Jorja cracks me up. She got everyone in her MTC group to use their teacher's facebook pictures as their backdrop. Haha. She also got everyone to wear sunglasses randomly. Their teacher then put on virtual sunglasses. I'm going to miss this girl.
Brother Adams backdrop
Brother Lai backdrop
MTC sunglasses
I also made this sandwich that I was very proud of. It was delicious.
I called the distribution center today to see if they had a Cantonese Book of Mormon. Specifically the language study edition. It has three columns. One is English, the second is pinyin, the third is the Chinese characters. I guess Chinese characters are the same as traditional Chinese. Jorja knows simplified Chinese, which is what they use in mainland China and Taiwan. At least that is what I understand. Anyway, they put the book on hold for me. I grabbed my credit card, my drivers license and my temple recommend. The distribution center is about a half an hour away. When I got there I saw signs on the doors saying cash or check only because the internet was down. UGH. I guess the internet went down ten minutes after I called. I told them I would wait. Gas is so expensive right now so I didn't want to drive back. Also, the book I wanted was the last one they had, so I really wanted to get it today. I was saying a silent prayer that the internet would come back and I could buy this Book of Mormon. I sat there for about 15 minutes. Then I got a tickle in my brain. I started thinking of being in the car on the way to Cameron's wedding. I took out this cupholder thing and put it in the middle console. We rarely ever lift that up. When I put it in I saw my check book in there. Mike and I had a discussion if we should leave the check book in the car in case of an emergency. I couldn't remember what we decided. The lady at the checkout counter started talking to me. She said she could buy the book and I could pay her back later. I told her that was super nice, but there was a slight chance I had a check book in my car. I ran out there, looked in the console and I saw it! It was kind of hidden the way it was on it's side pressed against the side. I was so happy to see it! I got Jorja the study edition, a Cantonese hymn book and a small Preach My Gospel book.
Jorja wanted a picture and I sent her those. She wrote back that it was so wild. She could read some of the Chinese characters, but she had no idea what the pinyin said. Good luck to Jorja!
I spent some time figuring out Stockton's meal plan. We had bought him 25 more meals, but they told him that this was his last one. I got ahold of someone and found out the plans had to be manually added and they were added after Stockton went to lunch. Yay! Glad they were able to find them and I know Stockton will be able to eat! Jorja sent me an email about how to apply for a Visa. Not the credit card, but so she can live in Hong Kong. Mike and Preston have been working on adding a laugh track to some pirate jokes that the pirate in the hall tells. Silly boys. Also, the Jazz lost game 2. Boooooo!
I spent the morning gathering documents so Preston could get his learner's permit. I met Heather and Jordyn up in Bountiful for lunch and it was SO FUN! It has been too long since we have been together! I enjoyed every second of it. Heather and Jordyn were on their lunch break, so it didn't last hours and hours. It was sooooo great though!
Stephanie, Jordyn, Heather
I stopped by Alta to pick up Preston's official transcript. That was one of the forms of ID that was accepted for his drivers license. It was fun too because I got to talk with my friends there about Jorja's mission call. I took Preston to the DMV. I thought I knew where it was without using the phone gps thing. I put it in anyway, just in case. I got off of the freeway and thought I was supposed to turn left at the light. All of a sudden the gps is telling me to turn right. Ahhhh! I couldn't get over fast enough, so I drove through the light and found a place to make a u-turn. I then turned left and was on the road the gps said I should. Almost two miles down the road the gps said we arrived. There was NOTHING there. Just dirt as far as you could see. I had to keep going because the road was so narrow there was no where to turn. I finally found a spot and drove to where I thought the building was. Turns out I was right all along. Thanks gps! Anyway, after that Preston was able to successfully pass his learners permit test. I didn't tell him there would be an eye test though and he didn't bring his glasses. He was struggling reading the letters. The lady asked him if he would want to try with his mom's glasses. He put on my glasses and read them right away. So, he will need to make sure he has glasses if he drives. He is NOT anxious to learn how to drive.
Preston
Here are some random pictures I put on Instagram/Facebook. Jorja said I picked out the worst pictures, but I love them. This is what I wrote on my post: After 12 years of studying Mandarin, Jorja has been called to serve as a missionary in Hong Kong speaking Cantonese. Haha! Poor girl. She has always done the hardest thing. Entering a Chinese Immersion class in 2nd grade, a year and a half after everyone else. Forcing her extremely introverted self into doing brave and scary things. Putting herself out there and running for student government. She has been brave and worked so hard and has been wildly successful. I have no doubt the same will be true with her mission. Jorja exudes love and is not afraid or embarrassed to show it. It has been one of the greatest joys of my life watching her become the person she is. I will miss her terribly while she is in Hong Kong, but man am I excited to see how she conquers her next adventure. Love you Porge!..... oh, and Preston can drive now. :)
Well..... today was such a great and crazy day. This is what our front yard/street looked like as I drove to work. Snow in April. That's Utah for you. It is so pretty though!
Jorja sent this to our family group text. We knew it was coming, but it is nice to know it is for sure!
Jorja had ordered some decorations she wanted printed out. Mike went to Office Max and got them printed around lunch time. I cut them up on the way up to Logan. Sometime when Mike was getting the things printed out he ran over a rock in the parking lot. Something now is seriously wrong with the Pilot. We don't know how bad it is. We are hoping we can just replace the muffler, but there is a chance we might need a new car. Not what we wanted to happen. As soon as I got home from work we gathered a few things and headed out. We drove to my dad's house. Mike took Bear in the pilot and the rest of us followed. The pilot sounded so bad! We then drove straight to Crumbl cookies and picked up our order. Mike and I went to WinCo next. I needed to get pens because I forgot them. While we were there I kept saying, "Oh! Jorja wanted this! Jorja wanted that!" Kind of driving Mike crazy because I kept remembering things. Pop, fruit platter, something else I can't remember. We hurried through Chick-Fil-A's drive thru to get food for our family. We got to Stockton's house less than 30 minutes before everyone was scheduled to arrive. Kind of stressed Jorja out. We went as fast as we could though. Jorja set up everything really cute. She is so good at that.
Look how cute and excited Jorja is.
Here it is! Jorja's mission call!
Jorja right after she read her call.
Jorja has been called to the China Hong Kong Mission speaking Cantonese. She starts online MTC on July 25th, which I assume is home MTC. Jorja says she flies to Hong Kong on September 27th. I have no idea if she will be serving at home for the entire 9 weeks, but I really hope not. As much as I would love to have all that time with her, she would thrive in the Provo MTC. I know she would enjoy it much more than being home. I think at home she would feel like a prisoner and in the MTC she would feel like it was an adventure. So...next crazy thing. Cantonese! Jorja is fluent in Mandarin. She has studied it for 12 years. She can read, write and speak it. Cantonese is NOT Mandarin. Jorja's friend Saddler was in the Chinese immersion program with her. He was also a SBO with her. He is serving in the Chinese Hong Kong Mission. Same mission Jorja got called to! I remember last year when she went to Saddler's mission call opening. She said, "Mom! Saddler got called to Hong Kong speaking Cantonese! Wouldn't that be the worst?" Hahaha Not because of Hong Kong, but because of Cantonese. Saddler has told her that it is so hard and he has basically had to forget his Mandarin. Jorja told me a few days ago that she didn't think she would be called to a Mandarin speaking mission, she just had a feeling. I told her that it would be so cool to be trilingual, but I really hope the third language won't be Cantonese! I was hoping if it wasn't Mandarin that it would be Spanish. Jorja is going to do great though. I'm excited to watch her thrive in this next adventure of hers!
Jorja & Preston
Jorja & Mike
Jorja & Maysen
Jorja & Stockton
Jorja & Preston
I did congratulate her, I just don't have a picture of the two of us.
Jorja & Maysen
Jorja & Davis
Kinley & Jorja
Jorja
Clara & Jorja
Maya, Jorja, ?
Kinley & Jorja
These three girls are going to Italy after the semester.
They are all ambassadors together and great friends.
The group that was left when we managed to get a picture
Mike taking a panoramic picture
Spencer taking the picture so Mike could be in it
My babies. Stockton, Jorja, Preston, Maysen
Stephanie, Stockton, Jorja, Preston, Maysen, Mike
I love all of these pictures
I love my family!
Jorja
Look at all those Asian guesses! My brother John got it right. :)
I love this picture
Photo wall at the Bungalow ~ Stockton's diving days coming in clutch
We stayed and talked with Stockton and his roommates and friends for awhile, that was fun. Next we dropped Jorja off at her apartment. On the way back she told us, "Wanna hear a funny story? I peaked." Hahaha! Of course she did! PORGE! She said she was giving a tour when the email came that she had her mission call. She said she was feeling so anxious and she just wanted to know her language. When the tour group had a bathroom break she opened the call and did Control F and searched CHIN. She was hoping Mandarin Chinese would pop up. Instead she saw China Hong Kong.
The next pictures I got off of Stockton's blog. Jorja wanted to go to the temple the day she opened her call. She got Stockton to go with her. This story is from Stockton's blog. "When I joined Jorja in the waiting room of the temple I asked how she was feeling (because at this point she had gotten the notification that her call was available.) She said something like, "Pretty good." Then I said, "So... did you peek?" And she started to laugh. "You peeked, didn't you?" She laughed and laughed and finally managed to say, "Don't tell Mom!""
Stockton & Jorja
Table spread
Jorja's call
I think this picture is so funny. Hahaha Preston & Jorja ~ they are awesome
We drove back to my dad's, picked up Bear, picked up the falling apart pilot, made it home, fell into bed and went straight to sleep. Today was a great day.
