Lazy Summer Day

Mike worked from home today. It was great. I worked on Mina's stocking a lot. I love it. Maysen and Jorja had a dentist appointment. It took longer than usual. Jorja needs to get her wisdom teeth out, so that will be fun. It was lunch time when we left, so we met Mike and Preston at IHOP. Jorja's friends, Ellie and Baylor, came in after us and were seated right behind Jorja. Jorja's and Ellie's backs were right next to each other. They thought this was funny because they had been planning on going to breakfast together, but Jorja had a dentist appointment. Jorja worked a long time today. That's about all the excitement that went on.

Made it to Ohio

Maysen took Preston to Lagoon today. I love that. I love that they go on adventures together. Preston is so lucky to have her. Jorja worked during the day today. That worked out well because there was a tailgate activity for Alta tonight. She was not excited to go to it. She does not like parties. She went with Madison and said it was okay. Audrey went too, which was great. Jorja saw her there and said she looked like she was having a good time. Jorja came home from work with a ton of vaseline on her work pants. Jorja's face has been so dry since she came home from Taiwan. It hurts her a lot. She opened up this giant tub of vaseline to put on her face while she was driving home. It was pure liquid inside and spilled everywhere. I tried to get it out while Jorja was gone. I scraped everything off of it, scrubbed it with dish soap, soaked it....still there is a stain. Oh well.

Madison & Jorja

I talked to Rachel today. They have made it to Ohio! They also have a house that fell into their lap. It is in a good school district and has a large backyard. It is a bit smaller than their Florida house, but Rachel is excited. They are staying in temporary housing on the base now. Rachel was able to get the girls registered for school and was thrilled about that. Brett has baseball tickets on Friday. After that they will start their drive to Utah. Yay! Rachel also apologized a million times for the stocking she picked out for Mina. She feels bad because it is a lot of work. Silly Rachel. I sent her a picture of how much I have done on it so far. It's going to be beautiful.

I got to talk to Stockton today! I love, love, love talking to him. He sounds so happy. The family from the Congo has picked August 10th to be baptized. I hope Stockton will still be there! Transfers come the week before. Greg is going to be baptized on July 27th. They have another baptism scheduled for the 27th, but Stockton said the ward mission leader was overzealous on that one and he doesn't know how that will pan out. I love Mondays!

Family Dinner

I woke my dad up early this morning and then we hit the road. We said goodbye to John and Renee last night. I didn't set an alarm, but I always wake up early. My dad wanted to stop by these statues on the way out of town. His friend Bruce Couch had told him about them. Bruce went on my dad's last church history trip with him. My dad has been their home teacher for years. My cousin Rozie is married to Bruce's brother. Anyway, we have never seen these statues before and they did look beautiful.

 My dad getting a closer picture

 Should I leave my dad and say I forgot he was taking a picture?

I was on a tour with my dad when he asked me to get out of the bus to take a picture of the new Kansas City Temple. I did what he asked and watched as the tour bus drove away. My dad claims he 'forgot' I was taking a picture.

I made it home in time for 10:30 church, which was great. We had dinner tonight at Steve and Shannon's house. All of Mike's siblings were there. Lisa is flying back to California tomorrow. Crazy Aunt Mona came, and it was great to see her. Her husband George is in the hospital right now. He had a really bad accident and they don't know if he will make it. He has hundreds of titanium plates in his face right now. Holly & Josh and their kids also came over. So fun to talk with them. One of her girls, I think one of her twins, was awesome at Code Names. She said 'revere' and got four picks. I can't remember what they all were. Things like revolution and horse. It was great.

Jorja hung out with Weston and Michael for a long time. Michael gave her a talking to about some of the boys she has liked in the past and it was awesome. Shannon wanted to take a serious picture of us posed the same.

Weston, Jorja, Michael, Stephanie

We were at Steve and Shannon's house until late. Such a great time! Sherry, Lisa and Michael were there pretty late too. Jacob and Weston are leaving on an HEFY trip on Tuesday. Jacob is going to Ecuador and Weston is going to Zimbabwe. Steve and Shannon will be empty nesters for a few weeks... so they are going to Hawaii.

Weston & Jorja

Paul & Amanda

I picked up my dad this morning to head up to Idaho. He got in around midnight last night from one of his tours. We made pretty good time and got to Idaho Falls a few hours early. We stopped at Target so we could get Paul and Amanda a wedding present. Because we are procrastinators. We picked out a griddle from their list and were trying to figure out what to do about the wrapping. As we stood in the wrapping paper isle wondering if we needed to buy scissors and tape, Larkin walked by! Talk about timing. Tammi was with her. They invited us to their house so we could hang out and use their stuff. It was perfect. I wore my dress up to Idaho, but with my flip flops. I had my shoes in my bag. I went to change into them and realized I brought two different shoes. Both for the right foot. Whoops. I ended up wearing flip flops to the wedding.

Dad sleeping, my two different shoes

We sat by John & Renee during the wedding. Amanda's twin girls walked her down the isle. The ceremony was short and sweet. Everything turned out perfect, except my shoes.

There was a luncheon right after the wedding. I hung out behind the table with Brooke and Courtney. It was so great to see them! I loved this kid table Amanda set up.

I stayed after the luncheon until the end of the reception. I told Brooke I would help her, but I ended up just talking to my cousins. It was so nice to be able to have long conversations with several of them. My dad was a trooper. After the wedding we headed to John & Renee's house. It started raining while we were driving there. Then it got worse and worse. It was a giant downpour when we were in the driveway. We sat in the car for awhile waiting for it to lighten up. After about five or ten minutes we decided to make a break for it. I was pretty fast, but my dad got soaked. He dropped the plate of cookies we were taking to John and Renee and tried to pick everything up. It was funny.

We stayed up until midnight talking to them. John and Renee are going on the trip to Israel with us in November. Renee was so excited that my dad brought her homework. I told my dad I was planning on just showing up. John said he had the same plan. I got to sleep in Jordyn's room. I texted her pictures while I was at her house.

 Renee was too busy playing hostess, but I caught John and my dad

Jorja texted me right before I fell asleep. She had a date with Spencer tonight and was pretty sad after the date. I called and talked to her for awhile. She will be fine, she was just disappointed. Wish I could have been there for her.

More Camp

I took Preston to his Chinese/Engineering camp again. He stayed up super late last night and for some reason got up at six in the morning. That made him a bit grumpy. He didn't realize it, but just some little things were off. We were the first ones to the camp, so I waited with him at the front. He was teasing me, but it had more of an edge than usual. I was embarrassed. Just cause it was a bit mean. But not really mean. I know it was just the lack of sleep. I couldn't get Maysen or Jorja to come with me today, so I wandered around downtown by myself for three hours. I was bored out of my mind at the stores. Finally I got the brilliant idea to walk around Temple Square. Why didn't I think of that before? Preston enjoyed the camp today, but not as much as yesterday. I think it was because he was tired. He had a super tall Chinese partner who was only twelve years old. I can't remember what they did. Something with magnets and races. I'm not sure.

Preston's selfie with his partner

Following Google Maps

 I got another random picture of Stockton. I LOVE it when people send these to me!

Jorja worked tonight. She was happy when she came home. She ran the closing today and they got out super fast. She was proud. Several of her student government friends also came into Chick-Fil-A today. Conner, Baylor, Ellie, Cade and Luke. Made the work day a little bit more fun. Because Jorja was at work she wasn't able to go to the pre-travel meeting for her upcoming trip with my dad. Mike and I went and picked up her binder and luggage tags. Although I lost the luggage tags before I got home. Jorja's roommate is named Olivia and she is 16 years old from Oregon. Hopefully they get along. If they do, Jorja will love this trip.

Chinese/Engineering Camp

That's right. Preston had a Chinese/Engineering camp today. It was at the Gateway. He was invited and didn't have to pay. He wasn't too excited about this. Maysen and I drove him there. It took forever to park, but after that it was smooth sailing. We dropped him off and then the two of us went shopping. We ended up driving to City Creek. We found Maysen a swimsuit that she really likes and we got her shoes. She picked out the same shoes Preston has. They fit great once they are on, but they are a bit of a struggle to get on. They are supposed to get easier as she wears them. Hope they do! Anyway, Preston ended up loving his camp. They made rockets. He was paired up with a Chinese boy. Preston said he understood him great. It was cool because lately anytime we ask him about Chinese he says he doesn't understand it. This was perfect for him.

Preston's selfie with his partner

Jorja went to lunch with Drew while we were gone. They also got slurpees for 7-11 day. Drew is such a great kid, I'm glad they were able to do this before Jorja had to head to work.

Drew

Bubs

Bubs is 47.

That is all.

Cow Day

I absolutely love it when people from Arizona send me pictures of Stockton. It is the coolest thing ever! I sent this picture to Jorja while she was at work and it made her happy. I don't know the story behind this. I don't know if Stockton made his costume, or if the family had it ready and took them there for dinner. Can't wait to hear about it on Monday! (Stockton was on splits today. That is why he is with Elder Williams and not Elder Alia.)

Elder Smith and Elder Williams

I took Maysen and Jorja to see a new dermatologist. The one we had been going to for a LONG time made me so angry the last time we were in. He told Jorja she had the bone structure of a 40 year old. Also told her she needed to shoot something just below her eyes every six months for the rest of her life to fix a defect. Plus, Jorja's acne has gotten worse and Maysen's hasn't seemed to change at all. Anyway, I went to a guy my friend recommended me to and loved him. He was so nice and explained things really well. He is also putting the girls on accutane. Jorja is really excited about that. I guess most of the girls have taken it and all of them have loved it. The dermatologist said it has a 100% success rate. The big problem is if you get pregnant on it then your baby has a 100% chance of having a birth defect. So, the girls had to take a pregnancy test, wait a month and take another one before they can start the medicine. Jorja is anxious. She has never had acne before and she wanted it to be clear before she started school. Oh well.

Jorja also went back to work today. Her first day back was cow day. She had a blast though. She got together with her friends and they made cow shirts to wear to work. Brynlee is chocolate milk and Jorja is strawberry milk. After work they went out to ice-cream at Leatherbys. Jorja was happy.

Brynlee, Chloee, Jorja

 Brynlee, Jorja, Chloee

 Jorja

 Spencer & Jorja & random head

 Jorja, Jordan, Chloee

Jorja's HOME and Scoop's EIGHTY

Yay! Yay! Yay! Jorja is home from Taiwan! She had THE BEST time there. She loved it. Not the food, but the people, her new friends, her host sister, the kids she worked with. Best experience of her life. I'm so proud of her for finding this experience and going for it. It was amazing.

Marissa, Nicole, Mindy, Jorja, Abi, Emily, Camille, Ethan, Trevor, Grace

Mike, Maysen and Preston were all with me when we picked up Jorja from the airport. I cheered when I saw her. She rolled her eyes at me. Haha. We took her straight to Zupas and she was so happy. Madison met us there. It's so great to have her home!

I was able to talk to Stockton for a bit. I had already sent him pictures of Mike's storm cloud, but I forgot about the pirate. While I was talking to him I emailed this picture. The pirate tells pirate 'dad' jokes when you wave a wand at him. In Stockton news, the family from the Congo he has been teaching has set a date to be baptized! I don't know when that is, but that is pretty exciting.

Mike's pirate

Cori threw Scoop a surprise party at LaCaille. He turns 80 today. It was super fancy. Beautiful. The food was delicious. Basically it was a wedding. We had a lot of fun. Jorja was going on 28 hours with no sleep by the time we left the party. Lisa, Nathan and Taylor flew in from California. Lisa said it was so hard not to let her dad know she was here. Today was a great day.

 Jorja, Mike, Maysen, Preston

 Jorja

 Preston & Jacob

 Weston & Jorja

 Jacob & Weston

 Mike's parents ~ Scoop and Sharen

 Weston on the phone, Jorja, Taylor, Michael, Nathan

 Nathan, Jorja, Taylor, Michael

 Miah & Xander ~ how awesome is Xander's shirt?

 Scoop being surprised

 Scoop and Cori's table

 My attempt at a picture ~ Mike, Maysen, Preston, Shannon, Steve, Jacob, Weston, Jorja

 Mike, Maysen, Preston, Shannon, Steve, Jacob, Weston, Jorja, Stephanie

 Jorja's lemonade

Mike made his dad a pirate hat for his birthday. It's awesome. I love Mike.

Mike, Jorja, Stephanie, Preston, Maysen with Scoop/Papa

 With Cori

There was a 'photo booth' there. Pictures were printed out and paste into a book for Scoop. We were able to write a message next to it. The photos were also emailed to us, but I couldn't get it to work. Maybe another day. Anyway, here is Mike and his siblings getting their picture taken.

Lisa, Steve, Mike, Sherry

There was a cute little duck pond outside. Jorja took Preston on walks out there. He loved it. Later we saw Nathan helping his grandkids feed the ducks. Preston laughed and laughed because of the sign outside.

Preston

Preston & Jorja

Melissa, Preston, Jorja, Michael

Nathan feeding ducks with Nova, Leo & Derek

There were so many candles the workers brought out a blow torch. This is Isaiah with it. He said, "This is the best day of my life." Haha. He didn't get to be the one to use it though. Probably good because it didn't work and just melted the candles. They had to be lit the old fashioned way.

Isaiah with a blow torch.

Lisa helping light the candles....and look at Scoops hat!

There was dancing after dinner. Jorja going over a day without sleep had a blast. She was so excited when they played Boot Scootin Boogie. They had to do that dance in Taiwan. The photographer showed me an awesome picture of Scoop during the YMCA song. It looked like he had a lot of fun tonight. Although when he was giving his speech he was noting a few people that were here. He said, "And there's my stock broker. I'll be meeting with you tomorrow to figure out what to do about this." Haha. Everyone busted up laughing. He also said a few things about each of his kids. Mike's stories were all about him taking things apart to make other things. Scoop would go to use something only to find out it didn't work because Mike had used parts for random things. Also how Mike almost set the forest on fire.

Taylor, Melissa, Michael, Jorja, Cori

YMCA with Papa

Scoop dancing with his grandkids and Cori

(Melissa) Jorja & Michael

Melissa, Jorja, Michael

Lisa, Nathan, Taylor

Taylor & Jorja

Jorja & her Papa