Bear Lake and EFY

So.... turns out I got super burned out on the blog for awhile. (Stockton was NOT happy with me.) I'm now twenty days behind. I spent forever getting pictures from Preston's Bear Lake trip and saved them all, but I can't find where they went. Anyway, I'm going to try and catch up now, but I feel bad because there were a lot of great days that I have now missed documenting. I will have to rely on pictures and text messages between my family. We'll just cross our fingers and hope for the best.

I woke up this morning to this lovely site on the porch. I don't know what animal got into this, but it was everywhere. Brett and I were going to pick it up the old fashioned way when Mike came showed up with a shovel. I don't know why a shovel didn't cross my mind, but it sure went faster cleaning it up this way! Not nearly as gross either.

I took Jorja and Madison to EFY at BYU-Idaho this morning. Mike took Preston to Bear Lake for Scout camp. It took us about an hour and a half to get to Rexburg. The girls got checked in and then we had lunch at Frontier Pies. It wasn't as good as I remembered. I dropped them off at their apartment and hoped for the best! I stopped at a lookout spot on the way back. I couldn't get a good picture, but it sure was beautiful.

 Amy

 Greg

I got to talk to Stockton today. Transfers were Saturday. He and Elder Alia are still together. They were shocked! Well, kind of. Their mission president called and talked to both of them earlier in the week. He had them each write him a letter about their feelings with staying together for another transfer and also about the Swahili family. Thank goodness Stockton loves Elder Alia! When this transfer is over, he will have been with him for half his mission! One funny story. A family in the district invited three sets of missionaries over. They speak English and Spanish, so they invited the English and Spanish Elders. Their daughter is in the YSA, so they invited the YSA missionaries. There happens to be three missionaries from Alta serving in this district. All three of the Alta missionaries ended up having dinner with this family. Stockton from the English side. Another Alta guy that I can't remember from the Spanish side and Sister Liljenquist from the YSA side. Stockton thought that was so funny. Super random. Also, Stockton got a new ward, so they will have three wards now. Hope that goes well for them.

Mike is staying with Preston tonight. They are staying at the Henderson's cabin. It is right on the lake and super amazing. Kids don't know how lucky they are. Mike and Preston went boating with Burke and then played Colt Express with some of the other kids. Mike also got Preston to come on a giant stand up paddle board with him. 

Jorja seems to love EFY already. She was worried that the dress she brought was too short. Cori bought it for her and it was shipped to our house. There were two exact dresses of different colors. She wore one on Sunday and it was shorter than she thought. We called up Hutch and she met us at a clothing shop. Everything was super expensive and nothing fit Jorja. It was great to see Hutch though! Hutch is planning on going to Idaho Falls tomorrow, so she said she would pick up something for Jorja. I spent a lot of time once I got back to the cabin looking for dresses at Target. I wanted to order one and have Hutch be able to just walk in and grab it. Later tonight I got a text from Jorja saying her counselor approved her dress. Yay! Yay! Yay! I think those two are going to have a great week!

 Madison & Jorja

Jorja & Madison's company

Camping and Newsies

Mike and Preston seemed to have a great time at their 'camp'. Mike said he wanted to be like Clint's Dad when he grew up.

Preston & Mike

 Clint's dad shooting bowling balls out of a cannon.

 Mike, Preston, Clint

 Preston and Brother Smith

 Preston

 Preston with his can.

These kids went straight from one activity to another. Shooting, hiking, fishing. They wore themselves out, but had a great time.

Preston

 Griffin, Drew, Matthew, Preston

 Preston

 Matthew, Drew, Griffin, Aiden

Preston, Ethan, Henderson boy, Jackson

 Preston

 Preston and Mike

 Preston

I sent this picture to Mike and Preston. This is the Subway by our house. Preston is obsessed with Subway for some weird reason. He is so much like Mike it's crazy. Preston texted back, "NOOOOO!"

Mike and I had tickets to see Newsies today. When we realized Mike wouldn't get back in time, I asked my dad. Maysen came with us too. I have never seen it before. I really liked it. My dad liked it. Maysen wasn't a fan. On our way out we saw Jack and Renee Murphy. They were in our ward as I was growing up. Renee was Tzeitel when my dad directed Fiddler on the Roof. Dad talked to Jack and I talked to Renee for a long time. Until the place closed down. Maysen was very patient.

Stephanie, Maysen, Dad

A lady that my dad taught in seminary offered to take our picture.

HOME

I had lunch with Teresa today!!! And we both forgot to take pictures. Boo. We met at JCWs at Thanksgiving Point. Teresa wanted to go somewhere with fry sauce and cherry coke. Haha. We ate outside and talked for hours. It was awesome. I wish she would move here. Both of her boys will be going to BYU in the fall. Weston is there now. That is why Teresa is in town.

Jorja came back from Trek tonight. Emily came back from her mission on Wednesday. She was in Taiwan. Ebony missed picking her up from the airport because of Trek. Emily was released over FaceTime because all of the members of the stake presidency were on Trek. Ebony got to be there for that, on the trek side.

Emily

 Emily & Ebony

 Seonora & Sephora

Ebony, Emily and Kevin

 Ebony & Emily

Jorja said the trek was pretty easy. I remember Stockton saying the same thing. They did eat like kings. I need Mike to find the trek video he put together years ago. I'm pretty sure the youth in Georgia had a completely different experience, at least with the difficulty level.

Gavin's family came over to swim today. They seemed to have a lot of fun. Stockton and Gavin were even able to do back doubles off of our board. What! They can't get to bounce to work for a lot of things, but for some reason backs worked a lot better.

Zoe, Lila, Nate, Sammy, Gavin 

Stockton's back double

Mike and Preston went on a campout today. They were told they would be sleeping in an old barn. Mike was worried about this. He started taking his allergy medicine a few days ago to prepare. Well, turns out he didn't need to worry. The old barn turned out much different then we anticipated.

 No hay in sight.

 Preston

I think they are going to have a great time. This is Clint Okerland's family cabin. I think it was about four hours away. A tiny town in Utah called Loa.

Jorja's FIFTEEN

Happy birthday Jorja! She is now fifteen, but wishes she were twenty-one. She is in such a hurry to grow up. Today was crazy. Crazy busy. Mike skipped going to the temple this morning so Jorja would be able to open a few presents with all her family except Maysen. She loved the Hank Smith CDs. She's kind of iffy on the jacket. She said that it doesn't really look like her. Hopefully she'll get used to it and like it. I just want something she will be willing to wear that will keep her warm. We also gave her a note saying another birthday present is her student government sweater. She doesn't know when that will come in, but thinks it will be in November. I asked if I could get a picture of her before school that I could post on Instagram. She told me to wait until after school for better lighting. Haha. The girl that only cared about frogs is officially gone.

Jorja ~ 15 years old

Jorja's friend sent her this super funny video that I will post later. While I was looking for that video I spotted these messages that her EFY friends sent to her.

Jorja, Maggie, Brooklyn

 Jorja

Maggie, Jorja, Brooklyn

My car died at Walmart. I have no idea what happened. It felt like a battery issue. I went to Walmart and everything was fine. It stopped working when I left. Right as I was videoing the problem so I could send it to Mike I saw my friend Jacqui. I jumped out of the car and asked her if she could give me a ride home. I couldn't believe the timing! I didn't even have a second to worry about what I should do before Jacqui showed up. Yay!

Jorja had an okay day at school. Not the best and not the worst. Yesterday I brought Ashley doughnuts to bring to student government. Mr. Packer talked most of the time, but right at the end Baylor interrupted him and started singing "Happy birthday'. (Baylor is in charge of recognizing the birthdays throughout the year.) Jorja's friends were all super nice to her, but she came home with tears in her eyes. She said Isaac didn't talk to her all day, and that he was always with another girl. She said today was the first time Isaac didn't sit by her at lunch. She had been looking forward to being with Isaac on her birthday for a long time. The first thing she said to me when Isaac told her he liked someone else was, "And right before my birthday." Isaac texted her after school. He thought Jorja didn't want to talk to him. Those two! We were so busy the rest of the day that they kept missing each other and she never got to talk to him. She was quite disappointed. She'll survive. Jorja, please just enjoy this year! Try not to worry about boys! Just have a fun non-stressful year. Easy, right?

Jorja ~ 15 years old in better light

Hailey gave Jorja this shirt. Jorja had tried it on at the mall yesterday, but didn't end up buying it. Jorja doesn't know when Hailey went back for it. I told her maybe Hailey was sly and bought it when she wasn't looking. Anyway, it was super nice of Hailey and the shirt looks adorable on Jorja. Allison also got Jorja a purple hippo stuffed animal with a balloon and candy. The hippo is soft!

Jorja wearing Hailey's birthday shirt

Speaking of Hailey and the mall... Yesterday Jorja found a 'racing attire' outfit that reminded her of the elections. Of course she had to try it on. Doesn't she look adorable?

Stockton and Gavin went to diving right after school. Preston skipped diving today so he could do his last pinewood derby. He wanted to make his car look like a mouse. Actually, he originally wanted it to be a slice of carrot cake, but while they were trying to make that they thought it looked like a mouse. Preston loved it.

Preston's mouse car

 Mike & Preston loved Chase's Oregon Trail car

While Mike and Preston were at the pinewood derby, I took Jorja to her softball banquet. Her coaches were so great. They have worked so hard with these girls. They talked about each one of them too. When they started talking about Jorja (or Ya-Ya, which is one of her softball nicknames for weirdness sake), Marty said that she is by far the most emotional member of the team. Ha! That is true! Let's try and reign that in a little bit this year Porge! They talked about how super nice she is to everyone and how she makes everyone feel special, that she did an awesome job as team captain this season. They talked about the spunk she added to the team and how she was a big reason they went to competition ball this year. I took a video of them talking about her, but it is too long to post. Marty said that Jorja was the core of the apple, the person everyone loves, she's crazy and has a fun spunk that no one else brings. "Jorja with a J - they spelled the state wrong." Haha. That's my girl!

Jorja and Jana

 Jorja and Marty

 Megan, Jorja, Paige

 Jorja and Paige

Let's take a second here to celebrate Paige's weirdness. Paige goes to a different school, but she is in 9th grade as well. She sent Jorja this birthday video. We couldn't stop laughing. I see why Jorja gets along with her so well.

Shay & Jorja

 Jorja & Kamryn

 Jorja & Oakley (Jana's daughter)

 Jorja & Tayleigh

Everyone sang Happy birthday to Jorja while we were there. Jorja loved being with her softball friends on her birthday. This worked out perfectly. Raina left before I was able to get a picture of her with Jorja. Mike stopped at Cold Stone on the way home and just picked up a random cake for Jorja. She liked it. I didn't have candles, so I held up my fingers and she blew them out. Hopefully her wishes will still come true!

We gave Jorja her last present, which was the CD player. It finally arrived right before we left to the softball banquet. I think Jorja is really going to like it. Well, that's a wrap for this birthday post. Jorja is awesome. I love her. I hope her fifteenth year is her best year yet!