Three Graduates

Today was a great day. We had home church, which is awesome. We watched a Book of Mormon movie about Alma and listened to a John Bytheway talk on hope. We had zoom calls with both families. Mike's family had a zoom call for all the graduates. Maysen graduating from Utah State. Aimee graduating from Baylor medical school and Jacob graduating from Riverton High School. My dad also shared a short message with us. We went over to Steve and Shannon's house for Steve's 55th birthday. It was just our two families. It is the first time we have seen them since the quarantine. Mike and the kids played games. I got something in my eye, maybe a speck of dirt, boy did it hurt! Shannon spent a lot of time putting eye drops in my eye trying to get it out. Other than the dirt speck, today was a great day.

Mike and Bear

 Steve's birthday cake

Friends

Mike spent most of the day working in the yard. Bear has been loving it outside. He and the ducks are good friends. Although they don't like being around him as much as he likes being around them. At least they usually don't freak out when he comes near.

Angel and Bear

I worked with Mike in the duck pond when it wasn't so incredibly hot outside. Mike and I went night swimming after. Jorja was at work. We missed several messages from her. Whoops. She wanted to go to a party after she got off work. She closed, so she would be super late. We told her we didn't want her to go. There are crazy riots in Salt Lake right now, a curfew was even imposed. It is sad what is happening right now. I wish everyone could just get along.

Swimming with Trin

Mike had the day off of work today. We spent most of the day digging in the duck pond. Jorja and Preston helped. They also mowed the lawn. The weather was perfect and it felt so great working outside.

Jorja had work, but didn't close. After she got home, her friend Trin came over. Mike set up the movie screen and they swam and watched some weird dog movie. They had fun reenacting the scenes. I didn't get it. Jorja says it is an inside joke. At least they had a lot of fun together.

Trin and Jorja

Drive Thru Graduation

We got to talk to Stockton today! He likes his companion!!! Yay! Yay! Yay! That is a must during coronavirus. Stockton said that the area he is in is the most notorious area in his entire mission for crazy stories. Like scary crazy. It is dubbed 'Casa Square of Hell', so we'll see how this goes. On Monday Stockton told me that Elder Williams is the District Leader there. Stockton knows him and really likes him. Stockton said that Elder Williams sent a meme to the district chat that basically said he's not the district leader 'no more'. The missionaries were shocked and asked what happened. He said he didn't know, but he wasn't district leader in the area book anymore. He told everyone to check their area books. Stockton did. Guess what? He's the district leader! What??? He had no idea. Good thing he found out because he had to run district council the next day. They were actually allowed to meet in person, as long as they wore masks and social distancing was followed. Stockton had Elder Smith and his companion act out a scene with King Lamoni and Ammon. Then he talked about it. He said, "Okay, imagine I'm Elder Smith" Hahaha. He makes me laugh. Anyway, he said the meeting went really well. Glad things are working out for him. Hope he stays safe!

Alta's graduation would have been today. Which means the Pepperwood party would have been today. Mike is sooooo glad that was cancelled. He hates that thing! Well, he hates chaperoning it. Anyway, Alta has done a great job making these seniors feel valued. I was telling Mike that it has almost been harder on the juniors. Jorja missed out on Junior Prom, that she was planning, inauguration, which would have been one of the most amazing nights of her life, student government camp, volunteering in Costa Rica, and maybe lots of her senior moments. Packer has told them there is a huge possibility homecoming would be cancelled, along with the hello assembly, hello dance, senior sunrise, homecoming week, football games..... I just hope she gets to have these things. Not taking anything away from the seniors. It would be crazy to leave school one day and never go back. But they got to experience most of their senior year. I think Alta has done the best they could and these seniors are going to have so many memories that are different than the ones they expected. I just hope Jorja gets to experience her senior year. Anyway, here are some of the things Alta has done. Which I think are awesome. They put signs in every senior's yard, they had signs for every senior around Alta with their picture and name, they got to go do an unofficial graduation in the new fine arts center where they were able to 'walk' and get graduation pictures taken, they got to do the scooter parade the other day (that was just our neighborhood though, but it was really cool), today they had another graduation parade. People decorated their cars, music was playing, everyone looked like they were dancing and having fun. My friend posted about how graduation should be like this every year. They had a giant banner set up with all the seniors' names on it. They got to walk across an outdoor stage again and bump elbows with the principal. It was really cool.

Majana and her friend

Jorja came back from camping this morning and then worked the rest of the night. We decided to go see her since she will only be here for a bit longer. Mike and I went to the pet store to get Bear a new harness. He was so excited to see Jorja he jumped out the window to get to her. Hahaha

Mike and Jorja

Tanner Flats

Jorja stopped home this morning to pick up another blanket. They had gone to lunch at McDonalds, so they were near by. They are camping at Tanner Flats which is about twenty minutes away. Jorja has a student government thing today. She felt bad about missing the first thing, but she had already planned this trip with her friends. I told her that I would pick her up if she decided she wanted to go. She ended up deciding she didn't want to miss this. I went and picked her up. It was fun to see her. She had been having a fun time. They went hiking and saw Ellie on the trail. After the long meeting, she went with Riley, Bode, Sadler, Dawson, Ryan, Ella and Janelle to Pepperwood park and had pizza. Riley and Dawson took her back to the campground. Jorja went to Black Bear diner for dinner with Hailey and Allison. She texted me from the restaurant. It is the first time she has been back since her 15 year birthday dinner. She had such a bad experience she couldn't stand going back. She's in a much better place now and is ready to make new memories.

Scooter Parade

Mike and I have been wondering what to get Maysen for a college graduation present. Although we would love to get her something really cool, like a car, we can't do that right now. I talked to her last night about what she would want. We decided to get her a lot of little things. Running shoes, water bottle, fix her cracked cell phone screen... things like that. When Jorja and I were at Scheels to get Mike's water bottle, I saw one that I knew Maysen would love. At least I hope she does. Jorja and I went back to Scheels today, and it was GONE! We did find it on the hydroflask website, and it was the same price, so we have it ordered and it should get here Monday.

Jorja had her PLT closing social today. They got 'most likely' awards from last year, and the new members were welcomed. Jorja was a part of the 'White' family last year and she is this year too. This year Jorja and Luke are team captains. Jorja had a lot of fun last year and I hope she gets to experience this again. Fingers crossed corona will slow down!

New white team

Autumn's sister, Spencer's brother, Grace, Emily, Jorja, Gabby, Luke

 Perfect 'Most Likely' award for Jorja

Jorja met up with Riley for yogurt. He got back early this morning from Lake Powell. Then she headed off to camping with Hailey and Allison. They were waiting on our porch for Jorja. I went out and found them and brought them inside. They met two boys from another campsite. I don't know their names, but they were twins and a grade younger than these girls. They came over and asked if they could play cards with the girls. Jorja said it was really fun.

Hailey, Alison, Boy 1, Jorja, Boy 2

I saw a message on Jorja's phone about the young women activity. It was to come over to Sister Christensen's house to sign a poster for the graduates, then to watch the parade. I hadn't heard about the parade. I didn't worry about it because I knew Jorja wouldn't be there. I didn't realize they would have an activity this week. Anyway, I saw a lot of posts about it on Instagram. It looked so cool! All the high school graduates that live in Pepperwood were able to have a little parade. They got them all scooters and they rode down Pepperwood Drive, which is about a mile and a half I think. Anyway, it looked like the kids loved it. It was really cute to see all the graduation gowns flapping in the breeze. I took a couple of screen shots. What a fun memory for those seniors!

He's Getting Transferred!

Stockton called me first thing this morning. Usually he calls in the late afternoon. I answered the phone and he said, "Mooooom! I got transferred!" He was in shock. Stockton had been in Sahuarita since October. It's crazy to think how many missionaries have left and come home since then. His mission president basically told him he would be staying, so this was such a shock. Especially because they were dropped off an extra bed for Elder Nelson because they would be a trio for awhile. Elder Nelson came on Thursday, so Stockton was with him two days before he found out he was leaving. Elder Nelson had been serving in Brazil. Stockton is headed to Casa Adobes, which is the smallest area in the mission. Now, instead of working with four wards, he will be working with half a ward. Two other Elders take care of the other half. One is named.... Elder Smith. Stockton choked up a little when he said that he wouldn't be able to see Sheila get baptized. Maybe it will be broadcast and he can watch it that way. Stockton and Elder Kelly whitewashed this area about seven months ago. They decided to make a wall and whenever someone left a cat in a hat would knock them out of the area. After three pictures with the bat, it was his turn to get sent away. 

 Kind of hard to see, but this is the cat in the hat wall

It is Memorial Day today, so Chick-Fil-A had shorter hours. Jorja worked from open to close. She was not happy about that. She was the only one to work those hours. While she was at work we spent a lot of time working in the duck pond. Mike wants to dig it to about six feet. He wants to line it with cinder block then put some rubber coating on it and install a new pump. Hopefully the rats can't chew through cinder block! It was so much fun to be out there working with everybody. Stockton called toward the end of the day and we were able to talk to him real quick again. He said it was not a prank and he really is leaving. He leaves tomorrow. I hope he likes his new companion. He has loved Elder Jenson. He just met Elder Nelson, but really liked him. I think getting along with your companion is a necessity during quarantine. Fingers crossed for a good one!

Preston

 Preston and Bear

 Maysen

When Jorja came home we roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. I love my family. I miss Stockton, but I'm happy that he is happy and I'm so proud of him. I have an amazing life.

Bear and Jorja

 Jorja

Zoom

Home church is awesome. It is working really well for our family. We watched a Hank Smith talk on the Marvelous Book of Mosiah. We also talked about accepting trials. My dad did a family zoom. It is so fun to see all my family together. Bubs wasn't able to join though. We played Jackbox as a family for awhile after. Pretty simple Sunday, but it was nice.

Kaylee's Prints

I decided to take the Mother's Day flowers Scoop and Cori gave me down to my mom's grave. They looked great there! I should have done that on Wednesday!

I headed to Sherry's house to pick up Kaylee's handprints. They look beautiful! I got to see Sherry for a few minutes. That was nice. Crazy that Kaylee was two months old when we got these done. We got them done on her due date. So tiny! I went straight to Matt and Sam's to drop this off. I also dropped off Jorja's old scooter and some flannel board stories my kids played with while they were growing up. Lots of scripture stories and some silly face flannels. I think these guys will like them. I dropped off some boy clothes too. My neighbor gave us a ton of clothes. Lots of ties. Clip on and zipper. I thought they would be perfect for Jeff and Greg. I loved the dinosaur one. There was also a bike one that was really cute.

Next stop was the store then I headed to Chick-Fil-A. I didn't have a great Jorja sighting though. Oh well. Can't do that much longer.

Quitting Chicken

Jorja didn't have a super long shift today. Four and a half hours. She called it a baby shift as she was walking out the door. She didn't have to close, which was nice. When she came home she walked in the door, looked at me and said, "Well, I quit my job today." That was not what I was expecting to hear. Chick-Fil-A has built these coverings for people who are outside, which is nice. Everyone gets to be under them except one person. That was Jorja today. It was pouring rain. They left her out there for a long time. When she finally got put inside, she was on window. She said she kept getting yelled at and just couldn't handle it. She started crying. They let her go to the bathroom to calm down. While she was there she thought, "What if I quit today?" She said she prayed about it and felt really good. She decided that if she had her one-on-one interview today that she would put in her two weeks notice. She had it, so she did. She told her manager that she doesn't feel valued and some other things that were bothering her. Jorja has wanted to quit for a long time. She planned on quitting if she won student body office, but then corona happened. Her next plan was to quit after summer, so this is only a few months earlier than she would have quit anyway. It will be nice to have Jorja around more. I'm excited.

Drew came over today. They sang weird Pokemon songs and binge watched Avatar. Jorja had a great time. It was nice to see Drew. I haven't seen him in a long time.

Drew and Jorja

 Jorja

Initiation

Jorja came home this afternoon completely exhausted, but super happy. She walked in and said, "Wow. That was a lot." Then she told me that she wasn't allowed to talk about initiation, but of course she would tell me. She told me all about her night. It made me really happy that she didn't try to keep anything from me. It was also nice to share this part of her life with her. I'm only going to say a few things about it. One of the first things they did was go to brinner. That's what Jorja called it. Breakfast for dinner. One of the few places that was open super late. The outgoing student body officers bought dinner for the incoming ones. So, Luke Vickery bought Jorja's dinner. He was the financial chair this school year. The girls took the girls out to do different things, the boys took the boys. They would meet up at certain spots, then split up again. They did try to get Jorja to kiss one of the boys, which Jorja said was super awkward, but she didn't have to do it. That was the only part that bothered her. They all ended up at Gabe's house and fell asleep for a bit. Jorja was probably asleep thirty minutes. She did wake up and find Bode had her blanket and pillow. Anyway, I am so glad Jorja was able to still have this experience, even if it wasn't the night she won. She loves the three senior girls, and it was great for her to get to know Layla better. It was a good night.

Jorja and Joe 

 Bode and Jorja

 Financial Chairs ~ Luke and Jorja

 Jorja and Kate

 Gabe, Ellie, Brenton and Jorja

Jorja fell asleep on the couch for a couple of hours before she had to go to work. She only worked four hours today, but it was hard! I'm thankful Genesis covered the first part of her shift so she could have this experience! She only found out about it on Monday. Glad everybody was able to make it. Whew!

Last Picture

Jorja had her first student government activity with the new officers. The results for the election were posted yesterday. There are two girls in each category this year. Two girl sbos, two girl senior class officers, two girl senators, two girl junior class officers and two girl sophomore class officers. Weird. Jorja is excited to not be the only girl anymore. She told me today that it is weird that she is the only senior girl that has been in student government before. Six senior girls, thirteen boys. Wish it was a bit more even. Anyway, she went down there for an hour this morning to work on putting together signs for the seniors. She had to hurry back because her AP English text was today. It's weird having them take their AP tests at home. Instead of a three hour test, it is a 45 minute free response test. We kicked everyone out of the computer room so Jorja would have no distractions. I'm glad I let her drop AP US History at the beginning of the year. This year is so weird. After the test Jorja and I helped Preston learn a dance for Chinese. Jorja filmed Preston and I dancing. Sending that video in was a difference between an A and a B in Chinese. Crazy that it was worth so much. After the dancing Jorja went out with Layla for yogurt. Layla is the other girl sbo. They wanted to talk about initiation. Jorja told me this morning that she texted Aysha and told her she didn't want to kiss anyone. She said that even though Riley said it wouldn't bother him, she didn't want to risk it. She didn't want another Conner/Traven situation. She has felt guilty about kissing Traven for so long. She met up with Layla and said they had a great time. Layla didn't want to kiss any of them either, even though she is kind of dating one of them. She didn't want to kiss Marshall in front of anyone. So, at least they are agreed on that. They are both looking forward to tonight. Should be super fun.

Switching gears... my mom died 24 years ago today. I posted this picture with this caption: Best person in the world died 24 years ago today. This was our last family picture. My brother Brett was leaving on a mission. My mom knew she would die while he was gone, but sent him anyway. Her faith was unmatched. Oh how I miss her.

Mike, Mom, Stephanie, Brett, John, Dad, Matt, Bubs

Mike commented that Matt was wearing a 6T jacket. Haha. My cousin Jeff mentioned something like he was having a tender moment remembering mom when Mike made him laugh. After I said, "See what I have to put up with?" Mike said, "At least I didn't mention how you are wearing a size 2X!" Hahahaha. I love my family. When Jorja was helping me go through some filing cabinets she found some twenty question things. I sent this to my brothers today. This is what my mom answered when I was 17 I think.

I brought my blanket and puzzle book and hung out at my mom's grave. It was such a nice day! Right as I was leaving Matt and Sam and their family showed up. They brought dinner to eat at the grave. They brought my mom's peanut butter cups in bar form. Why have I never thought of making them that way? Tons easier. It was delicious too.

Stephanie

 Sam & Kaylee, Matt

 Anne, Jeff, Greg and Amy in the distance

 Random picture of Preston

My family played rummy with me. I grew up playing that and canasta with my mom. Soon it was time for Jorja to head out. The outgoing sbos picked her up at 10:30. She is so excited. I hope she has the best time!

Jorja

 Ellie, Jorja with red eyes, Kate, Aysha

 I tried to edit Jorja's red eyes. Not sure how good I did so I'm leaving both pictures in.

Out of the Friendzone

Jorja and Riley hung out this morning. Riley is leaving for Lake Powell tomorrow. They tie dyed shirts. That is also what they did the first time they hung out in preparation for the Halloween dance. Jorja asked Riley to that her sophomore year and he was her first official date as a sixteen year old. Anyway, they decided to do that again. Jorja had work today. While she was there Aysha texted her asking how serious she was with Riley. The student government is doing initiation tomorrow. Usually right after inauguration the outgoing student body officers spend all night with the incoming ones. They weren't able to do that because of corona. They are doing it tomorrow night. Jorja is super excited. Aysha wanted to know because apparently there might be some kissing. Jorja got super nervous about that and asked Riley if he would come talk to her after work. They decided they are more than friends, but they don't want to date. They are both super worried about the possibility of ruining their friendship. Jorja told him there might be some kissing at initiation and asked him what he felt about that. She told him if he didn't want her to kiss anyone she wouldn't. Riley told her she could. Jorja asked for boundaries. She wanted to know how long was the limit. It made Riley super uncomfortable, but made Jorja laugh. Riley told her not longer than three seconds. Jorja came home and talked to me about it. She doesn't know what she is going to do. It is hard not knowing what the situation is. There are two girls and seven boys. Do the girls have to kiss all of them? Jorja is super excited for tomorrow, but stressed about that. Jorja asked Riley if she could take a picture and say 'out of the friendzone' ~ Jorja says they are in-between friend zone and dating. This was the picture she posted.

Riley and Jorja

Stockton told me yesterday that they were doing a zoom meeting for one of the stakes. I asked if I could watch. He said he thought that would be okay as long as we didn't say anything. He sent the zoom code yesterday. Mike and I got on and watched the fireside. It was super cool. He is so grown up! The girl he baptized gave her testimony. The video kept cutting out, but the part we heard was amazing. Technology is awesome!

Bear and Maysen

Hiking with the Girls

Jorja went hiking with her friends from ACT camp. Well, the girls. She already knew Gabby and had no idea she would be at the same camp. Gabby is friends with Aubrey and now Jorja is good friends with her too. Jorja really enjoys these girls. Gabby is on Jorja's PLT team this year and Jorja is thrilled about that. Aubrey goes to a different school. Jorja had a great time, but didn't get home as soon as she planned. I had to bring her clothes to work and she changed in my car.

Aubrey, Gabby, Jorja

 Jorja, Aubrey, Gabby

 Gabby, Jorja, Aubrey

 Jorja, Gabby, Aubrey

Mike and I ran to Smith's to get some stuff to roast hotdogs and marshmallows. We saw Kanani there. She said that Darby has been reassigned to Hawaii! He had been serving in the Philippines. Hawaii is so cool for him because that is where Kanani grew up. Anyways, tonight was fun and we ended the day by the fire. Perfect.