Dominate

Jaye sent a picture of his St. George adventure. He is now staying at Scoop and Cori's for several days. Stockton sent some videos of the talent show at FSY. The one I thought was the funniest was the kid that got up and played a Phineas and Ferb song on the kazoo. After the first few bars, the audience joined in. I thought it was hilarious.

Jaye

101 Days of Summer Vacation on the kazoo

Apparently we got a lot of packages, mostly boat parts

I had a great game of Dominion against Mike. I got Dominate FOUR times during the game. I was pretty proud. Final score Stephanie 102 Mike 51. Now that I'm writing about this a few weeks later I can not figure out how I got 10 actions with that hand. I must have used Kings Court on Mountain Village, just weird that the cards disappeared. I did take this after the game, so maybe that is the reason. Anyway, I remember being pumped about this game. I rarely ever get Dominate and to get it four times in one game was awesome.

Football Coach

Jorja has been having a fun week. We asked her what was wrong in the tortilla picture she sent. She said her tortilla broke then her girls dumped water on her like a football coach. Hahaha. You know she loved that!

Jorja & Ben

Mike and Preston have been having fun at the cabin. There is a lot of water at Palisades, which makes the summer here wonderful. The beach is pretty cool. They allow people to camp on the beach for free from Memorial Day to Labor Day, so something like that. There are no facilities or anything, but I think that is pretty cool. Mike took a picture of this 'ambulance' on the beach. Haha. Made me laugh.

Preston

It is so pretty up at the cabin! I love this picture Mike took. See if you can find a Bear dog and a school bus. Hahaha. First an ambulance, then a school bus camper on the same day. Gotta love it.

Poor Bear dog wore himself out.

Stockton has been having a pretty good week. He told us that his old mission companion Jaye called him while he was driving down to St. George. He didn't have a place to stay and asked if Cori would let him stay at her house. So, that is where he is staying tonight. Haha

 

Rocks

Stockton sent us a picture of his group for this week. Stockton also got to see Alyssa for the first time in a month. She doesn't live too far from BYU and was able to meet him during one of his breaks.

Stockton & co-counselor Sarah with 18 boys and 9 girls

Stockton & Alyssa

Jorja and co-counselor Riley with their group

Don't know what this picture is about.

Mike got Stockton's bike from his mission put together and then took apart the jet ski motor. He was able to get it all put back together. Mike took the jet ski out and said it works okay. It's not as fast as it usually is so he is going to try and take the blades home and replace them this weekend. No repair shop had time to fix the jet ski, but there is a shop in Idaho Falls that has the blades. I'm glad Mike knows how to do all these things.

Jorja took a screenshot of Mike's BeReal. BeReal is a social media app where you are sent an alert once a day and have two minutes to take a picture. It takes a picture from the front and back. You can only see what your friends post if you also post. It is actually pretty fun. I only follow Mike, Stockton and Jorja. Also Emily, one of Jorja's friends.

Pizza with Miah

Jorja left Boise early this morning and rode the bus with the second batch of FSY kids going to Utah State. I worked today. It was crazy because Alta is doing summer school and I helped Christine with that. The problem was, Skyward is down all this week. Summer school is packets, so it should be fine. It was not fine. Only half of the kids had signed up. The other half just came and did not know what they needed. We had no way to look up their information. It's mind boggling that they did not know what class they failed. Most of the kids failed a lot of things. It was the most bizarre day.

Sherry and Matt invited me to get pizza with them. I had been texting Sherry to find out when Miah worked. She now works at a pizza restaurant by my house. I met the Hardy's down there. Matt's mom, Jeannine, even came. I grew up in the same ward as Matt, so I know his mom. All of Sherry's kids were there and the pizza was delicious.

Miah

Mike and Preston had fun today. They took the jet ski out and had a great time until a rock got sucked into the impeller. That will give Mike a new project to work on. We are going to be at the cabin next week with Sherry's family. Hopefully he can get the jet ski up and running!

Joshua 1:9

Jorja sent me her mission scripture for her plaque. She picked Joshua 1:9 Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord they God is with thee whithersoever thou goest. Perfect scripture for her. She has been anxious about Hong Kong, well mostly about Cantonese. She seems more at peace lately.

Jorja's mission plaque picture

We had a very sad thing happen in our ward last night. Yesterday a lady was babysitting her 10 month old grandson. She went to check on him from his nap and found his blanket was wrapped around his neck and his lips were blue. The little baby died early this morning. The baby's name was Truman and it is just so sad. I also know Truman's great-grandma really well. Such a tragedy.

Stockton is off again. We got his clothes all washed and he repacked for one week. He is in Provo this week. He has his own room, which will be nice. His online physics class starts tomorrow. At least he will have somewhere he can concentrate when he needs to work on it. I don't know how much time he will have. Stockton is going to have 16 boys this week. Jorja will have 18 girls. Hope everything goes well for them!

Mike and Preston went to the cabin today. Preston drove most of the way. Can't believe my baby is old enough to drive! So crazy! Mike put up a wire thing to separate the front from the back. That way Bear could not come up front and bother Preston while he drove. Bear looks happy with that arrangement. Haha. Bear does not like being separated from Mike.

Bear

Part of the roof fell off of the cabin garage. Lovely.

Jorja sent us a few more pictures from Boise. She says their new hotel smells like week. That's great. What a crazy summer.

Jorja

30 Year Reunion

I didn't take any pictures from today, but today Mike and I went to our 30 year high school reunion. Crazy! It was at Hidden Valley Country Club. We sat by Rachel Emery and her husband. That was fun. Alex Mishmash came and sat by us for awhile. It was great to see so many people. Right before we left Mike ran into Sheena Leatham. She was a student body officer with Mike. She is in public relations now. We told her that that is Jorja's major. We told her about Jorja going to Hong Kong on her mission and needing to learn Cantonese while she is fluent in Mandarin. Sheena told us that Jorja should contact her. She works for a public relations firm and one of their clients is a major toy company. (I can not remember the name, even though it is one I have heard many times.) She said that most toys are made in China and would love to have Jorja intern for her. Don't know if it will happen, but how cool is that? Anyway, today was a really great day. Mike and I took off early to go pick up Stockton at the airport. He is home! I did have my dad on standby in case if we weren't able to leave the reunion. I really wanted to be at the airport if possible though. It is so nice to have him home! Jorja, on the other hand, is not home. She rode on the bus early this morning and is now in Boise. She is at a random hotel with eight other FSY counselors. Sounds like they really get along, so that is awesome. I'm thankful for that. This weird travel thing she is doing would not be fun if she didn't bond with the other people in her same situation.

Late tonight, Jorja sent me pictures from her last week. It looks like she has been having a lot of fun. Actually, I think three of these pictures are what she did today with the other travel counselors and the last picture is from yesterday while she was on night watch. I'm so thankful she was able to bond with the other travel counselors. All of them were in the same weird situation and it looks like they have made the best of it.

Santorini

The only picture I have from today is Mike's gyro. Haha. Mike and I went to Santorini Grill and it was really good. Stockton had his last real FSY day in Texas. He seemed to have an overall great experience. It is going to be nice having him closer again though.

Mike's Gyro

Low-Key

I worked again today. Paula was gone, so she wanted someone that could do registrar stuff there. It was a pretty low-key day. Becky Johnson texted me and asked if she could throw Alyssa a bridal shower. She is so nice. Always thinking of how she can help others. I should be more like her.

GOT THE JOB!

I was at work today when one of the vice principals came to talk to me. He offered me the testing coordinator job. I accepted it. I have no idea how much the pay is though. Haha. I hope I can live up to the expectations the counseling center has of me. Fingers crossed! My friend Megan sent me this group chat message. Paula's comment made me laugh. I have really liked working with her. I am glad she liked me working for her. I am going to miss registrar stuff though. Sure hope I like this new job as much, and that I am good at it!

Phillippine Kanyon

Kanyon got his mission call! He is going to Philippines, Cauayan Mission. Woohoo! He leaves October 10th, Maysen's birthday. That made me laugh because his sister, Kaydra, left on my anniversary. Brooke's kids just make easy for me to remember their dates!

Interview

Today was crazy busy. I even forgot to submit my survival baseball pick! I realized it after the last game had started and by then it was too late. I'm the first one to lose by not submitting. Dang it! Jorja drove on the bus from Boise to Logan and is now at Utah State doing FSY. Stockton just started his last FSY week in Texas. I worked today. It was the beginning of another week of summer school, which makes the first part of Monday a little chaotic. I left after an hour or so and went to my dentist appointment. I came back to work and then at noon had my job interview. The principal was there and one of the vice principals. Two counselors were also there. My interview lasted 50 minutes. I think I did okay. Some things I just did not know what to say. My last question was how would I handle parents that yell at me, or a question more articulate than that. I just said that I didn't know, I couldn't even imagine that scenario. I know I would need to stay calm. They also asked about my organizational skills, which I have always complained about! I said at my home I can not figure out how to organize a kitchen to save my life, but at work I get in a routine and that seems to work. I started thinking about it. It is really spacial organization I am terrible at. If it is charts and graphs or calendars I seem to do well. Funny how the brain works. Mike did a ton of yard work today. He cut down lots of trees, and pruned a lot of others. He has been wanting to do that for a long time.

We went to the Smith family picnic tonight. Fun to have Lisa and Nathan there. Now that they live in California that doesn't happen much. I was talking with Kim when Angie walked by with her daughter Kinley and a friend. I looked at her and asked, "Sophie?" Yep, it was Sophie Cornia. She is one of Jorja's good friends. She even went to the cabin with us a couple of years ago. Jorja got her come sloth earrings in Costa Rica. I took this picture and sent it to Jorja. She said, "Ahhhhhh" and asked where we were. I told her Smith family picnic. Next message, "Are we related?" Nope, I told her Jorja was here with Kinley. She said, "Glad to hear we're not related." Hahahahaha That made me laugh.

Stephanie & Sophie

Denton Times Two

Today is Father's Day, but I only have two pictures... and they are both screen shots. One is of Stockton in Denton, Texas and the other is Jorja who is staying on Denton Street in Boise, Idaho. That made me laugh. Speaking of Jorja, she invited someone she met in the elevator yesterday to go to church today and he did. Nice missionary practice for that girl!

I hope Mike had a fun day. He got a gas adaptor to the pizza oven, so we had pizza for dinner. He liked cooking it that was so much better! He also wanted a grocery store cake with yucky icing. Hahaha. We also played Dark Tower with him. That was pretty fun. It was the first time I had ever played, but it is one of Mike's favorite childhood games. He got a restoration version of it about a month ago and he loves it. Mike is an awesome dad. We are so lucky!

Flying to Boise

I took Jorja to the airport early this morning. There are nine kids doing this crazy travel thing. Each of them found out about Boise on Thursday. They made a group chat. One of the girls texted at 5:00 this morning asking if anyone knew where to meet. She also said that she is from Logan and her dad is not happy about this, but she thinks it is hilarious. Oh boy. Doing FSY minutes from her house but she has to drive to Salt Lake, fly to Boise, bus to Logan and then do it again. Anyway, her flight to Boise was fine, but they were supposed to be picked up by the stake young womens president. No one showed up at the airport. They called around and finally got ahold of her. She was out of town. The other lady they had been talking to was surprised and said she could leave right now to get them, but she was 45 minutes away and only could fit six of them in her car so they would have to squish. They decided to take an Uber to the hotel. When they got there they couldn't check in until 3:00, so they went to the mall to kill a few hours. Luckily the mall was in walking distance. They came back and tried to check in again only to find out the rooms hadn't been pre-paid for so they would have to pay for the rooms. Nope, that's not going to happen. They had to make some phone calls and finally got that straightened out. Jorja seems to like the other eight kids. That is good! She had a good attitude about the adventure this morning, but I had a feeling getting along with the other kids would make or break it. So far so good! One of the kids knew someone that lives in Meridian and they were able to go over and have dinner at their house and swim. Sounds like she has been having fun. Yay!

Preston did his freeway drive this morning. Mike took him. Bear gets so sad when Mike leaves. He lays by the door to the garage and just waits for him to come back. Maysen said he was so sad when we were in Costa Rica. Longest he has been without Mike ever.

Bear

Wedding and a Baby

Tage had her wedding reception today. She got married December 6th but wanted a summer reception. They had it in Sherry and Matt's backyard. It turned out great and we had a lot of fun. Steve and Shannon told us that Spencer and his wife had a baby this morning! His name is Arthur. How exciting! He has a lot of hair and looks so much like Spencer! Anyway, back to the wedding. We had a lot of fun. All of my children were able to come except Stockton who is in Texas. Mike and I sat by Mona and we were soon joined by Lisa and Nathan. So fun to see them! Nice they could make it all the way from California! The kids made their own kid table and it made me laugh. Jorja brought a friend, Nathan, who was surprised when he saw his brother at the wedding too. Jorja looked at him and said, "Are we related????" Hahaha. No, his brother was friends with Tage in high school. Tage had a cute vw bug that was turned into a photo booth. Our pictures were fun, but I didn't bother scanning them in. Lazy me. The weather was perfect and it was nice to see tons of family. We left when Mike couldn't stand being by horses anymore. He stayed on the other side of the yard. There wasn't any wind for a long time. A little breeze came by after awhile and Mike was done. Horses make him miserable. Poor guy. He loves horses too. I didn't get any pictures of Dallin, but we got some of Tage. Hope Tage and Dallin have a wonderful life together! They sure seem a lot alike!

Lisa & Nathan

Jacob, Brandon, Preston, Michael (who Preston has boxed out), Maysen, Jorja

Jacob, Brandon, Preston, Michael plant, Maysen, Jorja, Nathan

Lisa & Tage

Lisa, Tage, Nathan

Sherry, Lisa, Tage, Stephanie, Melissa

Jorja, Preston, Taylor

Taylor, Jorja, Preston

Preston & Jorja

Jorja, Mike, Preston, Stephanie, Maysen

Taylor, Nathan, Michael, Xander, Miah, Melissa

Took the last picture as I was leaving. They had just finished getting a picture and I ran back and snapped one. Not the best picture, but the only one I have with Xander and Miah in it!

Lisa and Nathan were anxious to know what the plan would be for Stockton's wedding. They are hoping to make it, but when you have to fly that is easier said than done. The only thing I knew was that the temple ceremony was scheduled for 7:00 am in the Timpanogos Temple. I got ahold of Stockton after we left and found out that the reception would be at White Willow in Provo at 10:00 in the morning. Normally the grooms family is supposed to do a wedding breakfast, but with the breakfast reception that doesn't make sense. I asked Stockton if he and Alyssa would want a wedding dinner the night before, or would they just want the money we would have spent. They wanted the money. I asked him to make sure Alyssa was fine with that. She was. I asked him to make sure Alyssa's family was fine with that. They are. So, that will be a lot easier for us. Saturday morning. Hope Lisa and Nathan can make it!