Sophomore Picture

The new student government pictures were finally put up. It is March. They have already started the process for elections for student body officers. Last year their pictures were up in November I think. Taken in November and up in November. This year they were taken in October and up in March. This picture was taken on the day Jorja got Kiki. Packer has been in a bad mood all week long. He started advisory by saying, "We are going to meet by" before he could finish someone whispered, "The North A" or something like that. Jorja said that he always tells them to meet by either the North A or the South A, so this person was just guessing. Apparently that set Packer off and he yelled at them to get out. They ended up spending all of advisory walking with their arms folded in complete silence in a single file line. Wow. No wonder none of the other sophomore boys want to run next year. Jorja said, "Honestly, if it stays like this I don't know if I would want to run again either." Hopefully this mood of his doesn't last long.

Joe ~ Secretary, Marshall ~ Historian, Carson ~ Vice President, Bode ~ Public Relations

Shafer ~ Senator, Jorja ~ President

I got so frustrated with Jorja today. I feel like she If You Give a Mouse a Cookie's me all the time. She will start by asking for something small, I will agree, then she asks for something more until the ending point is something that I never would have agreed to in the first place. I have tried to explain to her how this makes me feel, but she keeps doing it. I know she doesn't mean to, but I hate it. This is our LONG (sorry) texting conversation:

Me 2:29: Whaat time should I come get you?

Jorja 2:34: I think I'm getting a ride with Madison (note: realize at this exact point I realize this means she is getting a ride with Spencer and they are going out to eat. I want her to ask me.)

Me 2:34: Are her parents coming?

Me 2:43: Are you coming straight home?

Jorja 2:45: yeah

Me 2:45: And Madison's parents are coming?

Jorja 2:53: Spencer gonna take you but now he wants to get food is that okay?

Me 2:53: How about I come get you.

Jorja 2:54: It'll be fast

Jorja 2:54: He's driving rn cuz I didn't know we were getting food

Jorja 2:54: When he said that I texted you right away

Me 2:54: Are you in his car now?

Jorja 2:54: Yes

Jorja 2:54: We weren't gonna get food when I got in

Me 2:54: You made me think Madison's parents were picking you up.

Jorja 2:55: I didn't mean to

Me 2:55: Yes you did.

Jorja 2:55: He's taking her home and a friend too

Me 2:55: I don't care.

Me 2:55: It's the deception I care about.

Jorja 2:56: I didn't mean to!!

Jorja 2:56: Madison asked if I wanted a ride before I even knew it was Spencer she was going with

Jorja 2:56: So I texted you

Me 2:56: From now on, only get rides home with me and Conner.

Me 2:57: Every single time Spencer has taken you home you have stopped for food. Why would you think today would be any different?

Jorja 2:57: Because Madison said they were going straight home

Jorja 2:58: I told him I didn't want to

Me 2:58: Have they ever? I asked more than once if her parents were coming.

Jorja 2:58: But we were already driving so I couldn't get out and Madison and her friend wanted to go

Me 2:58: You would not answer.

Jorja 2:58: I told you it was spence

Jorja 2:58: I didn't see it!

Jorja 2:58: I was walking out then

Me 2:58: Twenty minutes after!

Jorja 2:58: I checked my phone when I got in the car

Jorja 2:59: I have do not disturb on

Me 2:59: I am not okay with this. Just FYI.

Jorja 2:59: It was in my pocket

Me 2:59: Plan on me from now on. I wanted to get you anyway.

Jorja 2:59: Sorry I really didn't know

Me 3:00: You just assume and I hate it.

Jorja 3:00: I didn't mean to

Me 3:00: Pretty sure you did.

Jorja 3:00: Do you want to get me from wherever we're going?

Jorja 3:00 I think he's driving to chick oil a

Jorja 3:00 I'm not even gonna rt anything

Me 3:01: I don't care what you eat. You go out with these guys all the time and take forever to come home. Not okay. Where are you and I will pick you up.

Jorja 3:04: Chick fil a

Me 3:04: On my way.

Anyway, that was our conversation and I drove to Chick-Fil-A and picked up Jorja. She was crying when I got there. I know I made her embarrassed, still! How could she not realize what was happening when I realized it within seconds. She needs to be more aware and think. If she would have asked I probably would have let her go. Although maybe not, her hanging out with Spencer has been annoying me lately. Mostly because it is a lot and for a long time. She is never alone with him, usually Madison is there, still....she has so much homework to catch up on. Jorja and I talked for a long time in the car. It was a good conversation. She told me that she thought she was helping me by finding a different ride home. I told her that my entire day revolves around when I'm picking her up. I love picking her up. It is time I get to talk with just her. She is so busy and I rarely get to see her, so I look forward to these times. I also wanted to take her somewhere after school today. I don't like having my plans changed last minute. I know it seems weird that I told her she is only able to get rides home with me or Conner, why not just me. Well, even though I love picking her up, it is nice not to have to do it every day. Conner takes her home on A days and I pick her up on B days. I also trust Conner. A lot. Even though I don't really know him. I am not worried about her at all when she is with him, especially since they don't like each other anymore. If they still did that would be a whole different ball game.

Jorja had a date planned with Mitchell for tonight. That was cancelled because he was sick, so she was just in a sad mood. She ended up picking up Hailey and they went and got ice-cream and came here and watched a sad movie. Hailey had to go home around 9:00, but Madison came over after that. I think Jorja's night ended well. I know I made her sad, but hopefully she understands where I'm coming from and will think before she gets herself into situations where she might get in trouble. I know this wasn't a big deal, I just want her to let me know where she is going before she goes somewhere, and not text on the way when I can't do anything about it. I just might embarrass her and pick her up when that happens. I used to let her get away with things like that, but I'm not going to worry about what embarrasses her anymore.

Jorja & Madison

 Jorja

Sophomore Gingerbread

I took Maysen to the dermatologist today. We dropped off the textbooks at the UPS store on the way back. Then we stopped at Alta. Jorja had forgotten her water. She gets really sick if she doesn't drink water. I put it in her locker and texted her to drink ALL of it. She did, thank goodness. Jorja doesn't drink as much water as Stephanie Waddoups told her to, but she tries to drink a lot; especially since now she knows how much of a difference the water makes.

Conner brought Jorja home from school today. He told her that a girl named Grace asked him to the dance last night, but dropped off everything at the wrong house. His neighbor brought over the stuff to him in the morning. Yikes! That's crazy.

Jorja had the sophomore class officers over for a gingerbread party. Bode got here at exactly 3:30. He even waited outside the door looking at his watch until it was the right time. Jorja asked if he heard from Joe, because she knew he needed a ride. Bode lost his phone at school today, so he hadn't. Jorja and Bode ended up driving down to pick up Joe. About two minutes after they left Shafer got here. He helped me set things up while we waited for everyone else. Jorja had a great time. She said she felt less awkward this year than she did last year. There was lots of laughing and joking around. Last year the kids all brought their sweaters and took pictures together. They didn't do that this time. Marshall wasn't able to be here. I'm glad Jorja had fun. It is wonderful to see her feeling better. Even if she isn't at 100%, at least she doesn't look like she is knocking on death's door anymore.

Bode, Jorja, Joe, Shafer

 Jorja

 Carson, Bode, Shafer, Joe, Jorja

Hailey gave Jorja a pin for her sweater last year that says, "All my friends are dead." Joe said he remembered reading that book when he was here last year. Jorja read it to her friends. It is a great book. The pin of Hailey's is my favorite.

Joe & Jorja

 Joe, Jorja, Carson, Bode, Shafer

 Joe

 Shafer

 Carson

 Bode

Jorja was talking to the boys about Morp while they were here. Morp is the dance these guys are in charge of, and it is January 12th. Jorja has been frustrated because she is the chair, but has no idea what she is supposed to do. She has been asking Packer about it since she has been back to school. He will say things like, "Yes, that is coming up quick. Talk to me about it on Wednesday." He just never has time to deal with it. He told her that all the DJs were scheduled for the year, but on Friday gave her a list of DJs and told her she needed to book one by Saturday. Yikes! Jorja couldn't get ahold of anyone, so she got brave and tried again today. She was able to get ahold of two of the people on the list, text the information to Packer, he told her which one to book, and now she has it done. Yay! That is the biggest thing she needed to do for this. Can't have a dance without music. They were also talking about themes. They want the theme to be 'jerseys' and have everything sports related. That should be fun. Jorja is worried Packer won't approve that. Last year the sophomore officers submitted many themes and all were rejected until they came up with 'camp'. I can't see this one being rejected, so hopefully they are good.

Jorja & Carson

Carson & Kiki

 Joe, Jorja, Carson, Bode, Shafer and lots of Marshall faces

 This made me laugh. This is the picture they took last year.

Brenton/Marshall, Carson/Marshall, Eliza/Marshall, Marshall, Jorja/Marshall, Bode/Marshall

Jorja and I went to get some things for Hailey's birthday on Wednesday. When we were at Michael's I saw this gingerbread kit. Haha. My kids would love that one.

Stockton went to diving with Gavin today. I was excited he wanted to do that. He did it kind of last minute and wore Gavin's speedo. I think he loved being back in the pool.

Pep Rally

Mike and Preston went fishing today. They took off in the motorhome, just the two of them. Their plan is to go to Bridger Lake and Preston couldn't be more excited.

Jorja had her pep rally tonight. She had to be at the school early and then got home sometime after midnight. I think she had a great time. At least it was good weather.

Joe & Jorja

 Carson, Marshall, Joe, Jorja

 Student government

 Student government went to eat super late at night.

Homecoming Pageant

This is going to be a crazy busy week. Mike and I had to coordinate our schedules to figure out how we were going to get all of it done. We really miss having Stockton drive Preston to diving right about now. I took Preston to diving and dropped him off. That made me incredibly nervous. I walked him to the pool. Ted was excited about Stockton's call to Arizona. His boy is in Reno Nevada right now. Before I left I asked Gavin to look out for Preston. If for some reason Mike didn't show up, I asked Gavin to take him home. I did not think that would happen, but what if something unforeseen happened? I didn't like the idea of Preston being stuck in Salt Lake City. Fortunately all was well and Mike was able to get him like planned. I went straight from diving to Alta for parent/teacher conference. Jorja arrived with Carter about the same time I did. She is all dressed up because she is an escort for the homecoming pageant.

Jorja

I was able to see a few of Jorja's teachers. Her math, English and Chinese teachers. I like her Chinese teacher this year a lot. I am glad she will have her for the next three years instead of the teacher she had last year. I also talked to Mr. Thomas for a bit. He always asks about Maysen whenever he sees me. Mr. VanOrden (Jorja's math teacher and Stockton's advisory teacher for four years) was excited to hear about Stockton's mission call. He sure was a great teacher for Stockton. A few minutes before 7:00 I hurried over to the auditorium so I could watch the homecoming pageant. The lip sync's were a ton better last year when Mike and I were the judges. Jorja announced the spin the wheel question thingy. She did great.

Carter brought Jorja home after stopping at McDonalds. She was so hungry. It was a long day. Jorja was on the pageant committee this year, so I think she is feeling a sense of relief that it is over and it went well. She will be busy the rest of the week, but it is nice to have this off of her plate. It is also nice that late start is tomorrow.

Jorja

Hello Assembly

It's Friday!!! Preston had his first experience with late start and he was a fan. I drove him to the end of the street and we waited for the bus. As soon as the bus came I went straight to Alta for the Hello Assembly. Man, parking is absolutely awful there now! I drove around for ten minutes before I could find a place to park . . . way out in the driving range . . .

Preston

 This was one of the only pictures I got of Jorja. You can just see her back.

The drum line started the assembly. They were awesome. I wish I would have recorded that! Ballroom performed, I got to see Gavin. Drill and Dance performed. Principal McGill started dancing with the Dance Company and it was so funny! Another thing I wish I had recorded! He was great! They had a student government slide show. Lots of cheering when Jorja was profiled. Adorable. Jorja got to make an announcement, and the student government were able to do their Cotton Eyed Joe dance. Jorja crashed into the person next to her at the very beginning. I think it was Luke Vosti. Haha!

Listen Up

Cotton Eyed Joe

I talked to Monson and Kanani Hayes for a long time after. They are nice. Mike and Preston had fun playing with ducks. Preston loves, loves, loves the ducks.

Mike & Preston

Alta played Woods Cross in football tonight. Jorja wanted to go. I drove her and Madison down to the game. They saw Dessa as soon as they got there. I wanted to stay. I don't get to watch football in person very often anymore. Woods Cross is far enough away I didn't want to spend my entire night in a car. I sat by Dessa's parents. Dessa's older brother is on the team. They were really nice and it was great to meet them.

I saw Mike Millburn's friend at the game. Fabrizio. Can't remember his first name. I texted Mike when his son made a touchdown. He dared me to go talk to him. I did. Then I went back for proof. By that time he was on the phone. I just whispered, "Don't mind me, I'm just going to take a selfie." Fabrizio is a dentist and Mike really wants him to come down to New Mexico and work with him. Mike met him in New Mexico. He has been up in Utah for three years. The dental boards are weird and told him he would need to be gone five years from New Mexico before he can come back, or he needs to retake the boards. That doesn't make any sense. He's still trying to get down there. Maybe someone will use common sense.

Stephanie & Fabrizio

Alta won the game. That was nice. Jorja was a bit sad on the way home. She wishes she had friends in her grade. It is so weird. I saw her talking to lots of people. She just wants to be included in a group so bad. I hope she can start feeling confident enough with herself that she can let go of this. She's worried she won't be asked to Homecoming because she is not part of a group. She says that people just ask the kids in their group. Because she is not a part of a group she is worried she will be left out. I wish she could realize how amazing she is and not worry about the future.

Remember the Alamo

Stockton had a fun day in Texas. At least it looks like it from the pictures Nate sent me. Neither Stockton or Gavin competed today, so they had fun exploring Texas with Dani. Noelle had one of her events today.

Gavin & Stockton

 Stockton

 Stockton, Gavin, Dani at the River Walk

Stockton got kicked out of the Alamo today and told to never come back. I was wondering what he did? Did he try to do flips off of somewhere? Nope. According to Stockton he walked on dirt. He cut across one stone path to another and the lady flipped out and had security escort him out, or something like that. He said it was okay because he went across the street and got a milkshake. Hmmm, what would Stockton rather do? Tourist stuff or milkshake? He was just fine.

Stockton at the Alamo

Stockton's AP scores still weren't posted at Utah State. I finally called. They said they would have them up in about thirty minutes. So, in a matter of minutes I watched his status go from 'Freshman' to 'Junior'. That was pretty cool. What wasn't pretty cool is I found the Utah State diving club website. Dive is in the name, but I didn't find any information about it. At all. Great.

Jorja had a crazy busy day. She had drivers ed from 6:00-9:00, range driving from 9:00-11:00, and work from 11:30-4:00. She came home and took a nap, then had to be at Alta at 7:40. Usually Alta does a welcome video by the student body officers. The class officers are announced separately. This year they wanted to do a shorter video and announce all the officers, to make the assembly go faster. The hardest part was for Jorja to find a time that the other five people could make it. Luckily today worked out! They were only supposed to film for thirty minutes, so I just wanted to wait. Jorja DID NOT like that idea. She begged me to go somewhere I wouldn't be seen. I feel so loved. Haha. Anyway, I went to see my dad because he lives closer than I do. I wanted to see if he would go with me when Eric is in town. Eric Byrnes is doing a triathlon across America to raise money for his Let Them Play foundation. He swam seven miles, now he is biking to Chicago and then he will run to New York. He started at the Giants stadium and will finish at the Yankees stadium. Eric is my dad's cousin Judy's son. My dad can't go because he will be on a tour. He did go and get a bat for me to have him sign. Eric got his first hit in the majors with this bat. His name says Eric Baynes on it. Ha! He gave this bat to my brothers after he broke it when he was playing the Bees in Salt Lake. (He had been called up for a few weeks, then down for a bit, then back up.) Anyways, pretty cool!

I picked up Jorja and the other boys at Alta and took them back to our house for ice-cream and Mario Kart. Jorja said the video will be pretty cringy. All I know is they got out of a car and had to dance and freeze for their name. I know Jorja was on Joe's shoulders for a bit and when they froze on her she did thumbs up. She had a lot of fun hanging out with these guys though. They stayed pretty late. Jorja and Carson are both taking drivers ed, so they will have a pretty early morning.

Marshall ~ historian, Bode ~ public relations, Shafer ~ senator

Jorja ~ president, Joe ~ secretary, Carson ~ vice president

 Marshall, Carson, Bode, Joe, Jorja, Shafer

 I don't know why Jorja likes pictures like these so much, but she does.

Jorja (going clockwise) Marshall, Bode, Shafer, Carson, Joe

Mario Ducks

So.... Mike got ducks. They arrived in the mail today. The post office called him. They thought he had ordered turkeys.

Mike's ducks

Mike leaving the post office

Unboxing

Here they are! The kids are smitten. We have two girls and one boy. They decided to name the ducks Quackletta, Princess Peep and Waddluigi.

Ducks

 Ducks eating out of Preston's hand

 Maysen

 Jorja

 Madison & Jorja

 Jorja

 Madison, Jorja & Grace (Madison's sister)

 Maysen

The ducks

Eating from Preston

Jorja came back from leadership camp today. The ducks came a few hours before she got home. Jorja was waiting for me at Alta with Mr. Packer and Traven. Everyone else had gone home. I came the second she called though. Jorja was so tired. She got a total of eight hours of sleep while she was gone. She left on Monday. Today is Thursday. Oh boy, she has some catching up to do. Except, ducks. Anyway, I tried to get her to sleep for a few hours before she needed to leave to Addie's house. Addie was doing a voice lesson with her before she moves up to Provo. When I scheduled this I did not realize Jorja wouldn't have any sleep while she was gone. She seemed to do fine though. I gave Addie Michael's number. I gave him Addie's number when I saw him at Aimee's wedding. Hopefully they can hang out together and not be lonely. Addie gave Jorja a picture booth picture that Carter had taken home. They took it at the Pepperwood party. She was excited to get it. Carter is in student government and is so nice to Jorja.

Hailey, Jorja, Carter

Jorja got a bit of sleep before I woke her up to go to the church for a trek dance practice. She did not want to go. She was so tired. And grumpy. She came back with Madison super happy though. Being around people perks her right up. It is the opposite for me.