Smoking Car

Welp, today was crazy. Jorja made fettuccine for dinner, then she decided to take a little drive with Preston. They went up Little Cottonwood Canyon by Alta. Where Jorja's car started smoking. Luckily there was a place she was able to park as soon as she noticed all the smoke. Mike was out in the duck pond covered in rubber paint. No way he was going to be able to leave soon. So, I drove and picked up the kids. I came back later with Mike. He brought some coolant, but it wasn't enough. We drove back down the mountain, stopped at the Smith's by Cottonwood the drove back up the mountain. Mike poured as much as he could in Jorja's car. He drove halfway down the mountain before he had to stop and pour more coolant in. Then he was able to make it to Wasatch Blvd before he had to do it again. Right as he turned into the driveway it started smoking a ton again. So, that is going to be fun to deal with.

Preston & Jorja

Preston

Miles on the pilot

Jorja isn't able to go shopping for homecoming dresses, so we ordered a ton and had her try them on here. I forgot to take pictures of the first ones she tried on, but here are the last three.

Spoiler alert: This one is going to be the winner

Perfect Dress

Jorja was so sick today. I could not get her up. This morning when I tried to wake her up she was moaning, "I can't feel my body." I let her sleep a little longer and came back in thirty minutes. No luck. One hour later, no luck. An hour after that, no luck. Finally she mumbled, "Can you just let me sleep until I wake up?" I tried that. She slept until 1:00. I finally made her get up. She didn't want to, but I really didn't want her to miss chemistry again. She has a D right now. The quarter ends next week.

Jorja making breakfast at 1:30 in the afternoon

I took her to school. She said the office ladies were watching her MORP video when she walked in. She got to chemistry and they had a sub there. Oh well. Jorja stayed after school to work with two other girls on her theater scene. They are auditioning for Region and State next week. The girls asked Jorja to be with them clear back before Jorja got sick. Jorja regrets it so much right now. She is so overwhelmed. This is one thing she doesn't want to worry about. But, she isn't going to back out on the girls right now. I picked her up when she was finished. We dropped off one of her Alta basketball jerseys she got last year at Mia's house, then we headed down to Provo. (We dropped one off at Hailey's house on the way home.) Jorja wanted to go to this dress rental place to look for dresses. They have very weird hours and this was the first time we could make it.

Jorja

 This one was Jorja's second favorite.

Jorja fell in love with the very first dress she tried on. When I zipped her up it just felt perfect. Her dream dress for this dance was lacy, short and one that could twirl. She wanted either light pink or sea foam green. This dress was exactly what she wanted, although she said she wishes it was a bit shorter. I do not. I think it is a perfect length.

Jorja

We had brought her dress we bought on New Years with us. It was in the car, so I ran back to get it. Jorja wanted to try on both together to see which one she liked best. She liked the pink one a lot more. I think the pink one looks more like her too. We are going to take the white one back. Even renting the pink one is expensive though. It is more to rent this pink one than it was to buy the white one. Jorja's going to pay for half and I will pay for half. Then it isn't so bad. Here are two pictures she sent to her friends. Almost all of them picked the white one. Haha.

In person I think the pink one is much better. She was very happy with it. As we were leaving I asked if it was okay if we went home. We were planning on going to the Dillards up there and seeing if they had the white dress in a size zero. I figured she had picked the pink, so we didn't need to do that any more. For some reason she got really grumpy. This annoyed me to no end. I had been wanting to have a serious discussion about a few things with her on this trip. I didn't want to do it before we tried on dresses in case it made her cry. I needed to have this discussion and she had shut down the second we left the dress shop. I told her that I would do anything she wanted. She was antsy and short. It was so out of character. We ended up going to the mall across the street so she could look in a store she wanted to. We then went to Village Inn. I was hoping to talk to her here. I didn't have the chance. We were seated next to an obnoxious loud guy. I couldn't even hear myself think. I thought that it would be okay because we had a long drive home. The second we got in the car Jorja asked if it would be okay if she slept on the way home. I was pretty disappointed. I kind of talked to her a bit, but I didn't get to have the conversation I felt I needed. I have been feeling so anxious about this.

When we got home we watched a Goldbergs and played Jackbox as a family. Jorja worked on her English project while we were doing this. She had to make a soundtrack for the Secret Life of Bees. She had to pick songs that fit the story and write a paragraph about why that song would be included in the soundtrack. She finished, but it looked miserable. Although she probably enjoyed that project. At least she enjoyed it more than any of my other kids would.

Jorja had told us that her favorite hug is when she is hugging someone and they put their head on her head. Here is Stockton trying to give her her favorite hug. I'm pretty sure she regrets telling him that. Ha! The kids would not sit still for me to get a picture, so this is the best I have.

Jorja, Stockton, Preston

Fixing Things

I was in a really bad mood this morning. I tried not to let what happen with Jorja last night bother me, but I couldn't help it. I knew she had lied to me and I don't know how to deal with people without facing the problem head on. I think that is a big difference between me and Jorja. She runs away from her problems and doesn't want to think/talk about them. I can't. I know it can be awkward sometimes, but if something is bothering me I have to have a conversation with that person. My eyes kept filling up with tears all morning long. I kept thinking that the relationship I had with Jorja was not real. I was so hurt. Jorja was sitting on the stairs and Mike sat next to her. I could hear them whispering. He basically said that I knew more about her first kiss with Conner than she realized and I knew more about her kiss with Traven than she realized. (I asked Jorja right before she went to bed last night if there was anything she hadn't told me. Specifically relating to Conner and Traven. She said she had told me everything, which I knew wasn't true.) She started crying and told Mike that she didn't want me to think she was a bad kid. Jorja ended up writing me a note telling me everything. The stupid thing is, why would she think I would think she was bad? I know who she is. Even when she makes mistakes, I know her heart. Anyway, our family played another escape room game which helped things between Jorja and I. That game was HARD. The puzzles were crazy. It was really fun though. After the game Jorja and I went to pick up Hailey to look for Sweetheart dresses. On the way to Hailey's house I said to Jorja, "You know we are going to have a long conversation tonight, don't you?" She knew. Although I'm writing about this, I hope anyone reading this doesn't think Jorja is a bad kid. I was mostly frustrated that Jorja lied to me. She had told me her first kiss with Conner was when he dropped her off after decorating for Homecoming. I found out they had actually gone to a movie together and he kissed her in the movie theater. Jorja wasn't 16, so that is why she hid this fact from me. It just made me really, really, really mad.

Jorja, Hailey and I went to Fashion Place Mall. Sherry had told me that Dillards would be a good place to look for dresses and they were having a sale. It was crazy in there. Jorja tried on a lot of dresses. The white one was her favorite. It is one size bigger than she usually wears, so we aren't sure about it. The lady helping us said she couldn't look to see if they have any zeros at other stores because of their sale. She said to come back tomorrow. We ended up buying the white dress. Dillards has a 30 day return policy, that way she can keep looking for something better, but she has something if she needs it.

Jorja ~ Cute, but she wanted a dress that would twirl

 This is the one we got. She wants to wear red heels and lipstick.

Another choice

Jorja was getting pretty dehydrated. We hurried to the food court and asked a random store for water. Luckily they were okay getting us some without buying anything. Jorja really wanted to go to the Cheesecake Factory. I took the dress out to the car and went to meet her there. That place was packed. I didn't even put our name on the list, I didn't want to stay that long. Right as I got there I got a message from Jorja to check my Snap. This is the picture she sent me.

Jorja & Sherry

Haha! Jorja found her Aunt Sherry at the mall! I hurried over to say hi to them. Matt and Sherry were both there. That was fun. We ended up driving home and picking up some Panda Express on the way. Scoop and Cori came up soon after we arrived home. They brought Christmas presents for the kids. They spoiled them this year! They each got gift cards. I think Preston's was from Amazon and the other kids' were Visas. They also got something to put their cell phones in while they drive. Socks of course. Preston got a pocket knife. Jorja got makeup bags. Maysen got an oven mitt. Stockton got missionary stuff. There were other things in there too. It was super nice of them. We just gave Scoop a chocolate Wonder Woman. Mike was so proud of that find. (If you look behind Hailey in this picture, you can see a count down clock on Stockton's picture. That is the number of days we have with him until he goes into the MTC. The kids gave that to me to use when Stockton is on his mission. I don't think I'm going to want to look at that at all in the beginning, it will be too overwhelming. It will be great when he is on the downward stretch though!)

Jorja & Hailey

 Maysen, Preston, Mike

 Jorja trying on her dress for Scoop and Cori

Jorja and I talked for a few hours tonight. It was a great conversation. I am convinced she has told me everything now. It was really interesting to listen to her explain what she was thinking. Like she would tell me different things, but she would also tell me what her thought process was during different events. I don't know why she was so scared to talk to me. I haven't punished her for anything except if she doesn't tell me the truth or hides things from me. I think she is so worried about disappointing me. Doesn't she know that I want to know the real Jorja? I told her that I know it seems weird to talk to her mom about this stuff, but I wish she would come to me for advice over her friends. Mike and I are people that she can always trust to have her best interests at heart. We don't have any agenda. We just want what is best for her and would be able to help her navigate high school so much better. I think after tonight she is truly understanding that. At least I hope she is. I think both Jorja and I felt a lot better after our conversation. I hope now she will trust me.

New Years Eve

I took Jorja and Madison shopping looking for Sweetheart dresses today. We went down to City Creek. It was pretty fun. These are my two favorite dresses Jorja tried on.

Jorja

 I think I like this one best

Madison and Jorja

The blue dress was pretty big on Jorja. She didn't end up getting a dress. She didn't love any of them. Her ideal dress would be sea foam green, lacy, to her knees and would twirl. She sure has ideas, too bad she can't find the dress to match. We hurried home so Jorja could get to work on time. Madison hung out with her while she got ready. Jorja left for work and I took Madison home. I ended up talking to her for two hours outside her house. I really like Madison. She has been such a great friend to Jorja.

Stockton was gone by the time I got home. He went to John's house to hang out with him before he leaves in two days. Ahhhh! That's crazy! I'm so glad Stockton is leaving at the end of this month! I would not be emotionally ready yet! Stockton had a great time playing games and came home ten minutes before midnight. I can't tell you how happy that made me. I didn't talk to him at all about when I wanted him home. But he wanted to spend his last New Years with us. I didn't get a family picture, but I got this cute video of Stockton.

Jorja hung out with her Chick-Fil-A friends after work. She was given specific instructions about how she needed to tell me if she went anywhere else and she needed to be home by 11:30. She texted and asked if she could stay later. Nope. She said she didn't have a way back to her car because they were at a different house. Woah. She did not tell me she went anywhere else, which is stupid because I wouldn't care. I don't know who one random person is verses the other, I just want to know where she is. If I can't trust her to be honest and follow through on directions on little things, how can I trust her on the big ones? I made her get a ride to her car and come home. She started crying as soon as she got inside. I was annoyed. She can't handle if I get frustrated with her. If I try and correct her on anything she takes it as I'm super disappointed in her and her life is ruined. She's a bit dramatic sometimes. I was sad because this was my last New Years Eve with my family and it ended in tears. I didn't even get a picture. At least I got the video. I love how it shows Stockton's personality. Well, 2018 is now officially over. Hopefully 2019 will be wonderful. I am sure going to miss Stockton.