Christmas Morning

Finally, Christmas came. We've waited and waited and waited. I have waited for the Christmas Spirit to hit me. I've waited for the to be excitement in my house. I've waited for yummy food. And it finally came. On Christmas eve, when all of the work was done it all came. We had our traditional Christmas breakfast on Christmas eve. We watched "The King is Born" (I highly recommend this video on the Birth of our Savior.) The boys were content and wrapped up in their new soft PJs and Dean and I could just sit and cuddle and relax. That's when it hit. Not opening presents or having a lot of commotion, but when I just sat still and could just let it creep in. It all came then. The boys got all they dreamed of. Devin got a .22, Dylan got a bow and Dakoda got a .270. Lots of shooting at our house. The family got a Wii and I for one cannot move my right arm due to the tennis match last night. An awesome Christmas I do say. And the mess was kept at a minimum. Thank goodness.

The Day Before Christmas

We always go for a ride on the day before Christmas. The kids thought it would be fun to do a little sleigh riding so off they went. The snow was harder than heck and poor Devin face planted it in the road. It's a good thing he's tougher than nails. Dylan was doing a little snowboarding and finally made it down the hill without falling on that hard snow. They kept wanting me and Dean to come for a ride but they got up rubbing their butts every time so I didn't think it looked too fun for me. They had a good time though.

Regrets - only one

My only regret about this day is having Dean hold my purse, which happened to have a camera in it.

Christmas Dreams

Our little mini family vacation started at Cabelas. Our own personal little fun store. You got to love the moose and mom with a camera.Our next little stop was at the Temple lights. Oh the disappointment I had. They only decorate a few big trees now. There was not the wow factor that I wanted there to be for the boys. Not only that but we drove for one full hour looking for a parking place. There were trillions (yes trillions) of people and you could not stop and enjoy the spirit (if there was one) while the people were pushing you around. My husband and boys are still perfect though. I just wanted to put a little Christ back into our Christmas.

Our room, on the other hand, was to die for. We got a suite at the Holiday Inn and it was wonderful. The pool and hot tub were so much fun. Luckily it was open until 11 so we could play and have fun. Okay, I stayed in the hot tub and soaked it up while the boys (Dean included) took over the pool and had a blast. My boys are hilarious. Dakoda being a dolphin was priceless. If you ever get the chance, have him do it for you. You will laugh for sure.It doesn't take them long to find the TV and to kick up their feet. It is just so nice to relax once in a while.

Jones Christmas Party

The Jones clan has GROWN. This party started out as a small gathering at my dad's home in Tabiona. We filled his home but not uncomfortably. A few years after we started this party we moved to the high school. My good old stompin grounds. There the kids could run and play and the parents were not stressed out too bad. It has been at the high school for years. I can't even remember when this party started but it was before sickness and death came to our family. This year was different. There was no high school, there was no dad. Last year the party was cancelled so that we could spend time with dad in the hospital. It's a good thing the brothers took over this year, or I'm afraid there still wouldn't have been a party. I've planned every year but hated the thoughts this year. Missing this year were Dakoda, Adri, and Tamarat. A day after our party Adri returned to his Heavenly Father and we will miss him dearly. He was a loving, funny and great young man. Love ya Adri.

My family. Ryan, me, Bruce Brent and Kim

and my lovely mom, Carol.

The dreaded white elephant gift. You just never know what you're going to end up with.

The food and company were well worth the trip to Kim's house.

Barbie and Yawna

The Women that Inspire ME

Not me, but the women around me. I just ran onto this picture while I was looking for pictures to put on my Christmas card and it really made me miss Granny. She is out with my aunt in Payson right now and I miss her wisdom. My mom is truly an inspiration. I wish I was more like here. She is so calm and patient - me, not so much. This picture is not the greatest and my hair looks like crap (2 days at the hospital with dad didn't help) but the women around me in this picture are what I want to be like when I grow up - if I ever decide to.

Dean's Bow Hunt

Dean waited until almost the last day to finally shoot a deer with his bow. He does this on purpose I'm sure. He loves to hunt. He's like a little kid when he hunts. He gets so excited. It must be a guy thing. This was the day before the last day so he was pretty happy. It was actually a really nice buck and it only took one shot. Too bad he lost that arrow.

Good Job!!!

Thanksgiving Road Trip

This was our 2nd Annual Book Cliffs Thanksgiving Road Trip. Cheap thrills at our house. We started out at about 10 am. I did have to sleep in and all. We packed our cooler with Spam and chips. The lunch of champions. It takes forever to get there but it is just fun being together and listening to the kids' stories. We found out last time that there was this look out spot that you could roll tires down. So the whole way there we watched for tires on the road to pick up. We gathered up parts of tires to roll when we got there. Believe it or not they worked great This is my buck. So if any one else draws out next year. Don't shoot this one, it is mine.
Dylan was sure that he could catch a turkey. He probably would have if they wouldn't have flown away.

It was great weather for a ride and we seen a ton of bucks. I picked out the one that I am going to shoot next year. (If I draw out). I couldn't put all of the pictures of the bucks on here because I took about 100 pictures but I chose a few. They all looked alike except for

Ryan's Big Buck

My brother Ryan went hunting down in New Mexico. This is the deer that he shot. I don't think the picture of the face does it justice, because its head was huge!!! I was really proud of him. Especially after he told the story of having to ride a pedal bike to hunt it. No motor vehicles and there were so many wild horses they couldn't take horses. I can just picture him on a bike. No not really, I can't. Dylan never passes up a chance to have his picture taken with a big buck. It may come in handy for next year's big buck story.

Christmas Elves

So I won't tell you this was a week BEFORE Thanksgiving. I ran to the store to grab a few things and when I got home Dylan had drug the tree downstairs. He did this last year too. This tree is very heavy. I'm not sure how he does it. Maybe it is just wanting Christmas to come so badly that he thinks the tree will speed things up. I'm not sure. And I'm not going to fight it because I LOVE my tree. I love the fact that the boys can put it up and decorate it. I love the fact that the lights are already on it. I really love the fact that there is no mess left from the tree. Since the boys were putting up the tree I begged Dean to help with the outside lights. He has seen me with tools (he's the one that takes me to the ER when I use them) so he agreed he should put the lights up. I love them. We put them down lower this year so they wouldn't flip up on the roof every time the wind blew. That was a pain last year. Now we're ready for Christmas. Oh wait. Presents.

Science Fair Winner - Woohoo

Bragging time!!!! Okay, so I thought he had a brilliant thing going here but I was thinking that it might just be a mother thing. BUT NO. The judges agreed. I also asked the teacher if there was anything that he should change or do differently for the district fair, but she said "No, he did a marvelous job." When I came back from work they were putting the ribbons out. I thought it was cool that he was getting a blue ribbon. And then I start hearing that the blue ribbons made it to district. I was so proud of him. And then when they announced the winners they had the really good winners and I was shocked it wasn't his. And then they announced the tremendous, super-dooper good winners and that was him. He was in the top 5 over all. Some of these kid's projects were so incredibly unique. I thought it was wonderful. I'm not big into science, but it was fun to see their originality. And I did feel very sorry for some of the kids that you could tell had no help. The sheet they sent home said to help your child make a presentation they are proud of. Great Job Devin

Good Luck at District

Getting Ready for the Science Fair

Devin had to do a science project this year. He looked around on the Internet and decided what he wanted to do. I thought he did a SMASHING good job with it. He would sit in the recliner with the laptop and type away. He actually did the typing. When I asked him how he knew how to spell Fahrenheit, he said he looked on the thesaurus. Pretty cool that he even knew how to do that. I got to buy the magnets for him and I asked my friend with a Cricut to cut out the lettering. (I think I need a cricut)! But other than that he worked his little tail feathers off. I think he did a great job getting it ready.