Jorja's HOME and Scoop's EIGHTY

Yay! Yay! Yay! Jorja is home from Taiwan! She had THE BEST time there. She loved it. Not the food, but the people, her new friends, her host sister, the kids she worked with. Best experience of her life. I'm so proud of her for finding this experience and going for it. It was amazing.

Marissa, Nicole, Mindy, Jorja, Abi, Emily, Camille, Ethan, Trevor, Grace

Mike, Maysen and Preston were all with me when we picked up Jorja from the airport. I cheered when I saw her. She rolled her eyes at me. Haha. We took her straight to Zupas and she was so happy. Madison met us there. It's so great to have her home!

I was able to talk to Stockton for a bit. I had already sent him pictures of Mike's storm cloud, but I forgot about the pirate. While I was talking to him I emailed this picture. The pirate tells pirate 'dad' jokes when you wave a wand at him. In Stockton news, the family from the Congo he has been teaching has set a date to be baptized! I don't know when that is, but that is pretty exciting.

Mike's pirate

Cori threw Scoop a surprise party at LaCaille. He turns 80 today. It was super fancy. Beautiful. The food was delicious. Basically it was a wedding. We had a lot of fun. Jorja was going on 28 hours with no sleep by the time we left the party. Lisa, Nathan and Taylor flew in from California. Lisa said it was so hard not to let her dad know she was here. Today was a great day.

 Jorja, Mike, Maysen, Preston

 Jorja

 Preston & Jacob

 Weston & Jorja

 Jacob & Weston

 Mike's parents ~ Scoop and Sharen

 Weston on the phone, Jorja, Taylor, Michael, Nathan

 Nathan, Jorja, Taylor, Michael

 Miah & Xander ~ how awesome is Xander's shirt?

 Scoop being surprised

 Scoop and Cori's table

 My attempt at a picture ~ Mike, Maysen, Preston, Shannon, Steve, Jacob, Weston, Jorja

 Mike, Maysen, Preston, Shannon, Steve, Jacob, Weston, Jorja, Stephanie

 Jorja's lemonade

Mike made his dad a pirate hat for his birthday. It's awesome. I love Mike.

Mike, Jorja, Stephanie, Preston, Maysen with Scoop/Papa

 With Cori

There was a 'photo booth' there. Pictures were printed out and paste into a book for Scoop. We were able to write a message next to it. The photos were also emailed to us, but I couldn't get it to work. Maybe another day. Anyway, here is Mike and his siblings getting their picture taken.

Lisa, Steve, Mike, Sherry

There was a cute little duck pond outside. Jorja took Preston on walks out there. He loved it. Later we saw Nathan helping his grandkids feed the ducks. Preston laughed and laughed because of the sign outside.

Preston

Preston & Jorja

Melissa, Preston, Jorja, Michael

Nathan feeding ducks with Nova, Leo & Derek

There were so many candles the workers brought out a blow torch. This is Isaiah with it. He said, "This is the best day of my life." Haha. He didn't get to be the one to use it though. Probably good because it didn't work and just melted the candles. They had to be lit the old fashioned way.

Isaiah with a blow torch.

Lisa helping light the candles....and look at Scoops hat!

There was dancing after dinner. Jorja going over a day without sleep had a blast. She was so excited when they played Boot Scootin Boogie. They had to do that dance in Taiwan. The photographer showed me an awesome picture of Scoop during the YMCA song. It looked like he had a lot of fun tonight. Although when he was giving his speech he was noting a few people that were here. He said, "And there's my stock broker. I'll be meeting with you tomorrow to figure out what to do about this." Haha. Everyone busted up laughing. He also said a few things about each of his kids. Mike's stories were all about him taking things apart to make other things. Scoop would go to use something only to find out it didn't work because Mike had used parts for random things. Also how Mike almost set the forest on fire.

Taylor, Melissa, Michael, Jorja, Cori

YMCA with Papa

Scoop dancing with his grandkids and Cori

(Melissa) Jorja & Michael

Melissa, Jorja, Michael

Lisa, Nathan, Taylor

Taylor & Jorja

Jorja & her Papa

Mike and Alex

My brother Mike called today. He asked what I was doing. I could hear he was in the car so I asked him where he was. He was in Lehi. He asked if he could come over right now. Of course! I texted Bubs and he hurried over with his family. My dad is in Nauvoo and Matt and his family are in Idaho for Sam's family reunion. Mike rented a car and drove up yesterday. He got in super late. Skye is going to soccer camp at BYU. Larkin is staying the week with Christen's sister helping with her baby.  Anyway, it was sooooo nice to see him. I loved it! (Bubs is texting my brothers. I took this picture to send to my brothers. I'm sure we were in some baseball conversation with the ones who weren't with us.)

Mike, Skye's hand, Bubs, Ange, Abby

 Mike, Stephanie, Bubs

 Abby, Larkin, Skye

 Ella, Abby, Larkin, Skye

A few hours after my brothers left, Mike's childhood best friend called. His boy found a just hatched duck. They watched the chick hatch. He asked if we could take it. Mike said yes, so Alex and his wife Jodi came over. Except in-between the phone call and getting here a dog got ahold of the duck. The chick was still alive, but just barely. I don't know if it will make the night. It was nice for Mike to see Alex though.

In Jorja news, she is now on her way home! Mike was a little nervous because she texted us before she went to bed. When we asked how she was getting to the airport she said she had no idea. She got on the plane though, so all is well. She absolutely loved this trip. I'm so happy she is coming home. I'm so happy she had this experience. I'm so happy she loved it. I feel very blessed.

Cloud

Jorja played and played and played. I got confused as to which day was which, or if she did both on the same day; but she went paint balling and to an amusement park.

Christine, Mia, Jorja, Nicole

 Mia & Jorja

 Jorja, Ethan, Nicole

 No idea what's going on here

Nicole, Ethan, Jorja

 Mia & Jorja

Mike and Preston had fun today making things. Preston convinced Mike make his wand huge by doubling it's size and adding a huge dragon topper he found at the craft store. Preston loves it.

Preston

Mike hung up a cloud in our entry way. It changes colors depending on the weather. It also had different sounds. You can also wave a wand at it to get it to do random things.

Blue skies

 Sunrise/sunset

My friend Javita is in North Carolina right now. Her boy Damion is playing in a college summer league in California. She was texting me throughout the game. I was able to find the game online. I sent this picture to show her I was watching it. Damion isn't up, he's a lefty.

Humbolt Crabs

Anyways, Damian's team (Crabs) was losing the entire game. They would be down four, close it to two, just to go down again. Javita said this wasn't their best game. They usually do better than this. The Crabs were losing by 4 in the ninth. They scored two runs. There was a runner on 1st and 2nd when Damian came up. Javita started texting me nervous faces. The announcer talked about how cool it would be if Damian could get a walk off home run here. Then he would tie the all time home run record for a season. (He has had a great year.) Wouldn't you know it. First pitch. Damion hits a walk off. It was awesome! I texted Javita, "And you said this wasn't a very good game to watch." Hahaha! It was awesome. Damian's dad, Ron, was there. He said the place went nuts. Someone went out and found the ball and Damian was able to give it to his dad. Javita told me that right now Damian is being treated as a super star out there. He is all over social media and the radio. Ron said it is like walking around with a celebrity. This game is going to take that up a notch. He is such a nice kid. So excited for him.

Jorja's Twin

We had a peaceful lazy day here. Jorja had her last day in the schools over in Taiwan. She said she is glad she picked elementary school over middle school. She has loved it!

Jorja said she met her twin. She is Emily's host buddies. They have only met a few times, but they have the same laugh and they start dying every time they look at each other. Jorja sure struggles in the making friends department.

Jorja's twin & Jorja

She's not having any fun at all.

Lazy Fourth

We had the laziest fourth of July and it was amazing. Mike made crepes this morning. I worked on Mina's stocking that came yesterday. Mike is making all sorts of crazy contraptions around the house. We went swimming in the backyard with Quacky Chan. Maysen and Preston watched fireworks on the roof. As we were eating dinner I got this text from a random lady. Yay! That made me so happy!

Two Elders, Elder Alia, Elder Smith

Jorja said her day was crazy. After she got to the school, super late, she ended up having a wild class. One kid climbed out the window. Haha! Still, she said she has LOVED this trip. I asked her if it was worth missing student government camp for. She said YES! Still wish I could have gone tho. True. I wish she could have gone to both, but this experience....this is something else! Jorja said this same organization does this in the fall, except students from Taiwan come over and are hosted by Corner Canyon kids. Abi told Jorja she would send her the information to sign up. Jorja REALLY wants to host someone. She also wants to go to Zupas with Abi and her dad straight from the airport. Haha. Jorja went to the batting cages today. She said she was awful, but it was still fun. She hasn't been in one of those for a long time.

Missed Bus

Jorja spent the day in the elementary schools again and loved it. She also sent me more of her journal, which was so fun to read. Communication has been very limited, so this was a gold mine! She also sent me these pictures and a video of her friends celebrating the fourth of July. It wasn't the fourth here, but it was there. Haha.

 Nicole & Jorja

Jorja texted me tonight, which was early morning for her. She didn't know what to do because she couldn't find Mia. They were supposed to be at the bus station at 5:50. It was 6:30 am when she was texting me. She thought Mia was still asleep. She had been calling her, but no answer. Jorja didn't know which room was Mia's either. They live in a five story house I think. They were super late when Jorja was finally able to get her up. Mia's dad ended up driving Jorja to the school. It is THREE hours away! Wow! That was so nice! He doesn't speak any English. Hope she made it okay!

Cowabunga

Jorja had her first day of elementary school camp. She taught songs, did crafts, played games... basically had a blast. She also sent me a short journal entry. I loved it! Maybe when she gets home I will come and edit these posts and stick her entry on the bottom. Hopefully she'll let me! I think these bowling pictures were from her day today. She is loving these kids!

Jorja, Nicole, Ethan

 Ethan, Jorja, Nicole with their host siblings... Mia, Christine, Ethan's brother

Maysen and Preston went on an adventure today. Maysen took Preston to Cowabunga Bay. How fun that they can do things like that. They both seemed to have a good time and want to go to Lagoon-a-Beach soon.

Tea Picking

Mike had to go back to work today. Never fun after a week off. He said today wasn't too bad though. He only works three days this week as well. He is spoiled.

Stockton sent me a picture of him with Sister Lilenquist. She went to Alta. She is in my dad's ward, so plenty of people were telling him to look for her. She arrived straight from the MTC when this picture was taken and they are now serving in the same district. Stockton sent me this picture this morning. I sent it to Suzanne Heaton. She is in my ward and Sister Lilenquist is her son Jaxson's girlfriend. He is on a mission in Oregon now. Anyway, Suzanne sent this to Jaxson and Jaxson sent a message to Sister Lilenquist to say hi to Stockton...all in the course of a few hours. Haha!

Sister Lilenquist & Elder Smith

Jorja has been messaging me about getting her a dermatologist appointment. Her face has broken out really bad. I sent messages to a few of my friends. Megan Okerlund told me she loves her dermatologist, so I was able to somehow get an appointment for the day after Jorja gets back. Jorja spent today picking tea. She does look adorable.

Trevor & Jorja

 Jorja