Grandparents Day!!

Grandparents Day for the elementary kids and Grandma Smith came down to eat breakfast with the boys and spent way to much money on them at the book fair!! The boys look forward to this every year we're bummed that grandpa couldn't make it!

Pumpkin Patch or bust!

Took the wagon to the Hardy's pumpkin patch for Dax and pumpkins but ended up hauling a bunch of crazy boys! 

Happy #12 to Dillon

Happy Birthday!! When you live in Moapa Valley a 4-wheeler is a must!!

Febreeze does not belong on the TV

Degan & Deegan

9-20-2014 The Totten's took Degan into Vegas to watch some races and wouldn't you know it Degan got to meet his namesake Brian Deegan!! Now he wants to spell his name with two e's!! 

We survived the flood of 2014~

We live up higher than the muddy so we are never in any danger of being flooded. We also live close enough to the muddy that we were able to actually watch the flood waters rise and completely cover the Bledsoe's farm that's below us. It was definitely crazy to both see and hear the waters rush down and destroy anything in it's path. Let's hope the 100 year flood actually waits the 100 years before it floods here again.

Back in the Game!!

8-11-15
We are officially land owners again!! and let me tell you it feels good to be back in the game!! We went and talked to Guy Doty at the beginning of August and he agreed to finance us with a 2% interest rate! We got the best lot in the whole subdivision for $42,540.00

Back to the Books!!

Here we go again, back to the books!! The night before the big first day of school the boys couldn't sleep I think they were all nervous/excited! (especially Dillon) This year Dusty is excited to be in 1st grade because he gets to eat lunch at school!! He was even more excited when he showed up for the first day of school and found out Jesse Evans was in his class!! Degan is in 3rd grade this year! He's not as excited for school, he loves getting new stuff to wear to school!! Dillon had the biggest change of all the kids, going into the 6th grade. He is officially a middle schooler this year and switched from a buccaneer to a mustang!! I hope it's a great year for all my boys!!
P.S. We took Dillon out for ice cream before school started to have a chat about what was expected of him for the coming year because 5th grade was such a nightmare!!

Road Trip!

8-14-14 / 8-22-14
Our original plan was to drive the Oregon coast but after a little research we decided we didn't have enough time to see all that we wanted to see so we shortened it a bit and made stops in Reno, Fort Bragg, San Francisco, & San Lois Obisbo!! We really had SO MUCH FUN!! At first the thought of spending that much time in a van with 7 kids didn't sound like much of a "vacation" but the kids truly had the time of their lives and saw some pretty amazing stuff. Don't get me wrong we had a few moments where we second guessed this great idea but all in all I would do it again in a heartbeat!!

Staycation / JT!!

For Christmas I bought Darin tickets to go see Justin Timberlake at the MGM!! He accuses me of being a fan when he's really the JT fan!! OK we both are fans!! It's been years since we've been to a concert so I thought it would be fun and I was right we had a great weekend! The Aliante was having a two night special for summer so the first night the kids stayed with us in our room and we enjoyed all the hotel had to offer. We watched a movie, ate at a buffet and enjoyed the pool!! The next night we took the kids to Ty & Torrey's and we went to the concert!! It was amazing! Our seats weren't the greatest, we were in the very last row and there was a big pole in our way, but JT was amazing! worth every penny! I would go see him again! 

No Daddy don't go to work

Just like any other day Darin was getting ready to go to work and Dax was cruising his bike around the house, On this particular day Dax decided to park his bike in front of the door so his Dad would have to stay home and play with him!!

Friends

It must be August because I get to visit with some of my favorite people! This year we kept it simple because Genna couldn't be away from her baby for to long so we went to Samurai 21 in Mesquite!! We were just missing LeAnn because she was in Illinois visiting her parents on their mission! Maybe next year we will get everyone there!!
P.S. There was a stand off at the Logandale/Overton exit with some crazy person who robbed a bank in St. George. It took Genna over an hour to get home, the rest of us stayed in Mesquite and went to DQ for dessert & laughed some more!!

Dillon's 5 day vaca!!

We shipped Dillon off for his own personal vacation to St. George to stay with his cousin Josh!! They always have fun together but Dillon was ready to come home on day 3 but managed to stick it out even though he was home/mom sick!!

Over the Hill!

It really is no fun getting old but with these cute faces around it makes it bearable!! It also helps when they spoil you with goodies & foot rubs!

picasso

Darin took a couple weeks off and this is what he's been up to!! Playing, Painting, & Hanging out with the kids!! It's AMAZING what a little paint can do for a place!! I can't wait for the whole house to be painted and I'm sure Darin can't either, I think he's glad he's not a painter but he should be he does a good job!!

Say hello to my little friend

We went to the res the other day to cool off and the kids were driving us crazy being cooped up in the house all day!! They found this cute little frog in the mud! It freaked Daxton & Bailee out every time it would jump out of the kids hands but it kept everyone else entertained for a long time (actually until I made them put him back cause they weren't being very nice!!) BOYS!!

Dusty's first visit from the tooth fairy

7-6-2014 Dusty's tiny tooth has been loose for quit a while and he has been wanting it to be pulled out since it had the tiniest little wiggle! He would ask almost everyday if it was ready to be pulled out! FINALLY on Sunday night it was super loose and he wanted it out. I tried to talk him into waiting until Dad was home to help him but he wanted it out so bad he talked Degan into pulling it out for him! We got Dad on face time and after a few unsuccessful attempts Dad told us to do it his way and tie a piece of floss onto the tooth, so that's what we did and Dustin pulled out his own tooth!!

7-22-2014 Dusty's other tiny tooth was wiggly and he kept bugging Darin every 10 minutes (no joke) to pull it out! We made a trip to St. George and he got a lieu in his kids meal and he asked if he could pull his tooth out with it! Than he found a piece of string in the car and asked if he could pull his tooth out with that! We convinced him to wait until we got home and we'd do the floss thing again! To his disappointment the floss trick was not working so he gave his Dad permission to pull it out with some needle nose pliers!! This kid is fearless or crazy!! either way we love hime!!

Independance Day

The fourth started really early for some of us! Dillon & his scout group had to be at the flag raising ceremony at 6:30am! Yup you read it right 6:30am! The Chaplin said a prayer after the flag was raised and in the prayer he of course blessed the soldiers past & present that have served and serve now for our country but he also blessed future soldiers that in the future generations that their would be brave soldiers that would be willing to step up & defend the flag!! I for one have never heard or thought of praying for the future kids to want to fight for our country!! It hit me hard and yes I even got a little teary eyed, I have a little 8 year old that swears he's going to join the army and I always tell him "NO you don't want to do that" and now after hearing that prayer I have vowed to not discourage him, we need brave souls to fight for us!! I've never been to the ceremony before but I think now I will be waking my kids up to attend it was kinda cool! The rest of the day was spent at the fairgrounds playing in the water and later all the original Jones Boys (Bo-Darin-Ty) and their families came over for a BBQ and some sparkler fun!! GOD BLESS AMERICA

Get Wet go Wild

7-3-2014 We bought season passes for Wet N Wild last year when we lived in Vegas but ended up getting our money back and we never went. Right before school got out I got an e-mail to renew our season passes for $49.99 and we decided we couldn't pass up the good deal seeings how it's $40.00 to get into the park for the day! We thought we'd get to the park sooner but June was a busy month with summer school, Dad working a lot of OT and I didn't want to go by myself  so we are just making it now. The Elkington's met us there to show us the ropes! The final verdict is: It was fun, all the stairs are killers, and the old Wet N Wild was better!! 

Goodbye Ryan

6-29-2014 Ryan's farewell was today and to our surprise it was Holly's homecoming!! So we got to listen to two of my favorite people speak in church today!! So proud of both of them for being willing to serve the Lord! Pennsylvania watch out Ryan is headed your way and FYI in St. George they pass out gluten free bread for sacrament to those that want it!! I'm not sure why I find this so funny but I HAD to text Darin & tell him!! HAHA!! 

Once upon a time....

Somebody who shall not be named (me) left the door that leads to the garage open and a lizard found it's way into our house! The little critter tried to hide in the arm of the lazy boy but with all these boys around he didn't stand a chance!!

I'm not sure how it happened it seems like just yesterday I was bringing my baby boy home from the hospital and now he's 2.5 and bosses everyone around! He loves to watch TV his favorite shows are Dino Dan and Wild Kratt's he will sit on the couch with his eyes glued to the screen as long as one of those shows is playing! Another favorite thing is i-touches he's not picky he'll take whatever i-touch is laying around and find something he wants to play and take 100 selfies of his foot or the top of his head!! He is a busy child and loves doing whatever his brothers are doing! He still sleeps with me and he will yell at the boys to get out of his bed or to get out of his spot, which is really daddy's spot but whatever he's the baby he rules the house!! I love having a buddy, so glad he decided to sneak in and join the family he's everybody's favorite!!

Dax 2.5

Summer School

6-26-2014 Mrs. Parker decided to only do the month of June for summer school this year! She had some crazy idea to get out of the heat and go to Colorado for a few months! I don't blame her one bit for wanting to get out of 110 degree weather in fact I'm a little jealous! I signed Dillon & Dustin up for the month & Degan was allowed to go with Dillon and just hang out but Mrs. Parker just couldn't help herself he wanted to learn multiplication so bad she started to teach him the basics, to bad they didn't have July I'm sure he would've had it down!! I'm so thankful for her and for her love of teaching little people I know that Dustin would never had made as much progress as he did without her, She is simply amazing!!

Skatepark after hours

June 2014- When you live in Vegas nothing good happens at a skate park after hours but when you live in Overton and you have four boys you hit up the skate park at 8:30pm and if your lucky you run into your cousins and old neighbor and they make your 8 year old do crazy things like lay on a ramp while he jumps over you with his bike!! It's a good thing I didn't see I might have spanked Destry!! Life is crazy when you have all boys!! I love it!!

First Road Trip of the summer!!

Darin has been saying for years he's going to buy a beach cruiser to "cruise" around the KOA!! He purposely didn't pack his bike so he'd have to go buy a new one when we got there. As soon as we were done unpacking off we went to Costco to see what they had and wouldn't you know it they had the exact same diamondback beach cruiser he saw at Dick's a few months ago that he wanted only a hundred dollars cheaper - SCORE!! And I have to say it was money well spent cause he took Dax on LOTS of bike rides!!
We told the kids this year they could go to the zoo or sea world on the free day but once we got there they didn't want to leave their cousins so they opted to just hang out and do whatever everyone else was doing!! - SCORE AGAIN!! We took all the kids to see How to train your dragon 2, participated in all the fun things the KOA has to offer and of course played at the beach!! I enjoy getting out of the heat and just hanging out with the family! A highlight for Darin is going to Hodad's for a burger and Luigi's for some yummy pizza! Dillon likes that he's old enough to sleep in his own tent with Gage & Degan! Degan loved hanging out with his cousins at the KOA and boogie boarding for the first time at the beach! Dustin's favorite part of the trip was swimming at the pool and eating popsicles! Daxton's favorite thing had to be riding his little bike! He rode it all day long and I must say he got really good he was picking up his feet and coasting down the little hills!! The real story of our trip was on the way home: Things were going on along nicely, we stopped & ate at Denny's and headed back out on the road only to get in a traffic jam, so Darin rerouted the GPS and off we went on some exit thinking we were going to by pass all the traffic and found a cool little town to go walk around and check out some fun little shops, than after we stopped for gas we checked the GPS only to find out we were heading for Arizona and had gone way out of our way!! so again we rerouted the GPS to take us home and it took us on some old run down two lane highways, past some old railroad depot, we were even on "Route 66" for a short time!! It's a good thing we weren't in a hurry to get home because it took us forever to get home but we saw some pretty cool things!!

Mt. Pleasant

June 5-7 I'm sure I've mentioned all the stuff Cord has been left to deal with after his Dad Mike passed away. One of those things is a cabin in Mt. Pleasant Utah. They decided to make a trip up right after school got out to check things out after the winter months so we tagged along! The kids spent the days outside playing soldiers in the fields, building things in the garage and walking to the church down the street to get wifi on their i-touches!! Darin & Cord cleaned up the porch and the laundry room and filled up the church's garbage bins!! (hopefully they don't mind) They also had fun shooting noisy pigeons. But the most exciting thing about the whole trip was getting Big Blue up and running! If anyone knew the four of us in high school they would see all four of us sitting in the front seat of this big blue truck! We even once had a cop point at us and mouth four in front and shake his head no!! How cool is it that almost 20 years later we all still fit in the front seat! It was so fun cruising around reminiscing about our high school days! and we decided that Overton needs a "Swig" and that we need to open it! They also introduced us to pie milkshakes! If you are looking for a way to take your dessert eating to a whole new level well here it is add a slice of pie to some ice cream and mush it up!! Life Changing I tell you!!

P.S. The night we left they found six BATS hanging from the ceiling in the cabin!! kinda glad we missed that!!

the last week of school is the best week of school!!

6-2-2014 I'm a little sad Kindergarten is over for Dustin, it has been a tough year and he was just really starting to grasp things and catch on - (kinder is not what it used to be it's just tough), but what can you do? The Kindergarten program is always my favorite, they are all so cute and Meja does the cutest slide show of pictures from the whole year!! So sad my little guy is growing up!

6-3-2014 Today was water day, I volunteered to help out with Dusty's class so I missed the other kids but they said it was lame so I guess I didn't miss much! The kindergarteners went over to the fairgrounds to play on a big blow up slide and fun water games! It was a success all the kids LOVED it and as a bonus Scarlet was in charge of getting the big slide so she still had it after school so I headed back over after school was out and let the boys have even more fun. It got a little crazy, but what do you expect with a bunch of boys?

6-4-2014 As if Dustin graduating from kindergarten wasn't hard enough Dillon had to go and graduate from the fifth grade!! How did this happen? His elementary years went by way to fast! But we are both excited for middle school 5th grade was NOT a good year so we are ready for something new!! Dad told him absolutely no D's or F's on any more of his report cards or he won't be getting him a car when he turns 16!! hopefully that's enough motivation to keep good grades!!