Lewis

Today was another church at home day. It was awesome. I love it. My dad even did a zoom lesson, which was fun. Mike made delicious lasagna. Later we played Code Names, kids against parents. Jorja took weird pictures of the Lewis Pez and laughed and laughed and laughed about it.

Bear

Mike is now in charge of locking up the church for the week. I took the opportunity to get Andrew's picture hung up. He is right next to his cousin Rachael. It looks nice up there! Also... Stockton is on the first board now! Woohoo!

Pictures and Drive-In

Jorja woke up early this morning to go with Madison to take pictures. Madison had asked Jorja if she would take her graduation pictures for her. Jorja was surprised, but happy. She got some cute pictures and they had a lot of fun.

Jorja

 This was my favorite of Madison

 Madison and Jorja

Jorja worked, but didn't close. She and Riley wanted to go to a drive in movie. By themselves. I didn't feel comfortable with this. I talked to Jorja for a long time about it. She ended up promising me she wouldn't kiss him in order to be able to go. I told her that I was not saying she could never kiss him, just this situation makes me uncomfortable. So... Riley picked her up and they got pizza and went to see Knives Out at the drive in. This is the only picture Jorja had.

Jorja

Mike and I decided to watch Knives Out at home while Jorja was gone. Jorja texted me on her way home. This was our conversation....

Jorja: Can I pretty please kiss him if it's just a quick peck at the doorstep? He's going to lake powell for 10 days apparently

Me: Is that something you really want to do?

J: Yes

J: It'll be at doorstep

J: Aka no make out

J: You can watch if you want

M: Hahahaha It is up to you. Make good choices. Love you!

J: Yayyy

J: I love you so much

J: Don't make out with dad

M: Dad asks why

M: Also, if he drives to a makeup spot DO NOT KISS HIM

J: Sorry can't text rn we're making out

J: At a makeout spot

M: Fine

M: We will be on the porch ready to watch your smooch

J: No don't take it back

J: Noooo

J: Noooo

J: It's called a joke

J: Plz don't

M: Dad wants to make signs. Like at diving. We can score

J: Nooooo

J: Just keep watching your movie

J: Sorry I'm just so incredibly hilarious

M: You must get that from your mom

J: True

Anyway, that girl cracks me up. I asked her if she and Riley were out of the friend zone now. She said they are at an in-between place. They like each other, but don't want to date each other. Really they are both just worried about ruining their friendship if they get serious. Anyway, love that Porge of mine!

Thanks Mike

I got a shirt in the mail from my brother Mike today. It is a Nationals baseball shirt and I love it!

Stephanie

This week was amazing. We got to talk with Stockton FOUR times! Sunday because of Mother's Day, Monday because of P-day, Wednesday because of Mike's birthday, and Thursday because of extra corona calling day. What a blessing! Each time he has had a new story. Like yesterday he told us that his belt broke. His first belt was thrown away by a cleaning lady or housing lady or something like that. His second belt died. They went to Walmart and decided to buy some candy to give away. They were dropping off candy at random member/investigator houses when one lady said that she had a friend that she thinks would like to meet with them. They had met with missionaries a few months ago, but when the Elder got transferred, the new missionaries were more shy that it just didn't work for her. Here they were dropping off gummy bears, she thought they would be the perfect fit for her. So, they have an appointment set up for next week I think. Pretty cool. He sounds so happy every time I talk to him. I am so grateful for that! Makes having him gone much easier.

Cade

Jorja had her speaking Chinese final today. It was a town hall style meeting. They were given a time and a character. Jorja was a doctor. They were talking about the coronavirus. It was kids from Alta, Corner Canyon and Brighton. I think it was about two hours or so. Jorja didn't need to talk that long though. 

Jorja and Cade went to lunch after her final. He came home from a mission in Texas because of corona. He was a good friend from student government. She loved being able to see him again.

Cade and Jorja

Riley had a hard day at work and wanted to talk to Jorja after. I told them they had forty-five minutes and not a second longer. I even had Riley start his timer at the same time I started mine. She did not get home in time. I was at the door with the alarm ringing when she got home. She was one minutes late. Why be late though, why not be one minute early?

Riley & Bear

Wario

Stockton is allowed to call us on his parents' birthdays. Today is Mike's 46th birthday. Stockton texted Mike and asked him if he could join his zoom district meeting dressed as Wario. Wario was to be an investigator who loved the church but was having a problem with the concept of tithing. Stockton asked Mike if he could change his zoom name to Wario too. Let's just say that with little notice Mike pulled off an awesome Wario. It was so fun to watch Stockton lead a lesson. He is a fantastic missionary. I was laughing because I could just imagine the missionaries after thinking, "Stockton's Dad? That explains a lot!" Stockton didn't tell anyone he was going to do this. Not even his companion. Stockton knows how to keep things fun.

Wario Mike

 Zoom meeting

Jorja had to work today, but we were able to open presents and play a game before she had to leave. Mike got the fancy water bottle we got yesterday. We also got him a portable car charger that my brother Mike told me about. Mike loved it. He's excited to use it on the riding lawn mowers. I didn't even think of that. I got the model that can jump start an RV. Seems like the first time we start it in the summer we have to jump it. This will be nice. Mike got himself a few presents. A blow torch thing that he wants to burn the stumps of trees with. A small cement mixer he is excited about, and another five pound bag of pez. Mike wanted to teach the kids how to play poker. I think Preston had asked him earlier. The Pez should last us for at least a year!

 Bear and Preston

Mike wanted to make tacos for his birthday. After Jorja went to work we ventured out to get his cake and taco stuff. It was funny. I ordered the Cold Stone cake online. I clicked 'custom message' and wrote 'Happy Birthday Mike.' When I got there to pick up the cake they asked us what we wanted on the cake. They said if we click 'custom message' it just sends them 'custom message'. Haha. That seems like quite the flaw.

We had late night cake when Jorja got home from work. Luckily she didn't close. She got off at 10. The cake was delicious. Mike picked cake batter ice-cream with yellow cake. And that about did it for the day. Birthdays are fun.

Jumping Rocks

Jorja left early to go hiking with Riley. Apparently they climbed up a steep edge and Jorja was too scared to go down. She decided to go down a different way where you have to cross a river. Riley didn't want to go that way. Jorja went anyway. She was jumping across rocks and then fell into the river on the last one. Her arm caught herself before her head bashed against the rock. Riley didn't see her arm and thought Jorja had hit her head. Jorja said he freaked out and was in shock the rest of the way home. He kept telling her she almost died. Glad they are being safe.

Riley & Jorja

Jorja went with me to get Mike a birthday present. She really wanted to get him a nice water bottle. We got that done and then picked up some lunch to bring home. Jorja ate hers in the car. She ran in as fast as she could, threw on her work clothes and headed out again. She closed and said it was so busy. Busiest day since the shutdown.

Surprise Package

I got the best package from Stockton! He made me a Mother's Day pillow. It matched my shirt. Haha. A member invited Stockton and his companion over to make us a gift. She told them we would love it. She was right! It was so fun! He also sent cards for everyone. I got a picture of Maysen's and Jorja's card. Preston has his hanging on the wall. Haha. We love him!!!

Stephanie

We also got to talk to Stockton today. Two days in a row! It's the best! He is doing great! They are definitely being blessed for working so hard. They are also lucky! I know things have slowed down for a lot of missionaries, but for Stockton they sped up. They are teaching more people than ever. He sounds pretty happy, which makes me happy! Love him so much!

Jorja is working 39 hours this week. She found out today that they moved her to full time. They picked three part time workers to move to full time and Jorja was one of them. They are deciding if she will get a raise. The other two girls haven't worked as long as Jorja, so they will be getting about a $2/hour raise. Jorja would only get about a 50¢ raise. Luckily one of her managers pointed that out to the owner and he is deciding if Jorja will get a bigger raise. Hope so, she has worked so hard. She is planning on quitting in August, so she wants to save up money for her senior year. Jorja planned on quitting if she made student body office. She will be so busy, especially November through January. She is in charge of the fundraiser. Her manager told her that Chick-Fil-A has a policy that if you quit in November or December you can never get rehired. So, Jorja is quitting a few months before that. Her plan was to go to football games and live up her senior year. Well.... we'll see what corona is going to do to those plans.... Hopefully she will get to experience her senior year....

Hot Dog Arm

Today was Mother's Day! Stockton called which was so much fun. We were in the middle of church, so everyone was here and was able to talk to him. He is doing so good! A lady they started teaching in January just said she wanted to get baptized. He was excited about that. Stockton had a mission wide zoom conference. President Browning called out Stockton as a missionary who had been working hard and seen missionary miracles. He asked Stockton to tell everyone about Shiela. He turned off mute and told the story. He used a southern accent while telling the story. Stockton said it was so funny because he couldn't hear anyone but he was able to see everyone's heads roll back as they laughed. President Browning told him he nailed it. Love him!

Jorja has been having fun with her sunburn. She turned her arm and legs into hotdogs. She is in a lot of pain though. Not super fun for her.

Jorja's hotdog arm

 Jorja's hotdog legs

Mike and the kids got me fun presents. They got me Harry Potter playing cards and a five pound bag of Pez! I also got headphones and a puzzle book. We played a lot today. I got the kids to play two games of Nertz with us and we finished our escape room game. We finished that game at one in the morning. Gotta make Mother's Day count! Haha

 Stephanie

 I already had Peter Pez. Now he has candy for himself!

 I sent my brothers a picture of Star Wars pez.

They have been ranking the Star Wars movies and shows for several days now.

 Sleepy kids! and a dog ~ Preston, Maysen, Jorja, Bear

Bacon Legs

I was so tired today. I wonder why? Haha. Jorja slept until around 11:00, then I got her up for her swim party for the student government girls. It was at Seurette and Elle's house. The girls all put on this tanning thing that supposedly had sunscreen in it too. I don't know how that works. Jorja has pale skin. I love it. When she was a baby she looked like a porcelain doll. Jorja hates being this pale, so she was all in with her friends. Welp, Jorja got burned pretty bad. Preston kept teasing her that her legs looked like bacon. After swimming a few of the girls went to Village Baker and were shocked when they could eat inside. They were so happy! Fingers crossed things can start opening up soon and no one gets hit with corona.

Annie, Elle, Seurette, Jessie, Ellie, Jorja

 Jorja

 Jorja's pale skin against her bacon skin

 Closer view

Someone at Chick-Fil-A kept asking people in the group if anyone would cover part of his shift from 8-10. Finally he messaged Jorja directly. She decided to do it. She was in a lot of pain from her sunburn, but she did it anyway. Then she found out that the kid just went on a date. She thought he had a family emergency. She wasn't too happy about that. Not angry, just annoyed.

Maysen and I went to drop off her college rental books at UPS. They had to be post marked by today. I had looked up and saw that they were open until 4. We went around 3:00. Turns out it couldn't be postmarked today because the pick up had already happened. Whoops. Didn't think about that.

Mike did a lot of yard work. Preston played with Bear. He loved swinging the hose around and having Bear chase the water.

Sneaking Out

Ellie called Jorja this morning and asked if she could come to the school right then to help with teacher appreciation day. Jorja hurried down there as quick as she could then went to breakfast with Kelsey afterwards. Elections for student government are going on right now. The paperwork to run is due on Sunday. I am soooo glad Jorja doesn't have to do that! Jorja's friend Alex is running for junior class historian. They take pictures. She sent Jorja this picture she took for the yearbook. (Alex is really good!) This is from the pep rally at the beginning of they year.

Aysha, Annie, Eden, Kelsey, Seurette, Chloe, Jorja, Jordan, Joe, Johnny, Luke, Marshall, LJ

 Jorja and Kelsey

 Jorja being a weirdo

 Bear smelling the flowers Scoop and Cori gave me for Mother's Day

Jorja worked tonight. She closed. It took her longer to get home than usual because when she went outside someone had spread trash all over the parking lot. It took her about thirty minutes to clean up. That's annoying. We were anxious to have her home because we planned to go night swimming! The pool is ready to use now and we wanted everyone to be there for the first time of the year. Stockton couldn't be there of course. We ended up getting in the pool about midnight. It was so fun! We swam for just over an hour. Jorja and Preston were crazy. They kept being dolphins and spitting the water at each other dolphin style. They would laugh and laugh. Mike had the pool so warm! I think it was 98 degrees. It was perfect!

We got inside a little after 1:00 in the morning. We started getting everyone ready for bed, but we were all pretty wide awake. I got Preston settled. He has been sleeping in Jorja's room for the last month or so. I asked him if it was because Maysen's bed was cozy. He said it was because Jorja was there. So sweet! (We have now made the guest room Maysen's room. She wanted her own space after having her own room at college for four years. I agreed that that was a good idea.) I went out to hurry Jorja along and she was by her phone. Right before we got in the pool she noticed a message from Conner. Just a how are you message. She responded so good! How are you? She looked at her phone after swimming and saw that he had said something So good! We need to hang. It is now after one in the morning and Jorja wrote something like Yes we do, I miss you! I get my work schedule next week. She was surprised because he responded right away and said Wanna sneak out? I'm just driving around. Hahaha So, when I went to hurry Jorja to bed, she showed me Conner's message. For some reason I thought it was hilarious. I know it doesn't make any sense. I should have been livid. I wasn't. I just thought it was really funny. I looked at Jorja and said, "Well, what do you want to do?" I think she was a bit confused because I get so angry if she isn't home by 12. She said she would like to see him. I told her it was okay as long as he knew she wasn't sneaking out. She also had other rules she would need to abide by. Now I regret not saying that she could go if Conner would pick her up at the door. That would have been hilarious! Anyway, Jorja wrote back that her parents said it was okay and asked if that took the fun out of it. Haha. Anyway, Conner picked up Jorja around 1:30 in the morning. I forgot that there is a call ahead order in place after 12. So, the guard had to call Mike in order for Conner to get in. If they had been trying to sneak out, I wonder how that would have gone! Haha Anyway, I got out my sewing and worked on Kaylee's stocking. Jorja kept me updated on where they were. Jorja hasn't seen Conner since he left on his mission, so October was the last time she had seen him. He was sent home early because of the fun coronavirus. They caught up with each other and talked until almost four in the morning. Conner showed her pictures from his mission. He also showed her some pictures he found in his camera role. These are from Jorja's sophomore year and Conner's senior year, when they became good friends. He sent them to Jorja which she was so happy about. She had been disappointed that she didn't have any good pictures of the two of them from that time.

Conner & Jorja

They took a selfie in our driveway when Conner dropped Jorja off. Jorja and I then talked for about thirty more minutes before we were both exhausted and ready for bed. I was so proud of Jorja for showing me that message. I know I surprised her by letting her see Conner this late. I talked to her about how she actually has more freedom when she lets me know what is going on. I'm okay with a lot of things if I understand the situation. Also, I made sure she knew this was an unusual situation and not to plan on other rondevuets like this in the future.

Conner & Jorja

Gas

I woke up around 8:00, which is super late for me. I checked 'Find my Friends' on my phone to see where Jorja was. I saw she was still home. Turns out both Riley and Jorja accidentally slept in. Hahaha Who could have seen that coming?

Jorja

 Riley and Jorja went to breakfast instead

Mike had an eye doctor appointment today. This is with the fancy eye doctor. They are trying to work with Mike, but his eyes aren't cooperating. They fitted him with new $600 contacts they think will work better. Mike was hoping to get glasses, but they wouldn't let him. They said his eyes are too mismatched for glasses. He would constantly be throwing up if he tried to wear them. One of Mike's eyes is a -1 and one is a -9 or with the other measurements one eye is 20/30 and the other is 20/300. The doctor told him that the only real thing they could do would be a cornea transplant, but cornea's are hard to come by and right now Mike can see enough. So, that stinks.

Bear did not like Mike leaving. Jorja was gone. Maysen and Preston were asleep. After awhile I woke up Maysen so she could be there with me and Bear. Bear still wanted to lick my feet and other gross things. I hated it. I don't mind Bear at all, unless I am alone with him. Or if he smells bad or licks me or barks too much or jumps up on people. I am not a dog person. What am I going to do when life returns to normal??? Anyway, Jorja and Riley came back and took over Bear watching duty. They took Bear outside on his leash. (That is what the doctor recommended because of his surgery.) Bear chewed through his leash. Whoops.

Bear

Jorja and Riley spent the rest of the day doing homework. Riley helped Jorja with her physics. They both worked on history. They finished the rest of their history assignments for the entire year! Yay! Now that is a productive day!

Jorja & Riley

 Bear

Jorja and Riley went to get gas. Jorja hooked the gas pump so she wouldn't have to hold it. She was watching the price and wanted to take the gas out when it got to $30. She did that. She just FORGOT to STOP PUMPING the gas!!!!! She spent about $2.50 on gas that got everywhere. She smelled disgusting when she got home.

Jorja quickly jumped in the shower before she headed to work. She got most of the gas smell to go away, but not all of it. Oh boy.... Jorja closed but they didn't get out until 11:00. It was busy! She went with the three other people that closed to get ice-cream and apparently hash browns from McDonalds to finish the day.

Jorja

 Jake, Jorja, Sam

 Jake, Jorja, Sam, Hannah

Bear Bread

Jorja went hiking with Ivan today. She was excited. It is the first time we have let her hang out with him since the social distancing thing. Once they watched the sunrise in separate cars. She has begged me to let her go hiking with him. Hiking should be easy to stay six feet apart she said. I told her I didn't believe she would stay six feet apart. Welp..... Jorja is a hugger. This social distancing thing has been hard for her. Hopefully her immune system will be strong. It has failed us a lot in the past few years though.

Ivan and Jorja

I met Heather and Jordyn at Zac's for lunch today. We did better than Jorja and Ivan at social distancing, but we weren't perfect either. We sat outside at a table to eat. It was soooooo wonderful to talk with them. I love having them live so close to me. Both of them are also the only girl in their family. We relate to each other really well.

Heather

 Jordyn

 This is the biker gang that Jordyn joined

 I got a sunburn just from lunch. Didn't expect that today.

Bear is still lethargic. We do give him sedatives to keep him from running around while his stitches heal. Bear came in and dropped a loaf of bread by Mike. What the???? Preston set up some play tents outside to hang out in with Mike and Bear. He loved that.

Bear and his bread

 Preston

 Mike

 Bear

Riley had asked Jorja if she could come down and talk with him after work. Jorja came home Monday from work sad. When I asked her what was wrong she said she just friend zoned Riley. Well, they weren't able to finish talking because he had to leave. He sent her a message when she got home Monday and asked if they could talk. He said that no matter how things shake out he would still be her friend. That made Jorja feel so much better. Anyway, they talked for a long time after work. A lot longer than I would have liked! I got annoyed. But they decided that being just friends would be the best thing for them right now. Jorja came home super happy. They are planning on going on an early morning hike tomorrow. She went to bed at 1:30 and wants to get up at 5:30. She said she could get herself up. Hahahaha

Riley & Jorja