Tis' The Season

We all love this time of year at the Jones house, with the holiday spirit in the air we all seem to be a little nicer to each other or it might be the constant reminder from Mom & Dad that Santa doesn't bring presents to naughty little boys!! Well whatever it might be the month of December is a lot more pleasant!  Despite the few threats we made Santa found us and brought all the kids fun things to ride outside! We also decided to get the kids a swing set and spent the next three days after Christmas setting it all up but the funny thing is that it showed up a week before the big day so we covered it with blankets in the garage and they thought it was a swimming pool or maybe they were hoping it was a pool! I don't think they were to disappointed they've had fun playing together outside!!  Merry Christmas!!

40 days & 40 nights of RAIN!

OK it wasn't 40 days of rain but it sure felt like it and the 4 straight days of rain made the outside & inside of our house a muddy mess. It filled up our courtyard and started seeping into the batcave downstairs so Darin busted out his shoveling skills and dug a hole under the wall to drain all the water out! The kids love this kind of weather and play in it every chance they get, Dillon & Thayne decided to make boats cause there were mini rivers running down the sides of the road! After trying to use a hack saw Dad helped them out and pulled out the heavy equipment and away they went to Thayne's to paint their boats before the big race!!

Dustin Rodger Jones-3

Three year old little boys are full of piss & vinegar!! They find their voices and are not afraid to use them, which can result in some very embarrassing moments when away from home! They think they are no longer babies and become very independent little people! But they are still so cute & funny and could totally get away with anything with those puppy dog eyes!!
Dustin's Stats at 3:
He weighs 32 lbs.
He is 3ft. 1in. tall
His favorite food is: Lin Wilson Burritos
His favorite TV show is: Go Diego Go
His favorite movie is: Spiderman 2
His favorite thing to do is: Follow Degan around!
His Best Friends are: Daddy, SiSi, & his brothers!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY--WE LOVE YOU!!

Jones Family Christmas Party!!

We all know how much Granny loves Christmas and how she shops all year long to find just the right things for all her grand kids, this is a huge undertaking with 23 kids to shop for but she never disappoints and the kids love every minute! Thanks Mom for another fun party!

Happy Birthday Dusty

I know I say it every year but I seriously can't believe my baby is a "3" year old. When & how did this happen? It just doesn't seem like that much time has passed. We have all enjoyed having Dusty around he makes us laugh with the funny faces he makes and how he likes to blame everything on Degan and we all love how he raps and dances!! Ever since the boys had their parties in Oct. all Dustin has talked about is a Spiderman party with a Spiderman cake!! So after we got done making cookies we ate some tacos than some cake & ice cream and watched Shrek!! Happy Birthday Dusty.

Cookies Anyone?

Aunt Carla & Katie came over to make the annual christmas goodies with the kids!! I can't decide if they enjoy the making or the eating of all the cookies?? Well whatever it maybe it's fun!

King for the day & Dillon the Snowman!

The 17th was Dillon's Lucky Day, earlier that day Mrs. Shumway gave them all cupcakes and whoever got the candy cane in their cupcake was the King or the Queen for the day and Dillon got it!! So he got to sit in the "King's" chair all day and at the end of the day at the class party they got stuck in a blizzard and stayed warm by a fire and ate snow cones! Then they raced to build snowmen with toilet paper and all the fun clothes you need to make a snowman!! Than last they filled their bellies with yummy snacks!!

Neighbor Friends

Neighbor friends are the very best friends to have, when your bored and need something to do all you have to do is run down the street and get your playmate and wah-la an afternoon of fun!! Degan & Kylen have become best buddies this last year, they love to watch YouTube, ride bikes, and play for hours outside together! McKell or Houdini, she is always escaping from her house and likes to come visit us! We have loved living by the Brown's and are sad that they are moving, we're all hoping the new neighbors will be as good as the Brown's they have big shoes to fill!!

Knott's Berry Farm

For the kid's Christmas present from us we took them to Knott's Berry Farm! We've never been there before so we didn't know what to expect, but it was Fire/Law Enforcement appreciation month so with free tickets for us adults and only paying $30 for Dillon & Degan we figured we had nothing to loose!! We even scored a really nice hotel on priceline! We got up at 4 a.m. on Friday and drove straight there, the kids slept most of the way so it was a rather peaceful drive!! When we got there we ran into one of Darin's friend from work, so we roamed the park with the Heislbetz family! It worked out perfectly because our kids are about the same age so they each had a buddy to ride the rides with and Wade had Darin to go on the big roller coasters with, cause no one else was crazy enough to go with him!(Darin ended up regretting it later) Dillon, Jacob, & Mason had a blast going on the mild roller coasters and went on each of them at least twice! Dillon got off  one ride and said: "Mom I had snot coming out of both nostrils, It was awesome!" Degan was bummed he was to short for the roller coasters, but him and Mason had fun at the snoopy camp! Dustin & Hannah loved the skateboard, I don't think I've ever seen two kids happier, they even held their arms up and screamed!! We spent all day at the park and I don't think we saw it all, but we sure did have fun! When we got to the hotel we all crashed early and slept in! The next morning we headed to Denny's for pancakes and took a drive to LA to see the Hollywood sign and the walk of fame. Darin & I decided that we wanted to move to Cali but only if we could live in the Hollywood Hills, there were some really cool houses up there! Than we headed for home. We had so much fun we just might have to do it again next year!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Dustin & Degan Decorating the tree

Dustin playing in the ornament bag!

The finished product!

The kids were just as excited for Christmas this year as they are every year!! As soon as we got back from Salt Lake they wanted to pull everything out but the mean mom that I am I made them wait a few days until Darin was off work and that night they MADE us get all the decorations out, this year I let them decorate the tree all by themselves (notice the cluster of snowflakes at the top) and they loved it! Then we held hands around the tree and sang "O Christmas Tree"

Family Photos!!

My Favorite

Such a Cutie

My Boys are getting so big

Sweet baby boy

Speak-See-Hear No Evil

My big bad 8 year old

Getting new family photos is one of my favorite things to do, the coordinating of the outfits can be a little stressful but the shopping and getting them done is so much fun!! and I love how my walls look with all the new pictures filling the frames!! This year we went out to old simplot to an abandoned shed and barely missed a nasty wind storm by like 5 minutes!! Thanks Monica you never disappoint!!

-Thanksgiving Weekend-

Thanksgiving this year was a little different instead of having it on Thursday we had it on Friday up in St. George at Amanda and Shane's and after we ate and visited we drove to the Spoerri's for Jordan's mission farewell, On the way there Dillon decided to get sick and threw up numerous times and we quickly learned that it's so not fun to travel with a sick kid, luckily it was only a 24hr. bug and he was feeling better the next day, and they all had a blast playing in the snow and in Tristan's snow fort! Sunday we woke up to snow falling and freezing cold temperatures outside OK maybe not freezing cold temperatures but us dessert rats are not used to that kind of weather!! We made it safely to the church, but not without Darin purposely sliding on the roads and the boys yelling DO IT AGAIN DAD!! Jordo did a good job on his talk, but I learned that he was going to call Kasaundra and I up to bear our testimonies if he had time left over!! It's a good thing it was a joke because I become a blubbering idiot anytime I get near a mic. We had to leave ASAP to make it home in the bad weather, the snow and scenery were beautiful but the driving conditions were a little scary, we saw a truck doing 360's behind us right after we passed it and there was an accident by parowan and to avoid being stuck in traffic we did a little bajaing on some side rode and ended up getting stuck in traffic anyway, but it was fun according to Darin & the kids!! (who needs 4-wheel drive when you have a Toyota corolla!!) The drive from Cedar down that mountain was the worst and I was so happy when we reached St. George and out of the snow, a five hour trip took us a little over eight hours but it was a trip we would've made a hundred times to go see Jordan!!

Attitude of Gratitude!!

Love these boys!!

gratitude [ˈgrætɪˌtjuːd] n

a feeling of thankfulness or appreciation,

[from Medieval Latin grātitūdō, from Latin grātus grateful]

 I love this time of year it somehow makes me remember all the good things in life and I really do have so much to be grateful for! I'm grateful for healthy & happy kids, they bring a smile to my face everyday with the silly things they say and do and they make the Holidays so much fun! I'm grateful for a husband that has a job and who works hard to provide for his family and I'm grateful for family & friends who are there for whatever is needed. Happy Turkey Day!!

My Little Artist

I love the ninja dude getting ready to slay the dragon!!

Another one of my favorites!!

Dillon has always loved to paint, color, and draw. His favorite class in school is art and he thinks Mr. Brill is "hilarious"  Lately he has been getting some how to draw books at the library, and they are fairly simple and basic, so this last week he picked out a book on how to draw dragons and it looked really hard, needless to say I had my doubts that he would be able to produce anything that resembled a picture in the book but as you can see I was so wrong!! I've enjoyed watching him over the years go from drawing cute little stick figures to cool things like this and I can't wait to see what my little artist will be drawing eight years from now!

The Big Day!!

Best Day Ever!!

Wow look at all those people!!

 Dear Dillon,
     What a special day yesterday was and to get to share it with your cousin/best friend! How lucky are you? It was pure torture for you to have to wait around until 4:00p.m, but all that waiting was definatly worth it, I think you rather enjoyed your baptism day and being the center of attention! You are lucky to have such a wonderful family and to have so many Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Friends & Grandparents that love you and wanted to be here to witness yours & Bailee's baptism. I noticed you smiled a lot and I hope that was because you were happy that you decided to be baptized. Dad was a little nervous but did an amazing job and I too hope that you do stay close to your Heavenly Father and gain a strong testimony. Aunt Bonnie talked about the Holy Ghost and the importance of listening to the still small voice. I hope you always remember this day and know how much Dad & I Love You.----Mom

Dillon & Bailee

-Then- -Now-

Dillon and Bailee's friendship started at Granny & PaPa's house back in 2007 when the Andrew family moved back from Pennsylvania and we were living there while we were building our house. They became instant buddies playing, watching movies, and going to preschool together!! They have always gotten along really good and enjoy spending time together, especially having sleepovers!! I really hope their friendship will last a lifetime!!

The Banana Split!!

Degan's name!!

Enjoying his banana split!!

 Soon after Degan started preschool Darin made a deal with him that as soon as he learned how to write his name all by himself he'd go get him a banana split!! After lots of work on that darn "e" in his name he finally earned his sweet treat! We are so proud of you!!

Halloween Happenings!!

Carved some pumpkins!!

Dillon stabbing his creation!

Dressed up as Ninjas

Went Trick-or-Treating

Dillon on a sugar high!!

Scary

Going through the spoils

Bunco Babes!!

Happy Halloween!!

 I'm lucky enough to spend one night a month with these ladies!! It's nice to get out of the house, kid free for some adult conversation and have a few laughs with some fun girls, and if your really lucky, you might go home with a prize! Thanks girls for keeping me sane I look forward to our game nights!!

Calling all Superheroes!!

SiSi-Breckan-Lucas-Kylen-Degan-Canyon-Caleb-Dustin-Dillon

-Strike A Pose-

The Villain's were nice and left them all some lunch!!

Playing Mr. Freeze Dance!

It was Degan's turn to celebrate his big day and celebrate we did!! Darin put them through a training camp where they learned how to roll, hide, throw and fight like Batman! After completing training camp they learned that the Joker had stolen their graduation stuff but the Riddler left some riddles for them to find their capes & masks!! After all that running around they needed to refuel with some 2 Face PB&J sandwiches, Cat Woman's Claws-Bugles, Penguin party dip-Ranch, Penguin fingernails-Olives, and Poison Ivy Punch!! We than went and played some games and last but not least we ate cake, some Mr. Freeze ice cream and opened presents!! It was Degan's first big Birthday Party and I think it was a success!!

Welcome to Spy Headquarters

Special Agents D & T

-Chris-Dillon-Bailee-Cameron-Thayne-Dustin-Connor-
Hunter-Karli-Brittnee-Kayla on their way to Italy!!

Filling their bellies at "Indulge Cafe"

The Waiter!!

Trying to solve a clue

Happy Birthday

Enjoying his present from Mom & Dad!

We had a lot of fun planning Dillon's spy party this year, We kept everything a secret from Dillon so he could enjoy his party a long with his friends! We had the 007 music playing as I greeted the kids, then they went and had to "Spy" hidden pictures in the highlights magazine, Special Agent D came and swore them in and notified them that a briefcase had been stolen and they were called here to retrieve it!! They had to solve a picture puzzle that said "Go to the land of Pizza" and they received plane tickets to Italy! They all ran down stairs to the movie room where I greeted them and thanked them for choosing US Air and handed out popcorn and water as they watched "How to train your dragon" on the way to Italy, Once the flight was over there was a clue hidden in the plane for them to go to "Indulge Cafe" and fill their bellies and the waiter was the secret contact and at the end of the meal they were instructed to say "Pizza Pizza Pizza" and the waiter gave them a puzzle with a picture of a cell phone and a number to call a secret contact that told them to go to "Gotham City" for the next clue! Hidden under a bunch of Lego's was a box with a color coded clue that they had to put in order of the rainbow. The rainbow clue led them to the ping pong table where they had to find the ping pong ball with a tool to pick the lock to the bathroom, In the bathroom was a clue written backwards so they had to hold it up to the mirror to read it! Than they had to find a Junie B. Jones book and turn to page 62 for the next clue which was a numbered alphabet that led them back down to the gym to retrieve the stolen briefcase that held all the party favors for the kids!! The last mission was to go enjoy some cake & ice cream for a job well done!! I think they all had a good time especially at the cafe they had a little to much fun bossing the "waitress" around!! and Dillon didn't want the party or the day to end, until next year-Happy Birthday I can't believe I have an eight year old!!

P.S. notice our newly paved driveway, no more muddy mess when it rains YAY!!

Dillon Ross Jones-8

Eight is one of those milestone years, They are older & wiser, They are still cute and haven't started "The Ackward Years" They have figured out that Mom & Dad aren't as cool as they once thought and kissing them on the lips is strictly forbidden!! They start to develop real friendships that could last the rest of their lives!! It's great to be 8!!
Dillon's Stats at 8
He weighs: 54 lbs
He is 4 ft. 1.5 in. tall
His favorite color is: Black & Red
His favorite food is: Teriyaki Chicken
His favorite TV show is: Phineas & Ferb
His favorite movie is: How to train your dragon
His favorite book is: Old Yeller
His favorite video game is: Wizards 101
His favorite subject in school is: Art
His favorite thing to do is: Watch TV
His Best Friends are: Thayne, Kyra, & Bailee
When he grows up he wants to be a: Corrections Officer!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY---WE LOVE YOU!!