New Years Eve

I took Jorja and Madison shopping looking for Sweetheart dresses today. We went down to City Creek. It was pretty fun. These are my two favorite dresses Jorja tried on.

Jorja

 I think I like this one best

Madison and Jorja

The blue dress was pretty big on Jorja. She didn't end up getting a dress. She didn't love any of them. Her ideal dress would be sea foam green, lacy, to her knees and would twirl. She sure has ideas, too bad she can't find the dress to match. We hurried home so Jorja could get to work on time. Madison hung out with her while she got ready. Jorja left for work and I took Madison home. I ended up talking to her for two hours outside her house. I really like Madison. She has been such a great friend to Jorja.

Stockton was gone by the time I got home. He went to John's house to hang out with him before he leaves in two days. Ahhhh! That's crazy! I'm so glad Stockton is leaving at the end of this month! I would not be emotionally ready yet! Stockton had a great time playing games and came home ten minutes before midnight. I can't tell you how happy that made me. I didn't talk to him at all about when I wanted him home. But he wanted to spend his last New Years with us. I didn't get a family picture, but I got this cute video of Stockton.

Jorja hung out with her Chick-Fil-A friends after work. She was given specific instructions about how she needed to tell me if she went anywhere else and she needed to be home by 11:30. She texted and asked if she could stay later. Nope. She said she didn't have a way back to her car because they were at a different house. Woah. She did not tell me she went anywhere else, which is stupid because I wouldn't care. I don't know who one random person is verses the other, I just want to know where she is. If I can't trust her to be honest and follow through on directions on little things, how can I trust her on the big ones? I made her get a ride to her car and come home. She started crying as soon as she got inside. I was annoyed. She can't handle if I get frustrated with her. If I try and correct her on anything she takes it as I'm super disappointed in her and her life is ruined. She's a bit dramatic sometimes. I was sad because this was my last New Years Eve with my family and it ended in tears. I didn't even get a picture. At least I got the video. I love how it shows Stockton's personality. Well, 2018 is now officially over. Hopefully 2019 will be wonderful. I am sure going to miss Stockton.

Indonesia John

Preston had to be to church fifteen minutes early and it made me anxious. There was a visiting 70 authority there, so they wanted the boys that were passing the sacrament to be ready. I hurried Mike, Maysen and Preston out the door. I hate being late. I forgot my phone, but didn't worry about it. When I got home from church I saw there was a message from Aubrey asking about going to church with us. I felt soooooo bad! We had talked about it last week and I totally forgot. I texted her an apology and she said she was able to go with someone else. I didn't see her there though.

Stockton and Jorja went to John Lyon's mission farewell. John has become a great friend to Stockton up at Utah State. Jorja is friends with his sister. John goes into the MTC on January 2nd. He is going to Indonesia. He will still be in the MTC when Stockton gets there. Hopefully they will run into each other. It would be awesome for Stockton to find a friendly face there. They went to the Lyon's house after church. Jorja stayed for awhile before she got exhausted. She had driven her bug so she was able to leave and Matt said he would give Stockton a ride home. Matt was John's roommate at Utah State. He came down for the farewell. Stockton was friends with him too. Stockton stayed for several more hours. He came home happy. I'm glad he had a great time.

Yesterday I found out my cousin Justin is getting a divorce. Justin and Lisa were married when I was pregnant with Maysen. So, 21 years. I felt sick to my stomach. Today I contacted Justin's sister to find out if it was really true. Heather and I sent many messages back and forth. Yep, it's true. Heather got a divorce in the summer. I feel so sad for the two of them. Jorja said, "See, this is why I'm scared of marriage." Jorja has a huge fear that she will never get married and if she does her husband will leave her. I talked to Jorja for a long while. I asked her if she thought her dad and I would ever get divorced. She looked at me like I was crazy and said 'of course not,' or something like that. I told her some marriages are wonderful. Some are not. It is sooooo important not to rush into marriage. It is sooooo important to marry the right person. She told me that I sure was lucky. I agree. I don't know why I was blessed to have this perfect marriage for me. I don't know why I was blessed to have the one person I love more than anything in the world love me back. I don't know why I was blessed to have absolutely everything I have ever wanted. All I can think of is it is a tender mercy. Heavenly Father knew I would lose my mom young. I think that is why Mike and I got married so fast after he came home from his mission. My mom was able to be at my wedding. She died nine months later. That was her tender mercy, being able to see one child, her only daughter, get married. I think Heavenly Father knew I would need Mike to handle losing my mom. I am so thankful that Mike is the person I knew him to be. My greatest wish is for my children to stay close to the gospel, always trying their best to do what Heavenly Father would want them to do and to have a marriage like mine. I pray for their future spouses all the time. That they are safe. That they are loved. That they are learning about Heavenly Father and cultivating a desire to live as he would want them to. I hope they can find someone as amazing as Mike. I also hope that they get along with their in-laws. I hope my children will always be as close to each other as they are now. I love my family. I'm so lucky.

Stephanie & Mike

Driving with Ducks

We spent the morning cleaning the cabin, then spent the last few moments we had outside. I love it here. It is so beautiful. So many wonderful memories. We are so lucky.

Parrydise

 Jorja & Maysen

 Maysen

 Preston

 Jorja and Stephanie

Jorja

 Mike

 Jorja

 Stockton

I tried to film while I was sledding. Stockton had other plans.

My kids spent about an hour on the roof. Why? I don't know.

Maysen, Stockton, Jorja

 Preston climbing up to them.

 Jorja, Maysen, Stockton, Preston

 Jorja

We got home around 9:00 tonight. Stockton hurried out the door to his friend John's house. They watched Forest Gump and played games until about 2:00 in the morning. Stockton has known John since elementary school, but they didn't have any classes together in middle and high school. They had an engineering class in college though. They spent hours studying together. John is leaving for a mission on Wednesday, so they wanted to have a movie/game night tonight.

Jorja really wanted to take her ducks to Chick-Fil-A and get them a salad. Mike thought that was a great idea and helped her pull that off. Those two are definitely related.

Ducks riding in a car

Ordering

Duck salad

 Random picture of Jorja

Jorja was really hoping to see Hutch tonight. She showed up about two minutes before Jorja got back from Chick-Fil-A. It was so fun talking to her and catching up with her. She had crazy dating/roommate stories. Yikes! I am so glad she stopped by. Jorja loves her so much. We do too!

Jorja & Hutch

 Stephanie & Hutch

Last Full Day

This week has gone by so fast! Today was our last full day at the cabin. We spent it doing usual cabin stuff. Here are the pictures.

Maysen

 Stockton & Preston making an RPG game

 I got Utah State socks today in my sock advent calendar. I love them!

Penguin sledding with the Porge. She needs to work on staying on better.

Stephanie, Jorja, Mike

 Jorja & Anne

 With a photobomb by Stockton

 Stockton

 Preston, Jorja & Anne, Stockton, Matt & Greg

 Amy & Preston

 Isn't she adorable?

 Preston & Amy

 Amy

45 Years Old

Wow. I'm getting old. Jorja posted this about me today. Look how cute. Down by the number 45 she has an 'L' for love. Isn't she sweet?

This picture was listed in my camera roll as December 27th. I know it was taken earlier, so not sure why it is there. Anyway, Jorja was taking a video on my phone as she drove up the hill on the 4-wheeler. At the end she smiled really pretty and said, "Mom, you can take a screen shot of this." She looked beautiful. I'm sure she was expecting her picture to turn out like this.

Jorja

 Instead it turned out like this. Hahahahaha!

A lovely video posted by Jorja. She was SO SICK a few weeks ago!

Today was a great day. Birthdays at the cabin are the best. That is the one thing that makes up for me having my birthday so close to Christmas. I'm almost always at the cabin with all of my family. Next year Stockton won't be here though. We played in the snow, played games, ate cake, watched a movie, and went night sledding. It was perfect.

Mike got me a birthday pie. I love pie so much more than cake.

 He picked up a cake too, but we only had candles from last year. I guess I'm turning 44 again!

 Mike is very safe.

 Jorja & Anne

 Mono Jorja. It's crazy how tired she gets.

We played another escape room game and it was sooooo much fun! We watched Ferdinand downstairs with the projector. That movie was weird! My absolute favorite was going night sledding. My entire family came. We went to the Springs. Matt came with us too, so my family was able to go down all together. It was DARK! We were flying down the mountain. It is lucky we have done that hill so many times because we were flying blind. The last time down the mountain was the best. I have never gone down that hill so fast! And I couldn't see a thing. It was THE BEST! Because it was our last time, I kept going to see how far I could get. I made the first turn easily and was still going fast when I came to the sharp right turn. I hit it perfectly. I helped myself by pushing with my arms while I was still moving along pretty well. I got past the new house by our cabin before I stopped. I have never made it that far. Too bad it was so cold up there or we could have kept sledding longer. I traded Stockton my mittens for his gloves. His fingers were freezing! I have come to love mittens for sledding. They are so much warmer than gloves. Jorja keeps asking me if she can have new ones for next year. She used to have cute white mittens, but she wore them out last year. Anyway, today was such a fun day. I love my family. I love how funny each of them are. I love how they make me so happy. I love how they make me laugh. I love how they get along. I love their good hearts. I love being with them. It sure is going to be weird when Stockton leaves. I'm not looking forward to the hole that will be there. It was a good thing we got a little practice with it while he was up at Utah State. I can't imagine not talking to him and reading his blog first thing every morning. I'm going to miss that so much!

Mike & Stockton

Maysen, Stephanie, Preston

Jorja

 Stockton

Maysen, Stephanie, Jorja

Preston

 Maysen, Preston, Stephanie, Jorja, Stockton

 (Preston) Stephanie & Stockton

 Maysen & Stephanie

 Jorja made me this card for the family to sign

I ended today with my favorite view. My children loving each other.

 Stockton & Jorja

Today was a perfect day.