Strong Maysen

I had to get to school early to proctor the AP English Language test. Maysen had a dermatologist appointment today. I guess Jorja's car was blocking Maysen's. Maysen doesn't know how to drive a stick shift. She called Mike and he had to walk her through backing it up. Luckily she was able to do that. Unluckily she was too strong when she opened Jorja's door and the lock part of Jorja's handle fell off. Hopefully we can figure out how to get that replaced.

Jorja had a therapy appointment today. She is doing really well right now and didn't even want to go. That surprised me. I can not believe the difference since she broke up with Mitchell. I really want her to go through the rest of high school without a boyfriend. We didn't even sign her up for another appointment. Jorja asked if it was okay if she waited until after Taiwan to come back. Sounds great to me! I am thrilled my happy Jorja is coming back!

IHOPE

I checked Jorja out of school to go to therapy today. This was the first day her therapist from last year was back from maternity leave. It seemed to go well. She asked if she could see Jorja next week or in two weeks. We decided to go again two weeks from now. I dropped Jorja back at school to go to theater, but then waited to pick her up the second school got out. We hurried home grabbed her work clothes and she was off again. She was meeting student government to go to a retirement home. She got a little lost, but eventually found it and had a great time.

Mia, Jorja, Aysha

Jorja picked up Luke after work and brought him here. He was helping her ask Spencer to Sadie's. She had an IHOP sign and a stack of pancakes that said her name. Turned out really cute. I was super annoyed with her though. I thought she was just dropping it off and would be back right away. That is how it has happened every other time she has asked or answered a boy. Not this time. She was gone for at least an hour! I guess they hid and watched him get the poster. All of his family came out and took pictures. They were out there for fifteen minutes according to Jorja. She then texted him and asked him to come and say hi. He invited her inside and they stayed for a long time. I was so frustrated. And tired. Mike has the temple in the morning and it is hard not to sleep when she isn't home. Mike usually gets up at 4:30 on temple days. Anyway, she is back now. I'm glad she had fun, but I wish she would be aware of the time.

Luke

 Jorja & Luke

Jorja's Therapy

I took Jorja and Hailey to the temple this morning. President Back asks where Stockton is every time we come. I tell him that he still isn't ready to come back. President Back said they watched a temple video this morning of how they should treat the people that are coming so they don't have a bad experience. I don't know if Stockton is still upset about what happened, but it is the last day of the quarter and he has been pretty stressed. (Stockton was doing baptisms and was waiting for us in the lobby. We wanted him to come back into the temple. The guy at the desk wouldn't let him come back in because he didn't have a bar code on his recommend. His recommend expired in December and they didn't start issuing the bar codes until January. Stockton did nothing wrong, but the guy at the desk made him feel horrible and embarrassed. President Back was there when it happened.) Stockton took Jorja and Hailey to school. I found these pictures on Jorja's phone. She was proving it was really her and that she had her phone back.

Hailey and Jorja

 Jorja

 I finished Eve's stocking today. Luckily Rachel is going to put it together.

Yikes! I just noticed I didn't outline one leaf! I'll have to fix that.

Jorja had therapy today. She loves it. I love that she is not embarrassed about it. She will tell anyone where she is going and why she is going there ~ to get help with her anxiety and panic attacks. I saw a message from one of her friends tonight saying something like she didn't know why she was in therapy, but she was here for her if she ever needed her. Jorja told me that when she told this friend where she was going this friend had mentioned she was in therapy too. I love that Jorja is not letting there be anything negative attached to her therapy. This girl is quite amazing.

I hurried Jorja back to school as soon as she was finished. She wanted to go to the wrestling match. She stayed after to watch The Battle of the Bands. Hailey's brother, Jonas, won last year. He didn't win this year though. I was hoping to see him. I stopped by Javita's house to give Whitley a get well soon bag. She had surgery on her foot today. I got to the performance as soon as I could. Jonas had gone first, so I missed him. I did see a group playing the Wii channel theme. That was funny.

Isaac, Jorja, Carter

Dessa's mom dropped Jorja off after Battle of the Bands. Dessa stayed over until about 11:00. I'm not sure what they did, but Jorja was happy.

Student Government

Well, last Tuesday Student Government had a Christmas breakfast. Jorja had to miss Chinese for it. She had so much fun at this breakfast. She also found her secret Santa was Carson. He gave her lots of chapstick. It was funny because when Jorja and I were at Seagull book we saw him there. I swear Jorja asked me for chapstick and I joked about how I always had chapstick and wouldn't be without it.

Caden, Jorja, Sam, Carter, Bode, Marshall

Mackie, Finn, Luke, Ellie, Eliza, Brenton, Sydney, Abby

Isaac, Clayton, Kenzie, ?, Liz, Jack, Rachel, Darby, Travin, Baylor, Mr. Packer

Drew, Noni, ?, Carson, Morgan, Kaylen, Cade

Maysen and I took my dad out to breakfast for his Christmas present. Kind of lame, I know, but I don't have anything wonderful for him this year. We went to OHOP, but it was super crowded. We left and went to Bruges. We were the only ones there and it was delicious.

Jorja had a therapy appointment today. Her next one will be a month from now. When we were scheduling the appointment her therapist told me that Jorja is doing so much better than when she first started coming. I can see that as well and it makes me so happy! I took Jorja straight home and she slept most of the day away. She wasn't feeling super good and wanted to be able to feel better for the student government party later that night. I woke her up at 8:00 pm. That is when the party started. She wasn't sure she wanted to go. I convinced her to walk around and see how she felt. She ended up going and having a great time. She told me that Kenzie, the SBO president, talked with her for over an hour. She gave her advice and really made Jorja feel important. That made me happy.

Jorja, Kenzie, Drew, Liz

Jorja also found out she was cast as an ensemble member for Macbeth. There are only four ensemble members. She said she is glad she doesn't have a speaking part for her first play. Pretty cool that she got in. Lots of people tried out and there are not many parts. I hope she loves it and it doesn't interfere with school or softball. It should be fun!

Deer

I finished the last of the gingerbread houses for Mike's family this Sunday. Matt called while I was taking my last pieces out of the oven. While I was talking to him, this deer wandered to my back door and was looking at me. He was shy when I tried to take a picture though.

I checked Jorja out of school for her therapy appointment. I think it went well, but Jorja seemed really drained afterwords. We went home and I finished up a few things. The boys were gone to diving. Jorja came with me to get the rest of the stuff I need for the gingerbread party tomorrow. Then we stopped at the pet store to buy goldfish for her friend Drew. His birthday is tomorrow and Jorja really wants to give him goldfish.

We went through some of The Living Christ and then watched some bible videos for scripture study. Mike then put on The Goldbergs. I don't know what is funnier, the show or watching Mike laugh about the show. He was laughing so hard it was cracking the rest of us up.

Mike and I put together six houses for Jorja's gingerbread party tomorrow. I love gingerbread season. My house always smells amazing and it is so much fun to see the different houses people come up with. I'm glad our families like this tradition as much as we do.

Missionaries at Lunch

There is a lot of sickness going on at our house right now. Mostly Marie. She is miserable. Rachel took her to urgent care tonight. She has strep. Boo. Rachel was planning on going back to Idaho today, but Eve was throwing up. How can she drive five hours by herself with a two year old throwing up?

Eve & Mina

 Rachel bought a pharmacy

Sister Hutchinson got news that she is being transferred tomorrow. Boo! She wanted to go and see Jorja at lunch. She was nervous to walk into the school by herself, so she asked me to come with her. If I could do this again, I would have not been there right as soon as lunch started. Stockton was walking with Jorja to help her find Gavin when Jorja saw us. She was so excited to see the missionaries. Stockton had to leave to get to class, then we couldn't get Jorja to Gavin. When the missionaries said it was time to leave, Jorja's eyes looked like they were filled with panic. I saw Gavin with Isaac and ended up bringing Gavin over to Jorja. Other than that, the lunch was great. Jorja made Sister Hutchinson and Sister Argo friendship bracelets, so she was excited to give that to them. I love the bond Jorja has with these missionaries.

Jorja & Sister Hutchinson

I checked Jorja out of school today to go to her first therapy appointment. Jorja loved it. I don't know what happened, but Jorja seemed to feel at peace when she came out of there. They have another appointment set up for next week. I hope this helps her. I hope Jorja learns tools to help her with her panic attacks and anxiety. I hope Jorja is able to heal. Jorja and I went to DI afterwords. Jorja loves DI. We found a few dresses, shoes and some CDs. She also saw her softball friend Molly there, so that was fun. We then went to Hobby Lobby and bought stuff for Jorja to make a scrapbook. She wants to make a high school scrapbook. I think that will be good for her. Luckily everything was 50% off, so it was perfect timing.

I watched Rachel's girls while Rachel and Marie were at the doctors. Grace wasn't too happy about her mom being gone. Marie spent some time with Grace when she got back. They are so cute together.

Grace & Marie

The missionaries stopped by one more time tonight. Sister Hutchinson gave Jorja this shirt. She loves it. She slept in it tonight. I'm so grateful for the love these missionaries have shown my little girl.

Jorja

Corner Canyon

Stockton took his physics final after school at Corner Canyon today. He could only miss one in order to get an A. That's what he did, he only missed one. He has now submitted his grade. Mr. L said it should take 48 hours to go on his transcript. This should get his 4.0 back. I hope so. He needs to submit his application to the University of Utah by November 1st.

Jorja had me drop her and Evan off at Corner Canyon too. I ended up driving to that school four times today. Considering I had only been there twice before, that was a lot. Jorja and Evan went to the volleyball game. They seemed to have fun.

Jorja & Evan

We had our ward Chili and Chocolate party tonight. Jorja is the only one of my kids that likes that activity, and she didn't go. She did ask me if I brought her any chili home. Whoops. That didn't cross my mind. We stopped by on the way home from the game, but it was too late.

I talked to Becky at the activity and asked if she could have her sister recommend a therapist for me. Her sister was how I found Holly. Becky texted me with a name. Mike wants to look into a group approach, more for cost sake. I'm not sure what to do, or really how to find a group that would be perfect for Jorja.

Get Your Own

Maysen had an appointment with Holly today.  I had her drive to the appointment.  When it was our turn, Holly had me come back first so she could talk to me.  We talked for several minutes.  When I came out of the room Maysen said, "Get your own therapist, Holly's my therapist".  It was so funny!  Maysen is such a crack-up.

Extra One

This morning Maysen had an appointment with Holly.  I had Maysen drive.  We got there a few minutes before 11:00.  When Holly came out she saw us and said, "Oh no!  I double booked you!"  She ran back to her office to check her schedule.  I looked at my text messages and saw my last message to Holly.  It said, "1:00 would be perfect!"  Oh boy!  I told Holly our appointment was at 1.  Hey, I only added one extra one.  I was close!  Maysen looked at me and laughed and said, "Mom, maybe you need therapy!"  Holly told us we could come back at 7 so we wouldn't have to wait forever, or come back as soon as we got home.  That worked out well.

My dad took Jorja and Preston bowling.  He has Max today.  While they were gone I took Maysen and Stockton to the highschool to find their classes.  Stockton's is pretty close and easy to find.  That's good. As we were walking down the hall we saw his teacher.  I introduced Stockton to him.  He said, "You must be in 9th grade."  I told him he was actually in 8th grade.  That kind of got the teacher, Mr. Miller, flustered for a minute.  He was telling me that they don't allow 8th graders in this class.  He went back and looked at the roll and sure enough Stockton was on there.  He was surprised and said they must have added him this morning.  He also checked Stockton's grades. They were all As, so that is no big deal.  He wanted to see Stockton's test results, but he couldn't find them.  Mr. Miller asked me what our plan was for Stockton when he is a senior.  I have no idea.  I guess the problem is that Stockton will probably finish all of highschool math super early and then there is nothing for him to do.  When he gets to college, if he has had a break for more then two years they will make him take more math classes.  Although, I don't know how that works with missions.  I would think a lot of people would miss the two year mark.  His teacher is worried about putting him ahead might actually be putting him behind.  Seriously.  Schools are ridiculous.  This new common core program does not help kids like Stockton.  At all.

Anyway, we met Maysen's French teacher.  I loved her!  She was so energetic and outgoing.  She will be great for Maysen!  Next semester Maysen will have her two periods in a row.  She will also be Maysen's creative writing teacher.  I love that!  Ms. Defriez said, "Next year you can take French 4, and then AP French.  Everyone passes the AP test in my class!  It gives you ten college credits!"  Wow.  I wonder what the passing rate is for that test.  I have heard the language AP tests are really hard.  Then I started feeling guilty.  Stockton won't be able to take AP French because of his math.  He can't start French until next year.  I hope I am doing what is best for him.  How am I supposed to figure that out?

Maysen is not excited about her World Civ teacher.  She peaked in the room, but would not go in.  As we were walking away she said, "That is my Drivers Ed teacher."  Oh boy.  She has hated, hated, hated Drivers Ed.  The teacher has belittled and embarrassed her.  Hopefully it won't be the same in World Civ.  This is exactly what Maysen doesn't need right now.  At least it is only every other day and only the first semester.

Maysen does have a pretty good spot for her locker.  It took us forever to find it, but it is right by the cafeteria.  It also took us forever to figure out how to open it.  Luckily another parent showed us how when she saw us struggling.

When we got home from school, my dad was there making milkshakes for the kids.  My phone had run out of batteries, so I was a little worried. I asked how they had gotten in.  (I had to disable the garage door before I left.....it wouldn't close....)  I guess the door to my bedroom was left unlocked.  I'm glad it was!

I took Jorja clothes shopping today.  I hate shopping, but it is nice going with someone who will put up with it.  We tried the new outlet mall at Traverse Mountain.  We did pretty well.  I liked how they had a ton of kids stores next to each other.

Maysen and I went back to our appointment with Holly this evening. Maysen wouldn't drive though.  I am really happy with Holly and so glad we decided to do this for Maysen.  I just should have done this much earlier.  Man, it's hard being a mom!