Christmas is almost here!

On Saturday Nicholas and I went out on a little mother/son shopping day at the mall. We were NOT productive AT ALL! We were kind of selfish and only looked at stuff we wanted for ourselves and only came away with one present. BUT, we had a lot of fun and it wasn't stressful. The stress will set in at the end of this week when I realize that I only have a week left to get things done. I am determined though, to not have an overly done christmas! Here are some pics of our outing together...

At the apple store, playing/drooling over the Mac we want...

Didn't you know these hats are the latest and coolest??? Um...either did I!

Candied almonds Mmmmm!!!

Thankful for...

This month is the month of Thanksgiving and I have truly never felt so thankful for so many things. Despite the surprises that life has thrown my way, I feel blessed and happy that we have had so many good experiences to balance out the not so pleasant ones. I am so thankful for the stability of the Gospel in my life. Our Heavenly Father and our Savior are the same yesterday, today and tomorrow and I can always count on them. I know that there is a plan and that with faith I can make it through the roughest storms. I am SOOO thankful for my wonderful friends! I can't believe how blessed I am in this area of my life. I feel truly looked after and know that I have been sent these angels to be my friends to help me along to give support and love and acceptance. And oh I can't forget loving parents that make me want to be just like them when I grow up. How did I get these wonderful parents? They are so selfless and such an inspiration to me. I am thankful for a husband that is willing to do what needs to be done! I am thankful for his positive attitude and for all the meals that he has made this year while he has been home! Thank you Clark for being my Manny! Seriously, you are such a great dad and I am very thankful that you let me be me and you never act embarrassed of my dancing and you don't act put out if I sometimes am in and out and gone for long periods of time. I guess I had better mention that I am thankful for my children ;) Yes I love those little monsters! They make me laugh and the older ones make me a little crazy too but oh I love them! I hope that I don't cause them too much money in therapy when they grow up!

What the heck?

What the heck? Why haven't I updated this thing?? I made our blog private because some stupid jerk left a rude comment. I didn't feel like it was worth it to blog anymore so I haven't. But I am over the idiocy of others and I ultimately have control over what comments get posted anyway. So, if you want to leave a mean comment, bring it on! Just don't be such a coward as to not leave the identity of who you are! Come on! I love a good confrontation...I can dish it out big time! For the rest of my sweet friends, sorry about that little rant!

So big things have been happening in the Jones family. Some big ups and some major downs but when it comes down to it we are pretty darn happy so we'll keep on keeping on. That's all you can do right?

Highlighting the ups (cause no-one wants to hear about the downs including myself)
Charlie had his number 1 birthday! WHAT? Yes it is true! Our little monster baby is one year old! Here are some pictures of his very special day...

You get to choose Charlie! Which one do you pick?? He chose blue BTW

Ahh, he is a super cute boy and we love him tons and tons! He makes our downs feel lighter and he always brings us to smiles real quick!

What else, what else...oh Clark has done some projects around the house that I have been planning for him to do for a million years or so. He finally got beadboard put up around our island in the kitchen. He did a great job and I helped a little. I painted so that is a good contribution. Now give me your opinion. To distress or not to distress.? You see, I always planned on scuffing it up and sanding it down. I love that look. But after I painted it and it was all shiny and new, Clark chickened out and told me not too. But of course, the ultimate decision is mine so I think I'm going to have to do it. You can always paint over it if it doesn't look good...right?


We also had a surprise trip to St George. It was much needed and way fun! We went with some good friends who took pity on us and who were so kind to let us crash their vacation! They knew Clark had the time off from work ;). My favorite thing was going to Zion National Park. It is one of my favorite places. We have so many good time memories at that place and I am so glad we could go and make some more! My kids love, love, love to swim so they had a blast doing that non-stop! It was Charlie's first time swimming and he loved it!

What else...Oh my Birthday! It was a fun birthday! I went out multiple times with friends but wasn't good about taking pictures, and yes I wore the same shirt on two occasions. I have the best friends who made my birthday really fun. I have lots of love for my dear friends. I am definitely blessed in that area of my life. I wish I could have celebrated with everyone. BUT Clark thinks that I celebrated enough and I say NEVER! I am thankful...

Look at my my cute friends! These are my "oldest" friends in the picture above. NOT that we are OLD! (Marcee--if you ever look at this blog don't be mad that I put a picture of you on here!)

And a couple of cute pictures that I just love...

Date Night Dance

Well the night finally came...and went...the Date Night Dance! It was SOOO fun! We all danced hard! In fact I am still sore! My neck is kinda killing me but it was worth it. We will have to do it again for sure. The chocolate fountains were so much fun and everyone brought the yummiest treats! We definitely proved that everything tastes good with chocolate on it! I am so glad that we took time to learn the Hoedown Throwdown and other line dances at aerobics. It made it a lot more fun. It was like in the movies when everyone just miraculously knows the same dance. I hope everyone had as much fun as we did. I sure loved dancing with my hubby!

A little SUNSHINE!

A lot has happened around here lately and I can't bring myself to do an update. Instead I thought that I would distract myself with some sun. I am officially sick of cold weather. Everyone knows that now is the time to start thinking about Spring and Summer! Now is the time to get ready to think about putting on a swimming suit. How do we know this? Just go to the store...the swim-suits are everywhere! If you don't get a suit now it's hard to find one that you like...With that in mind I had to snatch up some cute swim trunks with surf boards on it and a swim shirt for Charlie! Then I had to put them on him and take pictures of course. He loves the camera BTW. He gets so excited to cheese it up whenever I get it out! LOVE IT! So here is a little bit of my sunshine to brighten my day and hopefully yours!

New Years and Resolutions!

HaPpY NeW YeAr! We had so much fun on New Year's Eve with great friends and great food. Throw in some illegal fireworks and you've got a great party! We won't mention how the fireworks almost killed the girls watching their BOYS have a great time blowing things up! Hahaha. It's the First Monday of the new year and you know what that means...FHE Family goal setting session. Every New year our little family takes the opportunity to set family goals. We write them down and put them up so we can remember them throughout the year. The goals range from vacations that we want to take, to helping individuals accomplish things that are important to them. We already started a family goal to read the scriptures every night NO MATTER WHAT. Even if we are on vacation, even if it's way past our bedtimes and we are so tired. We have been doing it for about 6 weeks and it has been awesome.

I wanted to list 10 things that are MY goals for the year...

#1. The Exercies goal- Exercise 6 x's per week. EVEN ON SATURDAYS!

#2. Build up my food storage

#3. With Clark (finally) finish all the projects around the house. The list is long

#4. Grow a garden

#5. Have pictures of family printed and put in books- doesn't need to be fancy!

#6. Try one new recipe a week

#7. Learn a new skill-(like sewing

#8. Be more organized- computer room, my closet, etc.

#9. Take time to enjoy my kids-especially the older ones! Take them on dates.

#10. Get away with Clark---ALONE

oh and one more which is pretty darn important...

**Work on developing my relationship with Christ!**

Sun Valley in the WINTER

After Christmas we went to Sun Valley to experience the place in winter. Because it is in fact a ski resort as well as a great place to visit in the summer. It was also Nicholas' birthday on the 29th and we wanted to do something fun for his birthday. Our visit consisted of Room service, swimming in the outdoor pool, Tubing at Dollar Mountain, Room Service, Swiiming, Eating, lots of Hot Chocolate and eating some more! It was really fun. Nicholas got a new Ski outfit for his Birthday and got to Swim three time on his birthday so he was a happy kid. Charlie got bundled up too many times to count and he looked so cute with his chubby dimpled cheeks sticking out. Everyone was in love with him!

Christmas

Santa came to our house, even though there were some major doubts as to His existence. These murmurings and suspicions were kept inside and not spoken aloud because the consequences of doubting Santa out loud meant a terrible repercussion...he wouldn't come! No fooling! So even though it wasn't spoken of, some of the magic was missing. There was no watching the Santa tracker from NORAD, and there wasn't the hurry to bed before Santa catches us frenzy. There was no mention of setting out cookies, and the usual letter that Santa leaves threatening, I mean encouraging, the boys to be good the upcoming year wasn't left for the boys to find Christmas morning. Sad. The bright side is that we can start anew with Charlie so at least there is that to look forward to. Christmas Eve is my favorite part of Christmas. We have an annual family Christmas party at my parents house. My sisters and brothers come if they can and we have a fantastic program! At least I think it is fantastic. I think it is something that Clark has really had to get used to. It is what Christmas is all about to me and when it has to change I don't know what I'll do! My nieces play Christmas music expertly on their violins and my sister and her girls sing and play beautiful music on the piano. My brother-in-law recites the funniest poems that I've heard every Christmas Eve since I was 4 years old! It is at these times when everyone is regaling us with their talents that I realize I pretty much suck and that I haven't taught my boys any better. So, Nicholas memorized part of the Grinch stole Christmas and recited that. It was great that he represented our family! Then the part of the night that everyone looks forward to every year...The Money game. That is what we call it. My mom wraps about 25 gifts with funny things, like dollar store games and giant candy bars. We read the night before Christmas and pass the gifts around about a million times. The object is to try to get the big prize. You see, she has money hidden in these silly gifts and there is sometimes a 20 dollar bill to be found! There are also several ones and a couple of fives. This year I got the mother load! Ah it was great! Christmas day was fun also. The boys got way too much as usual. I always think that they are going to have a modest Christmas and worry that I didn't really get them anything. Then when it is all brought out from hiding, it just keeps coming and treasures are found that you have forgotten about and by the end you have this embarrassing load of presents. Not only are they under the tree but they are extending far out in every direction! But of course I will not let that happen next year and either will any of you...ya right!