Stalker Table

Every once in a while, Mike and I like to go to Chick-Fil-A and spy on Jorja. We sit at the 'stalker table'. It is a little two seater table. We always move it just a bit so we have a perfect view of her. She loves it. Haha. While we were there this time, Jorja had her one on one interview. She loved us there watching her. Just kidding! As she walked by she said to us, "Hey guys! I'm going to get fired!" She was obviously joking. Mike and I left shortly after I took this picture, but it was so funny to be there for a bit.

Work Hailey & Jorja

Also, Mondays are the best days because I get to talk to Stockton! He said this week is already done. Not a lot of work will be happening because everything is already planned out. They have zone conference and then there is General Conference. Should be a nice fun week for him.

Bananas

Jorja was planning on going to Traven's mission farewell with her friend Jessie. Except Jessie slept through her alarm. Jorja does not like to go places by herself. She tried texting the other girls in student government to see if she could sit by them, but didn't get an answer fast enough. I was in my pajamas and Jorja needed to leave. I told her I would come with her if she wanted. She wanted. I was surprised. So, I threw on some clothes in five seconds and we were out the door. I was mostly excited to go to Traven's building. It is the same building I went to church at when I was growing up. I would lean over and say random things to Jorja during the meeting. "This is the building where my mom's funeral was." "Her casket was right up there." "I took off her ring before they closed the casket in a room over there." Okay, so most of my memories revolved around my mom's funeral. Anyway, when sacrament meeting was over Jorja went to say hi to Traven and I went exploring. I wandered around and ended up by the bishop's office. I remember that being my dad's office. Then I saw plaques for the Young Women's medallion and Eagle Scout. I should have taken a picture, because my name was right there. Bubs, Brett and Mike were on the Eagle Scout side. It is weird to see Stephanie Millburn after all these years. Fun to show Jorja though.

Jorja dropped me off at church then headed home. I would have been tempted to skip this sacrament meeting but they asked me to say the closing prayer. Audrey was sick today too, so I sat by myself. Then we had a combined third hour and they asked the families to all sit together. Again, by myself.

Traven & Jorja

Jorja posted this cute goodbye message to Traven. I loved the message she wrote in Chinese. It says, "Taiwan friends! This is my friend Traven. He's going to Taiwan next month, please take care of him!!"

Jorja did go with Jessie to Traven's get together thing after. Mike and Preston made it home from fishing. Yay! I hadn't seen them for a week, so it was good to have them back. We played some new games they bought. While we were playing, Spencer came over and answered Jorja to the Halloween dance. He came in and played with us. That made Jorja happy. She was proud of me.

Spencer & Jorja

Another Homecoming

Jorja and two of her friends from student government decided to go to Corner Canyon's homecoming. All the student government girls were invited, but only these three ended up going. Jessie called one of her friends that goes to Bingham and asked if he would want to come with them. He did and brought two of his friends. So...randomly these guys all had dates to another school's homecoming. Jorja had a great time. I will have to ask her if she remembers who these people are.

Jessie, Bingham boy, Surette (?), Bingham boy, Jorja, Bingham boy

 Jorja and her 'date'

 Pictures from Mike and Preston's camping trip

 Mike

 Preston & cows

Home and Away

I flew home this afternoon. Matt picked me up from the airport. He dropped me off right as Jorja and Hailey were pulling out of our driveway. Jorja dropped Hailey off and then headed to work. She got back really late. She had to close and then she went with Brynlee to ask Ben to the Halloween dance. When she did get home she slept in my bed with me while we watched a movie. That was fun.

Mike and Preston are out of contact right now. Because I'm writing this late, I was able to get these pictures off of Mike's phone. They had a great time together.

Junior Goals

I spent the day with Mike's family and it was so fun. I went to the doctor's with Mike and Blake to have Blake's elbow x-rayed. They were able to x-ray it through the cast and everything. It is definitely broken, but he doesn't need surgery or pins. That's great. Also, look at this AMAZING project Larkin did for her Spanish class.

 She labeled everything on the back

 Look at her grade. Brett pointed out that arrows were worth ten points on that project.

Larkin said she did her project just like the example. That one didn't have a key on the front either. Anyway, ten points off is ridiculous. Crazy teachers.

Mike has this batting area set up in his garage. It is so fun! He has a batting cage outside but says the kids don't like it too much because it hurts their hands. I guess they have to be a little older for that...but until then...

I stayed up soooo late talking to Mike. Christen went to bed around midnight. I think Mike and I went to bed around 2:00. So great to be able to spend time with him. I loved it.

Mike and Preston left today to go fishing. They took the motorhome and drove to Bridger Lake. I assume they got there. There is no cell service, so I won't hear from them until Sunday. Jorja is staying with Hailey tonight. She was more than happy about that! They went with Ben to the store and then made some goals for their Junior year. How fun!

Ben & Jorja

 At homecoming being super awkward on purpose

 Hailey ~ Hailey and Jorja's Junior year goals

Ballpark Surprise

Mike took Preston to parent teacher conference. He was not happy about that. At all. He was much happier with the milkshake at Freddy's afterwards though.

Mike and Christen came home today. They met us at the ballpark with food. I did not tell the kids they would be there. Haha! Larkin pitched and was amazing. She even got the game ball, although she claims she got it by default. It was fun watching her play and she did great!

Blake and Parker had fun playing with my Snapchat. Haha. Lots of filters that they loved. That kept them entertained for a long time!

Giant bug the boys found

 Parker and half of Blake

I had fun staying up late talking to Mike and Christen. It is soooooo wonderful to be with my brothers. I wish we all lived close to each other. My brothers are the best!

People's Employee

Look at the snack Larkin fixed herself! Mike (my Mike) wouldn't touch that with a ten foot pole!

Blake had a flag football practice. He couldn't practice because of his broken elbow, but he wanted to go and watch. I dropped him off and came back and helped Skye with her cross stitch. Parker and I went back to the park a few minutes early so he could play on the playground. He is adorable!

Parker

Mike and Christen were able to tour Ronald Reagan's ranch. Pretty cool, because it's not open to the public. Mike was there on a work retreat. Mike said that they still had his shampoo in the shower and his clothes in the closet. Reagan actually put the roof on the house and built the fence on the property while he was president. Mike said they had a warranty on a wine fridge that was mailed from the White House. As his occupation he put 'People's Employee'. That's pretty cool.

Mike thought Larkin would love this. She LOVES horses.

 Ronald Reagan, Queen of England, Nancy Reagan, Prince Philip

 Reagan Ranch

Jorja went to the temple this morning with a bunch of friends, then went with Riley to watch Brynlee play in the Riverton Powderpuff game. Mike managed to handle parent teacher conference at Alta. He even saw Natalie Zimmerman and Mindy Poole. After talking together, it dawned on both of us that Mindy Poole's daughter is Jorja's friend Lexi in student government. It's so obvious. Lexi looks exactly like Mindy did. Lexi is entering the MTC tomorrow. Crazy how we just put that together.

Spencer & Jorja

Mike has been playing a lot of games with Preston. They FaceTimed me while they tried out a new game called Mysterium. That game is hard to play over FaceTime. You have to study pictures of cards and make connections. Oh well. It was still fun to try to play with them.

Sooooo Much Homework

I got the kids off to school perfectly. Blake and Parker at the elementary school then Skye and Larkin at the middle school. Blake came home with so much homework. He worked on it for hours. I guess he was sick last week and missed a few days. He was determined to make up all his work today. He said he wasn't sure when it was due and he didn't want to get in trouble. As soon as he came home from school he started. He took a break and watched a movie while I was talking to Stockton, then started back up again and worked until I forced him to go to bed around 10:00. It was crazy.

Skye had soccer practice today and Larkin was picked up for her softball game. I would have gone to watch Larkin, but I wanted to talk to Stockton. Luckily Larkin has another game on Wednesday, so I'll get to see her play! I didn't get to see her play last time I was here.

Larkin with her giant water bottle

Stockton was so fun to talk to! He is getting along with his companion, even though his companion is a ladies man. Hahahaha. Stockton sounded happy and said things are going really well. Yay! Jorja sent me this picture. Not sure what these guys are doing. I know it is student government though. I think they got to play during student government in the new field house.

I had to take a screen shot of this. I asked Jorja about it. She hadn't heard anything yet. Well, turns out if you have the Chick-Fil-A app and the opposing team misses two straight free throws in the fourth quarter, everyone gets chicken! Wow! I wonder how crazy this will get?

All His Cookies

I haven't been able to get photos on my computer for over two weeks! It has been frustrating and now I am sooooo behind. Luckily I was able to fix everything today by buying a new charging cord. If only I had done that sooner..... Anyway, I headed to New Mexico this morning. Mike met me at the airport. I was able to talk to him for about five minutes before Christen arrived. She drove up to the drop off lane. I said hi to her, got in their car and drove away. Nice little airport pickup there. Mike and Christen are going to California. Christen put the address for their church in the gps and I drove straight there. Their church building is weird and the parking is horrible, but I was able to get inside and find the chapel. The kids had their primary program today and they were absolutely adorable! I sat by Skye and waved to Parker lots of times. I haven't seen him for almost a year!

After sacrament meeting I made my way to the relief society room. I was there all by myself and was feeling awkward when Jorja texted. I left and sat in the hall so I could talk to her. She started stressing about who to ask to the Halloween dance. She really wants to ask someone she knows she will have a good time with because the dance is on her birthday. She decided on Spencer Langston. They have become really good friends lately. While I was sitting out in the hall, Parker's primary class walked by. Parker gave me this bag of cookies. I thanked him, gave him a hug and kissed his head. The teacher said, "I didn't know you knew her!" I guess all the kids gave these cookies away. The scripture talks about how God liveth a cheerful giver. When the kids got back to class more cookies were waiting for them. Parker told me he got more cookies because he gave all he had. So cute.

Jorja had two missionary farewells to go to today. Darby and Abby. I was sad to miss Darby's farewell.

Jorja & Darby

 Abby & Jorja

 Jorja's homecoming pictures.....

Chase & Jorja

 Madison & Jorja

 Chase & Jorja

 Jorja bonded with Ella on this dance

Jorja ended up asking Specner to the dance. Brynlee came over to help. I think some others were there too, I'm really not sure. She borrowed the lion costume from Jessie Lyon. I thought her poster was adorable.

Spencer & Jorja

I took Mike's kids to a cello concert for a girl in their ward. She was amazing. She is eight. Wow. Skye and I worked on a cross stitch. Her young women's leader gave her a bee cross stitch. It is small, but pretty hard. I kept telling Skye that it was not a beginning cross stitch. I unpicked the entire thing and taught her how to do it my way. I did not agree with the way the other lady had taught her. Haha.

Junior Homecoming

Jorja got up early this morning, picked up Madison, picked up her chicken mini's at Chick-Fil-A, then made her way to Kenzie's house. The girls in the Homecoming group got together for breakfast. The boys all picked them up there. Jorja had a blast doing that. They boys took them to Park City and they went on a hike.

Jorja & Chase

 Jorja & Madison

While Jorja was at her hike we were at Olive Garden with Chris and Jane. Bubs and Matt and their families were there. So was Gayle, the twins, and Jae and his family. I might have missed someone, I can't remember. I sat next to Jane and loved it. I love seeing my dad's California cousins.

Jorja was dropped off a little bit after 3:00. We booked it to Murray so Tory could do Jorja's hair. Tory is Jorja's friend from work. Tory curled Jorja's hair then had someone else put it up while she did her make up. That way they could be speedy quick.

Tory, Jorja & Tory's friend

 Tory & Jorja

Jorja ordered a boutonnière from The Flower Patch. It is on the way home, so we were doing great on time. Until we got to the store and there was a sign on the door saying they moved. WHAT!!! I did not expect that! We had to drive ten minutes back the other direction. Jorja texted Chase to pick her up last. Luckily that worked and she was able to get ready before he came. She was stressing! She looked gorgeous though! I loved her dress. So beautiful.

Jorja

 Shoes we found yesterday

 That's my Porge

 Jorja & Chase

Jorja said a ton of parents were there to take pictures. Dang it. They went to dinner at Garage Grill. Jorja said that was good. The dance was in the new field house at Alta, which sounded pretty cool. Someone fell in front of Jorja while they were dancing (jumping up and down), she tripped over them then about four people tripped over her. She said her dress flew up and someone landed on her head. Luckily she had shorts under her dress, but her head didn't feel great after that. After the dance they watched a movie and then Jorja was home a little after midnight.

Mike slept in the guest room so I could talk with Jorja. She ended up sleeping in our bed with me. I went downstairs to grab something for Jorja and saw that Maysen's light was still on. Laptop on her bed and she was totally asleep. I gently took the laptop away and she gasped and opened her eyes wide. Her face was filled with terror. I said, "It's okay. I'm your mom." In a terrified voice she growled, "YOU - SCARED - ME!" Haha. Sorry about that Maysen!

Maysen