Keeping up with the Joneses

SG's Baptism

2011-11-03T20:17:00.001-07:00

SG was baptized on Oct. 29th. It was a wonderful baptism and the spirit was strong. Her G&G Jones and Aunt Shelley all flew into Seattle for the occasion. We had a lot of fun and ate lots of good food. Many friends were able to attend. Notice the necklace G&G LeMon?

Camping in Mt. Baker

2011-09-22T22:18:00.000-07:00

Camping Scenery

2011-09-22T22:15:00.000-07:00

K, 3rd and 5th

2011-09-08T12:22:00.000-07:00

Running

2011-09-03T11:59:00.000-07:00

I used to run track and field back in the day, but that was a long time ago. I joined a gym back in January and signed up to run the Seattle Rock n Roll Half Marathon to help motivate me to get into shape. I decided to run an 8k in May to see what it was like to run a race. I ran 9:20 min. miles, but I was not sure how in the world I was going to run a half marathon.I met this lady while waiting to run the half marathon in June. We had to wait in corrals for over an hour before our corral was released. This race was so much fun, but I don't think I'll ever run one again. I was sore for many days afterward. That lovely bruise on my forehead is from opening the van door into my face. Oops!
Lastly, I ran a 10k in August in Snoqualmie. This was a fun race, and the area is really beautiful. I do enjoy running, but my shins do not. After a race I usually cannot run for a week or two, so we'll see if my running days are over.

RR Turns 5!

2011-08-30T13:21:00.000-07:00

We celebrated RR's birthday a bit late, because on her actual birthday we drove all the way back from UT. We decided to keep it pretty low key since many of her friends were out of town or couldn't make it. We tried to make the day special, since she was sooooooo excited about turning 5. This girl has a funny nick name that Brian gave to her, but I won't give it away on here. AE made this cute mobile type thing for her.She received a remote Hex Bug.
Some stackable robots.
Of course, Brian made his triple layered mousse cake extravaganza for her, and it was AMAZING!!!!!!!

LeMon Family Reunion

2011-08-21T16:16:00.000-07:00

The last few days in Utah were a whirlwind. All of my siblings and their families had traveled to UT to help my parents celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. My siblings had decided to re-create my parents first date. My parents hiked to Timp Cave and had a picnic at Aspen Grove just over 50 years ago. From their first date to the day they were married was exactly 1 month!! Yep, that's right 1 month. We did sealings in the Salt Lake temple Thursday evening, hiked Timp Cave and had a picnic Friday morning. Saturday morning at 7:30AM we had family photos, and the rest of the day was spent prepping for a huge party for my parents and packing a month's worth of stuff into our van, because we were leaving at 5AM the next day to drive the entire day back to Seattle. It was exhausting, but so worth it!!SM posing at the party.
AE playing one of the games at the party.
BBQ at my bro's house on Sat.
Cute couple.
The hike up to Timp Cave with SM on my back. When she fell asleep I swear she gained about 20 pounds.

4-Wheelin

2011-08-19T09:35:00.000-07:00

After Bear Lake we drove back to Alpine and I picked up Brian from the airport at 1AM. The next day we headed up the canyon with G & G Jones and Aunt Laura and her 2 kids. We all took turns riding on Grandpa's ATV.

Brian with AE and SG.

Brian with RR. Her T-shirt reads "My Dad Rocks." It's her favorite shirt.

SG with Grandpa about to endeavor on a 2 hour trip. It was so beautiful up there, pictures never do it justice.

Bear Lake

2011-08-16T09:14:00.000-07:00

My sister Michele and I headed up to Bear Lake sans husbands and met up with our sister Lori and her family. I was quite proud of myself for remembering how to set up our tent and convincing my very newly potty trained 3 yr. old to go to the bathroom on the disgusting vault toilets at the campground. We spent an afternoon at the lake and rented a wave runner.

After the beach we all got some famous Bear Lake shakes.

We really crammed a lot of stuff into that van, and only stopped 4 times (sarcasm) on the 2.5 hour drive there.

In Between

2011-08-15T08:05:00.000-07:00

After Brian's fam. reunion, and before my fam. reunion me and the girls headed to my sister's house and Brian went back to Seattle. We went to Gateway in SLC and ran through the fountains.

We went up AF Canyon and had picnics.

We went to the Tracy Aviary and fed birds.

We went to the Highland Splash Pad and much more. Getting back to reality is hard, especially when that reality is accompanied by a chill in the air and a noticable lack of sun.

More Joneses

2011-08-13T08:15:00.000-07:00

The kids found a new favorite place at Provo Beach Resort. I have yet to figure out why it has this name, as there is no beach and no resort. It did have a fun ropes course that the older girls had a blast on.

While in Provo we were able to get together with the Richardson's. They just happen to be in Provo too visiting from NY. It was so fun to catch up and see the kids play together.

Of course, we ate more yummy food.

Plus some Rock Band. Good times.

Jones Family Reunion

2011-08-12T16:47:00.000-07:00

Food, delicious food, great food and some more really amazing food. That was the theme of the Jones Family Reunion. We had a Food Challenge where each family was given the secret ingredient the night before and had to use it in a dish. Brian grilled pork with braised cauliflower, grilled red pepper and of course, the secret ingredient of artichoke. We never judged anything, but this was the winner of the night for me.

Laura made some delicious home made artichoke ravioli. Yummmmm!
All the grand kids in order of height.

End of another school year

2011-06-29T15:56:00.000-07:00

Where did the time go? We've been out of school for a week now, so I guess I better update the blog before July. RR graduated from pre-school in early June. She looked so darn cute in her cap. She performed a song with a few other kids and was dressed as a duck. It is very hard to believe she will be in Kindergarten next year. I think she'll do great and I know she's excited to walk to school with her big sisters in the fall.

RR also finished a year of ballet and modern dance. For the final performance she was seaweed, and did a choreographed routine that mimicked seaweed floating in the ocean.
SM did a little creative dance class in the winter, but is still using her "skillz."
On a totally random note, I started putting out an after-school tray out for the kids to eat as soon as they got home from school. I tried to put more healthy things in there and occasionally I'll be nice and put something fun like gummy worms on it. Thanks to my friend Liz for this idea.
AE and SG both had concerts that were performed at the middle school, but we only have video and I've yet to figure out how to post that. AE played her violin very skillfully, and sang with her class and SG gave a sweet performance as well. AE is now taking violin everyday from 9-12 at the middle school and her playing is getting better every day.

The Cabin

2011-06-16T21:35:00.000-07:00

Last weekend Brian's boss offered us his cabin on Lake Wenatchee, so right after church we were off. Sunday we settled in, napped and explored the cabin. It is bigger than our house!! On Memorial Day we decided to take a short hike. We loaded in the car and set off. We drove for a long time on a narrow, bumpy road. We eventually came to this log in the road and I told Brian to go use his super-human dad powers and move it. He was unsuccessful, but with some coaching I was able to get past it only to find the road impassable just ahead. There was a few feet of snow on the road and signs of people getting stuck there, so we scrapped the hike and made a snowman instead.

We tried another road only to find it totally closed off by fallen trees. We made one last attempt to drive to a look-out only to be stopped by snow again just a mile and a half away from the look-out. Oh well.....we had a wonderful time and Brian braved the freezing water to try out the kayak. It was a short one night stay and we hit terrible traffic on our way home in Stevens Pass, but overall, it was very relaxing and hopefully we get the opportunity to go again someday.

Now, Where Were We?

2011-05-28T08:40:00.000-07:00

Instead of playing catch-up, we'll just go from here. Last weekend we went camping at Potholes State Park. Things started off a bit rough when we got to our reserved camp-site and found a Killdeer's nest in the middle of camp. The parents protecting their little nest of 4 eggs were hard to ignore. So, we went back to the front gate and were able to get a different site. Once at our site we were immediately attacked by millions of mosquitos. We drowned our kids in bug spray, but our little skirt wearers really got eaten alive. Then as we settled in our tent for the night, someone pulls into the site next to us and is setting up their camp at 10:30 while listening to their fav. country songs blaring in the background. After starting their fire they then realized that the site they were in was reserved. We heard them talking about moving their fire to another fire ring. Then dumb and dumber got out their ax and started chopping wood. Seriously?!?! Why did we go camping again? Brian went over and luckily they quited down pretty quick. I thought for sure we'd be packin up in the morning and going anywhere but there. Luckily, Saturday was better and we did a few little hikes and then took a family nap in the afternoon. By the time we had S'mores life was good again and memories of mosquitos and foul-mouthed drunk men were slipping away.

Sunday we went to the Gingko Petrified Forest. SM photo-bombing RR. Love it!

We told the girls we had one more stop, and that it was a surprise. They kept seeing a sign for Wild Horse something, so they thought we were going horse-back riding for sure. Unfortunately for them, we were headed to the Wild Horse Wind Farm. Brian and I thought it was really cool and learned a lot about wind energy, but a few of the girls were crying, because there were no horses. I asked the lady at the front desk where the horses were and she said that the name of the mountain is the Whiskey-Dick Mountain, but that the owners didn't want to use that name, so instead they went with Wild Horse, because there were wild horses in that area about 90 years ago.

It was cool being that close to the windmills. It was nice to be in warm sunny weather while Seattle was getting rained on. I think it's safe to say that we won't be going to Eastern WA again anytime soon, but we're glad we went.

Great Wolf Flop

2011-03-24T14:20:00.000-07:00

We went to Great Wolf Lodge again this year for Mid-winter break. AE came down with a fever the day before we left and was feeling terrible. By the end of our first day there SG was also sick, and RR woke up not feeling well in the middle of the night. The kids felt more like sleeping in our room than playing at the water park.

Instead of paying for way over-priced food we found out about a casino nearby and enjoyed the buffet. AE was really feeling miserable at this point.

Somehow, SM never really got the crud that was going around, and RR quickly recovered in less than a day. I'll attribute that to getting the younger 2 flu shots. Next year--flu shots for everybody!!!!

SM ate her weight in food at the buffet. She ate more than all her sisters combined. I think she had 6 or 7 different desserts.

We left AE and SG asleep in the hotel room while we took these two to play in the arcade. Not sure we'll be going there again any time soon.

Double Digits

2011-03-22T21:49:00.000-07:00

Oh my goodness, where does the time go? My dear sweet AE turned 10 on Feb. 23rd. She really wanted a red velvet cake, because she had tried a red velvet cupcake from Trophy Cupcakes and really liked it. Brian worked his magic and made her a delicious cake.

We celebrated her birthday nearly 2 weeks after her real birthday, because on her actual birthday day she came down with the flu and was feeling miserable.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

2011-02-15T22:58:00.000-08:00

Anyone who really knows our girls knows that Valentin's Day is a very special day. I'd say it's a very close second to Christmas. Here's our cookie monster hard at work.

We went to SG's class to visit her during their party. The mom's in this class go way above and beyond. They were nice enough to let SM and RR decorate cupcake's too.

Silly Girls

2011-01-22T09:11:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas

2011-01-02T21:36:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2010 was a good one for the Joneses. Brian and I woke up just before 9 and amazingly none of the kids were awake. Finally around 9:15 AE and SG came up and wanted to open presents. RR soon woke up and we decided to just wake up SM, because that girl can sleep in until 11 if we let her. Brian received many nice things from his loving wife. One of his faves. was this digital weather clock. We've had this clock in our living room for years that has a ticking second hand that drives Brian bonkers. We now know the temp. outside, inside, the barometric pressure and humidity, and the time of course. He also recived clothes, ties and a kitchen scale.

SG loved her new kaleidoscope.

This is a combination of a few presents. I think the kids like playing with the game components more than the actual game sometimes. This is Play-doh and Tumblin Monkeys.

AE and SG worked for days preparing a lunch menu that included some of everybody's favorite foods. They were so thoughtful and spent a lot of time preparing for this. For lunch there were Christmas shaped hot-dog sandwiches, yogurt, raspberries, cookies and ice cream. Other favorites were Qwirkle, Pillow Pet, Snap Circuit Jr. set, Dr. kit, mini lap-top, Snow White DVD, art supplies and candy.

Somehow the girls managed to make their dream of wearing their pj's for nearly the entire break come true. I nearly went stir-crazy and thankfully was able to get out of the house a few times all alone. I am so ready for a regular routine. Only 11.5 hours until the first bell rings for school.

Christmas in Seattle

2010-12-24T23:21:00.000-08:00

Since Blogger was being a brat to my computer I'm only putting up 4 pics. at a time. A few more pics. of our fun downtown. These two rode in style and dryness.

She's in love.

Waiting for "our bus" in the bus tunnel.

Riding home on "our bus." It was lots of fun, and I was exhausted when we got home. We were gone for over 9 hours and the kids never complained once, even when we walked out of our way to get mom a chocolate shake only to find out that they were out of chocolate shakes. Oh well, we settled for an Oreo and a strawberry shake instead.

Teddy Bear Suite

2010-12-24T23:14:00.000-08:00

After the snow we headed to the Fairmont Hotel to check out the Teddy Bear Suite. The girls were in love at first sight. They have decorated a regular suite to be a magical teddy bear wonderland. The girls piled in the bed and buried themselves in teddy bears.

Not sure what this guy was trying to tell me.

SM had already made friends with two teddy bears and was introducing them to this larger teddy bear.l

Is this heaven??

Christmas in the City 2010

2010-12-24T23:04:00.000-08:00

The kids had so much fun last year when we went downtown on Christmas Eve, so we decided to do it again, just not on Christmas Eve, because we learned that everything closes at 5 or 6. The day started off a bit rocky when we missed our bus by seconds. Luckily, we just went across the street and caught a different bus that ended up being faster. Our first stop was at Fisher Pavillion where AE and SG attempted to skate on a very crowded and bumpy ice skating rink. SG said it was one of the funnest things she's done all year.

After our ice skating we headed over to the Pacific Science Center to watch an IMAX film Bugs. Our next stop was via the Monorail. We were off to Westlake for a lovely dinner at the food court in the mall. The girls entertained everyone afterwards with dancing in the food court. We headed off to Top 10 Toys, a fun store with the coolest toys ever. SM found this cute fire engine to ride around on.

SG being SG.

At 6:00 each evening at the Pacific Place mall snow falls. Here's SM waiting patiently for the first flake.

Our kids with the man who doesn't exist

2010-12-20T10:08:00.000-08:00

Brian and I have been talking lately about what a jerk Santa is. Not this Santa who is pictured, because he truly does exist and is a wonderful caring man that took a few minutes with each child. Let me explain before you call me a scrooge. First off, we all know what a child needs to do to get lots of toys, right? Be a good little girl or boy. So, who are the kids that get the most wonderful toys....rich white kids. Take a minute to think about who doesn't get many amazing presents. Also, if I buy my kids presents I want the credit, not some guy who doesn't exist. When our oldest child was very young she came to us and had already figured it out, and the next three were also quick to dismiss him, so we have never included him in our Christmas. I think this also helps us remember the REAL person that did live and die for us, and hopefully the true meaning of Christmas is easier to embrace.

First Day of School

2010-10-31T22:14:00.000-07:00

In all of my catchin up I forgot to post a picture of the first day of school. AE is in 4th grade and SG is in 2nd. RR is in pre-school this year and will attend Kindergarten next year. AE is being challenged this year in many ways. SG has the same wonderful teacher that she had last year and is in a 1/2 split. So far it's been a great year!

One More Party

2010-10-15T21:30:00.000-07:00

Since our kids have big friend birthday parties every other year, this was the year of a low-key one friend only party. SG decided that she wanted to dunk for apples. I couldn't believe how much fun they thought this game was.

Brian wanted to take a turn and dunked his entire head into the bucket. The kids thought this was hilarious.

One of her favorite presents: Glow in the dark Bendaroos.

Twin Falls State Park

2010-10-15T21:23:00.000-07:00

After Franklin Falls AE and I decided to do one more hike together since the other kids were pooped out. At the last second everybody decided they wanted to go too. This hike ended up being a lot longer and more difficult then we thought it would be and somehow we forgot to take any water with us. Doh!

The falls were gorgeous and worth the effort. It rained the entire way back, so I just stuck out my tongue to get some water.

I ran out of steam on the way back, so this amazing specimen of a man carried both back-packs for at least 3/4 of a mile.

Water and Kids

2010-10-15T21:18:00.000-07:00

Seriously, the next vacation we go on we'll rent a cabin right next to a river and just let the kids at it.

Love seeing her little German dessert legs poking out of the backpack.

No Comment

2010-10-15T21:14:00.000-07:00

Franklin Falls

2010-10-15T21:13:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning we checked out of our hotel and headed to Franklin Falls. It's a quick little hike, and the girls hiked on their own two feet again.

That is I-90 westbound above the falls.

Brian climbed up a cliff to get this picture of me next to the falls.

Hiking out.

Discovery Trail

2010-10-15T21:08:00.000-07:00

We decided to just drive along Hwy. 97 to look for another hike to do. We found a Discovery Trail that had a guide to let you know what all corresponding numbers meant. Unfortunately, they were out of guides, so we were on our own. This was a leisurely hike and we let the younger girls walk on their own instead of riding in the back-packs. Just in case Brian ever goes completely bald, we know we have a back-up plan of moss.

The girls had quite the walking stick collection going, so Brian found a nice walking "stick" and joined the club.

Learning to Drive

2010-10-15T21:00:00.000-07:00

To get to our trail-head we had to drive about 8 miles on a dirt road. We never saw another person the whole morning, so I guess that is why Brian decided to let the kids take turns driving the windy, dirt roads. AE and SG absolutely refused to take a turn, but our two youngest did not turn down this opportunity. I remember as a kid doing this on the freeway!!

Red Top Mountain and Agate Bed

2010-10-15T20:57:00.000-07:00

We started off Friday morning to Red Top Mt. At the very top was a fire watch-tower. The 360 view was spectacular! On the way up we could see Mt. Rainier peeking through the clouds.

Brian busted open some rocks to see if we could find agates. We found a few little ones, but the rockhounds have really torn up this area.

Happy 7th Birthday SG

2010-10-15T20:50:00.000-07:00

Last weekend the kids had no school on Friday, so as soon as they got home we headed for the "exciting" city of Cle Elum. As far as small towns go I really enjoyed Cle Elum. People were very friendly, there were plenty of flat bed trucks and the hotel we stayed at allowed all 6 of us to stay in a room together. We went to Beau's Pizza for dinner. The hostess was so nice and kept checking on Sara to make sure she was having a good time on her birthday. They brought her some ice cream for dessert.

We all took turns eating SG's ice cream from Beau's, but we'd already promised the girls that we'd go to Dairy Queen after dinner, so off we went. I haven't been there in over a decade and Brian and the girls had never been. It was a lot to take in and ordering was challenging to say the least, but finally we figured it out. We ended the night by heading back to the hotel to soak in the hot tub. SG said it was the best birthday she's ever had!!!

Ice creammmm.

She loves looking at herself in the mirror, when she's happy and sad.

Seattle Aquarium

2010-10-15T20:42:00.000-07:00

My parents came to Seattle for a few days in September, so we showed them around the town.

Octupus' are seriously cool creatures.

Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!! She's so scary.

Too cute!

Hippie Girl

2010-10-15T20:39:00.000-07:00

Our 6 year old dressed her today.

Happy Labor Day!

2010-10-15T20:37:00.000-07:00

Ok, so I'm way behind on blogging. Labor Day was a quiet day around the Jones household. We started the day by walking out to Marsh Island and Foster Island. There was 0 elevation change and there was water, what more can a kid ask for?

Brian did some much needed yard work. We have 2 holly berry bushes in our back yard that are evil. I have no idea why anyone would ever want those in their yard. When the leaves die and drop to the ground and you unknowingly step on it, it hurts like crazy!!

Brian chopped down a branch that had a nest in it. Inside was a ton of blackberry insides. The nest seriously weighed a few pounds. Weird.

For dinner we had a few friends over for a barbecue and our lovely helpers shucked corn.

The Last Part

2010-08-24T16:33:00.000-07:00

Sweets Candy Factory Tour

2010-08-24T16:32:00.000-07:00

Cabelas

2010-08-24T16:30:00.000-07:00

Overnight Getaway

2010-08-24T16:29:00.000-07:00

Sundance

2010-08-24T16:28:00.000-07:00

Double B'day Party

2010-08-24T16:27:00.000-07:00

Farmyard Adventures

2010-08-24T16:25:00.000-07:00

UT Olympic Park

2010-08-24T16:24:00.000-07:00

Temple Square

2010-08-24T16:23:00.000-07:00

Thanksgiving Point

2010-08-24T16:22:00.000-07:00

The Next Part

2010-08-24T16:20:00.000-07:00

We went to "This Is The Place" one Saturday and had a grand time. It was pretty hot, but we found ways to stay cool.

Our SG got busted.

Riding the train.

Panning for gold.

Part 3

2010-08-24T16:17:00.000-07:00

There's a great Splash Pad in Highland. The water felt great and the kids had a blast!

Part 2

2010-08-24T16:15:00.000-07:00

My sweet mom took her 3 daughters out to lunch at Thanksgiving Point sans kids!!! Thanks Mom.

One Saturday we ventured up to a friends cabin up a very rocky, mini-van unfriendly road. The S'mores made it all worthwhile.

Dipping our toes in the Provo River to cool off. It was worth the $12 we had to pay to do it.

RR in a wig. I can't really remember why, but does it matter?

Making a Long Story Short

2010-08-24T16:09:00.000-07:00

This summer we spent a month in UT. AE and SG spent a week in Washington D.C. visiting their aunt along with 2 of their cousins. I'll post pics. of that later. This first picture is so funny for so many reasons, but unless you were there you probably wouldn't get it, so I'll just leave it here for those of you that were there.

We celebrated my big bros. birthday in style. My bro. is a landscaper person, so my sister came up with this fun game that was a lot like musical chairs, except all of the items were put on him regardless of where the bag was when the music stopped.

My mom taught several art classes while we were staying there, and the final project was an oil painting.

My parents with their 3 daughters and their kids.

The New Swingset

2010-07-15T14:14:00.000-07:00

Our friends who live just the next street over recently moved and we inherited this awesome playground. Brian really loves his girls, because he spent 3 hours taking it apart and 3 hours putting it back together. I stayed up with him till after 1 in the morning assisting him as he managed to make a pile of wood come to life. The girls love their new playground and AE and SG will come home to a nice surprise.

The End

2010-07-10T08:39:00.000-07:00

We had such a wonderful visit and I only documented a fraction of all the things we saw and did. Somehow we have to get the rest of our families to come visit us too!!

Girls/Boys Day

2010-07-10T08:36:00.000-07:00

We all headed to the scratch patch to fill bags with cool rocks, afterwards the girls hit Trophy Cupcakes and did some shopping at the U-Village while the boys went sailing.

Pacific Science Center

2010-07-10T08:33:00.000-07:00

This picture is a little fuzzy because they are blasting off into space.

The butterfly exhibit.

The visiting circus exhibit starring: our kids!

Pikes Place and the Aquarium

2010-07-10T08:29:00.000-07:00

One day we walked all around Pikes Place and ate yummy croissants and saw neat local art and discovered the gum wall. So gross, but yet so cool

Here's the octopus that we got to see having lunch.

This worker at the aquarium gave a part of the squid to our cousins. She was feeding the squid to one of the animals.

The dome aquarium.

Ballard Locks

2010-07-10T08:24:00.000-07:00

We visited the Ballard Locks and got to see the Salmon Ladder. When the locks were put in the engineers created the salmon ladder so the salmon could go between the fresh water of Lake Washington and the salt water of the Puget Sound.

Here's a boat going through the locks.

Sea-life

2010-07-10T08:20:00.000-07:00

Here's a big crab we found during low-tide on the last day of our trip.

Here's a giant sea-star. Brian turned it over so we could see underneath. It was an amazing learning experience to see all the creatures in their own habitat.

Hurricane Ridge

2010-07-10T08:16:00.000-07:00

Monday we headed to Hurricane Ridge. It's a winding 18 mile drive up over 5000 feet. My sister's house in UT is at about the same elevation, but the weather was very different here. The freezing rain made our hike interesting, but the views were great and the kids had fun hiking over the snow packed fields.

Dungeness Spit

2010-07-10T08:11:00.000-07:00

Before we headed off to church we did a bit of beach-combing. There were thousands of crabs of all sizes, sea stars, clams and anemones.

Afterwards we headed to the Dungeness Spit. It's a strip of land that extends 5 miles out into the Strait of Juan de Fuca.

Visitors

2010-07-10T08:04:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we were lucky enough to have my sister and her family come to Seattle for a visit. We did so many fun and new things with them I almost felt like a tourist in my own city. The first day we headed to Discovery Bay by ferry. The day was sunny, but cool.

Here's AE with her cousin.

We found a fun little ice cream shop in Port Townsend. We also checked out an old Scooner sailing vessel that we got to take a tour around and meet the sailors. It was a fun-filled first day.

Catching Up

2010-07-10T07:55:00.000-07:00

Every June this marching band that practices at the church down the street marches through the neighborhood recruiting people to come to the church for ice cream. No, it's not a Mormon church.

Happy Birthday Brian!!

2010-06-21T16:41:00.000-07:00

My amazing husband turned another year older on June 5th, but as far as I'm concerned he has barely aged since we met 12 years ago.
Brian never ceases to amaze me! He bikes to work 365 days a year, he is a wizard on the soccer field, he can down a bag of Mint Milanos like nobody's bizness, he has mastered the art of grilling, he always looks for the good in people, he knows more about the phosphorylation of the thyrotropin-releasing hormone receptor than anyone in the entire world, he is always thinking of ways to help friends and family in need, he'll wear out house slippers until his foot busts through just to save $, he looks really good in his biking gear, he reads book after book to his two youngest every night before bed even after working 14 hour days, he loves unconditionally, he works harder at his job than anyone I've ever known, he thinks before he speaks, he thanks me for making dinner every night, he notices when I clean the bathroom, he wanted 4 daughters even before he had one daughter, he makes me dinner every Sunday, he brings out the best in all who know him, he understands the Old Testament better than most Biblical scholars, anyone whose ever heard one of his lectures should consider themselves lucky, he can remain cool calm and collected in the most stressful of situations, he is a patient loving father, a wonderful husband and to top it off he made his own birthday cake!! Not only did he make it, he searched recipes high and low and combined several recipes and made some up to come up with this Deep Chocolate Cake. Can you say three layers of the moistest cake you've never had in your life with layers of chocolate mousse in between each one with a ganache frosting with whipped mousse sourrounded by shaved chocolate.

Happy Birthday Brian, you're simply the best thing that's ever happened to me, and I love you!!!

Our Russian Grandmother

2010-05-27T19:26:00.000-07:00

Apparently we have a Russian grandmother living with us.

Beautiful Disaster

2010-05-18T23:27:00.001-07:00

My Buddies

2010-05-16T21:33:00.000-07:00

These two are so much fun!! I love spending my day with just my littlest buddies. Watching and listening to them play together is always entertaining. They're finally at a more even playing level and can have conversations. Every morning RR wakes up with the idea to do something fun and she usually has something in mind. Often it's the zoo, a playground, McDonalds play area, Quality Fun Center at QFC, Great Wolf Lodge, downtown Seattle (on the bus), ride the light rail and lately she keeps asking to go to the store with the balls. I finally figured out that she's talking about the play area in IKEA.

These are flowers she picked for me on a walk one day.
I took them to the temple grounds and to a nearby park. These 2 elders ran down to take pics. real quick and asked me to take pics. of them with their camera. Then I took one for me. The girls were a bit nervous around thes scary guys. The one on the left is from Provo and the one on the right is from Missouri.

Friday we rode the bus downtown and walked to ride the ferry to Bainbridge Island. It was a lot of fun watching the ferry workers direct cars onto the ferry and tie up the boat.
The view coming back to Seattle was so beautiful!!! I'm sure they'll be asking to ride the boat now too:)

"Camping"

2010-04-19T13:57:00.000-07:00

Friday night AE had a sleepover in the tent with a friend. We roasted marshmallows over the grill and had S'mores. Saturday night all 4 girls begged to sleep in the tent. I thought it a bit crazy to let me 2 yr. old sleep out in a tent with her sisters, but I checked on them before I went to bed and they were all fast asleep in their sleeping bags. I slept in my bed, but I didn't sleep well, because I was worrying so much about all the what if's that could happen. They had a blast and can't wait to go camping for real.

Every Picture Tells a Story

2010-04-17T13:28:00.000-07:00

So what story do these photos tell?

Spring Break

2010-04-04T21:55:00.001-07:00

The girls had the week off for spring break last week. The weather was predicted to be lousy nearly every day, so we had to come up with some fun indoor ideas. Monday we headed to the Scratch Patch. This is a cute little shop where kids can get into the beautiful stones and pick out their favorites to take home. They all had a great time and want to go back soon.

Tuesday we ventured to downtown. We rode the bus down to Westlake and then walked to Pikes Place Market. It was fun to walk around and see all the fun things people were selling.
The girls really enjoyed the bus ride.
After we went to Pikes Place we hopped on the light rail and rode it to the airport. It was so strange to just hop onto something and not strap kids in. It was nice to relax and enjoy the ride with them.
Wednesday we took it easy and during a break in the weather I ran the kids to the park and enjoyed some sun. Thursday Sara went to a birthday party while I took all the other kids shopping and then to a play McDonalds in Edmonds. Friday AE and SG had play-dates with friends. Friday night I surprised Brian with concert tickets to see Muse. We had a great time and Muse put on an amazing show. Definitely one of the best concerts I've ever been to. I can't wait to see them again.

Monkeying Around

2010-03-21T22:48:00.000-07:00

The kids had the day off of school on Friday, so we decided to head to the Woodland Park Zoo, minus AE who had a playdate with friend. RR and SM ask to go to the zoo daily, so we've been going about once a week lately. They love animals, but if they are not behind bars or glass they flip out and are scared to death. Last time we were at the zoo we found a picnic table to have lunch at and some ducks came to eat the crumbs from under the table. SM was petrified and held onto me for dear life. She asks me several times a day if the ducks are going to eat her toes.

Everything You Need to Know Before Going to GWL

2010-03-09T16:09:00.000-08:00

We decided to go to GWL over mid-winter break. We didn't tell the girls at all. Wednesday morning we woke up to another day of lazing around wondering what we'd do today. Little did they know I'd been up late the night before packing and preparing their scavenger hunt. My friend Cailean gave me the idea to put clues around the house and make the girls guess what they all meant. I prepared 2 scavenger hunts. AE had to solve riddles and unscramble letters to figure out the clues. SG had to go to 3 different spots in the house to locate flip-flops, a swimsuit, and a polly pocket water slide. They were really pretty clueless until AE spelled out the last word L-O-D-G-E and put it all together. I captured their faces about the same time they figured it out. They are still talking about going again as soon as possible.
Our reservations were for a Wednesday night. You can go to the water park at 1PM. The bummer about this is if they don't have your room ready you need to prepare an extra bag to take into the water park and get a locker for $5 if you're worried about your belongings. When we arrived just after 1 the line to check-in was about a 20 minute wait. Not too bad, but if you go during a busy time I'd suggest getting there before 1. Luckily, our room was ready and we went up to our room and changed while Brian brought up all our things. The GWL in Grand Mound, WA has a few balcony suites. I'd recommend skipping that since most people want that and there are few, so I think that's maybe why we were able to get our room right away.
We stayed in the Kids Kabin. The kids absolutely loved the room. They thought that was almost as cool as the water park. There was a queen size bed for me and Brian a pull-out couch that we didn't use and a "Kabin" area for the kids that had a bunk bed and another bed. This room was the cheapest room for 2 adults and 4 kids, so be sure to check on-line before you assume the family suite is the cheapest. We paid $299 for the room which included 6 water passes during a peak time.
There are about a million ways to spend $$$$$ there. One way to save a lot of $$ is by bringing your own food. The rooms have a fridge and a microwave. Brian and I ate leftovers and the kids ate hot dogs the first night, and for breakfast it was oatmeal, cereal, hot chocolate and blueberry muffins. Lunch was tricky since you cannot take food into the water park. They are sticklers about their rules. We just told them we were putting the food in a locker and they were OK. We had to eat outside the water park for lunch, but that wasn't a big deal. For dinner we bought food at the water park. You have to check out of your room by 11AM, so you have to take all your stuff out to your car and then take your clothes in another bag and get a locker. Brian was awesome and found an unlabeled family bathroom with a shower. It only took us about 20 minutes to all shower and change.
There's a fun arcade where you can spend a lot of $$ very quickly, but Brian was able to find a lot of coins on the ground.
When you arrive at GWL your kids will quickly notice that all the other kids are running around with wands making treasure chests, animals, and jewels light up and talk. It's a very cool clue game called Magi Quest. I wouldn't recommend it for children under 8. The wands cost between 15-20 dollars and the games are $10. The quest lasts for about 5 hours, so unless you plan to devote a lot of time to this I wouldn't do it. We probably shouldn't have done it only staying one night. We keep the wand and can use it the next time we go. The games expire after 4 days. There is also an adventure game that you can buy as well that is more difficult.
The main reason to go there is for the water. There is a fun kiddie area, wave pool, body slides, tube slides, raft slides, hot tub and frog pond.
This little one was a bit shy at first, but by the end she was really starting to have a lot of fun.
This is one of the slides in the kiddie area. The water is a bit deep at the end, so kids under 3 should be caught by a parent, but don't even try to ride anything with your kid. They also measure your kids as soon as you walk in. SG was about 48 inches tall, so she received a green wristband allowing her to ride anything on her own. She and AE rode many rides together while Brian and I hung out with the little ones. The second day they stopped SG and wanted to measure her again, b/c they said that they were measuring some kids incorrectly the day before. Brian put his foot down and after giving his opinion the guy had no choice but to let SG keep her green wristband. He was very convincing!!
Overall, we had a wonderful time and will hopefully be able to go again next year.

AE is 9!!!!!!!!!

2010-02-28T00:05:00.001-08:00

This party was the best party ever!!! Our sweet AE turned 9 and it was her year for a big friend party. I started with a polka-dot theme, and eventually it turned into a disco theme/polka-dot party. I made this sparkly curtain from yarn and round pieces of plastic shimmery things with holes in them. You can see a pic. further down of what it looks like in the doorway.

We played toss the giant Smartie into the bucket.

This is the cupcake stand I made. Yes, this took me a Looooooong time to make, but oh, so worth it. You can't see it very well, but there's a disco ball on the top.
We just had to play Twister.
Here's the full image. Shimmery curtain, cupcake stand and yes, a disco ball hanging from our ceiling fan. We turned out all the lights and danced the last 15 minutes of the party. AE said this was the funnest part of the night.
B-I-N-G-O
These are the goody bags I made. Inside there's Skittles, a pencil and a disco ball.

Yes, I'm proud of my creation.

For Our Fans

2010-02-08T21:43:00.000-08:00

Christmas 2009. This year Brian and I decided that we would not get the kids any toys for Christmas. Before you say, "humbug" let me explain. Last year our children received an insaine amount of toys. The day ended feeling empty and very commercial. I knew that the next year we would try something different. Originally I wanted to adopt a family, but oddly enough I couldn't find anywhere that would let you do such a thing. The places that took donations let you drop toys in a box or send $$. I wanted the girls to feel connected to someone less fortunate. Unfortunately, nothing really worked out, and we had to spend a lot of money on an unexpected car repair, so it was a very slim Christmas at our house. We did make a turkey to take to the Stake Christmas dinner at our church, so hopefully that counts for something. We got the girls books and lessons. AE is currntly in swim lessons and will take track and field in spring. SG is in a soccer class and RR is taking creative dance. SM isn't really old enough to take classes, but is very eager to take dance classes when she turns 3 in November.

We always start Christmas morning by opening our stockings (Christmas bags). There are oranges inside to remind us of Great Grandma Jones who only recived an orange for Christmas one year when oranges where very scarce and times were difficult financially for their family.

G&G Jones sent all the girls stuffed animals. The new stuffed animals were promptly welcomed by all the other stuffed animals at the welcoming party later that afternoon. G&G LeMon sent us our new fav. game Wackee 6's. My bro. Steven gave us a date night and Aunt Shelley gave SM and RR pajamas. Aunt Shelley also gave AE and SG a big surprise! A trip to visit her in Washington D.C. this summer.

New Year's Day

2010-02-06T17:36:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I'm only about a month late posting about New Year's, and well, I probably won't even post about Christmas, unless our fans really want us to.

On New Year's Day we went downtown to the Olympic Sculpture Park. We found parking and looked across the street and had to laugh at the contrast in these cars.

A few minutes after we arrived it started to rain. Then the wind picked up and we all got soaked. I'd love to come back again and spend more time here.

Seriously??

2010-01-25T12:14:00.000-08:00

My tulips are coming up.

Ah, the Memories

2010-01-08T18:01:00.000-08:00

I often get a bit nostalgic when I think of NY, however in January all I can remember is how cccccooolllddddd it is there. January was often a month where temps. would never get above freezing. One winter we had a bit of a thaw and then all the water froze making this lovely ice skating rink right in our front yard.

AE in an igloo.

Look at that frozen child. Brrrrr.

Christmas Eve in the City

2009-12-29T13:34:00.000-08:00

Christmas Eve we ventured downtown to explore the city a bit. We parked near the Space Needle and then took the Monorail to Westlake. We found an overlook of Westlake Center and people watched for several minutes. There was a man preaching at one corner, a cyclist on a stationary bike raising $$ for a slain police officer, singers and best of all dancers. Then we rode the Holiday Carousel and had a lot of fun.

These street performers were really quite good and I could have watched them for an hour.

Cool street performers.
Then we headed over to the Sheraton hotel to see a cool gingerbread display. Here's Snoopy.
OK, these are houses that AE and SG made for their school teachers.
The theme was "Reel Christmas." Classic Christmas movies. I'm sure you can guess which movie this is from.
Gotta love the leg lamp.
We had just watched this the night before, so it was fun to see this display.
Then we headed over to Pacific Place to see the snow. Every night they turn on the snow machines at 6PM for fun in the snow.

By the time the snow was over we were all hungry and since it was Christmas Eve everything was starting to close, so we considered ourselves lucky to find this Johnny Rockets still open and had dinner here. Our kids were cranky and loud, but we didn't really care. We had a lot of fun and plan to go again next year, but not on Christmas Eve.

Picture a Picture

2009-12-22T13:21:00.000-08:00

A few weeks ago we went to Ikea and bought these lovely frames. We spent a lot of time and money on this, but I think it was well worth it. Thanks again to the amazing Shelly!

Cookie Monster's New Look

2009-12-21T21:34:00.000-08:00

Seriously: she growls when she wants another cookie. I need to feed them to her from the safety of a shark cage.

AE Sings a Solo

2009-12-16T22:38:00.000-08:00

In the past I'd heard about parents "beaming" because of their children. Before tonight, I thought that was just a saying.

AE sang a solo at her school's Winter Concert.

Another Make-Over

2009-12-07T13:53:00.001-08:00

Theses photos show the after first for some reason, but I'm sure you can figure it out. This room was so ugly with the dark wood paneling and our landlady agreed to let me paint over it. It took 2-3 coats of primer and 2-3 coats of paint to hide all the brown. I really think this is my biggest make-over to date. Brian thinks I'll want to paint the whole house now. He's absolutely right, but since we are renting and she hasn't given us any reimbursement for our efforts, I think I will stop. I'm not sure if you can tell from the pictures, but I had Brian put the door on the opposite side. When you would open the door it would open into the room and waste space. It also covered the light switch. It opens the room up so much and makes it a place you'd actually want to sleep at night. Thanks to my husband who helped out tremendously during this project. I'm still thinking about replacing that light fixture. Hmmmmm.

Look Who's 2!

2009-12-07T13:52:00.000-08:00

Our big girl is 2! SM really wanted a flamingo stuffed animal for her birthday. She also received a fun new game from G&G LeMon.

OK, Just a Few More

2009-11-19T14:10:00.000-08:00

It has been so hard deciding on my favorites, but this first one is my fav. of all the girls.

This really is the story of Brian's life. Running from girls, but loving every second of it.

Fun

2009-11-18T12:19:00.000-08:00

These pictures are so fun! I love this one of Brian holding SM.

Brian insists that SM is laughing in this picture.

Thanks again Shelly!!

Beautiful Girls

2009-11-13T12:13:00.000-08:00

My friend Shelly was here in Seattle visiting for a month and while here she took some family photos for us. There are so many more that I love, but here's a few of my favorites of each girl.

Olympic Peninsula

2009-11-05T20:51:00.000-08:00

This post is a bit late, but I know you're all dyin to hear about our trip to the coast. The kids had a long weekend on Oct. 8-10, so we decided to surprise the kids and took them out of school a few hours early on Thursday. SG was upset that she was going to miss music class. On the way to the car she asked, "Hey, why are you picking me up early anyway?" We headed to Edmonds and got in a long line. We didn't tell the kids we were going on a ferry. They didn't realize what we were doing until the ferry started moving. It was fun to watch their reactions as they realized the car was moving, but the car was turned off. We decided to stay in Forks. Amazingly I have never read any of the Twilight books. Many of the tourists we saw in town were fans, although we didn't take any pictures in town, because honestly it wasn't worth photographing. Maybe I have to read the books to appreciate the town. Anyway, we got into town and had dinner at a restaurant called "Restaurant." Afterwards, we decided we'd like to watch the sunset and just barely missed it by a few minutes. The next day we headed to the Hoh Rain Forest. This is really an amazing place!! They get over 130 inches of rain a year. The forest has a very eerie feel to it, but the day that we were there it was sunny and mild. We then headed to Second Beach to try once again to watch the sunset, but this time we were too early and got there 2 hours early and the kids were not going to last much longer. Oh well, we tried. Saturday, we got up and checked out of our hotel and headed to do a hike on Lake Crescent. This is one of the most gorgeous lakes I've ever seen. The water was the darkest shade of blue. It didn't look real. Next, we headed to another waterfall and the name escapes me. Last, we went to Hurricane Ridge. We took an 18 mile road straight up the mountain. The views up there are truly amazing!! The kids were so excited to take the ferry back. It was only about a 25 minute voyage, so we're looking for a longer ferry ride to do sometime. These pictures are totally out of order, sorry:)Day 2 at Second Beach
Ferry ride home.
Waiting for the ferry to come.
Day 3 at Hurricane Ridge
Pretty waterfall that I can't remember the name of.
Day 3 waterfall #1

Day 2 at Second Beach
Hoh Rain Forest
Hoh Rain Forest
Dumb guy getting way too close to the elk.
Hoh Rain Forest
Hoh Rain Forest
Hoh Rain Forest
Missed sunset on Day 1
Ferry ride on Day 1
More ferry

The Party

2009-10-21T14:20:00.000-07:00

We survived the party!! Thankfully, (oh I mean sadly) about 5 kids were not able to come to the party, so we had about 13 of SG's friends over to celebrate her 6th. Brian made a cool jack-o-lantern bean bag toss and tape the leaf on the tree game.

I found an idea on Family Fun to make Decoupage pumpkins. Most of the kids really seemed to enjoy the games and activity.

SG wanted brownies instead of a cake, which was fine with me. I was out shopping for nearly 5 hours on the day of the party and I have no idea what I would have had time to make and decorate a cake.

All the guests have gone. Time for clean up.

SG turns 6!

2009-10-12T13:10:00.000-07:00

SG officially turned 6 on the 7th. We are celebrating her birthday this Friday with 18 of her closest friends!! Yes, we are crazy. Anyway, I wanted to make one of her favorite foods for dinner. Our choices were: hot dog buns, macaroni and cheese or French toast. I opted for French toast.

I stole the picture wall idea from my friend Cailean. SG loved it! She sat staring and remenessing at all the pictures. She has grown up so much from that baby with the magical head. This girl makes me laugh so hard and she is still the queen of a million expressions. We love you SG!

Before and After and After

2009-10-06T15:04:00.001-07:00

First of all, who wall-papers their bathroom? Why would you want to do this? Seriously. Our bathroom had this lovely border as you can see. I dreaded pulling off more wall-paper especially after doing our kitchen, but luckily our bathroom does not have a fan and after decades of showers the wall-paper came off easily.

I thought I'd do a lovely shade of yellow. As the first coat of paint went on I thought it looked awfully bright, but after it dries it will calm down a bit, right? Wrong. The paint mixer dude at Fred Meyer (yep, there's my first mistake) made the bright color on the card I gave him instead of the softer yellow. Back I go to Freddy's to find a better color.

Hooray! I am finally done. It is truly amazing what a fresh coat of paint can do for a room!!

This color is hard to see in the photo, but it is a very light sage green color.

Harvest

2009-09-29T11:06:00.000-07:00

Our garden was mostly a success this year. Our tomatoes, beans, peas and spinach did great. We were still unsuccessful with broccoli and carrots. Our squash is sometimes good and other times it has problems. It was fun watching over our little garden and even better eating it!

Ice Caves Part 2

2009-09-23T14:59:00.000-07:00

During the hike SG had the idea that we all had to give her tickets to the circus at different points along the trail. Here she is waiting for our "tickets."

Hiking to the other caves.

This arch was connected a few weeks before we were there.

Looking straight up. It's crazy this hike is just a little over an hour from Seattle. It was so beautiful there!

Ice Caves Part 1

2009-09-21T13:32:00.000-07:00

The second day of camping we went to these really cool ice caves at Big 4 Mountain. They're called Big 4, because when the snow melts, there is a huge #4 made of snow on the back of the mountain behind us in the first picture.

This is the first of 5 ice caves that we saw. This area is a very hazardous avalanche area during the winter, but makes for cool ice caves in the summer.

They strongly encourage people not to enter the ice caves, because they have been know to collapse.

AE standing on a chunk of ice that had fallen from the ice caves. It was an 80 degree day, but it was very cold down by the caves. There were times the winds would blow hot air at us and then 2 seconds later you'd feel the cold again. More to come.

Lake 22

2009-09-17T15:07:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we decided to take advantage of some gorgeous weather and go camping in the Baker National Forest. Our campsite was just over an hour from our house. We saw this cool mushroom at the beginning of the trail. It was 2.7 miles each way. The kids did great hiking and Brian and I were achy the next day from carrying an extra 30+ pounds on our backs. I can't wait until they are all old enough to hike themselves and carry their own water.

I had read that you could swim in this lake. I guess you could if you REALLY wanted to, but it was very cold. I waded up to my waist for about 2 seconds or so before jumping onto a rock. I love this picture of the girls.

There were waterfalls the entire way during the hike. I must say that the forests of Washington are the most beautiful forests I've ever seen. I have not been to every forest in the world, but they really are breath-taking. You'll just have to come and check them out for yourself.

It's breakfast time featuring oatmeal and donuts....mmmmmm donuts.

First and Third

2009-09-16T11:42:00.000-07:00

Last year the girls were bussed to a school over 2 miles away. They spent 45 mins. on the bus in the morning and 20 minutes waiting in the carpool line after school. We are so thrilled that both girls are now able to attend the school .2 miles away. I walk them to school every morning. They have had a great time so far, and I love that we spend an additional hour+ with them everyday.

Here's AE on the playground waiting for the bell.

SG's class is in the only portable classroom at this school, but she doesn't seem to mind. I've often wondered where she gets her carefree attitude, because it's certainly not from me.

In Summary

2009-08-25T22:56:00.001-07:00

Our trip to Utah was fabulous!! I really tried to out-do Heather Rigby in my vacation synopsis, but I ran out of pictures. We really need to buy more memory for our camera. That will happen soon.

Anyway, overall the kids did great on the drive and I never heard the dreaded "b" word. (Bored) They had a wonderful time getting reacquainted with their cousins and grandparents and aunts and uncles. When we planned this trip many months ago I thought a 27 day vacation would be too long, but I was wrong. I would do it over again in a heartbeat.

Things we like the most: visiting, picnics, reunion, eating, playing Wackee Sixes, everything!!

Things we could have done without: nasty virus that affected 20 people and had them throwing up violently for a day. Cold that SM and RR gave to each other and myself. Being without Brian for so long. Gross hotel that we stayed in on our way home.

School starts 2 weeks from tomorrow, and we're hanging onto summer vacation until the bitter end.

UT part 11

2009-08-25T22:56:00.000-07:00

My sister lives at the base of the AF canyon, so we went up to a picnic area and had a grand time with all the Utah family. We were there for several hours and amazingly no one fell into the river.

Working on their S'more's.

AE with her cousins.

UT part 10

2009-08-25T21:52:00.000-07:00

We went to Thanksgiving Point a few times while we were there. The first pic. is at the Children's garden and the others are at the non-children's garden.

This picture was taken a few minutes before my brother-in-law ran my mom off the sidewalk in his segway. She is fine, btw.

UT part 9

2009-08-25T21:46:00.000-07:00

While we were in UT RR turned 3!! We decided to have a joint b'day party with her cousin who had a birthday 2 days after hers. We had planned a water themed party, but the day turned out to be too cool. We did water balloon slingshots, and my mom made 30 cone cakes. RR received a tutu, dance outfit, pajamas, princess book, Dr. Seuss books and $$

Don't you love the balloon hat my sister's neighbor made for RR.

UT part 8

2009-08-25T21:37:00.000-07:00

We were so blessed to be able to see the Sherman family while we were in UT. We met at a park in Lehi and the kids had a great time playing together.

The Sherman's drove to UT from NY and we drove from Seattle. All roads lead to Utah I guess. We also saw the Johnson's while were there, but I didn't take pictures!! Tiffany will you please send me copies.

UT part 7

2009-08-25T21:32:00.000-07:00

After the reunion was over we said a sad goodbye to Brian, and had 17 days of fun ahead of us. AE was able to go with her Grandpa Jones on a 4-wheeling trip. She had a lot of fun on the difficult terrain.

We went to the Conference Center and temple grounds on one of our outings.

3 out of 4 cuties.

On the roof of the conference center. They have a lot of water up there, and the kids couldn't get enough of it.