Junior Goals

I spent the day with Mike's family and it was so fun. I went to the doctor's with Mike and Blake to have Blake's elbow x-rayed. They were able to x-ray it through the cast and everything. It is definitely broken, but he doesn't need surgery or pins. That's great. Also, look at this AMAZING project Larkin did for her Spanish class.

 She labeled everything on the back

 Look at her grade. Brett pointed out that arrows were worth ten points on that project.

Larkin said she did her project just like the example. That one didn't have a key on the front either. Anyway, ten points off is ridiculous. Crazy teachers.

Mike has this batting area set up in his garage. It is so fun! He has a batting cage outside but says the kids don't like it too much because it hurts their hands. I guess they have to be a little older for that...but until then...

I stayed up soooo late talking to Mike. Christen went to bed around midnight. I think Mike and I went to bed around 2:00. So great to be able to spend time with him. I loved it.

Mike and Preston left today to go fishing. They took the motorhome and drove to Bridger Lake. I assume they got there. There is no cell service, so I won't hear from them until Sunday. Jorja is staying with Hailey tonight. She was more than happy about that! They went with Ben to the store and then made some goals for their Junior year. How fun!

Ben & Jorja

 At homecoming being super awkward on purpose

 Hailey ~ Hailey and Jorja's Junior year goals

Ballpark Surprise

Mike took Preston to parent teacher conference. He was not happy about that. At all. He was much happier with the milkshake at Freddy's afterwards though.

Mike and Christen came home today. They met us at the ballpark with food. I did not tell the kids they would be there. Haha! Larkin pitched and was amazing. She even got the game ball, although she claims she got it by default. It was fun watching her play and she did great!

Blake and Parker had fun playing with my Snapchat. Haha. Lots of filters that they loved. That kept them entertained for a long time!

Giant bug the boys found

 Parker and half of Blake

I had fun staying up late talking to Mike and Christen. It is soooooo wonderful to be with my brothers. I wish we all lived close to each other. My brothers are the best!

People's Employee

Look at the snack Larkin fixed herself! Mike (my Mike) wouldn't touch that with a ten foot pole!

Blake had a flag football practice. He couldn't practice because of his broken elbow, but he wanted to go and watch. I dropped him off and came back and helped Skye with her cross stitch. Parker and I went back to the park a few minutes early so he could play on the playground. He is adorable!

Parker

Mike and Christen were able to tour Ronald Reagan's ranch. Pretty cool, because it's not open to the public. Mike was there on a work retreat. Mike said that they still had his shampoo in the shower and his clothes in the closet. Reagan actually put the roof on the house and built the fence on the property while he was president. Mike said they had a warranty on a wine fridge that was mailed from the White House. As his occupation he put 'People's Employee'. That's pretty cool.

Mike thought Larkin would love this. She LOVES horses.

 Ronald Reagan, Queen of England, Nancy Reagan, Prince Philip

 Reagan Ranch

Jorja went to the temple this morning with a bunch of friends, then went with Riley to watch Brynlee play in the Riverton Powderpuff game. Mike managed to handle parent teacher conference at Alta. He even saw Natalie Zimmerman and Mindy Poole. After talking together, it dawned on both of us that Mindy Poole's daughter is Jorja's friend Lexi in student government. It's so obvious. Lexi looks exactly like Mindy did. Lexi is entering the MTC tomorrow. Crazy how we just put that together.

Spencer & Jorja

Mike has been playing a lot of games with Preston. They FaceTimed me while they tried out a new game called Mysterium. That game is hard to play over FaceTime. You have to study pictures of cards and make connections. Oh well. It was still fun to try to play with them.

Sooooo Much Homework

I got the kids off to school perfectly. Blake and Parker at the elementary school then Skye and Larkin at the middle school. Blake came home with so much homework. He worked on it for hours. I guess he was sick last week and missed a few days. He was determined to make up all his work today. He said he wasn't sure when it was due and he didn't want to get in trouble. As soon as he came home from school he started. He took a break and watched a movie while I was talking to Stockton, then started back up again and worked until I forced him to go to bed around 10:00. It was crazy.

Skye had soccer practice today and Larkin was picked up for her softball game. I would have gone to watch Larkin, but I wanted to talk to Stockton. Luckily Larkin has another game on Wednesday, so I'll get to see her play! I didn't get to see her play last time I was here.

Larkin with her giant water bottle

Stockton was so fun to talk to! He is getting along with his companion, even though his companion is a ladies man. Hahahaha. Stockton sounded happy and said things are going really well. Yay! Jorja sent me this picture. Not sure what these guys are doing. I know it is student government though. I think they got to play during student government in the new field house.

I had to take a screen shot of this. I asked Jorja about it. She hadn't heard anything yet. Well, turns out if you have the Chick-Fil-A app and the opposing team misses two straight free throws in the fourth quarter, everyone gets chicken! Wow! I wonder how crazy this will get?

Balloons and Ducks

Mike took me to the airport around 7:00 this morning. That isn't too early, but we did get to bed at two am. Skye and Parker were up and they came with Mike to drop me off. I got home without any incident. I sat next to a nice lady named Laura. They had won a trip to the balloon festival in an auction. They even got to go up in one of the balloons. She sent me a few photos.

My dad was picking me up from the airport. I tried to be better about letting him know what my status was then I did with Mike. I was at the number 7 pick up, but it was freezing so I moved to number 5. This was my messages to my dad. I can not believe he went to Burger King on a Sunday. That never would have happened when we were growing up! Even if it was irresistible for us!

My dad dropped me off at home. I put my bags inside and then ran to church. I still had my jeans and tennis shoes on and everything. I got there right as sacrament was starting for the 11:00 hour. I waited in the foyer so I could take the sacrament, then I went to the gym where we were having a combined meeting. Mike was excited to show me the ducks when we got home. He loves feeding them dried mealworms.

 Mike

 Jorja and Waddluigi

 Hahahaha!

Homecoming with Keegan

I woke up around five am to the pitter patter of little feet. Parker wakes up early. He likes to find the remote and watch Ninja Turtles on the tv. I opened my door expecting to see Parker there. Nope. I hurried upstairs to his room and saw Blake's door open with the light on. Blake was the one who woke up early today! He is also the one who woke Parker up! He told me that he put his head right next to Parker's in order to get him to wake up. Haha! Brothers.

I left with the boys about 6:30 this morning. Blake had two baseball games. The traffic was horrible! Blake was supposed to be there at 7:00, but I didn't arrive until 7:10. His game didn't start until 8:00 and I was not the last to arrive, so that was good. It was fun to watch Blake and Parker was a good sport. After sitting with me for about an hour he asked if he could play under the bleachers. I let him. About three minutes later he was back with a sore knee. He was quite proud of that sore knee and showed it to everyone.

Parker

I kept Mike updated on the game as best as I could. I missed the first time Blake was up by taking Parker to the bathroom. Blake also pitched. It was so fun to watch him! After Blake's game we hurried to Larkin's softball game. Someone had picked Larkin up while we were gone. I got to the field to find Larkin pitching! I didn't get to see one pitch though because Parker needed to go to the bathroom as soon as we got there. I did get to see some of Larkin's team bat, but not Larkin. The game ended shortly after we arrived. Blake and Parker had been playing with a friend and I went looking for them. We had probably been at the field five minutes and I found them playing in a mud puddle! I was silently kicking myself for trying to go to Larkin's game at all!

Blake & Parker

We hurried home and I gave the kids lunch. Then we loaded back in the car and headed to Skye's game. I sent Mike a picture of what Blake looked like when we arrived. He was out! We had to be at Skye's game an hour early, so I just stayed in the car and let Parker finish watching a movie. I don't know much about soccer but it was fun watching Skye out there. Her team won six to zero.

Blake

Meanwhile in Jorja land, she had homecoming tonight. Mike took Jorja to the store to get fingernail polish to match her dress. Her date was supposed to come at 11:00. They were going to go bowling and carve pumpkins. Mike was working in the backyard and Jorja was painting her nails when the door rang. It was her date! Thirty minutes early! Jorja was stunned. She told him she wasn't ready and he told her he would wait for her in the car. Jorja threw on a shirt that was still wet and headed out the door. Mike got a picture of her before she left but begged him not to make her get Keegan. She was so embarrassed! I think it is funny that she was going to another school's dance and wore one of her Alta shirts. Mike picked up Jorja's flower for her while she was at her day date. I'm glad he was able to be there for her.

Jorja

Once she got back from the date she got in her dress and then Mike dropped her off at the Johnson's house. Kelsee was there babysitting while Bryce and Becky were in Italy. Kelsee did Jorja's hair and it looked beautiful!

Jorja said she had fun at the dance. They went to eat at the Porcupine, which is by Mike's old work. She saw some people she knew from work, so that was fun. She didn't think she would know anyone from the other school. I wish I could have been there with her, but I'm glad Mike was able to take such good care of her.

Jorja

 Jorja & Keegan

 Jorja

 The girls....I love how Jorja's hair looks in this one.

 The group

 The flowers

 Keegan and Jorja

I finished reading The Thing About Georgie with Skye, Larkin and Blake. I read to them for about two hours, because we were trying to finish the book. We were all sitting on Larkin's bed. Blake didn't make it. He fell asleep. He loved being included with the big girls though. Larkin said that she wished she could read the book again. I left the book on her dresser. I told her my name was in it and she could give it back to me later, even if it was a year from now. I'm glad they liked the book. It was so much fun to read to them!

I turned on the BYU game when I came downstairs. I was able to see the last part of the second quarter. Mike and Christen's plan arrived at the start of the third quarter, so I headed to the airport. It was fun to see them and hear about their adventures! It sounds like they had a great time. That made me so happy. I'm glad they were able to spend quality time with my dad. We stayed up talking until 2:00 in the morning, then Mike made us go to bed. I wish they lived closer to us. I sure do love them.