Refund

Jorja had a hard day today. She was sad and ready to be home. She also slept through her alarms, so she wasn't able to eat breakfast or get her makeup on. Her face has broken out so she was completely embarrassed all day. Plus, she forgot to take her pills. She somehow got back to the hotel in the afternoon just long enough to take her pill. That made her feel a lot better.

A few months ago Jorja's friend Ben sent her a random Venmo request. It was for $3 I think and said, "For introducing you to Spencer and I want Chick-Fil-A." Jorja thought that was so funny and paid his bill. Well, today Jora sent Ben a Venmo requesting a refund. Hahaha. I love that girl.

Jorja had some free time and was able to do a bit of shopping. She bought this shirt. Megan bought one too.

Jorja

 Megan, Preston, Jorja

 Megan & Jorja

Jorja's day ended much better than it began. Yay! She was also able to pick up the swimsuits I sent. Too bad they got back too late to go swimming. At least she will have it for tomorrow!

SIX MONTHS

Stockton reached his six months mark today! Yay! One fourth of his mission is completed. So excited about that! It seems forever until four fourths will be completed. The only thing about wishing him home, is then Jorja will be about ready to leave home. I don't want to wish my time away with the two youngest. Thank goodness I get to talk to him every week!

Maysen and I went to Hobby Lobby and Zupas today. Maysen went crazy there and should never be allowed to take Mike to that store. She texted him a picture of a unicorn head and he wanted her to buy it to make a wand station out of. Those two would get crazy ideas at that store. At Zupas we ran into Mr. Packer and Cade. Too bad Jorja wasn't with us, she would have loved to run into those two!

Jorja seems to be having a good time on her trip. I asked her how she was getting along with Olivia and she said they were having a blast. Yay! Glad she is happy! They went to Quincy, Warsaw and Nauvoo Illinois. They also got to do baptisms at the Nauvoo Temple and see the Nauvoo Pageant. Busy day!

Megan, Olivia, Jorja

 Jorja

We had a deer visit us today. He loved drinking out of one of the inflatable toys. He was there for a long time, and wasn't even bothered by Quaky Chan. Silly guard duck!

Don't mind our crazy backyard. We'll get it together one day!

Far West Frogs

We got to talk to Stockton today! I talked to him for about three hours. It was the best! He told us all about their baptism with Greg on Saturday. He also gave us assignments of who to pray for next week and what to pray about. Four different names. He sounds so happy. I love him!

Jorja sent me a picture of her with a frog today and I was so happy! I miss the Jorja who was obsessed with frogs! I guess she kind of got bullied in 6th grade because of her frog obsession, so she has kept her love of frogs a secret. So happy to see this picture!

Jorja

I think this kid's name is Andrew

 Olivia, Jorja, Megan

Jorja sent me this next picture with no explanation. I have never seen it before and I don't recognize the clothes. I asked Jorja is this was her. She said, "No, but doesn't it look like me?" Wow. It sure does. Her friend Mallory sent it to her. I guess it was a picture in Piper and Scoot. Jorja has a doppelganger out there somewhere!

I decided to send Jorja some swimsuits from Amazon. I got the address of the hotel they are staying at in Nauvoo from my dad. I had thought about overnighting her swimsuit there, but then realized it would be cheaper to buy her a new one. Plus, she can take it to Lake Powell. Problem is, it's hard to know what will fit. At least the swimsuits were pretty cheap. I sent her three. I figured if they all fit, great. If they don't, then maybe one will fit Maysen. Or we can send them back. Jorja jumped into the pool in her clothes today.... so, hopefully the swimsuit gets to her!

Statues

The good news is, Jorja gets along great with her roommate Olivia. She also made other friends. A girl Megan shows up in her pictures, so I'm guessing they are getting along well too. Jorja posted these random pictures. I'm not sure where this statue was, but she seemed to find it fascinating. I think she went to the Church of Christ temple, Liberty Jail, some gravesites, including the one where my brother John was hit by a car when we were on vacation. The kids went swimming when they got back to the hotel. I told Jorja she wouldn't need her swimsuit. Whoops. They can go swimming every night. That was a big fail on my part.

Megan & Jorja

 Olivia

 Olivia & Jorja

 Jorja, Olivia, Megan

Peppa Pig

Jorja got all packed for her church history trip and mostly packed for EFY. That one is hard because she wants to wear some clothes to both. Moses came and picked her up this morning. He brought her ice-cream and a Kit-Kat and took her on a drive to talk about Spencer. He has been really nice to her. This made her happy.

Moses

Jorja, my dad, Cathy and Max left for their church history trip today. I picked my dad up at 1:00. The only problem was, Max had decided he didn't want to go. He even called his mom and asked to stay with her for the week. My dad was beside himself. He was so upset he couldn't function or think straight. Hunter was supposed to come and pick Max up. Turns out Hunter couldn't get there until around 5:00. So, my dad and Cathy were just supposed to leave Max here and assume Hunter will come and pick him up. That does not sound like a good idea at all. Max was on the front porch and I snapped at him. I wasn't awful, but I have never talked to Max that way before. Max got up and walked away. Like down the street. I ended up chasing him down. I got in front of him, looked him in the eyes and apologized. I hugged him and he started crying. He said he really didn't want to go on a church history trip. I told him that Jorja didn't want to go either. I can't remember everything I said to him, but I do remember saying that my dad loved him very much and it was hard on me. There was no way my dad would be able to leave him home alone. It might not be the funnest trip, but he will have a place to stay, food to eat and he will be safe. If he was with his mom my dad would worry the entire time about him being safe. Things like that. Anyways, Max walked to the car and got in. Hopefully he will have a good trip! Their flight was delayed and they got to Kansas City super late. Hopefully things go up from there. Anyway, on the way home I stopped by Matt and Sam's to let them know Max was with my dad. I didn't want them to worry about him. Anne was with friends outside and was wearing a Peppa Pig swimsuit. Jorja loves Peppa Pig. What a cutie!

Anne

Two Dates and a Breakup

Brett and Rachel left for Idaho today. Before they left we had fun playing with them. Jorja and the girls had fun making a music video together.

Eve being filmed by Jorja, Grace & Mina

 Editing meeting

Maysen, Jorja and Preston baked a cake. Except we had no eggs, so they tried it will egg whites (from a carton) ~ it didn't work out too well. It still tasted delicious though.

Jorja had two dates today. A lunch date with a boy named Isaac. They went to Costa Vida and the pet store for some reason. She had a great time.

Jorja & Isaac

Tonight Jorja had a date with Teegan. She doubled with Ebony who took Cinco and Madison who took some tall dude. It was a simple date, but everyone seemed to have a great time. They went to the store and bought ingredients for food. Came home and made pizza and played Jackbox games. Again, Jorja had a great time. Teegan is in our ward and is super nice.

Cinco & Emily, Jorja & Teegan, Tall dude & Madison

That was the two dates. Now for the break up. Jorja was dating a boy named Spencer. He was nice and everything, until Jorja went to Taiwan. She didn't have a lot of contact with him while she was there. WiFi was hard, we barely heard from her, time zones were different and she was busy, busy, busy. They had a date when she got back. At least Jorja thought it was a date. Spencer ended up taking her out to dinner with his family. That didn't bother her. Their first date was with his family. Then they went back to his house and she hung out with his little siblings while he talked to his parents. Then he invited one of his friends over to watch a movie with them. Jorja was so confused. She wanted to tell him about Taiwan, and he never asked. She also wanted to hear about his trips, but he wasn't interested in talking to her. They watched a movie and then Spencer said he had to get Jorja home. It was way early, she told him she had permission to stay out until 11:30. So, he decided they should watch another movie. Then he took her home. Jorja was a half an hour early, but at this point she didn't care. She was so sad she just wanted to get home. She called me. I was in Idaho. It made no sense.

Anyways, Spencer left the next day for St. George. Jorja texted him and asked when he would be home. He said next Thursday. She asked if he would like to go on a date the following Friday, which would have been today. He said he would let her know. Then didn't send any kind of message to her at all for a week. He used to message her all the time. Not a crazy amount, but this was weird and Jorja could tell something was off. One week later Jorja sent him another text asking if Friday at 5:30 would work. He said, "Oh....I meant to tell you. I will still be in St. George and then I have a family reunion on Saturday, so I can't go." Jorja is leaving tomorrow and will be gone until school starts. She was so sad. She couldn't believe he didn't have any contact with her for a week and then dropped out of their date. She texted back something like, "Oh...okay...I guess I will see you when school starts then." His reply was something like, "Sounds great! See you then." Jorja didn't know what to make of that, but she knew it made her sad.

Spencer didn't contact her at all after that. He was pretty much ghosting her and she didn't know why. Jorja sent him a message today that said something like 'I feel like ever sense I said yes to you something has been off. I'm not sure if you have lost feelings for me or what, but I want to know what is happening so I don't waste my time or yours.' She was a lot more articulate, I'm sure. She is in Nauvoo right now, so I can't check. Anyway, he said he was on his way home and could he take her out for ice-cream so they could talk, because this was important to him. They agreed for Jorja to text him after her date. Anyways, Jorja met him at the neighborhood park at 11:00. Spencer told her that he was at the temple and had a prompting that he needed to break up with her. He pushed it away, but when he went to the St. George temple the prompting was even stronger. That made Jorja mad. Isaac (not the one she had her lunch date with) used to use that line on her all the time too. Jorja sees it as a cop out. She felt he was being completely fake with her. She asked him if he was ever planning on telling her. Spencer would have just let her go on this trip and be gone for another three weeks with her wondering what the heck was going on. Not cool.

The other reason Spencer gave for breaking up with her was they grew apart while she was in Taiwan. That made Jorja mad. She told me that he never even asked her about her trip. He was blaming this once in a lifetime opportunity on their breakup. She was shocked. She was also annoyed that he broke up with her when she had planned on breaking up with him. Now she feels like a loser that no one can stand to be with. Her words, not mine. Spencer kept saying things like, "I'm sorry you feel that way." That bothered her so much. Like he wasn't taking any responsibility for being a jerk. He doesn't need to keep dating her if he doesn't want to, but ghosting is a jerk move, and extremely cowardly. Jorja finally said, "It's okay. You're just like any other boy. You just want the chase. As soon as the girl says yes you get bored and move on." I don't think he really liked being told he was just like every other boy. When Spencer walked her to her car he told her they should go on a date when she gets back and 'he decided it will be fun.' Wow. Jorja said to me, "So, I'm someone who people have to decide to have fun with before they hang out with me. I'm not a fun person, they have to consciously decide to have fun with me." He also told her that on their date she could tell him about her trip. She said, "So, you didn't want to know a thing about my month long stay in a foreign country staying with host families, but you will want to know about my week long trip to Nauvoo? I don't think so." Then she got in her car to drive away. Too bad her car door is broken and sometimes she has to readjust the handle. This was one of those times. She got out to fix her door and said, "Well, this is awkward." Hahahaha. I love her!

Anyway, Jorja and I talked for a long time. She is a bit sad, but mostly mad. She didn't see this coming from Spencer before she left for Taiwan. The thing that bothers me is right now she is vulnerable. Her face has broken out and she is completely embarrassed by it. It is really taking a chunk out of her self esteem. This was not good timing. Still, I'm glad for her not to have a boyfriend. I don't like them. I haven't liked any of the boys she has liked except one. Life would be so much simpler if she could keep the boys at arms length. Maybe this experience with Spencer will help her do that. One can always hope.

Pool Day

Cori took Jorja school shopping today. She sure is spoiling that girl. Jorja had just enough time to grab something to eat before she headed to work for the rest of the day. This is her last day of work for three weeks. Her friend, Sam, texted me from her phone asking if she could go to In & Out with them after work because they wouldn't see her for three weeks. I texted back Hahahahahaha - no. The rest of us played all day. The kids got in the pool two different times, for quite a long time. They loved it. Matt, Bubs and their families were over as well. Rachel's childhood friend came over with her kids too. The weather was perfect. No one got hurt. It was such a great day.

Brett and Eve

 Matt & Jeff

Grace

 Abby

 Mina

 Anne

 Grace & Anne

 Marie

 Amelia

 Ella

 Eve

 Marie on the slide

 The pool is happy

Eve was a nut! She went off the diving board a million times and down the slide a ton more. She couldn't get enough! Amelia was a fish. She loved swimming under the water. Grace too! I love it when my family is here!

24th of July

Mike and I did a major fail today. Our family was assigned to put up the flags around the ward today. We were sent a reminder email on Sunday and a reminder text yesterday. Still, we forgot. I looked at the calendar around 9:00 and my heart just dropped. I ran in and woke up Mike. We felt soooo bad! We took the flags down though. Still. So embarrassing!

I hung out with Brett and Rachel for most of the day. I loved it. They went to Bountiful tonight, along with Matt and Sam. One of Rachel's cousins goes all out on fireworks for the 24th of July. It sounded super cool. Jorja had a date. She went with Moses. Brynlee went with Riley, Madison went with Josh and Chloee went on a blind date with Luke. Jorja set them up and they got along great. It was funny because Jorja hurried home from work. On her way to pick up Moses she grabbed the extra chicken and half a watermelon that was left over from our dinner and made a picnic out of it. Weirdo. They went to a place to watch fireworks. They stopped by a store to pick up ice-cream and then came to our house. They had their ice cream while they played Jackbox. Everyone seemed to have a great time.

Jorja & Moses

 Madison & Josh, Chloee's knees and Luke, Riley & Brynlee, Jorja & Moses

Josh actually bought a shirt from the Jackbox games. I have never seen anyone do that before. I wonder if he will wear it. I don't know why it is so funny, but apparently Josh liked it.

Big Girl

I can't believe I didn't take any pictures. Today was such a fun day too! Jorja took Preston to get a haircut. He looks adorable. No pictures though. I loved that she took him. I loved that Preston let her pick out his haircut. I loved that I didn't have to do anything. It was great. I did take Maysen to the OBGYN. Maysen and Jorja have to take birth control pills while they are on Accutane. Jorja was able to get her perscription from the dermatologist, but because Maysen's periods are super weird he wanted her to see a big girl doctor. I set her up an appointment with Dr. Smith, who I love. Even though we aren't related. He was great talking to her. We just had an office visit with no examination. She got off easy!

The best part of the day was hanging out with my family. Brett and Rachel were here all day. We played lots of games. I taught them Five Minute Dungeon and they loved it. We played games most of the day. Matt and Bubs and their families came and played with us. My dad came and made us dinner. Then we all went swimming! Except my dad wouldn't get into the pool. I went swimming too, which is why I have no pictures. I even wore the mermaid tail Mike got me for Mother's Day for a weird one. Anyway, it was so so so so fun. We played for a long time. It was a great day.

Quests

Brett and Rachel came today! Yay! Yay! Yay! I was talking on the phone with Stockton (which was awesome) when they got here. They got to yell hi to him. Mike immediately showed the kids the wand stations he made. He programed them each a wand and they were off on their quests. They loved it! It was adorable.

Jorja was supposed to have a hangout/sleepover with the student government girls today. She asked work off for it and everything. Then at the last second it was cancelled. Jorja was disappointed. Mostly because she missed camp this year and is a bit worried about bonding. Plus, it would have been fun. She did make a quick run for yogurt with Emily and then was able to hang out with Brett and Rachel's girls. Grace saw the fruit bowl and started telling me all about the Studio C sketch. She had the entire thing memorized. I told her to point her wand at it. She laughed and laughed when the fruit bowl started doing the Studio C sketch!

It is soooo fun to have family here! I love it! I wish they lived next door. The house is up for sale right now. Twice the price we paid for ours. And Brett's job is in Ohio. Details.

Room

Jorja got her room almost clean. That is impressive because her room was a disaster. She has hardly had a second to breathe this summer and is still struggling to get over her jet lag. Maysen, Jorja and Preston have had fun playing Minecraft together. I love watching my kids enjoy being with each other. We sure miss Stockton, but we get to talk to him tomorrow!

Thank

Jorja slept over at Brynlee and Chloee's house last night. She went to the concert with Brynlee. She went straight from their house to a hair appointment. She wanted a trim and a touch up on her color. This is the picture she sent me after she was done.

Jorja

Jorja also got together with some of her friends from Taiwan. They had lunch together and she was so happy to see them again. She went straight from lunch to work. So, we didn't see her today. Mike and I went down to work and sat at our 'stalking table' so we could see her for a bit. She closed today, but came home and played Minecraft with Maysen and Preston.

I put together a missionary binder for Jorja. She is going to have lots of friends going on missions and their emails get buried. I printed out all the letters she has been sent. She has some great exchanges with Stockton. For example, one email she sent just said 'Hey'. Stockton wrote back, 'Johnny Johnny is a good meme." One email she just wrote 'Thank' and Stockton wrote back 'Sure.' Weirdos. They do have some longer ones too. Anyway, I made page dividers for Stockton and Mackie. This is what they look like.

The Head and the Heart

I think that is the name of the concert Jorja went to today. This is her first real concert, besides Backstreet Lovers. Hailey's brother Jonas is in that band, so I don't think it seemed real to Jorja. Even though it was pretty cool. Jorja had lunch with her friend Mallory, then hung out with Brynlee. She went to the concert with Brynlee and slept over at her house. Jorja texted me for awhile at 1:00 in the morning. She had a fun time and I was glad to know she was safe.

Lion King

Maysen, Preston and I met Jorja for lunch with some of her work friends. Jorja took a part of someone's shift this morning. She had a call in shift this evening. She was hoping to be able to work. She thought she was going to because when she left the manager said, "See you at five." Well, she called in and they told her not to come in. She was a little disappointed because she had been asked out on a date. She told him she wouldn't know until 4:00 if she could go. He said he would try and find someone else. He ended up asking her friend Madison. When Jorja didn't have to work she was disappointed because she could have gone on the date. They were going to see the Lion King. Jorja has been excited about that for a year. She has always loved that show. Too bad when I bought her third row tickets to see the live version she cut her cornea that same day. I'll always remember her sitting straight in the chair, trying to open her eyes with tears running down her face. It was heartbreaking. Anyway, Mike and I went to Anthony Covington's wedding reception. We then took the kids to a late night showing of Lion King. Mike drove Maysen and Preston to the theater and I drove Jorja to Inn and Out before the show. In the five minutes we were there she managed to see ten different people. Jorja liked the movie. I fell asleep. I tried to stay awake, but that didn't work out so well.

Sunset

Mike and I have been walking in the evenings lately. I thought the sunset was so beautiful today, especially with the church spire in the background.