Payton's Wedding

Wow! What a crazy day!!! Jorja has been studying so hard for her statistics test. The kids could choose whether to take it in class or at home. They could take it any time today if they took it at home. If they took it at school they would only have the class period. Jorja has had a substitute for months in that class. Chad got in a motorcycle accident and hasn't been back. Last class the substitute talked for twenty minutes before they were able to get to work. That would be awful on a test day. Jorja told me she wanted to take the test after school. I asked her if she would like to take it during class, but at home. Her class is the first period of the day and advisory is after. I figured she could miss advisory today and be able to finish her test. That is what she did. She was disappointed. She ended up scoring 89%. She only missed two questions though. Anyway, she couldn't believe it when she got to school. She got there right at the end of advisory. When she was in the parking lot Lucas called her crying. She hurried to her class and tons of people were crying. Packer quit today. He came in and gave a speech and then left. I feel so bad for talking Jorja out of going today. Packer has been the student government advisor for years! I can't believe today was the day he quit! Shay is going to be the new advisor. She is the PLT advisor. Jorja likes her a lot. She is actually aiding for Packer and Shay next semester. Anyway, this will be quite a change. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.

On an unrelated note, I ordered this waffle maker from Ebay. It is from the 60s and I think it is just like my dad's. My dad's waffle maker makes THE BEST waffles! My brothers and I haven't found anything like it on the market now. I'm excited to try it out!

Preston got spacers in today. He will be getting braces next week. We weren't sure if he could eat popcorn with spacers. He LOVES popcorn. We know he can't eat them with braces. He will have braces for about two years. We found out he can eat them with spacers, but so far his teeth have been too sore for him to do that.

Preston

Our 19 year old neighbor, Ethan, was baptized today. So crazy! They had the baptism on zoom. It was really cool because he has tons of great friends on missions, and they were all able to zoom in. It was cool to see Race on there. Race is serving in California and ended up teaching Ethan when he was at his dad's house. Something like that. Awesome that he could see the baptism! We watched the baptism while we drove to Lindon. Payton Myers got married today! Wow! I was so excited to see Teresa. I wish she lived two doors away from me like she used to! Today was a mini Georgia reunion. We were walking in and Maysen whispered, "Is that Brother Montgomery?" It was! He was sitting on the couch. Then a few minutes later Jeremiah walked by. Sooo crazy and fun! I wish I would have gotten a picture of Maysen, Payton, Jeremiah and Thomas all together. They were all there. Those four were in the same primary class for YEARS! Crazy to see them in the same place again. And Thomas is getting married tomorrow! Wow!

Teresa & Stephanie ~ she looked so beautiful!

I had a mask, just took it off for the picture

Maysen and Payton ~ they have been friends since they were four

Little Payton and Maysen

Jerome, Teresa, Payton, Kinsie

Jennifer, James, Maysen, Mike and Stephanie ~ the Montgomery's moved to Utah and we had no idea!

Teresa is photobombing Hahaha

Mike, Maysen and I had a great time at the wedding. We left Preston home alone with Bear. Bear enjoyed my birthday chocolate while we were gone. He took the entire thing out to his "treat spot" I had at least three full candy bars there. Hope he doesn't get sick!

Jorja went on a date to the ice castles. She said it was beautiful and so much fun. I wish she would have had that much fun when we took her there years ago! Haha. Here are two pictures I stole from Jorja's phone.

Riley & Jorja

What a busy, fun, crazy day! The only thing that would have made this day better was if Gonzaga hadn't destroyed BYU in basketball today. Hahaha

Friendsgiving

Mike worked from the cabin and Preston did school from there. They are sure taking advantage of this crazy year. Mike also put in a dog door for Bear. It is in the mud room and is the same door we have in our house. Bear loves it.

Stockton called early this morning and I was able to talk with him for a couple of hours before I went to Becky's. I talked to him while I walked there and said goodbye once I was inside her house. Becky, Camee and I made lunches for the Road Home. We all brought different stuff, then made the sandwiches and assembled everything in paper bags. Becky and I dropped them off. I didn't realize the Road Home is super close to Mike's work. It was fun to hang out with Becky and Camee. I'm glad this worked out.

The stay at home mandate ended today. Jorja took advantage of it and hung out with her friends all day. She went shopping with Giselle and then went to Riley's to make mashed potatoes. We made cranberry sauce yesterday. Jorja brought those things to their Friendsgiving at Ella's house. She had a great time.

Giselle & Jorja

Jorja & Riley

Riley & Jorja

Sami, Ella, Giselle, Jorja

We were planning on going to the cabin tomorrow after Jorja's statistics test, but I ended up scheduling a dentist appointment for Wednesday morning. I haven't been to the dentist in over two years. I wanted to find a new dentist, so I knew it would be awhile before I got in. They had an appointment available when John is here, or in December. Then they told me they had a cancellation on Wednesday. I decided to just get it done. Mike wasn't too happy about that. "You haven't had an appointment in two years and need to do it now?" I called back right away to change the appointment, but they were closed. They close super early, like at 2:00. Anyway, I think I will just get it over with. Jorja told me she has three tests tomorrow anyway, so it will be good to let her concentrate on that.

Jorja's 18 fo Today

Jorja is an adult! Officially 18! Wow! She has brought such joy to my life. A fair amount of stress too, but I wouldn't trade her for anything. I filled out the paper to have 'Jorja's 18 fo today' on the sign outside our neighborhood, but for some reason they didn't put it up. Maybe they didn't like the fo? Oh well. I checked Jorja out of her volleyball class to take her to lunch. She met us at OHP. Pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes for her. Crepes for everyone else. Mike had a meeting and couldn't come, but we brought him back an apple pancake. Maysen texted me a picture of the dessert pancake they brought Jorja. I had run to the UPS store to mail Stockton a package. Nothing exciting, just his voting ballot. Anyway, lunch was delicious and the company is the best.

Jorja

Maysen, Jorja, Preston

Jorja got back in time to go to her lunch, which she spent filling out paperwork to get activities approved for the fundraiser. She stopped by Packers after school and said that the only thing she wanted for her birthday was for him to approve her activities. He didn't like that she had filled out all the papers. He wanted her to work with the committees. She is getting frustrated at all the hoops she keeps being asked to jump through, and the lack of communication. I am proud of her for working so hard. Anyway, Bode found her after school and brought her to her car. Her friends had decorated it. They also gave her a stuffed Remy from Ratatouille. It has a magnate in it and can stay on her shoulder. She loves it.

Riley, Jorja, Heyboys, Giselle, Bode, Brenton, Jake

Remy & Jorja

We took Jorja to the Labyrinth for her birthday. It is kind of like an escape room, but it is may different rooms. Most of the rooms have three puzzle things. They were actually quite hard. The nice thing was when one room stumped you, you could go to another one. We had tickets for two hours. I had a few of Jorja's friends meet her there. Ella, Giselle, Riley, Jake, Bode, Brenton and Sami all came. It was perfect because Jorja got to hang out with her friends while Mike, Maysen, Preston and I all worked on the puzzles together. We would see Jorja running around the place while we were there. For the first half hour I sat on a bench and talked to Stockton. He called right as we were going in. It was so cool to talk with him! He told me a story about how some Elders from a different mission in Arizona referred someone to them to help with service. They asked to call. It was Elder Valentine. How many Elder Valentines can there be? At the end of the call, Stockton asked which mission they were calling from. He said Pheonix. Stockton said, "Is your first name Ian?" He was stunned. Hahaha! Stockton was talking to Ian Valentine! Ian is in our ward and grew up with Stockton. I was able to tell Brenton, Ian's brother, about the call right there. It was so cool!

Anyway, after Jorja and her friends came to our house for pizza and cake. Jorja opened her presents. Maysen gave her a present earlier. They went to Michael's before Maysen's birthday. Maysen wanted things for a terrarium. Jorja wanted things to make a farm in her glove box, so when people randomly open it there is a farm scene. Anyways, they each got the other those things for their birthdays. Preston gave Jorja a new water bottle. She lost hers a few weeks ago. Jorja's big present from us was Impapa roller skates. They are pink and she really wanted them. We had looked together and they were sold out everywhere. It looked like they wouldn't be back in stock until March. I ended up finding them on eBay and was able to surprise her with them. Jorja had a great birthday. I only got pictures with a few people that came. Disappointed in myself that I didn't get a group picture. Oh well.

Jornja is seriously how she wanted her name spelled on the cake

Didn't get 18 fo today on the sign, but at least she got it on the cake

Bode & Jorja ~ he wore their sweethearts sweatshirt to her party. So awesome.

Jorja & Riley

Jorja and Sami

Jorja, Giselle, Riley and Jake all went to the top of Pepperwood to look at the stars. While they were gone, Ben came over. I had invited him, but he wasn't able to go because of corona. He takes care of his grandparents and has to be super careful. He brought Jorja a Crumbl cookie, a balloon and a card. I told them where she was and he drove up there and gave it to her. Jorja came back shortly later. She had a text from Sophie asking her to look on her porch. Jorja asked me to look, but nothing was there. Sophie told her it was pretty big. She then decided she put it at the wrong house. Jorja and I went on a little scavenger hunt to find it. We found this chair a house two doors down from us. It also had a Crumbl cookie and a card. Hahaha. Definitely for Jorja. Jorja loves it.

It was a good day to turn 18

Home and Blessings

Jorja made it home! She had a great time this weekend. It was super nice for Scoop and Cori to let her come and invade like this. Cori took this picture before the kids left. More kids stayed than this. Hailey, Emily and Alison had left the day before. Anyway, so glad the kids all made it home safely. No one got corona and they had a great time! (Yep, I am super late posting this again....)

Riley, Joe

Lucas, Janelle, Jake, Jorja, Sami's sister, Grace, Grace's brother, Tommy

Giselle, Ella, Bode, Ryan, Sammi, Luke

Aiden

I watched game 4 of the Jazz/Denver series. Jazz won by two, but it wasn't as close as the score showed. Mitchell again got over 50. So did Murray on a last second pointless three pointer. Still cool. They were so fun to watch! It was a great game! Scoop and Cori came over right after it ended. Jorja had left her wallet at their house, so they brought it to her. At first I thought that was the only reason they drove all the way up from St. George, but Cori has a dentist appointment tomorrow. 

We had church late. Mike also gave the kids father's blessings. School starts tomorrow. It was great. I hope our kids will always remember moments like these. There are also silly moments too, like Mike getting Bear to jump super high and Jorja filming it in slow motion.....

Classroom Safe

Jorja and a few of her friends headed to the canyon to take pictures. I helped Jorja get ready for the day. It was going to be a long one. Mike made cinnamon rolls for Jorja to take, we got her work stuff ready and then found her hippie costume so she could go to her PLT party after work.

Jorja looking for her costume

 Jorja, Hailey, Emily, Allison

 Allison, Jorja, Emily

 Hailey, Jorja, Emily

 Jorja

 Hailey & Jorja

 Allison, Hailey, Emily, Jorja

 Hailey & Jorja

 Jorja & Emily

 Allison, Emily, Jorja

 Emily & Jorja

Jorja

Jorja worked for eight hours and then headed to her PLT party. She called us on the way. She did not want to go. She hates parties. I told her to go anyway. She was there for one minute when she texted 'This is so awkward" "I hate parties" I told her to give it a chance and find Jaren. About five minutes later she texted "I'm fine now I moved seats. I'm by Jaren." There are some people that calm Jorja just with their presence. I love those people. Jaren is one of them. Jorja ended up having a great time.

On a completely unrelated note. I saw these at the store. Who would market this candy as 'classroom safe'? There are going to be people that believe this. What about the people allergic to milk or eggs? Just in my family that is Larkin, Blake and Skye. I actually love Sixlets, but this packaging is awful.