Last day of the month...

It's the last day of February and if I want to keep up on my goals I had better post today! This month was pretty good. February is a hard month because of the weather and the lack of vitamin D, ya know? My boys had practically the entire month off because they were off track. I get tired of that real quick but it was super nice to have babysitters home so I could leave and go kid-less if I needed to.

We had our annual candlelight Valentines dinner with the family. That is a fun tradition that we all like a lot but it takes a lot of prep work. We had an extra yummy steak and salmon dinner with asparagus and squash. Mmmm. Chocolate dipped strawberries and cheesecake for dessert (that no one ate cause the boys had a bad cold but it is always better the next day anyways).

Charlie ate chocolate and looked darn cute doing it!

Oooh, I had a fabulous girls weekend with my best friends from high school. We stayed at the Grand America, went shopping up in Park City and stayed up late doing ZUMBA! It was a blast! I wish I had pictures to document the occasion but we were too busy to take pics I guess. I want to do duplicate the weekend with all my good friends ;) so let's get a plan going girls. I don't know who I am talking to here cause I don't think any of my friends look at this blog LOL!

I have done my duty for this month... C-YA

Goals...

Since it is still January we are FINALLY going to have our annual goal setting FHE tonight. I REALLY love doing this every year. There is some PoWeR in setting goals. Even just writing down the things that you want to improve/accomplish is powerful because even if you never look at those things again for the rest of the year, you are still a lot more likely to accomplish some of those things versus if you never wrote them down. Does that make sense???? Well it's a fact people. There is some kind of magic in it and I think it is cool. We haven't gotten around to goal setting yet because of the craptastic month we have had. (I think I am going to submit craptastic to Webster...it's a good one)

Crappy event #1 and only (cause this is so crappy that we only need 1) is that Clark's dad suddenly and unexpectedly passed away. He literally fell over and died. He was busy working and serving as he did every single day and when he was done, he was done for good. Paramedics were able to get his heart going and so we had three days to love him and say goodbye and make peace with the fact that this was really happening. I hate seeing my husband and kids sob. It cracks your heart in a big way. Not to mention my sweet mother in law. I really love my father in law also, and realized that he was really my second daddy. I will miss him popping up at my front door with something that we need saying "Well hello young lady!" And to my boys always "Hello young man!" I look around my home and realize that he has left a big impression that I never realized before. I see all the Christmas books that he put together every year for I don't know how long. I see a rocking horse, and multiple wood toys that he made for Charlie and several pinewood derby cars that he made for Nicholas and Ethan. I see the tile that he layed in our bathroom. I see several tools that he let us borrow and then insisted that we keep. I look outside and see the swingset he cemented for life in the backyard. I then realize he gave us the trampoline, picnic table, and big shade umbrella. He helped dig drains and put gravel on the side of our house. I look at my flower beds and remember that every spring he delivers a big pile of mulch to us. SOOO many little kindnesses. He always did what he could for us and for everybody around him. My boys will sure miss going to BYU football and basketball games with Grandpa. They got so spoiled when they went with him! He would buy them anything they looked at at those games from hats to hotdogs and dippin dots. It's hard to think that my boys won't be going on one more fishing trip to trial lake with Grandpa too. So many wonderful memories...

Alrightly, so maybe I will get to writing my goal on this here blog soon. One goal that I will write is that I want to update this thing at least once a month. I wrote it down here so there is some power in that right???

Ah...good intentions.

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!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Too Lazy I guess

Oaky so It is too cold and snowy to deliver flyers, so I am not going to be including everyone in my great idea of Toys for Tots instead of neighbor gifts after all. I will save the flyer for next year and be more proactive EARLIER! So, if you don't get a neighbor gift from us just know that we love all y'all!!

Santa Baby

Tis the season oh yes it is! I am sure that everyone has their trees up and decorated but we are still in the process around here. It is taking a long time because everything I get out I have to show Charlie and then I end up taking pictures etc. Here is my favorite picture...at least from today. OOOOHHHH TOO CUTE!

Merry Christmas to everyone! We love, love, love all our wonderful friends amd neighbors. We are truly blessed that our neighbors ARE our friends. Speaking of Neighbors and friends...for anyone who reads this, and I know that there are so many ;), we are trying to get our neighors to participate in a Toys for Tots drive INSTEAD of doing neighbor gifts. More info to come...we are making flyers etc. We thought it would be nice to focus our energy on something to show our kids a little bit more CHRISTmas spirit. Next FHE we are going to shop for a toy and then we will collect toys for everyone to donate. Not necessarily on Monday but by the 19th or so. I know that there are some very crafty neighbors who do such fun neighbor gifts (myself included of course...j/k,) and people may already have plans or have purchased things and that is great. Love all y'all who are prepared! But for anyone that wants to participate, please do!! We will bring a flyer around most likely tomorrow (Saturday). I wanted to have them out by the 1st but...I hurt my back and haven't done much of anything this week.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

You've come a long way baby!

Today my little Charlie is 6 months old! Where has the time gone? We' have definitely come a long way in 6 months! Charlie is the best part of all of our days around here. We all seem to live to make him smile and laugh. I don't know what we did for entertainment before he came along. Look at this cute smile! He has two teeth already, but I can't seem to get a picture of them darnit.

leetle bit more on Sun Valley

So a little bit more about our trip to Sun Valley... It was sooo much fun! We filled all our time with lots of activities and had such a great time. We want to make it a tradition to go on Labor Day because they have so many fun things going on. My favorite thing was the ice show. It was amazing. I had a perma-grin the whole time. Ethan's favorite part was a really fancy Sunday brunch. He likes all things ritzy. Here are just a few pics of some of the things we did.
Here is Clark with a Viper, I think...Ha ha I am such a girl! They had a car auction that was really fun to watch! Next year we are going to bring $10,000 and see what we can pick up...ya right! Ethan was shopping for the car he wants to pick his prom date up in. He kept asking if he looked good next to every car. It was funny.

We all went horseback riding, all of us except for Charlie that is. Clark and I took turns taking the boys. It was really fun but a killer to the knees! It was the boys first time riding and they acted like old pros. This is Nicholas on Truman. They teased Nicholas that his horse's nickname was the "widow-maker"...ya, I don't think so. He was sleeping when Nicholas climbed up on him!

Here's Ethan and Clark coming in from their ride. I am not posting the picture of me on a horse because you might mistake it for a picture of a cow riding a horse! Seriously Clark took THE most unflattering picture of me from behind twisting in a weird way...anyway, nobody wants to see that!

Here are all of our cute boys in the Lodge lobby...This was right after the boys got in a tug a war with Charlie as the rope! They were fighting over who got to hold him. Luckily this was the end result.

And here is our one family picture outside the Lodge. Fun times!

Leaving Sun Valley

Wrapping up with breakfast at Gretchen's… Be home in abt 5 hrs! Bummer… We had a great time with swimming, horseback rides, more swimming, & some tasty food. I'll let Jana tell y'all more, but back in a bit!


-- Posted from my iPhone

Ethan's going horseback riding for his first time

Ethan's getting to know Gus, his trusty steed…


-- Posted from my iPhone

Sun Valley

Little kids at the ice skating show at Sun Valley. It's hilarious!



-- Posted from my iPhone

Our new car

Here's Nicholas standing in front of our new car and a pic of the dash… I wish!!





-- Posted from my iPhone

Random stuff

This is just way cute!

This is just way gross...

And this is just way cute too!

K- there are some pictures. I don't update my blog very often because it just takes too long to type with one hand while holding a baby with the other. I have tried a number of times and gave up. The said baby is sleeping for the next couple seconds so I will try to actually post this time.

• Random thoughts that are coming to me are...I just read a really good book for book club. Jill Rudman's pick and I have to say it was really good. I am pretty sure that I am going to make it required reading for both my older boys. It is called: Little Britches- My Father and I were Ranchers. (I think that is the name). Can't wait to discuss tomorrow night!

• I really like year round school for the fact that I am school shopping for them at totally different times then the rest of the world is school shopping. We don't have to deal with massive crowds when traditional school starts. Seriously, have you been to the mall lately?! The shoes stores alone are crazy crowded. I also like that I really don't feel the need to do a major wardrobe update before school starts because they are really always going school, so we don't have to worry about a big haul of new stuff all at once.

• I really love my neighbors! I love that we can ask for help and know that we are not putting any one out...too bad. And vice versa I hope.

• I also like that everyone keeps giving me their $5.00 off coupons for Similac and also their samples that they get in the mail! Awesome and SO nice!

Alright my seconds are up...he's awake!