Good-bye

Rachel and Matt & Sam left right after church. I am still blown away that Rachel drove from Ohio with three kids by herself. That was so incredibly nice of her! Also loved having Matt and Sam and their family come down from Idaho. Jorja isn't going to see Brett's kids until she gets back from her mission in 2024. Had to get some last minute hugs in!

Mina, Jorja, Eve, Grace

With an Amy photobomb

Awe... Amy hugs! Now a photobomb by Anne

Sure going to miss the Porge!

Potty Hat

Matt and Sam's family were here for the day. Anne did her school in the girls room and Jeff was in the boys room. Matt put their video monitor in the boys room so he could watch Jeff and make sure he was on task. Jeff didn't like that. haha. Sam took the kids to various doctor appointments. She goes to Dr. Gustin and drives all the way from Idaho. Dr. Gustin used to be our kids' doctor, until our insurance changed. I was so sad. I never found a doctor I liked as much as doctor Gustin here. Now Dr. Gustin reads the kids a book after their appointment. That's the way to Sam's heart! Amy had to have some more tests done and they needed to get a urine sample. They sent Sam home with a potty insert thing so they could get the sample. Kaylee ended up stealing it and using it as a hat. Hahahaha (Side note, Kaylee looks exactly like Matt when he was little.)

Kaylee and Jeff

Kaylee and Greg

Greg loved being outside. He loved watching the ducks. He spent forever outside of the pond looking in. I cut up some grapes and brought spinach and let the kids feed them. They had a blast!

Jeff & Amy

Greg, Amy, Jeff

Amy, Greg, Jeff

Amy

Amy, Jeff, Greg

With Anne who is now back from her doctor's appointment

Look at Greg's smile!

Greg & Jeff

Mike came out to help them pet the duck

Amy, Jeff, Greg, Dodgers, Mike

With Anne and Matt

Greg, Jeff, Amy, Dodgers, Mike, Anne (Daisy & Peach in the duck house)

Greg wore himself out!

Mike made tapioca before Matt and Sam headed to Park City. Bear was either scared of the kids today or scared of the fire Mike made. Either way, he spent most of the day outside away from everybody. He came in for scriptures and was very calm.

Bear

I spent a lot of time talking to Stockton on the phone. We worked out his schedule and should be ready to get him registered next week!

Matt's Birthday

Today is Matt's birthday. He brought his three oldest kids up to the cabin so they could go on a boat ride. The boat isn't fast, but it is perfect for pulling the little kids on the tube. Jeff was so brave! He snuck forward so his feet would drag in the water as it was going. At first it was just Jeff and Greg. Soon Anne wanted a turn and all three of them rode. Greg liked standing up. After awhile it was just Anne and Jeff. Welp, they fell off. Jeff was not a fan of the water, but Anne LOVED it! Matt jumped in to get to Jeff. All in all I think they had a blast.

Jeff, Anne, Matt swimming to them

We ended the boat ride after that because Mike thought he broke the motor. We were pretty close to shore and called Jorja to come down on the four wheeler to bring us gas. Mike and I had bought some this morning, but forgot to bring it on the boat. One of the tanks ran out of gas while we were out and Mike wanted to fill up the backup tank. As soon as Jorja left and we were ready to go the boat wouldn't work. I can't remember what we thought the problem was. I think we thought we forgot to put up the ladder up. Anyway, Mike couldn't figure it out and we were near shore. Mike wanted to try jump starting it, but would need to be in deeper water. We decided the best plan was for the rest of us to get off the boat in case Mike couldn't figure it out. We called Jorja and asked her to bring the van. Jorja and Maysen came to pick us up. Anne and I got our feet STUCK in mud. It was funny. Mike wasn't able to find the problem for quite awhile. He called me when I was in Idaho Falls. Hahahahaha - it was so funny! He had forgotten to put the boat in neutral! Hahahahaha I'm glad that was the problem and not an expensive repair job.

Why was I in Idaho Falls? Well, we have this super awesome lawnmower at the cabin. It has taken a lot of the sagebrush out. Matt has a lot of tall weeks in his backyard. Once those are down his yard will be so much bigger. I drove the van with the lawnmower down to Matt's house. Then I drove to Lowes to get paint for the cabin. I ended up getting stain because they didn't have enough of the paint. Hopefully the color looks okay. I tried to get as close to the cabin as I could.

Right before I pulled into Lowes Stockton called. I talked to him for an hour in the parking lot. He said that one of the previous APs came up and talked to him and told him how much he admired him. He said that there are a lot of depressed missionaries right now, but not in Stockton's district. He is doing a great job of keeping everyone's spirits up. Stockton has been fantastic as a district leader. I always like to ask him what he did for district council. It is always super creative and fun. Stockton sure has thrived on his mission.

When I finished with the stain I hurried to Cabellas to get a rope for the knee board we borrowed. I got there ten minutes before closing time. I got it super quick and ran into Michaels. They were about to close too. Jorja needed paint for an art project for her summer class. She was on zoom calls a lot of the day today. So cool that she can still come with us and do her school at the same time. Next stop was back to Matt's house. He had accidentally run over the cord for the lawnmower. Not a fun thing to happen, especially on his birthday! He is going to call the people tomorrow and see if he can get a replacement cord. I left the lawnmower at his house.

Sam made Matt Shephard's Pie for his birthday. They had a piece left for me! They also saved me a piece of his ice-cream cake. Yummy! I headed back to the cabin pretty late, but made it back okay.

Matt and Stephanie

Mike cooked dinner for Jorja and Preston on the boat. Preston rode the tube while Jorja did homework. Maysen stayed at the cabin looking after Bear. Mike ended up sleeping on the boat tonight. He was so excited about it. He wanted to do it one day, so it looks like today was the day!

Rigby

We made it! Mike and I met Matt and Sam about 7:00 this morning. I drove Sam and the kids. Matt drove the giant van and Mike drove a van packed with extra house stuff with Bear. We decided it would be easier not to try and caravan. Still, Sam and I pulled into the neighborhood right behind Matt. Talk about timing! I soooo regret not getting a family picture in front of their new house. I did get this one of Anne though. I hope Matt and Sam love their new life here. We are sure going to miss them!

Anne

Stockton called as we were at Matt and Sam's. We quickly said goodbye so we could talk with him. We talked on the way up to the cabin. He was so funny. He is district leader and the topic for this week's district council was his choice. He had a plan, but then got a message that President Grisel wanted it to be about social media. Stockton didn't have much time to put something together. They had been doing service that morning, so he only had time to plan it while he was in the shower. He remembered a story I had told him about the Zoramite prayer and how when my dad would teach it he would stand on the desks and say the prayer. He usually had it taped to the ceiling and was able to read it. The ceiling slanted in a way that the kids couldn't see the prayer. My brother Brett knew this and when he was in his class, Brett had gone early and taken the prayer down. When my dad stood up there it was missing and he had to wing it. He looked down and saw Brett and his friends laughing. Anyway, Stockton spent his time in the shower memorizing the prayer and had planned to start off his district meeting this way. When he got out of the shower he saw a message from President Grisel. He asked if he could come to his district council meeting today. Stockton said his mind started screaming, "ABORT! ABORT!" Hahahaha. He said the meeting went really well and President Grisel told him it was better than any district council he had attended on his mission. Stockton is REALLY good at what he does. It was cool that these kids were able to meet President Grisel. Most of the missionaries haven't even met him, and Stockton has met him twice now. President asked Stockton if he could meet with him after. They had about a ten minute one-on-one meeting. Stockton is really happy with him.

Missionaries with President Grisel

President Grisel told them how he felt inspired to pack up his house and leave over a week early. They wanted to spend some time with the grandparents in Utah. That is where they were when they heard President Browning was sick. So cool that he was able to get here early. The zoom meeting they had after he arrived he talked to them about how they are going to make mistakes while they figure out missionary work during a pandemic, but that's okay. He related it to the story of Nephi being asked to build a boat. His first question was where he needed to get the ore to make tools. President Grisel told them that they are in the finding ore stage. Everything has changed and they need to figure out a new way to do things. Stockton really liked that analogy.

Mike and I stopped for lunch at Snake River Roadhouse. This is the place we went to after our hike a few weeks ago. It is delicious and we are able to bring Bear. The rest of the day was spent at the cabin relaxing and playing games. Weird to be here without the kids.

Bear

Jorja had a busy day. She went to the zoo with Sam, hung out with Paige, went on a mini-golfing date with Spencer, then played at a blowup waterslide thing at Sadler's house. Talk about cramming as much as you can into one day!

Jorja and Sam

Jorja & Paige

Paige & Jorja

Jorja & Paige

Jorja & Spencer

Kaylee's Handprints

So....Jorja was sick again. She missed the entire day of school. She probably would have tried to get the last classes, but she was supposed to go on a field trip for PLT anyway. She also missed the Valentine party in student government. Ever since Jorja had mono last year, whenever she gets sick, she gets really sick and has a hard time shaking it. Still, nothing has compared to the awful days when she first had mono.

Mike had work off. He gets every other Friday off, except during crunch time ~ Black Friday and Christmas season. It was perfect timing because Sherry came down from Highland to do Kaylee's handprints. Super nice of her to do that! She had the day off of school today and spent it doing us a favor. It was awesome. I have a lot of pictures of Kaylee getting her handprints, but none of her footprints. Weird. Also, I couldn't help but put every picture with Amy watching in the background. Haha

Mike wandering, Sam holding Kaylee, Matt watching, Sherry creating

 Kaylee

 Taking the oxygen sensor off to get Kaylee's footprints

 Matt, Kaylee, Sherry

 Amy's watching

 She's concerned

 And adorable

 Matt & Kaylee

 Kaylee

Poor little girl. You will love the handprints when you are older though. If you notice all the Enfamil in the background, it is because Matt and Sam are stockpiling it. This is the only thing Kaylee will eat and it has been discontinued. Matt searched every store from Provo to Layton yesterday getting as much as he can. Sam has a lot of writer friends around the country. Some of them are sending her some. Bad timing for this. Hopefully by the time they go through it all her little body will be able to tolerate something else.

Mike and I went to lunch at Sizzler after the handprints were done. That was nice, fun and relaxing. We tried to convince Jorja to go with us, but she wasn't hungry. She hasn't been hungry for a long time. Jorja had her ACT camp today. She picked Drew up at school and they got to Provo for the 3:00 check-in. Evan and Gabby were also there. She said it was a lot more fun that she thought it would be, which was great. Evan and Drew were in one group. Gabby and Jorja were in another. She is hoping that she will be in a group with someone she knows tomorrow since it is all day. Fingers crossed for that one!

Aubrey, Gabby, Drew, Evan

 Ben

Once she got back she picked up Ben and they stopped by Crumbl. Jorja had a coupon for free cookies. Then they went to Smiths before Jorja came home. Hopefully she isn't sick tomorrow! Also, Mike finally finished the Sweethearts video. It is awesome. Here is the link to it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEYgVkgdzzA