Kaylee's Handprints

So....Jorja was sick again. She missed the entire day of school. She probably would have tried to get the last classes, but she was supposed to go on a field trip for PLT anyway. She also missed the Valentine party in student government. Ever since Jorja had mono last year, whenever she gets sick, she gets really sick and has a hard time shaking it. Still, nothing has compared to the awful days when she first had mono.

Mike had work off. He gets every other Friday off, except during crunch time ~ Black Friday and Christmas season. It was perfect timing because Sherry came down from Highland to do Kaylee's handprints. Super nice of her to do that! She had the day off of school today and spent it doing us a favor. It was awesome. I have a lot of pictures of Kaylee getting her handprints, but none of her footprints. Weird. Also, I couldn't help but put every picture with Amy watching in the background. Haha

Mike wandering, Sam holding Kaylee, Matt watching, Sherry creating

 Kaylee

 Taking the oxygen sensor off to get Kaylee's footprints

 Matt, Kaylee, Sherry

 Amy's watching

 She's concerned

 And adorable

 Matt & Kaylee

 Kaylee

Poor little girl. You will love the handprints when you are older though. If you notice all the Enfamil in the background, it is because Matt and Sam are stockpiling it. This is the only thing Kaylee will eat and it has been discontinued. Matt searched every store from Provo to Layton yesterday getting as much as he can. Sam has a lot of writer friends around the country. Some of them are sending her some. Bad timing for this. Hopefully by the time they go through it all her little body will be able to tolerate something else.

Mike and I went to lunch at Sizzler after the handprints were done. That was nice, fun and relaxing. We tried to convince Jorja to go with us, but she wasn't hungry. She hasn't been hungry for a long time. Jorja had her ACT camp today. She picked Drew up at school and they got to Provo for the 3:00 check-in. Evan and Gabby were also there. She said it was a lot more fun that she thought it would be, which was great. Evan and Drew were in one group. Gabby and Jorja were in another. She is hoping that she will be in a group with someone she knows tomorrow since it is all day. Fingers crossed for that one!

Aubrey, Gabby, Drew, Evan

 Ben

Once she got back she picked up Ben and they stopped by Crumbl. Jorja had a coupon for free cookies. Then they went to Smiths before Jorja came home. Hopefully she isn't sick tomorrow! Also, Mike finally finished the Sweethearts video. It is awesome. Here is the link to it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEYgVkgdzzA 

Valentine's Day

Right after Stockton left for his mission I saw this pillow at Smiths. Wow! How perfect! Now every cactus reminds me of Stockton. When I came back from dropping Jorja off at school, this was on my bed. What a perfect Valentines Day present.

Stephanie

Today was also Stockton's p-day! Yay! Yay! Yay! He got our brownies package and loved it. He also got a package from Preston that made him really happy. For scouts they made missionary packages and Preston left him a nice note in it. Stockton sounds great. He says the MTC has flown by. He really likes his companion, Elder Womack. One funny thing is Elder Womack hates elevators. They make him lightheaded. Stockton takes the stairs with him to their classroom. On the 5th floor. Which is 120 stairs each way, so about 1000 stairs a day. His math makes me laugh. Especially when he was talking about taking a knife and figuring out the volume of the cereal dispenser and the bowl then converting cubic knives to bowls. Hahaha. That kid cracks me up! We also got an email from the mission in Arizona. It had Stockton's schedule for the first two days he will be here. I loved that! Mike said that is much better than being dropped off in the middle of Brazil and having to sleep on a church floor for a week while looking for a place to stay. Yikes! Stockton sent this picture of him and his friend John. The guy in the middle is the choir director. He has also directed the Mormon Tabernacle Choir before, as a guest director I think. Stockton said he and John were taking a picture when this guy stepped right in between them. Haha! Stockton is going to miss running into John. I'm glad they had each other up at Utah State. They really got along well.

John, Choir director, Stockton

Jorja went with some of the student government kids after school to a retirement home. They had a dance. She got to dance with old people. She said it was so much fun. When she came home, Evan's mom pulled up right behind her. Evan, Drew and Shafer had brought her flowers and a blanket. They had a card that said they hoped she started feeling better. Jorja has missed a lot of school with her mono. Student government with Shafer is the first class of the day on A days and Chinese with Evan is the first class of the day on B days. The first class is for sure the hardest for her to make it to. I think Jorja vented to Evan a few days ago about how tired she was of being sick. She told me that she doesn't even remember what it feels like to be healthy anymore. Drew called her when we were driving to Wicked yesterday to check up on her. These boys are really good to her. Especially Evan and Drew. Drew is a huge reason why Jorja was elected her freshman year. He campaigned for her so hard. He was not shy and is hilarious. He made a big difference. Evan was Jorja's rock last year. Especially when her heart was broken. Evan was there for her. Evan is my favorite. He is such a good kid. They made Jorja's day today. She absolutely loves the blanket they brought her, but I didn't get a picture of it.

Jorja, Drew, Shafer, Evan

 Tulips from the boys

Jorja had a date with Mitchell today. This is the kid she wrote me a long note about begging me to let her have a date with him. She told me that they talked and agreed they would just be friends so they could hang out together. Mitchell brought her flowers, chocolate and a card. Hmmmm. Very friendly. Just kidding. It is Valentines Day, so that was nice of him.

Mitchell's flowers

Mitchell took Jorja to get sushi and then they went to a movie. She seemed to have a great time and Mike and I were both very happy that she made her curfew.

Mitchell

Jorja came into our room and was telling us about her date. I asked her a question, which I can't even remember what it was now. (I'm about two weeks behind on the blog. Ugh.) Anyway, we ended up getting into an argument. I don't even know how that happened. I didn't want it to happen and it wasn't my intention. I made her sad after she had had such a good day. Jorja asked if she could talk to Mike alone for awhile. I left them alone for about 30 minutes. I wish Jorja and I could get our relationship back. I just need her to be 100% honest with me. I know she hides things because she thinks about Mitchell because she knows I don't like him. I don't like him because she isn't honest with me about him. Which makes her hide things, which makes me mad. It's a vicious cycle. We are both tired of it. I really didn't mean to make her mad today.

HUTCH!

Happy Valentine's Day!!! Preston was so excited to go to school with his piranha plant. What a great box to have for a last Valentine's box. I am excited this is our last Valentine's box ever! There are some things I miss about my babies. Potty training and crafts will never be one of them.

Preston

Mike came home for lunch today and we cooked pineapple chicken kabobs that were so good! It is always great to see him during the day! He gave me a Valentine's card. It was actually my birthday card that he forgot to bring up to the cabin. He crossed off 'Happy birthday' and wrote 'Happy Valentine's Day!' That made me laugh. He did that with the kids card too. Jorja signed her name as 'Daughter #2'

Sister Hutchinson was released as a missionary today. She came over to visit after Jorja's play practice. Jorja doesn't get home until 9:00, so it was getting late. I'm glad she made time to stop and see us! It was fun meeting her parents too! Jorja had so much fun with her. Mike asked Hutch what she thought of Jorja's Christmas present. Hutch started laughing. Jorja made her a book of different text conversations she has had. It was so funny when it was put together. Hutch always gives her a hard time about boys. She was teasing Jorja right when Isaac called. Of course Hutch had to answer and give him a bit of a hard time. She also got these weird snap messages while Hutch was here. Oh man! Perfect timing.

Jorja and Hutch

 Jorja showing Hutch her scrapbook page.

 Hutch a.k.a McKaila and Jorja

I'm pretty sure Jorja could hang out with her forever. What a blessing Hutch is in her life. Hutch grew up in Georgia but her family moved to California while she was on her mission. She is going to school at BYU-Idaho in April, I think. Maybe we'll get to see her again?

Macbeth, Jumanji, Skating

Jorja had a busy day today. I ended up being her Uber driver. First, Jorja was at Macbeth from 9-2. Hailey came over for a bit, which Jorja loved! Hailey has been in California this week and Jorja has been going through withdrawals. I then took the girls and Isaac to the movie theater so they could see Jumanji. I picked them up from In-and-Out and took them to Cottonwood to go iceskating. Then picked them up after. It was a lot of driving. I hope Jorja appreciates it.

Hailey, Jorja, Isaac

 Hailey and Jorja

 Hailey, Jorja, Isaac

Mike spent today working with Preston on making a Valentine's box. Preston loves it! It isn't finished yet, but this is what it looks like so far. I think they have plans to add teeth to the piranha plant.

Jorja with Preston's box

Mike, Preston and I played Preston's pandemic game. We lost. We have gotten so close, but it is super hard to win! We are going to try again tomorrow.

Valentine's Day

This is the valentine's box Mike and Preston worked on yesterday. They put my 'hoppy taw' I got for Christmas at the bottom so it wouldn't roll around. It fit perfect. They 3D printed the heart and Preston wrote the word 'love' in Chinese on it. Preston loved the final product.

Preston

I had to laugh because a lot of my friends were putting their kids valentine's boxes on Instagram. Stacy put a picture of an adorable hamburger valentine's box with the caption, "We stayed up all night making this cute cheeseburger Valentine's box for her last school Valentine's party. Jk we bought a piñata at Target and cut a hole in it." Haha! I'm still laughing about that.

Jorja put herself on the 'party planning committee' in her math class. Weird, I know. She collected a few dollars in donations. I took Jorja and Katlyn to the store where they picked out a valentine's cake. Those two are weirdos, but make everything super fun.

I had student led conference with Jorja today. I hate those things. I would much rather talk to the teacher. I already know how she is doing in school, I don't know why I need to go to the school and have her tell me what I already know. What I know is Jorja has totally slacked off this year. This is the first conference where her grades weren't As. It's quite ridiculous. I told her, "You know this is going to change next year. No way would this be acceptable." She has focused more on socializing this year. I have really tried hard to pull back and let her be responsible. Hasn't worked out so far. Next year will be an entirely knew ball game for her. I think she also knows that this is her last year before things need to get serious. At least I hope she will get her head back in the game. She has been a straight 4.0 student. Not this year. Hopefully she can pull her grades up before the end of the term in a few weeks.

J-O-R-J-A

Mike had a friend in college his freshman year named Jorja.  I met her a few times.  She was an amazing violinist and she ended up marrying Mike's roommate Ty.  When I was pregnant with Stockton, Mike told me if the baby was a girl he wanted to name her Jorja.  I didn't even want to talk about it because I was convinced the baby would be a boy. I didn't know what I thought of the name Jorja either.  About a year before our Jorja was born I fell in love with the name.  I wanted to name her Jorja Ellen.  Ellen is my Grandma's middle name.  I thought about the name Jorja Ellen frequently.  Then we moved to Georgia. That was unexpected.  When we found out I was pregnant Mike asked if we should still name the baby Jorja if she was a girl.  We decided yes. We knew we wouldn't live in Georgia forever.  Then I said Jorja Ellen out loud.  Mike did not like that at all!  He said, "Nope.  Jorja Ann."  I did not like that.  I told him that sounded like Georgeanne.  He told me mine sounded like George-ellen.  Not sure how to spell that.  Anyways, we agreed not to talk about it until we knew if the baby was a boy or a girl.  A few days later we went to the temple.  We used the temple names and the name I was given was Georgia Ann.  I couldn't believe it. I sat next to Mike in the chapel and showed him my slip.  He raised his arms in triumph and said, "I win!"  It was funny.  I like to pretend it was my mom giving me her opinion, although if she were alive I'm sure I would have told her that this was my baby and I'll name her what I want.

That was a lot of background.  We have loved the name Jorja.  It fits our little girl.  When we moved back to Utah I became friends again with Julia.  We went to high school with her.  She told us that Ty and Jorja lived in Utah.  I thought it would be so cool to get the two Jorja's together for a picture.  I am just horrible at doing things like that.  Over the years I have thought about it, but never got around to doing it.  This morning Mike found out that his friend Jorja had died.  I can't believe it.  Julia had told me that Jorja had some rare form of cancer that she had to fly back east a couple of times a year for some special treatment. The way she explained it I did not get the impression that this was a life threatening thing, just a weird thing.  I am so sad that we never got the two Jorja's together.  I'm sad for Ty and his children.  Life can be hard.  Life can be unfair.

Mike and I took our kids to sacrament meeting down in Swan Valley.  I wanted to go to Steve and Sharon's ward.  The roads were horrible on the way down.  Pretty scary.  If we had realized how bad they would be we would have probably tried to go to a ward in Wyoming.  Steve and Sharon weren't there today.  I guess they are in Washington.  We did see Derek and Kendra though.  I was talking to Kendra when Derek came up laughing.  He said, "I just walked past someone and I thought 'he looks a lot like Stockton' and then I see you and realize he WAS Stockton!"

On the way home from church we got a flat tire.  Our front left tire had a blow out!  Mike hit a rock and it did not go well.  We had a spare that we were able to get on.  Once Mike took the destroyed wheel off the car shifted and fell on the jack.  We weren't sure what to do.  I called Heather because for a little while we thought we would need someone to bring us a new jack.  Heather was outside and didn't hear the phone. Mike was able to kick the jack enough to get it out from under the wheel.  That was a bit scary.  When we finally got the spare tire on someone stopped to help us.  We had just finished, so we waved them on.  At least we know if we hadn't been able to get the jack we would have been okay.  We will have to figure out where to get a new tire tomorrow.

Today was a day to play in the snow, play games, eat lots of delicious food and read.  Mike gave me the complete Far Side collection for Valentine's Day.  It matches the Calvin and Hobbes collection he gave me for my birthday.  It is perfect for the cabin.  I gave him heart Peeps. Haha.  I also gave the kids different chocolate heart things.  Sledding was fun today.  I mostly gave rides up the hill on the 4 wheeler, but I got a few runs in myself.  The girls had fun building a snow fort.

Aubrey, Jennifer, Jorja & Katie

 I made Jorja put on her frog hat for this picture

Jennifer, Jorja, Katie

 Aubrey

 Norma

 Norma & Aubrey

I didn't realize I had gotten a good picture of Norma and Aubrey.  I kept taking them over and over, but Norma would always pull faces. Jorja jumped into the mix while I was doing this.

Norma, Aubrey, Jorja

 Jorja never has any fun at all!

 Katie & Jennifer

 Katie

Around dinner time Derek and Kendra came over for awhile.  I couldn't get over how much Paisley looks like Millie!  Maysen didn't think so, but this is exactly what Millie looked like a few years ago.

Paisley

 Heather, Paisley, Kendra

Zac finished editing Jorja's 'The Martian' book for me.  That was awesome!  We were laughing how Jorja's English teacher got mad at Jorja for saying 'Dang it'.  She told Jorja that was an ugly word and Jorja lost points.  Jorja has to read The Martian for the same teacher. That book is filled with horrible language.  Starting with the very first sentence.

Stockton was funny.  The high school has an instagram account for the swim team.  Stockton decided to make an account for the dive team. He is the only member.  This is one of the pictures he took.  The caption says: Hope I got everyone in the shot #teamphoto

We laughed and laughed.  If you want to follow the 'dive team', search instagram for altadiving.  Because 'It's a thing'.

Mike, Maysen, Preston, Heather and Zac all played pirates.  I don't know many details except that I know Maysen won and I thought she would like that documented.  This trip has gone by way too fast.    It's sad that it is over tomorrow.  I like cabin life, it is a lot less stressful than real life!

UVU

Jorja and Preston had the day off of school.  Mike took Jorja skiing and Max came over and played with Preston.  Jorja hasn't skied in a long time.  She usually does snowboarding.  Mike said she didn't like it at first, but was able to get the hang of it after awhile.  It was a warm and beautiful day up there.  Perfect day for skiing.

Jorja

Today was an A day for the high schoolers.  That meant that Maysen got out of school at 12:20.  We used that time to go on a tour of Utah Valley University.  We took a tour of the campus and then a tour of the institute building.  Maysen could get a full ride 4 year scholarship there.  She left the tour deciding that she definitely did not want to go there.  I felt that the tour was a success if it helped her narrow down her choice.  She said the campus felt too much like high school. Maysen has not enjoyed high school at all, the last thing she wants is to do that over again.  We did stop at Krispy Kreme on the way back, so that was a win for Maysen.

For Valentine's Day Mike and I ordered a Beddy's set.  Our plan is to use this for the motorhome.  We have it on our bed right now to try it out.  The boys were especially impressed, mostly with how awesome it is going to be to make the bed.  Jorja did not want to smile for me, but after jumping on the bed for awhile I wore her down.

Jorja & Preston

Couples Extreme

I talked Mike into going to the gym today.  We went to this 'couples extreme' class.  It was pretty fun and funny.  We did all sorts of weird exercises.  Mike's favorite was when one of us put the band around our waist and tried to run as fast as we could while the other one was supposed to hold you in place while doing deep squats.  I couldn't budge Mike and he had no problem moving me!

Mike gave me a cool journal.  Both of us are supposed to answer a question a day.  For three years.  I had him help me pick out a mattress topper for the motorhome.  I want one for the overhead bed.  When we want to leave early, Mike and I sleep up there.  I have a hard time getting comfortable.  Last time Mike moved our mattress topper and it was so much better.  I am really not a high maintenance person, except when it comes to my back and sleeping.  I wish it were different because it is annoying not being able to sleep.  Anyway, this will be nice to have a permanent topper so Mike doesn't have to move the other one back and forth.

That's about it.  We had a pretty relaxing Valentine's Day, and it was great!

Valentine's Day Cookies

Jorja was pretty excited that they were going exchange valentines at school.  She spent all week making heart shaped chocolate chip cookies.  She wrapped them up real cute and made a fancy tag.  She debated about just putting her name (from Jorja) or putting different kids names (to Jazzie) on them.  She was worried because there are a few kids she gets mixed up.  This was in her English class.  For years she has been with the Chinese kids, and now she is in middle school....lots of new faces.  Anyway, she decided to put their names on them because she had a class list.  That turned out to be a bad idea. Jorja thought they would have plenty of time to hand out the valentines.  They only had three minutes.  She came home with more than half of her cookies because she couldn't get them handed out fast enough.  She was really disappointed.  Poor little Porgie.

We watched Max tonight while my dad was at dinner club.  It looks like my dad and Cathy will have Max for the next year.  Patrice and Hunter were sent to jail a little while ago.  The judge has asked my dad and Cathy to do the foster parent thing for the next year or so.  He doesn't mind that one bit.

Valentine's Day at Parrydise

Happy Valentine's Day!  I won the present contest this year.  I got Mike a used Wii.  Our old Wii stopped reading disc so we got a new one only to find out it doesn't play gamecube games.  Anyway, Mike put our broken Wii in the motorhome.  The kids can still play their downloaded games.  Now we will have a completely working Wii in the motorhome. Mike didn't get me anything.  (We usually don't do gifts.)  That is why I won the present contest.  Mike said, "I was unaware we were having a contest."  So was I until I realized I won!  The score is now 959 to 1.  I'm on the board!

Jorja and Preston made their own valentine's boxes.  Jorja's was really cute with dragons all over.  She brought two stuffed frogs to sit next to her box.  Adorable.  Jorja and Preston went downstairs and got a bottle of applesauce and apple cider each.  They wrote their names on them and planned on giving them to their teachers.  I was a little apprehensive about this and gave Preston strict instructions on how careful he needed to be.  This worked out fine for Jorja, but Preston's bottle of apple cider exploded in his backpack.  (Luckily I had his valentines and box wrapped in a bag.)  Preston's teacher had to clean his backpack.  Happy Valentine's Day Mrs. Petersen!

Maysen made her own valentine today.  Isn't it lovely?

I met Mike at the cabin ate store.  We had a meeting with April to go over our kitchen design.  I was pretty disappointed.When April came to our house a few weeks ago, she got fixated on putting our kitchen where our table is and our table in our kitchen.  I told her that the only thing I like about my kitchen now is the table area.  I love having family dinner next to the fireplace.  I love the cabinetry we have on the wall from Mike's house.  April said we could move it somewhere else, but we really don't have anywhere we could move it.  Unless we get rid of the air hockey table in the boys' room and put it there.  Anyway, April said she would do a workup of both choices.  When we met with her today, she had only done her choice.  I was really disappointed because we had waited three weeks.  I don't want to switch kitchen areas unless I'm convinced it is the best plan.  I am not convinced.  Mike asked them to do a workup of the kitchen our way.  We'll see.

I met Jorja and Preston at the bus stop and took them to the doctor's. They are both doing really well.  Jorja grew a lot!  Last year she was in the 14% for height and the 29% for weight.  This year she is in the 26% for height and the 26% for weight.  4 whole inches.  That's a lot of growth for someone in our family!  Preston grew about 2 1/2 inches. Last year he was in the 9% for height and the 16% for weight.  This year he is in the 7% for height and the 13% for weight.  That's more like a Smith.

Jorja ended up getting three shots.  She was not happy!  (One was a tetanus - ouch!)  Jorja did really well for Jorja.  A male nurse came in and put Jorja on his lap.  He wrapped his arms around her and held her still.  He talked to her the entire time.  She still screamed and cried, but not nearly as much as she did the last time she got a shot - three years ago!  She was sad about her arms the rest of the day, but not unreasonably sad.

When Mike got home we packed up the car and headed to the cabin! Yay!  The cabin is the best place ever!  We went through Wyoming and the roads were perfect.  We got to the cabin about 10:30. Bubs and Ange were here and had the cabin all warmed up.  Bubs met us with the snowmobile at the bottom.

The plaque my mom made a LONG time ago!

I copied Ange's idea from last time and brought up our own sheets. They were easy to put on because there were no sheets on any beds. There were garbage bags next to the beds with the sheets and comforters in them.  Looks like someone washed everything!  Awesome!  We didn't get everyone to sleep until almost 1:00.  Oh boy. Hope we don't pay for it tomorrow!