Interviews

The kids started back at school today. Well, Jorja and Preston did. Maysen has been going strong for awhile now. We had lists ready for them of tasks they needed to finish before they got free time. Both of them did really well. Jorja also started PLT interviews today. She is a PLT officer this year, so she gets to be a part of the interview process for the people trying out. It was sooo cute to hear her during the interview. We couldn't hear the kids trying out because she had headphones in, but it was fun to see her interact with her peers. She is amazing.

Jorja

Chick-Fil-A started their two teams today. Today was the A teams first day. Jorja will be working exclusively with these people. Luckily she is very happy with who is on her team. Jorja was anxious to quit before quarantine. Now it is one of the only places she is allowed to go, and she is only allowed to hang out with the people she works with because we figured they are together so much anyway. Jorja has enjoyed it though. The pace is much slower. So... she gets to make tiktoks while at work.

Behind the scenes ~ haha

We talked to Stockton today! It was super quick, but I didn't think we would hear from him at all. He and Elder Jenson got Elder Wells dropped off and ready to go home. Elder Jenson is now his companion. They cover Elder Jenson's two wards and Stockton's two wards. Mission life has sure changed. Stockton said, "The grand total damage done by the coronavirus in this mission was 19 closed areas and 75 missionaries gone home." Wow. Stockton is also district leader again. Luckily Stockton enjoys Elder Jenson. That makes a big difference. Stockton sounds happy and they are still planning on having a baptism on Saturday. Hope they can pull it off!

Quarantined Easter

I tried to get my dad to do a Zoom sacrament meeting for us, but no luck. My Uncle Mark does one for his family and I am jealous. We had a great home church though. Mike always does awesome. We watched an Easter movie and I read excerpts to them from my dad's book It's Not About the Bunny, It's About the Lamb. Once church was over we went upstairs to decorate eggs. We were going to listen to a Hank Smith talk while we did it. Mike got the speaker out and I connected my phone to the speaker. Right as I did that, I got a phone call from Stockton! We weren't expecting that! It was perfect timing! We got to talk to Stockton while we were decorating eggs. He found out this morning that they were allowed to call their families for thirty minutes today. That is nice because his p-day will be so busy tomorrow, he doesn't know if he will be able to call.

Preston's Waddaluigi egg

 Mike made this Moroni egg for Stockton

 Stephanie's cactus egg

 We only decorated one a piece. We got them from our ducks.

 Jorja & Bear

 Bear

We had a family Zoom with Mike's family. That was really cool. Lisa was with Aimee. Aimee is going to have her baby tomorrow! I think. She was having contractions during the Zoom. That's exciting. We ended the day by decorating cookies. We aren't the best decorators, but the cookies were delicious.

Maysen, Preston, Jorja, Mike

A Team

Jorja worked today. She also found out that she will be on Chick-Fil-A's 'A Team'. They are splitting their workers in two teams so that there will be less people for them to come in contact with. Jorja is on the Monday/Wednesday team. I think they will rotate every Friday and Saturday. Or maybe they will rotate Tuesdays/Thursdays... who knows... Anyway, Jorja was so happy because her she is on the team with her favorite managers. Also, Madison and Riley are on her team! That means she will still be allowed to hang out with the two of them. Ben is not on her team, which makes her sad. He did put in his two weeks notice though, so he wouldn't be there much longer anyway. Today was her last day working with Ben. I told her to try and plan something with him next week while she is still allowed to hangout with him. Although he will be working when she is not..... anyway, it will be interesting.

Good Friday

Today we moved the giant beanbag we got from Lisa down to Preston's room. It wasn't the easiest thing to move, it is huge! Preston helped us push it all the way there. Getting through the doors was tricky. Preston is so happy with it in his room though.

Preston, Bear, Jorja

 Preston & Jorja

 Bear

 Preston & Bear

 Bear & Mike

Jorja went on a hike today with Riley, one of the few people she is allowed to hang out with. They work together all the time. They tried to take Bear with them, but the signs said no dogs allowed. They thought about taking him anyway, but ran into someone who said a lot of rangers are out and the fine is $1,500. Yikes! They brought Bear back and went on a hike to Lisa Falls. They had a great time. After they got some frozen yogurt. They are going to try and do this once a week.

Riley & Jorja

 Jorja & Riley

Riley & Jorja

Jorja had a drive-in movie night with the new student body officers. Mike set up our movie screen in the church parking lot. They brought their cars to watch a James Bond movie. The idea was this would be okay because everyone would be in their own cars. But.... the kids were not good at social distancing. I talked to Jorja about it. She said, "We'll get in our cars when the movie starts." It won't matter then! Uggggg. At least they were in a group of less than ten. As Mike and I left we drove around with our windows down to see if the sound was too loud. It seemed fine to us. Apparently it wasn't fine for someone. A police officer was sent to investigate a noise complaint. He was nice to them though. He watched the movie for a bit and said it was a great idea. They turned the sound down two clicks and all was well.

While I was going through some old papers, I found this one. Mike made this list while I was in the hospital with baby Stockton. We were planning on naming Stockton 'Maxwell Joseph Smith' for the last part of my pregnancy. Once he was born, I just couldn't do it. Max Smith sounded weird to me. Then a pediatrician came in and said, "I have five Max Smiths in my practice." Welp. I didn't like that. Sometimes it is super annoying to have such a common name. Like when we buy a house Mike has to sign pages and pages of papers saying he doesn't owe alimony to tons of people. We changed Stockton's name four times in the hospital. I remember a nurse saying, "What are you calling him today?" I said, "Today his name is Greg." She rolled her eyes at me and said, "You guys are driving me crazy!" Hahaha. Anyway, Mike made this list and said, "Okay, we are only going to choose a name from this list." Stockton isn't even on there. Hahahaha. I really wanted Stockton's middle name to be Michael. Mike wouldn't put it on the list. He said, "If he has the middle name Michael, then he will want to go by Mike and I don't want to have a 'big Mike' 'little Mike' situation." I asked why he would go by Mike. He said, "Wouldn't everyone if they could?" Hahahahahaha. When we decided on Stockton, Mike thought he would like that more than Michael, so I got to use that for his middle name.

Day of Fasting

Jorja took this screenshot of one of her videos and I thought it was super cute.

So, so, so, so, so happy she won! She is still stunned and thrilled. Sunday, at conference, President Nelson announced a world wide fast for Good Friday, which is tomorrow. He asked us to fast for four things, all relating to the coronavirus. 1. That the pandemic be controlled. 2. The healthcare workers be protected. 3. The economy be stabilized. 4. Life be normalized. We decided to fast from lunch today to lunch tomorrow. We ordered food from Costa Vida and Zupas through Doordash. Not too much excitement happens now a-days that we get excited about food. Hahaha

Brandon's Home!

Jorja got up early again this morning to go on a hike with Madison. She works with her almost every day, so she is one of the few people Jorja is allowed to hang out with. The two of them had a great time.

Madison & Jorja

Mike took the day off of work. He has been working longer hours now that he works from home. When he drove to work, he had to get home before dark because his headlights don't work right now. Here, he gets carried away and it is 9:00 at night before he realizes it. So, today he took an official day off and spent it filling the dumpster. We got rid of lots of stuff. Even fun stuff like the basketball hoop and the air hockey table. Preston's room looks so big now! It's great! I started going through our filing cabinet and throwing away things we don't need. The bonus was I found some fun gems. Like Grandma Honey's Furby trick list. She LOVED those Furbies. It was adorable. This will take me several days to get through. Hopefully I find some more fun stuff. I did send my brothers a copy of a letter John wrote his first week in the MTC. It was funny.

Brandon came home from his mission today. His 24 months would have been up on July 24, but because of corona, they are sending lots of missionaries home early. His mission was changed to 21 months. We drove by his house and waved to him. I didn't get a picture though. We then went to Chick-Fil-A to see Jorja in her new mask. They had to start wearing them today. Jorja is not a fan.

Jorja

Bear on a bear rug

 Preston and Bear

Social Distancing Sunrise

Jorja got up super early and met up with Ivan to watch the sunrise. They stayed in their cars the entire time, so that's good. She enjoyed herself. She loves to get out of the house! Especially when she can see her friends.

Ivan & Jorja

Things were pretty much the same at home. Mike worked and put things in the dumpster. Maysen worked on homework. Jorja worked at Chick-Fil-A. Preston played Minecraft.

Jorja

 Madison & Jorja

Eighty-One

Grandma Honey would have been 81 today. Crazy. Mike ordered a giant dumpster in honor of her birthday. It was delivered today. Mike said his mom would love nothing more than for him to throw away lots of stuff. Haha

Sherry brought flowers to her grave. She and Miah stopped by after so they could see Bear. Don't worry, we didn't come closer than 6 feet to them. Except Bear did. He doesn't follow social distancing guidelines very well.

Bear & Jorja

We did get to talk to Stockton today. He was able to have a video lesson with a family of twelve. Stockton said it went so good! He is happy, enjoys his companions, and is trying to figure out the new missionary normal. While I was talking to him the stake president came over and brought them face masks. They have to wear them in the stores and if they go into anyone's house. They are rarely allowed into houses anymore, but sometimes for the sacrament I think.

Stockton, Elder Jenson, Elder Wells

CHINA

We had such a great day today. Conference was amazing. We were able to do the Hosanna Shout with President Nelson. The talks were amazing, the day was beautiful and new temples were announced. The last one was a temple in China! WHAT??? It's a temple with restrictions, but STILL! Wow! They also announced a temple in Dubai. It sounded like Dubai asked if they could have a temple. That is amazing. Conference went by so fast this time. I'll have to re-listen to it again. I wish my memory could hold things longer.

Jorja and I took Bear on a walk. We went to the church, but there were too many dogs there! Jorja was running with Bear when he randomly decided to run around a light pole. His leash got stuck and we had to call Mike to help. I pulled and pulled and couldn't get it to budge. Right before Mike got there I was able to get Bear unstuck, but the leash was destroyed. Having a dog is fun.

stuck

 Jorja & Bear

We've been playing games every night as a family. It has been so fun. Today we played Colt Express. Yesterday we played Stop Thief. Maysen LOVED this game when she was little. It is super old. Mike found a site awhile ago called Restoration Games. It takes games from the 60s - 90s and updates them. Stop Thief was one of those games! Mike was so excited. He wanted to give it to Maysen for Christmas, but they were all out. Well.... they started selling it again and Mike jumped at the chance. They did a great job and the kids have loved it. Especially Preston. After we finished playing he started making a Stop Thief board in Minecraft. Hahaha

Bear

So we did a thing today....

First, we started off watching conference, which was awesome. It was so weird to see no one in attendance. Conference was great. Right as the first session ended, Mike took the three kids and they drove up to Provo. We had talked to the kids a few weeks ago about the possibility of getting a dog. I am very against dogs. I don't like them. At all. But this pandemic has made things a little weird. If we got a dog now, Mike and all the kids could be with him to get adjusted and I wouldn't be there alone. Maysen has a lot of experience with dogs and how to take care of them from her vet days. She has always wanted to train a dog. She is now home. Jorja has been asking for a dog for years. She wants one she can cuddle with and love. Preston loves dogs. We are hoping this will take him away from his computer and get him exercise. Jorja found a dog that she fell in love with on KSL. His name is Bear. She contacted the people two days ago, but someone was coming the next day to look at him. Yesterday they contacted Jorja and said the other people didn't end up coming. Jorja made an appointment for our family to come see Bear today. Bear is an Australian Shepherd and about 7 months old. I didn't want to come. I told the kids I wouldn't like any dog and I would be scared of every dog, so do they really want me there. I talked to all of them before they left about not just going with their heart. Really think of me and make sure it is a dog I would be okay with. And Stockton as well. My ideal dog wouldn't bark, shed, jump up, drool, or hurt the ducks. I'm not really a fan of dog characteristics. Mike, Jorja and Preston 100% think with their hearts. Maysen is more practical. I was glad she was there with them. She sent me a text that said, "Bear is silent, not licking. Completely house-trained and crate-trained. Has had some shots. Trained to come, sit, stay." He also grew up around chickens. That's good news. She also sent me this video.

They ended up getting the dog today. Maysen texted, "Driving for a while and dog still very calm, still no barks or slobber. Good breath and teeth, so they obviously took good care of him....Bear did not bark in the store and was very calm."

Jorja' Preston's head and Bear

 Preston and Bear

 Bear and Jorja

I totally missed the clock turning to the 200s. I was washing my hands then went to check the clock only to see I missed it. Whoops.

 Bear listening to conference

 Stephanie working on Kaylee's stocking, Maysen talking about the dog. Bear laying there.

 Maysen & Bear

 Bear likes to lay down like a bear rug

Mike dropped Jorja off at Chick-Fil-A so she missed Bear's first few hours at home. She seemed to entertain herself though. She and her friend Hannah (who is also Melissa Cutler's daughter) made different frozen drinks. This one is an 'every sauce' drink. The video was too long to put it on here though. But this delicious drink has every single sauce with ice-cream. Chick-Fil-A, Polynesian, ranch, honey mustard, buffalo, sriracha, honey mustard barbecue and barbecue. Spoiler alert... it did not taste good.  Jorja ended the video by saying, "This can be ordered at any Chick-Fil-A. It's on the secret menu. Ask for a frosted Chick-Fil-A supreme, mega-ultimate shake. Haha. That girl doesn't have any fun at all.

Financial Chair

She did it! Jorja is officially the 2020-2021 student body financial chair. She is sooo happy! Luke, the current financial chair, sent Jorja a video of him in front of a pulpit where he is giving a speech. You can hear Packer in the background. He gives his short speech and then says, "Your 2020-2021 Financial Chair is" then Packer interrupts him and tells him to stop there. Jorja ran downstairs and showed it to Mike and I. Jorja texted back that she was so scared he was going to announce who won and she almost died. Luke texted back, "Whoops" then sent a new video. Jorja watched that video while she was eating cherrios. She then brought it to show us. She was crying. It looked like happy tears. She said, "Look what Luke just sent." We were watching the video. When it got to the "Your 2020-2021 Financial Chair" Saddler called. WHAT! Jorja answered the phone. Mike and I still weren't 100% what the outcome was. Saddler told Jorja congratulations. She said, "Is it real?" He told her that Jordy Robs had just told him he lost. Ahhhhh! Jorja had texted Luke and asked him that same question. She asked if it was a prank. He was like, "Of course it's real! Why would I do that?" Bode called Jorja soon after. He is next years attorney general, but nobody ran against him so he wasn't worried about the outcome. They spent the next two hours finding out who won. Jorja was super happy. She was disappointed that her good friend Riley didn't win. Although that meant there will be another girl with Jorja. Her name is Layla. Jorja is so happy not to be the only girl this year. Brett and Rachel's girls sent the cutest video of them telling Jorja congratulations. Haha. I love them!

Bode & Jorja

Jorja got dressed up in the dress she was planning on wearing to inauguration. We then went to Leatherby's to celebrate. We just ordered curbside and they brought it to us. Jorja didn't have much time to eat or take a picture for me. She had to rush to work.

Jorja and Mike on the way to Leatherbys

 Jorja...anxious to get ready for work

Jorja could not contain her excitement and did not practice social distancing at work.

Regan, Maddie, Jorja

 That's better..... Jorja & Maddie

The new SBOs all decided to meet in the Alta parking lot in their cars. Jorja promised they would stay in them! They were there for hours. Except they got out of their cars for pictures. I was not happy about that. I really hope none of these guys get the virus. That would not be good. It's hard because this night should have been so different. The new SBOs are always taken on a night long initiation adventure right after inauguration. The boys go with the boys and the girls go with the girls. They meet up for breakfast afterwards and the current SBO of that position pays for the new SBO. So Luke would buy Jorja breakfast. Then they are all excused from school. Things are sure different this year. Jorja said it was so fun being with them and they all clicked together really well. She is so excited about next year. I'm excited for her too.

Dallen, Marshall, Bode, Saddler, Joe, Brenton

Dawson in front of the 'HEYBOYS' mobile. Too bad the license plate didn't show up!

 Bode & Jorja

 Shadow Marshall, Shadow Dallen, Shadow Joe

Layla, Saddler, Brenton, Dawson, Bode, Jorja

 Jorja & Layla

Jorja is hoping that she and Layla become best friends. They know each other, but not super well. Jorja said they got along great tonight. Yay! She is so happy!

Dallen, Layla, Bode, Brenton, Jorja, Saddler, Marshall, Joe, Dawson

 Dallen social distancing, Saddler on top of the A, Joe laying down in front

Dawson, Bode, Jorja, Layla, Brenton, Marshall

2020 - 2021 Student Body Officers 

Dawson ~ audio/visual, Dallen ~ president, Layla~ historian, Bode~ attorney general

Saddler ~ chief of activities, Joe ~ secretary, Brenton ~ vice president, Jorja ~ financial chair, Marshall ~ public relations