NEW GARAGE DOORS!!!

This calls for a celebration! You wouldn't think it would be so exciting, but our old garage doors were B-A-D. Mike texted his work to let them know he would be coming in a bit late because of the doors. People texted back about how that is number 9,341 on their to-do list. Mike sent them a pictures of our doors and asked if theirs looked like this. And note, none of the doors worked. They wrote back 'you win'. Yes, this needed to be done. Not a fun thing, but very needed.

Old, rotten, broken garage doors - one propped up with a garbage can

I was at school proctoring a psychology test during the beginning of the day. Eight kids. Super easy. Sydni Smith was in my room. I told her that my daughter had been trying to kill her. (in the assassin game) She laughed and said she had been doing an excellent job of hiding.

It has begun . . . 

 Progress

 The new doors!

Yay! Yay! Yay! This looks so much better. Our garage sits on a hill and when you come down the street this is the view our neighbors see. I don't know why they set up the house this way. I wish it was flip flopped. Anyway, I am so happy. We also have working remotes. WORKING! And a working keypad. W-O-R-K-I-N-G! Life is good!

Deer

I went visiting teaching early this morning. I met Megan at her house and we walked until Jacqui met us. Javita cancelled at the last moment. It was really fun and nice. I saw Stockton and Jorja at the bus stop. Glad they made it off. I got home before it was time to wake Preston up. I choked on my way home though. At the crosswalk there was a family of deer. They waited patiently until I stopped walking and a car stopped. Then the entire family crossed the street right in front of me. Why didn't I get a picture? It was so cool! They looked like a human family out on a walk. This same family made it into our backyard. The little baby deer was on our pool cover for awhile drinking water. I snapped a picture as it was getting off. They don't like for me to get too close. The mom and dad were at the back by the fence.

Baby deer on pool cover

Jorja had two softball games today. She got to play catcher, so she was pleased with that. She is getting better at throwing off her helmet when there is a foul ball. She also got her first hit in this league. Granted she hadn't been up to bat for a long time. She did great. It is so much fun to watch her play.

Jorja and Raina are the team captains

 Jorja

 Jorja catching

Jorja's first hit of the season

Mike, Jorja and I met Shay and her dad at Cold Stone. It was fun and delicious. We were pretty exhausted by the time we got home. School is tomorrow. Yikes!

Stephanie's House

We drove a couple of hours to Villa Rica this morning. I stopped by Mirror Lake Elementary to see if Mrs. Catlin was there. The school was locked up. I guess they start on Monday. Next, I tried my house. I knocked on the door and asked Shelby if her mom was there. Stephanie saw me from the bridge. She gave a gasp and said she would be right down. Shelby invited me in. I asked her if she knew who I was. She didn't. I asked Alyssa if she remembered me. She didn't. I told them, "I'm Jorja's mom." Alyssa got a big smile on her face. Both of the girls knew who I was then. It was fun to see Stephanie. I didn't get to see her last time I came down. It was also fun to see the house. Rachel said later that she was surprised about how many memories came back to her and she just visited here. On the way down here we were talking about how Rachel took care of me during one of my surgeries. After my mastectomy I needed to have some reconstruction surgery done. Rachel was living in Alabama for six months while Brett was in basic training. Rachel came to help while I had my second surgery. On the way to the hospital Rachel called up and said the school had Maysen and Stockton in the office and both of them were sick. I was shocked because I had no idea they were even a little sick when I sent them to school. I called Janet Lott and she picked up the kids and brought them to Rachel. Rachel said Maysen was easy. She asked for a bucket then went and laid in her bed upstairs. Stockton on the other hand was a different story. He did not want to lay in his bed and he wouldn't acknowledge Rachel. He kept walking in circles around the family room. Rachel kept trying to get him to walk around the kitchen so he would be on tile. He wouldn't listen to her. Stockton threw up THIRTEEN times on the carpet! Rachel was newly pregnant with her first child (Marie). What an introduction to motherhood!

Anyways, it was so much fun to spend time with Stephanie. She was so nice to let us just barge in on her. We were there longer than I planned because it is so hard to go. It was really nice to be able to catch up with her. When we came last year we found out that they had reorganized the ward and we would be meeting down in Carrolton if we still lived here. Teresa would still be in our ward. Stephanie said they reorganized it again and they are now meeting somewhere else. I can't remember. Temple maybe? They aren't in Teresa's ward anymore. That would be hard on me.

Stephanie & Stephanie

 Alyssa, Stephanie, Stephanie

The girls loved it there. Stephanie's girls were so nice to them. Joslyn and Lily specifically. Joslyn took the girls up to her room and shared all of her toys and let the girls play dress up. Rachel was really impressed. I think this is the first time I met Joslyn. She was born after we moved. She is five now. Lily was Preston's age. It was her birthday today. She was super nice to the girls as well.

Marie

 Jorja's old room

Joslyn, Marie, Mina, Grace

 Eve & Lily

 Joslyn & Marie

 Lily, Joslyn, Grace, Marie, Mina

The stop at my old house put us way behind schedule. I'm so glad Rachel humored me though. I sure loved it here and I loved seeing Stephanie and her family. Today was a long driving day. We didn't have any car problems, but we did have to drive through a Georgia rain storm. They just come out of nowhere. We arrived at Brett and Rachel's new house right after midnight. Three long days in the car. Brett and Rachel's new house is awesome. It is the biggest house they have ever had. There are three big rooms with big closets. There is a nice kitchen and a two car garage. They are going to love it here.

Eve

Brett had little gifts next to where each girl was sleeping. Here is Mina with a skim board and a barbie. Marie got a boogie board. Grace and Eve got sand toys and Rachel got a scooter. (Rachel had left her scooter in Idaho and was really sad about it. She thought that would be something she could do with Mina and her broken arm, since she won't be allowed to swim in the ocean.)

Mina

 Brett even got me a beach towel!

Brett has a air mattress set up for me in the front room. It is going to be nice not to be in the car tomorrow! Stockton took his biology final today. He got a 115 out of 125. I think he is done with summer school now. He must be so happy!

Our Georgia Home

I am really behind on my blog, which is frustrating.  For some reason I could not get the pictures from my phone onto my computer.  I have A LOT of pictures.  Anyway, this day was a great day.  Stockton received a text in the morning from Josh asking if he had checked his AP scores. We logged on to see their results.  The scores are released by state and Utah is in the first batch.  The website wouldn't let us check our score because it said it could tell we weren't in Utah.  That's obnoxious.  I called my dad and had him log into the website and check the scores. Maysen and Stockton passed all of their tests!  Yay!  Maysen had English Literature, US Government and something like World Government.  Stockton had Calculus and World History.  Glad that is over with!

We made it to Georgia today.  Georgia welcomed us with traffic.  It took us about 25 minutes to go the three miles from I-285 onto I-20.  I don't miss that at all!  We got to Villa Rica about ten minutes before 4.  We planned to have some friends over for ice-cream at our old house at 4:00.  Stephanie texted me a few days ago and said they decided last minute to go to Utah, but Tim would leave the door open for us.

Jorja brought Horizon on this trip

 Horizon

We stopped to pick up ice-cream at Publix.  This kids were so excited to go and get a free cookie.  Every time they came grocery shopping with me we would stop by the bakery first and pick up a free cookie.  They thought it was the greatest.

 Maysen, Jorja, Preston, Stockton

 Preston adding the Georgia sticker

 Our house!!!

Mike's office is now a playroom.  The first thing the kids did is slide down the slide.  We left this slide with them when we moved.  They weren't living in our house at the time.  Preston was so sad we left this six years ago.

Preston & Jorja

 Jorja and Maysen

 Stockton & Maysen

The kids had a great time exploring and seeing what is the same and what is different.  All the rooms have been painted.  Our playroom is a bedroom.  The reading corner, rock climbing wall and dog house are still there.

Jorja

 Preston

 Preston loves the dog house!

A few of our old friends were able to stop by.  Jennifer Montgomery came over first.  She only stayed for a bit.  I did not know that they are in the process of moving!  Maysen and I were so happy that Tito and Jakob came!  Jakob was one of Maysen's very favorite friends when we lived here.  He was probably the last friend she saw before we moved. She has missed him a lot.  The Dotson's and the Roth's also came. Teresa and Weston were able to come and Stockton's friends Nicolas and Taylor stopped by.  It was a hard day for people to come because a lot of our friends were out of town for the 4th of July.

Jorja

 Tito, Jakob, Rae, Maysen

 Jakob & Maysen ~ I love this picture!

 Stephanie & Tito ~ So happy she could make it!

 Weston, Stockton, Moses

 Stephanie and Teresa!  I don't like her at all! :)

 Daniel, Stephanie, Ruthann, Joseph

We had a lot of fun recreating older pictures.  This was the day we moved.  I'm pretty sure Jerome took this picture.

Preston, Maysen, Stephanie, Mike, Stockton, Jorja

 Today!

 Here's my instagram picture.  Easier to see.

The kids played outside while I was busy gabbing with my friends. They were jealous of the trampoline in the backyard.  They have been working on trying to get me to buy a tramp for years!

Jorja & Stockton

Nicolas

 Nicolas, Stockton, Jorja, Preston, Moses

Stockton's friends Nicolas and Taylor came to see him.  Although Nicolas told me he goes by Nick now.  I'm having a hard time with that. I asked when that happened.  Fifth grade.  That was when we moved. Nicolas and Taylor are twins.  They live one street over from us. Stockton would cut through Jaz's yard to get to their house.  Luckily Jaz's family didn't mind.  I was hoping to see them, but they are in Florida right now.

 Stockton, Taylor, Nicolas

 Nicolas, Taylor, Stockton

 I couldn't believe how big this hedge was.

 Stephanie

We decided to drive by the elementary school and were so glad we did. We had a lot of fun walking around there.

Mirror Lake Elementary

 Maysen, Jorja, Stockton

Every day the kids had to say the Mirror Lake pledge.  They still remember it.

I quickly looked up pictures I had taken years before.  It was fun to try and recreate them.  The kids have sure grown!

Jorja, Stockton, Maysen

 Jorja

 After we took this picture we realized she was on the wrong side

 We made Jorja take it again

 Stockton

 Maysen

 Wrong side for Maysen too

 Maysen

 Stephanie, Maysen, Jorja, Stockton

Stockton, Jorja and Preston hopped the fence to play on the playground.  I had pictures of them that they are recreating, but it looks like I forgot to add them.  Maybe I'll do that later, but I'm way to tired to fix that now.

 Stockton

 Preston

 Jorja

 Stockton was so nice to help his sister get back over the fence.

Preston, Jorja, Stockton

We stopped at Mason Creek Middle School next.  We don't have as many memories here.  Maysen only went here one year and didn't have a good experience.  She did have a memory brick that we had gotten her and we wanted to find it.

 Maysen at Mason Creek

 There's her brick

 Maysen

 Mike and Maysen overlooking the moat at the front of the school

 I don't know why they have a moat, but it sure looks like one

Our next stop was Stevi B's.  This was a request from the kids before we even left Utah.  They love Stevi B's and have missed it.  It's like Pizza Pie Cafe, but better.  Potato pizza is my favorite.

Preston, Jorja, Maysen, Stockton

 Jorja, Preston, Maysen, Mike, Stockton

We drove to Teresa's house and spent the rest of the night with her. Their house is lovely and the basement is so fun!  We were able to see Jerome there, he wasn't able to get home from work in time to come to our house.  We parked our motorhome in their driveway for the night. We had such a fun day today.  It was perfect.