Stockton woke up early to coach diving at Pepperwood. Jorja woke up early to go on a hike with Riley. He was set apart today as a missionary, so Jorja had a happy/sad day. Maysen had a job interview over zoom that went really well. It is a technical writing job. They asked her to come in person on Friday. Preston and I had an eye doctor appointment. We got glasses for Preston. His first time. His vision is -1 in both eyes, so not bad but enough glasses will be helpful to see the board at the front of the classroom. His plan is to keep them in his backpack and pull them out when needed. Mike still loves his ducks. That is today in a nutshell.
There were two homecomings in our ward today. Rachael McHenry is back from Texas and Elder Lowe is back from Utah. His parents actually moved into his mission while he was a missionary. Haha. I wonder how many times that happens! He biked home and surprised his parents when he finished. Hahaha. (His parents were planning on picking him up but he got home first.) I also got a new teaching partner. Sister Bennett was released a few weeks ago. Today they called Kanani and I am pretty excited about that. Maysen and Stockton went to the single's ward. They are both really enjoying it, which makes me happy. Jorja didn't go with them. She is in the thick of farewell season. Today was Riley, Marshall, Ethan and Sadler's farewells. Jorja couldn't make it to Sadler's. Mike, Preston and I hurried out of our ward so we could get to Riley's farewell. We got there just in time.
Jorja & Sadie
We watched the season finale of The Chosen. Season two has just ended. That has been a fun show to watch together as a family. We have also been doing weekly planning and it has been great. Everyone picks a day to cook and we discuss the plans for the week. I wish we had started this a long time ago. It has been fun to hang out and talk about things. Also, I think the kids like knowing what to expect each day for dinner. Hahahaha
Mike has been opening the duck food at three different times during the day in the hopes that rats will not be able to snitch any. I thought it was so funny when all four of them were at the food bin. I'm happy they are all getting along!
Stockton is coaching diving up in Salt Lake today. He kept sending us pictures because ducks got in the pool! They were in there for an hour! It didn't really bother the divers too much, but eventually the swimming coaches got annoyed and got them out with a net. I wonder why the swim coaches were bothered by them? Haha - the swim picture makes me laugh.
I can't remember what Jorja and Riley were doing, but Jorja sent me this picture for today.
Mike, Maysen, Stockton and I all got to go to the temple today. It was great! First time in a looooong time. There were a few things that were different, probably changed because of the pandemic. So that was interesting. It was really nice to be back in the temple, especially with my family. Jorja left early this morning for a hike and I got Preston ready to leave before we left. Jack's mom picked him up about fifteen minutes after we left. He had a great time. The boys all seemed to have a blast. Thank goodness! Grant's dad picked them up and took them out for pizza before he brought them home. I'm glad they thought of inviting Preston. I'm glad Sean was able to get out of his house and all the craziness that is his life right now, even if it was only for the day.
Mike and Maysen took apart her cromebook and replaced it with a new keyboard. I'm not sure if this will fix the problems it has been having, but it is worth a try. Plus they had fun doing it. Stockton made carne asada fries with Mike for dinner. Delicious.
Maysen & Mike
Jorja spent the entire day with Riley. They went on an 8 mile hike, played mini golf, dressed up for a fancy dinner, the fancy dinner was at Riley's house with his little sister being the hostess. Jorja had a great time.
Welp, Jorja lost her nice white water bottle that Preston got her for her birthday. It was super nice and expensive. She left it in her uber. If we are keeping track, in the last month and a half Jorja has lost two black jackets and her water bottle. She lost her really nice Chick-Fil-A jacket that has her name on it and her black Vans windbreaker that she loves. Lame. Jorja seemed to have fun today. She went to the beach and the Tillamook factory. Her only problem was she packed for super warm weather. How did she not know that the Pacific Northwest isn't California? I guess she never lived here when we did. I guess I should have clued her in. She ended up buying pants while she was there and Layla let her borrow her yellow jacket.
Riley & Jorja
Stockton is now #794 in Dominion rankings. Impressive.
Mike took all the kids jet skiing. Maysen even went. Mike said she loved it. Yay! Mike has been anxious to take his boat out on the lake. Usually he tows the boat with the pilot. I needed the pilot this weekend, so he tried towing it with the van. He took the boat on a test run down to the road and back. Test run failed. The van and boat got stuck on the way up the hill. Looks like he will need a 4 wheel drive to tow the boat. Mike called Terry to see if he was around. He was in Kansas City, but Taylor was up at the cabin. Taylor was able to pull the boat up to the top. Yay!
Stuck boat
Taylor to the rescue
Boat is back, safe and sound
Weston ran a marathon today and Shannon ran a half marathon. Weston won his age group while setting a course record. He also qualified for the Boston marathon, although he will be on his mission when that takes place. I don't know much about running, but I'm guessing he did pretty good. I took this screenshot from Jacob's account.
Meanwhile back in Jorja land, she has continued to have fun at Lake Powell. She was so excited that she was able to do a trick with Riley. She climbed on his shoulders while he was wake surfing. Pretty impressive, especially considering she rarely has had practice behind a boat!
Lily, another girl, Jorja
Lily & Jorja
Jorja & Riley double decker surfing
Jorja needs to be at Utah State tomorrow at 6:00. I drove down to Lake Powell tonight. I left around 6:30. I almost made it the entire way down, but I pulled into a motel parking lot. Mike did not want me sleeping in the car. I walked around the motel but I could not figure out where the check in was. I used the bathroom and looked around again. I found a sign that said the check in was in a different building. I did not want to find it. I had brought a blanket and pillow with me and decided to climb in the back and take a little nap. I slept under a street light because I felt the area was a little sketchy and had no desire to be in a dark parking lot behind a cheep motel. I slept a bit and then finished my drive. I got to Antelope Point about three in the morning. The good thing was no one was taking money at the parking spot so I got to ride on through. I found a spot and slept until a loud noise woke me up around 7. I startled awake thinking someone was pounding on my door. It took me awhile to figure it out, but it was a bird pecking at the top of the car. Thanks bird.
Stockton has been missing his wallet for a few weeks now. It had the $100 he earned from my dad for memorizing the restoration proclamation. It also had a few $100 gift cards. We were talking about it again today and Stockton had us look under the couch downstairs. It wasn't there. I said that the last place I remember him taking it was to Colorado. Stockton looked over and there was this small bag nestled by the tv. He walked over to it and pulled his wallet out of the side pocket. Hahaha! Glad he found it!
Jorja worked most of the day. She got this text while she was there. The lacrosse team won the state championship. This is the first state championship since lacrosse became a sanctioned sport. That's pretty cool.
Bode & Aiden
Jorja finally got to go to the lantern festival. Glad it worked out for her. She went with a bunch of her friends, but I only have pictures of her and Riley. She did manage to lose her black vans jacket that she loves. She also lost her Chick-Fil-A jacket about a month ago. She is on quite the roll.
Riley decided to leave on his mission on July 15th instead of October. He texted the information to his stake president this morning. He received a text back saying to check his email in a few minutes. His call was there a few minutes later. On a Sunday. Crazy! Riley decided to keep it a secret from his parents. He asked Jorja if she would come over when he opened his call at 3:00. He called his grandparents and told them what was going on. Still, his parents had no idea. Jorja made missionary cookies and brought them over. Riley told his parents Jorja was dropping off some cookies. Riley's mom apologized to Jorja when she got there. She told her she was sorry, she had no idea that both sets of grandparents would be there and she didn't want Jorja to feel overwhelmed. Everyone was sitting around talking with Riley's grandpa asked Riley about his mission. He started telling the story about his calling and then he pulled out his mission call. His parents started crying they had no idea he had it. So... Riley read his call and found out he is going to Ethiopia, speaking some kind of crazy language.
Riley & Jorja
Riley's mom threw together a quick opening shindig. Jorja came home and we had a little family night before she went back to Riley's house. Kind of crazy.
Jorja spent the morning with Riley. They wanted to go see a sunrise somewhere in American Fork I think. Then they hung out until Riley had to go to work in the afternoon. Right as Jorja was leaving Riley got a phone call. He was on the call for about ten minutes. Jorja felt awkward about leaving without saying goodbye, so she waited. Riley told her it was his stake president. Riley's call has been decided, but the country he is assigned to only allows missionaries to enter quarterly, or something like that. Riley can either leave July 15 or sometime in October. They are letting Riley make the decision. Weird!
Preston had to take a RISE test at school. I think it was an English test. It took longer than I thought. He texted me when he was done and I hurried down and picked him up. We then went to Firehouse Subs. Preston was a fan.
Mike and Maysen made Bear a jumping bar today. Maysen had fun trying to get him to jump it. Usually he just ran around it, but they got him jumping a few times. It was cute.
Maysen & Bear
Jorja had prom today. It was allllllll day long. Riley picked her up for breakfast around 8. They ate at someone's house. Then they went to Boondocks. Which is kind of funny because that is what they did for Jorja's first prom. Riley had to go to a shift leader meeting at Chick-Fil-A. Bode took Jorja there while Riley was at the meeting. She thought she would have as much fun by herself, but when he was gone most of the things that were done were couple things so it was a bit awkward for her. She was a good sport though.
Kelsee did Jorja's hair and it looked beautiful. The kids went and got pictures at someone's house. Then they took a limo up to Provo to the same lemon restaurant they went to for Sweethearts.
Jorja & Riley
Riley & Jorja
Riley's mom asked for pictures so I followed them to the car to get some more
The backyard pictures turned out so pretty! ~ Riley & Jorja
This looks like a gigantic group, and it is. They were together for pictures but split off to different restaurants.
Luke & Sami, Jake & Autumn, Bode & Lily, Jordy Robs & Megan, Dallen & Kate
Jorja & Riley ~ don't know why Riley is carrying her
Riley & Jorja
Jorja & Riley in the limo
Kids in limo
All the parents in student government were asked to chaperone. Mike and I got there first and were able to snag a spot with two chairs. Made it easy. We had to block one hallway and I checked the Jazz score. We weren't able to do chair dancing this time. Mike and I had a good laugh at the SBO picture in the hallway. It looks fake. The boys' heads don't look like they belong on their bodies. Kind of funny.
Joe ~ secretary, Dawson ~ AVO, Bode ~ attorney general, Marshall ~ public relations
Jorja's group didn't get to the dance until right before it ended. I think they caught the last 30 minutes. Jorja said their dinner took so long. Mike and I ended up being at prom more than Jorja. Too bad. Jorja was wondering if people were there and if people were dancing. The student government had taught three line dances during video announcements. The kids danced to all three. Lots of kids. I sent these pictures to Jorja.
Boot Scootin' Boogie
Prom royalty was announced for 2020 and 2021 at the end of the dance. Jorja got to put the sashes on the girls. Last year prom royalty was voted on before the world shut down, but never revealed. I love that these kids were able to get that experience. Janelle won. I love her.
Announcing prom royalty
Alta has been under construction. Look at these cool video screens. They have two in the commons now.
Janelle ~ hahahaha
The school did the best they could to keep the kids safe. They sold a limited number of tickets. Everyone needed a negative covid test 24 hours before the dance. They were able to get the tests done at the school. Everyone had to wear a mask. Each group was assigned a square to dance in. They got wristbands at the door assigning them to a square. 40 kids could fit in each square. Did they only stay in the square? No, but it was a valiant effort. I'm doing this post one month after the dance and as far as I know no one got covid. It was so wonderful to see the kids together like this. They all looked so happy.
