Highlights

I finally got my family to fill out the brackets for March Madness. We hadn't watched any games, so even though we were late it was still okay. I'm over a week late putting this in, so I can tell you all of our brackets are disastrous.

I picked with dice roll. The white die was the team closest to A in the alphabet.

The black die was the team closest to Z. A tie switched the dice and I rolled again.

 I made Mike redo this bracket.

 He still missed some. Look at Florida and Texas Tech!

 Stockton filled his out with dice roll and using exponents. Lowest roll won.

 Preston was with dice roll, and the only one to pick UMBC. He was so excited!

 Jorja

Jorja wanted to get highlights in her hair. We had Kelsee do it. I had no idea it would take three hours! Crazy how long it takes. At least I brought a book. I'm reading Inkheart for Preston's book club.

Jorja before

Jorja was shocked how blond she looked. She said she has never wanted to be blond. I told her it just looked like she had been out in the sun for the summer. I think the salon's lights made her hair look more blond than it was. I think she is going to like it.

Jorja and Kelsee

 Jorja after

Job Interview

I hate carpools. I have made a deal with Jorja that if she gets a 4.0 I will drive her to school for the next quarter. This seems to motivate her more than anything else. She will have to take the bus, not get a ride from someone else if she doesn't get a 4.0. Olivia asked if Jorja could take her. That didn't bother me. The first couple of days Olivia's friend Sophie was waiting with Olivia. That also didn't bother me. Soon we were driving up to Sophie's house to pick her up. I tried to not let that bother me. I was excited for Jorja to get to know Olivia better, but now Olivia and Sophie ended up talking to each other and Jorja was by herself. They weren't mean and they included her in conversations, it just wasn't as natural as I was hoping. One day when Sophie got in she said that her mom could drive sometimes too. I thought, "Wait, is this a forever thing?" Soon her mom called me and we figured out that Sophie's mom would drive on Mondays. I would drive on Wednesdays and Fridays. We would not do carpool on Tuesdays and Thursdays. (Sophie has to be to school early on Tuesdays and Jorja usually goes to the temple on Thursdays.) Sophie lives in Pepperwood, but it is in the opposite direction. We live right by the gate on the way out, so it is much more difficult for me to get Sophie than it is for them to get Jorja. I don't think they realize how much extra time it takes for us. Well, last week on Wednesday I had the car warmed up and we were about to take off when Jorja got a text from Olivia saying Sophie's mom was driving. I texted Sophie's mom right away and said that I was ready to go. She said Sophie had to bring things so it would be no problem for her to drive today. Okay. We waited, and waited, and waited. Twenty minutes later Olivia calls Jorja and says that they don't have time to pick us up, but Sophie's mom can come back and pick her up. WHAT!!! They don't have time to drive down our street. It literally would only take them one extra minute when it takes me TEN extra minutes. Jorja had been waiting for twenty minutes. So annoying! We jumped in the car and got her to school. I think she was a few minutes late. I just could not believe it. I would never not pick up someone when they are counting on me coming. Anyway, yesterday we don't have a carpool. I asked Mike to take Jorja to school because I was going to the gym for the first time. Right before they were going to leave Olivia texted and asked if she and Sophie could have a ride. They hurried out the door and Jorja was again late for school. Mike was so annoyed. That leads us to today. Jorja and I were ready. We left our house at 7:15. We drove to Olivia's house. We waited for ten minutes. We texted, we went up to the door and knocked. Nothing. Finally I decided we needed to drive to Sophie's house and we could come back and check on Olivia. We drove up there. Jorja knocked on the door. Sophie's mom answered. Sophie had already gone to school! She wasn't even there. No one had told us. We went ten minutes out of our way for no reason! We hurried back and picked up Olivia and went to school. I was really mad on the way to school. I hope I didn't embarrass Jorja. Jorja was late again. I can't stand this. I texted Sophie's mom when I got home to let her know I was done with the carpool. I can't handle the lack of communication and control. In summary, I hate carpools.

Preston on the other hand was stinking cute today. I got back from taking Jorja to school in a horrible mood. Preston comes up from his room dressed in a suit! He said he had a job interview today for Biz Town. He filled out a paper with his top three choices. I don't remember his third choice, but his second choice was CFO of Maverick. What did he put for his top choice? Teller. A bank teller I think. Haha! That made me laugh. He is so excited for Biz Town. I remember Jorja LOVED it. Such a cool experience for these kids.

Preston

Orange Theory

I met my friend Camee at Orange Theory. It is an exercise place. I haven't worked out in a gym for almost a year now and my twenty extra pounds are letting me know it is time to get back. A lot of my friends go to this place. Camee told me I would love it. It is a workout where you rotate between treadmills, rowing machines and the weight floor. I don't know if I love it, but I did sign up for a six month membership. Hopefully I can get some of my muscle back. I really miss the muscles I had in my arms. Anyway, fingers crossed that I like it!

I talked to Rachel a lot today. She is helping me with a sewing project that I'm not sure how to do. We ordered the fabric and I explained what I wanted her to make. Here's hoping that Rachel was able to understand my descriptions! Ahhhhh!

Bread and Flowers

Jorja is so sweet. She found out the grandpa of one of the kids in student government died. Her sister is also in Jorja's seminary class. She asked if we could do something special for them. We ended up getting two loafs of bread at Kneaders and a flower. Jorja wrote them each a note. We dropped it off at their house this afternoon. The girl in Jorja's seminary class actually ran against Jorja for student government. At the beginning of the year she was told that this girl was saying mean things about her. Jorja doesn't know if that was true, but it made her sad. When they got to have a class together in seminary, Jorja wanted to get to know her better. They don't hang out together or anything, but I think now Jorja really doesn't think the things she was told were true. I love Jorja's big heart. I love that she doesn't hold grudges. I love that she always is looking for ways to make others happy. I love her!

Kermit

I picked up Jorja from Hailey's house this morning. Yay! I have my baby girl back! The original plan was for me to pick her up after church, but then Stockton was asked to speak and I didn't want her to miss it. Stockton has had a crazy busy week. His talk was great. Everyone loved it. I about died when he started singing in the middle of his talk! Especially since he started singing as Kermit the Frog! I couldn't even look. I kept thinking, "What is happening?" I was laughing so hard I was crying though. While Stockton was still speaking, but after he finished singing like Kermit, Jorja's friend Olivia texted her. "STOCKTON IS A BLESSING TO OUR WARD" Burke texted Mike as soon as Stockton finished saying something about how he usually falls asleep during sacrament meeting, but Stockton was awesome. Anyway, that was quite the experience.

I dropped off Jorja at Hailey's house after church. I saw her mom and talked for awhile. I thanked her again for letting Jorja stay and being her second mother. Jorja LOVES this family. The day she came over Hailey's five year old brother woke up and told his mom, "Our adopted daughter comes today!" I'm glad they love her so much! It is great for her to have a safe place where she belongs besides home. Melanie, Hailey's mom, told me that it was awesome having Jorja with them, but it also made them sad. She was talking with her husband about it and realized that this is what it would be like for Hailey if she had a sister. Hailey is the only girl with four brothers I think. Jorja and Hailey are so much alike, but Hailey is really shy. At home she is not though, just like how Jorja used to be. We love Hailey. I can't imagine her ever hurting Jorja. 

Mike took Maysen back to Logan this afternoon. My family came over for dinner. My dad fixed everything because he knew we wouldn't have time. My dad usually fixes most of the dinner but I add a token portion. Not today though. Jorja painted Anne's nails before they left. Anne loves it when she does that. She started acting so tired in an attempt to not leave the house I think. It was funny.

Jorja and Anne

It was nice to have Maysen here with us this last week. I'm going to miss her. Preston is really going to miss her. Those two are so cute together! Not long until she is home for the summer though!

2nd Place

We went to watch Stockton's award ceremony this morning. It started at 9:00 and didn't finish until after 12:00. It was long. Alta took 2nd in the middle size school division. That is absolutely amazing considering they were three people short! Park City was the school that beat them and they had a full team for sure. The two teams that were picked to go to Nationals were DaVinci and Bingham. DaVinci is Utah's representatives and Bingham is in a new D group category. I don't know what that means. Hopefully Alta can get more people to participate. Three of the members are juniors and I think all three of them are going to do it again.

Mrs. Heffner, Nate, Stockton, Nate, Riley, Weston, Chloe, Mr. Ochoa, Angry looking lady

 Stockton receiving his team award.

 Mrs. Heffner, Riley, Weston, Stockton, Nate, Chloe, Nate, Mr. Ochoa

 A picture with Mrs. Heffner smiling.

 Riley, Stockton, Weston, Nate, Nate, Chloe

Scoop and Cori were troopers to stay with us the entire weekend. It was really nice. They stayed through the entire awards ceremony too. Stockton decided to ride home with us instead of on the bus. That was nice because then we didn't have to race home to pick him up at the mall. That is where he would have been dropped off. Stockton got to see Scoop and Cori's house too. We decided to go to Iceburg for lunch. As we were leaving Sherry called saying she was in St. George and wanted to go to lunch with her dad and Cori. Ha! What timing! Sherry met us at Iceburg. It was great to see her. She makes me laugh. We drove separate cars and headed straight home after lunch. Scoop and Cori went with Sherry. Matt had a bike race in town and they were hurrying to the finish line.

Mike and Preston

 Stockton, Mike, Preston

 Stockton

 We drove past the Wienermobile. My kids didn't understand how cool that was.

 I didn't even know it still existed.

We were home for about thirty minutes when the missionaries came over. They came in and chatted with us for a bit and played ping pong. Sister Gregerson had us laughing as she told us stories about things her MTC teacher told her. I love the missionaries!

Sister Gregerson and Sister Kalliainen 

Dogs and Dinosaurs

I have been so frustrated lately. My computer won't turn on, so I am using a different one. That is fine, except for some reason it wouldn't realize my phone was unlocked. I would plug my phone in so I could get pictures off of it, but it kept saying, "Please unlock Stephanie's iPhone." I tried everything I could think of. It even took Mike awhile to figure out how to fix it. I hurried and got all the pictures off, but I'm worried that when I want more pictures it will happen again. Anyway, now I am quite behind on the blog.

We woke up this morning and Preston played with dogs. He might as well enjoy them while he is here! I have no plans on getting a dog any time soon, or ever.

Grizzly and Preston

 Grizzly, Princess and Preston

 Princess licking Preston's feet - GROSS!

Scoop and Cori took us to my favorite breakfast place. Bear Paw Cafe. It is so good! I got a peanut butter waffle and hot chocolate. Mike got stuffed french toast and Preston got crepes. Maysen got a chocolate waffle with ice-cream. We were stuffed when we left! Mike and Preston shared an orange smoothie. This picture reminded me of Mike sharing a root beer float with Maysen when she was one. If I was on top of things, I would put that picture next. But I'm not. Obviously.

Mike and Preston

 Mike

We went to the dinosaur museum next. I didn't have huge expectations for this. I really liked it though. It was cool, the museum was actually built around where the dinosaur tracks were found. I liked this 'gum ball' machine. Ha! Too bad I didn't have any spare change for the kids.

 Random pictures from the dinosaur museum.

 Maysen and I laughed and laughed at this sign.

 There was a giant mural with two time machines hidden. Dr. Who's police box and the car from Back to the Future.

 Took this for my Porge!

 Preston and Maysen

I'm not sure what the name of the place Scoop and Cori took us to next is. I do know that I HATED it! Cori said it reminded her of The Land Before Time. I was super paranoid the entire time that someone was going to fall. I don't know why I'm so nervous, but I was about to cry. Maybe because I hadn't emotionally prepared myself for the height, or maybe because Preston was running around jumping everywhere. Anyway, I was relieved when we were back in the car.

 Maysen

 Preston and Maysen

 Mike

 Mike and Scoop

 Cori and Preston

 Preston and Maysen

Next we headed to Dixie State University to watch Stockton in the quiz bowl competition. Stockton spent today taking many many tests. This was the finale. Stockton knew going into it that Alta didn't have a chance. They were three players short. They were missing one player in the varsity group (gpa below 3.0) They were missing two players in the scholastic group (gpa 3.7-3.0 or something like that). The only group that had all the players was Stockton's group. They are in the honors group (gpa above 3.7). I'm not sure where to put my periods. Sorry Maysen. I know that will annoy you. Anyway, Alta only had 13 or 15 points after the first two groups went. Obviously you can't get any points for an empty chair. Stockton's group was awesome! Alta finished with 24 points. That meant Stockton's group scored 19 or 21 points. (Another reason why I'm annoyed I'm behind. My memory is horrible!) There is only 24 points possible for each group. Stockton's group more than doubled Alta's score.

Mrs. Heffner, Nate B., Other Nate, Riley, Stockton, Weston, Mr. Ochoa, Only girl

 Alta came in 9th. Awesome with their huge handicap. Jordan also had an incomplete team.

 Scoop, Stockton, Mike

Stockton came with us to dinner. We ate at Chuck-a-rama. Man, we have eaten like kings on this trip! Thanks Scoop and Cori! We dropped Stockton back off at his hotel then headed home to play cards. (After watching the last few minutes of the Jazz game.) Scoop, Mike, Preston and I played Mormon Bridge. Preston does not enjoy card games. I think he will once he is more familiar with them, but right now it is definitely not his favorite.

Scoop's House

Stockton left for his Academic Decathlon competition this morning. He got to ride in a fancy bus. Alta is going down with only 2/3 of a team. They are three people short. Two people that said they were coming didn't show up this morning. Sad. They know they have no chance to win now.

Mike was on the Academic Decathlon team when we were in high school. Stockton has the same coach Mike did. How awesome is that!

Mike and Mr. Ochoa

 Nate and Stockton

Stockton got on the bus chanting, "Nerd camp! Nerd camp!"

Mike, Maysen, Preston and I left this morning to drive down to St. George. There was this bright pink hummer at a gas station with a gruff looking dude. Mike thought it was so funny he wanted a picture. Kind of hard to see the dude though.

We stayed at Mike's dad's house. I think they built it 10 years ago, but we have never been here. I took pictures, but I forgot to take pictures upstairs. Haha! Upstairs is nice too.

Downstairs main room

 Maysen and Preston

 Mike

 Hair cutting room

 Theater room

 One more bedroom

Scoop and Cori took us to Black Bear Diner. That was Preston's suggestion. Jorja hates that place now. Bad memories. Jorja wasn't here so Preston wanted to take advantage. Speaking of Jorja, she went to an Alta soccer game with Hailey. Here are some pictures that I found.

Jorja, Hailey, Allison

 Jorja and Jonah

We played Hearts tonight with Scoop. Maysen and Preston were on a team. We don't play many card games, so they were a bit confused but they did fine.