Rolled Twenty Times

My hoodie from Blake's baseball team came today. I love it!

Stephanie

Jorja and Lily volunteered at a cat lounge to get service hours for National Honor Society. It is crazy. Jorja has done service all year, but the new advisor keeps rejecting her service. Can't do it with student government... can't do more than ten hours of the same service... thanks like that. It's been super annoying.

Jorja

Jorja helped Jake cater a wedding. It was long and tiring. She kind of had fun but isn't anxious to do it again.

Jake & Jorja

Jorja & Angel

Stockton seems to be having fun, I think. I texted him today and asked him for updates. He said, "We are good, just got out of the hospital, car rolled like 20 times, got my appendix removed - we chillin" What a punk. Later he texted me this picture to show me they had a place to sleep tonight. Last night they made it to the Gila Valley Temple at 4:00 in the morning. They slept in the parking lot. Spencer (Elder White) drove the entire way. Crazy! Glad they didn't crash!

Jaye, Stockton, Spencer

Back to Arizona...Again

Stockton left for Arizona again today with some mission buddies. They left this afternoon and are still driving. I hope they will be safe. Makes me kind of nervous. Stockton couldn't find his wallet before he left. It has his $100 from Grandpa Millburn for memorizing the proclamation and some gift cards from Scoop and Cori. I hope he can find it. He is going to have a great time this weekend though. He loves these guys.

Jaye, Stockton, Spencer

Jorja got her graduation gown today! AHHHH!!!!  She also found out that Step2theU is going to be online again this year. That makes things interesting. She wasn't going to do it, but this might be a game changer. Jorja got her hair done again, she is getting it darker. She also went hiking with Riley. That's about it for today.

 Riley & Jorja

Jorja

Broken Mouth

The school nurse called me back today. They are doing covid vaccines at Alta. Jorja wants to get it. I was wondering if she could take it since it hasn't been 90 days since she had covid. I had heard that somewhere. The nurse said she could get it but she might get a little sicker since her body is still fighting the disease. Or something like that. Anyway, Jorja decided to go ahead and get the vaccine. She is tired of being quarantined. She will become a star belly sneech. Jorja also got her graduation cords today. They are very pretty. I wish I knew about the cords for Maysen. I should buy the ones she would have earned.

Dani came over and hung out with Stockton. Jack was over with Preston. Preston wanted to roast hot dogs and make s'mores for his dinner. He also absolutely loves days when Jack comes over.

Preston & Jack

Jorja has had to wear a mouth guard thing since her surgery. Today she was in the drive thru at Swig and her mouth started bleeding. She got home okay, but then it started gushing blood again. It bled for almost an hour. I had her lay down with her head elevated and we had gauze pressing on the roof of her mouth. We kept putting ice packs on her cheeks. I was so close to calling the doctor, but luckily it stopped.

Jorja

 

Immune Until the Middle of May

The most important news of the day!!! I finished Rachel's stocking! Well, I finished all of the cross stitching. I still have lots of outlining to do. It looks soooo good! I love it! It's going to be fun to watch it all come together!

Rachel's stocking

Preston had an orthodontist appointment today to fix one of his elastics that fell off from his last appointment. It was super quick. That was nice. I called the school to ask about Jorja's immunity for covid. According to the school hers lasts through May 16th. Which means she won't need to be tested to go to Senior Dinner Dance. Yay!

Stockton made waffles with me today. That was fun and delicious. Jorja went to various mission call openings. Her friend Josh was called to Tucson! Jorja contacted the ambassador program to ask if she really, really had to give her decision by today. She talked to someone on the phone for awhile. He said that he has learned that if he didn't give a deadline it wouldn't happen. He told Jorja she could wait until after the Spring retreat to decide. Yay! That will give her more time to fret! Actually I'm glad she has a bit more time. She can't put in her papers until June 26th. I would like her to not worry about it and just enjoy the end of her high school experience.

Pool Cover

Jorja's mouth was hurting her. She does well the beginning of the day, but when the medicine starts to wear off it will hurt again. She asked if she could pick up Jamba Juice and do Chinese from home, so that is what she did today. As awful as this year has been, it has been wonderful to have the online option when you need it!

Jorja

Froggie ~ Jorja loves it when his eyes are open

Mike and I took the winter cover off of the pool today. This year we were smarter and enlisted our children. It made it so much easier! They were great helps. The pool always looks disgusting the beginning of the year. I'm glad Mike knows how to take care of everything. We had trouble closing the summer cover. It has given us trouble the last little bit. Mike figured out that it was winding up crooked, so I would turn the key as Mike would pull the cover. It took forever, but we got it. When we replaced the cover the guy asked if Mike would like to upgrade it to a nicer cover. Thinking that would be the best we went for it. Too bad it is too thick and makes winding up such a chore. Never would have thought of something like that. The pool cover pictures went in randomly... but here they are! 

Maysen & Bear

Mike & Stockton carrying away the winter cover. That sucker is heavy!

Mike figuring out why the summer pool cover is having problems. Bear keeping watch.

Mike, Preston, Stephanie working on the pool cover

We went to dinner at Italian Village. It was one of Grandma Honey's favorite restaurants and Mike had wanted to take the kids there for awhile. It is so cool to be able to hang out with my entire little family. I'm just soaking up every second while I can.

Typo

I struggled at church today. We always sit in the front row now so Mike can do the zoom. The Clorox wipes that they use after every speaker to wipe down the podium and microphone was sitting open near the podium. The smell was so strong it was making me sick. I moved over to the far end by Jorja hoping to get away from the smell. I still felt nauseous. I went to sit in the hall and had to take my mask off so I could start breathing normally again. It was awful. The intercom in the foyer was going in and out so I couldn't hear really well. I moved to the chair closest to the chapel door. I got skipped for the sacrament bread. They noticed me for the water though. Today was weird. Hopefully that doesn't happen again.

Ummmm..... Jorja! Awkward....

Temples are Opening!

The temples have started opening again! Draper Temple is now open for baptisms. You have to make reservations though. Layla got a group of their friends together to go at 6:00 in the morning. Jorja said it was really cool because they were the only group in the temple. They only let one group in at a time.

Layla, Marshall, Ella, Lucas, Bode, Jake, Jorja, Riley, Luke, Sami, Caleb

Jorja also got information about an ambassador's retreat in the spring. She is excited about that! I'm so beyond thankful that she will have this opportunity. She's going to love it! Except..... she is a little stressed out. She got a message saying she needs to confirm if she will be going to school next year or deferring (to go on a mission) by Tuesday at 12:00. Yikes! So, Jorja has to decide about a mission in the next few days. She is feeling a lot of anxiety at the moment.

Beat the Streak

My brothers and I play Beat the Streak. John got this highest this year, but I had to laugh when I went from a 4 to a 7.

John's in 4th place!

Jorja went on a double date with Ellie today. They went to the tulip festival. It was raining, but they still had a great time. Jorja took Riley and Ellie took Bode. How fun!

Riley & Jorja

Jorja, Riley & Ellie

Riley & Jorja

Jorja & Ellie

Riley & Jorja

This and That

Preston and Stockton had a dermatologist appointment today. Stockton had to get his blood drawn. It was quick and painless.... for me. Everything came back clear with his blood, so that's great. Preston doesn't have to go back to the dermatologist until his acne flairs up in a couple of years. Yay!

Stockton

Jorja went to school today. Her mouth was really sore by the time she came home. She can't really eat anything. She is a trouper though.

Dessa, Jorja, Lily doing lunches for PLT

Bear

I go from having a million pictures to having one. Well, it does make the blog quicker to post that way. Jorja stayed home from school. She felt awful. Worse than yesterday. Her friend Luke Hillstead opened his mission call, but she didn't feel well enough to go. Poor little girl. She felt good for about thirty minutes during the day and took the opportunity to take Bear on a walk. Glad she was able to be out of her bed for a few minutes.

Bear

Jorja's Gum Surgery

Jorja had gum surgery today. It was a gum graft actually. They took part of the roof of her mouth and grafted that piece under her front tooth. The gum had receded from her front tooth and it was starting to hurt. Maysen and Stockton both had this surgery when they were in 4th grade. Jorja was hoping to get away without having it, but no such luck. Obviously this is hereditary. Jorja did great. Once I got her home I spent the rest of the day giving her medicine and ice packs at the appropriate time. Very similar to wisdom teeth. Somehow I didn't get any pictures of Jorja, but look at these amazing pictures I did get!

At the periodontist. #1 they have to say it #2 the have to 'insure' it??? Notice someone tried to change it to 'ensure'

Wasn't brave enough to try these.

Jorja managed to drag herself to Jake's house so she could watch him open his mission call. He got called to Johannesburg, South Africa.

Jorja & Jake

Kate's Wish

Kate's wish was granted yesterday. Her backyard makeover. Jorja was able to be there for the reveal. She was so excited. She has loved this family. I am so proud of her. I am thrilled she was able to have this experience. I sure hope those two girls get healthy. Twins with leukemia. That family has had a rough few years.

Paige, Grace, Jorja, Packer, Bode, Riley, Alex, Kate, Kate's mom

Lisa is in town for a few days and we were able to get together. Mike doesn't get to be together with all of his siblings at the same time. I'm glad Steve and Shannon were able to have everyone over. We just had pizza and played games. It was a blast. I made s'mores, that was our contribution. The college kids were busy dealing with finals and end of semester projects, so we didn't see any of them. It still was so fun. I'm glad this happened.

Steve, Sherry, Mike, Lisa

Bananagrams: Weston, Jorja, Preston, Stockton, Leo, Melissa, Nova, Maysen

Skull King: Lisa, Stephanie, Derek, Jacob, Steve

Jorja took all the kids home in her bug. Mike and I stayed later to hang out with his siblings. It was a nice, relaxing evening. I wish we could do this more often.

Dogs and Frogs

We woke up in Tucson and began the long drive home. We left the stake center right as the second car was pulling in. Not too shabby. Originally our plan was to stay at a RV campground in Sierra Vista and leave after sacrament meeting. Mike needed somewhere with wifi so he could give access to the zoom meeting to Brother Masters. Mike is in charge of getting the zoom sacrament meetings to work. Well, the campground never got back to us about our reservation. So, with fingers crossed we left Tucson early this morning and hoped we would have service when we needed it. It just so happened that we were driving through Phoenix when our ward began. Yay! We switched drivers about thirty minutes before church started and Mike was able to give Mike Masters access. He was also able to watch church as we were driving down the road, just in case he needed to do any troubleshooting. Modern technology is awesome. If we had left Sierra Vista after church we were looking to be home in the middle of the night. Because we got such a jump on our travel we arrived home around 7:00 pm. Nice! My dad was going to watch Bear until tomorrow but we messaged him about an hour out that we would be able to pick him up tonight. He said, "Boo! Couldn't you find a Walmart somewhere and bed down for the night?" Haha. Glad Bear wasn't too much trouble for him. Earlier in the day when I asked for a Bear dog update he sent these pictures saying, "Proof of life" Looks like Bear had a great time at my dad's. I'm so glad we didn't bring him on this trip!

Bear & Milo

Bear

Jorja was excited to see her frog when we got home. She put a cricket on his head and he just left it there. Hahaha. Silly frog.

Froggie and Cricket are friends

Nikki!

From my dad: I label this picture, "Bear's dilemma."

Haha! The kids got a great laugh out of that one. Today was a GREAT day! So much fun! First thing we did is drive to Carter and Marveen's house. Marveen is Grandma Honey's little sister, so Carter and Marveen are Mike's aunt and uncle. I don't think we've seen them since Grandma Honey's funeral more than 15 years ago. Stockton was able to see them twice in passing towards the end of his mission. Anyway, they had us over for breakfast and it was delicious. It was so fun talking with them. They were very happy to have family visit. It was crazy watching and listening to Marveen. She reminded me SO MUCH of Sharen. I'm so glad we were able to spend time with them.

Carter and Marveen's house

Stockton

Mike, Carter, Marveen

Jorja, Stockton, Preston, Maysen, Carter, Marveen, Mike

Jorja, Stockton, Preston, Mike, Stephanie, Maysen

Carter showing us the seeds inside the cactus

The cactus they got the seeds from, they gave us one to take home

Mike's grandparents use to live down in Arizona a few streets away from Carter and Marveen. Mike got directions and the address and we drove by. This is where Grandma & Grandpa Hirschi use to live. There is a cool picture of Mike and Scoop riding big wheels when Mike was little. Mike thinks it was taken here.

We left Tucson and drove to Sierra Vista. Stockton's last area. Stockton would always tell stories about how missionaries were obsessed with Polar Pop. Which is insane when you realize Polar Pops are just gas station soda. Stockton made it a goal to go his entire mission without having a Polar Pop. Yes, he picks weird things as goals. Like going an entire year without hearing Hannah Montana or not touching the Smiths' dog.... maybe that one was Preston, I can't remember. Anyway, we decided he needed a Polar Pop.  It turns out it was exactly what he thought it would be. He didn't miss much on his mission.

Stockton

Preston & Stockton

Maysen making a shake

5th apartment ~ Sierra Vista ~ 20 months to 24 months

Stockton

This is where my baby ended his mission

Stockton and I stopped by the Bradley's. They didn't know we were coming, so just the two of us came to the door. Sister Bradley was so excited to see Stockton. Stockton taught Eva baptism lessons. Sister Bradley sat in on them, she is a recent convert. She just raved and raved to me about what an excellent teacher Stockton is. It was really cool to meet these guys. I'm glad I got to do that. You could tell they loved Stockton. It was awesome.

Sister Bradley, Eva, Stockton

We went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner before stopping by Nikki's! I was so excited to see her! The last time I saw her was almost six years ago. It was in Alaska right before Maysen started her senior year of high school. Anyway it was awesome to see her again! I loved every second! The kids were good sports and didn't hurry me along. Haha. Lynn is from Star Valley Wyoming. We were talking to them about our cabin near there. Nikki mentioned to me they were thinking of buying a cabin somewhere between Star Valley and Swan Valley. Our cabin is right in the middle! How cool would it be if they bought a cabin near us! That would be amazing!!! Hopefully Nikki will come visit us at our cabin to check the area out. I mean, if they go visit Lynn's family, they could sneak away for a day to stay with us! I get excited just thinking about it.

Nikki, Stephanie and Eryn in the background

Stephanie, Stockton, Nikki, photobomb by Preston

We left Nikki's around 10:00 and drove to Tucson. We slept in the mission office parking lot again. Mike and I were so tired by the time we got to Tucson. We fell asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillow. At least I did. I'm assuming Mike was the same. Man, today was a great day.