Preston's Favorite Clock

Mike is in soooo much pain. He called the dentist first thing in the morning, only to find out that they aren't open until tomorrow. He did get ahold of the dentist and has an appointment for tomorrow. The dentist also wrote him a prescription for stronger pain medication. The dentist thinks his tooth has cracked and is filled with bacteria. Whatever it is, it is so painful. Speaking of dentists, I took Preston to one today. Mike's friend. Preston told him he hated his clock, that it made him uncomfortable. Hahaha. If you can't tell what's wrong, the Roman numeral 4 is written wrong. Eric was so surprised. He said no one had ever pointed that out before and they have had that clock up there for years. Preston told him he hated it. Hahaha

Stockton did diving all day today. He coached for four hours, hung out with Dani for a couple hours and was back for the meet around 3:00. Long day of diving.

Jorja has officially decided to go to college instead of a mission right now. Jorja has been praying and fasting about this for months. She told us that last night she said a prayer before bed and told Heavenly Father that she hasn't been able to get an answer as to what she should do. She asked if she could be excited about whichever one was right. She said she went to bed excited about college and woke up excited about college. She had to tell Riley, one of the ambassadors, if she was going to college or mission. He has been very patient. Well, he texted her today and she sent this reply back. She sent me a screen shot and I was surprised and excited. She had been leaning towards going on a mission. I think this will be great for her and I'm very happy about it. (About a week later she was second guessing this decision. Wondering if she made the wrong choice. Stockton said that Heavenly Father knew how important this was to her and wouldn't have messed like that.) Stockton also sent me a screenshot of his conversation with Jorja. I'm so excited for Stockton and Jorja to be at school together. They are living in the same building. That's going to be so fun!

 

Endings and Beginnings

Maysen had her last final today. She just has one more paper to wright and she is freeeeeeee!!!!! I think this semester was easier for her then the ones last year. One more semester to go for her!

I went to the Step 2 the U assembly with Jorja. I really hope she applies for this. I think it would be great for her, even if it was just one summer. She would basically be taking 12 college credits this summer. She isn't too excited about it, but she is softening toward the idea. The best would be getting English 2010 out of the way. Then she wouldn't have to take English at all next year. Anyway, we will see what happens.

Beautiful Parrydise

These are the pictures Mike sent me today. I can't get over how beautiful it us up there and how lucky we are to be able to visit. It snowed a lot. Mike, Maysen and Preston played a lot of games. Maysen had a video interview for an EFY counselor position. She worked really hard on that. I hope she gets it! Maysen and Preston went night sledding. It sounded like they had a great time at the cabin.

Parrydise

 Maysen and Preston

The missionaries contacted me today. Their dinner appointment fell through and they were wondering if I knew of anyone who would be willing to feed them. I told them to plan on me. They also stopped by yesterday and gave us cake! Stockton spent the day with Gavin. They went sledding, took TRAX to Salt Lake for some reason, then went night sledding. I'm not sure what else. They had some other diving buddies with them. Noelle, Danielle and even Gage. Stockton hasn't seen Gage in years!

Jorja's softball buddies Paige came and hung out with Jorja. She hasn't seen her since her birthday dinner in October. They seemed to have a great time. Isaac's dad picked them up and took them to a movie. They saw Black Panther. They went to the mall and came over here afterwords. I took them home just before 11:00. A huge snowstorm had come in. We got Isaac back just fine, but Paige lives a long ways away. Probably 45 minutes I'm guessing. The roads were horrible, especially on the way back. I was sure glad to see my bed!

Jorja and Paige

 Paige and Jorja

 Jorja and Paige

While the kids were out with their friends, I was busy with the missionaries. Sister Kalliainen and Sister Gregerson. I decided to pick up Cafe Rio salads. Too bad the line was so long and they were slow. I texted the missionaries and they were waiting on my front porch when I got home. We had a great time. Stockton and Jorja had cleaned the kitchen and it looked so great! The missionaries and I talked and talked. They were so fun!

Also, Stockton was accepted to BYU. Shannon texted me last night and said they would find out after 5:00. They never did. I would ask Stockton to check and see every once in awhile. This afternoon Shannon asked me if Stockton had heard. Brandon got in. I went down to ask him. He S-L-O-W-L-Y looked it up. He's in! I told Jorja when she came in the room. She looked at Stockton weird. Come to find out, Stockton checked this morning and new he was in. He told Jorja. He even told Maysen, so everyone at the cabin knew. He just didn't tell me because he thought it was funny! Grrrrrr.

By the Skin of his Teeth

Stockton finished! The BYU application was due at 11:59. He sent his in at 11:17 and finished the scholarship portion at 11:58. I think he had to write six essays today. Luckily today was his super late start day and he didn't have to go to diving. Also, both of his teachers got their recommendations in today and his SLCC transcript came through at 5:30. So glad that is all over with! Jorja, how about you get your college applications done well in advance? Maybe you should start working on them now!

 I was a little slow getting the picture of him clicking the final submit button. Oh well.

Stockton will sleep well tonight! Ha! No he won't, he has to get up at 5:45 to go to his English class at SLCC tomorrow. That boy sure works hard! Jorja slept in the guest room for unknown reasons. She was a little sad after school. I asked her if she wanted me to sleep in there with her. That is what I would do a few months ago. She just wanted to be alone. Hopefully she sleeps well and can be back to her delightful self tomorrow.

Mike, Preston and I played Pandemic Season 2 today. We lost. That game is hard! Preston loves it though. I hope we can figure out the best plan to meet our objectives. I love playing games with Preston. It is crazy how he can remember every single obscure rule there is! Makes playing games with him easy though.

Today would have been my mom and dad's 49th wedding anniversary. How fun would it have been to celebrate 50 years with them next year? I miss my mom.

Tacos

Jorja and Travin

We had the missionaries over for dinner again today. This is the day we originally signed up for. Mike made taco bowls. Sister Turner was thrilled. Yesterday she told us how much she loved tacos. Jorja was able to come home early from Macbeth again, so she was here too. That was nice. Stockton was at the state bowling championship and Preston was at piano. Stockton did great, but overall Alta took 4th. Mike set up the massage table and Preston loved it!

Preston and Mike

I have been after Stockton for a long time to finish his BYU college application. He has been super slow about working on it for two reasons. One, he is incredibly busy. Academic Decathlon and Sterling Scholar stuff. The Sterling Scholar portfolio was due today. Two, he doesn't want to go to BYU. I don't want him to close any doors. Utah State was pretty low on Maysen's list, but became her top choice a few months later. Anyway, Stockton realized tonight that he hadn't sent in his SLCC transcript. YIKES! We hurried and ordered it and are crossing our fingers that it will get to BYU tomorrow!

Halloween

I took Jorja and a few friends to the temple this morning. Yesterday when they were planning it on a group text, someone asked who could drive. Jorja responded that I could because I get up way early. It is rare when I sleep until my alarm. True to form, I was up at 5:00. The temple wasn't super crowded, so that was nice. I saw Renee Murphy there. She introduced me to a Guiterriez boy. I can't remember his name right now, but I think he graduated with Matt? I graduated with his brother Mike, I think. I'm sure I spelled his name wrong too. Renee asked if he remembered me or any Millburns. She said that she thought we were in the same ward. He laughed and said he hardly went to church at all back then. Nice to see him in the temple. I told Renee how much I loved her daughter's talk on Sunday. It was a great talk. Also, Renee told me that the rules to handing the towels to the kids had changed. I no longer needed to dress in white. I was able to go in my dress with my shoes off and hand it to them. I was wearing a super long dress, so the bottom got soaked, but it was still cool. I dropped the kids off at Joe's house and he made them a giant breakfast. I love late start days.

Joe, Evan, Jorja, Hailey

Preston is our last kid going to his last Halloween parade. We found a hat for him. He found a mustache and double stick tape. Mike gave him one of his shirts to wear. Done! He was happy with it though, and that is what matters. Jorja made this hat with Mike back when she was five. She searched for a pattern, printed it out and brought it to Mike and asked if he could help her make it. Haha! That is my Porge.

Preston

 Proof I made it to the parade.

Jorja dressed as a sunshine again, but her headband broke at school. She reglued the triangle things when she got home and was able to wear it with her friends trick or treating. I didn't get a picture, so here is a slightly different picture from Saturday. Jorja didn't wear her yellow eyelashes or lipstick though, and Hailey braided her hair in two braids. She looked really cute.

Brooklyn, Maggie, Jorja

Maysen called me today. She had a hard day. She is worried. I asked her if there was anything I could do to help her. She said to just keep the blog up to date while I'm in Australia. I will do my best. I'm glad she can look at it and get some connection to home.

I dropped Jorja off at Evan's house and a group of people were going trick-or-treating. I started watching Game 6 of the World Series the second I came home. Preston was getting ready to go trick-or-treating himself. I thought Mike would take him because he could care less about the World Series. I'm not 100% positive he even knows who is playing. He does know that there will be free tacos tomorrow because a base was stolen. Anyway, Mike was on call and couldn't leave home. I took Preston around by myself. He was so cute. He talked the entire time about what he wanted to do for Halloween next year. He said if we started working now we could do it. He wants to set up a projector and have a game like pong on it. Then he wants people to play the game and the winner gets two pieces of candy and the loser gets one. He also thought a stacking game would be good. Depending on the levels of how high you stacked, that would be the candy you received. Seriously, the entire time we were walking he was planning this. He is 100% his dad's child. I love it.

As I was stepping inside I got a call from Jorja. She asked if I could come pick up her and her friends and let them hang out at my house. They were at the top of Pepperwood. After a little sleuthing to make sure we had everyone we made it back home. One of Jorja's friends was a little sad. I sat with them in the kitchen while everyone else was watching the Incredibles. I think that is what they were doing. The World Series was still going on and my phone kept dinging with my brothers texts about the game. I mentioned to this friend of Jorja's that they were more important than the World Series. I hope I helped. I hope they didn't feel so alone. We didn't talk much, I just sat next to them. I think they needed space. I just wanted to stay nearby so they would know they were important. I read in my book I reviewed that sometimes being nearby is enough.

Stockton spent his Halloween applying for the University of Utah. He texted me questions while I was out trick-or-treating. I helped him off and on until close to midnight. He was quite spent at the end of the night.

Stockton

I also stayed up late talking with Jorja. I'm going to miss these kids when I leave tomorrow. I hope they do okay while I'm gone. I'm so anxious about it. I don't feel like I'm being prompted to stay home, I feel like I should still go to Australia. I'm just anxious that they will be okay without me. So many things could go wrong. I'll be praying for them hard while I'm away. My family is everything to me.

Touring the U

My little Porge is super sick. Stockton said he put a ton of blankets on her during the night. I brought her phone down to her close to noon. I knew she had been waiting for a message from Ebony. I was about to leave with Stockton and I hadn't seen her all day. She was still sleeping and felt very warm. She moved upstairs on the couch and I fixed her an acai bowl before I left. She was still like this when I came home. I took her temperature after she had a bit of the milkshake I brought her. It was over 101 degrees. She felt dizzy every time she stood up. I'm guessing she has the flu. She missed her first softball game of the new season. I hope she is better tomorrow.

Poor sick little Porgie

Stockton and I went down to Salt Lake and toured the University of Utah. The tour is long. It is a walking tour and takes about 2 1/2 hours. It is good to get a feel of a place before you make a decision. Stockton is very familiar with the diving pool, but it was good for him to see the rest of campus. I'm trying to take him on tours earlier than I took Maysen so we can space them out a bit. So far we have been to Utah State now the U. I'll have to start scheduling others soon. I meant to get SUU this summer, but didn't get around to it.

Bluebird with Maysen

Mike and I worked hard today! We worked on the downstairs and figured out how we wanted the couch. I think we will keep it like this.

 We (Mike) worked on the guest room. It looks fun!

Mike and I left about 11:00 to head up to Logan to get MAYSEN! Yay! We brought a steamer and a cooler. We helped Maysen with her packing. Mostly loaded up the car and Mike took apart her computer and printer. We helped Maysen clean until her 2:15 time slot came up. I have always wanted to go to the Bluebird restaurant so that is where we headed when we finished. Mike was a little skeptical that they served Chinese food, but he ordered steak, mashed potatoes and sweet & sour chicken. The food was yummy. The drive home was long. It is nice to have all my kids home. I love it. I will enjoy the next few months. On a side note, Maysen did great this semester. All As. That's my girl!

Stockton in Logan

Stockton and I left early this morning to go to Utah State. I wanted to have him take a tour of the campus. I also wanted to do it when Maysen was there so we could get to see her. When I went on the tour with Maysen just over a year ago we met in the Administrations office at the bottom of the TSC. That is where I headed this time. Except they have now built a new Welcome building, so that is where the tour started. Luckily we were early so no harm done. The tour went really well. We had a great guide. Stockton was glad we got him and not the perky blond girl. I think she took longer. The guide also told us they have diving boards at Utah State. We were not aware of this. They don't have any diving classes, and they don't have a diving team, so we just assumed they didn't have any diving. The guide said there is a diving club at Utah State and that they have a 1 and 3 meter, he wasn't sure about the platform. I hope he is right about this. I have no idea if Stockton will pick Utah State, but if he did it would be nice if he could play around in a pool!

I talked to the administration people after the tour. It is now harder to get the scholarship Maysen received. Luckily Stockton has a 33 on his ACT, so it pushes him into the highest category. We just don't know if that is going to be the same index they use next year. Although it went up a lot last year, so hopefully it will stay the same this one. I asked about deferring in order to go on a mission. I was curious if Stockton would need to pick his school before he left in order to receive scholarships. They said that he would accept admittance, accept the scholarship, defer and then he can decide when he gets back. That is good to know. It will be nice to have choices when he gets back rather than pick where he wants to go in two years.

Stockton and I met Maysen in the TSC for lunch. I wish I had gotten a picture of the two of them. It made me laugh when I read the same thing on Maysen's blog. I loved watching the two of them laugh together. I love how my kids get along so well with each other. After lunch we took Maysen to Lowes to pick up samples for her interior design class. She has not enjoyed this class, but at least it takes care of her art credit. She had high hopes for this one, but it hasn't been what she thought it would be. I think it is too subjective for her. She wanted to know how different colors effect moods and things like that. Not this looks good and this does not. She has a hard time picking out which looks good. Most the time she has a different opinion than her teacher. Anyway, it was nice we were able to drive her to a store so she could get samples for her next project. 

Stockton and I had free ice cream coupons from the tour. Free scoop of Aggie ice cream. How can you pass that up? Maysen didn't have time to go with us, so we dropped her off for her abnormal psychology class before we picked up her ice-cream. We ate it on the drive home. Except Stockton fell asleep and his ice-cream started to melt. Don't worry, I was a hero and ate it for him. I'm nice like that.

Diving Belt

This morning I told Preston I would see him at Parent Teacher conference around lunchtime. I love going to the elementary conferences. The kids talk Chinese to their teacher and it is absolutely amazing. I have a hard time getting them to talk Chinese to me, so I love these moments. Yesterday Jorja had this huge conversation with her Chinese teacher. I had no idea she was so fluent.

I spent most of the day getting things ready for the meeting at SLCC. While I was working on that I got a text from Mrs. Chung that said, "Are you coming?" I thought, "Did I sign up to volunteer?" I texted back, "Am I supposed to be there?" Yep. For parent teacher conference. I can not believe I forgot! I was so embarrassed! Luckily someone cancelled and they were able to fit me in. Preston just rolled his eyes at me when I got there and said, "RIP" That is his favorite thing to say these days. Preston of course is doing great. He has far surpassed the benchmarks for the year. He basically raises himself, so I am pretty lucky.

I checked Stockton out a few minutes early to make sure we were on time for his appointment. It looks like if he takes a few classes this summer he will be able to earn his associates before he graduates. Assuming he passes all five of his AP tests. I can't believe it. That child amazes me. We do have some decisions about summer school to make, but we can't really do that until the schedule gets posted. That won't happen for a few months.

Mike took Preston to diving because I was with Stockton. He sent me these pictures. Preston has never been in the belt before and had the time of his life learning inwards. Mike's phone takes mini movies with the pictures, so it was fun for me to actually see them.

Mike said the little girl, Adi, was laughing hysterically when she was in the belt. At the end of class she tried it without the belt and did a huge bellyflop. Poor girl. Not a fun way to end the day. I hope Preston gets to have this much fun tomorrow when I'm there. He had a grin ear to ear when he got home.

Jorja's High School Registration

I talked to Allison Holmes today. She had been asking me about Stockton going to EFY. We have never done EFY before. Ebony has asked Jorja to go with her this year, so I had started looking into it. We missed the early sign ups, so we can't register until February 10th. Hopefully there will be a spot for Jorja when that date comes. Allison had asked me about Stockton going with Josh and Josh. When I was looking at the information I was confused because I thought it said you could only pick one roommate. I asked her about that. She said that Stockton would need to find a roommate, but this is the week that Josh and Josh were going. Oh. That makes more sense. I told Allison I wanted to wait and find out if Stockton would be accepted in the Step to the U he was planning on applying for. If accepted, Stockton would be taking three college classes during the summer and they start the same week the Joshes are planning on going to EFY. Allison said that Josh was doing summer school too, but was going anyway. She said he was planning on graduating with his associates. I asked if Josh had done summer school last year. He hadn't. I was under the impression that there was no way you could graduate with your associates if you didn't do summer school for two summers. I started looking into this because it would solve our Regents math problem. If you graduate with your associates you automatically get the New Century scholarship. Pretty much the same as Regents. You can't get both. Anyways, this might be something Stockton could pull off if he passes all FIVE of his AP tests this year. Hopefully I'm looking at things right. I want to contact the person at SLCC in charge of concurrent to make sure I understand correctly.

That's pretty much how I spent my time while the kids were at school. Trying to figure out if it was possible. I drove Stockton to BYU and headed straight home. Mike drove Preston. Jorja and I had a few hours before we needed to go to her high school orientation. I was also getting weighed in at the end of the day. This was my last meal - kind of. I had been thinking maybe I could go to Cheesecake Factory with Mike for lunch. I decided that it would be fun to go somewhere with Jorja before her orientation. I ran downstairs and told her my plan. I guess I should have mentioned it earlier because she did not want to go. She wanted to do her nails. I was disappointed. I ended up getting Cafe Rio and bringing it home.

Jorja and I picked up Katlyn and then went to the orientation. Jorja is so excited about high school. She is going to have a lot of fun. We also found out that the Chinese program will be at BOTH Alta and Corner Canyon. YAY! YAY! YAY! YAY! YAY! On top of that, we ran into JAZZIE! She will be going to school with Jorja next year! Happy! Happy! Happy! We are both beyond thrilled about that! I am kicking myself that I didn't get any pictures of Jorja at school today.

I took Jorja to my weigh-in appointment with me. It was weird. I had to lay on this metal slab and was scanned. It took about six minutes. Hopefully I'll be able to do as well with this program as I did a year ago. I'm excited to get back in the game. I need something like this to get me out of my bad eating habits. Granted, this is a little extreme - but it works for me. No sugar, no dairy, no grain. At our class this morning Michael Banks even said to go one step further. He said no fruit and no carrots. BOO! He is very clear that this isn't how you want to live your life, but it is a way to get crazy results. Once you have the results you want, then you add some things back in. Although he thinks you should never have sugar or dairy. Last year when I did this I was surprised how my taste buds changed. Foods actually tasted better when I was off of sugar. Tomatoes started tasting like candy. It was weird. Hopefully I can get to that place again.

Maysen!

While Mike was busy with Black Friday I took the kids up to Logan to visit Maysen!  I have been looking forward to this for a LONG time! We didn't leave until the afternoon.  Stockton wanted to finish his homework before we left.  It was nice he didn't have to worry about it while we were gone.  Maysen made us a cake in Demetria's rice cooker. She was pretty excited about that and it was delicious.  Maysen really wanted to see the new Disney movie Moana.  Once the cake was finished we headed out the door.  Too bad everyone else in Logan wanted to see Moana too.  There were only three tickets left for the showing we wanted to go to, and they weren't by each other.  We ended up buying 3D tickets for later that day.  Maysen doesn't really like watching movies in 3D, but it was our only option.  Instead we took Maysen grocery shopping, which is something I wanted to do.  I also splurged and bought her official Aggie ice-cream.  The Blue Mint kind. Maysen's favorite.  We went back to Maysen's apartment, ate cake and ice-cream and played Disney Apples to Apples.  We played once the regular way and then once where we each put two cards in and only one card was picked.  That was surprisingly difficult.  I didn't like it because there were many times you ended up losing two good cards.

We finished the games right as it was time to leave for the movie.  We were able to find our seats before the theater went dark.  I hate looking for seats in the dark.  We were watching the previews when the screen says, "Put on your 3D glasses".  Whoops!  We forgot to get those.  I asked the people next to us where they picked up theirs.  They said the person taking the tickets gave it to them.  Whoops again.  No one took our ticket.  I went out and found glasses for everyone.  At least we had them before the show started.  Maysen really liked the movie.  I thought it was okay.  I don't think I fell asleep, but I might have for just a bit.  I have a hard time staying awake during movies.

It was really late when the movie finished.  I took the kids to Sonic so they could get something to eat.  We headed back to Maysen's apartment so we could go to bed.  Preston was really excited to sleep in Maysen's bed with her, but he fell asleep on the couch.  Stockton and Preston both slept on the couch.  Jorja slept on the beanbag we brought up.  I slept in Maysen's bed with her.  She has a full size bed.  Right as I was falling asleep I remembered I wanted to look out her window to see the Logan Temple at night.  It was beautiful!  I wish I had shown the other kids.  This is where their Grandma Honey and Papa were married.  In the picture you can barely see the temple.  It looks a lot better in person.

Preston's Gingerbread Party

Hooray!  We survived!  Preston's party is over and it went flawlessly.  I think I'll sleep for a week now!  Preston ended up having about twenty kids show up.  They decorated their houses for about an hour.

 Preston

The kids went outside and played around after they finished their houses.  I sent Jorja and Hailey outside to watch over them.  I found this video on my phone.  Jorja and Abel with a little bit of Paxton.  Silly Porge.

Preston was excited to pick out a Cold Stone cake.  We only went through half of the cake.  They will be eating the rest over the next week.  Pretty delicious.

Most of the kids were from Preston's Chinese class.  I think there were only two kids here who didn't know Chinese.  After singing Happy Birthday they asked if they could sing in Chinese.

Here are random houses.  I didn't take a picture of the kids with their houses this time.  This time we were all about survival.

 Paxton

Preston had a great time.  He also got a ton of presents.  Matthew was jealous because he only received gift cards at his party.  He said, "This is way better!"  Matthew had his party when we were in the cabin for the Cabin Temple open house.  Anyway, Preston was super happy with how everything turned out.  I am super happy that this is over!

Jorja had a young women sleepover indexing activity tonight.  She did not want to go.  I made her go and told her I would pick her up at 10:00.  Stockton and Preston have a diving competition we need to leave for early tomorrow morning.  Mike, Preston and I played Pandemic.  It was a lot of fun.  In this game everyone works together. Everyone wins or everyone loses.  We won.  We played another game with Stockton and we lost that one.  We haven't started playing 'for real' yet.  Once you do there are things that happen that change the game.  We want to have a solid foundation before we start doing things like that!

Other things that happened today:  I volunteered in Preston's class.  Maysen called me and we talked for awhile.  She thinks she figured out her schedule for next semester.  She is able to register on Wednesday I think.  She met with her counselor to make sure everything would work.  Her counselor encouraged her to go for a Creative Writing minor.  We didn't even know that existed at Utah State.  Apparently both a Creative Writing major and minor exist, they are just not listed. Wow!  That would be perfect for Maysen.  A Psychology major and Creative Writing minor.  That was the only thing I was disappointed about her decision for Utah State.  How amazing that this is offered! Fingers crossed and hoping everything goes smoothly!  My dad also came up to see Preston today.  He gave him a birthday card with a dollar bill for each year.  My dad also wrote to him in Chinese.  That was pretty cool.

What a day!  Fun to have days like this and fun for them to end!