Flashback Friday

2007 Soccer Season!!

Back in 2007 I went to the parks & rec office and asked if Dillon could play soccer even though he wasn't in kindergarten yet and they said it would be fine since he had an Oct. birthday! He was so excited to play and I was excited to be a "Soccer Mom" Well his excitement only lasted a few games and he was DONE and decided he did NOT like soccer and all the running around!! Every year I've asked him if he wants to play and he says NO basketball is my sport!!

UNLV

Let's Go Rebels!!

What a Fun Day!!

Degan with some of the mascots!

Dillon just started playing basketball again, so we thought it would be fun to take the boys to watch the Running Rebels! We got lucky and it happened to be kids day so before the big game they got to jump in a bounce house, meet some players, watch the mascots play a short B-Ball game and their favorite was all the free stuff!! Than we headed over to the T&M to watch the game. We were way up in the nose bleed section but it was still a lot of fun! Dillon really got into it yelling & cheering, and now the Rebels are his favorite team! Dustin liked the chairs! & Degan was ready to go at half-time! I'm glad we stuck around cause the game got good the second half and the Rebels beat the Lobos by only 1 point!! GO REBELS!!

Playing Tourist

So yesterday was a holiday and the kids being out of school we decided to play tourist in our own backyard at the Valley of Fire. It was a perfect day to get out of the house and enjoy the great outdoors. The boys had fun checking out the hieroglyphics, climbing all over the rocks, feeding chipmunks, hearing their echos, seeing tadpoles, and we even spotted a big horn sheep!! Dustin thought he was pretty cool climbing the rocks with his brothers and said numerous times "I Spiderman" Degan was a crazy man and made my heart stop a few times, he was the first one up the rocks and the first one down! That kid has no fear and endless energy! Dillon kept an eye on Dusty making sure not to go to high and helped him out when he got scared, he really liked the hieroglyphics and drew some in art today!! I enjoyed seeing my boys work together and help each other out when they got in some tough spots, totally priceless to see them reach out to pull each other up the rocks or pick Dustin up and try and carry him! It was absolutely a perfect day to bad Dad couldn't join us. One funny story: At one of the spots there was a bunch of Chinese people and there was a little boy named Jeffrey who could speak both English and Chinese so the kids start talking and climbing around with him and Degan says: "hey Jeffrey I can speak Chinese!!" I was silently praying that he wouldn't bust out singing the billionaire song in his version of Chinese! luckily he didn't say anything but I think it's time we break the news to him that he can't really speak Chinese!!

Snug as a bug........

On a rug!! The kids decided in honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day they wanted to camp out on our living room floor all weekend long so for three straight nights we pulled the sleeping bags out and they watched movies on netflix till they fell asleep! Now they want to do it every weekend!

My View

I'm so lucky that I have an amazing view of Bunkerville Mountain right out my back window! This view alone should make my house value go up, right?? I especially enjoy my view this time of year when you can see the snow on the mountains, it reminds me it's winter even though it doesn't always feel like it when you live in the desert. Just Beautiful!!

A Fond Memory

Hillstead Family

I had a fond memory pop up out of the blue today about my Dad! (those are the best) It's something I hadn't thought about in years so it caught me by surprise and made me smile! Let me just say that 9:00 am church is hard to get to on time, so the boys & I were late today and had to sit out in the foyer while the sacrament was being passed, which by the way they loved and were more reverent out there than they are in the chapel! (go figure) After the sacrament was passed we went into the chapel to find us a seat and it was completely full except for the front rows, so along with the Brandon family we made the long trek for all eyes to see to the front two rows! I got the boys occupied with things to do and that's when it hit me I was back to when I was growing up in the Overton Chapel and my Dad would make us sit front & center in the third or fourth row, I remember wanting and asking if we could sit in the back but NO, it was like those seats were reserved for the Hillstead Family and we sat there every week even after he passed away! I later learned that my Dad liked to sit close to the pulpit because he had a hard time hearing and could read the speakers lips. We never sit up front in fact the farther back the better in case we need to make a quick getaway, but the boys were extremely good today and I actually got something out of sacrament so maybe my Dad was on to something and I should start making my kids sit up front!!

Flashback Friday

I found a CD with a bunch of old pictures on it and when I saw this picture I burst out laughing!! The baby is Dillon and I'm guessing that he is only a month old! I'm not sure if this is good or bad parenting, but you can tell we were new parents. I don't think he was ever more than 3 feet away from us, for fear that something might happen to him!!

The Hulk!!

Dustin turns into the "Hulk" before he attacks his brothers!!

CANCER

My Grandpa & Grandma Mulford

I've heard this word said way to much lately. This one small word makes me both scared and sad. Scared because for some reason I fear that this is how I'll die. Sad because It has claimed some of my loved ones already and is threatening to take an amazing man now. My first encounter with this disease was when I was 8 years old and in the second grade, My mom pulled me out of school half way through the year to go take care of my Grandma Mulford, so for the remainder of the school year and that summer I stayed in California with my Mom & Grandparents. I remember my Grandma laying in a hospital bed in the living room of her house and we would sit together on her bed and watch soap operas and hethcliff the cat cartoon, I remember doing my homework on her bedside table and they had the coolest pencil sharpener that looked like the old turn style phones. But also I remember having to take her in to see the Dr's and get her treatments and how she eventually couldn't walk and had to be pushed around in a wheel chair. I wish I remembered her attitude or the things she might have said to me but at 8 I don't know that I fully understood what was going on, but I do know that I have good memories spending time with my uncles Grover & Thurman and walking to the library with my mom to get books to read with my grandma, I also remember going to bible study and to the baptist church with my grandpa. I wasn't there for her final days thank goodness, but I treasure the time I did get to spend with her. Lately it seems like every time I turn around someone new is diagnosed with this unforgiving disease, It doesn't care how old you are or that you've beaten it once before, it still comes back someplace new and stronger than before. Papa Jones at least has options and will remove his prostate, Our beloved Grandpa Waters is preparing to battle you once again, the doctors aren't giving him many options but to make him "comfortable" but I like to believe that he still has some fight in him, will we get a miracle and he'll be cured again? who knows anything is possible, or will he lose? well that's possible too but lets not dwell on that, all that matters is that he does what makes him happy! I wish cancer didn't exist, it causes a lot of heartache, but it does and I'm sure many more people I know & love will get this nasty disease. Just find a cure already would ya!!

Grandpa Waters on Kevin's Harley!!

Movin on up!!

picture was taken after church so Degan was half undressed!

With the New Year comes new church classes for the kids! Dillon is in Valiant 8, which is senior primary (crazy) Degan is in CTR 5 and Dustin moved up to the Sunbeams. (sniff sniff) I wasn't sure how Dustin would do when I dropped him off at his new class, but he did fine, at first he didn't want Dillon & I to leave him but Degan's class sat right behind him and I assured him he'd be OK with big brother in his sights! I missed my little guy in nursery though and thought about him many times and wondered how he was doing? No tears were shed by either one of us so it was a good sunday!!

Flashback Friday

We did a photo shoot with the Jones family back in October 2007 before Jordan & Alisha moved to Idaho. It was a little tricky to get 7 schedules to match up and a little crazy with so many kids wanting to climb all over the rocks, but so worth it!! I love how Dillon has us in headlocks and most of all I love the big belly!! I was 7 months pregnant with Dustin. Dillon & Degan had just had birthdays & turned 5 & 2! I'm proud to be a part of the Jones clan, I married into an amazing family!!

P.O. Box 332

Was my P.O Box all threw my younger years! Let me add that my mom hasn't had this box in over 8 years, so that's what makes this story so funny!! I bought a pair of jeans for my sister-in-law Cindy and left them at my mom's for her to pick up and told her to just send me the money. Well a few days ago she sent me a text asking for my address and I didn't get it until later that evening and Bryan calls and says: "We were at the post office and didn't know your address so we just sent it to mom's old P.O Box, do you think you could go down there and ask them to give you the letter?" Me: In total disbelief and laughing "Bryan mom hasn't had that box for forever, I'll try but I don't know if they'll give it to me" For the next few days I'm hoping they don't put the letter into the box and that Bryan didn't screw us both out of money! Well to my surprise when I went in and told the lady that my brother has lost his mind and sent me a letter to my mom's old box, she actually remembered that the box belonged to the Hillstead's and gave me the letter!!

Dad what did you do??

He spilled gas in the trunk of the car that's what he did!! and than spent a whole week trying to get the smell out, He did every trick he could think of from pouring rice in the spots where it spilled to painting KILZ on the metal under the seat and using a box of baking soda in hopes it would absorb the smell! We even called in reinforcements (the local auto spa guy) to shampoo all the seats. I'm very happy to say that we won't be getting high or burning anymore brain cells cause the smell is gone!! But now Darin thinks he needs a truck!!

The back of the car without the seats.

The seats laying out to dry!

Resolutions!!

I'm not one that likes to make resolutions, probably because I never end up keeping them so instead of feeling like a failure I just don't make them! I do feel that a new year is a fresh start in some ways and I'm especially excited for this new year! I'm not sure why but for some reason I've decided to make some resolutions! Some personal and of course the usual get out of debt, eat better, workout more blah blah blah..... you know the drill, the ones you never end up doing!! But most important my main resolutions are 1.To be more thoughtful- I tend to get caught up in my own little world. 2. Help my kids develop & find their talents! 3. Use the blog more as a journal than just the activities we do 4. Enjoy my family more- I focus on the day to day things that need to get done and forget to really enjoy my babies! Happy New Years I wish you all luck with your resolutions!!

Party Poopers!

We were a bunch of party poopers this year, Everyone that lives in the valley came over for dinner, we played a few games, watched a movie, drank some fake champagne, had root beer floats and everyone left by 9:30! We put our kids to bed at 10:30 and Darin & I rang in the New Year watching the fireworks on TV! I hope our party pooping isn't a sign of how the new year will be, I'm hoping for a good one!!