Halloween

Preston had a presentation for a monster school. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was awesome. Their teacher was teaching them about the different kinds of essays. Informative, persuasive, narrative etc. Instead of just assigning these essays over the quarter, she had the kids design a school for monsters, and each of these essays were focused on this project. Then the kids presented them to us. They also designed school uniforms and sung a school song. They also had a table where we could look at things and ask them questions. Preston did the powerpoint for his class. It was adorable.

Jorja took Conner's sister out for ice-cream. She had a great time with her. Later today she went out with Cameron for a bit. He dropped her off and hurried to a party. We had just turned off all the lights because Mike we finished our candy. Apparently Jorja couldn't get in the house and thought she was locked out. I don't know why she didn't text us. She said she thought we were gone because the lights were off. Oh silly Porge.

Jorja & Sophie

Maysen came home today! Preston was so so so excited! He adores her. Preston got Luigi's Mansion and played it while he was dressed as Luigi. Haha! Maysen took Preston trick-or-treating. Preston would put his candy into his Luigi costume vacuum and lift it up. The candy would fall into his backpack. It was funny and Preston loved it!

Preston

Also, one more cool thing about the World Series. Mattress Mack texted my brother Mike today to tell him congratulations on his team winning. Wow! That is the coolest thing ever! Gives my brother free tickets and thinks of texting him congratulations! Especially since he lost over $11 million on bets! He would have lost more if the Astros won though. He had a promotion going throughout the season that he would refund any purchase over $3,000 if the Astros won the World Series. Haha! He has done that before. Astros won two years ago and he had to pay back millions. Last time he had insurance to help cover the cost. This time no insurance would do it because the Astros were supposed to win. Anyway, how cool of this guy to reach out to my brother and tell him congratulations. If I ever had that much money, I hope I would be as kind and generous as Mattress Mack.

WORLD SERIES!!!

Jorja and Audrey on their way to school

So.....Game 7 of the World Series was today. Mike and Blake flew out to Texas to go see it. One of Christen's sisters lives five minutes away from the stadium, so that's convenient. Mattress Mack met Mike and Blake outside the stadium to personally give them their tickets. He said, "Sorry I was late, I was talking to Bregman." Haha. Mike thanked him and told him good luck. He said that two great teams were playing today. This guy has to be one of the coolest guys on the planet. He made Mike's dream come true. Mike was a total stranger a week ago, and he cheers for the opposite team. Who randomly does this? To top it all off, the Nationals ended up winning to World Series, and Mike was there to see it! Amazing!

Blake, Mattress Mack, Mike

We got to text Mike throughout the game. That was so fun. Mike was soooo pumped when the Astros took Grinke out. He told all the Astros fans around him that it was a huge mistake. I'm sure they all agreed. What a game!

 Blake

Scoop and Cori came by to drop off a birthday present for Jorja. She was at work when they came. They got her some air pods and she is pretty excited with that present.

Jorja

Jorja dressed up in Preston's Halloween costume to do her last red ribbon week video. It was funny, but I can't find the recording. So, here are some low quality pictures of Jorja in Preston's costume.

Luigi Jorja

Not Going Blind

We had Jorja's huge eye appointment today. I was so nervous. Things went better than I imagined. The office was great. The tests were varied and kind of crazy. I think Jorja has on 3D glasses in the picture below. They did more OCT tests, which takes pictures of the back of her eye. We had planned on spending the entire day at the doctor's office, meeting with specialists. Luckily that is not what happened. Dr. Seay met with Jorja and did several more tests, but she told us good, good news. Jorja's nerves aren't swollen and they aren't pressing on her brain. Her nerves are thin and kind of twisted, which is causing her migraines. So her struggle reading because the words get kind of fuzzy and move around a bit and her headaches are actually migraines. Never been SO HAPPY to be told she has migraines! They said she is at NO RISK to lose her vision. I'm not sure how the test results went from swollen nerves to thin and twisted nerves, but I'm happy she won't be blind. I had been so scared. How would I even prepare her for that? Would she need to learn braille? Do we practice with blind folds and teach her how to navigate? Would she need a seeing eye dog? What the heck do we do?

Eye technician and Jorja

Jorja and I spent the rest of the school day together and it was glorious. We went out to eat at OHP went shopping at Fashion Place Mall. We got home around the time school was getting out with light hearts. Jorja took a nap when she got home and then spent some time writing Conner a note and putting a few things together for him. He leaves for the MTC tomorrow, but Jorja was able to come by and say goodbye again tonight.

Jorja

 Conner & Jorja

 This must be the picture Jorja liked best because she put filters on it

 Conner's sister Sophie

 Jorja & Sophie

Mike and Preston went shopping to get some last minute things for Preston's costume. He is going to be Luigi from Luigi's haunted mansion. They brought me back this pez. Candy corn flavor? Not my favorite...but still, it's pez.

 Preston's costume so far

Okay. Let's talk about the World Series. That game was CRAZY! My brothers and I texted through it non-stop, which was pretty fun. We could not believe when Turner was called out at first on an interference call. Worst call in the history of calls! I snapped a picture of Martinez getting thrown out for arguing over that call. He was MAD. He had a right to be, that call was awful. It could have changed the outcome of the entire series. Luckily Rendon hit a two run homerun right after. Should have been a three run homerun though. Anyway, that seemed to light a fire under the National and they won! Game seven will be tomorrow! Mike called up Mattress Mack and he followed through on his promise to GIVE Mike two tickets to the World Series! He told him he would leave the tickets for him at Will Call. How awesome is that! Mike didn't want to take me though. He picked Blake. Fine, choose your son over your sister. Haha. Just kidding. So excited for them!!!

Jorja and another PLT video

Transfered!

Stockton called me today and let me know he has been transferred! He is going to the Tucson South area and his new companion will be Elder Kelly. Stockton has been in this area since May, so this will be a change. A good one though. I hope, hope, hope, hope, hope it is where my roommate Nikki is. That would be amazing! I'm pretty sure it is the same area, but chances are slim it is the same district.

Jorja had a student government party today. Jorja, Jessie and Seurette dressed up as 'Ice, Ice, Baby'. Haha! Sounded like she had a great time.

While Jorja was there she got asked to the Winters dance. I was gone when this happened. I went with Amber and Ashley to make lots of dinners. Megan signed up to go with them, but ended up going out of town. She asked if I would go and give her half of the dinners. I got to keep the other half and she paid for everything. Sounds like an excellent deal to me! Anyway, Jorja was asked to the dance by Ben. The same Ben she thought was killed by a spider when she got her wisdom teeth out. She's pretty excited about going with Ben. She became even more excited when she found out his two friends asked Hailey and Emily. She's looking forward to this one!

Red Ribbon

Conner had his mission farewell today. Jorja said he did great. She was grumpy when she came home and I wondered what the heck happened. Mike said she was just sad because he is leaving. Turns out that was the case and she became super happy after awhile. Jorja went to the farewell with Bode and Kelsey. I'm glad she had people to go with, she gets really nervous going to things alone.

Conner & Jorja

 Kelsey and Jorja making fun of Bode's bicep

Game five of the World Series happened today. The Nats lost. They lost all three games at home. That's disappointing. The Astros now lead the series 3-2. Hopefully things will go better next week! I did get a lot of Mina's stocking done during the World Series. Almost finished, but there are sooo many French knots. It is beautiful though. I am very happy with it.

Jorja walked by while I was texting Rachel. I snapped this picture of her. I love it when Jorja wears this shirt. It makes me laugh. Rachel gave it to her years ago.

Jorja

Jorja is in PLT (peer leadership team) and LOVES it! They were supposed to post about the different events going on for red ribbon week. Jorja, of course, has to be a wacko about it. Haha. I love her. She makes me laugh!

Preston and Jorja during scripture study

 Jorja

Jorja's 17th Birthday

Today was a crazy long day. It was super fun though, especially for Jorja. We started the day with a pancake bar. Except Mike took Maysen to get snow tires on her car, which left me with *gasp* cooking! Were they the best cookies? No, but I think that is what I like about them. Anyway, this was my favorite picture from the night. She looks so happy!

Jorja

 Jorja's pumpkin got moldy for some reason

 So gross!

 Blurry, but the best picture I got with her

Stephanie & Jorja

So many people came it was crazy! People were here for several hours and Jorja loved every second.

 Singing 'Happy Birthday' to Jorja with her birthday pancake

 Chick-Fil-A friends hiding for some unknown reason

Sam, Carson, Chloee, Brynlee, Jorja, Ben & Cam, Spencer

 Chloee, Spencer, Johnny, Gage, Seurette, Kelsey, Jorja, Aysha, Annie, Jordan, Autumn, Jake, Emily

Brynlee, Joe, Dallin, Elle, Sam, Sam, Ben, Cam, Carson

 Autumn, Aysha, Jorja, Kelsey

 Seurette & Jorja

 Elle & Jorja

 Jake & Jorja

 Sam was our photographer because I did a horrible job

 Dallin, Annie

Joe, Sam, Gage, Jordan

 Sam & Jorja

 Sam, Gage, Jorja

 Joe & Jorja

 Jorja & Annie

 Dallin & Jorja

 Emily & Jorja

 Gage & Jorja

 Johnny & Jorja

 Jordan & Jorja

 Sam & Jorja

 Jordan & Gage

 Chick-Fil-A Sam & Jorda

 Bode & Jorja

 As pretty as the tree is, the pictures turned out way better against the wall

 Jorja thinks Bode's muscle in this picture is so funny

 Carson, Cam, Jorja, Ben, Chloee, Brynlee, Spencer

 Jorja & Carson

 Brynlee, Spencer, Ben, Cam

Randomly Ben started acting like a missionary to Cam. It was awkward and hilarious at the same time.

 Cam & Jorja

Once everyone left it was time for the Halloween dance date. The day activity was painting pumpkins. Mike and Maysen had bought small fake pumpkins for them to paint. The boy painted one for the girl to keep and the girl painted one for the boy to keep. They seemed to have a great time with this.

Jack & Madison, Jorja & Spencer, Brynlee & Ben, Gage & Chloee

 Jorja & Spencer

 Jack & Madison

 Brynlee & Ben

 Gage & Chloee

 Spencer & Jorja

The boys were dropped off while the girls got ready for the dance at our house. The boys dressed as cops and the girls dressed as robbers. They took their pictures at a local pumpkin patch. Shockingly Jorja was adorable.

Jorja

 Spencer & Jorja

 Chloee, Madison, Brynlee, Jorja

 Gage, Spencer, Ben, Jack

 Chloee & Gage, Brynlee & Ben, Jorja & Spencer, Madison & Jack

 Jorja & Spencer

 Jorja

 Spencer & Jorja

 Gage & Chloee, Brynlee & Ben, Jorja & Spencer, Madison & Jack

 Jorja & Spencer

 Heads

 More heads

Jorja had a lot of fun at the dance, despite being knocked over and stepped on. That seems to happen every dance. After the dance they went to Madison's house. Mike and I brought up Jorja's birthday cake for them. Mike was supposed to set up the Jackbox games, but they were kind of tired and sleepy. They never played that. Jorja had more energy than others somehow and had a mini 'fight night' with Ben. All in all, the Halloween dance seemed to be a success.

The other thing that happened today was Game 4 of the World Series. Too bad the Rats lost again, and it wasn't even close. This is the game Mike flew out from New Mexico for. Mike texted this picture and said, "View from John's seat" ... WHAT? John was at the game? Mike said it was a long story, but he ended up with an extra ticket and wasn't able to sell it for what it was worth. So, instead of selling it he called up John! John lives about two hours from the stadium. Wow. Imagine getting a call asking if you want to go to the World Series, and then these are your seats! Mike was about 19 rows behind him. Too bad the game wasn't more exciting!

View from John's seat

 John & Mike

 Mike took this picture from his seat. John is standing up in the red hoodie. Amazing!

 Mike and 'Mattress Mack'

Mike randomly met the biggest Astros fan. He bet millions for the Astros to win.

Another birthday in the books. Jorja wasn't super excited to have a dance on her birthday, but I think it turned out okay. She ended up having a lot of fun. She was just more stressed during the planning stage because since the dance was on her birthday she wanted everything to be perfect. She got home right around midnight. She was tired, but very happy.