Clam Chowder

Today was... interesting. Some good, some bad. The good: Jack came over to hang out with Preston. I have talked to Jack's mom and we are going to try and get the boys together every Wednesday. I'm so thankful she is willing to do this. With Preston doing virtual learning we thought this would give him some social interaction. Preston and Jack get along so well! They played board games and went swimming. Jack brought Pandemic. We have played Legacy Pandemic and love that game. Jack brought over the regular Pandemic game which was fun to see how it differed from Legacy.

Another good: Maysen made clam chowder today. It was delicious. She followed a copy-cat Ivar's recipe. It was easier than I expected. We ate outside by the pool. Jack and Preston were able to come out and eat with us and then jump back in the pool. Perfect.

The bad... I got frustrated with Jorja today. She told me that she was going to get matching volleyball clothes with her class after school and then try to find a math book for her 1040 class and she would be home in time for dinner. Okay, no big deal. Then she told me that she couldn't find the book but she was working on math homework. Awesome. I asked her where she was and who she was with. She was with Riley. She said Jake and Aiden had to go to work. She was doing homework at Riley's house but was in the main room with his family. I was super annoyed. I had assumed she had gone shopping with girls. It did not cross my mind that she would be trying to get matching volleyball clothes with boys. Although I'm glad she was not alone with Riley, I was annoyed she was hanging out with him. I don't like him. I don't like her with him. He is starting to earn Jorja's trust back, but that scares me. So, I was annoyed about that. Then... Jorja didn't come home in time for dinner. I was livid. I texted her and asked if she had lost track of time. She said she thought I was going to text her to tell her when dinner was. Grrrrrr. I spent forever on Sunday making sure everyone was clear on the time of dinner. I said that if a conflict arose we could change the time, but I wanted a set time so everyone would know. I asked Maysen if I was clear. She said I was very clear. Jorja said she didn't remember that at all, which means she tuned me out... again. Plus, if she didn't know what time dinner was, why did she say she would be home in time for dinner and not ask what time dinner was? I was super annoyed. We waited for Jorja to get home before we ate. Dinner was nice and the weather was perfect. After dinner I asked Jorja when she wanted to talk about today. She decided she wanted to talk now and get it over with. So... we talked. Mike was there, which was awesome because he is super calm and level headed. It helped me be calm. We were able to tell Jorja why we were worried and what we were worried about. She says we are punishing her by not allowing her to hang out with Riley. We told her she was allowed to hang out with him, just not alone. She told us we were controlling. I reminded her how we let her go away for a weekend and have sleepovers with a ton of boys. Mike told her that our job was to protect her. He talked to her a long time and I can't remember everything about that now. I know that we didn't end the conversation angry with each other. Jorja turns 18 exactly two months from today... that is a scary thought. Jorja asked if she could go drive around and clear her head. She ended up picking up Brenton and Bode. I love those two boys. They watch out for Jorja. I am so thankful for them.

Jorja & Sami

Jorja, Sami, Luke, and Ryan I think

Jorja, Bode, Brenton

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.

Alta Idol

I had a hard time sleeping last night.  I couldn't stop thinking about Jordan.  I was so worried that his green card wouldn't come in time for the court of honor.  Jennifer (Jordan's mom) sent me an e-mail asking for a picture of Stockton for the program.  When I wrote her back I also told her what to expect at the store when the green card arrives.  I mentioned to her that maybe she could convince them to let her buy the awards early and she could get the certificate later.  I hope she can figure it out, because it would be sad if he didn't have those!

I have spent quite a bit of time looking for scouting pictures of Stockton.  Mike and I are in charge of the slide show.  Which really means Mike is in charge of the slide show.  President Back gave me a thumb drive with a lot of scouting pictures on it.  That will help a ton! Now we just need to find the time to do it!

Mike helped Preston make French Toast with Kneaders cinnamon bread.  He loved that!  I have no idea why he is cooking without his shirt.  His food was delicious though!

Preston

Maysen and I went to Alta Idol today.  Maysen tried out for this, but didn't make it.  They only take 12 and about 65 people tried out.  I can see why they only take 12, because the show was LONG!  It was fun to be there with Maysen, but I was really relieved when she whispered that she didn't care who won.  We snuck out after the last person sang. We were there close to two hours, and they still had a lot on the program left!  Much to Maysen's delight we went to Cold Stone before heading home.

I LOVE Eggs!

This morning I turned the corner and saw Preston reading!  So cute!  I know he can read chapter books, but he usually wants to read to me. His teacher has him read one chapter a night out of The Magic Tree House.  I had never seen him sit with a chapter book and read by himself before.  Hope he keeps this up!

Preston

It was Preston's turn to make dinner tonight.  His menu:  pumpkin bread, banana nut muffins, raw carrots and milk.  When they choose the menu they are going to make, they need to make sure there is something from every food group.  Not the healthiest dinner tonight, but Preston spent a lot of time with me in the kitchen.  He absolutely loved cracking eggs.  He kept saying, "I love eggs!" over and over.  He needed to crack three for the bread and three for the muffins.  He was in heaven!  We had to fish out a few shells, but no big deal.  He was a pro by the end.

Preston the cook

 Chocolate chip pumpkin bread & regular pumpkin bread

His dinner was delicious.  Probably not nutritious.  Mike and I took Maysen to pottery today.  She has been working on a sugar bowl since January.  She has been really excited about it.  We went to pick it up and were very disappointed.  The glaze that she used was contaminated.  It is not supposed to look all bubbly.  That we can live with, but it got worse.  The glaze fused the lid to the dish.  We can't get the lid off.  Her teacher said there was nothing he could do.  He doesn't know if it was the glaze or if Maysen put too much of it on.  Probably a combination of both.  So disappointing.  We were only able to find one more thing of hers.  She was able to glaze that.  She is missing at least one finished product and one waiting to be glazed.  Hopefully we can find it next time we get back there.

On the way home we stopped by the apple store.  Mike got me a new battery for my laptop.  We also got Maysen a case for her ipad mini.  We have 14 days to try it out.  It is a keyboard case.  We got her one for Christmas, but it was a different brand and it doesn't work very well.  It is so hard to open.  Hopefully this one will work better.  We will have to see if she can get used to the smaller keyboard size.

Chocolate Crepes

Mike got a crepe maker at DI the other day.  He has been itching to try it out.  Yesterday he made crepes with it and loved it!  This morning I woke up to the sound of Jorja making crepes for her and Preston.  Both Mike and I were asleep.  She is quite independent.  She wanted to make crepes again for dinner.  She made chocolate crepes.  I find it awesome/sad that my 9 year old daughter is a better cook than me.

Jorja

 Jorja made an apron and hat for Padz

 Chef Porge

 Jorja's creation

 She made this for me as well.  She even cut it.  How sweet.

Jorja also gave a talk in primary today.  Her topic was the 13th article of faith.  She was so cute!  You could understand her perfectly.  This was her talk:

My talk is on the 13th article of faith.  We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men; indeed, we may say that we follow the admonition of Paul - we believe all things, we hope all things, we have endured many things, and hope to be able to endure all things.  If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.

This means we should try to be all these things.  We should always try to be honest and helpful.  We should keep the commandments and try out best to be happy even in hard times.  In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.