Second Cousins

Preston did his last range today. It was his test and he passed. Horray! Christine texted me today and asked if they could interview me for the testing coordinator job. I have an interview set up for Monday at noon. Ahhhhh! Jorja finished USULC. She absolutely LOVED being with Alta. The sophomore class president is related to Jorja. Jorja's grandma and his grandpa are first cousins. They were pretty close growing up too. So cool that they got to hang out here.

Jorja, Zach Lovell, Miles (the other counselor over Alta)

No idea why she sent me a picture of them in the bathroom. Or why they are there in the first place.

Jorja & Ethan Scott

Jorja came home late this evening. She then went to a 10:00 showing of Top Gun: Maverick with Nathan. That girl sure keeps herself busy!

Emergency at the Dance

Alta at Utah State Leadership Camp

Stockton sent us this picture from Texas. A boy had a seizure during the dance. That is some scary stuff. Glad he recovered and is going to be okay. The kids had to evacuate and wait until they were eventually told to go back to their rooms.

The big news that happened today was Jorja found out her mission date has been pushed back to September 5th. She is happy and sad about it. Lots of mixed emotions. I'm hoping with the later date she will be able to get her eyes fully fixed and I hope she will be less anxious. Even though she is disappointed, I really think it will work out for the best. She is going to be such an amazing missionary!

Green Machine

I worked today. I have been thinking a lot about applying for the job at Alta. Christine asked me today if I would like to interview for it. I decided I wanted to. I think I would regret not trying and always wondering. I don't know if I will get the job, but if I don't it will be okay because I really like the job I have now.

Jorja sent me a picture of Alta at the spirit bowl. Alta was assigned the color green if you couldn't tell. There are three kids from our ward there. Matthew Okerlund, Burke Staker and Ethan Scott. There are two more boys I our ward that are in student government that couldn't make it. Ben Johnson was in India and Luke Goins was in Thailand. Also, side note.... there are only six girls in student government this year. It is REALLY hard for girls to get in student government. Amazing that Jorja was in it all three years. There are even less girls now because this year they don't have senior senators or head cheerleaders in student government. Anyway, Jorja is having a great time and is loving being with Alta!

More Farewells

Jorja went to two farewells today. Ambassador friend Luke who is going to Washington D.C. Mandarin speaking and across the hall neighbor Clara who is going to Paris, France. She seemed to have a good time at those. She was a little sad and stressed when she got home. I hope she will be okay this week. She left this evening back to Utah State for another week of USULC. This week she gets to have Alta! She is super excited about that. Her roommate this week is a girl named Livi. We also had a farewell in our ward. Ray and Sara Henderson gave their mission farewell. They will be gone for three years. They were called to serve as Mission President and companion in the Seattle, Washington mission. They get to live on Mercer Island. How cool is that? Avril will spend the rest of her high school years in Seattle. I'm going to miss her, she is so sweet. In Sara's talk she said that sometimes you know when you are getting a calling and everything makes sense. She said this was so far out of the blue they didn't see it coming. Ray is our age, but he was a stake president in California a few years before they moved here. Anyway, after they got the call they were able to look back and see things that prepared them for it. A few months before their daughter, Avril, who is Preston's age randomly came up to them and said, "If dad got called to be a mission president it would be okay." Hahaha - That made me laugh. They are going to be great though! We loved it there. Excited to watch this adventure from a distance.

Vegetable Derby Barbecue

Stockton got his package! He went back to the office and kept asking and asking. Finally someone told him that sometimes mail gets delivered at a building ten minutes away. Yep, it was there. Delivered three days ago. I wish it would have gotten to him earlier, especially since I paid for overnight shipping, but at least he got it! I'm glad he won't have to borrow his roommates shirt for the next two weeks.

Stockton

Mike gave Bear a much needed bath and then the rest of the day was spent getting ready for the ward barbecue. Mike added a vegetable car race and made a mini track. We handed out flyers and when Mike was in charge of the zoom he had the flyer be the screensaver during the sacrament. Still, I didn't think the vegetable car race would be a succuss. I thought a few people might do it, but that it would largely be ignored. I seem to remember them trying lawn games at the barbecue last year and it was just kind of there. Boy was I wrong. The kids loved that thing! There was so much excitement over there. I was shocked! So many people came up to me later and told me how much fun it was and that this should be a part of the annual barbecue every year. It was awesome because kids of all ages loved it, and lots of dads did too. Mona, a girl who I think is six, won the entire thing. I mentioned to my friend Camee how I was shocked this was such a hit. She said, "Are you kidding? It is all my boys talked about this week." Megan said her boys were the same. Yay! Glad they were excited to do it. My kids haven't really had fun at this activity. They don't like food or crowds. Preston had a great time. Maysen helped Mike the entire time. Her job was to video the races in case of a photo finish. The tape had to be looked at a couple of times. Anyway, glad this is over and thrilled it was a success.

Sister Watchman decorated the tables 

Kids I don't recognize and Clint Okerlund

A few random cars. Preston's is the cantaloupe. He said it did not go well.

The first race!

Random races

The final race for all the glory!

While we were busy racing vegetables, Jorja went with some friends to a National Parks concert. She loves that band and was able to get some cheep tickets. Sounds like she had a blast.

Nathan, Jorja, ????

Lagoon in June

I texted Stockton back and forth again today about the shirts I mailed him. He went to the front desk twice asking about this shirts. No luck. They told him it might be at the post office at Union. So he needs to figure that out. Hope he can find them!

Today was my family reunion at Lagoon. It wasn't our entire family, but over 50 people. There were a lot of Roe's there. Debie and lots of her family, Tammi and David with his twins, Rozie and a bunch of her family. Steve & Sharon with several from their family. No one from Kris, John or Jackie's family was there. We had six people with us. Maysen, Jorja, Preston and Jorja brought her friend Emily. My dad also came. Stockton didn't come because... Texas... We got there right when it started and were able to get a lot of the rides in without too much of a line. We concentrated on the Spider/Wicked area. I think we rode everything down there except Music Express. No desire to ride that one now that I'm older! My dad came this afternoon. It was fun to have him there. I went into Lagoon-a-Beach with Maysen. I pushed her around on a tube in the lazy river. It was nice and refreshing and fun to talk with Maysen. I went on Rattlesnake Rapids after while I was still in my swimsuit. Mike really wanted to go on that. I went with Mike and my dad. We had lots of food. Mike brought out the cotton candy machine and the kids loved that. I found out that David Hopkins had a baby a few weeks ago. No idea his wife was even pregnant. It was good to catch up!

Gas is ridiculously expensive right now. Mike filled the motorhome just past half a tank.

This was the price. Ouch!

Maysen was tempted to get this. Look how small her hand seems! Haha

Maysen

Jorja, Emily and I had a quick break in the motorhome. (We parked it in the parking lot. I think everyone took a break in there at some point except Maysen.) When we were walking back I made them take a picture next to this weird car. How do you drive over bumps in that thing?

Emily & Jorja with sun in their eyes

I'm annoyed at myself that I didn't get any pictures of my extended family. Oh well, I guess I was just having too much fun. Jorja was able to talk with Derek a bit about Hong Kong. I was so glad she was able to do that. She has been feeling pretty anxious about Cantonese. She will surprise herself with how much she loves it. Today was a great day.

First Time on the Freeway

I got called into work at the last minute. I didn't see the message for a couple of hours, I felt bad about that. Jorja picked up Preston from drivers ed so I wouldn't have to leave. Bear is loving having Jorja home.

Jorja & Bear

I took Jorja to her eye appointment and then went to book club at Sister Callister's house. We talked about The False Prince, which was my choice. I love that book. The weather was perfect. We sat outside by their pool. Only seven people were there, but it was really fun.

Mike took Preston driving. It was his first time driving on the freeway. Mike said he did great. Preston said it was terrifying.

High Goals

Preston had another range today. I dropped him off on my way to work. Work was interesting. The person they hired to take Shannon's job decided she/he didn't want the job anymore. Shannon is the Testing Coordinator at Alta. Now Alta needs to find a new testing coordinator. Christine Astle, the head secretary, came and talked to me and asked if I would be interested in applying for the job. They don't know if I can even have it because it might need to be a counselor. I told her I would think about it. I don't know if I want to go full time and I have really liked working for Paula. Although if I was ever to go full time, now would be the perfect moment. Jorja is leaving on her mission, Preston still has three years left at Alta. I talked a lot about it with Megan Okerlund. If I got the job I would be working with her a lot. I'm not going to worry about it too much until they find out if I can even apply for the job. Should be interesting.

Jorja came home today from USULC. She was supposed to be over Jordan High this week, but her counselor partner asked if he could be over Gunnison. That is the school he worked with last year. They ended up moving him and Jorja. Jorja did not like that. She was really excited to be with Jordan. It turned out okay though. The kids made them these cute thank you signs.

???? & Jorja

Jorja, Hannah and Emily went to say goodbye to one of their ambassador friends named Miles. I think he is going to Atlanta, Georgia. That is pretty cool.

Emily, Miles, Hannah

Jorja

This is random, but the school always has seniors fill out a paper about what they plan on doing next in their life. The stack has been siting by the printer for awhile now. This one is on top. I didn't look at any of the others, so I don't know how many have such high achieving goals as this student.

Speedy Shirts

I mailed Stockton his two church shirts early this morning. I paid for overnight shipping. I figured he would get the shirts faster this way than if I ordered him new ones. I did not want him to have to borrow his roommates shirt for three entire weeks. Hopefully he gets the shirts quickly.

Jorja called me tonight. She is struggling. She is feeling really anxious about Hong Kong and Cantonese. I wish there was some way I could help her feel better. I know this is something she has to do alone. All I can do is remind her how much I love her and how exceptionally proud I am of her. One thing I do know, Satan does not want her to go on a mission. He is throwing out his complete bag of tricks to try and keep her home. He doesn't want her anywhere close to Hong Kong because she is going to be such an amazing missionary. Man, I love that girl. She will get through this newest hiccup and will come out stronger. That is who she is. She always thrives when things get hard. It takes awhile, but she will get there. I have no doubt about that.

Jorja

Elon Dusk

Jorja and Hannah did a presentation at USULC. It was a 30 minute presentation and they had to do it 6 times. They were assigned the topic of diversity, which Jorja thought was hilarious since they are two white girls. They made the presentation more about including people that have different personalities than you. The theme of the week is space. They were Elon Musk and Elon Dusk, or something like that. I wish I could have seen her. She is dynamic as a presenter.

Hannah & Jorja

Small Shirt

I went downstairs to get church clothes for Preston and saw Stockton's two white shirts on the bed. What the... I texted Stockton and asked if he brought church clothes. He answered that he accidentally brought Preston's old church shirt. Whoops. Luckily his roommate had a shirt he could borrow.

Stockton

Jorja left to USULC today. Her roommate is Hannah, so she should like that! I hope she has a great week. She has loved USULC so much. What a great program. Lucky Jorja can be involved as a counselor now. USULC is Utah State University Leadership Camp. It is the camp that high school student government goes to. Jorja was only able to go once, but absolutely loved it. Junior year she couldn't go because she was in Taiwan and senior year covid cancelled it. Anyway, now that she is an ambassador she gets to be a counselor here. What a lucky girl.

Texas and Roaches

I dropped Stockton off at the airport early this morning. He was able to find a ton of other FSY counselors going to Texas. I'm glad they are all heading out together. Stockton had a three hour flight to Dallas and then a 30 minute bus ride to University of North Texas in Denton. That is where Stockton will spend his next three weeks. I hope he likes it! Jorja texted him asking how his day went and he sent a picture back of a giant roach on the toilet. That's lovely. Hope there isn't too many more roach sightings.

Stockton

I felt awful today. I knew we needed bananas though. (We use bananas in their breakfast drinks each morning.) I decided to stop at Harmon's on the way home and only buy bananas. I thought I could do that much. I was not happy to see no bananas there. What is happening? No roast beef at Arby's, out of ice cream at the Shake Shack and now no bananas? I didn't have the energy to check another store though. The kids will have to go without.

I felt awful all day long and spent the entire day in bed. I was so sad when I woke up at 2:00 and realized I missed Jon Manning's funeral. I knew I would be too sick to go, but I was hoping they would have a zoom. Jon Manning is in our ward. He is a young father of three. He died of brain cancer. So very sad. There are definitely worse things than feeling awful for a few days. 

Rings and Mike Surprise

Preston drove himself to Alta with Mike for drivers ed. Mike said he did a great job. Mike got Jorja's tire fixed. There was a nail in it that punctured the tire. Good thing Mike noticed before Jorja heads to Logan next week. I haven't been feeling well today. I took Stockton to get a haircut then I picked up Preston and we stopped at Zupas and In & Out. I really wanted to have soup. When I got home and opened the orders they were completely wrong. I was sad. I called Zupas because it was a lot of money to spend on food no one would eat. Maysen loves the kids meal clam chowder and grilled cheese. Loves it. They gave her the clam chowder but it came with chicken strips. Maysen likes to dip her sandwich in the soup. She does not like the strips at all. The other order was a ham and bacon club sandwich. They gave us an ultimate grilled cheese, which no one in the family likes. The sandwich was for Jorja. She ended up finding something else in the fridge. Luckily the soup I wanted was right. Zupas tried to put some money back on my card. (I told them the soups were right, so they were going to put $15 of the $25 back on my card.) They couldn't get it to work because I bought the food in the store and not online. The guy told me he would write my name down and next time I come in they would give me a complementary kids meal and regular meal. I can't remember who I talked to though. I wasn't feeling too great when I called.

In better news, Stockton was pretty excited because the ring he ordered for Alyssa came. I was starting to get nervous about that. Stockton and Alyssa went to Walmart to find their ring sizes. They then ordered this ring while we were in Costa Rica. It has sapphires and I can't remember what the name of the other stone is. Too bad Alyssa left for Europe already and Stockton is leaving for Texas tomorrow. At least we know where the ring is and she will get it eventually.

Stockton

I spent a lot of time today doing laundry, trying to get caught up from the week of fun with Rachel. I was downstairs in the boys room when my brother Mike called. We were talking then I heard Bear bark through the phone. It was echoing weird. My first thought was I didn't realize you could hear the door ring down in the boys room, maybe the vents carry the sound? How did I not notice that before. I walked upstairs and told Mike to wait a second while I answer the door. It was Mike at the door! Hahahah I was completely surprised. He was only in town for the day and was able to stop by real quick. We talked for about an hour, then Stockton and I went with him to Shake Shack so he could get something to eat before he went back on the plane.

Mike & Stephanie

Stockton and I got shakes and got to be with Mike for a bit longer. It was awesome! Hope surprises like that happen more often. I got to see three of my brothers this week. Brett, Bubs and Mike. Love, love, love it! When we were leaving I went to order milkshakes for Maysen and Preston to take home. Only they were out of custard and couldn't make shakes. The name of the store is Shake Shack. How can they be out of shakes? Just like yesterday when Mike took the boys to Arbys and they were out of roast beef. So weird!

Emerson at the Park

Today was a LONG day. Glad I was able to help Jordyn out. Preston did a range drive this morning, so he was at drivers ed from 8:00 - 12:30. I dropped him off and Mike picked him up. I headed to Liberty Park in Salt Lake City. I got there about ten minutes before Jordyn's friend Boomer. She brought her boy Emerson and his service dog Max. I didn't expect to be watching a dog too! The dog was great though. Emerson is around 9 years old, but with his brain it is like he is 3 years old. I guess he has seizures frequently. The dog is supposed to detect and warn when he is having a seizure. I'm not sure how that all works. Thank goodness he didn't have a seizure when I was watching him. Boomer lives in Idaho, but was down for tests with Emerson at Primary Children's Hospital. I watched Emerson while Boomer went to a yoga class Jordyn had set up for her. I watched him for around two hours. Give or take. It was exhausting, but I'm glad I was able to help Jordyn out.

Max & Stephanie

Emerson swinging. His shadow looks so cute!

Rachel and the girls arrived right as Emerson and Boomer were walking away. We played for a bit and then went to lunch at Dali Crepes. Jorja met us there. Mina had told me she wants to open a cafe when she gets older. She LOVED this place. It is super cute and the crepes are delicious. It was a perfect way to end the trip. Well, my part in their trip anyways.

Grace & Eve

Eve, Mina, Marie, Stephanie, Jorja, Grace

Grace, Eve, Mina, Rachel, Marie, Stephanie, Jorja

Marie

Grace ~ Jorja taking her weird alien pictures again

Stephanie

Eve

Grace & Eve

Jorja and I had talked about coming here so she could point to Hong Kong on their cool map. We did not remember how high the map was on the wall! Hahahahaha

Jorja

I was exhausted by the time I got home. I went to bed and slept the rest of the day. I know Mike, Maysen, Stockton and Preston all played Mario Party. They had fun and I slept.

No Typhoid

Stockton coached diving this morning at Pepperwood. He left pretty early to do that. Rachel took the girls to hang out with her side of the family. Preston had drivers ed. I took Jorja to the doctors to get shots for her mission. When I set up the appointment I asked if they needed to know what shots she needed. The person answering the phones said they didn't. Well, they didn't have the typhoid shot. They did say she could just take a typhoid pill and they called it into the pharmacy. Later the pharmacy called and said they didn't have that pill and to try Walgreens. We couldn't get the pill there, but we did sign up for an appointment to get the shot. I had lunch with my dad and Bubs. We met at Wingers after Hunter's High School graduation. (Bubs works at Hunter.) Jorja wanted to go to Nicklecade. All of us went except Maysen who was still working. We played random games until Jorja and I left to go get her Typhoid shot at Walgreens. The one I had signed up for. Too bad they didn't have the typhoid shot available. I asked why it let us sign up to get a typhoid shot. He said their website is stupid. So.... back to Nicklecade we went. (Jorja did get a tetanus shot at the doctors this morning. We just need to figure out how to get the typhoid one.) Anyway, we came back and I thought we were almost done. Mike found a four player game called Gauntlet Legends. They played this game for over an hour. I'm not sure if they won the game or not. They were laughing and laughing so at least they had fun.

Stockton, Preston, Mike, Jorja

Mike, Preston, Jorja, Stockton, Stephanie

Preston doubled the amount of tickets the rest of us had combined. He got this hat with his winnings.

Jordyn called me on the way home from Nicklecade. Her best friend was coming into town and she had made plans to watch her friends child. They had an emergency at work and she could no longer help. She was wondering if I could. Rachel told me she was leaving really early tomorrow. I didn't want to leave the house when Rachel was still here. I tried to get ahold of Rachel to see if plans had changed. I couldn't. Finally I texted Jordyn and told her I would do it. Jordyn has never asked me for a favor. Ever. Rachel came home about thirty minutes after everything was finalized. Their plans changed and they aren't leaving as early as she had planned. Bummer. I'm watching the boy at Liberty Park in Salt Lake. Rachel is going to try and meet me there. That way I can say goodbye to them before they head out. Tomorrow is going to be interesting, that's for sure!