Big Dog

Happy Leap Day! Mike spent the day at the cabin with Maysen and Preston. They played Cover Your Assets and Preston got $935,000 in one hand. Wow. Jorja met up with John. He has been helping her with trimming the music for her SBO video. Apparently he has a big dog.

Jorja & John's dog

 Jorja & John

Jorja went straight to work, then went and hung out with Ivan. I think the plan was to paint at a park, but it ended up being too cold. Instead they watched Phineas and Ferb in the Walmart parking lot. Sounds exciting.

Hippie Salt Flats

Jorja has been working on a video for her student government campaign. She wanted to film her part out at the Salt Flats, which are about two hours away. So early this morning, I drove to the Salt Flats while Mike and Jorja slept in the car. (Mike was going to do a lot of driving today.) Anyway, we found a spot that was beautiful to film. Jorja looked adorable. I hope the footage we got works for her. These were the pictures off of my phone before it shut down. The first three pictures are my favorite.

Jorja

 Jorja & Mike

Jorja is planning on lip syncing to this video

Porge

This is where my phone died. Mike also got some drone footage and I bet the stuff on the fancy camera looks great. Jorja had a few selfies on her camera. It was funny because she was signed into her friends 'Lightroom' account for some reason. She didn't realize it, but all her random selfies were being uploaded onto his account. She left him a message when she figured it out. Luckily none were too embarrassing. Here is a montage of Jorja's selfies.

 Driving home now

 This is when Jorja realized she was signed into Ivan's account ~ whoops

Jorja taught me a tik tok dance

Mike packed up and headed to the cabin with Maysen and Preston. Jorja headed out to lunch with Ben. Jorja's oil light came on while they were together and Ben helped her with that.

Ben & Jorja

 Jorja and her new car

 Ben

Jorja brought her work stuff so she could go straight there, but forgot her shoes. I had to run them down to her because these 90 style looking shoes weren't going to work.

Cambree & Jorja

Mike was wondering if there would be enough snow at the cabin to play. Well, he sent me these pictures after they arrived. No worries there! It took him fifteen minutes to dig the 4 wheeler out of the garage.

The 4-wheeler exit

 The entrance Mike climbed in

 Parrydise

 Garage

 He did it!

Ring's Back

I checked Jorja out of school right after first period. She went to the Link Crew advisory to film them for her campaign video. She knew Packer would be mad if he knew, which is why she wanted me to check her out. I also found her CTR ring that has been missing since the beginning of November. She took it off when she was throwing up after Ben dropped her off. We have searched and searched for it with no luck. I randomly came across it today. In my shower. What? I think Jorja's only used my shower once, she had to wash off the throw up. Guess her ring fell off in the process. Well, nice to have it back.

Interview

Maysen had her interview with the Friend today. It was in the Church Office Building. I drove Maysen downtown and sat in the lounge while she was at her interview. She was there for about thirty minutes. I worked on my puzzle book Mike gave me for Christmas. That was fun. Maysen was super excited when she found me. She felt that her interview went very, very well. She said she didn't know if she would get it, but she is very proud of how far she went and how well she did in the interview. Wouldn't that be amazing if she got this internship? She would be perfect for it. Fingers crossed!

Maysen ~ I wanted to remember where I parked!

 My view as I waited. Reminded me of my awesome trip to Israel.

Maysen and I went and got lunch at Johnny Rockets. Well, I got lunch and Maysen got a milkshake. She even split it with me. We then wandered around City Creek. We thought this Book of Mormon picture was pretty cool.

 Close up

I wasn't able to make it to the seminary building for parent teacher conferences, so I hurried over there today. While I was waiting for other parents, Jorja's teacher told me to find her little booklet. They were so cute and everyone had a name on it, except Jorja's. The front of the book said, "This midterm report is for..." Jorja wrote MOMMY with her left hand. Oh geesh. I took a picture and sent it to Jorja and asked her if this was hers. It was. I was pretty sure it was it when she talked about being sick. Jorja had a little note for me inside. I hope she doesn't mind that I'm going to write it here. It said, "Dear Mom, I love you so much. I hope you are having fun talking to all my teachers. Thank you for helping me in school, even when I am sick. You are the bestest."

When I got home we taught Maysen to play Nertz. It was pretty fun except the Pokemon cards we got were annoying! It was fun to have all my family that isn't on a mission together. I love them. They are the best. Maysen even spent the rest of the night helping Jorja with her physics homework. Love them.

Going

I went to Shannon's house today and was able to talk with her for a bit. We lost Maysen's snow boots this winter and that has been annoying. Over Christmas Shannon brought up Erica's boots. The other day Shannon called me to let me know that Maysen could keep them. I ran up to her house to pick them up. Perfect timing since Maysen will be going to the cabin this weekend. I went straight from Shannon's house to pick up Jorja from school. We had her last dermatologist appointment in Bountiful. Well, hopefully her last. On the way there she got a text saying they were having a prom meeting with Packer. Welp, can't go to that one!

I went to parent/teacher conference for Jorja. Mrs. Fergusen looked so confused when I sat at her table. When I told her I was here for Jorja Smith her eyes got so big. She said that she had no idea Jorja was in our family, and that Jorja and Maysen sure are different. Haha. Yep, they are! Jorja's teacher are great. They have been so good at working with her, especially when she misses so much school for being sick. Jorja wanted me to tell her math teacher that she's a beast at math, except I couldn't remember exactly what she said. I said, "Jorja wanted me to tell you she's something at math." Her teacher responded, "A beast? Yep, she tells me that." Hahaha

This sign was outside of the gym and made me laugh. I took a picture of it to send to Sherry. Sherry likes to post different funny signs.

Preston had baptisms for young men's tonight. He left about 5:30 and I don't think he got home until 8:30, maybe even later. I was thinking they took the kids out for pizza afterwords. Nope, it just was super crowded. Jorja had a painting night. She seemed to have fun with that.

Maysen came home tonight!Things were kind of crazy as she walked in, but it is so great to have her here! Jorja had to decide tonight whether or not to go to Costa Rica. One of her friends got the same scholarship as Jorja, but late tonight she texted Jorja and said she decided not to go. Jorja was sad and didn't know what to do. She wouldn't really talk to me about it. Maysen overheard me talking to Mike about how she needed to decide either way. If she doesn't decide, then she is deciding not to go. Which is fine, I just didn't want her to regret it and choose not to go because she was scared to go alone. Jorja didn't know one person in Taiwan and she absolutely loved it. Anyway, Maysen went downstairs and talked with Jorja. She asked her about the Costa Rica trip and Jorja told her she didn't know what to do. She has always wanted to go to Costa Rica, but she wasn't sure if she should go. Maysen said, "Then you're going to Costa Rica. You should go if you have always wanted to go." And that was that. Haha. Sometimes you just need a big sister.

Bye-Bye Village Inn

I took Preston with me to parent/teacher conference. They have had student led conferences for the past several years, which I HATE. They didn't do that this time, so we went around to all of his teachers. Preston begged me not to go to his Chinese teacher, but I went anyway. The teacher was kind of a jerk to him and I felt bad. I had asked Preston if he wanted to go out to dinner afterwards, but when we finished he was so sad he just wanted to go home. I told him tacos were for dinner at home. (Leftovers from last night.) Preston is not a taco fan. I expected Preston to just want to get something simple, but then he asked if there was anywhere he could have steak. Mike and Preston went shopping on Saturday of the taco stuff. They got some steak and Mike had it out for the girls. There was plenty. Mike and I both had some, but somehow Preston missed out. He was disappointed. So, today we got to make it up to him. We went to Texas Roadhouse. It was Preston's first time there and he LOVED it. Jorja was at work and Maysen never wants to go here again. She had a bad experience once. On the way to the restaurant we passed Village Inn. It looked dark. I got out and ran up to the door. There was a sign that it is permanently closed. NOOOOO!!!! That restaurant opened when we were in highschool! So many good memories there. Although it was a lot nicer twenty-five years ago. Wish we had known it was closing so we could have gone one more time.

Maysen texted me this afternoon. She applied for a job at the Friend. Today they contacted her for an interview! She made it past the first two steps! There are about 80 people applying for this job, so it is a long shot, but wouldn't it be soooo cool??? Maysen would be amazing at that job. Anyways, this means we get to see Maysen tomorrow! She is coming down after class. She has one class on Wednesday and one class on Thursday. She was able to contact both of them and they let her turn in her stuff early and wished her luck. Next week is Spring Break for her, so she gets to start it early!!!

Watch Party

I had a hard day today. I know it's not a big deal, but it still hurt me a lot. I had relief society today. I went like I always do and was just sitting listening to the lesson. Jorja was asked to be a class president at the beginning of January. They decided to set her apart today. Jorja texted Mike and I around 1:20 to let us know. The problem was, I never received the texts. They never came through. For some reason, about 1:50 I had the random thought that maybe Jorja was getting set apart today. Then immediately I thought, "No, I would have been told." Still, I prayed right then and there that I wouldn't be forgotten and someone would come and get me if it was today. I kept looking at the door. I texted Mike about 5 minutes later and asked if Jorja was getting set apart today. Right when I sent that next about five texts came through from Jorja and Mike talking about it. I jumped up right in the middle of the lesson and ran out of class. I ran to the young women hallway and looked in all the windows. I saw the Bishop and Seth setting apart Quinn. As soon as it was over I went in and asked if Jorja had gone yet. They said yes. I choked out, "Why didn't anyone tell me? I'm going to cry." I rushed out of there (class was over) and hurried out. I cried the rest of the day. I felt so forgotten. That might have been the last time I would get to see Jorja set apart of anything. She leaves in a year and a half. I tried to explain to Mike and Jorja why I was so sad. Why didn't they come and look for me? Mike kept saying that he thought I saw the text and I wasn't able to come for some reason. "What is more likely, the text doesn't come through in a building with a history of texts not coming through, or me seeing the text and not even responding. When have I missed anything for Jorja, ever?" The only time I miss things for her has been when I have been in New Mexico watching Mike's kids. I explained that it would have taken two minutes to check and see if I got the message. Two minutes! I just wasn't worth two minutes. I was devastated. I went down to my mom's grave and laid there for over an hour. I just cried and cried. I am tired of her being gone. She's been gone long enough. I'm sick of it. Anyway, I know that isn't a big deal to anyone but me, but it meant a lot to me and I didn't even get the opportunity to be there.

Jorja's friends came over for tacos tonight. The girls in student government. Bode and Jack also came. They were able to watch the video Mike made for Sweethearts. It was super fun. Jorja posted something on snapchat with all of them together and someone asked if Kelsey was opening her mission call. (Kelsey is a senior, but I think she is 17.) Anyway, they staged a fake missionary call opening for Kelsey. What a bunch of goofballs.

BYU WINS

Jorja worked most of the morning/afternoon. Ivan picked her up after work and they were together for SEVEN hours! I'm guessing they got a little bored. This was actually the first time they met. Ivan goes to a different highschool. Hutch gave Ivan Jorja's number and asked him to call her. Jorja has always wanted to be set up on a blind date. I know they played arcade games and made rings. Luckily Jorja got home before her curfew.

Mike took Preston to see Dr. Doolittle. They wanted me to come, but I REALLY wanted to watch the BYU/Gonzaga game. Mike let me stay home to watch it. It was AMAZING!!! BYU is ranked 23rd and Gonzaga is ranked 2nd. BYU ended up winning by 13. It was such a fun game to watch! The crowd stormed the court. My brothers and I texted throughout the game. Made it much more fun. That would have been a fun one to watch with them. What a night!

F to A

Jorja was sick this morning. Ever since she had mono last year she has a hard time recovering from viruses. She sounded horrible when I tried to wake her up. I gave her medicine and let her sleep through first period, then took her to school. She was feeling much better by that time. She didn't want to miss math again. She has missed so many math classes! Her teacher told her that if she did well enough on the test she would use the same score for the quiz and then not make her turn in her homework. (Jorja hadn't done any of her math homework. She got soooo far behind!) Well, Jorja scored 100% on her test. Well done Jorja! Her math grade went from an F to an A just like that. I am thankful her teachers are willing to work with her! She has had a rough road the last few years.

Mike didn't think he would get to see Lisa, even though he was only ten minutes away from her house. Luckily he was able to skip the last meeting and hang out with her. Also lucky that Lisa was on Spring Break. She picked him up and took him to her house. He was only able to be there for about forty-five minutes, but that is better than nothing! Lisa made chocolates for Mike and he was able to take some home. They were amazing! We haven't had Lisa's chocolates in a long time! Lisa was even nice enough to take Mike to the airport. I picked him up by myself. When we got home, Preston had put himself to bed. Haha. Jorja was still at work. It is nice to have him home!

Chase Center

Preston and I dropped Mike off at the airport this morning. I then dropped Preston off at school. Mike had a work thing at Google headquarters. He was busy most of the day, but was able to go to the Warriors/Rockets game in Google's box. I can't believe how close to the court it is! Good thing they weren't playing the Jazz or I would have been jealous.

Jorja went to see Our Town with Carter today. That was the play Alta put on. She went to McDonalds after with Carter, Bronson and Sam I think. Jorja wanted to talk to Carter about Chief of Activities. Jorja is trying to decide what position she wants to run for and several people have gotten frustrated with her for not giving a definite answer. The job she wants to do the most is Financial Chair, but she just can't shake wondering if she is supposed to go for Chief of Activities. Carter and Jorja stopped at a park and talked about it for awhile. I think it helped Jorja feel like Financial Chair is what she wants to go for. It is such a scary time for her. Fingers crossed!

Arduino

Preston had a book report project due today. They were supposed to read a 'how-to' book, then make a locker and decorate the locker as if what they learned was a person. Anyway, Preston chose to read an Arduino book. Mike and Preston had fun working on his locker. The locker would open when you pushed a button. They 3D printed something that looked like a locker combination lock. When the button was pushed it moved back and forth like it was unlocking itself. It was quite amazing. Too bad that something went wrong in the transfer and the button stopped working. Preston is going to try and fix it tomorrow. They think it just needs something to support it. Like if they duct tape a knife behind it, or something so it doesn't fall in too much when the button is pushed. Anyway, the entire project is amazing.

Preston

Free Flower

Late last night Jorja's friend Drew called her to tell her her name was on the flower shop sign. Jorja was so happy she almost started crying. Hahaha. The two of them went together after school so Jorja could pick up her free flower. They let her go in the back and pick out whatever she wanted. She picked a yellow rose. She was so happy. It's the little things.

Jorja

It's weird looking at Jorja being spelled like the state. It doesn't even seem like the same name to me. I am so glad we spelled her name the way we did. It fits her so much better. She was such a tiny thing when she was born. She was NOT my smallest baby. Both of my boys were smaller than her. She just didn't grow the first year. I think she weighed 16 pounds at a year. I know she was 19 pounds at 18 months. Her doctor would tell me to put butter on everything! She was such a good eater too, just nothing stuck to her. I think 'Georgia' would have drowned her. It just wouldn't feel right. The name 'Jorja' is just perfect for her. I love it.

Anyway, that was a tangent. Jorja and I went down to American Fork today to a 'Lift Our Planet' meeting. She had randomly applied for a scholarship to do a service trip to Costa Rica. She got it! She also got $1000 scholarship to go toward a service trip to Bali or Peru. It will still be expensive, but it drops the Costa Rica trip to $1500 instead of $3000. We still need to pay for airfare though. Jorja was leaning toward not going, even though she has always wanted to go to Costa Rica because of frogs. She was worried there wouldn't be any teenagers on the trip and it would just be families. Well, the second we walked in there the first person Jorja saw was Ellie from student government. Jorja whispered to me, "If Ellie goes, I'm 100% in." I love Ellie. I hope this trip works out for them. It sounds amazing.

Day Off... Kind of

The kids were supposed to go to school today. The district chose this day as a make up day because of the snow day a few weeks ago. Well, Jorja had ACT camp all day. That camp was pretty expensive, so no way was she going to miss that. Preston still felt pretty sick, so we let him stay home. Mike had work off too. Jorja drove Drew, Gabby and Evan to BYU. It took them forever! There was something like 80 crashes on the freeway, just on the part they were driving. I guess there was a lot of black ice. So glad Jorja didn't crash! They left at 7:00 and didn't get there until 9:00. Their class started at 8:30. Jorja's class was playing Kahoot when she arrived. She joined the game late and ended up in second place. Nicely done Porge! They had to take a post ACT test at the end of camp. During the reading section Jorja's head started throbbing. She could barely concentrate during the science section. Her headaches haven't bothered her for a long time. It makes sense though. She was reading and concentrating a lot. Those are the two things that seem to set off her bad headaches. The kids went to In and Out and then headed home. Jorja's head was pounding, but she didn't want to let anyone know. Gabby was being the navigator. Jorja was concentrating on driving and not on where they were. They found themselves in North Salt Lake. Whoops! Overshot that by thirty minutes! Drew made fun of Gabby about that because he did the same thing when they drove up on Saturday. All of a sudden they found themselves in Payson! At least they are learning, and got home safely. Just really late. Jorja's head was pretty bad by the time she got home. I am so glad she made it home okay.

It was fun talking with Stockton today. His mission president has said really nice things to him. He even gave Stockton a blessing on Wednesday. He told Stockton that he knows he can always count on him and he holds him in the highest regard. He said a lot more, but I don't really want to go into detail about that here. Stockton is killing the mission. He is working hard and thriving. I hope he doesn't burn out. I am so proud of him.

Recovery

Preston still felt sick today. He had a horrible cough. Mike and I could hear him coughing all night long. (Our bedroom is above his.) We ended up taking him to church. Jorja and I sat in our usual spot and stayed for the entire time. Mike and Preston sat in the foyer and Mike took Preston home after the sacrament. We had a pretty low-key day. We played a few games but mostly just recovered. Jorja spent a lot of time studying for the ACT. I'm so proud of her. She really has worked hard. Not a fun way to spend a long weekend, but she has taken it on without complaint.

All Day ACT

Jorja was out of here by 7:00. I wish I snapped a picture because she looked adorable. She picked up Drew and Gabby. She got back a bit before 9:00 at night. She spent the entire day at BYU doing an ACT camp. She said it was long, but she had fun. 

Preston didn't feel so well today. Mike and I were exhausted. We watched Beauty and the Beast in the movie room. It seems we haven't watched a movie in there in forever. We played cards with Preston. We organized a few things, but mostly were just wiped out.

Kaylee's Handprints

So....Jorja was sick again. She missed the entire day of school. She probably would have tried to get the last classes, but she was supposed to go on a field trip for PLT anyway. She also missed the Valentine party in student government. Ever since Jorja had mono last year, whenever she gets sick, she gets really sick and has a hard time shaking it. Still, nothing has compared to the awful days when she first had mono.

Mike had work off. He gets every other Friday off, except during crunch time ~ Black Friday and Christmas season. It was perfect timing because Sherry came down from Highland to do Kaylee's handprints. Super nice of her to do that! She had the day off of school today and spent it doing us a favor. It was awesome. I have a lot of pictures of Kaylee getting her handprints, but none of her footprints. Weird. Also, I couldn't help but put every picture with Amy watching in the background. Haha

Mike wandering, Sam holding Kaylee, Matt watching, Sherry creating

 Kaylee

 Taking the oxygen sensor off to get Kaylee's footprints

 Matt, Kaylee, Sherry

 Amy's watching

 She's concerned

 And adorable

 Matt & Kaylee

 Kaylee

Poor little girl. You will love the handprints when you are older though. If you notice all the Enfamil in the background, it is because Matt and Sam are stockpiling it. This is the only thing Kaylee will eat and it has been discontinued. Matt searched every store from Provo to Layton yesterday getting as much as he can. Sam has a lot of writer friends around the country. Some of them are sending her some. Bad timing for this. Hopefully by the time they go through it all her little body will be able to tolerate something else.

Mike and I went to lunch at Sizzler after the handprints were done. That was nice, fun and relaxing. We tried to convince Jorja to go with us, but she wasn't hungry. She hasn't been hungry for a long time. Jorja had her ACT camp today. She picked Drew up at school and they got to Provo for the 3:00 check-in. Evan and Gabby were also there. She said it was a lot more fun that she thought it would be, which was great. Evan and Drew were in one group. Gabby and Jorja were in another. She is hoping that she will be in a group with someone she knows tomorrow since it is all day. Fingers crossed for that one!

Aubrey, Gabby, Drew, Evan

 Ben

Once she got back she picked up Ben and they stopped by Crumbl. Jorja had a coupon for free cookies. Then they went to Smiths before Jorja came home. Hopefully she isn't sick tomorrow! Also, Mike finally finished the Sweethearts video. It is awesome. Here is the link to it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEYgVkgdzzA