Bowser

I came back from my exercise class this morning and everyone was still asleep. I went outside to look at the ducks. I let them out of their pen. Mike has been leaving the swimming pool open and we let the ducks just roam the yard and float in the pool. It was fun watching them fly to the pool. They did it twice, although they weren't much higher than my waist when they flew. I stayed outside and watched them for at least twenty minutes. They were waddling around by the slide when I went inside. Preston was up now and I said hi to him. I woke Mike up and talked to him. He was getting ready to go outside to work on the duck pond when the ducks started quacking like crazy. I had only been inside ten minutes top by this time. We hurried outside to see what was wrong. We have no idea what happened, but now there are only two ducks. Princess Peep is gone. Our best guess as to what happened is that a bird swept and got her from the sky. Mike said later on in the day there were birds of prey just circling. I felt so bad. This is only the second time I have let them out of their pen. The ducks looked so sad the rest of the day. We hoped beyond hope that she flew away and would come back. This is not a likely scenario. First, the ducks never flew high. Second, they hate being separated. Third, the ducks were super upset when Princess Peep was captured. I have named birds of prey Bowser. I don't like them. (I'm writing this five days later and we still have no sign of Princess Peep. I think she is gone for good.) Anyway, it was/is super sad.

BYU/Wisconsin played today in football. Wisconsin is ranked 6th in the nation. BYU won! It was such an amazing, fun game! My brothers and I have a group chat and we talk a lot during games. I didn't hear one peep out of them after halftime. It was so weird. So, I watched this most amazing game by myself. A few days later I was walking out of diving with Preston when my phone just went crazy. 107 messages from my brothers came in. They were talking the entire game and I just didn't receive them until days later. I felt sad. It would have been fun to share that game with them. I don't know why my phone didn't work. I wish anyone in my family would like my hobbies. I have to force people to watch games with me. It doesn't bother me too much because my brothers are there. I did not like missing experiencing this game with them.

Jorja went to the Corner Canyon 'Out of this World' dance with some of the other Alta girl officers. She had a great time. She said it was a bit weird because no one was dancing except them. She is going to Homecoming at Corner Canyon and this made her a little nervous. She loves dancing and being crazy. After the dance they went on the Alta football field and danced themselves. She seemed to love it. Jorja and Aysha talked for a long time in our driveway. Jorja came in and woke us up. Aysha's car wouldn't start, so Mike had to jump it.

Rachyl & Jorja

 Aysha, Abbey, ???, ???, Jorja, Maggie, ???

Rachyl, ???

Football

Jorja didn't come home from school for a long time. I finally texted her and asked where she was. She was at Kylie's house and was just planning on staying there until the game started. Ummm, no. Remember the conversation we had yesterday that if your room wasn't clean you were not going to go to the football game? You can't bypass that just by not coming home. I told her she needed to get at least her clothes put away and her bed made before the game. (Side note: I am a horrible house cleaner. I get overwhelmed and always feel like a failure in that department. The only domestic thing I am good at is laundry. About a year ago, Jorja asked if I would just put the laundry on her bed instead of putting it away in her closet. She had her own system. Her own system drives me insane. She never puts her clothes away. I end up rewashing clean clothes because I don't know what is clean and what is dirty. I have had multiple conversations with her about how it hurts me that she won't put away her laundry. She is making me feel like I'm a failure at the only thing I am good at. I think I need to just force her to use my system because obviously she doesn't care . . . even though she does.) Okay, that was a long rant. Jorja said she would come home and take care of her room. I had been feeling sick all day. The house was worse than usual, I had absolutely no energy. Well, Jorja comes in with two people I had never met before. I was so embarrassed. She had them wait upstairs in our messy kitchen while she cleaned her room. I couldn't believe it. Can't you give me a heads up so I can at least straighten up a bit? I realize I should have the house clean at all times, I just don't. I want her to bring her friends over, today was just a really bad day for that. Anyway, here are some pictures I found on Jorja's phone. It looks like she had fun at the football game.

 Bode & Jorja

 Sophomore class officers ~ Carson, Marshall, Bode, Jorja

 Jorja, Bode, Marshall, Carson

 Dessa, Gabby, ???, Jorja, Bode

 Josh & Jorja

SLCC diploma

Every day this year when Jorja comes home I have tried to be at the window waiting for her. Sometimes I make a face. Sometimes I wave. Sometimes I watch while I'm sitting on the floor. My phone usually alerts me when she is getting near. Once it didn't alert me and Jorja was confused when I wasn't there. Today I got my alert and ran into position. I saw the car drive her past our house, then it drove back. With Jorja still inside. About fifteen minutes later I texted her and asked where she was. She was at Ebony's house. Ebony wanted to show her her homecoming dress. That's great and all, but . . . just give me a heads up!

Stockton got his diploma from Salt Lake Community College today. Finally! I was wondering if it would ever get here. I texted Stockton a picture. He said he probably could have gone his whole life and not realized he didn't have the diploma. Ha! Well, I have it in his nice folder/case thing he was given at graduation now.

Inward

Preston had diving today. He did the best inward I have ever seen him do! I was so surprised! I wish I had caught it on video.

Jorja had some friends come over and play with the ducks. Mike is still having fun working on their new pen. He gets up every morning and starts digging/hauling dirt. He ends the day the same way. It looks exhausting.

Annie (Princess Peep), Jorja, (Waddluigi), Aysha (Quackletta)

HEYB0YS

Mike took today off of work so he could work on the duck pond. He loves those ducks. He registered Jorja's car yesterday I think, her license plate will be officially HEYB0YS. The 'o' is a zero because the regular o is not used. I hope she doesn't regret that license plate. Although the thought of Mike driving her car with a HEYB0YS license plate makes me laugh. The thought of me driving around with it does not. We also took Jorja's car up to the gate and got her a sticker to enter our neighborhood. Now she won't have to stop at the guard house.

Mike

ducks

I took Shannon down to Sherry's house so she could get Blakely's handprints. We met at my dad's house and drove down there. It was fun chatting with her and getting to know her better.

Shannon, Blakely, Sherry

Dad's 75th Birthday

My dad is officially old. Three quarters of a century old. Wow. We had dinner with him tonight. I made taco haystacks and Sam made lava cake. It was delicious. My dad looks thrilled. We put seven and pushed the last candle down halfway for whatever Preston's idea was. I can't remember.

Dad

Last, we swam with ducks. My dad said it was his birthday so he got to just watch today. It ended up being super fun. All the kids loved the ducks. They were super calm and seemed to enjoy being played with.

Jorja

 Jorja & Max

 Jorja

 Jorja, Matt & Jeff, Preston, Max's arms

 Jorja, Anne & Stephanie

 Jorja

 Jorja with all three ducks.

Looks like we got the most pictures of Jorja. She was having a blast with the ducks. I am excited about the present I gave my dad. I got tickets for the two of us to go see Wait Until Dark at the Hale Center Theater. Mike is going to take the two kids with our season tickets. I will be in New Mexico. We weren't able to change the date of the tickets, but this will work out great. Almost all of the shows were sold out, only a few scattered horrible seats left. Then, I stumbled onto one showing that had two seats in the center third row open up. I snatched those seats up so quick! I'm so excited!

QUAAACK

Today was Noah Valentine's mission homecoming. He did a great job. Mike took Jorja out to practice driving her new car. They thought the parking lot of the church would be pretty empty. Nope. People were coming for Brenton Valentine's Eagle Court of Honor. Mike said Jorja was funny. She was yelling out the window, "I'm learning to drive a stick!" The bishop stopped and asked her if this was her car or if she was just learning on this one. When she told him it was hers he mentioned that learning to drive a stick now was a great idea. His wife doesn't know how to drive one now. Jorja told him that she is thinking of getting a license plate that says HEYBOYS. He laughed and said, "Jorja, I don't think you need a license plate to send that message. For the record, my vote is for QUAAACK.

Temple with Maysen

Mike and I have now been married 23 years! What better way to celebrate than to go through the temple with Maysen for the first time. It was the best day. The weather was perfect. Maysen was so sweet. I just loved it so much. Mike and I took Maysen for breakfast at the Waffle Iron before heading to the temple for our afternoon session. I was Maysen's escort. I have never been in the Logan Temple before. It definitely was built a long time ago. It was cool. The locker rooms were huge too! I was separated from Maysen in the locker room and waited for her in the instruction room. The assistant to the matron talked to us for awhile. She was really nice and kind. Maysen's temple escort was super nice. She took us down a different hallway to the endowment room. "Only brides and people going through the temple for the first time get to come down here." It was really cool to be in the celestial room with Maysen. My dad, Mike, Bubs, Ange, Matt and Sam were also there. Maysen's temple escort asked us if we would want to get our picture taken in our white clothes. I had never thought about that. We had to change into church shoes and were supposed to meet her in front of the bridal door. She wanted to take us out that door because 'the flowers were just beautiful.' Well, two other temple workers did not like her idea at all. Finally one of the said, "Might I suggest that you go back and change into your regular clothes. This is highly unusual what you are asking to do." By this time I was really excited about the idea. I love Maysen's temple dress and I wanted a picture of her in it. I said sounding disappointed, "Really, we can't do it?" The other lady said, "Well, I can't stop you . . ." She started to say something else but I interrupted with 'Great!' We were told we needed to go out the front door. No worries there. We did make sure everyone had their recommend so they could get back in the temple. It did make us laugh and I love the pictures. The temple escort whispered to me as she was walking us out, "I don't know why you wouldn't want to take your pictures in your temple clothes, I thought it was a great idea." Haha. She was great.

Maysen

Maysen's wearing a necklace Jorja gave her before she left for college.

 Mike, Maysen, Stephanie

 Dad, Mike, Ange, Maysen, Bubs, Stephanie, Matt, Sam

Sam had asked someone to take our picture. After we got the picture in front of the flowers the girl asked if we wanted one with the temple in the background. Hahahaha! I would have been so annoyed if I had forgotten to do that! We are kind of in shadows, but still!

Sam, Matt, Dad, Mike, Maysen,Stephanie, Ange, Bubs

Once all the group pictures were done I asked my dad to take some pictures Mike and I with Maysen. That way the lady Sam got didn't have to stay. Matt and Sam had to take off to get back home. Logan is a ways away. After my dad took some pictures I asked Ange if she could take some. When my dad asked why I wanted more when he just took some. Mike said, "She's hoping Ange won't have her finger over the lens." Haha! Here is my dad's picture.

Maysen, Stephanie, Mike

Ange got some great pictures. She kept going back in the shadows. She said she always things pictures taken with the camera in the shadows turns out better. I never knew that. She also was crouched super low on the ground to get the top of the temple in. She was great.

Maysen, Stephanie, Mike

 My dad, Maysen, Stephanie, Mike

 Stephanie, Maysen, Mike

 Maysen

My dad had brought up Jorja and Preston when he came. He dropped them off with Stockton before heading to the temple. We all drove to Stockton's apartment, except Matt and Sam who had already left. Stockton had taken the kids to lunch at the Marketplace. They spent most of the rest of the time playing Super Mario I think. Stockton showed everyone around his room. Bubs and Ange had to take off and get back to their kids. They were being watched at President Back's house by his daughter who is one of Ange's good friends. My dad went with my family to Olive Garden before he headed home. We stopped by Maysen's apartment so Mike could look at her tablet that had stopped working. Luckily the plug had just been knocked loose and she hadn't noticed. We like fixes like that. We were glad we were able to get into Maysen's parking lot. She lives across the street from the football field. There was a game today, and the road gets shut down. They had just started opening it up when we arrived. We were able to drive Stockton back to his apartment before we made the long drive home. Utah State had a giant win, so that was good. I drove home and made it just in time to watch the BYU game. Too bad they lost. Oh well. The rest of the day was perfect.

Early Anniversary

Mike and I have our 23rd wedding anniversary tomorrow. Maysen has chosen to go through the Logan temple that day. We are so excited. We decided to celebrate tonight so tomorrow can be all about Maysen. Mike came home early from work and we drove up to Logan. Jorja stayed over at Hailey's house and my dad came up here and stayed with Preston. The plan was to have Preston stay at my dad's house, so this was a last minute change. Also why Jorja was at Hailey's instead of here. There was an Alta football game today. Jorja went with Hailey, obviously. Here are some pictures I got off of her phone.

Jorja and Hailey

 Jorja and Jonah

 Jorja and Jeanelle

Mike and I stopped at Joe's Trophy to pick up two missionary plaques that were finished today, then we headed up to Logan. It wasn't until we arrived and saw tons of bikes everywhere that we realized LOTOJA was starting tomorrow. LOTOJA is a huge three state 200+ mile race that starts in Logan, Utah and ends in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Logan was packed. Mike and I decided to go to dinner early to beat the rush. We went to the Bluebird. It was delicious. Next we walked to this giant Smith's store. I think it is a Smith's/Fred Meyer store. We were looking for a light for Stockton's club house. We also saw barstools that were on sale. They were in a box and you would need to put them together, but they were $15 a piece. We decided to come back tomorrow and pick four up because we had walked to the store and it was a long walk. (Spoiler alert: we totally forgot about the barstools. Oh well.) Jorja texted me tonight to let me know she didn't get a part in James and the Giant Peach, not even ensemble. She was "pretty disappointed and way embarrassed." Poor girl. 

Meet Maggie

I had lunch today with my friends Becky, Jacqui and Jenny. We went to Zao's and it was delicious. We all served in the Young Women's presidency together ages ago. It was so much fun to hang out and talk with them again. Becky is now a sunbeam teacher. Jacqui is the new gospel doctrine teacher. Jenny is absolutely loving it in nursery. She kept laughing and saying, "The kids are so naughty. I love it." Haha!

Jorja had auditions for James and the Giant Peach today. She has been working on a song from The Waitress. She sounds so beautiful. She was nervous because you have to bring your own sheet music for the piano person to play. She has been practicing with the audio file and never tried it with the piano. Also, the music is just a couple of notes. Like da-da, long pause, da-da, long pause. It's hard to keep on rhythm. She tried out with Sammi. They also had to learn a dance number.

While Jorja was at auditions Mike decided to buy the car they looked at yesterday. The couple came down a bit in price for him. Mike was so excited to surprise Jorja with it. She texted me asking to be picked up. We were just finishing the paperwork in Herriman. We got there as quick as we could. She was quite surprised, and a little shocked.

Jorja

I sent Maysen and Stockton a picture of Jorja with her new car. Stockton wrote back, "What the actual heck is that doing in our driveway?" Then he asked if we knew what it looked like. I didn't. He texted a picture of Maggie and the Ferocious Beast. I laughed so hard. Jorja loved it too. She has now decided to call her car "Maggie".

Jorja

 Preston and Jorja

Jorja will be paying $3,000 for the car. She is a little nervous because Chick-Fil-A only schedules her one or two days a week now that school has started again. Mike helped her with a payment plan. I think the goal is for her to pay $64 a month. She did give Mike quite a sizable down payment from her summer Chick-Fil-A money. I hope this car is great for her. It is a 2002, just as old as Jorja. I am hopeful that it will make a great high school car.

Uh, Oh. Mikey Likes It

Today was Preston's first day back at diving. It was cute to see him in the water again, but made me really miss Stockton. He is still having problems trying to find out when/how he can dive. Even just recreationally. Frustrating. We had to do a little juggling to get Preston here. I dropped Jorja off at the dermatologist where Mike met us. Traffic was horrible because a lane was closed on 106 for some reason. I hurried back and took Preston to diving. After the dermatologist, Mike took Jorja to test drive a yellow bug. She has been saying for a long time that this is her dream car. Mike was showing her how you can find cars on ksl. They decided to test drive this one. They were both really excited when they came home. Mike said it was perfect for her. I'm proud of him for not coming home with the car. He usually doesn't wait long when he decides on something.

Jorja driving a yellow bug

Jorja learning to drive a stick.