ahhh! What a scary thing she is doing. She said it was funny because she would walk with Brenton a lot. They each had their signs running for President. Everyone can tell they are good friends. I'm glad things haven't been awkward between them. Jorja said they have actually gotten closer running against each other. Someone came up to Jorja and asked why she would be a better president than Brenton. She didn't know how to answer that. They asked her to tell them something bad about Brenton. She wouldn't do it. She said she liked Brenton. They said they wouldn't vote for her if she wouldn't say anything bad about Brenton. That was weird. Anyway, Jorja is really nervous today. I took her to Hobby Lobby and the mall to make the day go by faster for her. Mike helped her do a cute video for Instagram. I'm not sure how to put that on here. Jorja has a good shot at winning this election. I think she is matched pretty evenly with Brenton. I have talked to her about not having her confidence take a hit if she loses. She knows there is no one thinking, "Why is that girl running?" Brenton will be hard to beat. He is super popular and really nice. I know Jorja will have no regrets looking back on her campaign. She did a great job. Now we wait.

I had a Chinese meeting and then a missionary meeting tonight. Jorja also had to practice for a stake fireside coming up. I brought her home when she was finished, even though I had to skip out on a little of my missionary meeting. There was a car we didn't recognize in the driveway. It was Papa's! That was a surprise. He waited until Mike got home from the missionary meeting and stayed and chatted for awhile. That was nice.

I have been nervous that we haven't gotten any information about SLCC's graduation. Stockton called on Tuesday and they said everything was all set. I finally texted Josh's mom and asked her what information she received. Stockton checked his bruin email and saw a message that was delivered yesterday, after he called and was told everything was good. The message said he was ONE credit short. WHAT!!! We are sick to our stomachs. There is nothing we can do until morning. I have been paranoid that some little thing will ruin this for Stockton. We sat with an advisor a couple of times to make Stockton's plan. He did everything he was asked. I'm just sick with worry right now.

Brett's Here!

Stockton had his last ENGL 2010 class. Yay! No more waking up at 5:45. This last month of high school should be pretty easy.

Jorja had another campaigning day today. She said it went really well, but she is pretty nervous. She thinks Brenton is going to win. He might, but you never know. I think it is going to be close either way. Hopefully whichever of them doesn't win gets enough votes to be the senator.

Preston stayed home from school today. His eyes were really bothering him. He was worried that he wouldn't be able to get up and run water in his eyes. I told him he could just ask his teacher. Preston said, "I don't know how to ask that in Chinese!" Well, he is the fourth child, so I let him stay home. We had a great time together. He helped me straighten up and get things ready for Brett's family. We went and ate at Subway (Preston's favorite) and picked up ice-cream for tonight. I wonder if Preston is going to have as bad of allergies as Mike. Yesterday he was outside for an hour. I thought his eyes were hurting because he was upset. Allergies makes more sense, his eyes were quite red all day long. I did notice a lot of cotton flying around. I remember Grandma Honey was really allergic to that.

Brett, Rachel and their girls came over today! Yay! Yay! Yay! We had family dinner. Dad made spaghetti. We were planning on watching the Jazz game tonight. Matt even signed up for a free trial somewhere so he could watch it. Too bad it was blocked out in our area. We hurried down to Matt's house because he had the right channel. You would think such a big game would be on ESPN or TNT. You would be wrong. The game started off great. The Jazz were up by 25 in the 3rd quarter. Then Gobert got a phantom call that took him out of the game. Everything went downhill from there and the Jazz ended up losing. That was disappointing.

Grace and Anne

 Eve, Grace, Grandpa, Anne

 Jeff, Eve, Grace, Anne

Campaign Videos

Jorja had to go to school early to film her campaign video. It turned out really cute. The only thing we are worried about is maybe she should have been more obvious she was singing the school song backwards. She said, "Vote for someone who knows your school forwards and backwards." We are wondering now if she should have said something like, "To demonstrate . . . your school song backwards." We are hoping that people don't think, "She sang the school song, but it sounded a little off." Anyway, here is the link to the campaign videos. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZpbLgoYmyM

Preston came home with a sticker about School Spirit night at Zupas, so we packed up and headed down there. Madison came with us too. Madison ended up going to Young Womens with Jorja too. She stayed and helped Jorja get some things on her campaign ready. I really like her. Too bad they aren't in the same grade!

Jorja and Madison

Preston got to play tag with nerf guns for his scouts. He was sad when I picked him up. He said everyone stopped playing and no one told him so he kept hiding for five minutes. I don't think the other boys meant to. I saw the leader come out and tell them it was time to go. They went to the backyard and jumped on the tramp. I guess the leader didn't realize Preston wasn't there and the boys didn't think about it. I was watching from my car while waiting to pick up Preston. He's not wrong though. The other four boys are really good friends. They like the same things. They were all on the same Junior Jazz team. I felt bad that Preston wasn't asked, although I don't think I could have convinced him to play basketball. It's just sad that there is no one he connects with nearby. Preston was pretty sad and his eyes were hurting him from crying. He wasn't crying hard, he just had tears in his eyes. He kept washing out his eyes. Hopefully they will feel better in the morning.

Brett's Home

Today was a good day! Brett came home from UAE. He's been gone six long months. Rachel checked the kids out of school to meet him at the airport. The girls knew he would be coming home soon, but didn't know it would be today. Rachel told them they had to pick up a bag Brett had to send home early. How cute is this video! Doesn't Marie look like she is going to hop outside of her body? Isn't Eve awesome? Dad's home, but trains are cool! Yay! I'm so glad he's finally home. We will get to see him on Wednesday!

I would have been an overbearing sister-in-law and driven up to Boise to watch Brett walk off that plane if it weren't for one thing. Jorja's elections were today. I couldn't leave her today! The kids voted in advisory, which is after first period, then they found out after school who made it to finals. There are five positions for each class. The top two candidates are able to move on. I went to school and waited in the car for her. I waited for about 45 minutes. It's good to wait long, because if you don't win they send you out early. I didn't want her to have to wait for me if she didn't make it, so I just waited. I saw Stockton after. He ended up waiting to see Jorja's results. I saw him in the parking lot. He would NOT tell me anything! Anyway, Jorja made it! She will be running for President of the sophomore class against Brenton Valentine. Brenton is the current president. He is super popular, in our ward and one of Jorja's friends. Brenton told her that he wished they could be co-presidents. Jorja said, "No way! That is what I'm hoping for too!" It has happened before, so you never know. Jorja doesn't think she'll win against Brenton. The person who loses by the smallest margin gets to be senator. Hopefully if Jorja doesn't win she will still be able to serve in student government as a senator. We shall see. This will be a stressful week!

I took Jorja to Bahama Bucks after the results. She said that I took her there after she won public relations and she doesn't know if she will win president, so she wanted to go today. I picked up something for Stockton and Preston too. Forgot Gavin would be at our house until it was too late. Whoops. Stockton was waiting for us so Jorja could tell Preston and Gavin that she made it, then they headed off to diving. While they were gone Jorja and I met Mike at an all-you-can-eat sushi place. I could not eat a lot. That place was filling!

Jorja spent time tonight working on her skit. Tomorrow they go early for a 30 second one take skit. Talk about pressure. She has an idea about what she is going to do, but isn't sure about how all of it will flow together. She toyed with using a piano, a ping pong ball, or decks of cards. Hopefully she'll figure out what she wants to do by 7:45 tomorrow morning!

Jorja also got answered to her first dance tonight. She was practicing her skit, Stockton was timing her when the doorbell rang. I was a little quick getting to the door because I saw them hopping into a car. I don't remember exactly what I saw because I panicked when I realized what was happening and quickly shut the door. Unlike what I did when Mike asked me to our first dance. Homecoming. I was outside taking a walk when I saw his jeep drive by. It passed my house and I thought that was weird. Soon, I saw Mike sneak up to my porch, put something on it and run around the house to hide. I followed him around the house and surprised him. Haha. Probably shouldn't have done that, but it was pretty funny. I remember it was a basketball hoop that said, "I finally got the NERF to try and SCORE a date with you." His name was inside the nerf ball in the hoop. Although I obviously knew who it was already. Anyway, this is what Mackie dropped off.

I thoroughly enjoyed watching the Jazz destroy the Thunder in Game 4. The Thunder looked like they were falling apart. They were getting so mad. This Jazz team is awesome and so much fun to watch. I haven't enjoyed watching Jazz games this much since Stockton and Malone let them to the finals. I hope they keep this up!

Jorja's Card Trick

I talked with Sister Christensen at church today. We talked a little before sacrament meeting, our family usually sits in front of her. After the meeting I ran into her in the hall. She stopped and talked to me again. We ended up talking for quite awhile. Her husband died last year at the end of June. He was our stake patriarch and everyone adored him. I mentioned to Sister Christensen how I had lost my mom over twenty years ago. Sister Christensen's dad died when she was 14. We talked for awhile and we're both crying. Twice she took my chin in the palm of her hand and looked me in the eyes while she told me something. I can't even remember what she said, but it was such a motherly gesture I couldn't help but cry. Then she gave me a long hug before she went home. My eyes were super red when I got to class. I tried to wash my face, but it didn't go away. Oh well.

Mike talked Jorja into posting a campaign video on Instagram. This is what she posted.

Voting is tomorrow. The top two of each category get to be on the ballot for final elections. The kids vote in advisory, which is after first period. Jorja will find out if she made it after school. Tomorrow is going to be a long day.

State Theater

I got Jorja up early to go to the state theater competition.  She was tired. She did great though, she even got a medal. You get a medal if all of the judges gave a superior rating on your piece. Jorja was there most of the day. I picked her up around 5:00. Madison came over after Jorja got home. I took them to the mall. Jorja returned the shoes she didn't decide on, then the girls did whatever girls do when they go to the mall.

I sent a screenshot of this to my brother Mike. John's caption makes me laugh. "Pretty sure I will only post videos of my kids playing ball. Just so we're all on the same page."

Mike went to the mall to get the girls. It was four minutes until halftime of Game 3 for the Jazz/Thunder series. I didn't want to leave. I was so glad Mike let me stay! The last four minutes of the half were awesome! Rubio was on fire! Jazz ended up winning the game and that made me very happy.

One of the things I had on Preston's chore list was to move the beanbag from his room into Jorja's room. Preston put it on Jorja's bed and then made the bed. I found Jorja on her bed on the beanbag. I laughed and asked her why she didn't take the beanbag off? She said she was too tired, but she wasn't very comfortable. I made her get up and fixed everything for her. She has had a long week.

Jorja

Bubbles

I took Maysen back up to Logan today. It was crazy busy. I got up early to exercise, then headed out the door with Maysen as soon as Preston was off. Stockton had to give his final presentation in his English class. He said that went really well. I was glad to see him before we left. Maysen has a class at 10:30 and we got to her apartment at 10:00. She was still in her pjs. I dropped her off and ran to the store. I wanted to leave her with a fresh bananas and a gallon of milk. I then dropped her off at her class so she wouldn't need to take the bus. She got there just in time. Whew! I also laughed when I saw a message from Jorja. Yesterday she asked me if I could run down some extra card earrings for her because hers broke. I wrote back that I was in Provo. I got the same message this time and wrote back that I was in Logan. Ha! I was able to get the rest of the earrings in her locker in time for second lunch. Jorja's been trying to figure out what kind of video to post on Instagram. She was toying with the idea of having a boomerang video, but she didn't like it. This is what it looked like.

Preston came home from the Fun Run with a pack of bubbles he had won. He was happy about that. Jorja said campaigning went better today than yesterday. She said even though she was tired, she is glad she stayed up late talking to the boy that has been causing her pain. She said she felt free and didn't worry about him at all. I hope this feeling lasts for a long time. She was so tired when she got home. I am proud of her. I can't imagine how hard it is for her to put herself out there, especially considering how shy she naturally is. She has grown a lot in the last few years. I just wish she could see herself as others see her now. Absolutely amazing.

Music Man

AHHHH!!! Campaigning starts today! I snapped a picture of cute Jorja with her posters before school. This is going to be a stressful couple of weeks. (Notice Jorja's earrings in the picture below. Aren't they the cutest? She had a mini deck of playing cards and glued the Jack of hearts onto clip on earrings.)

Jorja

 She's off!

I took Maysen up to Provo for her EFY interview. She looked adorable, and was very pleased with how her interview went. She knew she was going to have to give a two minute lesson on something from the Strength of Youth pamphlet. She was hoping she would get the Sabbath Day. Low and behold, that is what she was asked to do. The interview went practically perfect. She has to wait about two to four weeks before she hears back. I hope she gets this! She would be awesome and it would be awesome for her too.

We took Maysen to see Music Man tonight. It was weird that Mike scheduled two of the plays on the same week, but look at that timing. How were we to know that Maysen would be here? We have now been able to take each of our kids to one of plays in the new Hale Center Theater. It has been fun.

Maysen and Stephanie

 Mike and Maysen

There is a certain boy that has been making Jorja very sad. She was crying when she came home from school. I'm so frustrated. Why can't he be nice to her this week? During campaigning? I won't go into details, but I was mad. I have tried really hard to like this kid, but I just don't. Especially after watching the way he messes with Jorja. I was ticked off and leaving to fill Stockton's jeep with gas. Gavin got caught in the crossfires and I gave him a talking to for how he has treated Madison. Anyway, this boy called Jorja tonight. She was on the phone when we got home from the play. I kept checking in on her. She begged me to let her finish talking with him. She said she needed closure. I hope so. I hope she can close the book on this character. They talked for a long time. One time I heard Jorja ask, "Do you think we'll be friends through high school?" There was a L-O-N-G awkward pause and then he said something like, "I don't know, but I know I'll always be friends with Evan." What a weirdo. How hard is it to be friends with someone, even if you don't always see them it is easy to be nice. I hope that long pause gave her the answer, even if it is not the answer she wanted to get. I talked with Jorja after she got off of the phone. She said she learned that he wasn't someone who would support her. He didn't have any compassion. Just judged her. I think she is ready to let him go. I hope so. He is not good for her at all.

Temple, Brunch and Maysen

I took Jorja and Hailey to the temple this morning. Usually we go on Thursdays, because that is the day Mike works there. Jorja wanted to go today instead because campaigning starts tomorrow and she didn't want to have wet hair. Makes sense.

Jorja and Hailey

I was able to get an exercising session in and a quick shower before I headed down to my dad's. Well, I did notice Jorja left her lunch home, so I dropped that in her locker on my way. My dad took me to OHP. I had the delicious chicken crepes. Next time my dad is getting that too. He just needs to remember to ask for no olives. I made that mistake once and never will make it again! I hung out with Matt after breakfast until it was time to leave to Logan.

I picked up Maysen today and brought her home. I even got her a Little Caesars pizza to eat on the way home. I love that the Little Caesars by her house is a drive thru.

Jorja wanted me to take her to the mall to buy her some black shoes that would go well with her costume. I did. During the Jazz game. A playoff game. I told her that was how much I loved her. It was hard to find any shoes in her size, but we found some that might work. I actually bought two pairs of shoes and she is going to see which looks best with her costume. I did listen to the last three minutes of the Jazz game in the store while Jorja was deciding. I couldn't help myself. One of the employees was very thankful and she listened with me. The Jazz won and it was awesome.

She's Running for President

Jorja had her election meeting this morning. She stayed up late finishing up her packet. She had to write essays and design a t-shirt. I woke up at 6:00 and went downstairs to find her still asleep. I asked her what time she wanted to wake up. Sleepily she said 5:30. She jumped out of bed real quick when I told her it was already 6:00. We were supposed to take Brenton to the meeting, but he slept in too. Jorja still didn't know what she was going to run for on the way to the meeting. Mike had posters of both president and public relations on the flash drive. She filled out the paperwork for both positions. She was 99% sure she was going to run for public relations. She decided to go for that and see if she felt good about it. She signed up to run for public relations and the rest of the meeting all she could think was, "You should change to president." So she did.

Let's back up a bit. I don't know if I wrote about this, but if I did I'm writing about it again. Jorja has been fasting and praying for awhile about what position she should run for. When we were at stake conference she wrote all the positions down and was going over them one by one. She said when she got to president, she knew that was what she was supposed to run for. She just felt it. She told me her first reaction was, "Oh no, oh no, oh no." She didn't tell me about that experience until a few days later. I was shocked. I had no idea she was even thinking about president. Jorja told me she would rather run for president and lose than run for public relations and win if that was what she was prompted to do. I prayed about this as well. I don't get answers or understand answers to prayers very easily. This time when I prayed about it I had a clear impression that yes, president is what she was told to run for. That being said, we have no idea if she will win. There could be a lot of reasons she felt prompted to run for president. For example, if she loses it will be easier to handle losing out on president than feeling like she was kicked out of her old position. Anyway, the next two weeks are going to be extremely stressful.

Jorja dropped off her flash drive to Hess in the morning. She wanted to get her campaign posters printed before the rush. Mike had measured her old campaign posters and gave Jorja the size. Jorja watched Hess type the dimensions into the computer. They did not come out the size we were hoping. They are HUGE! At least they are still in the limits allowed, but it will probably make them harder to carry.

Jorja's posters

 Jorja's posters compared to last year's posters.

Well, this caused a problem. Mike, Jorja and Madison hurried down to the store to see if they could get foam board the correct size. They got the last three. Here these goofballs are on the way to the store.

We got one poster all the way done tonight, and all of the shirts. Jorja wanted to bring the shirts to the three people who will be wearing them tomorrow. They don't start officially campaigning until 

Thursday. I didn't get a picture of the shirts, but they turned out really cute.

Tuck Everlasting

The wind was crazy today. This was our neighbor's house.

Mike, Preston and I went and saw the musical Tuck Everlasting at Hale Center Theater. It was really good. Preston even liked it. I'm so glad! I remember this was Mrs. McLendon's favorite book. This is the only picture I got of the night, so that's disappointing.

Mike and Preston

Mike and I decided that we would let Jorja go to Girls Pref. We had several reasons, but it all boils down to it felt like the right thing to do. We feel really good about letting her go. It will help lessen her anxiety about elections and the heartache a certain unnamed boy is causing her right now. I went downstairs and talked to her before school. She was pretty excited. Mackenzie, the Student Body President, had asked Jorja if she would like to be in their group. I told Jorja that we felt good about her asking someone from student government. She wanted to ask Carter. She texted her friend Madison about it. Madison told her that a girl named Elle was planning on asking him. Jorja knows Carter has a crush on this girl, so she didn't want to ask him. She ended up deciding to ask a senior named Mackie. I told Jorja she needed to ask someone that met the following qualifications: she would be safe, she would have fun, she isn't going to develop a crush on this person. She insisted Mackie met all of these qualifications. Plus, he is really good friends with Mackenzie, so that will be nice. While Mike and I were at the theater, Mackenzie picked her and Stockton up and they went with a group asking people to the dance. She asked using Macaroni and Cheese. Jorja didn't take any pictures though.

Campaign Posters

Mike and Jorja worked on getting Jorja's campaign posters ready today. Jorja said she was very glad she has a dad that is able to help her with things like this. I think the posters turned out great. Jorja's not sure what position she is going to run for. Right now she is trying to decide on President or Public Relations. Mike is helping her make signs for both.

In other news, the Jazz had their first playoff game against Oklahoma City. They lost. It was sad. I was even able to watch it since it was on a channel we had! Hopefully they will take the next game.

Prom . . . Kind of

I woke up early and drove Stockton down to Salt Lake for breakfast at Kneaders with some of his diving friends. I decided to take him because he has never driven downtown before. I wanted to show him different things in real time instead of just trying to explain them. I brought a book and waited for him in the car. I parked in the City Creek parking garage. It was fine except I was wishing I had a blanket. My toes got pretty cold.

Today was Prom. Stockton did not go. His friends convinced him to come on the day date with him. So, Stockton went on the day date by himself with two other couples. Josh and Britton, Ashton and another girl. They went to IHOP so double breakfasts for Stockton. I can't remember what else they did, but I know they went to Nicklecade. Anyway, he seemed to have fun.

Jorja has loved going to the EFY Expresses. This is the last one they are having before summer. It was a ways away, but Jorja really wanted to go. I ended up taking Jorja and Madison and dropping them off. The express is $25 in advance and $35 at the door. I didn't get Jorja registered in time, so I needed to pay at the door. There was a sign that said cash or check only. I gave my last cash to Stockton this morning. The express was going to start in 5 minutes. I decided to leave Jorja and Madison there while I hurried to a store to get cash. When I got to the car it dawned on me that my sewing bag was in the car. I put it there as an afterthought. I had stuck my checkbook in that bag when I took Preston to diving. I had to pay diving by check this month because men credit card had expired on our automatic payment. So, by a weird series of events, I actually had a check book in the car. I ran back inside and the girls made it before the event started. Brad Wilcox was the speaker. Jorja said he did a great job. They met some boys and had a great time. Drew was even there. He made the dance fun. He is always a good time.

Jorja, Brad Wilcox, Madison

 Boy, Jorja, Madison, Boy, Boy

 Jorja and Madison

I dropped the girls off and then drove to Logan and spent the day with Maysen. That is why I put my sewing bag in the car. In case she needed to study I would have something to do. We ended up being busy the entire time. I helped her with some laundry, we went grocery shopping, we ate at Noodles and Company and then we went to Cold Stone. We did this while we were running back to her apartment to move the laundry to the dryer and then back to her apartment. Anyway, we kept ourselves busy until I realized I was going to be late picking up Jorja and Madison. I had a great time with Maysen. It was fun to spend a few hours with her.

As I was bringing Jorja and Madison home I got a text from Stockton. I didn't look at it because I was driving, so he called. Jorja talked to him. He wanted Jorja to come over to Gavin's house to hang out with his diving friends. They were in the process of making waffles. This is the picture Stockton said. Gavin had to take one for the team and wear a girly apron. I don't even recognize Gage anymore.

Gavin and Gage

Jorja texted Stockton to see if Madison could come too. Madison is Gavin's ex-girlfriend. He hasn't talked to her since she broke up with him. Gavin wouldn't let Madison come. Madison looked so sad. I dropped Jorja off and took Madison home. Jorja wouldn't have gone if it hadn't been Stockton who invited her. I told Madison that I was really sorry that she couldn't go, but Gavin is just giving her more and more proof that she made the right decision breaking up with him. Stockton and Jorja came back later than I liked. Stockton was having fun, but Jorja was really tired. It's weird because Stockton hasn't been social before, so I haven't even had to give him a curfew, but now I need to make sure he knows what time he needs to be back before he leaves the house. I was not too happy with him when he came home. Plus, I was really tired.