Mother's and Mike's Day

We have 9:00 church this year, so this morning was spent getting ready and then being at church. Mike taught my gospel essentials lesson for me, even though it is his birthday too. The only other people in the class were Maysen, Stockton and Jorja. We basically had a family home evening lesson without Preston. Mike taught about the organization of the Priesthood. We also were able to bring two more missionary plaques. Although both of the mom's were gone. I think getting calls from their missionary sons. Suzanne Heaton had all three of her missionaries call her at the same time. That was pretty cool. I texted Suzanne a picture of Dylan's plaque. Jorja with the photobomb.

 Preston brought me home a Mother's Day flower made up of two Hershey kisses

 Mike went crazy on the presents

 Each of the kids gave me socks. Maysen gave me the Kanagawa Wave

 Preston gave me The Scream

 Stockton gave me George Washington

 Jorja gave me Starry Night

 Mike gave me Minnie Mouse socks mocking me for being late.

That is funny because he knows I absolutely hate being late for anything!

Mike also gave me a "new" laptop. My old laptop crashed about a month ago. Mike was due to get a new laptop at work. He got a new one and bought his old one to give to me. He likes his old one better, so he was sad to see it go. It will be nice to have a computer again!

 Stephanie

 The weirdest gift Mike gave me was a mermaid tail. What? Why?

I told Stockton that for Mother's Day I wanted to get graduation pictures of him. We took pictures of him with his different ropes and tassels.

Stockton ~ SLCC

 I made Stockton take more pictures after I realized his tassel was on the wrong side because he has already graduated.

 He put a shirt on over his pjs.

 Stockton ~ SLCC graduate

We switched the SLCC tassel for an Alta tassel and got all of Stockton's ropes. The big yellow one is for the National Honors Society. Red = High Honor, Purple = English, Black & Silver = Math, Mint Green = Technology, Dark Green = science. Stockton was a bit annoyed that there wasn't a rope for sterling scholar and that there is one for Step to the U. Step to the U is the principal's pet project. The kids can get college credit by going two summers. Even if they drop out they still get their rope. There isn't a rope for Stockton getting his associates degree. He wants to wear his gold honor SLCC cord to signify that. I'm sure with all the other colors he is wearing no one will stop him. Poor Maysen only got one rope. A yellow & silver one. I'm not sure what it was for, either high honor or NHS. She went to JTC for the vet program the beginning of each day her senior year and missed all the announcements about honor cords. With her being the first child I had no idea. She would have had a lot too. NHS, High Honor, English, Social Studies, Jordan Technical Center . . . oh well. Live and learn.

Stockton ~ Alta High School

Grenades

Mike and I went to brunch at the Cheesecake Factory. We still had a gift card from Jeff, one of Mike's employees. It worked out perfectly and was so yummy. When we got home, there were flowers waiting for me from Scoop and Cori. They sent them for Mother's Day.

Sam got Jorja two free tickets to the Hank Smith/John Bytheway/Meg Johnson conference. Jorja was able to get Hailey to go with her and to get Hailey's dad to drive them. They had a great time. Hailey ended up getting sick later in the day though. Poor girl.

Today we celebrated Mike's birthday with the kids. Mike got four laser guns that work with your cell phone. Mike, Maysen, Stockton and Preston played with those for a long time. I was in charge of the grenades. That was pretty fun because I couldn't get killed. I was able to activate the grenade and hang out near the others and then BAM!

Mike made ribs for his birthday dinner. I'm so glad he likes to cook. I definitely do not like to cook at all. Today was a pretty awesome day.

Early Birthday

Mike's birthday is on Mother's Day this year. We decided to celebrate early and head downtown without the kids. We stayed in a Marriott hotel near City Creek. We had the most delicious dinner at Ruth's Chris Steak House. It was so good! Best stake ever. We were both so stuffed afterwords.

Stockton had some diving friends come over and play games. I made Maysen be the chaperone. She was a good sport about it. She ended up falling asleep on the couch because Stockton's friends were over pretty late. I'm glad he has found some good friends. It sounds like they played games and games and games. They also went to the store and bought stuff to make a cake. They made a 1/2 chocolate, 1/2 strawberry cake. It wasn't a big hit. They said the strawberry ruined it. Gavin HATES strawberries. Gage insisted they needed them. All in all, I think Stockton had a great time.

AP Chinese

I took Jorja and Madison to the temple this morning. We got stuck behind a big group, but still made it out with plenty of time.

Jorja and Madison

Today was Jorja's AP Chinese test. She had to be in the room at 11:30. I picked her up from school around 3:30. She was exhausted. She said the test was okay, the speaking was the hardest. She couldn't hear the questions very well because of all the other kids in the room speaking. She can see herself passing with a 3, she can also see herself not passing. She said that she doesn't want to pass if she is not ready because she is worried the college level classes would be too hard. I guess we'll find out in June how she did. I wish we could see more indepth scores. What areas did she excel on? Where did she struggle? Maybe there is a way and I just don't realize it.

Jorja and I went to the store afterwords. She wanted a treat for finishing the test. I let her get a chocolate cake. She asked if she passed if she would be able to get a dog. I laughed. I told her Stockton passed 8 AP tests in order for you not to get a dog. Stockton and I are on the same team when it comes to dogs.

What Others Think

I meant to put this quote on the blog yesterday. Hank Smith read it, but it is a quote from Hillary Weeks. "I stopped worrying what others thought about me and I started worrying about what others think about themselves when they're with me." Those are some great words to live by.

Evan came over today. Jorja and Evan spent a couple of hours studying for the AP Chinese test tomorrow. Yikes! I sure hope they do okay.

Hank Smith

Jorja loves Hank Smith. She has listened to all his CDs several times. She has read his books. She has watched his videos. I love it. I love that she looks up to someone like this instead of a random celebrity who might not have good values. Sam knows how much Jorja likes Hank Smith. She is also his editor. Sam got the ball rolling on a Hank Smith fireside for our stake. It was recorded and might become a CD. How cool would that be if Jorja could own a CD of his and know he was there when it was recorded? Sam says sometimes Hank likes to do them a couple of times before they are made into a CD though. The title announced in all the wards for the fireside was Guiding Principles for Teen Relationships. When we got there we saw that Hank Smith changed the title to 10 Tips for a Successful Teenage Social Life. That does sound more exciting! His tips were super funny too. Our entire family went to the fireside, plus Hailey. Jorja's friend Jaren sat by them as well.

Hank Smith and Julie Valentine (Julie is the stake YW president and did a lot to set up the fireside.)

Here are the 10 tips that were talked about. I will just write the tips, but there was lots of humor and explanation in between.

1. Personal Hygiene

2. Smile

3. Remember Names

4. Give Genuine Compliments

5. Be Grateful and Say Thank-You

6. Be Aware of Digital Facades

7. Know the Difference Between Casual Dating and Steady Dating

8. Have Boundaries

9. Pray for Friends (by name)

10. Develop a Friendship with the Savior

The fireside was a huge success. People all around me were laughing. It was funny to hear the McHenry's laughing, especially Andrew. Olivia Bradley was laughing so hard/loud. The Stake Presidency was laughing through most of the fireside. I think everyone was pleased. Yay!

We went up afterwords to meet him. Julie Valentine introduced me as Sam's sister-in-law. She actually pointed me out to him before the meeting began, but I was in the process of wrestling my phone away from Jorja. I gave a quick wave. Jorja was oblivious to that interaction and was quite embarrassed when I told her. She had grabbed my phone because I went to take a picture of her. She was positively beaming when he walked in. Anyway, we got to meet him afterwords. Mike said, "This is Jorja and she has a huge crush on you." Jorja did not appreciate that. He also told him that we would be going on the cruise with him. I asked him if he was doing seminars on the ship. (I already knew the answer though.) I told him that Jorja wants to be a public speaker and I asked if he could do public speaking workshops on the ship. He said that was a great idea. I just don't know if he will remember, but at least I asked when I had the chance.

Hank Smith and Jorja Smith

They had a lot of brownies for dessert. We grabbed some extra as we were leaving. Stockton made a plate for his friend Nate and brought it over to his house. Nate's is having girl problems and has been sad. I thought that was kind of Stockton to do.

Jorja's Shirts

Maysen had a laser appointment today. We stopped by Alta on the way home. I payed for Jorja's leadership camp at Utah State this summer, so excited about that. I also picked up Stockton's ropes for graduation. He earned six different ropes. He will be a rainbow. I stopped by the registrar's office on my way out. I have been worried that Jorja's Chinese class next year will be first period. Student government is first period. I don't want her to have to choose between government or Chinese. I have been secretly hoping that the 9th graders coming in will have Chinese 1st period like they did this year. Anyway, according to the registrar, Chinese will be on B days this year. That is great news! Any B day would work fine. Fingers crossed it stays this way! Our next stop was Smith's. Maysen wanted to get butter to make a cake. She made a tiny 4-person cake. This picture does not show how small the cake was, but it was pretty cute.

Jorja had some friends come over to work on an English project. They had to film something and spent time in the backyard laughing a lot. Hopefully they got their work done as well. Mike brought home five pizzas. That was more than enough.

I finally took a picture of Jorja's campaign shirt. Just one of them. She had a giant picture on the back of two of the shirts, each with a different saying. On the front she had three small cards. It looked pretty cool. The other shirt had the giant picture on the front (for girls with long hair), the three cards were on the sleeve. I loved the shirts. I loved her entire campaign. I'm so proud of her.

Shirt back

 Shirt front

Preston's Games

I have no idea what Preston is doing in these pictures, but they made me laugh.

Jorja came and found me during church. She wasn't feeling well. I took her home and she slept. I think her body is still recovering from the stress she went through during elections. It's crazy how stressful those two weeks are! And months leading up to it! Hopefully she will feel better next week.

Yesterday's Carnival

Yesterday I forgot to write about one very important thing. Maysen took Preston to his school carnival. This is the last carnival we will have. We used to love Fall Festival at Mirror Lake. We haven't gotten into the carnivals here as much. I'm so glad Maysen took him. I didn't have time and Preston LOVES being with Maysen. They stayed for a few hours and then I picked them up right before I left for the Jazz game.

Jorja studied Chinese for a bit today. She does not think she will pass the AP Chinese test next week. It's hard being the first year of the immersion program. Kind of flying blind. I'm still thankful she has had this amazing opportunity! Madison came over tonight after Jorja's studying was done.

I watched Matt and Sam's kids for a bit. Sam had her last dinner for the Storymakers conference. I watched the kids until my dad was able to make it home. He took over from there.

SLCC Graduation

Stockton graduated SLCC this morning with his associates degree. Yep, just over one month before he graduates from high school he has a college degree. How awesome is that? He has worked super hard for this. I'm so proud of him! Mike, Maysen and I went to watch him graduate. The ceremony was in the Maverick Center. We followed the street signs instead of Mike's phone. Big mistake. It took us the wrong way. We saw someone pushing his car on the side of the road. No one was inside the car so he would have to run to the front then run to the back. Mike found a stopping place and jumped out to help him. Two other people came out to help as well. As we drove away once Mike got back to us we saw the guy buffing his car where the three men had touched it. That made us laugh. Our next stop was the Maverick Center. Traffic was awful. Stockton and I ended up jumping out so we could find the tent he needed to sign into. Mike and Maysen parked and then saved me a seat. Once Stockton was all situated, I left him to find the others. The gold cord Stockton is wearing is a high honor cord for having a 4.0. I think you only need a 3.75 though.

Stockton

 I told him to put his tassel on the wrong side. Whoops.

 I liked this girl's cap.

 Our neighbor was getting a 'Teaching in Excellence' award. That was cool!

We were lucky and Stockton was sent on the path to walk in right in front of us. We screamed his name as he passed.

Stockton

The keynote speaker was great. He is an NFL player on the Patriots, but I can't remember his name. He talked about being the coffee. Carrots turn soft when put in hot water. Eggs turn hard in hot water. Coffee beans change the water. I laughed so hard when he said he was going to tell a dumb joke. He said, "What do you call a gummy bear, I mean a bear with no teeth?" Hahaha! It was so funny. Especially since he said it was going to be dumb, then he blew the punch line. He did great for a first time speaker!

 Kristen getting honored

 Stockton receiving his 'diploma'

Really it is just a diploma case. He will get his real diploma mailed to him after he finishes high school.

Stockton ~ college graduate

 Stockton & Maysen

 Stephanie, Stockton and Mike

After graduation, we went to Freddy's for hamburgers and milkshakes. Mike does not like the fries there. He calls them 'frustrating fries' because they are so thin. Next stop was straight to school. I went in with Stockton to work with the attendance people so he could have an excused absence. They make it really hard now. It took awhile, but once they found the SLCC website and found Stockton's name and another page with a date of the graduation ceremony, he was good. I do like to walk by his sterling scholar picture whenever I go into school. That and Jorja's student government picture.

 Stockton's friend, Weston, posted this on his instagram.

The picture is of a different school at the state academic decathlon competition.

I sent my brothers' pictures of Stockton graduating, which led to some hilarious comments. Here is a sample:

Mike (M): And why is Stockton graduating from college before high school?? Doot!

Steph: He earned his associates degree. Pretty awesome.

Mike: That's sweet! Wish I knew how to do that when I was a kid...I got my associates when I was like 30. (side note by Stephanie....not true!)

John: Me too. I took like 7 P.E. classes my senior year. My counselor let me transfer out of my math class so I could get into Advanced Volleyball.

Mike: I got booted from my calculus class into photography and ceramics because I wasn't going to take the AP test and would be a 'distraction'.

Bubs: The math class sounded better at the end of your junior year huh? I wish they had all those college class options available to us when we went to school.

Mike: Yes. It was the greatest class switch I've ever made....Ange was in that math class and John Leatherwood. Nate Horton, my current business partner got booted with me into the same classes.

Bubs: Ange said you mostly drew pictures of me wearing purple Jazz shirts.

Mike: Makes sense...I did draw on the pictures on the board in class quite often. My favorite picture to draw was 'Patty Duke' which was supposed to resemble Pat Chipman. I also built a hot wheels race track out of book covers...that was sweet.

Bubs: Sounds like the teacher was just annoyed. My AP kids that aren't taking the test still stay in the class.

Mike: Not sure why my teacher thought I would be a distraction... She also moved my desk to the hallway and left the door open so I could hear the lecture... that was weird.

Bubs: I got in trouble occasionally. Once when I was talking to Danny Delahunty and the teacher accused me of spitting on him. Another time when a teacher accused me of tripping people coming into the room. Another when I got accused of throwing a rubber stopper through the smoke that was a result of making cyanide

Mike: So were you accused falsely then??

Bubs: First 2 yes. Second one no.

John: My teacher's all loved me.

Bubs: Also got falsely accused by Mr. Hammill for messing with the sprinklers at Alta View. Had to write that I wouldn't play with the sprinklers like 100 times.

John: You were a rebel student, Mike. I never got in trouble. Except for the time when my teacher got mad at me for not making eye contact with him during his lecture.

Mike: Did you gash your knee open on the sprinkler and he didn't like that? -----Yeah right you never got in trouble... I remember when Mrs. Barnes in 3rd grade got mad at me and said, "you're just like your brother" referring to Brett. I went home and told Mom and Brett had a talking to...haha. -----Except when we had the same English teacher at UVSC and I would meet with her about my papers and they turned into discussions how you wouldn't turn in your papers because you 'didn't like the topic' to write on.

John: Ah yes, freshman English. She still loved me though.

Bubs: I have no idea. I was no where near the scene. I think you have Mr. Hammill and Mark Pehrson confused.

Mike: I just know you gashed your knee open on sprinklers frequently.

Bubs: I always wondered how major leaguers could slide so far until I realized that they probably weren't driving their left knee into the ground. Game changer.

Mike: I got accused for cheating in 5th grade by Mrs. King... that was pretty much the only false accusation. My progress report said 'caught cheating' on it. Dad signed it and aid 'what?!?' And I just told him that never happened... and that was the end of my cheating scandal.

Bubs: I got in trouble at BYU for throwing tight whities in the tree. Once again, false accusation. -----Yes, sprinklers were my nemesis. -----I also got falsely accused of throwing frisbees in the dorm hallways at BYU. -----Got in trouble for boxing too, but that was legit. In fairness, I didn't know it was against the rules.

Mike: I pulled the fire alarm in 6th grade and we blamed it on Matt Burnham. They eventually came around to the real culprit. Not sure Dad or Mom ever heard about that one.

Bubs: Really? I always heard that ink sprayed on your hand if you did that. matt was an easy target to blame things on though.

Mike: False. No ink sprayed... the lever stays down though so that was kind of shocking.

Bubs: But not a big enough deal for Mom and Dad to find out about it.

Mike: Seriously though...if my son pulled the fire alarm I'd be concerned... then if I was told he pulled the fire alarm while the fire alarm was going off... I would no longer be concerned.

Anyway, the thread made me laugh and it was good to have something to smile about tonight. I was so excited to go to the Jazz game with Mike. We got there as soon as the doors opened, and secured a front row seat in the suite.

 Stephanie and Mike

 Stephanie

 Mike

 Free shirts for everyone at the game.

 Stephanie

 The refs warming up before the game.

Too bad the game was a blowout. We were on the wrong side of this blowout. At the end of the 3rd quarter this amazing dessert cart came around. I ate my sorrows away. The cart did remind me of Harry Potter though.

 We were allowed to have whatever we wanted. Talk about too many choices!

 Mike also got a giant scoop of cookie dough.

Well, this was certainly not the best playoff game to go to, I still had fun though. I have been to two playoff games and the Jazz have lost them both. One day I will get to see the Jazz win one! Bucket list item for sure!

Maysen's Home!!!

I took Jorja and Madison to the temple this morning. In the 'after temple' picture below, they wanted to stand like deacons.

Jorja and Madison

 Now like normal people

Mike and I drove up to Logan to bring Maysen home! She had most of her things packed and cleaned, but we helped her with the last bit. We also went out for waffles at The Waffle Iron. I wish I would have gotten a picture of Maysen with Dickyi, whoops. Dickyi helped us bring Maysen's stuff down. That was nice. While we were at Maysen's apartment, Mike got a phone call from his boss, Nate. He gave us tickets to the Jazz game tomorrow! Yay! In a suite! I am so excited!!!

Maysen

 Preston and Maysen. He has missed her!

 Maysen and Preston

Stockton, Madison and Jorja all went to see a movie tonight. I think it was the Avengers. I'm not sure. Some super hero movie. Jorja said it was so confusing, she had no idea what was going on. I think people who are totally into that stuff would love it though.

Stockton, Madison, Jorja

 Madison and Jorja

Most of the dive team is in Wyoming for the USA regional competition tomorrow. Stockton is graduating from SLCC tomorrow, so he couldn't go. The kids on the dive team and Stockton keep sending pictures of people with their pinky's under their nose. Here is an example:

Jorja, Madison, Stockton

 Typical Jorja

A New Girl

Jorja still is feeling awful. Man, these elections sure took a toll on her body. Amazing what stress can do. Jorja stayed home from school, but I did get her to the orthodontist. He fixed her permanent retainer. She also got the all clear. She does not need to go back for checkups anymore. Yay! Three kids done with orthodontists, one to go.

Maysen also finished her last final today. She is coming home tomorrow! Yay! Yay! Yay!

We watched Matt and Sam's kids tonight. Sam had a dinner for the Storymakers conference. The Jazz also played. They WON! They won the Rockets, so now the series is tied 2-2. It was so exciting! Preston was so nice and played with Anne and Jeff so I could watch the game. He spent a lot of time pulling them down the hall on a beanbag. They loved that! Matt and Sam also found out they are going to have a baby girl! Her due date is October 6th. Exciting!

Flowers

Becky Bingham (young woman's president) came over and brought Jorja flowers to congratulate her for winning president. That was nice. Jorja still felt sick. She didn't even go to the young women activity tonight. It was fugitive. She had no desire to run. At all.