Preston Goes to Camp

Jorja was invited to go to the Corner Canyon state football game with her Chick-Fil-A friends. Many of them go to Corner Canyon. She said they were getting excused after 3rd period and asked if she could as well. She would be missing theater. Missing theater for the ducks is what caused her to lose her 4.0, so I wasn't too fond of the idea. She talked me into it. She is going to see the school musical on Saturday which will make up for losing the participation points. Plus, she has hated being at theater the last couple of times because they are just dealing with the musical. So, I called school this morning and let them know she would be checking out.

I went to Becky's house for lunch. I brought five boxes of stuffing. Becky was gathering stuff for ten Thanksgiving dinners to donate to the Road Home. The stuffing was what I was asked to bring. We assembled all of the boxes and then had a delicious lunch. It was fun. Just as I finished my lunch I got a text from Jorja saying that Mitchell's mom wouldn't let him leave school early so she was going to stay for theater, but could I come and take her out to lunch. I hurried out of Becky's house so fast! I took Jorja and Dessa to a quick lunch. We went to Freddy's, which I usually like but it was kind of gross today. I didn't even eat anything since I had already had lunch. Maybe that is why everything looked disgusting to me. Still, it was really fun to see her during the day. Plus, I love Dessa. She is a safe friend for Jorja. I like to tell Dessa that. I trust her.

Preston had his first scout camp as a 12 year old. When Mike asked if he could come with him Preston told him he wanted to go by himself to try and make friends. My kids have a really hard time making friends, especially in the ward for some reason. I couldn't believe Preston was being this brave. Mike got everything ready for Preston so all I would have to do is drive him down to the church. I was so nervous when I got there. All of the other 12 year olds had their dad's with them. My heart was breaking just a little. I didn't know how he would do or how he would fit in. I mentioned to his leaders that he didn't want his dad with him so he could try and make friends. They said they would look out for him. Still. I started crying. Not hard, but tears were in my eyes. I went and sat in the car until they left so Preston wouldn't see me cry. I love that little boy so much. I wish I could help my kids socially. I know they struggle, but I don't know how to help them. I am so thankful that we get along so well in our family. At least all of them have a safe place to go.

Preston

Jorja ended up staying after school for the ping pong tournament. Stockton was so annoyed that they didn't do the tournament last year. The kid in charge just didn't do it. It was the one thing Stockton was looking forward to. Yes, he looks forward to weird things. I texted Stockton to let him know the ping pong tournament was today. He immediately texted back, "I hope everyone loses" Haha. I laughed so hard. I miss him! Jorja also told me that smash bros was going to be in the Christmas assembly instead of the ping pong championship. Stockton said, "That's cool too actually" Glad he approved.

Jorja

While Jorja was at the ping pong tournament, Mitchell came to pick her up at our house. I guess he didn't see her message that she would still be at school. Hopefully that wasn't too much of a problem. Here is Jorja's nicely photoshopped streaks.

Jorja had quite the story to tell of the game. One of the kids she works with named Harrison got the entire student section to 'kiss chant' Jorja and Mitchell. I guess they were all chanting 'KISS! KISS! KISS! KISS!' I asked her how she knew they were talking about them. Jorja said it was obvious. Jorja wouldn't look at Mitchell and she hugged her friend Valentina. When the chanting died down, Jorja let go of Valentina and turned toward Mitchell. Right as she did that, Mitchell leaned in to kiss her. Jorja swerved! I was so proud of her! She didn't use the technique she practiced during Family Home Evening of punching the kid in the face/neck, but she still swerved. She leaned back and turned her head. He ended up kissing the side of her lip. Jorja looked at me and said, "I'm not counting that as a kiss." Fine by me. I asked if things were awkward after that. She said Mitchell just laughed about it.

Mitchell & Jorja

Jorja sent me pictures of the game she was at, so I sent her one of the game I was at. I went down to Cypress to see Bubs ref basketball. Holy cow that school was a long ways away! The parking was awful too. I figured since I had no kids at home and Mike was working late I might as well find something enjoyable to do. It was fun too. Bubs didn't see me until the end of the game.

Bubs at center court

Mike put the ducks outside all day today. He sent me this picture. He was happy that the ducks weren't by either of their two heaters, so at least they didn't freeze to death. Yay for ducks moving outside!

Maysen and Stockton went to see the musical at Logan High School. It was Singing in the Rain. They need to write an essay on it for their arts class. Their last assignment. Yay! Stockton said he liked the play, so that is good. I'm not sure if Maysen liked it or not. I think they are both glad they are almost finished with that class. One essay and that's it.

The 95 Theses of Alta

Jorja asked Mr. Packer, the student government advisor, if she could do the ping pong tournament. This is the first year that Stockton has been there that they haven't had a tournament. They had it every year Maysen was there too. One of the many frustrating things for Stockton is the attorney general is in charge of the ping pong tournament. That is the office Stockton ran for and lost. The kid that won just didn't do the tournament. Jorja asked him several times if he was going to do it. He always said he was, he just never did. Mr. Packer told Jorja that it was too late for her to do the ping pong tournament. He said that he even got a huge list from someone taped to his door with 95 reasons of why they should do the ping pong tournament. Turns out, it was Stockton that taped the reasons to his door. He wrote them all himself and printed them out on five sheets of paper, all taped together. Stockton was so funny when he described his secretive mission. He had this whole elaborate plan of looking up teacher schedules to figure out when Mr. Packer would be out of his room, finding lulls in class time to sneak into the halls, and taking detours that let him avoid the janitors and hall monitors. He kept the whole operation a secret so nobody could bust him later. He said he had had everything written up for two weeks before finding the perfect moment to tape it on the door without being seen. He would even stop by Alta on the way to his English class at SLCC to check and see if there was an opening. Now that's dedication. His English class started at 7:00 am on the SLCC campus.

Mr. Packer is the World History teacher. When Stockton was a sophomore he learned about Martin Luther's 95 Theses in his class. The original had 95 reasons why the Catholic Church was corrupt for practicing indulgences, which was when the church leaders told the people that they were doomed to hell unless they paid money to have their sins forgiven. So Stockton decided writing his own version would be the perfect way to get his message across.

Too bad it was all for naught. No ping pong tournament this year; but another example of Stockton's awesomeness.

Tea with Anne

I was able to go to Anne's preschool today and have tea with her. (Rolls with jam and lemonade) She is such a crack up. She kept pulling faces while I tried to get a picture.

Anne

I drove Matt's car here so we didn't need to move Anne's carseat. It took awhile, but I was able to figure out how to start the car and drive here. Leaving was a different story. I couldn't get the car started. It had a button instead of a key. I couldn't remember what I did to start it when I came. Finally I called Matt. I just needed to hold the brake while I pressed the button. Easy.

Jorja spent all day decorating for homecoming. I asked her to take me some pictures. This is what she sent me.

Brenton

I checked SLCC's website to see their baseball schedule. I knew Damion had a game today. This was their last home game for the fall and it started in 30 minutes. Jorja wasn't home yet, so I couldn't bring her with me. I did send her videos of Damion batting. He even got out of a pickle running home. I didn't get that on video though. It happened so fast.

Damion

I was sitting directly behind home plate when Whitley saw me. She came to say hi and showed me where here parents were sitting. I watched the rest of the game with them. It was much easier to see without the sun in my eyes. Damion had a great game. He went 4-5. Actually one of the hits didn't count because it was an error. Still, nicely done.

Stockton and Mike play ping pong a lot. This time they played Duck Season/Rabbit Season while they were playing ping pong. They said it was surprisingly difficult.

Mike & Stockton

Jorja called me while I was at the game and asked if she could go to Evan's house. She hung out with Evan and Isaac until about 10:30. Once she came home she went to sleep at Raina's house. She brought her stuff so she could go straight to softball practice tomorrow. Sounds like she had a fun day, she sure kept herself busy enough!