Conference and Easter eggs

Two more sessions of conference. Twenty more temples announced. Wow! Jorja had to work though. She had requested not to work any Sundays and told that wouldn't be a problem, so we were a little shocked. Well, turns out that she is required to work every holiday. Today is Easter, so she has to work. 

After first session

After second session

Jorja's inauguration dress couldn't be washed/drycleaned, so into the freezer it went. Just like her prom dress a few days ago! Haha

When Jorja got home from work we decided to dye Easter eggs! We used our duck eggs and kids each got two. I think they had fun. Maysen loves this tradition and I think she would be sad if we didn't do it.

Stockton, Preston, Jorja

Jorja

Stockton & Stephanie

Week 32

In between sessions we spent our time packing for our trip to Arizona. Should be a fun time! I'm excited!!! The kids got a small Easter basket with one candy. Haha. The boys got water shoes and a swim suit. Maysen got water shoes and Jorja got a swim suit. Nicely done Easter bunny. :)

Progress

It's General Conference Weekend! I love this weekend. I love listening to the prophet and apostles. I'm glad we are able to watch it together as a family and my kids don't complain about it. It's just the best. Mike and Stockton made a delicious breakfast of biscuits and gravy. I worked on Rachel's stocking during conference and would give her updates. Yes, this did take me six hours. I am very slow. It's going to look amazing though.

Starting point

After first session

After second session

After priesthood session

Mike mentioned that the background looked like bacon and it is just so hard to unsee. Haha.

Elder Renlund

Social Distancing

Jorja did not like it when we told her she wouldn't be able to hang out with her friends for awhile. We told her she could go to work, but that was pretty much it. She doesn't understand. Tons of her friends went on a hike today and I wouldn't let her go. They stopped by to drop her off a skateboard. She went to get it and was out there for a long time. I kept texting her to come inside and was super annoyed by the time that was over. I tried to explain to her how serious this is, but when no one else is social distancing it is hard to understand. That was the only rough patch of the day though. The rest of the day was pretty fun. We even got the office organized. Big accomplishment for us.

Jorja's station

Jorja found this video of Preston cheering for her at one of her soccer games.

Jorja & Ben

 Riley & Jorja

 Ben & Jorja

I talked to Rachel for a long time today. It was nice. I sent pictures to her of the stockings I'm working on.

Rachel's stocking

 Kaylee's stocking

 This is what Kaylee's stocking is going to look like

Maysen found out today that she didn't get the internship at the Friend. That is too bad. She would have been fantastic at that job. It's good and bad to be so close. It's awesome that she went as far in the process as she did. But it almost is harder to not get it when she was so close. We really thought she had it when they contacted her and asked for her bishop's and stake president's contact information. I wonder what she is going to end up doing. I know whatever she does she will be amazing at it.

Paul and Amanda

We cleaned the cabin last night and were able to get out of here by 7:30 this morning. Winterized and everything. That has never happened before. We drove to Idaho Falls. We were in this cool fog for a bit, but I wasn't able to get a picture of it. Had to delete pictures. Grrrr. These were our roads the rest of the way. MUCH better than yesterday!

Mike dropped me off at the Idaho Falls temple. I got there a little after 9:00. Paul and Amanda were sealed today. At 11:00. We were supposed to be here by 10:30. I was a little early. I decided to do initiatories while I waited. I did two rounds of those. Then I went and sat in the Celestial Room for awhile. I was surprised how small it was. I had been there when Jordyn got her endowments out, but I don't remember it being that small. Anyways, after I left that I wandered around the temple looking for the marriage waiting room. I ran into Paul. He told me I was on the wrong side of the temple. Haha! Jackie was there when I found the waiting room, so I was able to talk to her. Then Brooke came! Yay! Yay! Yay! It was soooo good to see her! Paul and Amanda's sealing was great. Amanda looked so pretty. I didn't get a picture of anyone though. Completely forgot.

Mike took Maysen and Preston to see a movie while I was at the temple. They saw Spies in Disguise. Then they went to DI. It was new and they were pretty excited about that. Mike texted me this picture from the theater. Haha.

We went to Jackie and Mark's house after the sealing. I sat and ate with Brooke, Courtney and Sharon. So fun to catch up with them! Mike brought the kids over when they finished shopping. We left shortly after they arrived. Preston still was feeling awful. He was shivering. So, we said our goodbyes and headed back to Utah.

Preston slept most of the way. I talked Mike into stopping by the trophy shop and picking up Ashley's plaque. The one our ward has been going to for thirty plus years went out of business and I have been looking for a replacement. I decided on this silver one. The picture is etched on the silver. I kind of think maybe I should get a black boarder around the entire thing for the other ones, but I don't know...

We stopped at Chick-Fil-A for dinner and to see Jorja. She was able to come on break and eat with us. Yay! It was great to see her! I took this picture of Rachel's stocking and sent it to Brooke. She is making the same one for Shylee. We are about at the same spot. Ha!

How Did She Survive?

Seriously! How did Jorja survive me being in Israel? I had a doctor appointment this morning. Jorja has late start. I talked to her a long time last night about how I would be gone. She promised she would get herself up and ready to school, no problem. We even talked about her making avocado toast for breakfast. After my appointment I texted her that I hoped she remembered her essay and that I loved her. I thought about running some errands after my appointment. Glad I didn't. When I pulled into the driveway her car was still there. She was SOUND ASLEEP! She was shocked she slept through her alarm. Jorja hurried and got ready, but she forgot things she needed, so she came back home. She ended up missing all of her fifth period, which is AP English. Jorja ended up staying after school for a few hours. She talked to her English teacher and then studied her math. Her math teacher ended up leaving before Jorja was ready to leave. Jorja went and found her 9th grade math teacher. She taught Jorja the thing she couldn't figure out. Jorja was so happy! She ended up staying and talking to Mrs. Waters for a long time. Jorja has a math test tomorrow and is feeling really confident about it, so that's good.

Rachel sent me pictures of linings for the stockings today. It was fun to see all her choices. These are the ones she picked. I love them! Especially the trees on Mina's. I think it's perfect! Can't wait to see what it looks like when it's finished!

Jorja had two white elephant parties. She came home with a soccer participation trophy and a bag of candy. I can't remember how the Young Women white elephant turned out. Despite the rocky start, she ended up having a great day. Preston's activity was cancelled and he was very happy about that. He is a home body. Just like his dad.

Sad, Sick, Sad

I finally finished Mina's stocking!!!

I am so happy with how this turned out. It is even more beautiful in person. Good thing Rachel is going to sew this together for me. I would hate to mess it up now! I am so glad I finished this before my Israel trip. Can't wait to give it to Rachel!

Today was a long day. Jorja got all As and a B+ in her AP history class. Their teacher gives them vouchers to use if you are late or need to turn in an assignment late. If you don't use the vouchers, you can turn them in for up to 30 extra credit points. Jorja never was late and turned everything in on time. If she was given full credit it would boost her grade from a B+ to an A. That is a big difference. Except her teacher never put in her extra credit. Jorja talked to him about it on Wednesday. He told her to send him an email and he would put it in. She sent the email, but the extra credit was never added. She asked him about it today and he told her that he used her vouchers for late assignments. Jorja was floored. She said she never turned in anything late. He said she did. She said she promised she never turned in anything late. He made her feel like she was lying. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but Jorja ended up leaving class and crying in the bathroom. She has complained to me before that this teacher doesn't like her. The things she was texting me was....wow. I know this teacher is an excellent teacher. My other two kids had him and loved him. Jorja is different than my other kids though. This is also most likely his last year teaching and he might be burned out. Anyway, it was so bad emotionally on her that I asked her if she wanted to transfer. She said yes. I called the counselor's office and asked for an appointment. I told them I wanted to talk about transferring a class. The kids have ten days at the start of a new quarter where they can transfer. It didn't sound like it would be easy for Jorja to get an appointment. I then said, "Well, she is crying in the bathroom right now." That changed everything. They had me send Jorja down right away. She was even able to see her own counselor, and she was awesome. She didn't make Jorja feel embarrassed and she worked really well with her. She gave Jorja options and when Jorja wasn't sure what to do she told Jorja she could go home, talk with me and think about it. They were great with her. They even told her she didn't need to go back to class. I came down and picked Jorja up and we went to Zupas. Jorja feels embarrassed to transfer. She can't get into the other AP class without switching her math and physics class. I told her I didn't want her to touch her math class. She has a teacher that she understands, and that is worth more than an AP class. Jorja isn't sure what to do. I'm trying to convince her that her mental health is important as well. If the class is going to make her feel like this the entire year, it isn't worth it. (If this was the only day she had a problem I would have a different opinion, but she has felt like this almost every time she has gone to class. When I was a junior I had a class where I could do no right. It was my English class. I would walk in the class determined not to talk. I vividly remember looking down at my desk, not saying even one word. I still got yelled at and told to leave the class. She yelled at me literally every day and told me to leave. I never left because I had no idea where to go to. Mike was in this class. He knows it happened. One time there was only talking on the other side of the room and I still got yelled at. One time I was looking down and could see out of the corner of my eye Mike throwing something across the room. I knew there was absolutely no way I could get in trouble. I was wrong. Still, it was me getting yelled at. I will always remember her yelling at me one day and Seth Bradley standing up for me and saying I wasn't talking at all. I couldn't believe someone would do that for me. Still, she told me I needed to leave. I wonder what would have happened if I left. I was super shy and never got in trouble except for this class. It was so weird.) Anyway, I know Stockton's junior year would have been so much better if he had transferred out of AP physics with calc. He would have been amazing in a regular AP physics class, but the teacher he had was awful. Jorja had such a hard year last year, I don't want her to struggle for another year. She still has AP English that she is taking. Anyway, we'll see what she decides. Also, her teacher ended up changing her grade to an A, so she got a 4.0 this quarter. Nicely done Porge.

Ben came over after school to work on their rocket. They spent forever doing that. Jorja missed when these were handed out because of her eye appointment. They went straight to the state volleyball tournament. That was the activity student government was required to go to for the week. They met up with Hailey and Emily too. Jorja started feeling really sick when she was out with them. Ben knocked on our door when he dropped her off. He said, "Jorja's really sick. She needs help." I ran outside to find Jorja throwing up on the driveway. She smiled and said, "Hi mom! I'm sick." Oh gosh! As Ben was pulling into our driveway Jorja opened up the door and threw up. Then she threw up for about five more minutes. It was pretty violent too. She was in so much pain. She has still been sleeping in the guest room from when she got her wisdom teeth out. I slept with her. Whenever I would leave she would wimper, "Don't leave me." I would explain what I was doing so she knew I would be back. Jorja had the worst night sleep ever. She threw up all night long. One time she finally was asleep and then bolted upright and threw up all over the bed. I couldn't get the throw up bowl to her fast enough. It reminded me of having babies all over again. There I was up all night, cleaning sheets in the middle of the night. Jorja kept complaining about her stomach and how bad it hurt. I was worried for a bit that it could be her appendix, but I think it was a really bad stomach virus.

Another fun thing that happened....right as Jorja was in the middle of violently throwing up. Towards the beginning of all this mess, she brought me her phone. One of her best friends had texted her a pretty mean message. She said she needed to confront Jorja. I'm going to just write it because I can't explain it well. But realize, this message came while Jorja was in the middle of throwing up. Also, realize Jorja's biggest fear is people not wanting to be her friend anymore and dropping out of her life. The sad thing is that this has happened more than once already. Anyway....

Friend: hey so i've been really stressing about you honestly and i just wanted to confront you. i've noticed that you've been ignoring me a lot.. and i don't know if it's because of the work environment or i did something. it just really hurts seeing your best friend treat you that way for a reason i don't know about. if you could just be honest and explain that would be great. and if you want a break or stop being friends please be honest. i'm just really stressing about it and wanted to address it.

Jorja: Wait what

J: I haven't been ignoring you

F: well if it haven't felt like this than i wouldn't address it's

F: I'm not causing drama i've just felt like you've been treating me different

J: I'm sorry I really didn't mean anything of it I don't feel like I've been different I just haven't seen you

J: I'm so sorry I've been sitting here throwing up for the past 20 minutes so it's hard to see but I hope you know I love you so much and you're the biggest angel in my life. You mean so much to me and I don't know what I'd do without you. I'm really sorry for being like this and I'm so sorry. I cant imagine losing you

That was it. Jorja didn't get a response. I was annoyed at Jorja for saying she is sorry for being like this. Jorja has absolutely no idea what this girl is talking about. Jorja considers her one of her very best friends and this just came out of the blue. They don't go to the same school, so Jorja just sees her at work. I am so annoyed at this girl right now. There have been some minor things that have concerned me in the past, and I've talked to Jorja about them - but Jorja loves this girl. I can not believe she did this. She obviously had made up her mind before she sent the text. Starting it out with 'wanted to confront you'. Then the timing of the text. She had no idea Jorja would be so sick, but man did this make everything worse. Then after Jorja's apology just ignoring her. (I am writing this late again and this girl never responded to Jorja.) I'm sorry, but what a jerk. I don't know why this keeps happening to Jorja. She puts herself out there and loves with her entire heart. She is the sweetest, kindest creature to ever live. Why does her heart keep being broken? Anyway.....here is her day of gratitude post....

Jorja ~ day 5

Red Ribbon

Conner had his mission farewell today. Jorja said he did great. She was grumpy when she came home and I wondered what the heck happened. Mike said she was just sad because he is leaving. Turns out that was the case and she became super happy after awhile. Jorja went to the farewell with Bode and Kelsey. I'm glad she had people to go with, she gets really nervous going to things alone.

Conner & Jorja

 Kelsey and Jorja making fun of Bode's bicep

Game five of the World Series happened today. The Nats lost. They lost all three games at home. That's disappointing. The Astros now lead the series 3-2. Hopefully things will go better next week! I did get a lot of Mina's stocking done during the World Series. Almost finished, but there are sooo many French knots. It is beautiful though. I am very happy with it.

Jorja walked by while I was texting Rachel. I snapped this picture of her. I love it when Jorja wears this shirt. It makes me laugh. Rachel gave it to her years ago.

Jorja

Jorja is in PLT (peer leadership team) and LOVES it! They were supposed to post about the different events going on for red ribbon week. Jorja, of course, has to be a wacko about it. Haha. I love her. She makes me laugh!

Preston and Jorja during scripture study

 Jorja

Good News

I sent Rachel a picture of Mina's stocking. This metallic thread for the name and the border outline was so hard to work with, but it is done! Yay! And it looks so good. I hope Mina loves it.

Jorja had her follow up eye appointment today. It's weird, because normally with my paranoid self, something like this would have freaked me out for days. It didn't. I wasn't even nervous. It's like I knew they weren't going to find anything bad. The swelling of her nerves and the pressure on her brain is still there, but it isn't worse than it was a month ago. The doctor had told me that if it stayed the same it was fine, she might just have been born with small nerves. I'm not sure if it is something she will have to be monitored with her entire life or not. There is still a chance that the swelling is because of the accutane, but she had been having vision problems for about a year before I finally took her in. Well, her eyes are super bad anyway, so she has been having regular checkups, but for about a year she has been complaining about words moving on pages when she tries to read and things like that. Anyway, who knows what is exactly going on, but for today we got good news.

Jorja

Jorja had to work today....with her dilated eyes. Haha. Today is also the first day she wore her Jazz/Chick-Fil-A shirt. They need to wear this shirt every time the Jazz have a home game. That is going to be fun to remember.

Jorja

Cookies

We had stake conference today. Madison spoke and did a great job. I finally finished the cross stitch for Mina's stocking! I'm so excited! There is a ton of outlining to do, but it looks like I will finish this before Israel!

Another picture from yesterday ~ Jorja, Hailey, Emily, Allison

 Mina's stocking

 Name is done!

Some time last week Jorja sent a message to the other Junior class officers with a cookie idea. She asked if they would like to get together once a week, or every other week and make cookies. They could be thinking of someone in the junior class that could use being cheered up or noticed. She would have cards and they could write a note and deliver the cookies together. Jorja was sad because not one of them responded. Later she found out the message never went through. On her phone it looked like it did, but Bode sent her a picture of what his group me looked like and it wasn't there. She felt better about that, so hopefully they will be able to figure it out. Because Jorja never heard back, she decided to just take cookies to a few of her friends. She made delicious double layer cookies, they just don't make a lot. She stopped by Madison, Hailey and Ben's house. I don't know why she topped Ben's cookies with a pizza roll, but we don't always know why Jorja does the thinks the does. We've just learned to roll with it.

Ben

Attendance

I talked to Rachel for a bit today and sent her an update of Mina's stocking. I'm getting soooo close! I really want to finish this before Israel.

My friend Megan gave my name to the Alta attendance office as someone who might want to work there part time. 11:30-3:00. Sounds perfect. I call down there enough I might as well work there. Anyway, they called me today and asked me to fill out an application. It is hilarious trying to figure out things to say. I have not worked in years and years and years.

Jorja had a busy day. She had exercise with Kerity after school, then work. She was supposed to come home at 9:00, but the girl that was supposed to close called in sick. Jorja ended up staying until 11:30.

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