Twenty Five Years

Mike and I were married 25 years ago. That seems crazy! I have been so lucky. Mike is the absolute best. I can not imagine my life without him. I am so lucky that he makes decisions quick! We were engaged shortly after he came home. Well, he kind of asked me to marry him the day after he came home. Not really, he wanted to know the answer before he officially asked the question. I took a week to answer him. I wanted to make sure I wasn't marrying him just because I wasn't married when he came home. I know that is crazy. Mike was my dream. Still, I wanted to make sure I did the right thing. The first time I ever saw Mike was in seminary class. The teacher asked us to introduce ourselves by saying our name and one interesting thing about us. I don't know what I said, but I remember Mike at the front of the class saying his name was Mike and he had three bowls of Fruity Pebbles for breakfast. As soon as he said that I heard words in my head that said, "That's who you are going to marry." WHAT? I kind of laughed to myself. The girl next to me asked what was so funny. I told her nothing. I was shocked. First of all, I was 15 and had never once thought about marriage. I wasn't interested in dating or anything like that. Second of all, I was extremely shy. It was obvious Mike was the kind of person I wouldn't even talk to. It was obvious he was popular and way out of my league. Third of all, like I said, I was FIFTEEN! Anyway, the next class was history and Mike was in that class. We had a seating chart and he was seated next to me. I couldn't believe it. He spent the next few months constantly trying to get my attention. I would ignore him. Mike likes to joke that he spent forever trying to get me to talk to him and once I did he could never get me to stop! Anyway, we became close friends for the next two years. We started dating our senior year. Then were married exactly three months from when he came home from his mission. I know that seems crazy, but we had known each other for six years by this point. Also, it turned out that the day we picked was the only time my mom would have been able to come to my wedding. I went to the temple for the first time the week before I was married. We came home to find a message on the answering machine that my mom's cancer was back and she needed to start radiation right away. This was a Saturday. I was getting married the next Friday. My mom waited a week so she could be at my wedding. I feel this was a tender mercy. We prayed and prayed and prayed for my mom to get better. That was not Heavenly Fathers plan, but he set it up so she could see one of her kids get married. Her only daughter. I know that was important to her and I am extremely grateful I was able to have her there. She was too sick to help my plan the wedding. She was quarantined after her bone marrow transplant for months. I remember begging the invitation printers to let me bring their book of invitations home so I could show my mom the one I wanted. They were nervous about it, but let me do it anyway. My mom died nine months after we were married. Wow. Didn't mean to go down that rabbit hole. So, in summary... Mike is the best and cancer is the worst. Hahaha Here are a few pictures from our wedding.

Mike & Stephanie

Jorja texted me at 5:30 in the morning. She was at Ella's house. She stayed up all night talking. The other girls (Ella, Gabby, Giselle, Ellie, Grace, Liza) had just fallen asleep, but she was wide awake. She told me that they ended up moving the sunrise thing to Storm Mountain park because the student government kids didn't want to go to Alta. So, she decided she would go to that. Welp, that didn't turn out to be what happened. Jorja and the other girls went to Storm Mountain, but the other people weren't there. Ella got a call from Bode telling them to come to Alta. By this time Jorja had been up all night and was not thinking clearly. They decided it would be okay as long as no one posted pictures with them in it. Looking through Jorja's phone, there was a picture she took at Storm Mountain, then several pictures at Alta, then she accidentally took a screen shot of driving directions to Kneaders. She was there for about twenty minutes. So, she went and took pictures, then left. (She had a TON of pictures.) Well, anyway, someone there posted a picture with them in it. I don't even have the picture posted. That picture got shared over and over and now Jorja is in big trouble. People are mad because it looked like student government invited only their friends, when in reality it was dance company that invited student government. Jorja was so mad because she didn't intend to go. If it had never been moved to Storm Mountain, she never would have been tempted to go, but in the moment one thing led to another and before she knew it she was there. Packer was so mad at them. He told Jorja he was the most disappointed in her out of everybody. She was pretty sad. Honestly, I blame Packer for this. He has such a doom and gloom attitude that he gives the student government no hope. Jorja didn't think they would get a senior sunrise, so this seemed like at least something she could do. Turns out they are having one next week. If Jorja had an idea that was happening there would have been no way she would have gone. I don't know why Packer is so secretive about everything. Why can't he just tell the kids we will try our best. The world is changing quickly every day, but if there is any way we can pull it off, we will do it. Now, Jorja is banned from going to the real senior sunrise. Packer let her choose her own punishment. Skip senior sunrise or skip homecoming activities.

Liza, Ellie, Gabby, ???, ???

???, ???, ???, ???, Jorja, Ella

Jorja & Jake

Ella, Jorja, Giselle

Bode & Jorja

Jorja & Ethan

Jorja & Riley

Luke, Jorja, Aiden

Ethan, Ella, Jake, Luke, Jorja, Aiden, Giselle

We had a low key evening. We ordered food from IHOP and watched Mulan with the kids. Mike had been excited about this and I only fell asleep for a little bit. Doesn't sound too exciting, but both of us felt like a night in tonight. Plus, we don't have many movie nights with our family left.

One Day Moody

For some reason, I don't have any pictures for today. That's crazy! I got up early and started changing the sheets and cleaning up. Mike slept on the boat last night because he was worried it would float away again. When he was up, had packed up the sails and at the dock, I drove down with Bear to get him. Maysen came back around 11. She had a fantastic time. Jorja left a little bit before 1:00. We didn't leave until a few hours later. Stockton called while we were doing last minute cleaning. It was so great talking to him! I drove the first few hours. Stockton called again while we were driving. As soon as he had hung up the phone with us, the mission president called him and asked him and one of the other missionaries to take Elder Moody to have an interview with him. Then Stockton called back later and said that he is getting Elder Moody as a companion and losing Elder Crawford. He will be in a trio with Elder Moody and Elder Hickey for a few days until Elder Moody goes home. He is going to be a service missionary at home. Well... that was a crazy few hours for Stockton!

I changed driving with Mike a few hours in and was able to watch the BYU/Navy football game. That game was awesome! BYU dominated. Like crazy dominated. It was so much fun to watch. It's weird how BYU can win amazing games then lose to teams they should have blown away. Makes me a little nervous for the Troy game later this year. BYU has an awesome team this year. Can't believe this is the year of corona. They lost most of their good games and had to scrap and find teams to play. There schedule isn't nearly as competitive as it was supposed to be. It would have been fun to see what this team was capable of.

Jorja was gone when I got home. She had a birthday party at Luke Hillstead's house. Then she slept over at Ella's. Bode sent out a text saying that dance company was doing a senior sunrise and invited whoever wanted to come. Jorja has been looking forward to senior sunrise for a long time and this might be her only chance. I asked her to come home before she went to Ella's. We talked for awhile. She said that she didn't think she would go to the sunrise, but just go to Ella's sleepover. What a weird year this is.

Run Away Boat

Mike and I made my dad's waffles this morning. They were delicious. We had church where Mike told a lot of Wyoming church stories. Bugs on the windshield, pulling the snowmobile motor, and the 'Moroni popped up' favorite. He added a new one.... sometimes you need to slow down and make sure you are in park. Haha. After church Sophie told us that this was the first time she was able to have sacrament since March. What? She lives in my dad's stake, but her ward doesn't allow sacrament at home. The nursing home is in her ward boundaries. Residents there weren't allowed to have people come in to bring the sacrament, so the bishopric decided no one in the ward should be able to do it. That seems insane to me.

Anyway, Maysen left the cabin today. She went to visit some friends that live in Rexburg. She has never met them, but has been good online friends for over a year. Although they did not know Maysen's real name until yesterday. Haha. Maysen was pretty excited to meet them. She knew the girl really well and kind of knew her husband. A few days ago her husband said they were having game night and everyone was welcome. Maysen asked them where in Idaho they lived. Turns out they were serious on her coming.

This afternoon Mike was looking out the window and said, "Is that my sailboat?" He grabbed some binoculars and discovered it was indeed his boat. Not where it had been anchored. I rushed him down on the 4-wheeler. I dropped him off close to the water. He thought he could just walk to it, the water had been so low. He told me to head home. I wasn't back long before he called me and asked to come back. The boat was farther than either of us thought. He couldn't make it. There were a group of people that had a lot of paddle boards. Mike asked if one of them could take him to the boat. They said no. Booo. Anyway, I hurried back and picked up a soaking wet Mike. We drove through lots of mud around to another spot where we thought Mike could get to the boat. This time I watched him until he was safely on. Craziness! Mike has now ordered a new anchor. Anyway, we decided to join Mike. We drove down to the dock and he picked us up there. We had fajitas on the boat. Mike drove to the other side of the water and the girls and I got out to explore. And Bear. I asked Mike to hand him to me. Mike keeps laughing and saying he couldn't believe I carried Bear to the shore. Well, Bear LOVED it. He was running around like a maniac. There was a cute little stream and he would run up and down the thing, super fast. He is usually such a timid dog, but he was so brave here! Until he got stuck in the mud with Jorja. He sunk down and almost all of his body was under. Jorja tried to get to him and kept sinking. Bear would claw his way out of the mud only to sink again. He did get himself out before Jorja got to him though, but was not nearly as brave as he was before. We had fun exploring too. Jorja and Sophie took a million selfies. Here are a few of them, along with some cool Sophie gymnastic pictures.

Jorja & Sophie

Sophie

A few videos

Sophie & Jorja

I sent this picture to Stockton. The Crawford life vest came with the boat.

Stockton's companion when we got the boat was Elder Crawford. Haha

Jorja & Sophie

Bear

Picture Maysen sent

Maysen brought her friends a copy of Pillage and Plunder. She had fun teaching them and playing games all night. They played Colt Express and a couple of new games that they taught Maysen. They fed her crepes for dinner and now she is sleeping over. She is having the best time.

Jorja and Sophie really wanted to make cookies. Problem was we were out of butter. Terry has been up here a lot lately, so I wondered if he would have some. He didn't answer, Debie didn't either. So, we decided to drive over and see. It was dark and no one answered the door. Right as we were about to leave Terry called. Tyler and Missy were up here but were in Jackson at the moment. He had called them. They said they had butter we could use and the door was unlocked. Wow. That was awesome. I love having family cabins nearby! Love my family. Jorja and Sophie made no-bake cookies and they were delicious. The rest of the night was spent talking and playing games. The cabin is the best.

Park

Jorja got up early to help paint. I thought they were painting more mountains, but maybe they made this rocket ship? I'm not sure.

Layla & Jorja

We had a fun/relaxing morning. We played Colt Express. Pretty sure Maysen won, but I can't remember. Mike and Preston changed the oil in both of the 4-wheelers.

Preston

Jorja left Sandy around 10:30. She drove up with Sophie. They took random pictures along the way. At one point, while we were playing Colt Express, Jorja called us. She said the car broke down. I had asked her to drive Maysen's van. They were about two hours away from us. Mike took the phone and asked her what was wrong. He asked her to see if the steering wheel could move. She said she already tried that. He then asked if the car was in park. Jorja started laughing and then said, "I fixed it." Yep. That was the problem. The car was not in park. I'm glad it was such an easy fix!

Jorja & Sophie

Sophie & Jorja ~ they sent this picture to Packer. He loves Jack in the Box for some reason.

Jorja and Sophia

After the girls rested a bit, they headed down to the water. Mike was out there on the boat. They just played on the beach though. The beach was very muddy. The reservoir was extremely low, so there was a lot of beach! At one point Jorja did a head first slide in the mud. She was covered in that stuff! She had a blast though!

Jorja

Jorja & Sophie

Porge

First slide

Second slide

Jorja ~ this one makes me laugh

Mike anchored the boat a little off the shore and was able to walk back. I did pick him up at the beach. Jorja showered after she got back, obviously. Jorja and Sophie had the basement and we were had the upstairs. Jorja and Sophie finished the night watching a movie. Mike offered to bring the tv down, but they watched it on their phone like weirdos. Haha

Last Second Arrest

We had a lazy morning. Went to the store, ate breakfast, played Colt Express. I was the Marshall for the first time ever. This time we played with AI players, which was a little different. Maysen had a ton of money. I wanted to arrest Preston for my last turn, it was one of my cards I needed to do. He went up before I could arrest him. I was disappointed, but I threw my arrest card for kind of no reason. I mean, maybe I would be able to arrest someone, but I doubt it. Anyway, when we were playing the cards, Preston got away from me, like I thought he would. But the AI person PUNCHED Maysen into my train car! So I ended up arresting Maysen. That wouldn't be a big deal, but it just so happened that the last card had a stipulation on it that if anyone was in jail at the end of the game they would lose. WHAT??? Maysen had the most money by a long ways. She totally had the game in the bag, except I randomly arrested her. I felt so bad! Anyway, after the game I took Mike to the boat dock. He spent several hours on the lake. He got the solar panel attached and his 3d printed remote holders up, he ate lunch out there. He had a great time. He texted us when he was close to see if anyone wanted to come boating with him. The kids didn't want to. Maysen is still a little nervous. She says she would like to go when Dad has more experience. I forgot to pack Preston's swimsuit. Whoops. Jorja is going to bring it up, but he didn't want to get on the boat until he had it.

Solar panel

Remote holders

Thin garbage can that Mike is so proud of. Hahaha

Jorja painted more of the hallway after school before she went to the football game in Orem. Alta lost. There were only about six students there. Alta was given 300 tickets, but most of them were bought by parents. Jorja says there were only six, but I bet there was more, just not many.... Jorja went to the game with Aiden. They had a long talk after. He talked to her about being careful with Riley. Hahaha. Aiden is my new favorite!

Aiden & Jorja

New haircut Bode

Ella & Bode

Jake, Bode, Ella, Jorja, white shirt guy, Aiden

Jorja & Aiden

I had asked Jorja to be home before midnight, the earlier the better. She is going to be driving to the cabin tomorrow and I wanted her to have plenty of sleep. Well, I checked find my friends and she still wasn't home after midnight. She called me. I guess when she turned onto our street she saw Gabby's little brother on the side of the road. His car had broken down. She pulled over to wait for him. He called his dad, but there was no answer, so he called Gabby. She got their dad and he said he would be there. Well.... they waited a long time and he didn't show up. So, James called his dad again, no answer. He called Gabby. She went and found their dad. He had fallen back asleep. Hahaha. So, Jorja asked James if he wanted to wait at our house. I'm glad he wasn't an ax murderer! Jorja drove James to the church parking lot when his dad got here. You can't get into Pepperwood after midnight without jumping through a lot of hoops. They thought this would be easier.

Jorja & James

Hawaiian Day

Brenton decided that today was Hawaiian day, so lot of people in student government wore Hawaiian shirts. They took a picture during school and one after school.

Autumn, Vivian, Jordan, Paige, Alex, Lucas, Janelle, Jake

Riley, Giselle, Jorja, Bode

Jake & Jorja

Jorja & Packer

???, Giselle, Grace, Vivian, Brenton, JJ, Jorja, Bode, Packer

Jordan, Ella, Riley, Lucas, Autumn, Paige

Mike, Maysen, Preston and I all left for the cabin. Jorja came home after school and we were able to see her for a bit. I stopped by Home Depot and got Jorja some tiles. We put one tile on her keychain and one slim tile in her wallet. Jorja is constantly losing her wallet. It had been lost for a few days and she couldn't find it anywhere. She told me she knew she had it after Classic. I asked her if it could be in Ella's car. Jorja thought about it and wondered if it was in Bode's pants. She wore his pants that night. She called him and low and behold it was! Hopefully these tile things will help her to stop losing stuff! Jorja is coming up on Saturday. She has school tomorrow and also wants to go to the football game. I don't want her to drive late. I think the pictures below are from a volleyball game, or something like that. Jorja also had girls night at our house. I think they just watched a movie.

Ellie, Jorja, Bode

Ellie, Jake, Jorja, JJ, Bode

We got to the cabin a little before midnight. Mike and I were both so tired toward the end of the drive. It was wonderful to fall into bed.

Patient Zero

Maysen had a dentist appointment today. I was able to talk to Eric for awhile. We mostly talked about Stockton. Eric used to live in Tucson. Maysen and I stopped at Waffle Love on the way home. It was delicious.

Dessa found out that she tested positive for corona today. Luckily Jorja hasn't been around her for more than three minutes. Still, she is the first person at Alta to get it, so that's going to be hard on her. Jorja went to Savers with JJ after school to look for Hawaiian shirts. She picked up some In-and-Out for Dessa and dropped it off on her porch. Haha

Jack came over and hung out with Preston today. It worked perfectly. Jack's parents had Hale Center tickets that got moved to this date. They dropped him off on the way to Hale and picked him up on the way home. We played Colt Express with the family and Jack. His parents picked him up right as we finished the game. Maysen was the Marshall and she won. She always wins as Marshall. Hahaha

Jorja and Jake have been posting daily pictures. I don't know why, but here is another one.

I found another picture from last night on Jorja's phone. Dessa and Jorja were supposed to hang out after school. Dessa called Jorja. She can't because she is now quarantined. Jorja hung out with Gabby instead. Her plan was to do something with Gabby then go work on her math with some people. She texted me, "I just dropped Gabby off. Idk if we're doing the math thing but I'm gonna play black ops with some of the boys and we'll see if the math thing happens lol. I'll be home at 5:30 to cook dinner for 6:30 if that's okay!!!" I texted right back, "How about you come home, you don't need to play black ops." Instantly Jorja texted, "Can I go to the math thing? I'm not sure who is there but I think they're meeting at ellas in just a little bit." Works for me. I wrote back, "Math thing okay, black ops no." I just thought it was super funny that she didn't know if the math thing was happening until I told her no for black ops. At least she didn't fight me on it though. When Jorja came home she made tacos for dinner, then went down to finish her math. I walked into her bedroom and she was FaceTiming Riley. They were working on their math together. Jorja said, "Look! It's my mom" and she pointed the camera towards me. I saw it was Riley and gave him a thumbs down. That made him sad. Oh well. Gotta learn how important it is for the girls mom to like you... Anyway, in horrible/awful news... Jazz lost game 7 to the Nuggets. Conley shot a last second three for the win. The ball went in and out. Season is over. So sad.

Jake & Jorja