The Jones Family

As I learn

2010-08-06T09:28:00.000-07:00

Today I am going to work a little harder on letting things roll off my back. I will not be easily offended. I will hear people out before becoming defensive. I will not "read into" typed messages that do not convey tone of voice being unsure of the seriousness or silliness behind the message. I will do my best to love my children and my husband. I will not drive myself crazy trying to do everything all at once and all the time. I will do what I can today and leave the rest for tomorrow knowing that it is okay. I will ask myself "In the eternal realm of things does this really matter?" I will do more to cherish friends and family. I will do my best to look beyond myself and see how my actions will affect those around me. I will see if there are things I can do to lighten the burden on those around me. I will look for more ways to serve. And most importantly I will look for ways in which the Lord can help me make my weaknesses into strengths.

Bear Lake over the 4th

2010-07-21T14:00:00.001-07:00

This year we went up to Bear Lake over the 4th. We had a blast. The kids love getting in the water. It was a little cold for me but we still had fun.

Bridger and I sitting on the beach waiting for our turn on the Jet Ski's
Ryan was such a good dad to get into the cold water with his kids. This was Saturday and I was quite content to sit on the beach.
So we forgot Emi's suitcase at home. In it was her swim suit so, the first day out she got to wear her underwear and PFD. What a good sport she was.

Ali loves the water. She often pretends she is a mermaid! Silly girl.

From Oregon to St. George and back Part 2

2010-05-26T12:55:00.000-07:00

So we were scheduled to get back from Oregon Wed. late afternoon, early evening. Well various things happened to keep us in Oregon longer so we didn't get to Idaho until late. We had trouble with getting our certificate to pull the trailer, we broke the connector that keeps the light on the trailer so people can see our brake lights etc. So needless to say it was about 8 when we got to Boise. We were trying to make it back by midnight but that plan was delayed when we found ourselves on the way to Pocatello! I know. If I could ever get it right and just make it from Boise to Ogden and back without so many detours! Well it was dark and rainy and there was construction, those are my reasons and I am sticking to it. We ended up spending one more night in the motor home at a rest area. We woke up the next morning and made it back to Ogden where we quickly unloaded and packed up for St. George. We went from chilly and humid to hot and dry! We finally got the motorhome dropped off by about 6pm then we headed to Saratoga Springs to pick up my favorite Tayler and Bailee. We picked them up and then stopped at Costco and grabbed some pizza. We tried to order domino's but it would take them 40 minutes! We ate on the road and made it to St. George by midnight. We got settled in and to bed just before 1am. The next morning everyone slept in. Ryan and I got up around 9-9:30. Some of the girls got up around 10 but Ali slept until 11! We all had yummy pancakes and then everyone got ready to go to the pool. I needed a swim suit so Tayler and I headed first to TJ Maxx. This was Tayler's favorite discovery! We had lots of fun trying stuff on. I found a swim suit and we were back to the townhome. We fried ourselves good that first day! I think Tayler easily reached her goal to come back tan or at least with color.

That night was a shower for Audrey. It was fun to meet a couple of her Aunts, see her Grandma Hansen and meet 2 of her friends she knew from Illinois. We had fun just chatting and eating yummy Strawberry pie from Village Inn. After they left Ryan and the kids came back and we had a party. Don't tell dad but we blew bubbles with a little bubble machine.

Sprayed Silly String.

And Danced to Tayler Swift

Then we watched the spy next door

What an eventful Friday we had!

Saturday Ryan and I went with Mom and Dad (Wachter) to the St. George Temple where we were able to be apart of Audrey Hansens special day as she went through the temple for her first time. It was awesome! What a beautiful temple and what a wonderful place to be with family and friends. Afterwards we went to Sills for some delicious lunch. It was great. Then Ryan and Dad went golfing with Eric and John Hansen, Mom and Yvonne Hansen went and ate ice cream and talked while the rest of us were suppose to go shopping but the keys to the van were in Ryan's pocket out at the golf course. We did get in some last minute shopping though! Then we ate at this fun little yogurt shop called Yogurt Unique. You pay $0.38 per ounce and you can get as many flavors and toppings as you want. It was yummy. Ali provided evening entertainment to 3 couples there on a date. They got to here Al tell stories and play eye spy. I am sure it was quite funny for them.

Sunday we went to church where I saw a girl who use to be in our ward in South Ogden. Her name is Elyse Bernier and she lives in the same townhomes as my dad! What a small world!

From Oregon to St. George and back Part 1

2010-05-26T12:21:00.000-07:00

Last week was lots of fun. We had quite the driving adventure. First we headed up to the Boise ID area where we stayed with some of our dear friends, Mary and Eric Jensen and their 2 wonderful kids. We had a sleepover! The kids had so much fun and they can't wait to go back. Then it was off to Oregon. Here are some highlights:

First we got to ride in a rental car. This Ford Flex was pretty cool. The big down side was it hummed when you hit 75mph.

Here is Emi enjoying her new ride

Ali was great mostly when she was holding the dvd player Grandma let us borrow!

Bridger stayed awake most of the time! What a good sport.

Ryan opted out of driving the Flex since he knew he was going to be driving the motor home back without any relief. What an amazing guy!

Look at those tree's fly by! No wonder we got pulled over twice!

(the first time was for lights, not speed though!)

This is a beautiful Rainbow we saw on our way to Idaho. It was super bright when we first saw it. It faded quickly as we pulled over to take the picture.

This is a shot of us by one of the many scenic areas on our way to Corvalis OR. What a beautiful drive!

I guess Oregon is known for its many beautiful scenic bridges. This is one of them that we passed. It was very pretty.

Next we picked up the motor home in Eugene. We then spent the night in a church parking lot in Corvalis. In the morning some wonderful people at the family history center there helped us find the DMV and get directions to find our way to Dallas OR to pick up a trailer to tow.

So next we went to Dallas. Picked up the trailer. Had our first fun 100 point turn because we went the wrong direction. We quickly learned to really map out your route because you don't want to have to turn around in a motorhome pulling a trailer! Ryan did great though.

Probably our most favorite scenic stop was Multnomah Falls. This is just off I-84 and worth the slight detour. We got to see worms and everything!

The girls were troopers the hiked to the bridge a whole .2 miles and wanted to keep going, even though it was sprinkling and wet.

This is one of those classic set the timers and run. As you can see my set up job wasn't very good and neither was my timing! Oh well. You can still see how beautiful the falls are.

An eventful week

2010-04-21T09:13:00.001-07:00

On Wednesday Ali had Kindergarden round-up. She had lots of fun going and meeting her 2 possible teachers. Thanks to Melissa and Lucy for letting Bridger and Emi come hang out with them!

Then Thursday out of no where Ali says "I need to go and count the houses" so she went outside and counted the houses on our little street. She came back in and declared there were 10. A dew minutes later she said I need the make some newspapers. So she pulled out 10 white sheets of papr and our bag of elastics. At this point I still had no idea what she was doing. She starts drawing pictures on the papers and then rolling them up like telescopes, which she often does so again I thought nothing about it.

Then she came in with her helmet on, grabbed her papers and started to load them in her scooter. She then delivered them to each of our neighbors!

Bridger had surgery on Friday the 16th. He had what we are lovingly calling "boy surgery" He handled it like a trooper. The girls spent the night with Grandma Wachter and had so much fun.

Ryan Graduates from institute! Way to go Ryan!!!

My Week

2010-03-28T20:04:00.000-07:00

What we did this week:

Family- This week we had some good times. The events that stand out most to me are Grandma Forsey's 80th birthday party and helping fill the eggs for the South Ogden Easter egg hunt. I wasn't sure how well the girls would do but they did awesome! Ali was right on it. We folded up free kid meal coupons to Zucca and Warren's then placed it in a plastic egg with two pieces of taffy. Ali could do it all herself! Emi and I worked as a team I would fold then she would put it all in the egg then tape it while I held it shut. Bridger even did well smiling at everyone and eating cheerios. They even fed us pizza! What a fun way to spend a Friday night. I would love to do more family service like this. Grandma's birthday was great. We had quite a few people there. She didn't want a meet and greet so her kids sent out letters asking for people to write her a letter with memories of her. They got a great response. We then shared some of them that night. She is looking good after all these years!

Church- We had our Relief Society birthday party this week. What we did was encouraged people to read scriptures that had been previously picked out and answer questions. Then Thursday we had 2 different sessions that people could come to and share there experiences. We also had some FHE kits for people to put together. We also served brownies ice cream and hot fudge. For our ward I wouldn't do two sessions again. The girls also had a primary activity this week called the spiritual olympics. I didn't see all the fun but I know they made the title of Liberty and sugar cookie gold medals.

Workouts- This week my personal workouts stunk. I did get a good 50 min, cycling ride in but that as about it.
Teaching -I taught 3 yoga classes this week. 2 60 min classes and 1 40 min. kid yoga class. My kids yoga class has been a growing experience for me. Trying to find ways to keep the kids interested and to attempt to make it fun yet yoga like. This past week I really tried to walk around and give positive feedback. It seemed to go over well.
Training- I had 3 training sessions 2 of which are my regular Wellness group sessions.

Thoughts- At Grandma's birthday I got talking to our cousins Chris and Nicole the cute newlyweds in the fam. I told them they are just like the couples in our ward that I worry about . The nice RM husband and the cute young wife, just excited about life but a little lazy in their church devotion. I of course said this as a generalization not meaning anything about them personally. But as it turns out they are even more like the couples in our ward then I thought. But as they analyzed the situation I found out that they thought "Why invest the time and effort we are only here for a short time" Which I can see many of our renters saying and even town home owners. Then they also said that this past week their Elders Quorum president came out to visit them. This was the first visit they have had. They visited for an hour and a half. they enjoyed it and now feel like they have some friends. They also couldn't see why they would be important to a ward. This has given me greater insight into what I need to be doing for my calling.

Weight Loss Frustrations

2010-03-20T09:17:00.000-07:00

So I have just about completed week 3 on my way to reach 133 by the time I am 33. So far the only progress I have made is finding out what doesn't work. I have yet to loose a pound. Since I had Bridger I have gained about 15 pounds. That averages about 2 pounds a month. Getting the weight off has not be so easy. My fat intake still seems to be hight and I am not quite sure where that is all coming from so I am going to analyze my food in a nutrition program that breaks the nutrients down by the food. I am also going to create a chart of some sort to make sure I am getting between 60-80 oz of water a day. The other thing I want to do is hit the weights hard! I know that if I can increase my lean muscle mass I can burn calories more efficiently. So we will see how this works for week 4.

LDS.org - Ensign Article - Preparing Our Children for General Conference

2010-03-18T14:54:00.000-07:00

This is an awesome article filled with ideas on how to prepare for General Conference. It also has great ideas to keep us actively involved during conference no matter our age!
LDS.org - Ensign Article - Preparing Our Children for General Conference
I would love to hear any other ideas that people have tried or heard of!

How to get your baby to sleep

2010-03-16T20:49:00.000-07:00

So they say you shouldn't let your baby fall asleep with a bottle in their mouth, but what about a lollipop?

Training Update:
I had an awesome superset workout yesterday and I am feeling the effects today! My diet I have done to stick with my calories but I can do better with my fat %. However it is funny to me that my fat content is high because I rarely add extra fat to my food except salad dressing which is usually vinegar and olive oil. I guess I need to watch the fat content in my other foods. Today I didn't get in a workout but I did good sticking to my calories. I also went shopping for some clothes. Good news there is that I only had to by 14's I was really worried I was going to be a 16. I am hoping to one day soon be at least an 8!

First post of my Training success

2010-03-15T08:46:00.000-07:00

All of these will be success posts because even if I gain weight I have learned something about myself. So...
I have been really frustrated that after 2 weeks of tracking my workouts and my food. I have actually lost nothing! I know facebook says I gained 2 pounds but truth be told I thought I weighed less than I did when I started. So yesterday I did some contemplation on what I can do to remedy this. I asked myself if I have truly been recording my food and the intensity of my workouts correctly and I really feel that I have. I did go back and look at where my calories are coming from, fat, carbs or protein. I am definitely consuming more fat than I should be. I also feel I need to make a few other changes so this is my game plan for the next 2 weeks to see what happens:
1. Reduce fat intake. No more than 30% of my calories should be coming from fat
2. Do 3 strength training workouts this week in a super set fashion using a strength training app to accurately record what I do.
3. Make sure I drink 64oz of water

So this on top of what I have been doing. We will see how it goes.

Safety Fair

2010-03-02T06:43:00.001-08:00

This past weekend we went to the Safe Kids Fair at the South Town Expo Center. It was a great time. We went first on Friday early afternoon with Ali's preschool. Then we did go back on Saturday towards the end and it was a mad house. I would like to do it again but it will be early on Friday. I just wanted to share some of the pictures.

They had a few people painting faces. They were amazing. I'm not going to lie, I wish I had gotten mine painted.

The Firefighters were doing a cool house demo where they taught the kids what to do in case of a fire. Then they let them climb down a chain ladder.

ADN we always have to find the princess. Girls just love them.

But I don't like my bed!

2010-03-02T06:37:00.000-08:00

Many nights we hear this all too familiar statement from Ali, "But I don't like my bed." or "I can't sleep, my bed is too hard." So one night she came downstairs and told Ryan she didn't want to sleep in her room. So he said alright, let's find you somewhere else you can sleep. So they decided the kitchen would be a good spot. So Ali grabbed a pillow off the couch and one of Bridger's small blankets and went and laid down in the kitchen. Ryan later came and asked her if she wanted a bigger blanket. So he put one of our large quilts on her. I can't imagine how this could be better than a nice soft bed in a nice warm room.

Before Ryan went to bed he did move her up to her room. Now when asked if she wants to sleep in the kitchen her reply is no.

Aaron comes home

2010-02-15T07:07:00.000-08:00

So how many missionaries can say they helped paint their welcome home sign? Well that is what you get when you come home a day early and only tell your sister Natalie!

It took all of us to get the sign out and to lift it up. I said I would be in charge of the sign. I was told we didn't want to hang it on the garage because the last time we did that the paint came off. So I decided to make it plenty long so we could hang it across the garage. I guess 12 yards was more than enough! Maybe next time I will just go the full length of the house!

After helping re-finish the roof this summer Ryan had no hesitation to help hang up the sign on the roof.

Kids say the silliest things!

2010-02-15T07:03:00.000-08:00

The other morning Ali is saying the morning prayer. During her prayer she asked that her name be changed to ...and Emi's name be ... we couldn't understand what she said. So after the prayer we asked. Ali what do you want your name to be? "I want my name to be Right" said Ali. And what do you want Emi's name to be? "I want Emi's name to be wrong. So I can always be right and she will always be wrong."

How cute is that!

Have I Done Any Good in the World Today?

2010-02-06T14:05:00.000-08:00

Have I Done Any Good in the World Today?

Growing up

2010-02-02T12:13:00.000-08:00

So this last week I wanted to take pictures of some of the things the kids are doing. Bridger is scaring me! He is the most mobile child I have had. He has already fallen off my bed twice! He rolls and moves all over. The scary thing is he is getting up on his hands and knees like he wants to crawl! I predict that by the end of Feb. he will be crawling!

He also is my one kid that likes the baby oatmeal. He is not too fond of rice cereal but likes the oatmeal. Right now he eats oatmeal and peaches.

Ali is our artist. She is always drawing family pictures. She keeps telling us that there is one more baby brother so one day we will see. Hopefully later than sooner.

Emi loves to pretend. One of her favorites are tea parties. Are struggle there is trying to get her to pretend without using water! But at least it is only water.

Amazing Lesson

2010-01-24T11:53:00.001-08:00

Today we had an awesome lesson in Relief Society. We discussed Elder D. Todd Christofferson's Nov. conference talk about Moral Decision. It made me think a lot about laws of society vs. God's law and the way I teach my children. A couple of things that stood out to me are the following:
1st: Choose the right because it is the right, even when it is hard
2nd: "As the Lord describes it, 'Every man walketh in his own way, and after the image of his own god'" So I asked myself if I were to draw my God based on my decisions what would he look like? Crazy thing to sit and ponder!
3rd: Because of what has happened in our current society we have seen the following: "Reactions have focused on enacting more and stronger regulation. Perhaps that may dissuade some from unprincipled conduct, but others will simply get more creative in their circumvention. -This made me think of how stricter laws often just hurt those of us who are currently trying to live by them. Those that break them continue to break laws. This also made me think about how When God gives us a commandment he doesn't outline every aspect of that law. Like with our garments he doesn't say exactly when to wear them or not, but we are to follow the spirit in these things.
4th "'We would not accept the yoke of Chisit; so now we must tremble at the yoke of Caesar.'"
5th "Moral discipline is learned at home...Our teaching should draw upon our own faith and focus first and foremost on instilling faith in God in the rising generation. " "Each must be persuaded that service and sacrifice for the well-being and happiness of others are far superior to making one's own comfort and possessions the highest priority." -Imagine what would happen if the CEO's of these large banks were to have really thought about all of us little people before they made and make their bonus checks out. They are making 5 million in bonus' or whatever it is when I know 3 men in my ward, my own husband included in this that is under employed and many others that own their own business' are just keep praying things get better.
6th We need to be constantly teaching, mostly by example - So how can I serve and show faith to my kids. Angela Hunter in my ward shared how she recently took the time to write in her journal of a time her prayer was answered about something small. She later found out that her oldest daughter, 14 likes to read her journals from time to time. Ang thought how great it will be for her to read of these small faith building experiences as she continues to write them.
7th: parents sometimes say they "don't want to impose the gospel on their children but wan them to make up their own minds about what they will believe and follow. They think that in this way they are allowing children to exercise their agency. What they forget is the the intelligent use of agency requires knowledge of the ruth, of things as they really are." Think about how Satan recruits the young or old he is not passive. He doesn't sit back and say I will let them choose he is actively seeking them especially through media. A point was made in church of how we are constantly surrounded by noise, text, ipods, mp3s, cell phones etc. We never have quiet time and as we know the spirit comes in a still small voice so if we are always in noise how can we hear him? I wonder if this is why their was such a great desire for religious freedom before radios, phones etc. People were out working the land and thinking. They had time to listen to God and to talk to him.
Finally: To help teach our children we need to show them that God is a part of all things. We need to acknowledge God in all things.

Most of these are just my thoughts that I wanted to capture before this day was over. I hope all of you are having a wonderful Sunday.

Apples for dinner

2010-01-20T20:48:00.000-08:00

Tonight when we hadn't had dinner by 6pm Ali and Emi decided it was up to them to get it ready. They came up to get me and when I came down they had 3 plates set on the table each with an already washed apple on it! They are so cute. They were so proud of themselves.

Mom and Dad's new place

2010-01-18T09:30:00.000-08:00

Mom and Dad closed on their new home in Saratoga Springs this last week. Most of us went out to see it Sunday night. It will be a great new place for our family gatherings. During the week who knows what they will do with all that space. But when we all get together it will be awesome!

This will be the room the kids love the most. This is the great room above the garage. Bailee, Parker, Ali, Emi, Andrew and Elle had fun playing all over the house.

Their new garage hear was a racing spot for the kids. I am pretty sure my whole town home would fit in the garage with room to spare our town home is 1250 square feet).

In the living room their are these alcoves that Emi thought were the perfect hiding spaces!

Congratulations Mom and Dad! We can't wait to help with moving and painting and such!

The Pictures

2010-01-16T18:27:00.001-08:00

So here are the aftershots of the haircut massacre.

Ali just wanted her hair out of her face. So she mostly cut the side hair.

This picture doesn't do it justice just how many choppy layers Ali cut for Emi!

Crazy Monday

2010-01-14T06:41:00.000-08:00

I was reminded as to why I don't want to teach aerobics a lot and be a mom. Monday I had a personal training session with a girl who is getting married June 11th. We have met before but now she has true motivation, to look good in her wedding dress! Then that evening I was asked to sub a cycle class which are my favorite! So I was upstairs working on my playlist and Ryan was running errands. I hadn't been upstairs long when Ali comes walking up the stairs with some kid scissors (they cut paper all the time and are learning quite well). This time though you guessed it! It wasn't paper they cut but hair. Ali is always saying she wants a boy haircut because her hair is always in her way. So today as her hair got in her way she just decided to cut it! Her hair she didn't cut so much, but she really hacked into Emi. Poor little Em. She has more layers on the left side of hair then I have seen. I really tried to blend it but it is going to be a long process. I must admit I thought I would skip this trial. I always cut Ryan's hair and we have a big discussion every time on who cuts hair...mom, dad, or a person at a special hair salon. But in the end I guess when your hair is in the way you don't care. There was hair all over our house, all over Emi and just everywhere.

So then we got the hair resolved (I actually didn't fix it until Wednesday, busy schedule). We ate dinner and off to the South Davis Rec Center for class. While I was in class Ryan was going to take the girls swimming for FHE. So I went one way and he went another. I guess shortly after they got in the pool someone pooped so they went into the lap pool for an hour while they cleaned it. Then again a couple hours later they again had to close the pool because someone pooped. That time it wasn't so bad because we needed to leave and this was an easy way to get the girls out.

As for me I taught my cycle class. We did mostly an endurance ride, but I must admit I am really out of shape for an instructor! I have just started working on my cardio health a few weeks ago. I didn't work out at the end of my pregnancy because I would be completely exhausted if I did. So we have this great 1 hour cycle class. Then as we are all cleaning up I keep waiting for the next instructor and she isn't there, isn't there and then one of our yoga instructors Karena comes in and says Jill, the regular instructor, has a son just a throwing up and can't get here to teach. Karena tells the class she can do it but it will be them helping her teach the class. I told her I could do it. It would be basic but I could do it. So I did I taught the step class that night too. I was dead half way through I was stepping on my bench as little as possible. I cooled them down early and did abs because I was dying. I was happy that I brought my big ol bag that had my step routines in it and cds even though they were old. I did have fun. The girls in the class were all very nice too. Needless to say I was dead that night! What a crazy day!

Emi's Birthday

2010-01-04T21:54:00.000-08:00

Emi is now 3! What a horrible age. In my opinion I would take two 2's and move right into the 4's. But since that isn't really an option here we come horrendous 3's! Emi is already our little spit fire. She can be the sweetest little thing one minute and make you madder than mad the next.

Anyway, we had a great time celebrating her 3rd birthday. Ryan cooked up some yummy German pancakes for breakfast. He also make her 3 balloon flowers for a centerpiece. For lunch we all went out to Chick-fil-a on Riverdale which was a blast. We had lots of fun playing. The kids played for at least 2 hours. It was great to get out of the house. Then that evening Ryan took Emi on a date to Chuck-e-cheese where they shared a pizza and played lots of games.

It seems that everyone in our family has at least 3 parties. Emi next got to celebrate her birthday with her Jones aunts and grandparents and cousin Lucy. We celebrated on Jan. 1st. We all got together for lunch then opened presents for Lucy's birthday, Kevin's (Grandpa's) and Emi's. After we went to the movies where some of us went and saw the Princess and the Frog. Me and the girls loved it! I will definitely watch that one again! I loved the story in it. Emi's third party was at the Wachter house where we celebrated Emi's, her aunt Cathy's and cousin Padan's. The hardest part for Emi is sharing her new toys. Ali wants so badly to play with them but Emi doesn't want to share! That has made the last almost week difficult. One day I might know a little bit more about good parenting.

Christmas

2010-01-04T21:33:00.001-08:00

What a happy time of year! I must admit at first I thought we were going to have a repeat of last year with a sick child. Bridger got his immunizations on the 23rd and on the 24th he had a fever. Luckily it didn't last long and with Tylenol he seemed to do just fine.

We were truly blessed this holiday season. We had lots of secret Santa's watching over us. In fact this was probably the biggest Christmas Ryan and I have had during our marriage. It started out before Thanksgiving with a knock on the door. When we opened the door their was a plate of cookies and an envelope. The envelope contained $50! What a blessing just in time to help us with some much needed bills. Next we got a phone call from our Bishop telling us he had a family that wanted to adopt us this Christmas. We filled out a questionnaire and promptly returned it to the Bishop. Then the week of Christmas we were blessed so much. We received checks from our grandparents and gift cards from cousins. We returned Sunday night from a family party to find 2 large presents and 2 small presents on our porch for our children. Then Monday night again a know on the door and this time a bowl filled with crumpled up bills totaling over $100. Then of course we had so many wonderful gifts delivered to us by our bishopric from our secret santa family. One other thing we got to do was to go to DI to pick out a few things we needed. I had no idea that at Christmas time the Bishops can send families in need to get any items that they need for free! It is amazing what they do. They have these kits to make doll houses that are amazing. They also have people take home various dolls and clean them up and package them so cutely! Next year I plan to give back and donate some of my talents and time to do the same for someone else.

So needless to say when our girls woke up Christmas morning the awoke to quite an array of wonderful Christmas gifts provided by the most special kinds of Santa's the true Santa's in this world.

Twas the night before Pre-school

2009-10-19T21:18:00.000-07:00

Twas the night before pre-school and all through the house my kitchen was clean the living room too

It won't be long before 8 little kids will gather at the table to learn and be able

We will sing and learn letters eat food and color sweaters

Then after 2 1/2 hours we'll see if all is well

Okay so I am not a poet and we will do all but color sweaters. We will color though. I am hoping all goes well as I have an additional person to side track me. To think Bridger will be 4 1/2 months old. I will post pictures of all the fun we have!

The Pumpkin Patch

2009-10-17T21:46:00.000-07:00

It is becoming a tradition for us to go to Cochran's and pick out our pumpkins. I think I will go back with the girls in their witch outfits and take some more pictures. We love this place! They have cute things to buy and great produce!

Bridgers Blessing

2009-10-17T21:23:00.000-07:00

What a special day! It was so great having most of our family there to participate. I am very grateful for brothers and uncles and grandpa's and especially fathers who have set such a great example. To me there isn't a stronger power than the priesthood power these great men hold. We had a fun time trying to find a blessing outfit that would fit Bridger and that we liked. We finally started looking at suit options and found a suit for $30 bucks at Bliss in the Newgate mall. We got it home and tried the pants on him and his skinny legs drowned in them. So the day before we headed out with Diane to see what we could find. We tried Sassy babies in Bountiful and found tons of cute items and a cute suit but not one that fit. We then tried Brats and found an outfit and shoes that we all thought would work great. I will say it is more fun to shop for girls (sorry Bridge).

Girls Nights

2009-10-06T15:06:00.000-07:00

We have had 2 really fun girl nights the last few weekends. We had one with the Wachters where we decorated witch hats and made tutu's . We then went to the General Relief Society meeting which I thought was amazing! It made me rethink my involvement in Relief Society, that it is not merely another meeting I go to but it is my weekly meeting for the Lord's club that I choose to be apart of. It makes me more excited to fulfill my responsibilities. After that we went to dinner at Mi Ranchito's.

Then during the priesthood session the Jones girls got together and we baked pizza's and made super cute beaded bracelets using safety pins.

Now I am getting ready for Super Saturday and Bridgers blessing which are both this weekend. Life is just crazy fun!

Update

2009-09-17T14:13:00.000-07:00

Having a boy has been lots of fun. He is definitely my best sleeper, he only gets up once a night. He eats pretty well but super slow. He will usually take an hour to eat first 30 minutes or so nursing then another 3 or so eating 2 oz. of formula. He loves the sling and sleeps quite well when he is in it. We have been giving him a binki as needed (we learned with Emi that all babies need a way to console, and sucking is the best way). He is still a pretty long and skinny guy. Our most recent adventure with Bridger was to the urologist yesterday. He was never circumcised because his foreskin was not fully developed as well as the nurse saying he had hypospadia and the doctor saying it was chordee. Well yesterday we found out they were all right. When Bridger is 6 to 12 months he will have surgery to fix it all. We are just hoping we have insurance by then.

So as some of you know Ryan was laid off on Sept. 1st which is good and bad. Bad because now is not the ideal time to be unemployed, but good because it will give him the opportunity to look at other options he might enjoy. (I am voting for seminary teacher). That takes about 2 years so If you hear of other opportunities let us know!

Ali started pre-school this week. We are doing a rotating neighborhood one with 7 kids so I will teach only 4 times! sounds great to me and is lots cheaper than other options.

Emi is starting to potty train and has advanced from the toddler potty to the big potty! Now we just have to get her to use it all the time!

I am getting ready for super Saturday which I think will be a blast!

Welcome Bridger!

2009-08-04T19:28:00.000-07:00

We have a new baby boy in our family! At 1:29pm on Sunday Our little Bridger was born! The delivery all went very well. That morning I started having contractions around 7am. I told Ryan he would be fine to go to his 9:45 meeting but not the 11am. I called Mom and told her we would probably have a new baby about 1:30pm (Did I call that or what). I then tried to get in touch with the Jones to get our girls over to them. They were in church and none of them took their phones and the numbers listed for their Bishop were not answered. So we went to their house and Ryan snuck into their church meetings to get them. They came home and then Ryan and I went to the hospital. We went to labor and delivery and they thought we were first time parents because of our excitement and smiles. They also thought I was probably going to be going back home being only dilated to a 2. We got in and they started doing my history and I said this was baby #3. I also told them that I go pretty quick so the nurse stopped doing the history and checked me. I was at a 7! She started speeding everything up, getting our room ordering the epidural etc. We had a great nurse named Geri and had a midwife deliver our baby. It took about 3 pushes and he was here. I didn't even tear this time!

He has been a good baby. He has stayed up most of the night the last two nights and sleeps really well during the day. I think he looks a lot like Ryan and his uncle Adam. The girls have been super cute with him too. They are always asking to hold him. Emi is quick on the scene when he cries to make sure he is okay. At the hospital Emi held him first and was super sweet nuzzling and kissing him. Ali made sure to tell everyone to be very careful so they didn't break him. Ali was quite insistent that his name be Jay, but I think we have her persuaded to call him Bridger now. So far it all looks pretty good for the Jones family. Thank you to everyone for your love and support!

The Bee's Game

2009-07-24T12:11:00.001-07:00

Last night we were able to go to the Salt Lake Bees game courtesy of SOS staffing. It was a pretty fun time. They fed us some great BBQ then we watched the Bee's loose to the Montana Grizzlies. After the game though we had great fireworks that were done to Michael Jackson music. We would have taken pictures but we had lost our camera. We thought it was at Mom's or at the Rockin R Ranch but we finally found it in a cupboard behind our taco seasoning. Now we just need to find the cords to the computer and the battery charger all before we have the baby.

Speaking of the baby, I had another appointment on Wednesday I am maybe dilated to a 2. But as I got thinking about it with both Ali and Emi I think the most I was ever dilated was a 3 but then I seemed to just have the baby in one day. With Ali I noticed them around 9am and she was born around 7. With Emi they also started in the morning and then she was born around 3:30. Both were born on Saturdays. Hopefully this one will come on a weekday when the lactation specialists are around so I can have some great help to get this boy eating all his food from me.

Today is the 24th of July which seems to only mean anything in UT because it is Pioneer Day. We watched the Day's of 47 parade on TV this morning. I then entered Ryan and I into a contest to win either a TV or a BBQ grill so keep your fingers crossed! Tonight we will have a BBQ with the Jones.

Mom on the go is going pretty well. Wanda and I are looking at adding tutu's. I made some really cute puffy ones for Ali and Emi I want to add some ribbons and flowers and then I will take pictures and add them to our blog! Outside of that I need to sew 6 slings and get them into the stores this next week before Baby boy Jones comes. By the way we still don't really have a name so if you have any suggestions let us know!

Smithen Family Reunion

2009-07-20T14:48:00.000-07:00

We just got back from our biannual Smithen Family Reunion. We had 47 out of 111 descendants of Walter and Lavina Smithen. We went to this great Ranch in Antimony UT called the Rockin R Ranch. I think everyone had a blast. We had quite a few requests to hold it there again. The best part was we really had to do nothing. They cooked the delicious food for us, and they provided plenty of entertainment. We had a family rodeo, floated down the river, went on hikes, horse rides for kids and adults, had crafts, played games, and so much more!

I think the family crazy highlight for us was the rodeo. Ryan participated in barrel racing, calf riding, the relay race where they threw cow pies, and the cattle round-up. Ali participated in the relay and the mutton bustin where she got to ride a sheep. Emi participated in the relay. I got to be the camera lady. Ryan got the biggest goose egg on his leg that I have ever seen from the calf ride. Ali did a great job riding the sheep. I can't believe she did it! What a brave girl. If you have never seen this event it is crazy. They put a young child on a big sheep tell the to hold on while the sheep runs out of the shoot as fast as it can. The child holds on as long as they can. I can't believe we let her do it. But what a fun story she will be able to tell her whole life!

We had a blast with all of our family and can't wait to get together again in 2 years! We figure if we save about $21 a month we will be on our way.

New Business

2009-07-13T11:39:00.000-07:00

Wanda and I are actually going into business together! We are creating and sewing all sorts of fun things for mom's and babies. To see some of our amazing products visit our blog at themomonthego.blogspot.com

Ryan has been a great sport helping me in every way possible. He was even willing to model for our slings!

Make sure you spread the word to anyone having a baby or if you need a great gift for a baby shower e-mail or call us.

Trust in your Church Leaders

2009-07-06T17:03:00.000-07:00

Sunday was turning out to be a normal Sunday until I got to church. I discovered our Relief Society President, Sister Shanna Bingham and her husband had moved to North Ogden and today was their last Sunday with us. Outside of being shocked that they were leaving so suddenly I didn't think much of it. Sacrament rolls around and Bishop Harvey was walking around saying hi to lots of people. He shook my hand and asked if we were still selling our place. I said yes that I don't know how well I would do mentally to have 3 or 4 kids in our town home. He said that we needed to stay in the ward. I told him to pray that something comes available in the ward that we can afford. and that was that. Then sacrament begins. We get to ward business and the Bishop starts releasing lots of people. Then he calls lots of various people to callings then but no to the relief society presidency. We sustain them and then he starts calling the presidency. Megan Morrison was called as president then Ines Fowers as first counselor. Then out of no where he calls me as second counselor! I was shocked and tears just rushed down my face! Then Angela Hunter was called as secretary. I couldn't believe it.

Mom said she hadn't heard of that since Brigham Young. I have seen our Bishop do it before, but it is different when it is your name!

Bird and more update

2009-07-05T06:57:00.000-07:00

I have decided that I can't wait to get pictures done before I post otherwise it goes months before I write! I promise to do better.

The birds: Unfortunately the neighbor cat got to our sweet little eggs. I came home one day and saw cracked egg shell on the ground and on our door. I asked Ryan about it and he had seen the neighbor's cat jumping at the wreath. This caused multiple eggs to fall leaving only 2. I guess the mother bird was frustrated because we never saw her after that and the eggs are still in the wreath.

Our house. We are still wanting to sell our house so if you know anyone who could use a great 2 bedroom town home send them our way. We painted the girls room twice! Ryan spent the last weekend in June doing an amazing job painting one wall chocolate and the other 3 almond. However when we got done at 2 in the morning we discovered the almond wall weren't almond but gray. Ryan pick up more paint on Monday so we could get the correct color and we again spent all of Friday July 3rd painting. It is now done and looks great! So now we have a more neutral room that we hope will encourage buyers.

The girls: Alina and Emi are doing great. They wake up and ask where we are going today. Maybe I take them too many places. We did buy a zoo membership this year so if anyone wants to go to the zoo let us know! We are also still going swimming at the South Davis Rec Center. This is one of our favorite activities. Hopefully we will get to swim lots in July before the baby comes! Ali has also become quite the chalk artist. On almost any given day you can walk down our sidewalk and see wonderful rainbows and pictures of people and cats that she drew. Emi loves to play with her babies and play dress-up. We seem to always be putting a new dress on her!

Ryan- He has been extremely busy at work! This is great for us and the economy. His coworker is on maternity leave until the end of August which has been good and bad for Ryan. They also just restructured his company a little bit changing the role of his office as well as making him busier. He has said that he would rather be busy then have it be quiet. Outside of this he is staying very busy with church and family life.

Wendy- Is just starting up an amazing company with Wanda, her sister-in-law. We have one item we need to patent so if any of you know anything about doing this let me know ASAP. We are also searching for a name so if you have any ideas for a name let us know. Also check out our current blog at themomonthego.blogspot.com

Here you can check out our awesome products!

I think that is it for now. We all had a great 4th. It started Friday with Ryan being off work! The girls got to spend the night at Grandma and Grandpa Jones' house. They slept in the tent with Grandma and Grandpa, Aunt Nat and cousin Lucy. That is they were in the tent until midnight when it started to rain and the sprinklers came on. They then moved inside where the little girls stayed up until 1 am. They slept until about 9:30am, which wasn't long enough in my opinion. We all had a great breakfast together and then we took the girls home. Later that afternoon we went to Grandma and Grandpa Wachter's where they had a kids pool out, a slip and slide, a flower sprinkler, water balloons and water guns. The kids had a fun time. Roxy, the dog even enjoyed chasing after water balloons. We ate dinner which was great as usual! Then had Barry and Jake set off fireworks for our enjoyment. The spider and teapot were my favorite because every minute they would change. I like change.

We're having septuplets!

2009-04-29T09:44:00.000-07:00

Yep that is right we will soon hatch 7 babies! Baby birds that is. One day Ryan came home and told me that a bird was nesting on our door behind our wreath! I saw the nest and couldn't believe it! We took a picture and found out that there are 7 eggs inside that nest.

Every time we come home we have to watch out because the brown sparrow takes off at full speed. I now walk in as far to the right as possible and scrunched down to avoid collision with the bird.

Ryan e-mailed Tracy Aviary to see if they had any recommendations on how we might move the birds. This was there reply: Thanks for your note. What a nice little surprise, although quite inconvenient when trying to sell a house…. If you can, you should try to leave it alone and alert any possible visitors to use another entrance (maybe through the garage?). My guess is that the eggs will hatch any day and it is only a few weeks before the little guys will fledge. After that point, they will be mobile enough to move.

That is only a recommendation, however.

Good luck!

So we are hoping that in a couple of days the birds hatch and we will get to hear the sounds of 7 little birds chirping for food. Now I know that I need to take down our wreath after Valentines day or we might continually find birds at our door!

4-D pictures of our baby boy!

2009-04-25T12:02:00.000-07:00

This past Monday we got to go have our "big" ultrasound done to see our baby boy. Ryan and the girls were all there. Ali really enjoyed it. She liked seeing pictures of the baby and hearing the heartbeat. Emi had a hard time wanting to stay focused on the baby but she liked seeing the pictures of him. This is my favorite ultrasound because we get to really see our baby and see what he looks like. We received a dvd and pictures which are very cool. Outside of that life here is good!

Alina's Birthday

2009-04-05T20:03:00.000-07:00

While a lot has happened since our last post one great thing has been Alina turning 4! Instead of a birth day she had a birth month! She had a great party at Grandma and Grandpa Wachter's that she shared with Wanda. Then she had a party at preschool which she shared with her best bud Gabe who shares the exact same birthday! Then she had another party at Grandma and Grandpa Jones' house that she got to share with her daddy! She was really cute to watch open her presents because she just loved everything whether it was clothes or a toy she thought it was the greatest thing ever and would exclaim "Oh my gosh" at just about everything!

Baby Ruby

2009-02-21T13:57:00.000-08:00

We are a little late, but we want to welcome Ruby Becky Wachter into the family. She was born on February 12th and weighed in at 9pounds 1 ounce and was 20 inches long! Thank goodness she had to come by c-section, she was breach. She is a very cute girl. Ryan thinks she looks like Brittney, I can never tell.

Ali and Emi loved holding her and seeing her. Ali I think would have held her all night if we would have let her. Ali kept calling her Rudy but we have worked on it and she is now saying Ruby.

We are excited to see how this family grows we know Craig and Brittney will be excellent parents! Congratulations to the new mom and dad!

It's a Boy!!! (most likely)

2009-02-13T14:42:00.000-08:00

We just found out that we are most likely having a baby boy! I am due August 6th 2009. Even before I was pregnant Ali kept asking for a baby brother and telling me that I had a baby brother in my belly. I didn't know I was pregnant until mid december. At our last doctor's appointment the doctor starting looking at the ultrasound and he wanted to say we were having another girl, but because Ali has been so persistent that it is a boy he wiggled the baby around and looked a little closer and we think we saw boy stuff going on. We will for sure find out on March 6th at my next doctors appointment. But we are looking forward to welcoming a baby brother into our family!

The computer Crash

2009-01-06T13:05:00.001-08:00

So we have a mac and they are suppose to be invincible! Not so. When we came home after our Christmas parties our mac wouldn't work. We found out our hard drive had fried, no one knows why. So we have now lost our whole last 2 years of photo's and videos. It really stinks but we got us an external hard drive to back everything up to so now it won't happen again!

As for everything else...We did find us a new car. We are now a van family. We bought us a 2004 AWD toyota Sienna. While it isn't my dream car it is the best for young kids, they can get in and out easy and at a push of the button the door opens!

Christmas was great. We had fun at all our family parties. I will load some pictures that I do have with my next post. I just wanted to get something up so people didn't think we had forgotten about our blog!

A New car?

2008-12-14T15:08:00.000-08:00

We sold our sonata! We are so excited at the opportunity to finally get a bigger vehicle now the question will be what we get. First lets talk about the car selling experience. We got a phone call during an intense speed scrabble game. This phone call lead to a trip to Salt Lake to show a family of Iraq refugees our car. What a very nice family they we're. The Dad who had just had open heart surgery 2 months earlier was very kind and invited us to dinner. It was late though and we needed to get our girls who were still at Grandma and Grandpa Jones. This family has only been in the US for 4 months. One son will be attending the U of U in January to get an ESL degree. They also have one other son and a daughter here. They were such a kind and generous family I truly pray that we fixed everything on the car so that it gives them the years of service that they need.

Now comes the car shopping. We have looked a little at Honda Oddesy's and Toyota Sienna's and Sequioa's. While we would love to have a SUV we will probably end up with a van as they get better gas mileage and are cheaper to insure. My wonderful father-in-law hopped on the car auction website to check things out for us and we could get a 2006 oddesy or sienna right around 10K or less. He told us the 2 weeks before Christmas are great times to car shop as no one else is so the deals are hot! We are now ready to buy!

A Great Thanksgiving in 2008

2008-12-04T15:57:00.000-08:00

What a wonderful thanksgiving we had. I am new at this blog thing so I didn't take as many pictures as I probably should have to remember this great day. We first enjoyed a few games of speed scrabble at Ryan's parents where ever so casually Adam announced he is going to Italy on his mission. He leaves April 1st! What an awesome adventure, everyone is already planning a trip to pick him up, we will see how it goes. Then we went to my parents and ate the most delicious food. I somehow lucked out of preparing any of it so I just got to enjoy it all. The girls and I stayed both Thursday and Friday night while Ryan drove back with Ron, Wanda and Sierra, they were the lucky ones who got to work on Black Friday. The rest of us went to see Bolt at Thanksgiving Point. What a fun show! Saturday I met Ryan and many other people on the Jones side to witness Jason and Adomma being sealed for all eternity! What a neat experience. We are so thrilled that they were able to be united as a couple. Then it was fabric shopping for Ruby's crib (Craig and Brittney's little one on the way) This was fun. We went to a cute shop in Lehi where they truly had the cutest fabric. We find the perfect idea for a quilt that I think will work wonderfully!

The Holidays approaching

2008-11-24T13:09:00.001-08:00

With the holidays approaching and Christmas cards about to be sent out we thought this was a great time to start our blog! Now we can keep in touch with so many of you. My excuse before has been I already see everyone I know, but then I began to realize we have lots of friends we hardly ever see! We hope to keep in touch with all of you better this next year!