Halloween

Preston had a presentation for a monster school. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it was awesome. Their teacher was teaching them about the different kinds of essays. Informative, persuasive, narrative etc. Instead of just assigning these essays over the quarter, she had the kids design a school for monsters, and each of these essays were focused on this project. Then the kids presented them to us. They also designed school uniforms and sung a school song. They also had a table where we could look at things and ask them questions. Preston did the powerpoint for his class. It was adorable.

Jorja took Conner's sister out for ice-cream. She had a great time with her. Later today she went out with Cameron for a bit. He dropped her off and hurried to a party. We had just turned off all the lights because Mike we finished our candy. Apparently Jorja couldn't get in the house and thought she was locked out. I don't know why she didn't text us. She said she thought we were gone because the lights were off. Oh silly Porge.

Jorja & Sophie

Maysen came home today! Preston was so so so excited! He adores her. Preston got Luigi's Mansion and played it while he was dressed as Luigi. Haha! Maysen took Preston trick-or-treating. Preston would put his candy into his Luigi costume vacuum and lift it up. The candy would fall into his backpack. It was funny and Preston loved it!

Preston

Also, one more cool thing about the World Series. Mattress Mack texted my brother Mike today to tell him congratulations on his team winning. Wow! That is the coolest thing ever! Gives my brother free tickets and thinks of texting him congratulations! Especially since he lost over $11 million on bets! He would have lost more if the Astros won though. He had a promotion going throughout the season that he would refund any purchase over $3,000 if the Astros won the World Series. Haha! He has done that before. Astros won two years ago and he had to pay back millions. Last time he had insurance to help cover the cost. This time no insurance would do it because the Astros were supposed to win. Anyway, how cool of this guy to reach out to my brother and tell him congratulations. If I ever had that much money, I hope I would be as kind and generous as Mattress Mack.

WORLD SERIES!!!

Jorja and Audrey on their way to school

So.....Game 7 of the World Series was today. Mike and Blake flew out to Texas to go see it. One of Christen's sisters lives five minutes away from the stadium, so that's convenient. Mattress Mack met Mike and Blake outside the stadium to personally give them their tickets. He said, "Sorry I was late, I was talking to Bregman." Haha. Mike thanked him and told him good luck. He said that two great teams were playing today. This guy has to be one of the coolest guys on the planet. He made Mike's dream come true. Mike was a total stranger a week ago, and he cheers for the opposite team. Who randomly does this? To top it all off, the Nationals ended up winning to World Series, and Mike was there to see it! Amazing!

Blake, Mattress Mack, Mike

We got to text Mike throughout the game. That was so fun. Mike was soooo pumped when the Astros took Grinke out. He told all the Astros fans around him that it was a huge mistake. I'm sure they all agreed. What a game!

 Blake

Scoop and Cori came by to drop off a birthday present for Jorja. She was at work when they came. They got her some air pods and she is pretty excited with that present.

Jorja

Jorja dressed up in Preston's Halloween costume to do her last red ribbon week video. It was funny, but I can't find the recording. So, here are some low quality pictures of Jorja in Preston's costume.

Luigi Jorja

Not Going Blind

We had Jorja's huge eye appointment today. I was so nervous. Things went better than I imagined. The office was great. The tests were varied and kind of crazy. I think Jorja has on 3D glasses in the picture below. They did more OCT tests, which takes pictures of the back of her eye. We had planned on spending the entire day at the doctor's office, meeting with specialists. Luckily that is not what happened. Dr. Seay met with Jorja and did several more tests, but she told us good, good news. Jorja's nerves aren't swollen and they aren't pressing on her brain. Her nerves are thin and kind of twisted, which is causing her migraines. So her struggle reading because the words get kind of fuzzy and move around a bit and her headaches are actually migraines. Never been SO HAPPY to be told she has migraines! They said she is at NO RISK to lose her vision. I'm not sure how the test results went from swollen nerves to thin and twisted nerves, but I'm happy she won't be blind. I had been so scared. How would I even prepare her for that? Would she need to learn braille? Do we practice with blind folds and teach her how to navigate? Would she need a seeing eye dog? What the heck do we do?

Eye technician and Jorja

Jorja and I spent the rest of the school day together and it was glorious. We went out to eat at OHP went shopping at Fashion Place Mall. We got home around the time school was getting out with light hearts. Jorja took a nap when she got home and then spent some time writing Conner a note and putting a few things together for him. He leaves for the MTC tomorrow, but Jorja was able to come by and say goodbye again tonight.

Jorja

 Conner & Jorja

 This must be the picture Jorja liked best because she put filters on it

 Conner's sister Sophie

 Jorja & Sophie

Mike and Preston went shopping to get some last minute things for Preston's costume. He is going to be Luigi from Luigi's haunted mansion. They brought me back this pez. Candy corn flavor? Not my favorite...but still, it's pez.

 Preston's costume so far

Okay. Let's talk about the World Series. That game was CRAZY! My brothers and I texted through it non-stop, which was pretty fun. We could not believe when Turner was called out at first on an interference call. Worst call in the history of calls! I snapped a picture of Martinez getting thrown out for arguing over that call. He was MAD. He had a right to be, that call was awful. It could have changed the outcome of the entire series. Luckily Rendon hit a two run homerun right after. Should have been a three run homerun though. Anyway, that seemed to light a fire under the National and they won! Game seven will be tomorrow! Mike called up Mattress Mack and he followed through on his promise to GIVE Mike two tickets to the World Series! He told him he would leave the tickets for him at Will Call. How awesome is that! Mike didn't want to take me though. He picked Blake. Fine, choose your son over your sister. Haha. Just kidding. So excited for them!!!

Jorja and another PLT video

Game 2

Jorja made it through school with her sore mouth. She even managed to score a 100 on her physics test. Too bad her US History grade is a B- right now. There are some things that haven't been put in yet, so hopefully that will go up. Jorja didn't feel well enough to go to Kerity's after school though. She made it through work, although that was tough. She was exhausted and sore at the end of the day. I actually made dinner tonight and felt that needs to be documented. Two of the three people even liked it! (Can't please Preston with food now a days.)

I had the BEST time watching Game 2 of the World Series. Nats DOMINATED! It was so fun! Mike bought tickets to go see Game 4 in DC. He isn't going with anyone. He said he will be watching 'with 41K Nats fans.' Hahaha I hope they win for him!

Robber

So....the Nationals won Game 4 tonight! They swept the Cardinals and are headed to the World Series! How awesome! The seven runs in the first inning sure took a lot of stress out of the game, but still! Super excited about that.

Jorja scored a 94% on her physics test, so that is awesome as well! After school she went shopping with Brynlee. They went looking for a costume for the Halloween dance. The boys are being cops and the girls are being robbers.

Brynlee & Jorja

I don't know how Jorja's room got messy so quickly! It was practically spotless a few days ago.....I thought Jorja looked super cute in the picture though, so messy room it is!

Robber Jorja

Jorja and I made a late night run to the store. She wanted to get some things to do her 'act of kindness' for the music department. They kids in student government are all assigned a group to do random acts of kindness throughout the year. No one ever does it. This was Jorja's first time. This year she is assigned to the choir (a cappella, lyrica, men's and women's choir) there are a few other officers assigned with her. Anyway, she made a poster to give to Ms. Iund, bought her flowers and filled up a pumpkin with candy so she can give it to her students. It turned out super cute.

Jorja Called!

I was able to talk to Jorja today! She called me on the Line app. It worked! She sounded so happy...and tired. They went to a carnival today. I am kicking myself for not setting up google photos on her new phone. I can only see what she sends or posts. It makes me happy to see her happy, even if she is so far away.

Trevor & Jorja

 Ethan, Jorja, Trevor

 Abby & Jorja

 Jorja

Blake had his championship game today. His team won 22-2. They left no doubt in that game! It was fun to follow along on the app when I could. It didn't work for me the first part of the game, so Mike had to keep me updated. Glad he gets to have this experience. How fun!

Puppet Plaque

We finally sent in the information to get Stockton's mission plaque done. For the last few years this has been part of my calling. Stockton's been out almost five months and we finally got it done. The hard part was finding a picture. Stockton didn't shave until right before he got set apart. Most of the pictures he sends home are of sunsets. This picture though... this is Stockton. Totally his personality. He told me that if he is going to be doing this for two years he might as well have fun with it. The puppet Stockton is holding was given to him by a member in Safford. He had dinner at her house and she made him a puppet. Stockton loves it.

 It will be nice to see Stockton's plaque move up! I sure do miss my boy.

We had a ward parent missionary dinner tonight at the Clark's house. It was so much fun. I think all the parents were able to come except Severine's and Jordan's. Landon comes home in six weeks. Wow! Soon the Maxfield's will be kicked out of our club! Jaxson is the next one coming home. Suzanne said, "No worries about me! I'm circling around!" Haha! She also has Dylan out who comes home in January and Noah has his call and will be leaving this summer. Noah actually leaves one week before Jaxson gets home. Wow. She had three missionaries out earlier too, when Indy was out. I guess that is what happens when you have lots of boys and two of them are twins.

Blake had his championship All Star game today. They came through the loser bracket, so they have to win this team twice. Mike gave us his login and password for the Game Changer app and we were able go get updates on his game. Blake's team won, so they will play tomorrow for the official championship. Fun!

Marlins Park

Stockton was supposed to be at the pool at 11:00 for a two hour workout. It was a complete downpour when we arrived. I decided to leave my shoes in the car and go barefoot. I was wearing my tennis shoes. We got Stockton checked in and I was able to talk to someone about letting Stockton dive 3 meter exhibition. They are going to let him dive with the 20+ group. Stockton's regular 3 meter event is on Sunday. That will be nice. Who knows what the weather will be like though. The divers dove in the rain. The downpour stopped by the time Stockton was out there. At least the rain is warm and there is was no lightning. The pool itself is awesome. It is the most efficient use of space I have ever seen. The pool isn't that big square foot wise; but they are able to fit a 5,7,10 meter platform, 4 3 meter boards, 4 1 meter boards and a hot tub. Why or why didn't BYU use this floorplan? If I had several million dollars this would be cool to build on 16000 S and 1300 E, where my old dance studio was. That building has been torn down for years and nothing is there.

 Stockton's on 3 meter

 Stockton diving off of 1 meter

 Stockton on 1 meter

Stockton said that it was interesting the level of divers that were there. Some are super, super good, some feel like rec divers. Stockton didn't think there were many divers like him, middle of the road divers. After the two hour warm up we went back to our hotel. Luckily our room was ready. Yay! Nate took Stockton and Gavin to the Marriott where one of their diving friends was staying. The hotel was right on the beach. They played around there for a bit. I didn't see Stockton for the rest of the day and haven't really had a chance to talk to him. I do know that they played in the ocean before they had to be back at the pool for another 2 hour warmup. Stockton was annoyed at the snack bar at the pool. He wanted to get an Icee to share with Gavin. It was $3. After he ordered it they brought him an otter pop. Nope. That wasn't going to fly with Stockton. He turned it down and got nothing. The divers went to Appleby's after and then to Ted's hotel for another meeting. Ted told them to 'embrace the rain' and this competition is for the mentally tough. They finished the night by playing cards in our hotel room. Stockton was dead asleep by the time I got home at midnight.

Once Stockton left for the Marriott I blogged, unpacked and took a nap. Brett and Rachel got here this afternoon. Eve kept saying, "I want Stockton". Hahaha! That is funny. When she sees him she will probably be terrified of him. We went to this place that is across the street from our hotel. It was pretty cool and reminded me of Maysen.

Basically everything you order can be either a grilled cheese or macaroni and cheese. I had the Philly Cheese Steak grilled cheese and it was yummy.

 Eve

 Eve, Brett, Grace

The last stop of the night was at Marlins Park to watch the Marlins/Nationals game. We were so happy when we realized that Marlins Park has a retractable roof. Yay! Yay! Yay! Brett brought me a Nationals hat to wear. The game was fun. The Nationals won. It was crazy how empty the stadium was though. Kind of felt like being at a Minor League game. I swear the Bees have more fans at their games.

Harper

 Marlins Park

 I think Rojas is up and is about to tie the game with a two RBI double.

 Taylor just short on making an amazing catch. Instead it was a two run double.

 Brett & Stephanie

 We were a few rows behind the bull pen.

 Harper hanging out during a pitching change.

 Now that's a cool hat! How fun!

 Marie pointing to Harper

In other news, the rest of my family enjoyed Overstock Lagoon Day. Mike decided he didn't want to go on too many rides this year, so he let Jorja bring Hailey. Mike said it was the least crowded he has ever seen Lagoon on Overstock day. That is saying something! At one time Jorja and Hailey were the only ones on Tidal Wave. They each sat at one end. They were also the only ones on the white roller coaster. Mike said they redid the entrance on that and also redid Terroride.

Hailey, Jorja, Preston, Maysen

 Jorja, Hailey, Preston's arm/head

 Jorja reacting to a text I sent, Hailey

 Preston & Maysen

 Preston still isn't feeling too well

He played bingo and ended up winning three prizes pretty close together. His first game he played he won bed sheets. I'm sure he's excited about that. Next he won a massage chair. Last he won socks. Winning sure perked him up!

Preston

 Chair Preston won

 Happy Preston with Maysen

 Preston & Maysen

 Hailey & Jorja

The kids were pretty burnt out by 8:00. The one bad thing about Overstock Lagoon day is your body doesn't have enough time to adjust when you go on the rides so close together. Usually you wait in line for awhile before you can go on another ride. At Overstock Lagoon day it is just non-stop rides one after the other. So much fun, but hard to make it through the day without getting sick.