Cold and Wet

Jorja had an eye therapy appointment today. I worked, so she had to go by herself. She doesn't mind going by herself at all, I just like to be there with her, even though I just sit in the lobby. Evaluation days I get to go with her though. Jorja also renewed her drivers license today. Her license will expire while she is on her mission. Taking care of it early. Also, enjoy my photo shop skills in the pictures below.

Jorja

Preston had a combined activity at the McHenry's. They went swimming in their pool. I forgot to remind Preston to bring a towel. He asked if I could bring one when I picked him up. Yep. Too bad I didn't notice his message asking to be picked up. I kept looking at my phone and watch waiting for it, but somehow I still missed it. Preston walked all the way home cold and wet. Mother of the year right there.

Going

I went to Shannon's house today and was able to talk with her for a bit. We lost Maysen's snow boots this winter and that has been annoying. Over Christmas Shannon brought up Erica's boots. The other day Shannon called me to let me know that Maysen could keep them. I ran up to her house to pick them up. Perfect timing since Maysen will be going to the cabin this weekend. I went straight from Shannon's house to pick up Jorja from school. We had her last dermatologist appointment in Bountiful. Well, hopefully her last. On the way there she got a text saying they were having a prom meeting with Packer. Welp, can't go to that one!

I went to parent/teacher conference for Jorja. Mrs. Fergusen looked so confused when I sat at her table. When I told her I was here for Jorja Smith her eyes got so big. She said that she had no idea Jorja was in our family, and that Jorja and Maysen sure are different. Haha. Yep, they are! Jorja's teacher are great. They have been so good at working with her, especially when she misses so much school for being sick. Jorja wanted me to tell her math teacher that she's a beast at math, except I couldn't remember exactly what she said. I said, "Jorja wanted me to tell you she's something at math." Her teacher responded, "A beast? Yep, she tells me that." Hahaha

This sign was outside of the gym and made me laugh. I took a picture of it to send to Sherry. Sherry likes to post different funny signs.

Preston had baptisms for young men's tonight. He left about 5:30 and I don't think he got home until 8:30, maybe even later. I was thinking they took the kids out for pizza afterwords. Nope, it just was super crowded. Jorja had a painting night. She seemed to have fun with that.

Maysen came home tonight!Things were kind of crazy as she walked in, but it is so great to have her here! Jorja had to decide tonight whether or not to go to Costa Rica. One of her friends got the same scholarship as Jorja, but late tonight she texted Jorja and said she decided not to go. Jorja was sad and didn't know what to do. She wouldn't really talk to me about it. Maysen overheard me talking to Mike about how she needed to decide either way. If she doesn't decide, then she is deciding not to go. Which is fine, I just didn't want her to regret it and choose not to go because she was scared to go alone. Jorja didn't know one person in Taiwan and she absolutely loved it. Anyway, Maysen went downstairs and talked with Jorja. She asked her about the Costa Rica trip and Jorja told her she didn't know what to do. She has always wanted to go to Costa Rica, but she wasn't sure if she should go. Maysen said, "Then you're going to Costa Rica. You should go if you have always wanted to go." And that was that. Haha. Sometimes you just need a big sister.

Seminary

Today is the first day of the second semester. Jorja ended up getting all As with two A-. Math and physics. Not bad. Jorja didn't like her seminary teacher last semester. Stockton had the same teacher his senior year and didn't like him either. I heard about him a lot. A few weeks ago when I had to check Jorja out because she was sick, I was talking to the seminary secretary. I asked her if they would switch teachers or try and keep them with the same ones. She said they would try and keep them with the same teacher unless they were asked differently. I asked her if she could move Jorja. She said no problem and that she was working on the class lists right then. Welp, Jorja got the same teacher. She texted me in a panic about it. I tried and tried to call, but no one would pick up the phone. Anyways, I eventually got through and was able to get Jorja moved to a different class. Two of Jorja's really good friends are in her old class this semester, but Jorja said she just couldn't do it. Spencer, her ex boyfriend, is also in the class. I think it would be super annoying for her to be in seminary with him. Maybe another class, but not seminary. After all, he broke up with her because he 'had a prompting'. That is all well and good, but was the prompting for him to ghost her all summer? I think it would be really annoying for Jorja to have to listen to him being all righteous, knowing that he wasn't kind to her at all.

Anyway, for the youth activity tonight they went iceskating. Jorja texted me to let me know she lost Preston. Ahhh! I asked her if they were at the rink. She never answered. Losing him at the rink is one thing. Losing him before they got there would be another. She just couldn't find him. He was with Darius. They both came back with sore feet and asked if they could take ice skating lessons in the summer. Haha.

Clint and his Drone

I took Jorja to her doctor appointment today. Everything is well. We stopped at Kneaders on the way home and picked up some pumpkin bread and an eclair for Preston. The tooth fairy forgot to check under Preston's pillow for his FOUR teeth last night, so I wanted to make him feel better. Preston loves eclairs. Jorja went to the choir Christmas concert. She made a darling poster for them and filled a stocking with candy. Jorja has choir for her student government 'kindness' during the year. She said the poster she made them at the beginning of the year is still hanging up on the door. I can't believe I didn't get a picture of this one. It was adorable!

Preston had pizza and planning for young mens. He wasn't looking forward to it because they end up playing basketball. Well, Clint is awesome in looking out for Preston. He sent us this picture of Preston flying his drone. Preston loved it and said that he was the only one that was allowed to fly it.

Preston & Clint

Temple and Food Bank

Jorja went to the temple this morning with a bunch of people. I went to the temple today too. I was proud of myself for being able to make an endowment session. Perfect timing. Except, right as I was walking out the door Jorja texted me saying she forgot she needed $15 for PLT. She needed it by 10:10. Welp, it was a nice thought. I still went to the temple and did initatories. It wasn't crowded there at all and I was able to go in and out pretty quickly. I dropped Jorja's money off in her locker. Which was completely empty, because she never uses it! I think it is so funny that she has the exact same locker this year as she did last year.

Travis, Spencer, Jordan, Jorja, Madison, Ben, Hailey

 Travis, Spencer, Jorja, Madison, Hailey

 Spencer & Jorja

Jorja went to the Chick-Fil-A service project today. It was at the food bank. Madison and Ebony were there too. She had a great time.

Troy (the owner), whole bunch of people I don't know

Madison, Ebony, Jorja, someone else I don't know

Preston also went to the temple today for young mens. Also young womens too, but Jorja and Ebony were at the food bank. Both of them went to the temple this morning, although they didn't see each other which is so weird!

Fieldhouse

Today in Jorja's student government class they were able to check out the new field house. Jorja said it's pretty cool. They are hoping to have homecoming in there, which would be a lot more fun than the gym. Guess we'll see on Saturday!

Jorja was a little annoyed because one of the boys in student government told her that he was going to run for student body president next year for the parking space and wasn't planning on doing any work. Why would anyone say that out loud? Luke Vickory heard and said, "Please don't do that." Sam Strong, the current SBO president, tried to tell the kid that all the senior officers get parking spaces, don't go for president if you aren't planning to work. I wish there was some kind of accountability for the kids that have no desire to work. Like, a minimum they need to do in order to run again. Or, I wish the vote wasn't straight student vote, I wish the advisors had a say. The problem is, the kids that are voting have no idea who is actually working in student government and who isn't doing a thing. Kind of frustrating.

 My weekly update sent to Rachel

I've been a little obsessed with this.

I WILL finish by our trip to Israel in November!

I checked Jorja out of school and took her to her dermatologist appointment in Bountiful. We were in and out pretty quick. Next time she needs blood drawn. She's going to love that. Jorja was called into work today, which meant she missed the combined youth activity. They did the Amazing Race. Mike and I happened to walk outside while we saw a group of about twelve kids walking in front of our house. Mike yelled, "Go team green!" Preston was with them, so that was great. Brenton yelled out, "It's not as cool as the race you did for Sweethearts!" Haha. That made me happy. I bet Carson talked to him about it. Preston wasn't too impressed with the race. He said that is was four teams of twelve and the leader just had the stuff on a list instead of having clues handed out. He said most of the stuff were things like minute to win it games, or doing pushups. The coolest one was a person was in a inter tube and pulled across a swimming pool and had to shoot a basketball once they got there. The only bummer was the groups were so big only a few people got to participate. Mike and I tried to explain to Preston that we put an insane amount of work into the race when we do it, just enjoy what they were able to put together. I guess Preston watched us (and helped us) work on Jorja's race that he got his hopes up a bit.

I came down to tuck Jorja into bed and found her with a hanger on her head. I guess no one told her she is sixteen.....

Jorja

Quick Notes

Jorja posted two pictures on Instagram and sent me a few messages. She is having fun and Taiwan is really pretty. She's been able to practice her Chinese. She got sunburnt. She messaged me when she just got home from the day and said she was exhausted. I'm glad she is happy and having fun! What an experience!

Preston went on a hike for scouts. Up to Bell Canyon waterfall. He did not want to go. Mike was jealous. Mike is on call, so he couldn't go with. Bell Canyon waterfall is one of Mike's favorite places in the world. He used to be able to hike that straight from his backyard. Lots of memories for him there.

Quackletta

Jorja went to graduation practice today. She said she did not do a good job with the flags. She was horrible at it. I doubt that. She did have to spend most of the morning making sure the flag didn't touch the ground.

Jorja

Today was yearbook day, which is always a fun day. Jorja laughed when she saw what Ian wrote. He said, "While I rarely come to church, you will always be my incentive to come." She showed that to Darby and he said, "Well, that's the truth!" Haha! My favorite messages were from older siblings to Jorja. The ones where they thanked her for being so kind to their younger siblings. I love that. I love that the older kids recognized she was looking out for the younger ones. I love that about Jorja. We both rolled our eyes when we saw what Traven wrote her. He took up an entire page, but at the very end he said, "#First kiss as a 16 year old" Really? He's putting that in there? Jorja said the weird thing is that half a year later, the kiss didn't ruin her and Conner's friendship, but it ruined her friendship with Traven. She just couldn't trust him after that and was kind of scared of him. Too bad because they were such good friends.

Emily & Jorja

Student government had their end of the year party today. It was a swim party at Brooklyn's house. Jorja had a great time. She loves these kids. She is going to miss the seniors terribly. I'm grateful she will have the chance to be in student government again next year. I hope her bond with the girls is just as strong as it was this year. She adored them.

Jorja & Braque

 Jorja

 Kassie & Jorja ~ I HATE this trend of sticking tongues out.

I tell Jorja all the time she looks ridiculous doing this. Yet, she still does it.

 Tally & Jorja

 Sam & Jorja

 Cade & Jorja

 Jorja & Isaiah

Luke, Tally, Sam, Taylor, Noah

Justice, Alex, Chloe, Bode, Kylie, Maggie, Luke, Isaiah, Traven, Cade

Jorja, Bella, Ellie, Abbey, Brooklyn

Mia, Aysha, Kassie, Kenedy, Jessi

Baylor, Autumn, Elle, Braque

 Jessi, Noah, Abbey, Alex, Jorja, Kylie, Kassie, Brooklyn

Preston went to a baseball game for young mens. Mike went with him. They were troopers. Neither of them like baseball as much as I do....or at all....they had great seats though.

It was dark when Mike and Preston got home. They went out to put the ducks away. They couldn't find Quackletta. They searched and searched for her and found her in our pool. She had drowned. It was so sad. Mike brought her in and I couldn't even bear to take a picture of her. Mike was devastated. He was so upset he didn't put Quackletta in her house before he left to the baseball game. Jorja came home from Kassie's house to find Mike holding Quackletta in the kitchen. They all got a chance to hold her and say goodbye. So, so, so, so sad.

Will This Ever End

Jorja still feels really sick. It was late start and she ended up sleeping through Chinese. I was hoping she would at least make it to the end of that class, but she got there during History. I walked inside with her. The attendance people said were surprised I came in this time. I told them I needed to see my best friends. I seriously talk to them all the time. Jorja was wearing a sweater as we were driving down, she also had her student government sweater with her. She needed to wear that later in the day. She started getting upset and said she was freezing cold when she put the sweater on, but now she was really hot. I went to the office and bought her an Alta shirt. Luckily they had a small and it just happened to be the shirt that Jorja wanted. She had tried to buy it several times, but they usually only had a medium. I got this picture from Jorja shortly after I dropped her off. She sat down in her history class and immediately started crying. Packer was about to give her a hard time when he noticed how upset she was. He sent her into the hall. He came out and talked to her. She cried and cried. She told him how overwhelmed she was and how she was so tired of being sick. She is really nervous about being sick the first week in the new quarter. She thought she was finally better. Now she is going to have another quarter where she has to dig herself out of a hole. Packer told her to stay outside and listen to his lecture from the hall.

Sad sick Jorja

Jorja worked the election table during lunch and after school again. She came home and took a nap and felt a bit better by the time her dinner rolled around. Jorja had a celebration dinner with Chick-Fil-A for hitting her year mark. Technically she hasn't hit it yet, but everyone that had a year mark in the first quarter was taken out to dinner. Jorja had a great time, but couldn't eat much. She ordered off the kids menu and was only able to eat half of it.

It seems like there is always something keeping Jorja from going to Young Women's. Today it was this dinner. Too bad because it was a combined activity. Preston was able to go. They had a dinner with the older people in the ward. There were three courses. They sat with a group of people for the appetizers, then switched tables for the spaghetti and again for the dessert. Jorja would have loved it. She stopped by on her way back from her work dinner, but people were pretty much cleaning up then. She was super happy when she got home. That didn't last long though. She got ready for bed and started feeling sick again. I held her hair while she threw up. We were on the guest bed and luckily Jorja had a throw up bowl nearby. Jorja threw up a lot. She could barely talk and she gasped out, "That is nothing compared to Saturday." When will my little girl get better?

Mike Tyson of Baseball

Stockton found this weird Winnie the Pooh baseball game. He became obsessed with it. It is so funny. He can not beat Christopher Robin. He came soooo close today! He is given 50 pitches and he has to hit home runs on 40 of those pitches. Regular hits and foul balls also count against you. Today he was on his last ball and had 39 home runs. He didn't make it. Hahaha! He is so funny when he talks about it. He actually said, "Christopher Robin is the Mike Tyson of Baseball!" Oh man, we laughed and laughed and laughed.

Jorja and Preston had their youth activity today. Jorja was actually able to go for the first time in months! It was a combined activity with the Wanderwood Ward. They went sledding. I went and bought two new sleds for the kids, since all of our sleds are up at the cabin. Never hurts to have more. Welp, these sleds didn't make it. Both of them broke badly. Preston's broke the first time he sat on it before the activity even started. Jorja let him use hers. He was able to go down the hill a couple of times before it broke again. Jorja found friends to ride with. I think they had a good time. Jorja stayed up late working on homework. She has worked so hard to pull her grades up. She was so excited today. She has pulled all of her grades up to an A except math. English might be an A-. That is crazy! She has worked so hard. Mike helped Jorja apply for an exchange student program. I really hope she gets it. I think that would be such an amazing experience. It would be for a month in summer to go to Taiwan. It's kind of a leadership/service thing. She would go to ten different high schools and meet with the Taiwan students. I hope she gets it. She had to turn in three letters of recommendation and a letter of authority. We weren't sure what the letter of authority meant. It's hard to figure out from the website. Most of it is in Chinese. Anyway, Jorja went and talked to Mr. Kemp, one of the vice principals at Alta. She got him to write that for her. Now it is all nicely submitted. She spent the rest of the night working on an English essay that was due at 11:59. I am so looking forward to this weekend. It will be nice for her to have a break. She needs it.

Johnathan Firetruck

The saddest thing about Jorja going to school early is I don't get to walk Preston to the bus stop. She hasn't made it to the bus once. I have driven her to the stop and we have been on time according to the website, but we have yet to see the bus. I wonder how early it comes. Anyway, today was late start, so I got to walk with Preston. I love doing this. I love that he lets me do this. Sometimes he holds my hand, usually he talks to me the entire time. I'm trying to soak up every second with him before he won't want me around anymore. Jorja went to breakfast with Aysha. She is a big fan of late start days.

Aysha

I fasted today. Well, I started after I exercised yesterday and ended around lunch time. We have our ward Christmas dinner on Saturday and I hate fasting from dinner to dinner. I also hate fasting less than 24 hours. I know it's weird, I just have a hard time with not going the full 24. I had something specific I was fasting for for each of my kids. The simple version is...Maysen to have a good experience with friends, Stockton to get his 4.0 that he desperately wants and has been working so hard for, Jorja to find peace and Preston to get better (he has a nasty cough) and make friends. (Of course I also included Guy, Marie, Mallory and Emery.) Anyway, I had specific promptings regarding Jorja. They were unexpected and almost at odds with what I thought was best for her. I was really confused. I don't recognize promptings very often, but this seemed oddly specific. I woke up feeling I needed to tell Jorja something. I got down on my knees and prayed. I asked if I was really supposed to tell Jorja this. Immediately I felt that it was what she needed to hear in order to have peace. I don't want to write what it was, but I'm a little confused as to why she needed to hear that. Because I'm writing this post on Wednesday I will spend just a second to write about today. I started to doubt my prompting. I thought I must have been imagining it. This morning I knelt down to pray and asked if I was really prompted to tell Jorja what I did. Immediately I felt I was. I also felt instructed to tell Jorja about my experience. Yesterday I didn't tell her I had been fasting for her, or that what I said was a prompting. That made me nervous, because what if I was misinterpreting everything? I asked again, is this in my mind, or am I really suppose to have this conversation with Jorja? I felt strongly I was supposed to talk to her about it. I tried to talk to her on the way to school, but she was grumpy. She had gotten up early, hurried and tried to make the bus. The bus didn't come. We aren't sure how early it gets there. Anyway, despite Jorja's grumpiness I told her what I was prompted that she needed to hear. I'm so confused and started doubting myself again. When I got home I prayed and asked if I did the right thing. Once again I immediately felt I did what I was asked to do. Still, I hope I did right. I always get scared thinking I don't understand what Heavenly Father is asking of me. I second guess myself all the time, but as I type this I feel it was what I was supposed to do. I have no idea how it will help Jorja find peace, but I hope she can find it.

Jorja drove to work today. She called me when she got there. When I saw her name come up on my phone I was immediately worried she had been in an accident. No, but she accidentally set off the panic alarm and couldn't get it to stop. I had no idea how to turn it off. She was so embarrassed. Soon I hear a boy come out to help her. I heard something like, "Don't worry, I got you." She is doing great driving her car though. I am so proud of her! I dropped off Preston at piano and then headed down to Sam's house. She had picked up the new Hank Smith collection for me. The Bonus talk: 10 Tips for a Successful Teenage Social Life was the talk we were at when it was recorded. We have all the others. Luckily Sam gets a huge discount and was able to get it for us for ten dollars.

Preston went to the combined activity tonight. Too bad Jorja couldn't be there. She asked for it off, but was scheduled anyway. The kids went to Target to do a Sub for Santa for some refugees. Preston came home close to 9:00 and seemed to have a lot of fun. Yay! I know he was in a group with Matthew and Aidan. He was happy, and had a McFlurry.

 Kiki & Quacky Chan

 Christmas Ducks

Jorja got back pretty late but was excited to play with Kiki. It is funny how much she loves that duck. Mike gave the ducks a bath, but they were still pretty smelly. I don't like the smell of animals. Jorja lost her Chick-Fil-A tag. I'm sure we will run across it sometime. The last time she wore it was on Saturday, but she changed out of her clothes and went and helped Drew ask Hailey to the Christmas dance. Anyway, her friend Johnathan has several different tags. He let Jorja wear one. Her tag says Johnathan Firetruck. Jorja loved it.

Jorja & Kiki

 Jorja's favorite things

 Jorja & Kiki

Jorja asked if I would sleep in the guest room with her and we could fall asleep listening to the Hank Smith CD together. Too bad her CD player she got for her birthday last year wouldn't work. Mike found an old laptop that had a CD drive and we were still able to listen to it. I think both of us fell asleep within the first five minutes though. I woke up right as it was ending. I slid the laptop onto the floor and snuck back to my bedroom. I couldn't find my phone though. Jorja will hear my alarm bright and early tomorrow morning!

Planning a Baptism

The missionaries came over tonight. We met with them to talk about Anna's baptism. Anna is about twenty years old, and because Mike is the ward mission leader he needs to head things up. I agreed to do the program, Mike is going to conduct. The missionaries are supposed to get the clothes and send me the program information in the coming days.

Stockton and Jorja went to the youth activity tonight. It was a drive-in movie . . . kind of. They brought blankets and pillows and watched The Incredibles at the pavilion by the church. It started pretty late, so they got back pretty late. I think they had fun. Jorja hasn't been able to go to any young women activities for a long time because of softball. I'm not sure what I think about that.

Jorja spent most of the day with her friends. They went 'hiking', played at a park then went back to Isaac's house. One of the things they did was play Monopoly. Isaac couldn't believe she has never played that before. When he asked me about it I told him there were so many great games around, why waste time playing Monopoly? Jorja said she didn't really understand what was going on during the game. Isaac would usually get excited and take her turn for her. I think she had a great time today. Jorja seems to need to be around peers. I'm glad she has found a few good friends.

Three Triples

I got Lincoln ready for scout camp early this morning. He is sleeping over tonight. I didn't sleep well last night. I kept waking up every half hour worried that I missed waking up Lincoln. One time I bolted upright remembering things I took out of his scout bag yesterday that he didn't need, but he would need today. I was so tired after he left.

Matt brought his kids up and we played with Brett. We managed to get a few games of Dominion in despite all the chaos going around us. Jorja went to see Spiderman with a few of her friends. Isaac, Evan, Drew and Alison. Evan's mom drove them both ways. She also got them In-N-Out on the way home. Jorja was pretty happy about that.

Stockton had bowling today. He has been loving that class. Brett left and took Marie and Grace up to Bountiful to go to a barbecue with Rachel's cousins. Grace, Amelia and Anne have had a blast together. Jorja had softball and Ella had dance. That was crazy. I dropped Jorja off at softball at 6:30, drove straight to Taylorsville and dropped Ella off. I came home and ate dinner, then went back to pick up Ella. When I came home for dinner I realized I needed to pick up Jorja and Ella at the same time. Mike was at a late meeting. Stockton was at young mens. Matt ended up picking her up at Buttercup. Jorja had no idea Matt was coming and it freaked her out a bit until she realized who it was. Wow. I'm so tired.

Stockton had a great time at young mens. It was a combined activity at the pool. He was frustrated at first, because people were just talking in the wading pool. Stockton tried to get people to come on the diving board with him, but he got no takers. He started diving for awhile by himself. He said he started to feel like he was showing off. Luckily Zach Zufelt, one of the leaders, got someone to hold his baby Mona. He came into the pool and started diving with Stockton. Soon some of the other leaders started diving with him too. Seth Bradley, Burke Staker and Nate Sharp. Stockton tried to teach them how to do the hurdle that the divers use now. They couldn't figure it out and decided they would just prance to the end of the board. That would have been a sight to see. Later the Maxfield's came. Mike Maxfield was a diver in high school, so that was fun. His boys, Landon and Teegan, were also diving. Stockton ended up having a lot of fun. I'm so glad Zach got in because Stockton said he was close to leaving. Instead he had a great time. He was even encouraged to try a triple. The first one he tried he landed on his back a bit, but he still landed it. He did two more after that. I wish I could have seen it! I would have loved seeing him try that for the first time.

Wet and Happy

We are starting an adventure this week! Bubs and Ange dropped their kids for us to watch this week. They are going on a church history tour with my dad. Last year they did the first part of the tour, this week they are doing the second part. Nauvoo, Carthage, Kansas City, Far West . . . things like that. It was cool, when they dropped them off they brought in a ton of food and milk. I thought that was really nice.

We taught them Colt Express. They loved it! I expect many games of Colt Express and Werewolf this week!

Abby, Amelia, Preston, Ella, Lincoln, Mike

Stockton and Jorja got back from youth conference tonight. Stockton got home about an hour and a half earlier than Jorja. He came home with the Masters and Ron Covington. They didn't stop anywhere to eat. Stockton didn't mind. Jorja came home with Tom Perry and Ebony. I know there were others in the car. Jorja and Ebony were so spazzy. It sounds like they both had a great time. Stockton threw lots of people in the water. His favorite was when he tried to photo bomb Jacqui while she was taking a selfie with Michael. He dove at her and took her down. (Her phone was in a water proof case.) He also loved the cliff diving. He named the different ledges 5,7,and 10. He said they were about that height. I can't remember everything, but I know he did a double (while wearing a life jacket!) off the 7 and some reverses off the 10. He hit the bottom twice going off the 10. Luckily the life jacket slows him down and luckily it was just his feet. He does miss landing on his head when he does cliff jumping though. I'm thankful that the kids came back smiling and in one piece.

Ebony, Michael, Stockton, Jorja

It's Tomorrow

Stockton and Preston had diving at the platforms today. It is so fun to watch them.

Stockton

 Preston & Stockton

 Preston

Stockton 1 1/2 off 7

Preston off 7

I was telling Stockton's coach that he most likely won't be at diving tomorrow. He has youth conference, but I have no idea what time they are leaving or if Stockton is even going. Stockton said, "Wait? Youth conference is tomorrow?" Yep! That is why I keep asking you if you can go! Jorja really wanted Stockton to go, so he stayed up and finished his film write-ups and took a biology quiz. He will miss bowling, but I think you can miss two bowling classes. He will have to just bowl for fun. We'll have to twist his arm on that one!

Hailey and Drew came over to hang out with Jorja today. Drew and Jorja wrote letters to Miss Falk. The same Miss Falk that hated Stockton. She loved Jorja. She got married over the weekend in Oregon and her name is now Mrs. Taylor, I think. Anyways, they are a bunch of weirdos.

Scouts, Softball, Food Bank and Chinese

Preston had piano and scouts after school. Jorja had a softball game. It's probably the last one I'll see of this season. Boo. She has loved this year. She pitched and played catcher. I get too nervous when she pitches, but I love watching her play catch. It is great that she stepped up and became a decent pitcher. Sometimes they will put Jorja in as pitcher when the bases are loaded. They have a lot of confidence in her. She has improved so much this year. Her coach was talking about trying to get a team for a summer league. They toyed with the idea of a competition team, but that is a lot of money. Jorja would love to play with these girls during the summer. Stockton went to the food bank. The downside of softball is Jorja misses every youth activity. I'm sure Stockton would have loved to have Jorja there. Mike took Jorja to Mulan's again after her game. Here is a video he took while he was there. It is a little hard to hear with the background noise, but you get the idea. Jorja asked the boy what he was doing. He told her his numbers. Jorja said he would count for a bit, then mumble, then shout 100! So cute!

Jorja made the most delicious brownies. The brownies are good and she added a chocolate frosting creation she made up on top. Super rich and totally delicious. How can I resist these?

Pi Day

I love pi day! Except when I am doing a no sugar, no dairy, no grain challenge. Dang it! I did buy pizza, chocolate pie and lemon meringue pie for the rest of the family. I didn't have anything note worthy. Mike and I did go out to lunch though. I had wanted to go to this fish place that I drive by all the time. We met there only to find a sign on the door saying they had closed for good. Instead we went to Village Inn. I saw several people walk up to the door, so I'm guessing this was a recent closing.

Mike helped Preston 3-D print a pi pencil holder. It has the digits of pi around the cup. Turned out really cute. Preston loves it.

Stockton went to a Young Mens service project and Jorja did a service scavenger hunt. Jorja and Ebony vacuumed our front porch. Nice.

Preston's Bear

Preston received his Bear today for scouts.  He has really liked his Bear leaders, Brother and Sister Breen.  I hope he enjoys Webelos!  Judy Anderson will be his Webelos leader.  She did Bears with me.  Preston's excited to only walk a few houses down the road to scouts.

Stephanie, Preston, Pat Breen

 Mike, Stephanie, Preston, Pat

 Preston pinning his Bear pin on me

 Mike, Stephanie, Preston

The boys put together a carnival for pack meeting.  There were snow cones and games.  I'm also wearing flip flops.  Doesn't feel like November.

Stockton and Jorja went to Where's Waldo at the mall.  The ward does this activity every year.  Usually my kids hate it, but both of them seemed to enjoy it this year.