Cabin Church

Today was our last day at the cabin. Well, I brought Jorja and her friends home. I was kind of hoping we could stay longer and they could do school up here, but Ella has dance tomorrow. She says her dance never gets cancelled. She is a fantastic dancer and is hoping to get into the dance program at BYU. We did church this morning. We had four different Sunday school classes going on zoom. Preston and I were on one, Mike and Maysen on another, Jorja on one and Ella on another. Glad Mike got better Internet a few months ago! We had a short break and then sacrament meeting. We watched online. Mike showed Mike Masters how to do it, and it worked like a charm. Except for the few moments when one of the speakers was on mute and Mike had to unmute them manually from here. Glad we were watching! We had a chance to sled before we left. The snow actually was pretty good and the sledding was great! We all played out front and then decided to go to the springs for the last few runs. Maysen was starting to feel sick, so she took Bear inside while we went up there. The girls had a blast. Wish we could have played longer, but I'm glad for what we got!

Ella, Giselle, Jorja

Poor Giselle!

Jorja, Ella and Giselle at a random rest stop on the way home

Jorja texted Bode when we dropped Ella off. She lives across the street from him. He came outside and they were able to say happy birthday to him. What a fun weekend! Glad we made it home safely. What a wonderful life we have!

Girls in Parrydise

Jorja and I left for Idaho this morning. We brought with her two of her friends. I know there is the statewide mandate, but we are going to Idaho and that is out of state. Loophole? Yes, but this year has been hard! Jorja and her friends agreed not to post anything because people can be very mean if you are not perfect. Although Giselle told Luke she was going and he ratted them out to their entire group chat. I have gotten very behind on my blog, but now, two weeks later I know that none of these girls got corona, so we're good. I'm frustrated with myself for getting so behind. This year has been crazy and I wish I would have been able to write while things were fresh in my mind. Especially with corona and the elections. Jorja has been through a lot and it has been hard. There are people who are angry and take it out on student government or the cheerleaders. Jorja has had many mean messages sent to her. If anyone in student government steps out of line, the entire student government gets blamed. This has been a hard year. Anyway, this weekend was great! Giselle came to our house and we picked up Ella. The freshman elections were today, so Ella was on a zoom chat with Packer and the senior/freshman class officers right up until we picked her up. Hailey's brother Caleb is going to be a senator, so that is awesome! On the way up to Idaho, Ella casually mentioned something about sterling scholar. I had been talking to Jorja about getting her application in. I asked Jorja if she had done it. She said no, but she would look at it when we were at the cabin. Ella said that applications were due at 3:00. Yikes! Glad she mentioned that! Jorja worked on her application on the way up to Idaho and was able to make it just before the deadline. I accidentally took a wrong turn going to the cabin! I couldn't believe it! I missed the turn off to Idaho Falls and was heading to Boise. I have no idea how long I was on the wrong road. I saw signs for Snowden or something like that and wondered what in the world that was. I hadn't been using my gps, because I know how to get there and didn't want my battery to run out. So, I turned it on. It told me to get off at the next exit. Then drive 12 minutes through these back roads. I thought after that it would get me on the freeway. Nope. I ended up driving almost an hour through back roads. It was ridiculous! I don't know why it didn't have me get on the freeway. Had I really driven that far before I noticed my mistake? Anyway, we made it safe and sound. So glad to get here. It is beautiful up here!

Bear and Mud

Ella, Giselle, Jorja

Cornbelly's

I checked Jorja out of school today. She had a bad headache. She came home and slept for a few hours. We cancelled her exercise with Kerity too. She was able to go to young women and I let her go to Cornbelly's with her friends. She was wide awake by this point and her headache was gone. She thinks she was dehydrated. She forgot her water bottle and all the drinking fountains are covered because of covid. For the last year Jorja has gotten bad headaches when she doesn't drink water. Still, glad she's not going blind.

Jorja

Ryan, Luke, Jorja

Aidan, Jake, Ella, Giselle, Jorja, Riley

Giselle, Jorja, Ella

Jorja

Jorja & Riley

Giselle & Jorja

Giselle, Jorja, Ella

Ella's Cabin

Jorja and Giselle went up to Ella's cabin today. Lots of Ella's family was there too, but Jorja said she had a great time. Jorja and Ireland had signed up to go on an overnight trip to SUU to check out the campus. We just got an email that it has been cancelled. Utah's covid numbers are going up, so things have to tighten up again. Jorja was disappointed. She could have still gone down there on Friday and come back that same day, but she decided to see if it would be better at the start of next year.

Jorja

Giselle, Jorja, Ella

Jorja

Giselle, Jorja, Ella

Jorja and some dog

Mike and Preston are still at the cabin. He loves having a washing machine up there! I'm glad he likes the one I picked out. I'm glad he let me get that one.

Secret Room

Mike and Preston left for the cabin this morning. I am so glad they didn't go last night. Mike did have quite the adventure though. He brought the new washing machine up. When he tried to hook it up he could hear a pipe leaking. He did some investigating and found a panel behind a picture in the water heater room. He took off the panel and found a secret room behind it! Well, more of a secret hallway filled with trash. But, the knobs to close the valves for the washer were there. So, washing machine is up and running!

New bone for Bear

I honestly can't remember what Jorja did during the day. I know she left while I was in the shower. She came back to get dressed up for Grace's sister's wedding. Grace had asked her to be a server. I gave Jorja permission for this awhile ago. I did not know Riley was going to be there and I was not happy about it. That caused an argument between us. I am really trying to like Riley, I just don't right now. He has been very kind to Jorja though, and she is pretty happy with him. I just don't like it. (Jorja looked beautiful today, prettiest server ever.) After the wedding, Jorja slept over at Giselle's house. They are planning on leaving early to go to Ella's cabin tomorrow. Jorja's pretty excited about that.

Giselle, Bode, Jorja

Jorja

Jorja & Giselle

Riley & Jorja

Giselle & Jorja

Riley & Jorja

Jorja & Riley

$70.78

I had a stressful trip to JoAnns fabrics. I wanted to get a foam pad. Mike had given me the dimensions. We are hoping to have a mini bed under the beds in the double room. I found the foam. It looked like it would be $65 for a 4 inch pad. I had a 50% off coupon, so I thought that wouldn't be too bad. I waited in a long line and was told I needed a slip at the cutting counter. I thought that was weird because it was clearly marked how much it was and I was buying the entire thing. While I was waiting at the cutting counter it occurred to me that they would cut it for me. Genius, I know. I asked them to cut it the dimensions Mike had told me. They had this giant electric knife they used. I was happy because it brought the price down to $31. With my coupon it would be just more than $15. Perfect. Too bad they wouldn't take my 50% off coupon. They said it was on sale, which was weird because I didn't see anything mentioning that. Right as I was about to pay I noticed that they charged me for a 5 inch foam pad. I started getting nervous because Mike had told me 5 inches would be too big. I told the lady that I got this from the 4 inch bin, 5 inches would not work. I asked if she had a ruler. She looked annoyed at me. She wanted me to just buy it. She did not have one. So, she told me to go back to the cutting counter. Luckily I had gotten the 4 inch pad. The girl made me a new slip and I hurried back. The same lady helped me. She said, "Woah, that went up a lot." What? The price was now $70.78!" W-H-A-T??? Well, turns out the price was $65 a yard and I had gotten a yard and a half. The first time the girl had messed up not only on the 5 inch, but she wrote down that I had gotten a half a yard. So, the one time I'm brave enough to speak up about something I notice is wrong I get myself charged $40 extra dollars. Grrrr. I know if I would have realized she made a mistake I would have pointed it out, but it was annoying how it all played out. Especially since I felt the cashier thought I deserved paying more for daring to question the price.

Jorja made calzones for family dinner before hurrying off with Giselle and a few other friends to get their nails done. Jorja is wearing a white dress with light blue and gold flowers. She is going to have her nails, shoes and lips red. Pretty sure her corsage will be red too. I think she went with Giselle, Grace and Sammi. While they were getting their nails done, Kenzi came in and shot Giselle and Sammi with a water gun to kill them in the assassin game. Hahaha. At least it was a funny way to go out.

Jorja

Jorja and Giselle got milkshakes at Dutch Bros after

Then they worked on posters to answer their dates to Homecoming. Considering the dance is in two days, I'm glad they are on top of things. Jorja did an Among Us answer. This is the game she plays with her friends all the time now.

Jorja

Riley & Jorja

Meanwhile, back in normal land... Mike took Maysen and Preston up to the cabin. The Internet is awesome up there now. He got the Roku hooked to the TV. We can watch Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney Plus, Sling and the most important... BYUTV! We will be able to WATCH General Conference from the cabin! Last time we tried to do conference at the cabin, we could only listen to it, and it wasn't a super clear signal. So excited for this!

Also, in sad news.... the foam pad is too big for what we had planed. After all that, it's not going to work. We will find another use for it. I'm just glad I didn't get two of them!

Giselle and Officer Ballard

Lunch: Jorja, Giselle, Sophie, Ella

Jorja went to Swig with Giselle after school. Dessa asked Jorja if she would want to go to Swig after school, but she already made plans with Giselle. Jorja invited her along, instead Dessa wanted to go tomorrow. That ended up being a super good thing for Jorja. Late, late, late today Dessa found out she was exposed to someone who had corona. Dessa was in Lake Powell last week and someone on that trip tested positive. Dessa skipped school on Tuesday and was tested. Wednesday she found out she was positive. Thankful Jorja wasn't closer than six feet to her for more than fifteen minutes or she would have to be quarantined now. Anyway, Jorja went to Swig with Giselle after school. They had stayed late helping Packer. Seniors in student government have their own parking spot in the faculty parking lot. Giselle is a senator, so she parks back there. When Jorja and Giselle were leaving she accidentally backed into one of the school counselor's car. The school officer was there and saw the entire thing. Neither car had a mark, but Giselle was freaked out. Although they got some fun pictures out of it.

Giselle 

Giselle & Officer Ballard

Ellie and Grace had a combined birthday party today. They rented out Classic skating. Jorja went with Bode and Ella, but I don't have pictures of that. I only have a picture with her and Riley. Grrrrrr. I do not like that she is hanging around with him again. Riley is nice, but I do not like him with Jorja. I don't want her to get attached to him again. I am not a fan.

Riley & Jorja

Dessa was at this party. It was before she found out she had been exposed to corona. Jorja spent most of the time skating. Dessa spent most of the time talking with people on the benches. That worked out well for Jorja. We are so lucky she was in a move around mood that night.

In other news.... Preston made crepes tonight and they were delicious. We were able to talk to Stockton. We talked for three hours. I loved it. I am so thankful I can hear his voice often during his mission. I did not expect that when he left. It has made the biggest difference.