One Homecoming and Two Farewells

I saw Mr. Packer at church today. He sat right behind us. He is here for Darby's mission homecoming. I totally forgot it was Darby's homecoming or I might have tried to get Jorja here. She was exhausted though and sound asleep when we left. I asked him what his mission tag was for. He said it is because he plays the organ in the Jordan River Temple and has done so for the last 15 years. Wow. I did not know that.

Stephanie & Mr. Packer

Jorja got plenty of church today. She went to Bode's farewell first. He is going to Riverside California, Mandarin speaking. Bode was in Jorja's Chinese immersion class for years. He stopped with the Chinese program for the last three years of high school. They were in student government together all four years. He has been such a great friend to Jorja.

Jorja & Bode

Jorja also went to Ben Fairborn's farewell. Ben went to Jordan High School and did the Spanish immersion program there. Ben and Jorja did drivers ed together at Corner Canyon. That wasn't planned, but random and they loved it.

Jorja & Ben

We made dinner in a pumpkin today. While Jorja was at all the farewells we also made her a birthday cake. I know we gave her her present yesterday, but just in case she doesn't get a cake on her actual birthday, at least she will have one this year. It wasn't fancy, but it still tasted good.

Jorja's cake

Jorja helped Mike clean out her frog's tank. Enjoy these random pictures.

Jorja

Jorja took the pilot back to Utah State. The engine light came on in her bug so we wanted to get it checked out. She will be coming back next Sunday and will be able to pick up her car then. It was great to have her here! Sure love that girl!

Dogs and Frogs

We woke up in Tucson and began the long drive home. We left the stake center right as the second car was pulling in. Not too shabby. Originally our plan was to stay at a RV campground in Sierra Vista and leave after sacrament meeting. Mike needed somewhere with wifi so he could give access to the zoom meeting to Brother Masters. Mike is in charge of getting the zoom sacrament meetings to work. Well, the campground never got back to us about our reservation. So, with fingers crossed we left Tucson early this morning and hoped we would have service when we needed it. It just so happened that we were driving through Phoenix when our ward began. Yay! We switched drivers about thirty minutes before church started and Mike was able to give Mike Masters access. He was also able to watch church as we were driving down the road, just in case he needed to do any troubleshooting. Modern technology is awesome. If we had left Sierra Vista after church we were looking to be home in the middle of the night. Because we got such a jump on our travel we arrived home around 7:00 pm. Nice! My dad was going to watch Bear until tomorrow but we messaged him about an hour out that we would be able to pick him up tonight. He said, "Boo! Couldn't you find a Walmart somewhere and bed down for the night?" Haha. Glad Bear wasn't too much trouble for him. Earlier in the day when I asked for a Bear dog update he sent these pictures saying, "Proof of life" Looks like Bear had a great time at my dad's. I'm so glad we didn't bring him on this trip!

Bear & Milo

Bear

Jorja was excited to see her frog when we got home. She put a cricket on his head and he just left it there. Hahaha. Silly frog.

Froggie and Cricket are friends

Froggie

Mike and I took Jorja to get a new frog. She had a credit because one of her frogs died a few days after we brought it home. They called Jorja and let her know new tree frogs were in. Jorja is very happy with her new frog. I don't know if she is going to give it a name. She loves calling him 'Froggie'.

Jorja and Froggie ~ action shot

Froggie

I wrote a long paragraph here, but it got deleted when we drove out of range. So... Jorja answered Riley to prom and other stuff....

2nd Place Frog

Jorja came home with her frog etching she had done earlier this school year.  It had won 2nd place in an art show.  Jorja didn't know she even made it into the show.  Pretty nifty.  Too bad she didn't know it was in there so she could enjoy it.

After school was pretty crazy.  Preston had piano lessons at the same time as his swim team practice.  He hasn't made it to practice once.  We took him straight from piano to dive team practice.  Our plan was to drop him off and then Maysen would pick him up.  It started thundering when we arrived.  We just took him home.  We were late getting Jorja to her softball game.  Not late that the game had started, but later than the coaches had asked.  It didn't matter because Jorja's game was delayed because of the thunder.  They still played the game, just started about fifteen minutes late.  Jorja had a double header so we were there for a long time.  My toes were so cold by the time we left! Jorja sure loves softball right now.

2016

It blows my mind that it is 2016.  I'm not really looking forward to this year.  This is the year that Maysen graduates high school and Stockton turns 16.  My family is changing.  I love my life right now, I'm a little nervous about the future.  I hope my children don't move far away from me.  I want them to grow, to have families of their own, to be successful and happy; but I'm going to miss this time of my life.  The time when they were 100% mine and Mike's.  Time has gone by way too fast.

Here is a picture of Jorja before she headed out the door to Kristen's house.  Kristen took care of Jorja's frog and Maysen's lizard while we were gone.  We got a message that Jorja's frog wasn't feeling well, so he spent the last few days at Kristen's house.

Jorja

We got a new door lock for Christmas.  It is the same lock we have at the cabin.  Preston loved it when we had it on our house at home to test it.  We loved it as well.  It was nice to get messages saying the kids were home.  Several times it came in handy.  It also would have been nice while we were in Idaho.  Jorja forgot her contacts.  She really wanted my dad to bring up another pair.  Our garage door hasn't been working lately and we gave our only key to Kristen.  If this had been on our door we could have my dad get inside easily.  Preston loved helping Mike install the lock today.

Preston & Mike

Kristen helped Jorja bring Horizon home.  She said she would give him a 20% chance to recover.  He has a broken leg right now.  Boing had a broken leg right before she died too.  Jorja wanted me to get pictures of her with Horizon.  I hope he gets better.  She sure loves that frog.

Jorja & Horizon

 Horizon

We watched The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi today. Tomorrow we will watch the new Star Wars in the theater.  Mike really wanted to see it before he went back to work.  I have felt miserable today.  My throat is so sore and my back is in a lot of pain.  What a way to start 2016.

Happy 8th Birthday Preston!

My baby is 8.  Wow.  He is such a precious little boy.  He is full of love and joy.  We are so happy we were blessed to have him in our lives. There was a time I was pretty sure we would only have three kids.  Not by our choice.  Luckily we were blessed with this amazing soul.

Preston

I needed to take Mike to work today so I could use the jeep.  My car is in the shop.  Mike wanted to get there early, so I woke up Preston to open presents.  Jorja wanted to give her present to Preston before school.  Mike and I had a before school present too.  Preston didn't seem to mind.

 Jorja gave him a pina~colada sucker and a mine craft toy

 Preston and Jorja

 Mike and I gave him a Wolf book along with a scout shirt

 Ummm....Preston, you look creepy

I was able to drop Mike off and get back home in time to take the other kids to school.  Preston was ready when I got back and the two of us headed to the store.  We wanted to pick up some birthday treats for him to handout to his class.  He picked mini-cupcakes and Biscoff cookies.  He was so happy with that!  I usually volunteer in his classroom on Mondays, so that worked out well.  I met Preston for lunch.  I asked him what he would like.  Maysen had picked Sonic. Jorja wanted Jamba Juice and Chick-Fil-A.  Preston, what did he want?  He wanted Lunchables.  Haha!

I started to get really worried about Boing today.  I called and got a 4:15 appointment.  I asked Mike if I could pick him up earlier.  That worked out well.  Preston really wanted to open the rest of his presents, so we opened them really quickly.  He was thrilled when he got the Great Wolf Lodge medallion from Maysen.

Maysen & Preston

 Wand topper from Great Wolf Lodge

 Baptism book

 Tom & Jerry hot air balloon

 DIY Straws I found in France

 A mini dream light version of his pillow pet

Today was also Preston's first time going to scouts.  Sue is his leader. She is so much fun.  He is going to love it.  She has had this calling for awhile, I was really hoping Preston would get her for a leader.

Preston & Sue

 Sue & Judy

Preston, Ethan, Griffin, Braxton, Aiden

Mike, Jorja and I dropped Preston off and then hurried down to the vet.  Turns out Boing has a broken leg, or a bent leg that has healed weird.  I can't remember, but that is why she has been so hurt.  Poor little froggy.  We got some medicine to give the frog.  He said if Boing doesn't start eating in the next few days we would need to feed her watered down dog food.  That's random.  Jorja whispered to me while we were at the vet, "I'm so glad we brought her in."  She is even going to help pay for the appointment.  She really loves her frogs.

Boing

Preston wanted crepes for dinner.  It is also Erica's birthday, so their family came over for crepes too.  Erica is in a play, so they didn't make it until quite late, but it worked out perfectly . . . especially since we had a vet visit thrown in there.  Shannon made the cake for both of them.  I was grateful for that because I was frazzled and extremely busy!

 Eighteen candles for Erica, Eight for Preston

 Birthday boy/girl

 Preston & Erica

 Erica & Preston

Erica gave Preston different packages of candy.  Preston gave Erica some ice cream bars.  Simple and perfect.