Beard Trim

I dropped off Preston at school and got back just in time to take Stockton to his haircut. I scheduled him a haircut/beard trim with Dylan. He has cut Preston's hair the last two times and I really liked him. Dylan spent over an hour on Stockton. He did a great job. I had never heard of a beard trim before and didn't know what to expect, but I think Stockton's beard looks so much better. His haircut looks great too.

Dylan & Stockton

We then drove down to Salt Lake to pick up Stockton's last diving check. Glad Stockton was able to do that this summer. Next stop was the bank and then breakfast. The breakfast place looked too crowded so we decided to go somewhere else. Meanwhile Stockton was looking at his bank account and realized one check got put in twice. So, back to the bank we went. We got that straightened out and now the lunch places had started to open. Stockton and I ate at 5 Guys to finish up our adventure.

Stockton

We played a lot of Dominion tonight and Stockton dominated. Here is an example.

I Can See His Face!

I was so excited today when the BYU/Costal Carolina game was announced. BYU is playing in South Carolina on Saturday. Wow! Spoiler alert... it doesn't end well. The hype up to this game was so fun. Wish BYU would have played better and gotten one extra yard.

Preston got a haircut today! FINALLY! He had a haircut at the beginning of August, but it wasn't as short as I was hoping, and was soon in his eyes all the time again. I missed seeing his face! Not a problem anymore!

Dylan and Preston

Preston

Jorja had a spirit night at Village Baker. We stuffed ourselves. Jorja ate with us then headed off with her friends. They went to see the Draper Christmas lights I think. It was supposed to be all their friends, but it ended up being just Jorja and Riley. Oh well, at least they tried. This picture isn't from Village Baker, but it is the only other picture I have. Pretty sure she's in student government.

Ella, Jorja, Vivian

On a side note, Stockton didn't call today. I walked around with my phone by me the entire day, but he didn't call. I wondered if he was too busy. Turns out that he is no longer allowed to call home on Thursdays anymore. Too bad they didn't tell the missionaries earlier so they could let their families know on Monday. Haha. Oh well, it was a great run. He still gets to call home on Monday though! Crazy to think when he left we thought we would only be able to talk to him four times in two years! So glad that changed, so no complaints here!

Thank

Jorja slept over at Brynlee and Chloee's house last night. She went to the concert with Brynlee. She went straight from their house to a hair appointment. She wanted a trim and a touch up on her color. This is the picture she sent me after she was done.

Jorja

Jorja also got together with some of her friends from Taiwan. They had lunch together and she was so happy to see them again. She went straight from lunch to work. So, we didn't see her today. Mike and I went down to work and sat at our 'stalking table' so we could see her for a bit. She closed today, but came home and played Minecraft with Maysen and Preston.

I put together a missionary binder for Jorja. She is going to have lots of friends going on missions and their emails get buried. I printed out all the letters she has been sent. She has some great exchanges with Stockton. For example, one email she sent just said 'Hey'. Stockton wrote back, 'Johnny Johnny is a good meme." One email she just wrote 'Thank' and Stockton wrote back 'Sure.' Weirdos. They do have some longer ones too. Anyway, I made page dividers for Stockton and Mackie. This is what they look like.

Short Hair

Jorja has been after me for a few weeks to get her hair cut. She wanted short hair, but still wanted it light on the bottom. Kelsee has done Jorja's hair the last few times, but she is on a mission now. I talked to Camee (Kelsee's mom) and got a name of someone to go to. Camee has gone to her for 15 years. And she is super close! Her name is Talisia. Jorja liked her, but now I can't find the picture I took of the two of them together.

Jorja: Before

 Jorja & Talisia

 Hair

 Jorja asked for it to be shorter than this, but this is when I went home.

 Mike. I made him take a picture. Hahahaha

 Okay, now back to the Jorja show.

 She loves it.

 This was my favorite picture.

 This was Jorja's.

Jorja went and got frozen yogurt with a girl named Mallory that she works with. One of Mallory's friends was there too.

Mallory & Jorja

Jorja Gets Her Ears Pierced

Yesterday Sherry gave me the handprints she made for Amy and Blakely. I dropped off Amy's today.

Jorja has wanted to get her ears pierced for a long time. She has been so scared. I brought her last August to get it done. She lasted almost five seconds before she started panicking and needed to leave. I wasn't sure if she was going to go through with it this time, but I told her if she wanted to wear earrings to sweethearts she would need to get them pierced today. We drove down to Salt Lake to a piercing studio. I trusted them more than somewhere in the mall. The wait was LONG. We filled out the paperwork, gave them our phone number, then left to find somewhere to wait. Jorja did not want to wait in the studio. I wasn't familiar with the area, so we ended up just walking around a Smith's. I was about 50/50 on whether she would go through with this. I don't care if she has her ears pierced at all, I just know she really wanted to get it done.

Jorja waiting to get her ears pierced.

A guy named Frank pierced her ears. He was good at calming her down. Although after he pierced the first one he told her she couldn't take her earrings out for six months. Jorja was mad. She said if she went through all this she wanted to wear her earrings to sweethearts. I have no idea how to get the studs off, they don't have a real back. I'm worried if she tries she won't be able to get them back on. Well, if Jorja would have not walked out of the studio back in August she could wear her own earrings to sweethearts and prom.

Jorja & Frank

 Frank & Jorja

1st ear ~ he had to get Jorja to slow down her breathing, but she did it.

The needle he pierced her ear with stays in her ear. Interesting.

 One down, one to go.

Jorja did not like this at all. She survived though. She said the second ear hurt a lot. Not sure if it was because she knew more of what to expect. I'm glad she didn't walk out after only one ear was done though. I did like this place though. Frank changed his gloves constantly. I liked that.

Frank & Jorja

2nd ear

Success! Jorja & Frank

 There it is. I think she picked out good studs though, especially since she needs to wear them for six months.

 Jorja makes me laugh

We got back just in time for Jorja to get to work. We are celebrating Christmas tomorrow, so today is Christmas Eve for us. With Jorja at work, it is going to be a simple celebration. I took the kids to Chick-Fil-A to bother Jorja, and because Stockton wanted to go there. We only saw her for a hot second though. Next stop was Fantastic Sams. I had checked the website to see the hours and knew they were open late. Too bad when we got there they were closed. There was a hand made sign on the door. We tried Super Cuts and struck out there too. We did manage to get Mike a Christmas present. The kids wanted to get him the Zelda game for the Switch. I didn't know when we would get Preston a haircut, but Mike scheduled him online at Great Clips and got in. We hurried him down there. His haircut looks great! Once Jorja got back we opened the traditional Christmas jammies. Mike and I picked out Christmas cactus jammies in honor of Stockton going to Arizona next month.

Stockton, Stephanie, Mike, Jorja, Preston, Maysen

 My babies! Stockton, Jorja, Preston, Maysen

The kids have a tradition of sleeping in the same room on Christmas Eve. They also listen to Shrek Twelve Days of Christmas over and over. It is weird. I couldn't find their CD; but never fear, Preston was here to save the day. Preston found the song on Youtube, figured out how to have it play on a loop through a speaker. So, the lucky kids were still able to listen to that weird song all night long. The kids all slept in the boys room. Jorja was on a beanbag and Maysen was on the pull out bed. Last Christmas they will be able to do that.

Preston ~ I love his new haircut

Rabbit of Seville

Welp. Stockton's hair is gone. Stockton is getting ready to turn in his mission papers and needed to submit a mission photo. I tried to find a picture that would work, I even teased Jorja asking if she could photoshop his sterling scholar picture. Mike said that would be lying on his mission papers and wasn't a good idea. Anyway, today was haircut day.

Stockton ~ before

 Seriously.

Stockton watched the Rabbit of Seville while Mike attempted to shave him.

Mike & Stockton

 Stockton on his way to show Jorja his haircut.

 Stockton ~ after sideburn shave

Once his sideburns were off we went to Fantastic Sams to get an official missionary haircut. There wasn't a line, so that was great. In and out and nobody got hurt. Except for Stockton's hair.

Stockton and the haircutter

We picked up pizza, dropped Stockton's phone off to be repaired and then headed over to Gavin's house. Stockton hid behind the door while I knocked. Gavin was surprised, his sisters were more surprised. One of the girls jaw was open for a long time. It was funny.

Stockton ~ after

Maysen really wanted to go to the temple as a family. She wanted Stockton to baptize her. I forgot to tell this to Stockton and he left his recommend on his desk in Logan. Or so we thought. I told Stockton to bring home his laundry and I would do it for him. I found his recommend this morning in his church pants! Yay! We were able to do a family temple trip after all! We decided to take Stockton's mission picture while we were here. We were disappointed that he left his monkey tie up in Logan. He loves that tie. Stockton borrowed one of Mike's ties today. That worked out well because they didn't want any animals on ties for the picture. Dodged a bullet there!

Maysen, Jorja, Stockton (Stockton reminds me of Taylor in this picture.)

 Stockton ~ this is the picture he sent to the church office, just cropped a little more

 Stockton and Mike (notice the pale skin where Stockton's sideburns were)

Stockton baptized all of us, even me. That was cool. Stockton did great with all the crazy names. He also had some funny ones. A lot of girl names that were boy names, if that makes sense. Like Thomasia. It was funny. We went home to pick up Preston and change out of our church clothes. Mike did a quick check of the duck house with Preston.

Mike & Preston 

 Preston in the duck house.

Then we headed to Iceburg. . . where Jorja curled her hair.

Jorja also had to do a quick change into her Chick-Fil-A clothes, but we got her to work on time. Stockton's phone is no longer cracked. He came home and finished his mission papers. The last thing he did was hit the 'yes' button that said his mental/physical health information was accurate. Once he did that red words popped up that said "Recommendation has been submitted." That was kind of anticlimactic.

Stockton has an appointment with the bishop tomorrow morning and with the stake president at 5:00 tomorrow night. This mission thing is moving along. Stockton hung out with his dive friends the rest of the night. I'm glad he was able to see them. They have been good for him.