Christmas for Two

Stockton sent us this picture of Alyssa noticing the pencil sharpener. It has been a long joke about how unobservant the Millburn are. None of us noticed the pencil sharpener that is outside, but all of our spouses noticed it first thing. I think Bubs is the exception to us. Anyway, Stockton got a kick when Alyssa noticed the pencil sharpener. Alyssa also got all of her classes back, so that is a relief.

Alyssa

New tables at Alta

Mike, Stockton and Alyssa all got back from the cabin today. Stockton and Alyssa hung out with us for awhile. Maysen was able to give them her present. She got them a duffel bag she was really excited about. It actually was a super nice present. More pricey than a regular duffel bag, but she has enjoyed having a job so she can do things like this. Anyway, everyone borrows Maysen's duffel bag she got at the Overstock warehouse when we first moved here. She wasn't able to find the exact one, but she found one from the same brand. Mike and I gave them a router they will be able to use in their apartment. We are planning on giving them either a couch or a washer/dryer... they will let us know what they decide.

Stockton, Maysen, Alyssa

Mike and I went up to Alyssa's house and watched Stockton and Alyssa open their wedding presents. That was really fun. People are generous and very nice. Stockton said it was like Christmas but every present was for him. Hahaha

Stockton

Stockton and Alyssa stayed at her parents house tonight. Mike and I drove home exhausted. Long day, especially for Mike. Also... enjoy some random photos of Jorja's eye therapy homework. She has things taped like this around the house. Whatever works to get those eyes fixed!

Mayson

I hurried and packed on my lunch break. After school Preston met me in the counseling office. We went to the West Jordan library and picked up a book he needed for his research paper in English. Once we got home Maysen and I went to the store and bought groceries. Although I realized my credit card expired yesterday and Jorja had my new card up in Logan. Maysen bought the groceries today. Glad she could do that for me. We stopped by the flower shop on our way back and Maysen was able to get a free flower. She was cute. We walked in and she said, "Hi, my name's Maysen and I never expected to see my name on your sign." Haha. They asked her what her favorite color was. Maysen told them her favorite flower color was yellow. So cute.

Maysen

We left shortly after I got home. On our way to the cabin I texted Stockton to ask him how he did on his data structures class. He texted back that he had just finished and got 77/78! Wow! He was so nervous about this test and studied SO HARD. Glad he was rewarded for all of his hard work. So proud of him!

We got to the cabin around 10:30. There were only patches of snow. We were able to drive up to the top, but Jorja's bug wasn't able to make it. Jorja was already there with her friends. Davis, Nathan, Hannah, Jillian and Sydney. They all seem really nice. I made Jorja do her eye therapy. She has four exercises she needs to do. I held a paper up for her while she had to use the grid to answer questions. There was the eye glasses one. I tried the glasses on again and realized that when I closed one eye all the letters/numbers with the white background disappeared. When I closed the other eye the other ones disappeared. That is because my eyes work together. Jorja can get them to appear when she concentrates really hard, but when she does everything else disappears. Crazy. She also does this weird string exercise where she has to concentrate on a bead until the string appears in an X. Anyway, so glad she is going to be able to fix her eyes! 

Jorja and her friends watched The Lego Movie in the basement. The girls are sleeping in the double bunkbed room downstairs and the boys are sleeping in the lava room. Preston is in the water heater room for the first time. He looked so cozy tucked in bed. Mike and I are in the sponge room. Maysen stayed home this time. Stockton is going to enjoy conference at the Bungalow, especially with his data structures 98% test he nailed today.

Last Minute Jazz Game

Today was a fun day. I spent the morning working on a book review Covenant sent me. About 1:30 Debie texted me and asked if I would like to go to the Jazz game with them tonight. She is going with Savannah and Katie. Wow! I didn't expect that! I had even planned on watching the BYU alumni game instead of the Jazz game. My plans instantly changed. So, this is how my day ended up turning out. I left about 2:15 and went to the mall to pick up Jorja's temple dress from being hemmed. I then met Jorja at her first eye therapy appointment. She didn't want me to come back with her. I waited up front, but had brought my book review I needed to work on. Jorja only showed me one thing when she came out. We were in the parking lot and didn't have a lot of time. She had this paper with letters and numbers that were two inches big. Some had a white background and some had a red. She said, "Mom, this is so weird. Put these glasses on and read what is in the red." The glasses had two different color lenses. I put them on and read them quickly. She was surprised that I didn't struggle at all. She said that when she puts the glasses on, everything in the red boxes disappears. Anyway, she is going to show me more when we are at the cabin this weekend.

Jorja wanted to do initiatories while she was down here. We both had appointments for 4:30. Right before she left Logan she changed hers to 5:00 because she was worried she wouldn't have enough time. I wasn't able to get mine changed. I gave her my credit card and told her to fill her car up with gas and she could meet me there. I went to the temple first and waited for her until she was finished. Jorja said this is the sixth time she went to the temple this month. She has been to the Logan Temple twice, the Draper Temple twice, and also to the Gilbert Temple and the Seattle Temple. Nicely done Porge!

Stephanie & Jorja

I hurried home, ate real quick and then headed to Salt Lake. I got there about ten minutes before I was supposed to meet my cousins, so that was great. Cell phones are awesome. We found each other pretty easily. I sent this picture to my brothers.

Stephanie, Debie, Katie, Savannah

I also sent this one. Savannah, Katie, Debie, Stephanie

The game ended nicely!

Tonight was so much fun. Spending time with Jorja in the temple, seeing my cousins which was awesome! And top it all off with a Jazz win. Just the best. I got home about 11:00. My plan had been to be all packed for the cabin tomorrow so we could leave right when I got home from work. That is not going to happen, but it will be okay. I'm glad I was able to see some of my Idaho cousins. It was a lot of fun. Crazy they are driving back tonight. Even crazier Katie is teaching first grade tomorrow. She is a trouper!

Jorja Sees Out

I met Jorja at the eye doctor today. This is a different eye doctor. This is the third different eye doctor we have taken her to since November. Jorja has complained for a long time that she can't see. She says words move on the page. I remember her asking me if she had dyslexia years ago. Faces move when she looks at them. She sees colors, like static on a tv everywhere. She has complained about this often, but has really started complaining about it when she went to Utah State. Over Christmas Jorja and I went to get new glasses. When they checked our insurance they saw that Jorja went to a different eye doctor in Logan a few weeks after seeing them. They were asking her about it. Jorja burst into tears and said that she can't see. She is so tired of not being able to see. She doesn't ever remember seeing correctly. The doctor took her back and did another exam. That was nice, but still..... nothing was fixed. Sometime in January Jorja randomly stopped by Ella's house. She was taking with her mom and telling her about how words would move on the page when she read and all the things. Ella's mom said that sounded like what her son dealt with. He found a doctor that did visual therapy and it completely fixed it. Jorja was dumbfounded. Fixed it. Like fixed it, fixed it. Yep. Jorja was so excited. We called the office but were unable to get an appointment until today. When Jorja was filling out the paperwork, she knew she was in the right place. They were asking questions about things she has dealt with her entire life. The funny thing is Jorja put 20 on her score. 20-24 is suspect. 25 or more needs treatment. Jorja added the columns wrong. She would have gotten the same score if she put zeros on everything the way she added. There were 20 questions which is why she got 20. Jorja's real score was 46.

They brought us back to the doctor's office. His name is Jarrod Davies and he was fantastic. Plus he had lots of cool stuff in his office. I only took pictures of a few things. Nice throwback Trappers jersey. He told me he loves it because Trappers were the team he grew up watching.

Detmer

Jimmer

Dr. Davies & Jorja

Jorja absolutely loved this appointment. Dr. Davies knew exactly what she was talking about. He diagnosed Jorja with Convergence Insufficiency. He said it was the easiest diagnosis he has ever done. And yet no one eyes ever found it. Dr. Davies said that was because they didn't know what to look for. Basically Jorja's eyes see out. Most people can go out to 15 when they look to the side. Jorja's eyes go to 19. Most people can go in farther than Jorja's eyes can. I can't remember the numbers on those. They had Jorja take more tests and then we met with Dr. Davies again. Throughout this entire process we were asked several times if Jorja had ever had a concussion. She hasn't. I'm guessing her symptoms mimic a concussion. Kind of scary, but glad Jorja has never had one of those.

Don't know what is happening, but they are gathering data on Jorja's eyes

When we were back with Dr. Davies he gave her glasses that had one blue lens and one red lens. Jorja was supposed to tell him which of the four dots was closer. She said she couldn't tell, but one dot would change from blue to red to blue to red. He said that is because her eyes fight and do not work together when she tries to see far away. Seeing closer is worse. He had her hold something and asked her what number the red line was on. She said uhhhhhhhh. It was going from two to six to two to six. Anyways, long story short... Jorja needs eye therapy. The hardest part is going to find time for her to fix her eyes before her mission. With living in Logan, than going to Italy, then Costa Rica, then fsy, then on her mission..... But it should fix her eyes permanently. Just like that. Jorja was positively beaming after the appointment. She has hope. I sat in the office watching her being tested and tried not to cry. I had no idea how bad it was. I can not believe how well she has succeeded while dealing with this. Graduating high school with a 3.9 while not being able to see? How I wish we would have found this doctor when she was in elementary school. Or middle school. She lived like this for 19 1/2 years. I'm so sorry baby girl.

Jorja drove back to Logan after the appointment. I stopped at Kneaders on the way home and picked up some food. I got Maysen a cinnamon roll that was as big as her face. Haha

Maysen

Preston & Bear