Snow Buddies

Today was the last day at the cabin and we made the most of it. Sledding and lots of it. There was also cleaning, but that isn't as fun to document.

Jorja & Hailey

I can't believe how much sagebrush is poking out from the snow. I'm not used to that at all. We need more snow!

 Mike & Preston

 Preston

 Jorja & Hailey with Preston's feet coming after them.

 Preston

 Jorja and Hailey

 Stockton driving Preston and pulling up Gavin

 Jorja and Hailey

 I love Jorja's face here . . .

 and Hailey's face here.

 Ummm, Jorja. Why are you pulling up on the sled?

 Yep. Jorja is to blame for that crash.

 Hahahahaha!

 Crashing is half the fun of sledding, right?

 Gavin

 Hailey and Preston

 Preston's leg and Gavin

 Gavin

 Stockton just crashed, Jorja and Hailey are still up.

 Jorja and Stockton running after his sled

 Stockton and Hailey

 He caught it!

 Hailey and Jorja ~ I love this picture!

 Gavin, Preston, Hailey and Jorja

We are on our way to the Springs. I convinced the girls to try a sled with a rope. Notice they are on two sleds.

 Stockton, Gavin is next.

 Whoops! Gavin took the wrong path!

Mike and Preston are sharing a sled. One of the sleds the girls rode up on completely broke on the way.

 You can barely see Stockton's head and Mike's back. I love it up here!

 Jorja and Hailey. I made a bad decision of where to stand for this picture. I wish I had been by the rock!

 This is my last picture on the big camera. My camera card filled up. That's a lot of pictures!

 Preston

Mike's head and Stockton

 Jorja and Hailey are penguin sledding

I decided to leave with the four high schoolers. Mike stayed later with Preston to finish packing up and shutting down the cabin. They left when we were about in Evanston. I dropped Gavin and Hailey off just before 10:00. Talk about making the most out of our vacation! Speaking of vacations, while I was taking the pictures of Gavin and Stockton the guy from the Alaska cruise tour finally called me back. I got some information and then asked if Mike could call him back. I was anxious to leave. Mike put a deposit down on the trip. We weren't able to get cabins next to each other. We have one with the tour and one random one that will be assigned later. Hopefully everything works out with this trip! Hopefully we will sit together for dinners. That is more important at this age. Jorja promised me she wouldn't stress me out if she was on the other side of the ship. I told her I didn't want to worry about her meeting friends and sneaking out to be crazy. I don't want Maysen and Stockton to have to be her babysitter. She promised. She is so excited.

Gavin & Stockton

 Stockton & Gavin

 Hailey, Jorja, Gavin, Stockton

I thought I had plenty of gas to get to Cokeville. Well, I made it, but it was pretty sketchy for the last twenty plus miles. I don't know how long we drove with the empty light on, but there was nothing around. I remember running out of gas in Wyoming with Sam and Maysen. I did not want that to happen again. We drove on fumes, but we were able to make it to the Cokeville gas station. I was so happy when I could see the Flying J in the distance. We also stopped at the McDonalds in Evanston. The kids ate on the saddle seats. Those are uncomfortable!

Once we were home Jorja had to hurry to get her PSA done. She had filmed it last week with Dessa, but she had to put it together. Hailey had to do that too. Except Hailey lost all her videos so she had to start from scratch. The PSA was due at midnight tonight and was a giant part of their English grade. I came downstairs to check on Jorja and she had Isaac on speaker. Jorja said Isaac was helping her figure out how to get the program working. Whatever. I was not going to argue with her because she needed every second she had to get the PSA finished. I fell asleep and woke up ten minutes before midnight. I went down to check on Jorja. She had just finished. Yay! She made it! Isaac was still on the phone, so I made her say goodnight and give me her phone. She asked me if she could talk to him while she was getting ready for bed. I told her no. We went upstairs and about five minutes later the home phone rang. It was Isaac. He hung up before I picked it up the first time, but he called right back. I answered and he hung up without saying anything. I think. I can't really remember because I'm writing this on Thursday. Jorja went down to bed and came up a little while later. I was sitting on the couch looking through her phone. She sat on the edge of the couch and we talked a little bit while we looked through it before she went down to bed. Preston came home awhile later. Yay! I'm always glad when my family is off the road. I got Preston ready for bed while Mike unloaded the car. I tucked Preston in and kissed him goodnight. I then kissed Stockton goodnight. He was already asleep. I went in to kiss Jorja goodnight. Her covers were all a mess. I tried to straighten them, but Jorja told me she liked them that way. I kissed her goodnight and told her I loved her. I stopped by her door and looked back at her and told her I loved her again. That's when it happened. I heard the phone ring. I immediately knew what was going on and Jorja immediately knew she was busted. She had a look of someone who had just been caught on her face. I was so mad. I looked for the phone, but it stopped ringing before I got to it. The home phone automatically calls my cell phone after two rings. Isaac knows this, so he has learned to hang up after two rings. He called right back. By this time I had found the phone and I answered. I was steaming mad. I can't describe how mad I was. Now, from the outside, sneaking a phone into your room wouldn't seem like a big deal; and certainly Jorja and Isaac have done other things that have frustrated me and been worse over the course of their friendship. This bothered me like nothing has bothered me before. Both of them knew I did not want them on the phone. It was 12:30 in the morning. School was the next day. I had already taken Jorja's phone away and told her she couldn't talk to him. I realized that when Jorja was sitting on the edge of the couch with me she was actually sneaking our home phone downstairs into her room. I have never yelled at my kids, but today I was whisper yelling. I was so mad. Jorja was crying and saying she was sorry. She said Isaac told her he had something important to talk to her about. I said, "I hope whatever he was going to say was worth losing your mother's trust." Seriously. I feel like I have been more than understanding with these two. How can I ever trust either one of them? I feel they don't respect me and think they are above the rules I set. I am not unreasonable with my rules either. I came upstairs and was trying to tell Mike what happened. I couldn't even talk. I sat there stuttering trying to explain. I was shaking. I was furious. I have never needed to punish one of my teenagers before. That changes now. Mike immediately went and disconnected our home phone. I don't think we are going to reconnect it ever again.