Teaching with Kanani

Brenton Valentine and Will Waddoups had their mission farewells today. It was fun seeing them up together. They both did great. Jorja sat with her friends in the back instead of the front with us. That was okay. She was excited to see Packer there. I hurried out of there quick to get to my class. We had an in-person hour long class for the first time in a long time. Kanani was there for the first time. It went great! It was nice to have that much time. Kanani was awesome. The comments she made added to my lesson. The kids were great. It was just a really good day. I think I'm going to enjoy teaching with Kanani.

Jorja had many farewells today. She went with Ella to Brock Fabrizio's after. Well, she sat by Ella, his farewell was still in our chapel. Then she went with Ella to Dallin's farewell, which also happened to be Ella's ward. (The Hodson's old ward) Riley was at Dallin's farewell. Jorja said it was awkward to see him cause it is kind of hard to know how to act and she felt like they were being watched by all of their friends. So weird to run into friend missionaries at normal places. Riley was supposed to go to the MTC in Ghana. I kind of think that would have been easier for the both of them.

Jorja made dinner before Mike took off with Bear to the cabin. He is going to spend the week there and work on a dog fence. Glad he made it up there safely.

Bear

Christmas

Christmas at the cabin is the best! We had stockings and Santa presents. Mike and I got a back up camera. Maysen got ear pods, the generic kind. Jorja got a mini photo printer and Preston got a drone. He loved it and Mike and Preston had a lot of fun with that today. Too bad I didn't steal any pictures.

Today revolved around missionaries. Brandon and Erica called this morning. (Brandon also got to call on Monday and Erica got to call yesterday. It was their p-days. Stockton's p-day got changed to today.) Stockton called this afternoon. It was so great to talk to him. He did a video chat. Brandon and Erica do that every week. Stockton usually just calls us. That works great because we get to talk for a long time while both of us are doing stuff. It was nice to actually see him on Christmas though! I found a couple of pictures on Stockton's google photos that were taken yesterday. I don't know which family this is, but I love that they took care of my boy!

Four kids, Stockton on the rocking horse, Elder Kelly

 Stockton and Elder Kelly

 I got this peppermint shot glass and egg nog to put in it. hahaha

 Jacob, Stephanie, Tiny Shannon

While we spent the day talking to missionaries, Weston spent the day building a snow fort. I don't have a picture of the outside for some reason, but here we are enjoying it with him while playing cards. Jacob played with us too. He came out after I took these pictures though.

Preston, Jorja, Weston, Stephanie

Weston, Jorja and Preston all stayed and watched a movie. Mike put on Abominable for them. They were cozy in there. They had grand plans to sleep there, but after the cards and the movie they were ready to come inside.

Jorja, Weston, Preston

Mike, Steve, Jacob and I played two games of pinochle this trip. Both games Mike and I were getting killed, then somehow came back and won. We had Jumanji on in the background while we played. Maybe that helped steal their concentration and catch them off guard. We leave tomorrow. This trip has seemed super fast and really fun. It is so nice to have time to spend with Mike's family. I'm glad two of his siblings were able to come up here and enjoy this time with him. Jorja loves having two cousins in her same grade. Nice that we live in Utah now where she can enjoy them!

Missionary Support Group

Today was weird. I was pretty stressed about dinner tonight. I invited all of the parents in our ward that has a missionary out right now. I was excited for it, but I am not a good host. It scares me. It made me anxious, which made me easily annoyed. Jorja went out to Chick-Fil-A after school with Madison and Spencer. She was not clear in her communication. She took forever to get home. I did not like that. I snapped at her when she got home asking what took so long. I didn't mean to be so on edge, but I was so annoyed that she went to Chick-Fil-A. Especially because I knew Mitchell was working. I felt like she was sneaking to see him. I was also furious because I read one of her happiness notes. I love reading those. Except this one. Her good thing today was that she had a bad day and called Mitchell and he cheered her up. I started wondering when she could have called him. Was that the reason why she was late getting home? I looked at her phone, but there was no record of her calling him. This made me furious. I knew she deleted the record from her phone. The number one rule of her cell phone is she is not allowed to delete anything. I don't know why she was hiding this from me. It is something stupid to hide from me; but if she is trying to gain my trust back doing things like this is definitely not going to help. I ended up talking to her about this, but I can't remember the exact day. Hopefully things like this won't happen again. Anyway, I made her sad without meaning to and that made me frustrated. She had a date tonight with Carter. They had been talking about going to the aquarium together since the summer. I felt so bad that I made her sad before this date. I want her to have a good time, especially since the date is not with Mitchell. I also really like Carter. He has been so nice to Jorja and was such a good friend to her last year. Luckily Jorja was able to have a good time despite me getting her in a bad mood.

Jorja & Joe

 Jorja & Spencer

 Carter & Jorja

 Jorja

Jorja ended up getting home a few minutes before people started coming over for the missionary dinner. That surprised me. Usually she is gone forever! She was excited to make it home in time for lasagna though. Mike does make the best lasagna.

The missionary dinner ended up being a hit. There are a lot of families with missionaries out right now. Only two couldn't make it. The Bartons (Jake) and the Mogensens (Daniel). The families that came were: The Maxfields (Landon), Clarks (Kelsee), Becky Johnson (Isaac), Batemans (Severine), Hayes (Bowie), Covingtons (Jordan), Heaton's (Jaxson & Dylan) and of course Stockton. It was so nice to talk with people who are experiencing all the emotions we are experiencing. Plus it is funny to hear their stories. For example, in Kelsee's mission they are now requiring them to wear orange vests when they ride their bikes or walk at all times. It is hilarious. Something bad must have happened to prompt that change. Ron and Jennifer Covington had to leave early to pick up a ring at the jewelers for their newly returned son Andrew. Looks like he will be getting engaged really soon. He is Maysen's age and that seems crazy. Anyway, tonight was such a fun night. People stayed for about three hours. I wish I had written this blog earlier so I could remember more. I just remember that I loved it and I hope this is a tradition that continues.

Rand Bateman, Jennifer & Ron Covington, Kanani & Monson Hayes, Nellie Bateman, Becky Johnson, Camee & Al Clark, Stephanie Smith

 Becky Johnson, Camee & Al Clark, Mike & Tiffany Mayfield, Stephanie Smith, Rand Bateman

Indonesia John

Preston had to be to church fifteen minutes early and it made me anxious. There was a visiting 70 authority there, so they wanted the boys that were passing the sacrament to be ready. I hurried Mike, Maysen and Preston out the door. I hate being late. I forgot my phone, but didn't worry about it. When I got home from church I saw there was a message from Aubrey asking about going to church with us. I felt soooooo bad! We had talked about it last week and I totally forgot. I texted her an apology and she said she was able to go with someone else. I didn't see her there though.

Stockton and Jorja went to John Lyon's mission farewell. John has become a great friend to Stockton up at Utah State. Jorja is friends with his sister. John goes into the MTC on January 2nd. He is going to Indonesia. He will still be in the MTC when Stockton gets there. Hopefully they will run into each other. It would be awesome for Stockton to find a friendly face there. They went to the Lyon's house after church. Jorja stayed for awhile before she got exhausted. She had driven her bug so she was able to leave and Matt said he would give Stockton a ride home. Matt was John's roommate at Utah State. He came down for the farewell. Stockton was friends with him too. Stockton stayed for several more hours. He came home happy. I'm glad he had a great time.

Yesterday I found out my cousin Justin is getting a divorce. Justin and Lisa were married when I was pregnant with Maysen. So, 21 years. I felt sick to my stomach. Today I contacted Justin's sister to find out if it was really true. Heather and I sent many messages back and forth. Yep, it's true. Heather got a divorce in the summer. I feel so sad for the two of them. Jorja said, "See, this is why I'm scared of marriage." Jorja has a huge fear that she will never get married and if she does her husband will leave her. I talked to Jorja for a long while. I asked her if she thought her dad and I would ever get divorced. She looked at me like I was crazy and said 'of course not,' or something like that. I told her some marriages are wonderful. Some are not. It is sooooo important not to rush into marriage. It is sooooo important to marry the right person. She told me that I sure was lucky. I agree. I don't know why I was blessed to have this perfect marriage for me. I don't know why I was blessed to have the one person I love more than anything in the world love me back. I don't know why I was blessed to have absolutely everything I have ever wanted. All I can think of is it is a tender mercy. Heavenly Father knew I would lose my mom young. I think that is why Mike and I got married so fast after he came home from his mission. My mom was able to be at my wedding. She died nine months later. That was her tender mercy, being able to see one child, her only daughter, get married. I think Heavenly Father knew I would need Mike to handle losing my mom. I am so thankful that Mike is the person I knew him to be. My greatest wish is for my children to stay close to the gospel, always trying their best to do what Heavenly Father would want them to do and to have a marriage like mine. I pray for their future spouses all the time. That they are safe. That they are loved. That they are learning about Heavenly Father and cultivating a desire to live as he would want them to. I hope they can find someone as amazing as Mike. I also hope that they get along with their in-laws. I hope my children will always be as close to each other as they are now. I love my family. I'm so lucky.

Stephanie & Mike

Two Dozen Roses

Yep, that is what was dropped off at our door tonight. Jorja was asked to the Charity Bash, which is the Winter's dance this year. There were two dozen flowers in a vase filled with bubblegum. Jorja dumped out all the gum on our table. Mike, Preston and I all helped her look. The ducks also helped. They were so funny! They were going crazy pecking at all the gum. It made it a little more difficult to notice which wrapper had been messed with. We went through 3/4 of the gum at least before we found the name. A boy named Luke asked Jorja. He is a sophomore. Jorja is excited. She thinks he will be really fun.

 Jorja ~ the ducks are anxious to help

 Jorja with the winning piece!

 Now time to play with ducks.

 Mike

Mike and I went with the missionaries to visit with Brother Anderson. His wife died last year. Mike taught primary with Brother Anderson when we first moved into the ward. Brother Anderson was really excited to find out Mike had been building a pond. He wanted Mike to come and see his. Brother Anderson's pond was amazing. Ours is nothing like his. I wish it had been light enough for pictures because it sure was beautiful!

Globglobgabgalab

Today was such a crazy, busy day. After school I took Jorja to Chick-Fil-A for a job interview. She finished that just in time for me to take Preston to diving. Stockton was staying at school to work on his engineering project. Preston did great at diving. He is getting better at his inwards. Preston and I came home to complete chaos. Stockton and Abby were here working on their engineering project. They are presenting tomorrow. Jorja was finalizing her costume for the dance on Saturday. The missionaries had just arrived. We took the missionaries to Sister Masters house. We talked to her a bit and was able to pick up a slip for Jorja's poodle skirt. Jorja taught Sister Gregorson about the Globglobgabgalab. They make me laugh.

It seems like there were a ton of other things going on, but I can't remember them right now because it is almost a week later! I hate being behind on my blog!

2nd Place

We went to watch Stockton's award ceremony this morning. It started at 9:00 and didn't finish until after 12:00. It was long. Alta took 2nd in the middle size school division. That is absolutely amazing considering they were three people short! Park City was the school that beat them and they had a full team for sure. The two teams that were picked to go to Nationals were DaVinci and Bingham. DaVinci is Utah's representatives and Bingham is in a new D group category. I don't know what that means. Hopefully Alta can get more people to participate. Three of the members are juniors and I think all three of them are going to do it again.

Mrs. Heffner, Nate, Stockton, Nate, Riley, Weston, Chloe, Mr. Ochoa, Angry looking lady

 Stockton receiving his team award.

 Mrs. Heffner, Riley, Weston, Stockton, Nate, Chloe, Nate, Mr. Ochoa

 A picture with Mrs. Heffner smiling.

 Riley, Stockton, Weston, Nate, Nate, Chloe

Scoop and Cori were troopers to stay with us the entire weekend. It was really nice. They stayed through the entire awards ceremony too. Stockton decided to ride home with us instead of on the bus. That was nice because then we didn't have to race home to pick him up at the mall. That is where he would have been dropped off. Stockton got to see Scoop and Cori's house too. We decided to go to Iceburg for lunch. As we were leaving Sherry called saying she was in St. George and wanted to go to lunch with her dad and Cori. Ha! What timing! Sherry met us at Iceburg. It was great to see her. She makes me laugh. We drove separate cars and headed straight home after lunch. Scoop and Cori went with Sherry. Matt had a bike race in town and they were hurrying to the finish line.

Mike and Preston

 Stockton, Mike, Preston

 Stockton

 We drove past the Wienermobile. My kids didn't understand how cool that was.

 I didn't even know it still existed.

We were home for about thirty minutes when the missionaries came over. They came in and chatted with us for a bit and played ping pong. Sister Gregerson had us laughing as she told us stories about things her MTC teacher told her. I love the missionaries!

Sister Gregerson and Sister Kalliainen 

Beautiful Parrydise

These are the pictures Mike sent me today. I can't get over how beautiful it us up there and how lucky we are to be able to visit. It snowed a lot. Mike, Maysen and Preston played a lot of games. Maysen had a video interview for an EFY counselor position. She worked really hard on that. I hope she gets it! Maysen and Preston went night sledding. It sounded like they had a great time at the cabin.

Parrydise

 Maysen and Preston

The missionaries contacted me today. Their dinner appointment fell through and they were wondering if I knew of anyone who would be willing to feed them. I told them to plan on me. They also stopped by yesterday and gave us cake! Stockton spent the day with Gavin. They went sledding, took TRAX to Salt Lake for some reason, then went night sledding. I'm not sure what else. They had some other diving buddies with them. Noelle, Danielle and even Gage. Stockton hasn't seen Gage in years!

Jorja's softball buddies Paige came and hung out with Jorja. She hasn't seen her since her birthday dinner in October. They seemed to have a great time. Isaac's dad picked them up and took them to a movie. They saw Black Panther. They went to the mall and came over here afterwords. I took them home just before 11:00. A huge snowstorm had come in. We got Isaac back just fine, but Paige lives a long ways away. Probably 45 minutes I'm guessing. The roads were horrible, especially on the way back. I was sure glad to see my bed!

Jorja and Paige

 Paige and Jorja

 Jorja and Paige

While the kids were out with their friends, I was busy with the missionaries. Sister Kalliainen and Sister Gregerson. I decided to pick up Cafe Rio salads. Too bad the line was so long and they were slow. I texted the missionaries and they were waiting on my front porch when I got home. We had a great time. Stockton and Jorja had cleaned the kitchen and it looked so great! The missionaries and I talked and talked. They were so fun!

Also, Stockton was accepted to BYU. Shannon texted me last night and said they would find out after 5:00. They never did. I would ask Stockton to check and see every once in awhile. This afternoon Shannon asked me if Stockton had heard. Brandon got in. I went down to ask him. He S-L-O-W-L-Y looked it up. He's in! I told Jorja when she came in the room. She looked at Stockton weird. Come to find out, Stockton checked this morning and new he was in. He told Jorja. He even told Maysen, so everyone at the cabin knew. He just didn't tell me because he thought it was funny! Grrrrrr.

New Sisters

Jorja had an early morning breakfast at Ebony's house for her birthday. I can't believe Ebony is 16! I love her! Stella invited lots of girls over for a birthday breakfast and then took them to school. How fun!

The new missionaries came over today. They talked with Mike and I for about an hour. Sister Kalliainen is from Washington and Sister Gregerson is from Georgia. The two places we have lived outside of Utah. We really liked them. Sister Gregerson is brand new, straight from the MTC. I informed them while they were over here that Jorja was now their new best friend. They were okay with that, even though they have never met her. Sister missionaries are the best!

Sister Kalliainen and Sister Gregerson

Weakness

Mike has this week off, which is awesome! I talked him into going to a $5 Tuesday movie with me. I sent this picture to make Jorja jealous. She has tried several times to see this movie with different friends. It has never worked out. We went to lunch at Mimi's Cafe afterwords.

Mike

Preston went to Ben's house after school. No one signed up to feed the missionaries so we made waffles for them. All of a sudden I realized that I should get Preston before the missionaries came. What if Ben had to go somewhere and I needed to pick him up? I wouldn't be able to leave for about an hour. Right as I was about to leave Jorja texted me to pick her up. She was able to leave her Macbeth rehearsal a couple of hours early. Yay! I picked Jorja up and rushed Preston out of Ben's house. We got home a few minutes before the missionaries showed up. Whew!

The missionaries talked about the talk given in conference a few years ago called What Lack I Yet? They asked us if we would be willing to pray and ask Heavenly Father what we lacked. I laughed and said I already know many things I lack! Sister Turner then read Ether 12:27, which is one of my favorite scriptures. "And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble;..." Sister Turner pointed out that the Lord is saying 'weakness' which is singular. She said that Heavenly Father doesn't expect us to work on every challenge we have at the same time, but if we go to Him and ask what He would have us work on He will say, "Here, this is what I need you to focus on now." I don't know if I'm explaining it as simply as Sister Turner, but I loved it.

I dropped Jorja off for young womens. They were making pizzas. She texted me after awhile and asked if I could pick her up. She was not feeling well. Boo! Hopefully she'll feel better in the morning.

Jorja

Gingerbread and Christmas Pageant

We did gingerbread houses in my primary class today. The girls were all there, but Dane was missing. They had the best time! They all knew to expect this, so they could hardly contain their excitement during sharing time. They did a mini pageant during sharing time so that helped a lot! Here are some pictures of my little class decorating their houses.

Natalie, Andi, Alex

 Kortney, Alex, Andi, Natalie's arms

 Alex, Andi, Natalie, Kortney

 Alex

 Andi, Natalie

 Natalie

 Alex, Andi, Natalie

 Alex

 Natalie

 Kortney

 Andi

 Alex

This is my last class with these girls. What a fun way to end teaching them! In other news, I also am in charge of getting the missionary plaques for my ward. I brought Jaxson's and Landon's plaque to church last week. I was busy with my class and wasn't able to get the plaques to the bishopric until after church. They told me to give them to Duff Yauney because he has the key to the missionary case. Duff was gone by then, but Josh was there practicing with the orchestra for the Christmas program. I gave the plaques to Josh and asked him to give them to his dad. When I got home I asked Mike to text Duff and make sure he knows to be looking for them. Mike forgot. (We had my family over for gingerbread that week, so it was a little crazy.) Anyway, the plaques weren't there today, so I was a little disappointed. Mike asked Duff about them and he never received them. Josh never brought them home! They were still looking for them after church. I felt sick to my stomach. Luckily they didn't tell me they were missing until after my class, then they found them shortly after. The plaques say 'Crescent 18th Ward' on them, so they were turned into the Bishop. How embarrassing. Anyway, they are now safely hanging in the hallway at church. Duff doesn't have a key, but he showed me how to break into the case. I think I will just put the plaques there myself next time.

Duff breaking into the missionary plaque case.

We had the Smith family Christmas pageant at Brent's house today. We were late because when we were almost to the freeway I remembered that I didn't bring Melissa's diaper bag. She had left it at our house when we did gingerbread and called me about it a few days ago. Mike wanted to keep going, but I knew if I did I would need to drive to Springville to bring it back to her. I knew I wouldn't have time to do that. I also brought the fiery starbursts. Mike dumped them out of the bag onto the food table. I wasn't in the room when people started trying them. Mike said it was so funny. Especially since they expected them to taste like regular starbursts.

Maysen wasn't in the pageant this year. Stockton and Jorja were assistant inn keepers. Weston was the inn keeper. Basically they hid in the playhouse the entire pageant. At least they had fun. Preston was an angel. The regular angel costumes didn't make it this year, so Preston made his own halo out of a paper plate.

Weston & Jorja

 Erica, Weston, Jorja

 Preston is the angel in the middle. He is super enthused about being one.

 Weston the innkeeper. Stockton and Jorja are in there somewhere.

 Jorja & Stockton

 The cast. I see Brandon and Erica as shepherds, Preston is with the angels.

Nova is a wise man, and I don't recognize anyone else.