Amy Kaye

Baby Amy was born today. Right as sacrament meeting was starting I remember looking at my phone and telling Sister Valentine that my niece was being born right at that second. Haha. Amy Kaye was actually born at 9:30 on 9/30. She weighed 6 lbs 8 oz. Matt and Sam named her Kaye after Sam's mom. I think they just liked the name Amy. We went to visit them as soon as church was over. Preston is always in pajamas before we even get home from church. As soon as his class is over he walks home and when we arrive, he is always in his jammies. I didn't make him change back into church clothes for the hospital.

Jorja, Stephanie & Amy, Preston, Mike

 Matt & Amy

 Sam ~ she's a pro at this now.

Sam has Amy's new blanket on her. The lady bug blanket is the one she and Matt made for Amy. They have made blankets for each of their children. How fun is that?

Mike made fish for dinner and the kids loved it. It is weird only having four people living at our house right now. We played this weird Mario game before bed. Madison came over and brought Jorja back the things she had borrowed. She stayed until I took her home around 9:00. Again, I'm a horrible grounder.

I texted Rachel today about Christmas stockings. I was trying to pick out one for Mina. Rachel asked if it would be okay if I made Marie's next. Marie doesn't like the one Rachel made for her. I think she feels it is too babyish. I'm not sure. I'm hoping to finish Grace's before Christmas. Hopefully I'll get Marie and Mina's done for next year. This is what Grace's stocking looks like so far. I do love Christmas and Christmas stockings.

Fish in the Pond

I forgot to post this adorable picture Mike took of Preston yesterday. Those two sure had a great time together. It helps that they are almost the exact same person. I can't believe how similar their personalities are. I love it. The two of them got back around 3:30. They brought home five fish to put in our freezer and ten fish to put in our pond with the ducks. They were quite happy about that.

Preston

Today was a long day for me. First, I got up super early to go to my exercise class. I was up late waiting for Jorja, so I didn't get much sleep. We have Jorja leave her phone in our room at night. I looked at her phone and saw a message from a boy at school that said something like, "I don't know what to tell you, I'm really bad in these kinds of situations....." not sure if that was it, but it was around those lines. I thought that was weird and I wanted to ask Jorja about it. Jorja was getting ready when I got home. She had plans to go with Collin and his friends to Thanksgiving Point. I asked if I could see her phone. She said, "Just a second, I need to reply to Gabby real quick." She then handed me the phone. I wanted to ask Jorja what the message I saw was about, but when I was looking for it, it was gone. It dawned on me that Jorja deleted the message. That is a big no around here. One of the conditions of her having a phone is that she doesn't delete anything. I asked her where the message was. It took her awhile but she finally admitted to deleting it. I totally lost it. We had a LONG discussion about honesty last night, and first thing in the morning she lies to me again? I yelled at Jorja. I was so mad I couldn't even stand it. I also grounded her until her birthday, which is in a little over a month. It is so long because it is not a real grounding. She will still get to go to homecoming, work, lacrosse, student government stuff, the quinceanera she RVSPd to a month ago. So really, it's not much of a grounding. I also found out that Collin's friends cancelled at the last minute yesterday, so she hung out with just Collin for most of the day. She insists it wasn't a date. She honestly thinks it wasn't a date because she isn't 16. Like that is the only thing that makes it a date. "Jorja, do you think Heavenly Father is not okay with you watching a movie with a boy before you are sixteen but doesn't mind you kissing boys?" How is kissing not a date, but watching a movie is. How does she even think like that? She didn't kiss Collin, but still! Anyway, Jorja begged me to still let her go to Thanksgiving point with Collin and his friends. She didn't want to cancel on him like his friends cancelled on him yesterday. Yep, I'm the worst grounder ever. Well, Collin's friends cancelled on him again. Jorja got Hailey to come with them. Hailey is such a good sport. They drove to Thanksgiving Point and then realized how expensive it was to get inside. They decided to go to a movie instead. They saw Crazy Rich Asians. I was a little sad when she texted me that. I was hoping to hang out with Jorja this weekend. I thought we could go dress shopping and I thought it would be fun to see that movie with her. I ended up spending the three day weekend all alone with small bursts of disciplining Jorja in between. So, it was a pretty disappointing weekend for me.

Jorja & Hailey

 Collin & Jorja

Jorja texted me and asked if I could bring her Chick-Fil-A clothes to Hailey's house. She wasn't supposed to work today, but a girl was sick and asked if she could cover for her. I gathered everything and headed down there. Mike came home right as I was leaving. Once I got to Hailey's house I realized I left Jorja's badge on the counter. I didn't think I would have enough time to go back and get it, so Mike was nice enough to hurry and bring the badge down to me. Hailey's mom, Melanie, let me inside and I talked to her while I waited for Jorja. Jorja was texted right as she turned into Hailey's house that she wouldn't need to come in after all. Oh well. I ended up talking to Melanie for a long time. I was telling her why Jorja was grounded and how frustrated I was. Jorja said that she was keeping things from me because she didn't want me to think less of her when she makes mistakes. Melanie and I tried to convince Jorja and Hailey that if they were ever in a situation and thought, "I would be embarrassed to talk to my mom about this." Then they shouldn't do it. Hailey felt kind of awkward with the entire conversation. Melanie and Hailey convinced me to let Jorja go to a Haunted House with Hailey tonight. They convinced me that this would be more of a punishment for Jorja. Also, Jorja owes Hailey big time. Hailey is always going places with Jorja that she doesn't want to go. So, Jorja's first day of grounding ended up with her spending the day with Collin and Hailey and spending the night at a Haunted House with Hailey, Allison and a bunch of boys. Yep, this will be horrible for her.

Fishing, Tea and Drama with the Porge

Mike and Preston spent the day at Bridger Lake. The campground is officially closed, but they allow people to park anyway. Basically they got to enjoy the lake with only a few other people showing up here and there. They didn't have to pay. They got to park the motorhome right next to the lake in the best spot. The only thing I think was the dumpsters were turned upside down and the dump stations were closed. These two were pretty pleased with how everything turned out.

Preston

 Preston ~ he loves, loves, loves to play games. The more complicated the better.

Jorja had plans to hang out with a kid from work named Collin. She promised me over and over it wasn't a date. They were going to hang out with Collin's friends. I had a date with Anne. I got to go to a tea party at her preschool. It was for grandmothers, so Anne asked if I could come with her. As I was leaving my street this is what I saw. Never seen a hot air balloon there before.

I stopped by Sam's house to pick up their car. That way we didn't have to transfer car seats. I also picked up rolls Sam made for Anne. The preschool called her this morning to tell her they were going to have rolls that had dairy and asked if she could make some for Anne. Sam had to whip up the rolls before I came. It worked though, the tea party went off without a hitch.

Anne

Jorja saw a movie that she said was the worst movie she has ever seen. I think it was called Night School. After awhile Jorja and Collin came over to get some knives so they could carve pumpkins, then Jorja went to Alta super early for the football game. She had to set up flags or something like that, then she wanted to stay so she could have a good seat. Collin ended up showing up for the game. He doesn't go to Alta or Timpview. He came to be with Jorja. I am trying not to be annoyed by that. Jorja says she was joking when she asked him to come. They spent almost all of the day together and I don't like that one bit.

Collin & Jorja

I was tempted to go to the football game, just because I like to watch football and I was home by myself. Jorja doesn't like it when I show up to things though. I decided to stay home and work on Grace's Christmas stocking. The game ended up in a blowout, not in our favor. I think Alta was supposed to win. At the start of the 4th quarter it was something like Timpview 41 Alta 0. Alta ended up with 21 points. I bet Timpview put their second string in. Anyways, I was following along with the game. Jorja didn't come home for a long time. I knew when the game ended, because I kept updating the score. She usually goes somewhere with student government afterwords, so this wasn't unusual. I checked the Life 360 app and was surprised to see she was at the church parking lot by our house. What??? I was pretty sure she was just talking to one of her friends. Still, I was a little bothered by that. I was interested to see if she would tell me where she was. This was our texting conversation.

11:07 Me: When will you be home?

11:11 Jorja: Not later than midnight :)

11:12 Me: Where are you? Who are you with?

(Realize that I know exactly where she is when I asked the question.)

11:18 Jorja: Apollo burger with student gov

WHAT!!!!!!! Did you catch that? Jorja flat out LIED to me. LIED! The only time I have ever yelled at Jorja was when she lied to me about the Pepperwood party, and here she is doing it again. I could not believe it.

11:21 Me: You're there now? Where is Apollo burger?

11:21 Jorja: Idk but I'll be back before 12

Nice sidestepping of the question. Jorja did come in before 12. I had her come and sit on my bed and tell me all about her day. She went through the day in detail, although she did say that she ended up not going to Apollo burger because she ran out of time. She still omitted the fact that she was at the church parking lot for an HOUR! I was trying so hard not to be mad, but inside I was steaming. I was silently pleading for her to tell me the truth, but she never did. Finally I called her out on it. She was there with Collin. They were just 'talking' about all of Jorja's boy drama, which I'm not even going to get into now because it is ridiculous. I was so hurt. How could she lie to me when she knows I can't handle being lied to? The obnoxious thing is Jorja has done things that she should have gotten in major trouble for, but I have never once punished her when she brings things up herself. I only punish her when I catch her in a lie. I feel sick even just thinking about this night, so I'm going to stop this entry right here.

Pep Rally

Mike and Preston went fishing today. They took off in the motorhome, just the two of them. Their plan is to go to Bridger Lake and Preston couldn't be more excited.

Jorja had her pep rally tonight. She had to be at the school early and then got home sometime after midnight. I think she had a great time. At least it was good weather.

Joe & Jorja

 Carson, Marshall, Joe, Jorja

 Student government

 Student government went to eat super late at night.

Only for a Second

I came back from my exercise class to find Mike in a drained duck pond. Those poor ducks were so confused. Once the kids were off to school I helped Mike. The pond lining is so dang heavy! Mike wasn't thrilled with how it turned out. It was too wrinkly for him in the end, but seriously it was so hard to move.

Mike

I picked Jorja up at school and dropped her at Chick-Fil-A. Mike came home in time to pick her up. I went to diving with Preston. I was so surprised when I saw his inward! He was nervous the first two times and ended up just jumping in the pool backwards. I wish I would have got his first one on video, it was so so so good! Here is his second one.

On the way home from diving I got a speeding ticket. When the cop pulled me over I thought, "Thank goodness I wasn't speeding. I wonder why he pulled me over." I was shocked when he said I was speeding. He pulled me over on Wasatch Blvd right after 9400 S. The speed limit changes from 50 mph to 35 mph without any warning. Then you go downhill. I'm usually super careful about this bit. I couldn't believe it. Then the police guy says, "If it makes you feel any better, you were only speeding for a second." Actually no, this did not make me feel any better. I was so sad because I have been trying to save up money for something. I finished reviewing a book today and was excited to have $100 to put towards what I'm saving up for. Now, just like that it is all wiped out. How do people get warnings anyway? I have never gotten a warning.

Jorja was gone when I got home. She went to Night of Shakespeare or something like that. Once that was over she stayed late and helped get things set up for the pep rally tomorrow.

I was sad when I went to bed. Just discouraged. I forgot to put my phone on silent and was woken up by a text. This day just keeps getting worse and worse. Let me back up..... I lost my jewelry. The ones I took on the cruise. The gold nugget bracelet I loved and the ruby and diamond jewelry from my Grandma Millburn. I also lost the necklace Mike gave me for our tenth anniversary. I can't find it anywhere. I'm worried I left it in our stateroom on the cruise. I remember packing up our stuff the night before. I don't think I put it out there because I was too worried it would get lost. I put my jewelry in two different places because we were having problems with our safe. I just don't remember if I put it in our bag when we left that morning. It's frustrating because I have no memory of what I did with it last. My memory used to be so good. I feel it closing in on myself and I get scared and frustrated. I am devastated to lose the only nice jewelry I have. Wait, I take that back. Thank goodness I was wearing my wedding rings. I must have had the jewelry box that morning because I had my rings on. I don't like to sleep with my rings. I would have only put them in the box. So, where did I put the box? I contacted the cruise line as soon as I realized they were missing and was hopeful they would turn up. The text that woke me up said they have not been able to locate my items. I'm now hoping that my box fell in some random place and I will come across it eventually. That has to be what happened because the thought of losing my Grandma's jewelry just makes me sick to my stomach. Not a good day.

Thumbs Up

I found these pictures of Aysha on Jorja's phone. The first one is from when they weren't somewhere on Saturday. I think Noodles and Company. The second one is from when they went to Kneaders for breakfast today. I think it is funny how Aysha is going the same pose in both pictures.

Aysha

Today was crazy busy once again. Jorja texted me after school and said she was going to stay and watch the soccer game. She has to be at the school at 6:30 to be taught how to teach the homecoming royalty what they need to do for the halftime royalty presentation. She even switched her work schedule to go to this. She said she was just going to stay at Alta until that was over. Preston and I hurried down to Indian Hills for his parent teacher conference. We went and talked to all of his teachers except pe. I asked his math teacher if he was doing okay in the regular class and if he was still on track to do the accelerated summer math program. She said yes, most of the time he does his own thing, but that doesn't bother her at all. I guess he doesn't really listen to her teaching, he just does the work because he already understands it. I told her how we tried to switch him to get into Honors, but he has Chinese 2nd period and if he switched to 7th period he would have to change his entire schedule. She looked at me funny and said that she had honors math 5th period. W-H-A-T. The counselor told me the wrong teacher's honor schedule. I could not believe it. He would have been able to change into honors, he would just have had to switch math and English. At this point Preston does not want to switch at all. So annoying that they gave me the wrong information multiple times.

I hurried and dropped Preston off at his piano lesson, then went back to Alta to get the rest of Jorja's teachers. Right as I found a parking spot in the crazy crowded lot I got a text from Jorja. She wanted me to pick her up from Chick-Fil-A in thirty minutes. WHAT??? She was supposed to be at Alta. She left the soccer game and went to Chick-Fil-A. After they were there Aysha found out she was supposed to be at work, Jorja told her to just go straight there and she would find a ride. I was so mad at Jorja for multiple reasons. First, Mike and I spent forever trying to figure out how to do everything we needed to do. Driving to Chick-Fil-A was not on our agenda. Second, I have asked her multiple times to let me know if she goes somewhere I don't know. I hated it when she left Lagoon to go to Krispy Kreme and I hated it today when she left the soccer game. She does this all of the time. I texted Jorja and told her she would have to wait for me to finish and I would come when I can. I guess Jorja was able to convince one of her friends who was on a break to take her to Alta. I'm glad she figured it out, but she really needs to stop doing this.

Anyway, I got the rest of Jorja's teachers except for Theater who wasn't there. Jorja seems to be doing really well, especially in Science. Jorja would make the best pediatrician. I wish she would give that profession serious consideration. Mr. Leininger stopped me while I was talking to the new shop teacher. (He had stopped me because I was wearing a Utah State shirt.) Mr. Leininger told this teacher that Stockton was hands down the most brilliant student he had ever worked with. Man, I sure wish Stockton could have had him in physics!

Homecoming Pageant

This is going to be a crazy busy week. Mike and I had to coordinate our schedules to figure out how we were going to get all of it done. We really miss having Stockton drive Preston to diving right about now. I took Preston to diving and dropped him off. That made me incredibly nervous. I walked him to the pool. Ted was excited about Stockton's call to Arizona. His boy is in Reno Nevada right now. Before I left I asked Gavin to look out for Preston. If for some reason Mike didn't show up, I asked Gavin to take him home. I did not think that would happen, but what if something unforeseen happened? I didn't like the idea of Preston being stuck in Salt Lake City. Fortunately all was well and Mike was able to get him like planned. I went straight from diving to Alta for parent/teacher conference. Jorja arrived with Carter about the same time I did. She is all dressed up because she is an escort for the homecoming pageant.

Jorja

I was able to see a few of Jorja's teachers. Her math, English and Chinese teachers. I like her Chinese teacher this year a lot. I am glad she will have her for the next three years instead of the teacher she had last year. I also talked to Mr. Thomas for a bit. He always asks about Maysen whenever he sees me. Mr. VanOrden (Jorja's math teacher and Stockton's advisory teacher for four years) was excited to hear about Stockton's mission call. He sure was a great teacher for Stockton. A few minutes before 7:00 I hurried over to the auditorium so I could watch the homecoming pageant. The lip sync's were a ton better last year when Mike and I were the judges. Jorja announced the spin the wheel question thingy. She did great.

Carter brought Jorja home after stopping at McDonalds. She was so hungry. It was a long day. Jorja was on the pageant committee this year, so I think she is feeling a sense of relief that it is over and it went well. She will be busy the rest of the week, but it is nice to have this off of her plate. It is also nice that late start is tomorrow.

Jorja

Tucson Arkansas

Mike took these pictures yesterday before the kids had to split up again. It was taken at Alpine Market. I had already left to take the divers home. Mike had the older kids drive there so he could fill their car up with gas before they drove back home. I love how much my kids love each other. I hope they always feel this way. I hope they are always this close. I am so lucky.

My babies ~ Jorja, Stockton, Maysen, Preston

Aysha spent the night here and went with us to 9:00 church this morning. It was also Isaac Johnson's mission farewell. He did a great job. Audrey also came with us. She was in town for the weekend. We had two benches again!

Jorja & Aysha

The bishop had asked someone in our family to announce where Stockton would be going. Jorja is wanting as much experience in front of people as she can get, so we asked her. She keeps saying Stockton is going to Alabama. I asked her if she could remember Arizona. DON'T say Alabama. If you think you are going to say Alabama, we can ask Preston to do this. She said she would be fine. Mike sent her a text of what exactly to say. Brother Tanner called up Bob and Leann Perry, Kelsee and Jorja. Leann announced where they were going by singing a song. It had several verses. She is disappointed they are going to Oakland California and not Thailand. Kelsee announced she is going to Indiana, Indianapolis. Jorja then announced that Stockton would be going to Tuscon Arkansas. I immediately did a face palm while Dad yelled out ARIZONA! Jorja laughed and said, "Whoops, Arizona, he's going to Arizona. I knew it started with an A." Mike asked her why she didn't just read the text he had sent her. She said, "That would be embarrassing!" So, Jorja just created a new mission.... Mike and I went over to Isaac's house after church. They had lots and lots of yummy crepes. Isaac seems really excited. He said the last little bit has been boring waiting to go. I love the timing of Stockton's mission. I won't have to run up to Utah State to buy him suits. We can get through gingerbread season and the holidays before we start focusing on getting what he needs for him mission. We will have an entire month to do that! Plus, we get to spend his 19th birthday with him. I'm so excited!

Tucson Arizona

Ahhhh!!!! Today was finally the day when we were able to find out where Stockton will be spending the next two years of his life. Mike and I went to the store this morning and got stuff for French toast.  Stockton had planned on opening his call at 11:00. I had mentioned this on Facebook before, but about 10:00 I put a message that we would do a Facebook live at 11:00. I wanted the family members who weren't here to be able to watch him. Right after I posted that message Stockton and his friends decided to go down to the lake. They left at 10:30. I was so close to posting, "Update: Stockton is out skipping rocks. We will go live when he gets back." Haha. They pulled in at 10:58. Nothing like cutting it close. I don't have any pictures during the actual call, just some after. If I could change anything, I wish I would have handed my phone to someone else to record Facebook thing. Still, it worked out great except the video is too long to make it on this blog.

Mike brought up an iPad that he was able to download his call on it. It worked really well. I don't think Stockton missed the call not being in an envelope. Stockton was so cute when he was reading it. You could tell that he was emotional. I don't see him like that very often. Time seemed to stand still when he started reading his call. I wanted to yell out, "Wait! I'm not ready yet." But decided that wasn't a good idea. Stockton will be serving in the Arizona  Tucson Mission. He will be English speaking and leaves January 30th, two days after his birthday. I was actually quite shocked with his call. I thought for sure he would go foreign and speak a different language. He is so dang smart, so I knew he would be awesome at it. He checked the box that he was extremely interested in learning a foreign language and extremely interested in going on a foreign mission. The first thought that came to my mind when I heard this call was someone must need him there. Stockton had the same kind of thoughts. He told me that he thinks he could've done well in a foreign place so there definitely must be a reason he's going so close to home. Mike's Aunt and Uncle live in Tucson. Scoop called them to tell them Stockton would be serving there. Scoop said that Carter was so excited. He had never heard him that excited before. The mission home is in Carter and Marveen's ward. He said they would look out for Stockton. (Marveen is Grandma Honey's youngest sister.)

Stockton with his call

 Amelia & Abby in their unicorn shirts

 Stockton and Jorja watching Raising Arizona to prepare for his mission.

It was so cute. After Stockton read his call, Preston brought him a globe and they sat down and looked where he would be. Amelia brought the globe. Ange said, "I think it will break her heart if he gets sent to the other side of the world." I'm glad people think of things I don't think of. I'm going to always love these pictures.

Stockton & Preston

We had Stockton's favorite Cold Stone cake to celebrate. I didn't get a picture of that, but it said Called to Serve on it. I was taking the divers home and had to hurry on out of there. Noelle needed to be back at 6:00 to go to Homecoming. Now that's a real friend! I dropped her off at her house right at 5:58. Cutting it close, but we made it.

Zoe, Gavin, Noelle, Dani, Stockton, Connor, Gage, Daedan

I made the divers listen to the BYU/McNeese State football game on the radio. I'm sure they loved it. Ha! It made my drive great. Once I got home I wasn't sure how to listen to it. I asked the Alexa on our thermostat in the hallway. It worked. I just sat there and finished the rest of the game. After awhile I wondered why I didn't listen to it in my bedroom. We have one in there too. Mike, Jorja and Preston got home right as the game finished.

Stockton texted me tonight to let me know that Donovan Mitchell was at the football game. I asked if he was there. He was. I told him, "I have never been prouder of you in my life." He said, "That really says something after the big-boy thing I had this morning." Haha! I couldn't figure out how to watch the Utah State game, but Stockton kept texting me updates. I tried to get Sling TV to work, but couldn't figure it out. Mike was feeling sick and was sleeping, so I didn't want to wake him up. He definitely wouldn't understand. :)

Jorja had a friend Aysha sleep over. They were out until just past midnight when I texted her to let her know that even if she had a friend sleeping over she still had a curfew. Aysha is going to go to church with us tomorrow. Jorja will like that.

On the way home I was able to think a lot about Stockton's new mission. I am so happy. I kept thinking of all the good things about Stockton serving so close to home. It will be so nice to send him packages without stressing about how expensive it is, or if he will even receive the packages. Christmas and Mother's Day phone calls will be a lot easier to coordinate. I like knowing that he is in America. He is going to be such a wonderful missionary. I'm so excited watching him excel in this next phase of life. Stockton had told me earlier that the scariest mission to him would be English speaking in America, and that is what he got! I think Heavenly Father knows when we need to be pushed out of our comfort zones! Despite this being scary for him, Stockton is so excited. This is going to be one crazy ride!

Wait Until Dark

Jorja had to be at Alta all day to get ready for homecoming week. She loved this last year and she loved it again. Preston helped me clean up around the house this morning. That was fun. He makes me laugh. My dad and I went to the play Wait Until Dark at the Hale Center Theater. I loved it. We had great seats and the actors did fantastic. I kept thinking how much more Jorja would like this play than the one we went to yesterday. Stockton's diving friends met at our house while I was gone. Mike came home and they all drove to the cabin. It was a tight fit. Mike, Preston, Gavin, his sister Zoe, Gage, Dani, Noelle and Connor all in the pilot. Bubs texted me today to let me know they would be able to come. I was so happy! I think Stockton would be a bit sad if no extended family members could make it. Jorja and I drove her little bug up after the play. The bug did great. I was a bit surprised. I was starving by the time we left, but super anxious to get up to the cabin. I decided to pull off in Park City. We found a pizza place that said they were fast. They weren't. After about fifteen minutes we walked out of there and decided to shoot for Evanston Wyoming like usual. I had trouble getting back on the freeway. It was dark, I was super hungry and anxious. I started breathing really deep and I couldn't stop. Jorja was getting freaked out. She said I was having a panic attack and needed to pull over. I thought I just needed to get some food and I would be fine. I don't know why I was gasping for breath like that. It stopped after I was on the freeway for a bit. I did not like all these random turnarounds at Park City. I'm not getting off at that exit again. While we were driving Jorja got a text about homecoming plans. They are going to do the day date the night before. That will work out well. She will be able to go to some of her lacrosse games. She signed up for fall season. They only have games on one day and it was the day of homecoming. We started talking about how busy that week would be. Saturday is the dance and three lacrosse games. Friday they will go to a haunted house. Thursday she will have lacrosse and then go straight to Wait Until Dark with Mike. Jorja said, "WAIT! That is when it is? I won't be able to go to the Alta/Corner Canyon football game? That is the only football game I care about!" Great. Mike and I have fantastic timing. I did great until the last hour and a half, then I was so tired and Jorja was asleep. The thing we had been listening to ended and it was a struggle to stay awake! We made it around midnight. I was so glad to get there. Maysen, Stockton and Daedan were there. Stockton met Daedan up at Utah State. How nice of him to come and see Stockton open up his call tomorrow! We have a full house now. It is great.

Lunch Lady

Stockton had a friend on his Academic Decathlon team last year named Weston Smith. We, of course, think that is hilarious because they have a cousin named Weston Smith. Jorja likes to send Stockton pictures of her and Weston. Here are some I found on her phone. I don't know how he is actually a Smith when he looks so tall. At least I think that is Weston. What if they are all different people but because he is wearing glasses I think they are all the same?

Jorja & Weston

 Weston & Jorja

 Jorja got her pass to get into events at other schools for free.

 She also got to be a lunch lady today.

I dropped Jorja off at lacrosse practice after school. Two hours later Mike and I picked her up. We went straight to a play at the Hale Center Theater. It was The Scarlet Pimpernel. It was really good, but Jorja has a hard time sitting still for that long. Here she is at intermission.

Jorja

We had a late dinner at Village Inn after the play. Preston was asleep by the time we got home. What a sweet boy. I love him so much.

Saturday at 11:00

It's official. Stockton is going to open his call at 11:00 on Saturday at the cabin. All of his diving friends are going to make the trek. Stockton got Madison to cover for Jorja at Chick-Fil-A. I think the plan is Mike and Preston will take Stockton's diving friends up. Gavin, Gage, Dani, Noelle and Connor. I am going to a play with my dad on Friday. Luckily it starts at 4:00. I will take Jorja up with me after the play. I don't know if my dad can go. Bubs and his family might be able to go. Matt and his family can't. Not easy when you are about to have a new baby! Hopefully we can figure out how to do an Instagram live or a Facebook live thing. That way my family can still see it! Mike sent a message to his family, I'm not sure if any of them will be able to come. Stockton's diving friends have to be back by 6:00 on Saturday, so this will be a super quick trip. For Stockton and Maysen the drive time home or to the cabin is about the same though.

Jorja was gone all day today. She told me she was going to hang out with Aysha. Finally I had to call her and tell her it was time to come home. I thought it would just be a few hours, not all day! They made cookies to drop at different houses. She also brought soup to Connor (the kid that gives her a ride home from school) because he was sick. I love her heart. I love that she likes to make people happy. I just miss her and want her to make her school work a priority. Preston helped her for hours the other day making an app for the Homecoming pageant. She was funny and kept saying how Preston was so much smarter than she was. Well, the audio visual people only want her to use a flash drive and not the connector she has to make her phone work. She needs Preston to redo it. I was frustrated because if she wants him to redo it, she should work with him and not expect him to be able to do it last minute. I made her come home and talk to him about it.

Preston was supposed to go to diving today. He came home from school really stressed. I guess he has a giant project due tomorrow. Six parts to it. He has to do marketing for a place in Utah. A newspaper article, a slideshow, a pamphlet, a brochure and a poster. I can't remember what the other one was. This was a group project, but Preston was working alone. He still had the pamphlet and poster to do. He kept saying that it was worth 100 points and he didn't know how he would be able to finish. So, he stayed home from diving. He worked straight until 9:00 at night on it. He chose Bridger Lake to be his subject. Everything turned out great and he was much less stressed going to bed than when he came home from school.

Called to Serve

Ahhhh!!!! Stockton texted me this today. He has his mission call! He is planning on not opening it until Saturday and he can be with us. Talk about willpower! I'm so excited for him. He was planning on coming home this weekend to open it. Maysen made a joke that he should open it at the cabin. Now he is trying to figure out if he could make that work. Like he wrote on his blog, "The cabin is probably the most special place in the world to me, and this is probably going to be the most special experience I'll have at this point in my life. How amazing would it be to be able to put the two together? It's a total once-in-a-lifetime thing." That makes me happy that he thinks so highly of the cabin. I have always loved it there too. I figure this is Stockton's deal. We will be there wherever he wants to open it. I'm so excited, proud, terrified and a little sad. So many conflicting emotions right now. This is going to be an exciting weekend for our family!

Kelsee also got her call today. She opened it up at 8:30. Megan Bradley printed it out for her. I used my excellent photo shop skills and blacked out Kelsee's address. Pretty proud of myself. Kelsee was so nervous she started crying right away. She had to try over and over to read her call. Stockton was watching on Instagram live, but couldn't understand where she was going. She barely choked out Indiana, Indianapolis. That's Brett's mission! And my cousin Paul's too I think.

People at Kelsee's house were super excited to hear Stockton has his call. They couldn't believe he was waiting until Saturday. Stockton told me a bit before he got his call that he will have four months or so to know where he is going, he wants to enjoy not knowing for a bit longer. Thinking about it that way has made it easier for me to wait too.

Reddish Pool

Jorja was disappointed that she forgot to get a picture with Mackie yesterday. He told her to stop by after school. Jorja ended up staying late to work on posters for Homecoming. Connor took her to Mackie's house after they were finished.

Jorja and Mackie

I took Preston to diving and was surprised to see they renamed the pool. I think up until this point they have just called the building HYPR. It makes sense they would name it the Don Reddish pool. Reddish was the swim coach at the University of Utah for over fifty years.

I forgot to mention what happened to Jorja at work on Saturday. Her Chick-Fil-A name tag says, "Jorja - Public Speaker" Well, Public Speaker is written under Jorja. Anyway, she was helping a customer and they asked why her tag says public speaker. She told him that was what she wanted her future career to be. Turns out the guy she was talking to is a public speaker. His wife is putting together an event for high school suicide awareness and they are looking for high school kids to speak at it. He gave her a card and told her she should contact his wife. Wouldn't it be funny if Jorja's big break came from working at Chick-Fil-A?

New Pond

Preston was the only one who was with us for church today. That was so weird. During sacrament meeting he was looking at pictures of Princess Peep. He drew this heart around her, three days before Bowser abducted her. Jorja wasn't with us at church because she went with Travin to Mackie's mission farewell. I got a new calling today. I am now a Sunday school teacher with Sister Bennett. Our class is all boys. Stockton got a new calling today too. He is the Elders Quorum secretary. He was surprised by the calling because he isn't a return missionary and he is only going to be there until December. Mike taught Elders Quorum today. I wanted to sneak into his class and listen, but the Bishop was meeting with the Miamaids and Teachers answering their questions. Jorja didn't know if she would get back from Mackie's farewell in time, so she asked if I could go and voice record it on my phone. She got back for the last fifteen minutes of class. Dad said he would teach us his lesson for Family Home Evening when Stockton comes home to open his mission call.

Annie with Princess Peep, Jorja with Waddluigi and Aysha with Quackletta 

Mike got the duck pond finished enough that he wanted to move the two remaining ducks in. Not sure what Quackletta thought about it, but the picture below makes me laugh. One thing about only having two ducks is now it is super easy to tell them apart. Plus, Waddluigi is looking more boyish. He's turning gray and getting a green head. I think his gray feathers are beautiful.

Jorja and Waddluigi, Preston and Quackletta

 Jorja & Waddluigi

 You can see the green on his head now.

 Preston and Quackletta

 Jorja, Mike, Preston

Preston's head, Jorja, Mike ~ testing out the new pond

 Preston, Jorja, Mike

 Jorja, Preston, Mike

We played in the backyard for awhile. Jorja has started trying to learn lacrosse. She had Preston out throwing the ball to her. I did it too, but she didn't like how I would throw it. Apple season is almost here too. Oh boy. How are we going to keep up with everything?

Preston & Jorja

 Preston, Mike, Jorja