One Cent

So.... Jorja is not feeling better. She threw up a lot this morning and she is very dizzy. I was supposed to have a zoom meeting with Shannon Kershaw about 504s. She had my job last year and now lives in Denver. I had been looking forward to this meeting, but it ended up being at the same time as the only time I can get Jorja in to see the doctor. We rescheduled to Thursday after my AP zoom training meeting. It will be a day of zooms for me! The doctor had Jorja take tests in our car before we could come into our office. They gave her a covid test, a strep test and a flu test. Covid and strep came back negative. Unfortunately flu came back positive. Jorja has the flu and has been SICK! She says it has been worse than when she had covid last year. Today was the day Jorja was supposed to start her mission. She would have been miserable. Hopefully her body will start functioning properly soon!

Jorja being tested for all the things

The AP Chinese scores for Alta were finally released. Preston got a 2. I was really surprised. He felt like he did a great job on the test. He usually says he did horrible, but this time he said it was easy. Today he told me that he thought everything was really easy except for the culture presentation part. He wasn't able to review it like the rest of the class because of the BYU presentation he was forced to do. (We definitely tried to get him out of that.) While these kids were working on this, the other kids were given six paragraphs to memorize that could help with the cultural presentation part. Preston ended up only getting one. Two days before the test he was given the others, but by that time he couldn't do it. Too much too fast. Anyway, that is disappointing. Preston did get a 4 on his computer science AP test. Preston definitely likes computer science more than Chinese. Hahah. Mike took Preston out for hamburgers and Brooker's Ice Cream. Preston drove. Mike sent me this picture of Preston's awesome parking job.

Stockton is starting his last week of FSY. He really likes this group of boys he has and thinks it will be the perfect group to end on. I hope he loves it! Stockton and Alyssa's wedding invitations are out. Alyssa's Venmo is on the invitation. Stockton told me that Ethan Scott venmo-ed them one cent. Hahahah

In Progress

Today started off great. I went to Alta early to help with their summer school. It is chaotic at the beginning, but once everyone is settled it isn't so bad. I left after the rush and took Preston to the dentist. It was nice to see Eric and things are looking great with Preston's teeth. I dropped Preston off at home and went back to work. I had a great day until Paula asked me to call HR and ask when my official starting date for my job would be. Paula wanted to know how long she could use me. When I called I found out they were reposting the job, even though it was already offered to me. They listed it as a licensed position and already interviewed at least three people. I am not a licensed counselor, so now they have to resist the position and I have to apply again. I'm not sure if I have to interview again or if they will be required to interview at least three people. So, I'm a little bummed about that. Hopefully if they change their mind I can get my job with Paula back. We shall see.

AP tests came out last week while Preston was at FSY. I had him look up his scores. He had already looked them up, but I guess that was information he didn't see as important. Preston got a 4 on his computer science test and the Chinese test says 'in progress'. Turns out the entire class is still waiting for their scores that were suppose to be released next week. There was a problem with the computers on the test and so many people had problems that Shannon filed an incident report for the entire class. I think that is why this is taking so long. The stressful thing is if the kids pass the test, they get moved to a different class. It is a college concurrent enrollment class. Working with the registrar and not knowing where to put an entire class is not ideal. At all. Hopefully the scores get released soon and hopefully Preston passes.

Chinese Marketing Presentation

The day for the Chinese presentation finally arrived. Preston spent so much time working on this! The school ended up letting the kids ride on a bus. I rode down with them. It was Chinese kids, Spanish kids and French kids. There were two groups of Chinese kids. They both had to give two presentations. I was in the room when Preston's group gave their first presentation. I thought they did great. I couldn't understand a thing, but I thought it was awesome. I stayed with the backpacks during the second presentation because both groups were going at the same time.

Yikang, Ty, Greyson, Brian

Preston, Emery

With Ms. Peng

Stephanie & Preston

Emery was at the Jazz playoff game last night. (They lost and are out. It was sad.) It was a close game though. She had floor seats and spent every spare second studying for this Chinese presentation.

Brian, Emery, Preston

The prompt was marketing AirPod cases.

Emery, Brian, Preston

The presentation

Question and answer portion

Ms. Peng's son, Preston, Emery, Brian, Ms. Peng

Serious faces

One funny thing that happened is while I was videoing Preston the Bishop called. I didn't answer. Timing was crazy though. He was calling to say he got Jorja's letter of recommendation written. We also found out Jorja needs shots. Hopefully we can find a time to get her them!

That's Not Good

Preston had a Chinese online practice thing for thirty minutes. He did not want to do it. I made him do it anyway. He was so scared. We set him up in Jorja's room for the meeting. We were in Stockton's room talking with him. Every once in awhile Mike and Jorja would sneak over and listen. Jorja would say, "They just asked him what present he would give to his 80 year old grandma." I don't know what he answered, but I think it was something purple. Jorja said he sounded really good. I asked Preston how he felt about it when he was done. He said it was okay. We'll take it!

It has been fun having Stockton and Jorja here, even if it was only for a little bit. They left this morning to help with the stake fsy activity. Preston left about a half hour after they did. Stockton was able to get Preston in his group. I was so happy when I heard that. They all seemed to have a great time. Yay!

I took Jorja to the mall to get her temple dress altered. The lady who did all of Jorja's school dance dresses doesn't do it anymore. I asked around and the only response I got was they took it to the mall. We had Stockton's baptism pants done there, so we decided to give it a try. There was a guy there that didn't really speak English well. He had Jorja get in her dress. He held it up and asked if that is how short we wanted it. It has a pretty scalloped lace at the bottom and I asked if he needed to take it up at the waist to keep the design. He said no. I asked again if he would be able to keep the scalloped bottom. He said yes. Jorja tried to ask him about taking the dress in a bit, but he just walked away. So... we are hoping for the best.

I spent the day trying to figure out a fall schedule for Stockton. He needs the second half of physics, which would be good to take now. He also has two more classes he needs to take before he can be admitted into the computer science program. He needs to take those because he will run out of classes he is allowed to take if he doesn't. Welp, physics is offered only one time and his computer science class that he needs is offered only one time. Wouldn't you know it, they are at the exact same time. They do offer an online physics class over the summer with his same teacher, so he might end up doing that. Registration is coming up soon. Hopefully Stockton gets his data structures test over with before that happens. Hopefully he does well on that test. He sure has worked hard this semester.

I was working on my computer tonight. I ran upstairs to move the laundry over to the dryer. Came right back downstairs and my computer screen was broken. I have no idea what happened. Maysen and Preston didn't go downstairs. I even asked them if they ran downstairs and punched my computer screen. I didn't notice Bear going down there. It just randomly broke. I'm sad. I really like this computer. This is going to be annoying.

My beautiful family with lines across their faces

Stockton, Stephanie, Jorja, Maysen, Mike, Preston

Jorja Went Home

Today was Jorja's last day here. Preston is going to miss her so much. He has loved having Stockton and Jorja home. I'll miss her too. Bear was mopey after she left as well. Jorja picked up Beth and Kinley at the airport and brought them home. She took the pilot so she could fit everything. We will be in Logan on Saturday and will be able to trade cars. Alyssa was over listening to Stockton read his plates. He really wanted to finish them today. He has them mostly done. Alyssa ended up sleeping in Stockton's bed and Stockton slept in Jorja's. I hope the kids have a great semester. Sad to have them leave after having them home for so long, but I'm so proud in all they are accomplishing!

I had a dentist appointment this morning. I got a temporary crown on. My first ever. Hopefully my last. Becky and Camee took me out to lunch for my birthday. I changed the plan on them and asked to go to Zupas. I could tell that isn't Becky's favorite place, but I was having a hard time opening my mouth. Soup was perfect. We had a great time. Becky and Camee are so nice to me.

Sleepy Jorja

Preston giving Jorja goodbye hugs before he left for school

Still blows my mind that Jorja is fluent in Chinese

Sad Bear

Still sad Bear

Stephanie showing Jorja she is going to use the blanket Kinley gave her.

Practice Makes Perfect

Preston asked me to wake him up an hour early so he could study his Chinese. He wanted to go and retake a test during advisory. Later that day he texted me and told me he was going to stay after school to retake the test again with the feedback he got from this morning. (It is a verbal test.) I'm glad Preston made the extra effort because he got 100% on the test after school. I'm also glad his Chinese teacher worked with him and allowed him to retake the test a few times. Preston basically didn't have a year of Chinese. Last year it was all online run from St. George. I know the teacher did the best she could, but it was such a weird year. I never heard him talking Chinese the entire year. I have been wondering if he is behind everyone else. I'm glad he is working so hard right now.

Once I brought Preston home, Maysen and I went out to eat at Zupas. She loves it and I wanted to take her there for her birthday. With her birthday being on a Sunday, today was the next best thing. We then went to Deseret Book so she could pick out a temple bag. Rachel made Maysen one that has worked okay. I asked her if she would do it and she modeled it after the one my grandma made me. The problem is, Maysen has really heavy temple shoes. We needed to get her ones with a heal so her dress would fit. The bag works great with slippers like I have, but the heaviness in the shoes throws everything off and makes carrying the bag awkward. Anyway, we found one that will hopefully work. The bag Rachel made was awesome because you can just hang the bag with the dress and everything ready to go in the closet. We couldn't find any bags like that. But, it is pretty and I think it will work better for Maysen.

Stockton texted me a picture of him with Alyssa. He has mentioned her a few times on his blog. He studies calculus with her. Yesterday I was teasing him and told him I thought Alyssa was imaginary because I had never seen a picture. He sent me this today. Hahaha

Stockton & Alyssa

Weston went to see Mike today. Mike ended up doing a root canal on him. Shannon couldn't believe that they were able to get Weston's pain fixed on a p-day without even calling the mission president. She says she has no idea what they would have done if Weston was in Chile. Mike was so awesome to do that for Weston. He has never even met him. He has heard about him from us, but this was the first time they met in person. Weston told his mom that my brother was 'dope'. Hahaha. I am so grateful I was able to call my brother and he was able to give Weston the help he needed. Crazy that out of all the places in the entire world Weston could be serving in, he was serving in the exact area where my brother is a dentist at the exact time Weston desperately needed a dentist. Weston and Shannon were both really happy. I am very thankful that my brother is indeed dope.

Jorja Called Me!

That's right! Jorja called me today! Talking to her was awesome! It helped that she sounded so happy. She had just left her Chinese class. She spent two hours in the library studying her Chinese flashcards the night before. They had a quiz that most of the class struggled with. She ended up getting all of the answers right. Nothing like getting a perfect score to help you feel like you belong. Jorja says the missionaries are better at speaking Chinese, but she is better at writing. Makes sense. She said at the first Chinese class she noticed a returned missionary that was great at speaking. She wanted to ask her if she would be willing to help her, but she got scared. Later she noticed the girl walking behind her. Jorja turned around and introduced herself and asked if she would be willing to help her. Today they both stayed after class and she was able to get some help. Jorja asked the girl if she had seen the mandarin speaking missionaries on campus. The girl hadn't, but said she is planning on going to the mandarin speaking branch. Jorja asked if she could go. This girl also lives a building over and they are in the same ward. So, sometimes before their ward they are going to go to the mandarin branch. Sooooo cool!!!!! It is awesome to see Jorja working so hard in Chinese....and loving it. She said it makes a difference being in a class where everyone wants to learn instead of being in a class where everyone is annoyed at their mom for making them take it. Hahaha I am so proud of Jorja! I'm glad she is working so hard. We had many conversations about not being swept up in the social aspect of college. Remembering she is there to learn and that needed to come first. This summer Step2theU really helped Jorja with that. She worked so hard and got straight As. Jorja is working hard and playing hard. A perfect combination.

Possessed Stockton for the Win!

This video is a bit of a presentation Jorja had to do for Chinese. She does not like to speak Chinese around me, but I love to hear her speaking it. I think it is crazy that she is fluent in this language. She is embarrassed because she has a 'white girl accent'. Haha. Easy to find faults in yourself. That is what she sees. We are all floored by her being able to speak, write and read Chinese. I also thought it was funny because in the middle she asks how to say a word. It made the video shorter so I could post it and it is adorable.

Jorja doing a Chinese project

Jorja's prom dress couldn't be cleaned or dry-cleaned... so into the freezer it goes!

Mike, Stockton, Preston and I have been playing a lot of Dominion lately. I had the best win today! I won the game when I took possession of Stockton's hand. It was the second province I got that way that game, but how fun (for me) to win it that way! Stockton did not have the same opinion of this situation as I did.

Cade

Jorja had her speaking Chinese final today. It was a town hall style meeting. They were given a time and a character. Jorja was a doctor. They were talking about the coronavirus. It was kids from Alta, Corner Canyon and Brighton. I think it was about two hours or so. Jorja didn't need to talk that long though. 

Jorja and Cade went to lunch after her final. He came home from a mission in Texas because of corona. He was a good friend from student government. She loved being able to see him again.

Cade and Jorja

Riley had a hard day at work and wanted to talk to Jorja after. I told them they had forty-five minutes and not a second longer. I even had Riley start his timer at the same time I started mine. She did not get home in time. I was at the door with the alarm ringing when she got home. She was one minutes late. Why be late though, why not be one minute early?

Riley & Bear

More Camp

I took Preston to his Chinese/Engineering camp again. He stayed up super late last night and for some reason got up at six in the morning. That made him a bit grumpy. He didn't realize it, but just some little things were off. We were the first ones to the camp, so I waited with him at the front. He was teasing me, but it had more of an edge than usual. I was embarrassed. Just cause it was a bit mean. But not really mean. I know it was just the lack of sleep. I couldn't get Maysen or Jorja to come with me today, so I wandered around downtown by myself for three hours. I was bored out of my mind at the stores. Finally I got the brilliant idea to walk around Temple Square. Why didn't I think of that before? Preston enjoyed the camp today, but not as much as yesterday. I think it was because he was tired. He had a super tall Chinese partner who was only twelve years old. I can't remember what they did. Something with magnets and races. I'm not sure.

Preston's selfie with his partner

Following Google Maps

 I got another random picture of Stockton. I LOVE it when people send these to me!

Jorja worked tonight. She was happy when she came home. She ran the closing today and they got out super fast. She was proud. Several of her student government friends also came into Chick-Fil-A today. Conner, Baylor, Ellie, Cade and Luke. Made the work day a little bit more fun. Because Jorja was at work she wasn't able to go to the pre-travel meeting for her upcoming trip with my dad. Mike and I went and picked up her binder and luggage tags. Although I lost the luggage tags before I got home. Jorja's roommate is named Olivia and she is 16 years old from Oregon. Hopefully they get along. If they do, Jorja will love this trip.

Chinese/Engineering Camp

That's right. Preston had a Chinese/Engineering camp today. It was at the Gateway. He was invited and didn't have to pay. He wasn't too excited about this. Maysen and I drove him there. It took forever to park, but after that it was smooth sailing. We dropped him off and then the two of us went shopping. We ended up driving to City Creek. We found Maysen a swimsuit that she really likes and we got her shoes. She picked out the same shoes Preston has. They fit great once they are on, but they are a bit of a struggle to get on. They are supposed to get easier as she wears them. Hope they do! Anyway, Preston ended up loving his camp. They made rockets. He was paired up with a Chinese boy. Preston said he understood him great. It was cool because lately anytime we ask him about Chinese he says he doesn't understand it. This was perfect for him.

Preston's selfie with his partner

Jorja went to lunch with Drew while we were gone. They also got slurpees for 7-11 day. Drew is such a great kid, I'm glad they were able to do this before Jorja had to head to work.

Drew

Broken Deck

Mike and Maysen went to the cabin this weekend. Mike bought a fancy lawnmower. It is pulled behind the 4-wheeler. He had great plans of mowing down all the sagebrush. It worked okay, but not great. Hopefully he can get the kinks figured out, because having a cabin sagebrush mower would be great. Mike did get the tracks off the 4-wheeler, so that will be nice. He got an unwelcome surprise when they arrived. The deck is damaged pretty bad. I guess forty years of heavy snow has finally taken it's toll. We will have to replace that somehow. We planned on the mower and new garage doors for our home. He was hoping to be able to redo the bathroom and one bedroom. Guess those plans will have to wait another year. I have no idea if we are going to have to redo the entire deck or if we can just redo parts. Not going to be fun though.

Summer cabin

 Broken deck

 Broken deck part 2

Jorja had a huge Chinese test today. It is the test they give the Chinese teachers. Their teachers told them that they wouldn't pass, but it would be a good experience for them. Jorja said she felt okay, but she stuttered a lot. They asked her what her favorite class was. She said Chemistry. Then she didn't know how to say any of the Chemistry words in Chinese. Whoops!

Brynlee invited Jorja to go to the Riverton lacrosse game. She really wanted to go. Jorja plans things a lot, but doesn't get invited often. She was excited. As an added bonus, she got to see Weston play again! Here are some photos I took off of Jorja's phone.

Jorja & Brynlee

 Brynlee, Chloee, Jorja

Chinese Graffiti

My friend Megan asked if I would help proctor AP exams this year. As a bonus I get paid $80 a test. That sounded fun. My first test was this morning. AP Government. Maysen had this test. She didn't like the class, but passed the test. All I had to do was count tests before and after they were passed out, make seating charts, throw away the test wrapping and read a book. It was fun to have a reason to be in the school. When I left I saw this giant chalk art picture with Chinese writing beneath it. Turns out Jorja's Chinese class was studying graffiti, so that is what they got to spend their class period doing. This is her entire class. Seven kids. She has loved it.

Evan, Jonah, ???, Jorja, Sophie, Will, Leah

 Random picture from Jorja's phone: Gabe & Jorja

Skype Interview

I picked up Jorja from school and we drove to Provo with Flat Stanley. I wanted to get a picture of him in front of the Y since he has a Y on his shirt. Too bad the Y is really hard to see.

Flat Stanley

 Flat Stanley pointing at the Y

We tried to make last minute plans with Michael while we were here, but he was at work. Jorja and I went to Bowl of Heaven and had some açaí bowls. They were delicious. Jorja's was better than mine.

Jorja

We swung by the Provo City Temple on the way to the freeway and decided to take Flat Stanley there for a bit. I wanted to go into the visitor center thing and get a picture of him in front of the Christus Statue, but Jorja said that was weird. There were a lot of people in there dressed in their church clothes, so I decided not to push it.

Flat Stanley

 Jorja and Flat Stanley

Jorja had her Taiwan interview today. It was over Skype. She is hoping to be picked to go to Taiwan this summer. It would be for three weeks. She would go to ten different high schools and meet with the kids there. She would stay with a host family. That is what she would do the first week. Two high schools a day. The second week she would be trained on whatever service project they are planning and the third week they would do the service project. This would be such a great opportunity for her and an amazing experience. She would be so good it too. She definitely isn't shy. Most of the interview was done in English, but a little was in Chinese. Jorja told them a little about herself in Chinese. One of the things she told them was she loved frogs. They laughed and told her that she would love Taiwan then. Hopefully that is a good sign! Jorja will find out next week if she is chosen.

Jorja spent the rest of the night doing homework and making a poster to answer Gavin to prom. She gathered pictures she had of them for it. It was funny looking for the pictures. She has known Gavin for years, but most of the pictures are of Gavin and Stockton. We were able to find plenty of the two of them though.

Jorja

 Finished

I laughed way too hard when I saw what Jorja sent for her streaks. Boom cow. That thing cracks me up. Jorja taking a picture of him being thrown in the air made me laugh and laugh. Little things amuse me I guess.

Jorja & Boom Cow

Mike Tyson of Baseball

Stockton found this weird Winnie the Pooh baseball game. He became obsessed with it. It is so funny. He can not beat Christopher Robin. He came soooo close today! He is given 50 pitches and he has to hit home runs on 40 of those pitches. Regular hits and foul balls also count against you. Today he was on his last ball and had 39 home runs. He didn't make it. Hahaha! He is so funny when he talks about it. He actually said, "Christopher Robin is the Mike Tyson of Baseball!" Oh man, we laughed and laughed and laughed.

Jorja and Preston had their youth activity today. Jorja was actually able to go for the first time in months! It was a combined activity with the Wanderwood Ward. They went sledding. I went and bought two new sleds for the kids, since all of our sleds are up at the cabin. Never hurts to have more. Welp, these sleds didn't make it. Both of them broke badly. Preston's broke the first time he sat on it before the activity even started. Jorja let him use hers. He was able to go down the hill a couple of times before it broke again. Jorja found friends to ride with. I think they had a good time. Jorja stayed up late working on homework. She has worked so hard to pull her grades up. She was so excited today. She has pulled all of her grades up to an A except math. English might be an A-. That is crazy! She has worked so hard. Mike helped Jorja apply for an exchange student program. I really hope she gets it. I think that would be such an amazing experience. It would be for a month in summer to go to Taiwan. It's kind of a leadership/service thing. She would go to ten different high schools and meet with the Taiwan students. I hope she gets it. She had to turn in three letters of recommendation and a letter of authority. We weren't sure what the letter of authority meant. It's hard to figure out from the website. Most of it is in Chinese. Anyway, Jorja went and talked to Mr. Kemp, one of the vice principals at Alta. She got him to write that for her. Now it is all nicely submitted. She spent the rest of the night working on an English essay that was due at 11:59. I am so looking forward to this weekend. It will be nice for her to have a break. She needs it.

Letters of Recommendation

Stockton met with President Rich for some temple prep classes. He got both of them done today. I didn't get a chance to talk to him about how he felt about it because I was on the phone with Evan's mom. I also talked to Rachel today, and that was nice. I talked to Evan's mom for a long time. Jorja and Evan don't hang out like they used to, so I don't have a chance to interact with her very often. I called Megan today. Yesterday I heard a rumor that the district is going to move the Chinese program over to Corner Canyon and have the Alta kids go there. It is frustrating because Corner Canyon is the new school. It looks like a college campus, everything is so nice. It is also overcrowded. Why would they want to stuff a bunch more students in there. Corner Canyon is known for their money. It's flaunted and talked about. Their parents usually get what they want too. Not a fan of this idea. Some Alta parents have set up a meeting with the superintendent on Wednesday. I'm going to try and go to it.

Jorja has been super busy lately. Morp is finally over, thank goodness. The quarter ends on Thursday. She is trying to get her grades decent before that. She also has wanted to apply to be an exchange student in Taiwan for a month this summer. It is for a leadership thing. She would be able to go to ten different high schools and meet the students there. It sounds perfect for her. It is a very competitive program and requires three letters of recommendation. She received two of them today. Both of these are from the Chinese teachers she has now. She is in the concurrent program. She has an Alta teacher and a teacher from the University of Utah that comes down once a week to meet with the kids. It's really cool. Both of the Chinese teachers wrote her glowing letters of recommendation. Jorja couldn't believe how nice they were. Jorja forgets sometimes how amazing she actually is.

Jorja had work today. It worried me because she was going to be working with Mitchell. I don't want her to kiss Mitchell at work. I started getting worried that they would get into a habit of having their breaks at the same time and deciding to go on 'walks' during their breaks. I didn't want her to kiss him after work either. I know I shouldn't be this worried after one peck, but I really am. I felt strongly all last week that she was going to kiss someone on Morp and it was not a good thing. Now I am just extremely paranoid. Before Jorja left for work I talked to her about not kissing Mitchell. I told her it would be a bad idea to kiss him at work. She should not do it. She thought I was ridiculous, but I wanted to be clear. Apparently Saturday when I asked her not to kiss anyone or pair off with anyone she thought I was talking about Gabe. So frustrating! I am super clear and she chooses to interpret what I am asking anyway she pleases. The only thing that made me feel better about sending her to work was she isn't closing tonight. She ended up texting me saying she would be late because it was super busy. Then she texted asking if she could wait until Madison's dad came. Madison was sad because a boy there was being rude to her. When Jorja got home we went and picked up Madison. We played some Jackbox games with her. She was good at it. The only picture I have was from Jorja though. The problem was: I don't have time to take a shower. Jorja meant to write Don't. This is what it turned out as. Hahaha.

We dropped Madison off and I talked to Jorja for awhile tonight. One of her friends was not being very nice to her. He found out she kissed Mitchell on Saturday. He did not take it well. He sent her messages. He subtweeted her a lot. I guess subtweeting is when you put something on twitter, don't say who you are talking about, but it is obvious to everyone who you are talking about. Usually it's not very nice. He told her that he had lost a lot of people in his life, dealt with a lot of heartache, had broken bones - but nothing has hurt him as much as when she told him she kissed Mitchell. Well Jorja, there are consequences to things. She has messed up several friendships over kissing. Sometimes with the boy she kissed, sometimes with people she hurt because of the kiss. Kissing is overrated. Especially in high school. I wish Jorja realized that.