Stephanie's 47th Birthday

It's my birthday! Mike took this first picture at 6:30 in the morning. He went back to sleep. I was up early and was able to do my blog before anyone else got up. I'm going to try really hard and do it every day during this trip, even though I'm two weeks behind.... ugh...

Today was fun. We sled lots and played games. Jorja and Preston went out today. I hope Maysen goes out sometime, but she hasn't wanted to yet I guess. I wanted to race Preston, but it never worked out before he went inside. The day went by so fast! One time I came up the hill and Jorja was holding Mike's phone. She said that people from church needed to talk to Dad. I asked her what time it was. It was 12:45. Wow! That went by fast! Church starts at 1:00, so I figured someone was having problems with zoom. I hurried down the hill to tell Mike, but he was heading up right as I was coming down. I yelled, "Church people need you!" a few times. He didn't understand. I hurried back up, but didn't see Mike. I figured he got inside. Right as I was about to go down I saw him coming up. He hurried inside and was able to help Brother Masters with the sound on zoom. We all came inside and had church and the boys blessed and passed the sacrament after. It was perfect!

Mike and Jorja

Cassie brought giant gumballs ~ Jorja enjoyed

Jorja and Preston

Jorja spent a lot of time today making two cakes for me. The rectangle one is a lemon cake. The round one is a chocolate orange cake. They were both delicious. The orange one Jorja made up as she went and I loved it. She spent hours making these, that was so nice. 

Kids ready for cake! Trevor, Eve, Mina, Mallory

Stephanie & Mike

Grace, Maysen, Cassie, Brandon's eye, John's shirt

Stephanie blowing candles, Collin's head, Trevor, Eve next to me, Jorja making a silly face

I spent a lot of time outside with Mike and my brothers. Debie, Tyler and Missy came and sled for a bit with their group. That was fun! They made a shortcut between our two cabins. Tons faster! Matt was over here outside a lot today. Anne made drawings for all the cousins. Everyone came outside so she could hand them out. My dad got here right before cake. Perfect timing. What a fun day. On a sad note... I waited all day for Stockton to call, but he never did. I wonder what happened. I carried around my phone with me or made sure someone was close by. Mike finally texted him in case he forgot it was my birthday, but he didn't call. I guess he was busy? Oh well. I'll get to talk to him tomorrow and he comes home in six weeks....

Week 18

Two funny stories. A few years ago, Markell contacted John about some immigration questions. They emailed back and forth for awhile. John's Internet connection at home could be super slow at times. John started typing an email to Markell before the slow bar started going and he closed his laptop and decided to finish it after work. When he got home, John opened up the email to finish it and he saw one of his kids had beaten him to it. John had already typed, "Hi Markell," One of his super young kids then typed, "I hate you" and sent it to her. Hahahahaha That made me laugh so hard.

Second story. John just woke up and asked if I brought him Grace last night. (Brett's girl) I didn't. Mike didn't. Maysen didn't. My dad didn't. That is who is up right now. We think Grace came up by herself. She told John she was having a nightmare. John held her all night long super tight as she shivered. We think she thought John was her dad. John and Brett do look a lot alike. So cute.

45 Years Old

Wow. I'm getting old. Jorja posted this about me today. Look how cute. Down by the number 45 she has an 'L' for love. Isn't she sweet?

This picture was listed in my camera roll as December 27th. I know it was taken earlier, so not sure why it is there. Anyway, Jorja was taking a video on my phone as she drove up the hill on the 4-wheeler. At the end she smiled really pretty and said, "Mom, you can take a screen shot of this." She looked beautiful. I'm sure she was expecting her picture to turn out like this.

Jorja

 Instead it turned out like this. Hahahahaha!

A lovely video posted by Jorja. She was SO SICK a few weeks ago!

Today was a great day. Birthdays at the cabin are the best. That is the one thing that makes up for me having my birthday so close to Christmas. I'm almost always at the cabin with all of my family. Next year Stockton won't be here though. We played in the snow, played games, ate cake, watched a movie, and went night sledding. It was perfect.

Mike got me a birthday pie. I love pie so much more than cake.

 He picked up a cake too, but we only had candles from last year. I guess I'm turning 44 again!

 Mike is very safe.

 Jorja & Anne

 Mono Jorja. It's crazy how tired she gets.

We played another escape room game and it was sooooo much fun! We watched Ferdinand downstairs with the projector. That movie was weird! My absolute favorite was going night sledding. My entire family came. We went to the Springs. Matt came with us too, so my family was able to go down all together. It was DARK! We were flying down the mountain. It is lucky we have done that hill so many times because we were flying blind. The last time down the mountain was the best. I have never gone down that hill so fast! And I couldn't see a thing. It was THE BEST! Because it was our last time, I kept going to see how far I could get. I made the first turn easily and was still going fast when I came to the sharp right turn. I hit it perfectly. I helped myself by pushing with my arms while I was still moving along pretty well. I got past the new house by our cabin before I stopped. I have never made it that far. Too bad it was so cold up there or we could have kept sledding longer. I traded Stockton my mittens for his gloves. His fingers were freezing! I have come to love mittens for sledding. They are so much warmer than gloves. Jorja keeps asking me if she can have new ones for next year. She used to have cute white mittens, but she wore them out last year. Anyway, today was such a fun day. I love my family. I love how funny each of them are. I love how they make me so happy. I love how they make me laugh. I love how they get along. I love their good hearts. I love being with them. It sure is going to be weird when Stockton leaves. I'm not looking forward to the hole that will be there. It was a good thing we got a little practice with it while he was up at Utah State. I can't imagine not talking to him and reading his blog first thing every morning. I'm going to miss that so much!

Mike & Stockton

Maysen, Stephanie, Preston

Jorja

 Stockton

Maysen, Stephanie, Jorja

Preston

 Maysen, Preston, Stephanie, Jorja, Stockton

 (Preston) Stephanie & Stockton

 Maysen & Stephanie

 Jorja made me this card for the family to sign

I ended today with my favorite view. My children loving each other.

 Stockton & Jorja

Today was a perfect day.

44

Today is my birthday! My kids all woke me up right at midnight and sang 'Happy Birthday'. Haha. I love them. Today was a great day. I read, worked on Eve's stocking, played games, went sledding, watched old family movies, ate cake. All fun things. I love having my birthday up here.

Preston, Mike, Stephanie, Maysen, Stockton, Jorja

Jeff and Amelia

Sam, Jorja, Stockton's legs, Maysen

My Porge

Maysen

Ange, Amelia, Anne

Ella & Jorja

I think it is funny how it looks like Ella has white legs. You can't even see Jorja in this picture.

There she is!

And she broke one of my favorite sleds. Also, proof that Bubs had nothing to do with the broken sled.

How did she manage to break it that bad?

Anne & Amelia

Jorja Porge

Apparently she wants me to stop taking her picture!

Finally!

I love it when Jorja doesn't wear any makeup. She's so beautiful.

Stockton and Bubs. Different sleds. Racing. Looks like Stockton won.

Maysen

Bubs, Matt, Abby

Matt & Bubs

Jorja & Ella, Maysen, Ange, Amelia's tiny head, Abby, Stockton

Stephanie & Jorja

I wanted to get a picture with all my kids one by one on my birthday. That didn't happen. I did get one with my Porge though.

She is standing on a slope, that is why she is towering over me.

Jorja & Stephanie

Bubs walking, Jorja, Sam and Ella on the 4 wheeler, Matt, Stockton and Maysen being pulled behind.

Abigail

Maysen

I convinced Stockton to ride up backwards with me. You can't see him, but I got to hold him the entire way up the mountain. It was the best! Abby went up backwards with us too. I think Maysen's feet are on the left.

Stockton went inside to take a shower while the rest of us went to the Springs. We were able to go three times before we realized the four wheeler was almost out of gas. The first run up to the springs we were following a razor with tracks. They had a tiny girl pulled behind on skis and some kids in a sled being pulled behind as well. About half way up, the tiny girl fell. The sled ran over her. The razor kept going. I thought the razor would stop for her, but it never did. I ran up to her and asked if she wanted a ride. I carried her and put her on with us. She was probably about six years old. We got to the top and the razor was gone. I don't know if he went back to look for her. The tiny girl said she didn't know how to get her skis on. Mike and I helped her and sent her down the mountain. She was there when we got down, so that was a relief.

Stockton brought out our old home movies. Movies from when I was little. We watched those for a few hours. It was cool to see my mom. Stockton said he had never heard her voice before. The kids laughed and laughed when my dad was secretly videoing Mike and I on our sweethearts date. There were also lots of funny things my brothers did. I recorded some of them on my phone. I'll have to post them some time. The connection here is way too slow to do that today.

Rachel and her girls arrived tonight! Yay! It is so nice to have them here. Especially to know they aren't on the roads anymore. Rachel brought me presents. She gave me an electric can opener. That was funny. We told her how we got one for our wedding and made fun of it, then we started using it and loved it. We were sad when it broke. So, she got me another one. She also got me a small food processor. I can't remember what she was making at my house when she wanted that, but it will be nice to have one. Especially when I make cranberry sauce. Jorja made my birthday cake. She made an Andes mint cake and it was delicious.

Jorja

Jeff & Stockton photobombing Stephanie, Ella and Abby in the back.

Stephanie, Jeff, Stockton

Not the prettiest picture, but it sure was delicious!

I asked the kids to play a game of rummy with me. We played that all the time at the cabin while I was growing up. I hardly ever play it with my kids. They weren't the happiest about it, but they played with me anyway. Jorja was winning most of the game until the last hand where Stockton pulled ahead.

We were laughing about how everyone loves Camille's mug and multiple people will use it a trip. Sam and Amelia love it the most. While we were talking about it, Preston decided he would use it the rest of the night.

Preston

Mike forgot my birthday cards at home, but my present from him was to get weights. I have wanted new ones for awhile. Hopefully I can get back to working out now that I've had several months off. Yikes! My dad also gave me a dna test. I laughed because that is when Scoop and Cori gave us. Six tests, one for everyone in the family. I remember now my dad asking me if I would like something like that. I think I told him that it sounded interesting, but something I would never buy for myself. Hahaha! Now my birthday is over and that is sad.