Escape Room Christmas

I made an egg free/dairy free gingerbread house this morning! It turned out better than the dairy free one. I'm so excited! Once I was finished with gingerbread, Jorja drove us to the store. She was looking for a few presents. While we were out Darby texted Jorja. He had asked her a week or so ago if she would dance in front of the whole school in the diversity assembly. She would be assigned a partner from the Latinos in Action club and they would be taught some kind of dance. Jorja was really excited about this. Well, Darby texted her today and told her they didn't need her anymore. That was disappointing. Oh well. Next, we then went and picked up J-A-Z-Z-I-E! Jorja met up with Jazzie and Dallin at Bahama Bucks. These guys were some of her best friends when she was in elementary school. They went to different middle schools and now go to different high schools. I was so happy to see them together!

Jazzie, Jorja, Dallin

 I can't believe Jazzie is taller than Jorja now!

 Still just as goofy!

Jorja, Jazzie, Dallin

Mike and I went to a Japanese hibachi restaurant while we waited to pick up Jorja. She was pretty jealous. She has wanted me to take her to one of those again for quite awhile. Mike and I decided to take the kids to an escape room tonight. Mike bought tickets and we texted the kids to be ready to go at 8:30. They thought we were taking them to see Star Wars and were pleasantly surprised when we ended up here. On the way down we stopped at Hallie and Gavin's house for Jorja and Stockton to drop off gifts. Mike picked a Harry Potter themed escape room. Before we went in they showed us how the locks worked. They told us not to pick up anything that was glued down. We were instructed to find six horcruxes and place them on their labeled spot. That was it. They left and locked us in. We had an hour to escape the room. This room had a 44% escape rate. We were able to do it with then minutes to spare. Most of the room is filled with logic puzzles. We were all working on different things at the same time. Everyone found something to help. It was pretty cool. It was also awesome because ten people can be in the room at one time. No one signed up with us so we were able to go by ourselves. Jorja loved it. She said it made her feel so smart. She wants to work there now. I want to write about it in detail, but I don't want to give away any spoilers . . . just in case.

Maysen, Stephanie, Jorja, Preston, Mike, Stockton

 Maysen and Jorja ~ she is blowing out her wand

 Maysen, Jorja, Stockton, Preston

 Jorja

 Maysen

 Stockton

 Preston

The kids were saying we should do this every Christmas Eve. I wonder if they would have liked it as much if we weren't able to escape. Everyone was so happy on the way home. When Jorja walked into the house she yelled, "Guess who is no longer suffering from crippling depression!" Haha! Welcome back Porge! We have missed you!

The kids all slept in the boys room and listened to Shrek sing the 12 Days of Christmas all night long. They said it was tradition. Mike and I were up until 1:30 in the morning putting together gingerbread houses. I was able to figure out egg free icing - and it worked!!! I'm so happy! I did a bag of powdered sugar, half a cup of water and 2 Tablespoons of Karo syrup. Who knew? Mike and I were completely exhausted when we were finally able to go to bed. Today was a very good day.

Stockton and Willy are Back!

Stockton and Willy came back this afternoon.  It sounds like they had a great time.  Stockton said it was really fun.  He said Willy was talking with everyone.  Yay!  Gavin was there.  He is in our stake and Stockton used to dive with him.  He and Gavin pulled off their backflip at the dance.  Ashley told him, "I've known you my whole life and I didn't know you could do that."  Stockton thought it was funny that she said she knew him her whole life.  Well, she has known him five and a half years now! Crazy!  Stockton's team won this crazy obstacle course. Willy, Ryuhei and two other people from another ward were on the team.  The guy gave Stockton $25 for winning and told him to take the other people to Chick-Fil-A for ice-cream.  Stockton has no idea who the other two people are.  He said he was trying to find change so he could give the others $5.  That's kind of a weird prize.  They played Johny Game Show a lot.  Willy won that one.  Johny game show is hilarious.  Johny runs it and changes the rules the entire time.  Johny is Stockton's friend that has down syndrome.  I can't explain how hilarious it is, but they play it at every camp.  Questions are like: What is your favorite color?  Blue.  WRONG!  Anyways, so fun.  I'm glad Stockton and Willy had a great time.  They looked pretty beat when they got home.  I asked them if they wanted to go hiking.  Nope.  We did take them out to Mexican food.  We let Willy pick what kind of food he would like to have.  He has only had Mexican food one other time.  I think he liked it, but he did not want beans!

I dropped Jorja and her friends off at the movies before dinner.  Jorja, Katyn, Jazzie, and Jazzie's friend London.  Jazzie had a birthday last week and got a phone.  Jorja is SO HAPPY!  Now she can text Jazzie.  It is lucky she got an iPhone, that is the only way Jorja can send texts.  It was funny.  London told Jorja she had been wanting to meet her because Jazzie talks about her all the time.  Katlyn said the same thing about Jazzie.  The girls met Hailey, Noah and Daxton at the movies. The boys had already bought tickets for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, even though the girls did not want to see the movie.  The girls ended up seeing Jungle Book.  Worked out well.  Jazzie told Jorja that she is probably going to Alta.  Jorja about jumped out of her seat!  She is so excited!  London is not.  Jazzie is in the boundaries for Jorja's middle school and high school, but was able to get a pass to go to the new middle school.  Corner Canyon, the new high school, is too crowded so they don't let as many people in.  This is great for Jorja!  I hope this happens.  Jorja would love it!

In other fun news, Becky had her baby today!  4 pounds 10 ounces 18 inches.  Tiny baby!  Can't wait to meet him!

State Fair

Maysen only had her vet class today.  They had a field trip to the state fair.  Maysen was pretty excited about going.  She had never been before.  I don't think I have either.  I was thrilled that this field trip was on a day she didn't have her other classes.  It's nice not to have to make up work later.  Maysen seemed to have a lot of fun.  She was a little nervous when they were leaving.  Most of the kids were on trax, then their teacher stepped off right as the door was closing.  I guess he realized not everyone was there, so he needed to find the others.  The kids left on trax were stunned.  Anyways, she made it back to her high school just fine.  I picked her up there and then took her to the scrub store.  Her scrubs we had ordered for her were in.  She was really glad to have them.  She will need to wear them every Tuesday and Thursday. Tuesday she just wore the top.  Her teacher laughed when he saw her.  She didn't do her matching very well.  I still thought she looked cute.

I took Stockton, Jorja and Jazzie to the temple today.  They didn't have school.  A lot of people seemed to have that same idea because we were there for two hours.  When we finished I stopped by the house to pick up Preston and took the kids to Chick-Fil-A.  Jazzie stayed most of the day.  Jorja was so happy about that!  My dad brought pizza and we watched Max tonight while my dad was at dinner club.  Days off are fun.

School is in the Books!

Today was Preston's last day of school!  We have now finished the 2014-2015 school year!  Stockton and Jorja both finished with a 4.0 the entire year.  Maysen had a 4.0 for three quarters.  She got an A- in math her first quarter.  She missed an A by .14%.  Kind of frustrating/annoying, but still super good grades.  I never got around to getting Preston's teachers a thank you gift.  We ran to the store to pick out a gift card before school.  He picked out a Home Depot gift card for them.  He was pretty happy about it.  Preston only had school for 1/2 a day, then we got to play!

Well, really Jorja got to play.  She invited some friends to come swim and have pizza.  They had a great time!  Jorja was so happy.  It has been awesome to watch her come out of her shell.  She sure does love these girls.

Jazzie & Jorja

Hailey, Natalie, Jorja, Kate, Jazzie

The girls are sitting on a hose draped across the swimming pool.  That was Jorja's invention to getting water down the slide.  Mike usually rigs up something to take the pool water and recycle it.  This worked as well, although the slide water was cold!

Natalie

It made it more fun to squirt.

Kate

Jazzie

Hailey

Jorja & Natalie

The kids had 'stay-up-all-night-night' today.  They look forward to this all year long.  Stockton took a nap to prepare.  I go to bed.  I have no intention in partaking of this tradition.  It is always fun to see where they end up in the morning.

Peter Pan

The kids had today off of school.  Mike also had today off.  Matt called around lunch time because he realized he left a part of Anne's high chair here.  He came to pick it up and brought Anne.  My kids pounced on Anne and proceeded to play with her.  Anne had been grumpy, but was super happy playing with the kids.  Matt had no idea my kids were home, so he had planned on staying zero minutes.  Instead we got to play two games of Dominion!  Matt won the first game and I won the second game.

Anne

I got a picture of Stockton diving in my e-mail.  It is pretty cool and perfect timing.  This is Stockton doing an inward one and a half.  I think this was at the Bear River competition.

Stockton

Mike and I went and bought him temple pants.  He was still wearing the same ones he got before his mission.  They were quite uncomfortable.  Our plan was to get the pants and then go to the temple, but we were starting to get worried that we would run out of time.  So, instead we went to a movie.  We saw McFarland.  It was pretty good, but my kids probably would have hated it.  It was long.  I was getting anxious toward the end.  I was worried I would be late for Jorja.

Turns out I had just enough time.  As soon as we got home, Jorja piled in the car and we headed out to watch Jazzie in a play.  She was an Indian in Peter Pan.  She is adorable.  We talked her dad into going to Cold Stone afterwards.  Jorja was in heaven!  She was pretty disappointed that Jazzie isn't going to the Chinese celebration on Tuesday.  She thought for sure she would be there.  Jazzie has New Beginnings that day.  So does Jorja, but we are planning on missing it. Jorja has been staying after school practicing a Chinese song that she is supposed to sing with a few other people.  Now that Jorja knows Jazzie won't be there she is wishing she could just go to New Beginnings instead.  Jorja had been practicing for this before we realized New Beginnings was the same day.  Jazzie doesn't turn 12 until July, so New Beginnings is a bigger deal to her.

Jorja & Jazzie

Class Cancelled

Maysen had a Saturday lecture she needed to attend.  It was scheduled to be 7:30-2:30 or something like that.  It was a LONG time!  I dropped Maysen off around 7:15.  On my way home I got a text.  I NEVER look at texts when I'm driving.  I was past all the lights and was about to turn onto a T-street when the text came in.  I decided to pull to the side and look at the text.  Very strange for me.  Usually I wait until I get home and sometimes forget about them completely.  I'm glad I stopped.  It was Maysen.  The lecture was cancelled.  The speaker got in an accident on the way there.  It was raining pretty hard.  I was able to get back on the road and turn right around to get her.  I hope the speaker is okay.  Sounds like he is going to have a pretty bad day.

Jorja got to play at Jazzie's house today.  She was thrilled.  She got to help babysit Jazzie's little brother and sister.  Right after Jazzie left, Audrey came over.  Dang it!  We love it when Audrey comes over and we hadn't seen her for awhile.  I invited her inside and we made cookies together.  She told me all about the ghost tour she was excited to go on tonight.  Sounds a little spooky to me.  Once our cookies were done she went and played with Preston until Jorja came home.  I'm glad Jorja got to see her before she left.

Maysen, Jorja and I were able to watch the Womens' Conference together.  We watched it downstairs where we didn't need to wear dresses so we could be extra cozy.  I worked on Amelia's stocking.  I'm almost done!  I really enjoyed watching it with my girls, but I missed doing something to make it extra special.  Maybe we'll have to do something different next time.

Jazzie Tail

Jazzie came over after school today, much to Jorja's delight.  They spent a lot of time in the pool.  Jazzie brought over a mermaid tail!  I wish I had gotten a picture of her in it.  She designed it and sewed it herself.  It was beautiful.  Jorja told me Jazzie could sew, but I had no idea how talented she is!  Jorja and Jazzie also made more cookies. These ones didn't turn out.  They looked really funny, but still tasted delicious.  I guess if you had to choose......

Jazzie's Party

Jorja has been looking forward to Jazzie's birthday party for months! She came up with an idea to get her friends to buy Jazzie an awesome present.  Jorja wanted to get her a 3ds.  Wow.  Anyway, she started talking to their friends about it before school got out.  She was able to pull it off.  Jazzie's mom sent me these pictures with the caption, "Jazzie's stunned face says it all!  Too cool that Jorja organized and wanted to do such a special thing like this for Jaz!!"  Jorja loves that girl!  I hope they can remain close friends now that they are going to different schools.  So heartbreaking!  I wish Jazzie lived close enough for Jorja to walk to her house, or ride her bike.  It's not terribly far, but there is a huge busy road to cross....that is too freaky for me.

Jazzie, Jorja, Dawson

 Jazzie & Jorja

It's so funny to see pictures of my kids where they are the tall ones! Anyway, today was the day that my kids chose to do stay-up-all-night night.  This started as a thing to do on the last day of school, but lately there has always been a reason it can't be done that night.  We do let them do it once a year though.  This time the kids wanted to wait until the house was finished.  They finally decided they had waited long enough and wanted to do it now.  I felt horrible and had no desire to participate in anything with them.  Mike got them pizza and candy and then we went to bed.

Grandma, Coutertops and Babies

Stockton didn't come to the cabin with us.  He went to Dive Camp at BYU.  I was disappointed that I wouldn't be able to drop him off.  He almost gave me a hard time about that until I said, "I would take a picture of you in checking in, of you with your counselor, of you with your room mate, of you in front of your dorm....."  He laughed because he knew I wasn't kidding!  Stockton is rooming with Josh from our ward.  His mom dropped them off and I am picking them up tomorrow. Anyway, Mike needed to run something up to Stockton this afternoon. He sent me these pictures.  I miss that boy!  I hope he is having the best time ever!

May Hall ~ Stockton's dorm for the week

 STOCKTON!!!

This morning was spent packing up.  I made a BIG mistake today! Every time we left the cabin the gate was locked.  I forgot every time. Once both gates were locked.  Rachel and I were going to the store, we were looking to buy a new vacuum for the cabin.  No luck.  Anyway, I drove back and got the key from the outside spot.  Rachel got out of the car and unlocked the gate.  When we got back, I completely forgot about the key, until we were leaving.  Brett and Rachel had left about thirty minutes before us.  I called and asked where she put the key, hoping she had left it in my car.  She put it on the hooks just inside the front door.  (Rachel had not seen me grab the key and had no idea it was meant for outside.)  We had just locked up the cabin.  Whoops.  It was then that I noticed the flood lights were on.  Whoops again.  Debie is coming up on Saturday.  I let her know, but I felt pretty bad about it. Darn my memory!

When we drive from the cabin to Idaho Falls we drive past the Square Ice Cream store.  The kids always beg me to stop.  This time we stopped at a little ice cream store across the street.  Jazzie's uncle opened it for his kids to run.  I wasn't sure I was in the right place.  It was a little thing and didn't really look like a store.  I asked them if they knew Jazzie.  Sure enough, we found it!  We got there at the right time because before we even ordered the place was PACKED!  I asked Chelsea (Jazzie's cousin) if it is always like this.  She said it was.  Crazy!

Chelsea and Jorja

When we got to my grandma's house, that place was packed as well. Jackie, Renee, Tammi, Rozie, Debie and Savannah were all there cleaning.  My grandpa had gone golfing.  They were trying to finish before he got home.  They were worried he would be upset with them.  I helped them for a bit.  It was nice to be able to see them and grandma. My grandpa came home earlier than he would have liked.  He was feeling dizzy.  He didn't look too well when he got home.  My grandma tells me to never get old all the time.  I keep telling her that it is better than the alternative!  I love my grandparents so much.  They could not have possibly been better grandparents.  Perfect.  I love watching my kids with them.  Especially Maysen.  She adores my grandma.  I wish they could have known them when they were younger.  I wish I could have watched my grandma dance on roller skates!  I bet she was amazing!

Preston & Grandma

 Grandma & Maysen

 Preston & Grandpa

 Jorja & Grandpa

 Grandma & Preston

I had such a hard time driving home today.  I don't know what my problem was.  I felt so tired!  I pulled over at a rest area around Malad. I tried to sleep for a few minutes and then walked around.  I moved Maysen up to the front.  That did the trick.  I was fine the rest of the way.  I did not like that at all!  Brett & Rachel had met up with some law school friends before they went to Grandma's house.  They also stopped and bought a vacuum for the cabin.  They dropped it off at the park.  My cousins were having a baseball game there.  It started at 8:30.  We didn't have sinks in, so Brett had already decided to stay with my dad.  I was sad about that, but it is really hard to live in this chaos right now. I can't believe it wasn't finished before they got here! Anyway, Brett and Rachel ended up staying tonight with Tammi.  That was the right decision.  I'm so glad they didn't drive back last night! While they were at Tammi's house Tammi got a text.  Larkin had her baby!  Yay!  A little girl they named Rennie Grace.  (Larkin is Tammi's only daughter.  Rennie is named after Tammi's mom, Renne Sue.  Brett said Larkin spelled her name with an i so the pronunciation wouldn't be confused with Renee.)  Anyway, so glad for Larkin!  Later I found out that my cousin Derek and his wife Kendra had their baby today as well.  Paisley Jane.  What a great day!

When we arrived home we found our countertops mostly in.  Some appliances as well.  Mike said that he got back from work at 7:00 at night.  No one was here and our front doors were wide open.  We have boxes of appliances just sitting around.  Our stove is boxed up and on a dolly!  I'm so glad no one came in and just helped themselves.  When Mike told our builder about it he couldn't believe it.  Then he said, "Well, you can't fix stupid."  We are so blessed that we live in such a great area.  Still could have happened though.

 I like the black marks throughout the granite

 One day this will be our sink.  That will be amazing.

 The grill hasn't made it in yet