Spotlight

About a year ago Preston took Mike's phone and set it up so he gets a random picture as his screensaver for the day. It picks from pictures Mike has in his favorites. Anyway, Mike's screenshot from today was a picture we took when Jorja was running for freshman public relations. Jorja is coming home today. Mike sent this picture when she texted us that she was leaving and said, "Traffic cameras caught this view of Jorja making her way home."

Jorja

A few minutes later Jorja texted us this picture with the caption "I'm at a spotlight don't worry"

Stockton texts back this... I have never heard Jorja call a stoplight a spotlight. Maybe it was autocorrect?

We had dinner down at my dad's house today. Matt and Sam are in town. It is also Amy's birthday tomorrow. She will be three. She is good at holding up three fingers. My dad made her a dairy free strawberry cake. It was delicious.

Amy's cake

Amy, Matt and Greg

Stephanie cutting Amy's cake

Greg & Amy

We hurried and left when we realized Jorja was almost home. I took a picture of her when she was still in the driveway talking to Ella. It totally scared her when she saw me. Haha

Jorja

Jorja was able to check out a Utah State car because she is going as an ambassador. The car was really nice and she didn't need to pay for gas. She said it was the nicest car she has ever driven, she has only driven duct taped cars before. Hahahaha. Well, Jorja.... lots of the reasons for the duct tape was because of you. Haha. That's okay though. Jorja took me on a ride. We went to Arctic Circle, but it was closed. We then went to Dutch Bros for hot chocolate. It was fun to have a chance to talk with her. I'm glad she is having such a great time in Logan.

Last Full Day

This week has gone by so fast! Today was our last full day at the cabin. We spent it doing usual cabin stuff. Here are the pictures.

Maysen

 Stockton & Preston making an RPG game

 I got Utah State socks today in my sock advent calendar. I love them!

Penguin sledding with the Porge. She needs to work on staying on better.

Stephanie, Jorja, Mike

 Jorja & Anne

 With a photobomb by Stockton

 Stockton

 Preston, Jorja & Anne, Stockton, Matt & Greg

 Amy & Preston

 Isn't she adorable?

 Preston & Amy

 Amy

Preston Passed, Amy Blessed, Ten Years

I have a hard time sleeping. I hate it. I wake up at 4:00 or 5:00 every morning. Even if my eyes sting so bad because I am super tired, I can not get back to sleep. If I stay in bed my back hurts me the rest of the day. Today was no different. I was up by 4:30. I decided to use the time to cut out the flyers we needed to hand out at church today. I couldn't find my cutter tool, but I had plenty of time. I just used scissors. It got the job done. I got Jorja up early than she would have liked to make the Christmas poster. It turned out sooooo cute. Too bad I didn't take a picture. Preston and I went to church early so I could get the flyers there and he could be taught how to pass the sacrament. Audrey came with Jorja and Mike. I didn't know she was in town and was so surprised and happy to see her! So cool she could be here for Preston's first time passing the sacrament! I tried to be sneaky and get a picture of Preston. Too bad Matthew turned in front of him right as I snapped it. Jorja laughed and laughed about that. You can see Preston's leg though. Preston passed to us. I loved it!

Matthew & Preston's leg

I did better the next time, but I wasn't as sneaky. At least my phone doesn't make loud clicking noises when I am taking pictures. That is what Jorja's phone does. Sister Nunes told me that she and her husband were watching us watch Preston. She said it was so cute because our entire bench had the biggest grins on our faces. We love him. I can't believe he's twelve!

Preston

 Jorja & Mike ~ no idea what Jorja is doing here

Sam texted me while we were at church and asked if her mom would be able to lay down in the guest room after church. We are having dinner with our family and Sam's family at my house. Jorja has been sleeping in the guest room for awhile now. Mike and Jorja went home during Sunday school to straighten up the house. Jorja got the guest room taken care of and Mike did the kitchen. Jorja came back for young women. I wanted Jorja to be there with Audrey. She drove Audrey and me home in her bug and did a fantastic job.

We had a few minutes to breathe before we headed down to my dad's church. Jorja drove her bug again. We sat next to Bubs and Ange. Too bad Stockton wasn't here, he would have been able to be in the circle to bless Amy. He would have LOVED that. Mike told me that as soon as the blessing was over he was walking out. Matt gave Amy a sweet blessing. She is adorable.

Bubs and Ange and their kids came over after sacrament meeting. Everyone else stayed for all three hours. We were able to hang out with Bubs' family before tons of people came, so that worked out well. We had a Sloppy Joe Thanksgiving. It is my family's year for Thanksgiving, but it isn't going to work out. We are calling tonight good enough. Sam had her family come up too. There are a lot of them. Lots came from Idaho, so that was super nice.

Amy

Jorja brought the ducks in. Greg was a huge fan! He kept following the ducks around. His grandma was teasing him about being terrified of dogs, but the duck was just fine. Quacky Chan came over and played with Jeff. Jeff thought that was the coolest thing ever!

Greg, Jeff, Quacky Chan

 Jorja added more scratches to her collection

 Stephanie & Amy

 Amy

 Anne gave this note to Jorja

We read scriptures with the ducks after everyone left. The ducks joined us. ~ Jorja & Kiki

 Why Jorja has scratches.

Today is the tenth anniversary of my blog. I have written everyday for ten years. I can not believe I have lasted this long. Granted, I get behind and have to play catch up often. Still. I hope my kids love this. I really want to get this printed out because I don't want to lose this. When you go back to the old ones sometimes the format has changed and it looks weird. Anyway, I'm glad I have done this. I wish I had this record for all of my kids. Preston has such a good record for all of his life. I wish my other kids had that. I have loved every second with these kids. They are the best.

Amy's Handprints

I dropped Jorja off at work and then headed over to pick up Sam. We drove up to Sherry's to get Amy's handprints done. Amy did great!

Stephanie, Amy and Sherry

I got back in time to pick up Jorja from work. She had a change of clothes in the car and I dropped her off at Alta for the volleyball game. She was required to be here as part of her student government class. See, easiest grounding ever. Is she even really grounded? Conner gave her a ride home, but they ended up staying out in the driveway for at least thirty minutes. Mike texted her and asked if Conner wouldn't just want to come in. So, we finally got to meet the boy who has been driving Jorja home from school everyday. I told him that Jorja could take the bus, he didn't need to drive her. He doesn't seem to mind. I'm not sure what to think about him. He seems nice and he has been really kind to Jorja. I'm not sure if they like each other, but I don't feel he is controlling, so that makes me feel better. I did find out that Conner had tried to get Jorja to go home several times from the party a few days ago. REALLY? Jorja just kept talking to other people and brushing him off. Grrrrrr. Jorja said Conner looked really nervous. I didn't notice, but I guess I don't know him at all anyway. Although, now that I think about it, he did look nervous. He had his hands in his pockets and was kind of bouncing on the balls of his feet. When he left and Jorja went downstairs to get ready for bed, Mike looked at me and said, "Well, that was weird. Have you ever seen Jorja look so happy?" It's true. Jorja is happy most of the time, but tonight with Conner she was positively glowing. 

Conference Breakfast

We decided to do a family breakfast instead of a family dinner this month. My dad came over first so he could get the scones rising. Sam made a French toast casserole that was delicious. When Bubs and Ange came over, I started talking to Abby about cousins. She liked how Amy's name started with an A, just like her name does. We decided to make a graft of the cousin's names. Then we added the parents and my mom and dad. This is what our graft turned out like. M was the clear winner. If we did a graft of last names M would win by a mile.

Amelia's birthday is on Monday, so we celebrated her birthday too. Maysen, Jorja and Lincoln all have October birthdays (of the family that was here.) They all decided Amelia would be the most excited about blowing out the candles. I was excited to find a chocolate vegan cake for Anne. This isn't the vegan cake, but at least Anne had a chocolate cake she could eat.

 Amelia

 Jeff's head, Maysen, Preston, Amelia blowing out candles, Gayle, Greg & Matt, Max's legs, Ange's legs....I think....

We "watched" the first session of conference together. I definitely will need to rewatch that one. I like to watch all of conference again anyway. When Matt and Sam were packing up we couldn't find Anne and Jeff. They were downstairs reading with Stockton and Jorja. I loved that!

Jeff & Stockton, Jorja & Anne

Stockton LOVES babies. I was sad I didn't get a picture of him with Amy, so he came upstairs and posed for me by her carseat. He assured me he had the chance to meet her and already had a conversation with her. I love him!

Amy & Stockton

Jorja wanted to show Stockton her new car. Stockton and Jorja drove with her in the front seat, Mike and I were in the back. Stockton liked the car a bit more after driving it. Surprisingly it has a lot of power. Stockton drove around Pepperwood and then to our church parking lot. He made Jorja drive. It was so funny to hear Stockton try to teach Jorja how to use the clutch. "It's like kissing a boy. You need to move in gently...." He said he was trying to teach her in language she would understand. Hahahahaha. Mike helped Jorja get her new license plate on her car. Seriously. I hope she doesn't regret this license plate. 

Jorja and the front of Maggie

 Now the back

Stockton had his diving friends over for the second session of conference. Gavin, Dani, Noelle, and Connor all came. They stayed for a long time and seemed to love it. Mike took me to the airport before Maysen and Stockton left for Logan. I flew out to New Mexico. It was great to see my brother Mike. I love my family!