Auntie Joy

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! Every year (and this one is no exception) we get a package from Auntie Joy in Canada. Along with the special gift for each of us is a chocolate letter with our initial. Every year, without fail, we get the chocolate letter.

Even before we opened the package Dallin read who it was from and said; "Mom, let's open that one, I want to eat my chocolate letter!" (Sadly this is not a picture of our actual letters, they have been eaten.)

We always feel so special that she remembers us! Thank you Auntie Joy!!

Did I mention I am a dork?

Let me esplain Lucy....

On Tuesday and Thursday mornings I haul my body out of bed at dark thirty, stumble into my clothes, and drive with one eye open to Taylor Jr. High where a mean, mean lady kicks my buns. She calls it "Haute Bod Boot Camp". It's actually been good for me. I feel tons stronger, my clothes fit better and I don't have so much guilt when I eat 5 chocolate turtles in a row.

I've been doing it for a few months now and just signed up for another month...lucky me.

One of the best parts about this is the fun group of ladies that go too. We all stumble in together, sweat really hard, laugh a little and complain about how tough it is and we all show up the next time. When I sleep in ($&%*@ #!) I am missed. It's motivating to have people to encourage me.

Today was no different. My alarm went off at 4:40. I stumbled out of bed, pulled on my exercise clothes, grabbed my weights, mat, water and keys all in the dark. No need to turn on the lights, it's better if I'm still asleep and don't process what I'm getting myself into.

I got to the gym on time and had a really great work out. We do a lot of lunging and sprinting and squatting and planks and....really, I'd rather not re-live it. All this I do with many other women.

After the sweat-fest, now much more alert, I drove home to find my hubby (who usually is up and ready for his turn at the gym) still snuggled in a very warm bed. So, I kicked off my shoes and crawled back in bed for forty more winks sweaty clothes and all. (Don't gross out, today is laundry day-I'll wash the sheets.)

So where's the part about me being a dork?? Here it is...

Time to get up and get ready for the day. I climb out of bed, turn on the light and what do I find exactly where I kicked them off a few minutes ago?

The shoes I wore to the gym.


Yep, one Adidas and one Nike.


You would think I would have noticed...


You would think my FRIENDS would have noticed...

We must all be sleeping through the workout.

Yep, I'm a dork.

Maura likes...

Pockets,


Pink,


Pointing,



and pontificating!





(What other 'P' word could I use??)

Keeping up with the Joneses

The Saturday after Christmas the Jones family gathers at Doug and Julie's home for dinner and catching up. This year was a great turn out. We have grown so big (in numbers and size) that I hardly recognize everyone.



We missed those of you who were sick or were far a way.

We'll see you all in June for the Jones Reunion at the Heaton Ranch!!

Christmas Morning

Here we are in all our finest....pj's that is. Complete with bed head and sleeping wrinkles. If I had photo shop I would probably try to make us look a little younger and our hair a little less crazy...or not. Reality is quite refreshing (or so I tell myself).

Took it myself with my fancy camera timer.

There were several takes before the natives rebelled. Still have the scary hair and tired eyes (it's 4:30 in the morning for goodness sakes!).

Maura wasn't quite sure what to think about everything. She was a little scared of the "chrotodile" at first.


Once she got past the crocodile, she really got into opening gifts.


She helped daddy get everything out of his stocking,

then watched Dallin as he opened his.

Then the gifts. Parker was very helpful.


Maura's favorite of the day was her treasure chest full of princess dresses!

Daddy was very helpful in trying them out.


Dallin's favorite gift was a basketball hoop he and Adam put up above the garage.


Maura loved her back pack from Colleen and her stick horse from Dallin.


Adam enjoyed his book I made for him. I scanned all his old baby pictures and collected stories from friends and family to put into a book. It turned out great!

It was such a fun day to be together! We enjoyed all the gifts from friends and family far away! Thank you so much!

Luminaria

Each year our neighborhood does a traditional luminaria display. The Young Men and Young Women in our ward put together a kit for each house that includes bags, candles, sand and instructions. They then deliver them to every home in the neighborhood. On Christmas eve, the bags are filled with sand and a candle is lit in each one. It is a really fun tradition for our neighborhood.

We started filling our bags in the afternoon. I'm so glad I had helpers!


We needed a little more sand, so we found a sandbox to raid. (Love the sweatshirt and no shoes?)

Maura was a big helper!

When Adam got home we lit the candles.

We had to make sure the candles didn't touch the bag and catch on fire.


Traditionally many people in the neighborhood walk around and enjoy the lights. Most of us stop at the Tucker's house for donuts and hot chocolate.



It was a nice warm treat.

Maura liked the chocolate covered donuts.


We love this neighborhood tradition.

Mistletoe

While our good friends were here playing the kids discovered we had mistletoe hanging above a doorway. It created quite the stir. They chased and dragged and kissed each other and had a great time.

Then I made them pose:

Dallin looks so upset by the whole ordeal (eye roll).

Teac and Maura wanted a picture too.


Maura was so serious about the whole thing. She usually mugs for the camera, but this time she was being very strange. She didn't move much and stared straight ahead!

I think she was a little spun.


I love mistletoe!

I inherited this really cute nativity from my mom. It's quite unique.

I also have the Little People nativity that regularly gets mixed in with the other toys. It's hard to find all the parts but the kids love to play with it.

Currently Mary and Joseph are missing but joining the sheep is an elephant, a seal, a lion two camels, and a circus monkey...go figure.

This is my only other nativity!


I realized I need to do some collecting....maybe I'll have to hit the after Christmas sales.

Speaking of dress-up....

Our friends have been here from Columbia en route to Montenegro (yeah, I had no idea where it was either, check it out here). We've had a great time visiting and the kids have loved playing together. Of course one of the favorites is dress-up. I went downstairs to help with the costumes and here comes Teac (short for Teancum) demanding "I want to be a princess!!" "What about being a pirate or a cowboy?" I ask. "NO!" "I am a princess!" Okay, so a princess he was. He found a beautiful pink shiny dress to wear. Very stunning.

A few days later this is what greeted me at the door...


"I'm Teac-erbell!!" he yells entirely serious as we try to swallow our giggles and I grab for my camera.


He did a great job of flapping and trying to fly too!

You go Teac-erbell. Love the dress-up, and what a great imagination. I'm sure glad his dad is comfortable with his masculinity...or is there something we need to know about how you dress at home, James?

When you're as short on dress-up clothes as we are you learn to make do with what you have. On Saturday during the shower the dress-up of choice was her tu-tu and pink slippers with sparkles on them.


"Dancing" for the camera.

She wore this lovely outfit the entire day. Adam and I went out Saturday night and a babysitter watched the kids. Sunday morning we found her in her bed still in her tu-tu. No doubt she demanded to sleep in it!

Hidden Treasures

This morning as I was searching for an SD card to give pictures to someone I stumbled upon these pictures! To me it's like finding a chest full of doubloons! Although the pictures are poor quality and rather small, they are more valuable to me than almost anything. They remind me of what a fun kid Garrett was.

This was taken several years ago at my sister's house in Wyoming. The kids were wrangled by Rae into dressing up and doing a play. I believe they are suppose to be pirates.


The whole pirate gang, complete with tatoos. Evidently Garrett was the only modest pirate among the boys. If you look closely you can see him showing off his "LOVE" tatoo (I think it was permanent magic marker and stayed on for a week or so) on his bicep.


Another couple of pictures probably taken on a camera phone at night in a backyard-not the best quality photo, but oh, do I love them!

This was at my cousin Andrew's wedding reception (read back yard hoe-down). All the little kids got a chance to ride the pony.


Yeah, he loved it.

I'm so happy to have found these this morning. I've been missing him a lot lately and thinking about how he would enjoy this holiday with us and all the fun things we've been doing. Now I've got my 'Garrett fix' for today.

Baby Shower

This past week we had a super fun baby shower at my house! I can't take any credit for the yummy food or cute decorations but I got to eat and enjoy the party.


Rachel, Natalia and Leslie were in charge of decorations and food. They did a terrific job!

Cute, cute, cute decorations!


Plentiful and yummy food.

Seriously, I couldn't get it all in one shot!


There was much gift giving,


Tons of pink,

A really comfy rocker,



and plenty of hanging out.


Thanks gals for a great time. My house was soooo clean after you left. It was a great party, sign me up anytime!