Payton's Wedding

Wow! What a crazy day!!! Jorja has been studying so hard for her statistics test. The kids could choose whether to take it in class or at home. They could take it any time today if they took it at home. If they took it at school they would only have the class period. Jorja has had a substitute for months in that class. Chad got in a motorcycle accident and hasn't been back. Last class the substitute talked for twenty minutes before they were able to get to work. That would be awful on a test day. Jorja told me she wanted to take the test after school. I asked her if she would like to take it during class, but at home. Her class is the first period of the day and advisory is after. I figured she could miss advisory today and be able to finish her test. That is what she did. She was disappointed. She ended up scoring 89%. She only missed two questions though. Anyway, she couldn't believe it when she got to school. She got there right at the end of advisory. When she was in the parking lot Lucas called her crying. She hurried to her class and tons of people were crying. Packer quit today. He came in and gave a speech and then left. I feel so bad for talking Jorja out of going today. Packer has been the student government advisor for years! I can't believe today was the day he quit! Shay is going to be the new advisor. She is the PLT advisor. Jorja likes her a lot. She is actually aiding for Packer and Shay next semester. Anyway, this will be quite a change. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

On an unrelated note, I ordered this waffle maker from Ebay. It is from the 60s and I think it is just like my dad's. My dad's waffle maker makes THE BEST waffles! My brothers and I haven't found anything like it on the market now. I'm excited to try it out!

Preston got spacers in today. He will be getting braces next week. We weren't sure if he could eat popcorn with spacers. He LOVES popcorn. We know he can't eat them with braces. He will have braces for about two years. We found out he can eat them with spacers, but so far his teeth have been too sore for him to do that.

Preston

Our 19 year old neighbor, Ethan, was baptized today. So crazy! They had the baptism on zoom. It was really cool because he has tons of great friends on missions, and they were all able to zoom in. It was cool to see Race on there. Race is serving in California and ended up teaching Ethan when he was at his dad's house. Something like that. Awesome that he could see the baptism! We watched the baptism while we drove to Lindon. Payton Myers got married today! Wow! I was so excited to see Teresa. I wish she lived two doors away from me like she used to! Today was a mini Georgia reunion. We were walking in and Maysen whispered, "Is that Brother Montgomery?" It was! He was sitting on the couch. Then a few minutes later Jeremiah walked by. Sooo crazy and fun! I wish I would have gotten a picture of Maysen, Payton, Jeremiah and Thomas all together. They were all there. Those four were in the same primary class for YEARS! Crazy to see them in the same place again. And Thomas is getting married tomorrow! Wow!

Teresa & Stephanie ~ she looked so beautiful!

I had a mask, just took it off for the picture

Maysen and Payton ~ they have been friends since they were four

Little Payton and Maysen

Jerome, Teresa, Payton, Kinsie

Jennifer, James, Maysen, Mike and Stephanie ~ the Montgomery's moved to Utah and we had no idea!

Teresa is photobombing Hahaha

Mike, Maysen and I had a great time at the wedding. We left Preston home alone with Bear. Bear enjoyed my birthday chocolate while we were gone. He took the entire thing out to his "treat spot" I had at least three full candy bars there. Hope he doesn't get sick!

Jorja went on a date to the ice castles. She said it was beautiful and so much fun. I wish she would have had that much fun when we took her there years ago! Haha. Here are two pictures I stole from Jorja's phone.

Riley & Jorja

What a busy, fun, crazy day! The only thing that would have made this day better was if Gonzaga hadn't destroyed BYU in basketball today. Hahaha

Stephanie's House

We drove a couple of hours to Villa Rica this morning. I stopped by Mirror Lake Elementary to see if Mrs. Catlin was there. The school was locked up. I guess they start on Monday. Next, I tried my house. I knocked on the door and asked Shelby if her mom was there. Stephanie saw me from the bridge. She gave a gasp and said she would be right down. Shelby invited me in. I asked her if she knew who I was. She didn't. I asked Alyssa if she remembered me. She didn't. I told them, "I'm Jorja's mom." Alyssa got a big smile on her face. Both of the girls knew who I was then. It was fun to see Stephanie. I didn't get to see her last time I came down. It was also fun to see the house. Rachel said later that she was surprised about how many memories came back to her and she just visited here. On the way down here we were talking about how Rachel took care of me during one of my surgeries. After my mastectomy I needed to have some reconstruction surgery done. Rachel was living in Alabama for six months while Brett was in basic training. Rachel came to help while I had my second surgery. On the way to the hospital Rachel called up and said the school had Maysen and Stockton in the office and both of them were sick. I was shocked because I had no idea they were even a little sick when I sent them to school. I called Janet Lott and she picked up the kids and brought them to Rachel. Rachel said Maysen was easy. She asked for a bucket then went and laid in her bed upstairs. Stockton on the other hand was a different story. He did not want to lay in his bed and he wouldn't acknowledge Rachel. He kept walking in circles around the family room. Rachel kept trying to get him to walk around the kitchen so he would be on tile. He wouldn't listen to her. Stockton threw up THIRTEEN times on the carpet! Rachel was newly pregnant with her first child (Marie). What an introduction to motherhood!

Anyways, it was so much fun to spend time with Stephanie. She was so nice to let us just barge in on her. We were there longer than I planned because it is so hard to go. It was really nice to be able to catch up with her. When we came last year we found out that they had reorganized the ward and we would be meeting down in Carrolton if we still lived here. Teresa would still be in our ward. Stephanie said they reorganized it again and they are now meeting somewhere else. I can't remember. Temple maybe? They aren't in Teresa's ward anymore. That would be hard on me.

Stephanie & Stephanie

 Alyssa, Stephanie, Stephanie

The girls loved it there. Stephanie's girls were so nice to them. Joslyn and Lily specifically. Joslyn took the girls up to her room and shared all of her toys and let the girls play dress up. Rachel was really impressed. I think this is the first time I met Joslyn. She was born after we moved. She is five now. Lily was Preston's age. It was her birthday today. She was super nice to the girls as well.

Marie

 Jorja's old room

Joslyn, Marie, Mina, Grace

 Eve & Lily

 Joslyn & Marie

 Lily, Joslyn, Grace, Marie, Mina

The stop at my old house put us way behind schedule. I'm so glad Rachel humored me though. I sure loved it here and I loved seeing Stephanie and her family. Today was a long driving day. We didn't have any car problems, but we did have to drive through a Georgia rain storm. They just come out of nowhere. We arrived at Brett and Rachel's new house right after midnight. Three long days in the car. Brett and Rachel's new house is awesome. It is the biggest house they have ever had. There are three big rooms with big closets. There is a nice kitchen and a two car garage. They are going to love it here.

Eve

Brett had little gifts next to where each girl was sleeping. Here is Mina with a skim board and a barbie. Marie got a boogie board. Grace and Eve got sand toys and Rachel got a scooter. (Rachel had left her scooter in Idaho and was really sad about it. She thought that would be something she could do with Mina and her broken arm, since she won't be allowed to swim in the ocean.)

Mina

 Brett even got me a beach towel!

Brett has a air mattress set up for me in the front room. It is going to be nice not to be in the car tomorrow! Stockton took his biology final today. He got a 115 out of 125. I think he is done with summer school now. He must be so happy!

Driving to Orlando

Maysen and I slept inside while the others slept in the motorhome. Doesn't this pillow look familiar? We have one exactly the same at our cabin.  Maysen and I took a walk around the lake near Heather's house before we woke the others up.  We had just gathered our last load of things when I heard foot steps running towards us.  It was Heather! She came to give me a hug goodbye before she headed to church.  We pulled out of their driveway right behind her.  We drove for a few hours before we stopped for sacrament meeting in a small town that I don't even remember.  Our next stop?  Orlando! I was hoping to get here in the evening, so we could rest up for our big day tomorrow.  Too bad the traffic did not agree with us!  I was so glad I wasn't driving when the traffic was horrible!  We got to our KOA campsite around 10:00.  Not quite what I was hoping for, but at least we made it.

 Stephanie with some random Pokemon?

Heather's House!

We left Stone Mountain this morning and headed to the house of our high school friend.  It was so fun to have her live in Georgia when we did.  I also went to college with Heather.  I mentioned to Paul that we had an institute class together.  It is easy for me to remember him because he was engaged to Heather at the time and I always sat next to Heather.  Before we left our campground I was able to get pictures of our 'Southern' shirts.

Stephanie, Mike, Preston, Jorja

 Jorja

 Preston

 Mike (his glows in the dark!)

I wanted to get this one for Maysen, but it wasn't in the buy 3 get one free deal.  I probably should have gotten it for her anyway.  And a matching one for Grace.

We made it to Heather's house this afternoon!  I was so happy! Heather let me invade to do laundry, which is such a blessing.  It was nice to have a relaxing day.

Stephanie and Heather

Heather lives in such a magical place.  Lily was in the pool when we arrived.  She was in the pool for EIGHT hours today!  What a fish! There is a pond near Heather's house, so the kids were able to just play while I got the clothes clean.  It sure is beautiful here!

Jorja on the diving board

Stockton and Preston fully dressed on the duck

Lily and Paul in the pool

 Jorja joining the duck party

The kids got their swimsuits so they could swim for real.  Mike and Stockton had a mini war to push the other in.  They both lost.  Mike got Stockton in, but Stockton did not let go and Mike tumbled in after him.

Stockton & Mike

Paul, Lily, Jorja, Preston

 Chicken Fight!

Jorja didn't last long on Stockton

Lily & Paul

Mike & Preston

 Jorja & Winnie

 Preston & Mike

 Maysen

 Preston & Mike

 Stockton

Jorja and Preston had fun catching frogs.  Look how tiny they are!

Jorja

 Preston

 Louie

I really wanted to go to the Hawaiian Chick-Fil-A.  Heather needed to drop Celia off at dance camp two hours away.  I thought we would get back around the time Heather did, but it took a lot longer than I expected.  I left Maysen at Heather's house doing laundry.  She doesn't like to eat out much.

It's kind of cool.  They have a fast food side and a restaurant side.  The same food is served on both sides.  We picked the fast food side of course.

 Their frozen pineapple was delicious

 Stephanie, Preston, Jorja, Stockton

I stayed up talking to Heather for awhile before I headed back to the laundry room.  I worked on the laundry until two in the morning.  It is nice to have clean clothes for the second half of our trip though!  Good thing I will be able to sleep while Mike is driving!