Brick Wallpaper

Mike put up wallpaper in our kitchen. I love it!

Mike

We ran out of paper, so Mike had to tetris the last little bit

Wet and Tired

Mike came home today without seeing Stockton and Alyssa. He said the water was really rough and he was tired of being wet. Plus, he didn't want Stockton & Alyssa's first experience together on the boat to be a bad one. Bear dog was certainly glad to see Mike! He sure misses him when he is gone. Jorja was gone most of the evening. She went up to an FSY party in Provo. I'm glad both Stockton and Jorja enjoyed their FSY experience. It was such a great one for them to have, and I'm glad they were able to do it at the same time. Too bad their places didn't overlap with each other though. That would have been fun!

Bumpy Waters

Nothing too interesting here. I worked. Mike spent the day at Bear Lake. The water got rough and he ended up pulling the boat out of the water. He is going to see how it is tomorrow. If it isn't too windy he's hoping to meet up with Stockton and Alyssa. Judging by his weather app he isn't too hopeful about that. I think he has had fun though. Stockton and Alyssa are at Bear Lake with Alyssa's family right now. Alyssa also got 100% on her physics final. Smart kids there...

Mouse Attack

Today at work we had a baby shower for one of the counselors named Cierra. It was at Sundays Best. We had permission to leave a bit early. It was fun and delicious. I got oatmeal. Mike texted later today and asked what I was doing. I sent him a picture. I was at the church park with Bear.

Bear

Mike played with a different sail today

Shannon

Shannon hopped on board for a bit while Steve was taking Brandon and his friends skiing. Glad Mike got some in person human interaction today! Stockton and Alyssa had quite the experience. A mouse woke them up when it ran under their sheets and across their legs. GROSS! We haven't had a mouse problem for a long time at the cabin and now Stockton & Alyssa experience this while on their honeymoon! Lame. And disgusting.

Sailing at Bear Lake

Mike spent the day sailing at Bear Lake. He went by himself. He knew Steve and Shannon would be there and thought this would be a good time to try his boat on Bear Lake. I stayed home and worked. Jorja had a date with someone named Dean to try lots of different burritos. Maysen stayed home and worked. Preston wasn't interested in going. Stockton is still at the cabin, but got 100% on his physics final today. Alyssa couldn't take hers because she forgot to bring her ID. They are going to meet her parents at Bear Lake on Friday and Alyssa will take her test there. It would be cool if Mike could meet up with Stockton and Alyssa while they are there. Mike sent me a lot of pictures. It sure is pretty!

Shannon sent me this picture ~ Mike on his boat

Mike sent me this picture the same time ~ Steve & Shan on their boat

I played Dominion with Mike

He played the 2nd game upstairs

What a beautiful world we live in!

Western Family Bathroom Tissue

I took Preston to school today to find his classes. We also got his yearbook/ID picture taken, along with mine. Weird. I love being at the school with Preston though, even though I rarely see him. I laughed so hard when we found his locker. I sent this picture to Stockton. He always wanted a black or gray locker. He had red four years. I don't think Jorja ever had a red one. There are LOTS of red lockers. Probably 95%. Maysen had a black one her sophomore year and Preston has one his sophomore year. Poor Stockton got left out.

Preston at his cool black locker

His locker is by the back staircases where the buses drop off/pick up the kids

Preston getting his yearbook picture taken

Matching IDs

Stephanie & Preston

I took Jorja to her eye therapy appointment. She went to the temple with Kylie and then on a date with someone named Ken. She went on a date with someone named Mitchell yesterday. She has been going on lots of dates. Gotta get all the dating in before missionary season comes!

Preston

Stockton sent me this video of a commercial my brother Mike made. My brothers use to make commercials all the time. This was in 1991. I was probably a junior in high school, Mike was probably 12 years old. Haha. I love my brothers.

Unruly Tile

My dad gave a talk in his ward today, so I went to listen to him. I sat by myself in the back. About a year ago, Mike put a tile on my keychain, but we never got around to setting it up. So it is there for no reason. Jorja has a tile on her keychain and uses it ALL the time. She can locate her phone with her keys or her keys with her phone. I think my tile is running out of battery, because it will randomly go off when no one is touching it. I bet you can see where this story is going. I was sitting in the back when all of a sudden, during the prayer, the tile started going off. TWICE. I sat in the foyer for the rest of sacrament meeting. How embarrassing! While I was there a lady came in and asked if the bishop was there. I told her I didn't know because I was just visiting this ward. She put an envelope on the table next to me and said, "This is my tithing. It has money in there." Then she walked out. That was totally weird. I gave the envelope to my dad after his meeting ended and figured he could track her bishop down.

The kids watched zoom church. Jorja still feels really sick. So glad she didn't go to Colorado this morning. Her ticket was for 3:00 in the morning, or something insane like that. Jorja's mission farewell was originally supposed to be today. That would have been a disaster. Anyway, Maysen, Preston and I watched the zoom in the computer room. We had the intercom on so Jorja could listen to it from her bed. Preston did sacrament. That was pretty cool. He blessed it and passed it around, including going downstairs for Jorja. Mike came home from the cabin today. It is nice to have him back! I'm glad he was able to enjoy himself at the cabin.

Maysen the Editor

I got a lot of pictures from Mike today. Sounds like he is having a great time at the cabin. He has worked a lot on his boat. He added a fishing pole holder, a gear hammock and a sink drying rack. These are pictures from the last two days of work. Mike said Bear did really well on the boat and the auto pilot is so cool.

Bear

Jorja is still pretty sick. At 10:00 this morning she sent me texts about how she still feels dizzy. She's not feeling good. Her throat isn't hurting but she feels so dizzy, like she is about to pass out. The FSY people are letting her take naps during class now, even though she isn't on break. She has been going outside and sleeping on the grass. I hope she starts feeling better soon. Too bad she can't fully enjoy her last week at FSY.

Stockton texted us about he was conducting a class where the general YM president and wife were in attendance. He got to shake President Lund's hand. Stockton is really liking his group of boys this week. I'm so glad he got a great group after the rough time he had last week.

I got locked out of the house today while I was running to the mailbox. The door shut behind me and for some reason the handle doesn't work. Preston was still asleep and Maysen was on a work call. I had to hop the fence and find a way inside. Preston and I both had eye appointments later today. Nice to get that done.

Maysen is being moved to the editing team at her job. She is super excited about this. A few weeks ago they asked the content writers to turn in 3,000 words a day. Maysen was asked to try to turn in 2,000 when she was hired. Trying to get to 3,000 has been so hard for her. Mostly because she turns in quality work and it takes awhile to research about whatever topic she needs to write about. Somehow she doesn't know the banking or real estate practice in Malta at the top of her head. She has been working almost non stop during the week. From the time she wakes up until the time she goes to bed. It is just not sustainable to keep doing this. When one of the editors left Maysen reached out and asked if she could become an editor. Well, she had a training this morning and she is starting today. She is really excited about it. I think this will be a much better job for her. Hope it is!

Otto

Mike has been enjoying his time at the cabin. He installed new speakers in the boat and said that parts of the old speaker crumbled to dust as he touched them to remove them. The sound is now so much better. He also got the auto pilot mostly installed. He said it looks like Otto from Wall-E. He is excited about this because he often goes sailing alone. This way he can have Otto steer while he messes with the sails and things like that.

Jorja still feels miserable, but better than yesterday. She is wondering if she should have just dropped this contract. It's too hard when she feels this sick. She might ask if she can go home early. She doesn't feel good at all. That was all texted to me around 7:30 this morning. At 2:00 she sent me a text saying she is feeling better. Hopefully the worst is over. Obviously I still feel too anxious to go to the cabin. Although I did remember that Preston and I have an eye doctor appointment tomorrow, so it's good we didn't go yesterday. Hopefully we can go before the week is up. I went down to Sherry's house to pick up the dress she wore at Tage's wedding. She is letting me borrow it if I want. I'm still going to look for something else because it doesn't fit me exactly right, but at least I have something if I need it. Also.... Alyssa's invitation for her bridal shower came today. It looks so cute. Becky is so nice. She is always thinking of ways she can serve other people.

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!

Vegetable Derby Barbecue

Stockton got his package! He went back to the office and kept asking and asking. Finally someone told him that sometimes mail gets delivered at a building ten minutes away. Yep, it was there. Delivered three days ago. I wish it would have gotten to him earlier, especially since I paid for overnight shipping, but at least he got it! I'm glad he won't have to borrow his roommates shirt for the next two weeks.

Stockton

Mike gave Bear a much needed bath and then the rest of the day was spent getting ready for the ward barbecue. Mike added a vegetable car race and made a mini track. We handed out flyers and when Mike was in charge of the zoom he had the flyer be the screensaver during the sacrament. Still, I didn't think the vegetable car race would be a succuss. I thought a few people might do it, but that it would largely be ignored. I seem to remember them trying lawn games at the barbecue last year and it was just kind of there. Boy was I wrong. The kids loved that thing! There was so much excitement over there. I was shocked! So many people came up to me later and told me how much fun it was and that this should be a part of the annual barbecue every year. It was awesome because kids of all ages loved it, and lots of dads did too. Mona, a girl who I think is six, won the entire thing. I mentioned to my friend Camee how I was shocked this was such a hit. She said, "Are you kidding? It is all my boys talked about this week." Megan said her boys were the same. Yay! Glad they were excited to do it. My kids haven't really had fun at this activity. They don't like food or crowds. Preston had a great time. Maysen helped Mike the entire time. Her job was to video the races in case of a photo finish. The tape had to be looked at a couple of times. Anyway, glad this is over and thrilled it was a success.

Sister Watchman decorated the tables 

Kids I don't recognize and Clint Okerlund

A few random cars. Preston's is the cantaloupe. He said it did not go well.

The first race!

Random races

The final race for all the glory!

While we were busy racing vegetables, Jorja went with some friends to a National Parks concert. She loves that band and was able to get some cheep tickets. Sounds like she had a blast.

Nathan, Jorja, ????

Rings and Mike Surprise

Preston drove himself to Alta with Mike for drivers ed. Mike said he did a great job. Mike got Jorja's tire fixed. There was a nail in it that punctured the tire. Good thing Mike noticed before Jorja heads to Logan next week. I haven't been feeling well today. I took Stockton to get a haircut then I picked up Preston and we stopped at Zupas and In & Out. I really wanted to have soup. When I got home and opened the orders they were completely wrong. I was sad. I called Zupas because it was a lot of money to spend on food no one would eat. Maysen loves the kids meal clam chowder and grilled cheese. Loves it. They gave her the clam chowder but it came with chicken strips. Maysen likes to dip her sandwich in the soup. She does not like the strips at all. The other order was a ham and bacon club sandwich. They gave us an ultimate grilled cheese, which no one in the family likes. The sandwich was for Jorja. She ended up finding something else in the fridge. Luckily the soup I wanted was right. Zupas tried to put some money back on my card. (I told them the soups were right, so they were going to put $15 of the $25 back on my card.) They couldn't get it to work because I bought the food in the store and not online. The guy told me he would write my name down and next time I come in they would give me a complementary kids meal and regular meal. I can't remember who I talked to though. I wasn't feeling too great when I called.

In better news, Stockton was pretty excited because the ring he ordered for Alyssa came. I was starting to get nervous about that. Stockton and Alyssa went to Walmart to find their ring sizes. They then ordered this ring while we were in Costa Rica. It has sapphires and I can't remember what the name of the other stone is. Too bad Alyssa left for Europe already and Stockton is leaving for Texas tomorrow. At least we know where the ring is and she will get it eventually.

Stockton

I spent a lot of time today doing laundry, trying to get caught up from the week of fun with Rachel. I was downstairs in the boys room when my brother Mike called. We were talking then I heard Bear bark through the phone. It was echoing weird. My first thought was I didn't realize you could hear the door ring down in the boys room, maybe the vents carry the sound? How did I not notice that before. I walked upstairs and told Mike to wait a second while I answer the door. It was Mike at the door! Hahahah I was completely surprised. He was only in town for the day and was able to stop by real quick. We talked for about an hour, then Stockton and I went with him to Shake Shack so he could get something to eat before he went back on the plane.

Mike & Stephanie

Stockton and I got shakes and got to be with Mike for a bit longer. It was awesome! Hope surprises like that happen more often. I got to see three of my brothers this week. Brett, Bubs and Mike. Love, love, love it! When we were leaving I went to order milkshakes for Maysen and Preston to take home. Only they were out of custard and couldn't make shakes. The name of the store is Shake Shack. How can they be out of shakes? Just like yesterday when Mike took the boys to Arbys and they were out of roast beef. So weird!