My 100th Post, in progress.

OK I'm going to try to think of 100 things about myself.

1. I'm addicted to Coke. Yes, not a surprise to anyone but this is really tough get started.
2. I'm the fourth girl, and by the way, Keith is the fourth boy in his family.
3. I'm 5'10 but shrinking.
4. I'm 90% gray. Thank heavens for hair-dye every three weeks.
5. I long to be an organized person, but struggle everyday.
6. OK I'm going to be lucky to get to 10
7. I love Keith Jones!
8. I'm a mother of three beautiful children.
9. Hopefully we have one or two more. We'll see.
10. I don't like straight chocolate but I don't mind eating things that have a little chocolate in it.
11. I would love to play volleyball again but I don't like to leave my kids for things like that.
12. I have blueish green eyes.
13. I have a birth mark on my right arm.
14. I LOVE oatmeal with honey.
15. I served my mission in Tallahassee, Florida.
16. I like to sew Halloween costumes, drapes, and baby blankets, but I hate to mend.
17. I don't really like to type out the commentary for the blog but I like to see the blog when it's done.
18. I wish I could take a class on photographer and graphic design. Someday!
19. I really want to go to Europe someday. Maybe next summer.
20. I wear a size 10 shoe. Huge!
21. I love to shop, which means I love to spend money. Sorry Keith. I'll try to do better.
22. I LOVE Salmon.
23. Right now I love to work in the yard. There is something satisfying about digging a hole, planting a bush and watching it transform the yard.
24. For a couple of years I worked at the Arizona State Fair selling candy apples, cotton candy and other crap that should only be eaten at the fair.
25. I also worked as a Life Guard for a few summers.
26. I've swam in the Dead Sea.
27. I grew up in a very small town.
28. I been to Petra where Indiana Jones was filmed. I looked to the right cup but the cave isn't really that big.
29. I have a Masters in Educational Leadership from Northern Arizona University. I am 10 credits shy of completing my second master in Family Counseling, but I decided to put that on hold to get married to the most handsome man in the world and have an adorable son. Best decision I ever made.
30. My bachelors is in Elementary Education from Arizona State University.
31. I taught 2nd and 5th grade in Gilbert Public Schools for 5 1/2 years.
32. I toured Central America with a BYU singles group for three week.
33. When we finished touring, two girlfriends of mine and I spent a week in Honduras rebuilding an orphanage, then we spent the next week sitting on the beach outside of Cancun.
34. I once won a Turkey Shoot and literally took home a turkey as a prize.
35. I played Jr. College Volleyball and we took 2nd at National. Not to bad, Aye?
36. I love to sew but I hate cleaning up the mess afterwards.
37. I don't really like plain chocolate or chocolate chip cookies, but I like it in ice cream.

Baby fat!

Not a great photographer, but a cute subject. I love my little redhead.

The cutest preschool pictures EVER!

A few weeks ago Garrett came home and told me he had a secret but he couldn't tell me. My first thought was what kind of teacher encourages secrets? Then Garrett told me it was for a Father's Day present, so I figured it couldn't be too bad.
Here's the big secret. All the kids were able to ride the pony and get their pictures taken. Garrett could not have been happier about the whole experience.

Sibling love!

Garrett just LOVES Tary-tary. He can't keep his hands off her. He takes good care of his baby sister.

Things I'm grateful for...

So my little sister does this every once in a while and I like it. So here we go...

1. Three health children. We are a little sick right now, but nothing life threatening. It is my biggest worry for my kids to hurt.
2. A patient and helpful husband. I hit the husband jackpot lottery. No only is he great to me but he's wonderful with the kids.
3. A big yard to work in. Lately I spend the majority of the day out in the yard, basically moving plants. Yes moving them because I've planted almost every single one in the wrong place the first time.
4. Good friends. In particular the Judy Fords, Linda Warners and LeeAnn Hansens in my life. Keith likes to tease me that I attract a more mature group of friends. Excluding LeeAnn, many of my friends are over 50, which isn't old, but when you think that they don't have any children left in the home and I have all of my here all day. It's odd.
5. Nutrisystem. Every day I tell Keith how much I've lost and then the phrase, "This diet is AMAZING!" I'm never hungry and yet I've been losing about a lb a day. WOW! Say it with me, "Holy Cow!"
6. Legos.. Best toy for little boys.
7. Great sisters! They are my support and stabilizer. Each one in different ways help me to be a better mom, wife and person.
8. Modern conveniences such as blogs, digital cameras, and camcorders, that make it possible to document my life and in particular my children's life.
9. Disposable diapers! Ya, that's right diapers. I know we take these for granted in the decade, but every time I change a whooper of a dipe-dipe, I think to myself, "I am so glad I don't have to take this to the sink and rinse it out to use tomorrow. Yuck! So thank you Pampers!
10. My calling in the Young Women. I love those girls. And I hope it's preparing me to serve my own daughters. In fact, I'm grateful for Kieth's calling too. He is a great dad and husband anyways, but I can see how working with our great Stake Presidency, the High Council, and Bishoprics has given him great insight and appreciation for the our family and the little thing in this life that truly brings happiness. I can't complain about the little time he has to spend away because it is made up in the quality of time he spends with me and the kids.
11. Sleep! Need I say more.. And thinking of which I need to go to sleep right now. So that's it for now. Sure there are more so I'll have to add on later.

A week of fun!

(Josh and Becka at the parks for a picnic.)

Our buddy Josh is spending the week with us while his Mom and Dad are in Paris! Good time for every one. Garrett has been so excited about this week, he could barely stand himself. These two boys have made the most of every single minute. They have done puzzles, rode bikes, set up Geo tracks, built legos, sidewalk chalk art show, numerous blanket forts built, helped me work on the yard, played in the sandbox, and much, much more.

For the most part, I don't think Josh has missed his parents, but last night. I let the kids watch a living scripture video and have popcorn and juice in bed for scripture reading time, because I was on the phone with my sister and didn't want to get off, and Keith was working late. Needless to say, they loved every minute of that! Then they brushed their teeth, went to the bathroom, and Garrett said prays. He blessed Josh's parents to come home safe and all the other usual pray blessing. I kissed the boys and tucked them in thinking they'd be out in five minutes. But about the fifteen minutes later I could hear Josh crying. I asked what was wrong, and he told me. About five times cause I could understand him through the tears. But I finally figured it out. "Garrett didn't bless my brothers and sisters, what if they aren't OK? We hoped out of bed and blessed those siblings. And to even make things better, we called Anne Taylor to arrange a picnic with with his sister Becka.

Josh reminded me of two things. First is the security and love that each of us have for our siblings. And second is the trust and faith each of us should have in our Heavenly Father that He takes care of what we pray for. Literally two minutes after our second pray, both boys were fast asleep. What a blessing to have children who rely on and love their Heavenly Father.

We love Josh and are so glad he came to our house to visit for the week. I am sure his parents are missing him.


We love MceeDee's Kong Fue Panda Happy meals.



I sure Josh is thinking, "Dude, get off me, your not my type." But they were both so worn out, they just crashed on the sofa.

They both tried to play it cool when they woke up in each others arms.

Happy Father's Day!

This is my favorite picture of our boys. I think this is the first picture ever taken of Keith and Garrett. I LOVE it! Keith's a natural!



Today as Keith was standing on our bed trying to hang a ceiling fan with Garrett and Kendall jumping on the bed and pushing their way through his legs, my first thought was I wish I had a camera. But then I realize what made this moment so great was that patient, kind, loving father, who easily could have yelled at the kids too go away, but instead he was laughing at the great time they were having "helping" him hang the ceiling fan. The ceiling fan is still laying all over the floor, but that's OK.



Few things give me greater joy then to hear Keith and the kids upstairs staying prayers, getting pennies for the their piggy banks, singing songs, and reading scriptures. The kids love that time of the day. And for some reason, they prefer Dad reading scriptures to me. When Keith's gone and I read to them, they will ask when Dad's going to come home to read again.
How blessed we are to have a great father, who does so much for us. We love you, Keith. Happy Father's Day!

Me and Marie

OK, I'm coming out of the closet. I'm doing nutrisystem, and loving every minute of it. I've lost 5 lbs in the seven days. Holy Cow! Yes, probably water weight but I'll take it. The food isn't that bad, it's easy and fast results. I'll keep ya posted.

No Cavity Club!!

I wish I would have brought my camera to the dentist today. Garrett looked so cute with his bright yellow glasses and crazy bib on watching cartoons while getting his teeth cleaned. We are not so good at brushing. OK, we only remember to have the kids brush their teeth about once a week. Gross, I know. And we eat a lot a sticky sugary candy around here, not to mention Coke. Yet, somehow we all got out of the dentist without a cavity, -- maybe good teeth genes.
Garrett did get a good talking too about how to brush our own teeth, so he decided to practice on the way home.

Are you ready?

(This is our little family roughing it in our unfinished basement to keep cool during the outages. Note to self- buy a better air mattress)

Lately we've been having some crazy weather out here, which has caused a few longer than I like, power outages. Because of these experiences, it's made me think a lot about emergency preparedness for short immediate situation. I feel like we are rather prepared, and here's a list of things that have come in handy for our 8-9 hours without power in this stinking hot, humid weather.

• Having a basement is the BEST. Not just for hiding your kids toys, but it's always 10 degrees cooler in the basement. I don't know what I would have done right before I had Taryn and we had the fire, and couldn't run the AC. I lived I the basement while Keith cleaned up the fire mess upstairs in the heat. What a guy!
• Batteries. Both of my neighbors asked to borrow matches and batteries during these outages. Good thing I took advantage the the no tax week and stocked up on batteries at Costco.
• Love our Lantern flash lights. It lites up a whole room just like a lamp. We have regular flashlights, but the one ray of light in complete darkness is kind of creepy.
• Portable DVD players. Yes I know not essential but useful to distract young children when you lose power, it's dark, crazy winds, rain and hail are beating on your house, and Dad won't be home till 11:00 to calm everyone down. Pop in "The Cat in the Hat", or a "Barbie" video, and everyones mind goes somewhere else.
• Our $8.00 non cordless phone. It seems like every time the power goes out my cell phone battery is low, and our cordless phone won't work without power. Cheap, easy, and a necessity to call out.
• Board games in the basement. Great opportunity to play Candyland.

Now things I wish we had.

• A generator!! The first thing I worry about when the power goes out is losing $300.00 worth of food in the frig. Not to mention powering a fan or light or my computer or our well so we can get water!!!
• A hand crank power source. Something just enough to recharge my cell phone or our DVD player or run a fan
• Speaking of well for water, I've heard there is some hand crank device to bring up water from your well. Anyone know anything about that?

Here's a few of my lessons learned from small emergencies. I'd love to hear advice from anyone else?

Somethings different about Taryn?

Taryn is the happiest baby. She's so easy-going and had turned into a good little sleeper. All smiles like the picture above, then within a week she became whinny, and not a good sleeper.

She began to come up with some crazy faces.

Or just flat out bored with this whole event faces.

Then last Friday I noticed a little change in her smile. Taryn got her first tooth. Yippy! The second is barely noticeable, but there.
No wonder, while I nursed her I felt much like a chew toy rather than a device to receive nourishment.

Barbie Princess

This is Kendall's favorite song, I Am a Girl like You from Princess and the Pauper, Barbie video. But she would sing so well in front of the camera. Garrett tried to help her out.

New meaning to fresh fruit

In our flower garden we are growing strawberries in a pot. This morning I was so excited that a few of the strawberries had finally turned red. I told Kendall that this afternoon when Garrett got home we'd go pick and eaten. She just couldn't wait. And she turned the hose on in the sand box and made a mud pack for her hair. Yuck!!

First, I asked her to point to the new red strawberries. Then before I could stop her she bent down and ate the top of the strawberry.

Upon closer examination I found that she had already bit the top off almost all the strawberries. And quite pleased with herself too. Garrett was soo disappointed. Heck, I was disappointed.

The BEST yardsale day EVER.

So my crazy foul-mouthed neighbors, who have only been here for three weeks were having a yard sale last Saturday. So I dropped by to make good relations and ask why she was selling so much stuff. She informed me that she was divorcing her husband and now moving to Florida and didn't want to take all this stuff with her. I asked about the red chairs and she wanted $40.00, I offered $20.00, she said OK and throw in the barstools AND delievered them to my house in the back of her truck. Score!!! They are from Thomasville and soooo comforable. Her kids even gave my kids a bunch of toys too. I need to be nicer to crazy neighbors.

Preschool Graduation

The kids all signed the Pledge of Alligance and the song, "What a Wonderful Life." Garrett did pretty good. I was surprised. I love some of the faces on the other kids around him.

As each child recieved thier diploma, they were asked what was their favorite thing about preschool. Garrett's response was painting. I was surprised it wasn't snack.

LOVE this pictures. Garrett couldn't be more proud of himself as a preschool graduate.

The kids after graduation. Tary-tary's is such a good sitter-upper. And Kendall loves to pose with Garrett.


This is the "famous" Bell of Righteousness. Yes, the kids love to ring the obnoxious thing constantly before and after school. Garrett doesn't really like the loud sound, but I thought we'd better take a picture.

Here's my little preschool graduate. I can't even imagine him as a High School Graduate. It scares me to death.