It's been awhile...

Wow, I can't believe how long it has been since my last post. These past few weeks have been so busy-in a good way. Between spring break & family in town I haven't taken the time to update. But here ya go:

As you know from a few posts ago- Averee has turned 5. We got her a scooter for her birthday-she has wanted a 2 wheel scooter for awhile & she loves it! Luckily, Adee is content with Ave's old scooter. The weather has been great & we have gotten a lot of walks in lately. The girls are getting so good at scootin'...

remember when we didn't even bother to wear shoes let alone safety gear?

One of Averee's birthday presents was some sidewalk paint-she couldn't wait to use it! Knowing what a mess it would make I was a little hesitant to get it out-but I finally caved in. They had a ton of fun-but what a mess! I think the pictures speak for themselves...

Owen REALLY enjoyed the sidewalk paints

The package said 'non-toxic', but EEEWWWW!

Averee lost interest in the paint pretty quick so she stayed pretty clean, Adee had it mostly on her hands & feet, but Owen (as you can see) had it EVERYWHERE! He had quite the colorful fro when he was done :0)

During the week of Spring Break, my Grandma Funk (yes, that is her REAL name) was down from Richfield to visit & staying at my parents house. We had them all over for FHE & the girls loved having Grandma Funk there. We love you grandma Funk! Of course we had to roast Smores-our favorite past time lately...

Grandma V, Grandma Funk, Adee, Averee & Owen enjoying the fire pit

Papa helping Owen roast his mallow

I am so glad my kids love Smores as much as I do!

We had a great Easter weekend full of fun & family. Saturday morning the kids had fun discovering their Easter baskets & that the Easter Bunny ate all the carrots that we left out for him! :0) Later we met my mom at the park for lunch & played in the beautiful weather. Then that night we got to see my nephew Beau recieve his Eagle Scout award-AWESOME! Way to go BEAU! Then we went to their house for the rest of the Easter festivities-mainly the egg hunt. The girls got even more candy & had fun chasing with their cousins looking for eggs. Owen was content with a piece of candy and room to run! What fun!

Averee & Adelyn got lanterns & magic wands from the Easter BunnyOwen got a racecar from the Easter Bunny-but of course he just wanted to play with the grass!

At the park with Grandma V

Just give a boy a ball...

Owen did stop running around long enough to find a couple eggs-thanks daddy!

Here are the girls with their Easter loot-yum!

Well, I think that about does it for the update of the last few weeks. I hope you all had a great Easter as well!

9 years...already?!

Today is our 9 year anniversary & I can't believe we have been together that long already. Time sure does fly when you are having fun! Shortly after we were married & we babysat our niece & nephews for a week. While we were there I saw a note that my sister-in-law had written to her husband that said something like 'Thank you for 10 great years'. I remember thinking how weird it was that they had been married for 10 years-that seemed so long at the time! Now we are almost there ourselves! I thought it would be fun to share some of our wedding photos. I scanned them in from our wedding album so I could make something for Danny. We sure look young-especially Danny-what a baby face! I was almost 20 & Danny was 21. He had only been home from his mission for about 3 months. It was a bit of a whirlwind putting together a wedding that fast-but it turned out so beautiful. Here is some of what I remember...

I remember that I wasn't even that nervous to get married-it felt so right. I was more nervous for the honeymoon! :0) We got married around 10 in the morning-which should be plenty of time to get ready & not be late right? Well, I was late to the temple! It took my BFF Christan a little longer to do my hair than we thought. Poor Danny was probably getting a little nervous! But I got there & dressed just in time. The ceremony was awesome-so many people we love were able to be there. Tons of family & friends. Mostly my friends parents since I was the first of our group of friends to tie the knot. I remember feeling so extremely grateful to be in the temple with Danny & sealed for time & all eternity. What a blessing!

After the ceremony we had a small luncheon at my new in-laws house. It was nice & small-just family & close friends. Then the rest of the day was spent decorating their backyard for the reception that nite. At least that is what everyone else was doing. I was busy trying to avoid Danny because he kept trying to corner me in empty rooms & take advantage of me! Can you believe that! :0) The reception was so beautiful. I loved it! My in-laws have an awesome view of St. George from their backyard. We served ice cream sundaes & cake. We had tons of fresh flowers everywhere & it was so beautiful. Even my cake had fresh flowers on it. So many wonderful people came to see us-it was a little overwhelming. But in a good way. We have been so blessed to have all these great people in our lives. After we cut the cake & said our good byes-we headed for our hotel. I think this was the most nervous I got all day! But it was a wonderful nite full of great memories. (I won't bore you with those right now) ;0) The next morning we headed to Duck Creek on Cedar Mountain. Danny's parents had a cabin up there. We spent several days up there all by ourselves & basically snowed in. Which was fine with us! Where were we going to go anyway?! :0) All we needed was there in that cabin... Well, hope you enjoyed this little stroll down memory lane as much as I did. It was such a great day-I wish we could do the whole thing over again-& I wouldn't change a thing! Thanks for 9 awesome years 'HotStuff'! Life can be a bit of a roller coaster with a few surprises around every corner, not to mention the ups & downs. But I am so glad we have gone thru it all together. We have learned so much from each other & grown so close. Danny is so good for me-I think we complement each other so well. Plus, he can always make me laugh-even when I don't want to. :0) I honestly couldn't picture my life any other way. Why would I want to? I am so incredibly blessed! Can't wait to see what the next 9 years have in store for us-I love you Danny!

Look who's 5!

I can't believe Averee is 5 today! How the time flies! It seems like only yesterday that we were anxiously awaiting the birth of our first child. I had always pictured myself with all boys so I was surprised to be getting a girl. Little did I know that #2 would be a girl also! I will never forget the overwhelming joy I felt the first time I saw her. She looked just like I had dreamed she would. What a blessing she is in our lives! Averee has always been such a beautiful girl. Even as a baby everyone said what a beautiful baby she was. She has her dad's bright blue eyes & blond curly hair. Lucky! Not to mention a smile that can melt your heart.

Averee is such a sweet & sensitive girl. She is very aware of hurting others feelings & I love that about her. She is such a great big sister to Adelyn & Owen. She is usually pretty good to share with them & wants them to have whatever she has. If she gets something (like candy at church) she asks if she can have some for her sister & brother-how cute is that!

Averee is very artsy crafty-which I love! I can't wait to have a live-in scrapbook partner! She already likes to 'scrapbook'-mostly she glues pieces of paper to a bigger paper, but she gets the idea! She loves to color, paint, or do any kind of craft. She is getting so good too-I can almost always tell what she is drawing. :0)

Averee is such a girly girl. Which has taken some getting used to for me. I am not that girly-but she is rubbing off on me! :0) She LOVES to dance. After watching the Nutcracker last year she informed me that she was going to be in it next year & that she wanted to be the Sugar Plum Fairy. The lead! You go girl! She loves everything pink & princess. She loves to wear dresses, jewelry & have her nails painted. Lucky for me-she still wants me to do her hair every morning. That may not last too much longer though cuz she is getting pretty picky about how I do it...

I love how independent she is getting. She can do almost everything for herself now. Which is great for me. She is so smart-she is even starting to try to read. It is so cute cuz she has one of her books memorized so she loves to 'read' it to us. It won't be long now. I really hope my love of reading rubs off on her.

She is such a social butterfly! She loves to be with her friends or cousins. Every morning she asks if we are going anywhere or if anyone is coming over. I guess I must bore her? :0) She is really into playing 'house' right now & it is hilarious to hear the stuff she says while they are playing. She is always the 'mom'-so I better be more careful!

What a cutie! Averee we love you so much! We love having you in our family & can't wait to see what you accomplish this year!

For sale...

Just thought I would mention (so you don't hear it from someone else & get offended that I didn't tell you) that we put our house up for sale the week before the Parade of Homes. Don't worry Mom-we aren't going far. :0) We had always planned to sell & build at least once more & thought we would put it up now & see what happens. Not to mention that lot prices & building prices are dropping a ton. I have mixed feelings: I love our home & the area that we live in, but of course it would be great to get more equity in our next home. Plus, I would like to get settled in the home where we will stay before the kids get too far in school. So now is the time, but we are in no hurry, we will just wait & see what happens...

SpRiNg Is CoMiNg!

This is Averee & 2 of her friends from school-gotta love the 'silly' faces!

I just LOVE Spring! And it is on it's way! It is by far my most favorite season. The weather lately has been great-we have played outside a ton! Thanks goodness-cuz Adee & Owen have been sick, so the outdoors have been a much needed distraction. We discovered something hilarious-Sammy (our dog) loves to chase bubbles. He goes crazy chasing the bubbles all over the yard & Owen gets the belly laugh going just watching him. What a riot! Owen is getting so good at climbing the rope ladder so he can go down the slide on his own. He thinks he is so big! He even loves to swing-but only on the horse swing. I can't get him to stay on the regular swing-even if I am holding him he gets a little freaked & jumps off. Of course the girls love the swings & thankfully Adee is starting to learn to pump herself. Hooray for independence! It makes my life much easier! Averee is getting so good on her bike-she is even mentioning that she might want to take the training wheels off soon! AAAHHH!! Adee of course is a little dare devil & loves to go as fast as she can down the hills. Whereas Averee usually gets off & walks her bike down. They are so funny! Luckily, Owen is content riding in the stroller-for now. What perfect walking weather! This is also perfect smore roastin' weather-time to light the fire pit. Did I mention how much I love this weather! :0) Now we just need to refresh the sandbox & the back yard will be perfect. hint hint Danny. :0)

Happy Valentine's Day

This pictures was taken on our anniversary in 2004-

one of the few of us together without the kids...

I just LOVE this holiday! It is my 3rd favorite (Christmas & Halloween being the first 2). I love the colors, flowers, cards, treats, & of course the excuse to tell everyone that we love them. Not that we need an excuse or a holiday to do that-but it helps. Plus, Danny & I met the day after Valentines, so it is a little anniversary for us. I wonder if he even remembers that? :0)

The kids & I spent the morning delivering the Valentines we had made for friends, cousins, & grandparents. The girls had so much fun getting everything ready & were very careful not to leave anyone out. Of course they wanted to stamp on some of them & they are getting to be quite the good little stampers. I am so proud! It is pretty funny to watch how careful Averee is about the placement of the stamps & how NOT careful Adee is. He he he! Adee attacks it like everything else- like a 'bull in a china shop'. Gotta love it! :0) Hope you all enjoy your Valentines & know how much we love you! I truly believe that people are put in our lives for a reason & all of you have taught me so much. I am so blessed by the relationships I have with each of you-I love you!

I got thinking today about past Valentines & thought I would share the good & the bad. So bare with me while I indulge my memories...

The worst: The year was 1997, I was a senior in high school & my boyfriend had just left on his mission the month before. Talk about depressing! This was the first Valentines that I even had a boyfriend-but now he wasn't even here to celebrate with me! LAME! It was a rough day to say the least. (It get's better though so don't feel too bad for me) Anyway-I get home from school to find a beautiful bouquet of roses waiting for me. Danny had arranged before he left on his mission to have flowers delivered to me-he even wrote on the card before he left! How sweet is that?!

The best: The year was 1998, I was in my first year of college & missing Danny terribly. He had been gone about a year now, so we were on the homestretch. Well, I get a note from Fedex that there is a package that I need to come sign for...& I'm thinking 'that is weird'. So I go get the package & realize it is from Danny-hooray! I open it to find a beautiful promise ring inside-I was so excited I was shaking! He wrote the most beautiful, heartfelt card, & of course I was crying. The ring has 2 hearts entwined with diamonds inside. He said that it represented us: two hearts entwined & the diamonds mean it is forever. How romantic! So that confirmed it-he was a keeper! :0) I still have the ring (thanks to Josh Gunn-but that is a whole other story!) & wear it on special occasions. Just looking at that ring brings back such a flood of emotions...I think I will go put it on right now...

Well, I hope that wasn't too sappy-but I don't care! I can get away with it today! I hope that helps you think of your best Valentine's Day & I would love to hear about it...Love ya!

In a word...AWESOME!!!

Well, as most of you know, we got back late sunday nite from a week long cruise to the Caribbean. And in a word, it was AWESOME!! We had such a great time-we did so many fun & different things all in one week! We went with Danny's brother Ryan & his wife Shannon. We just love these guys to death, so it was fun to get to spend so much time with them. Ryan is hilarious & had us laughing the whole time. It was a much needed break from reality, & chance for some R&R. We even went to bed early one nite & slept for 12 hours! I will try not to bore you with too many nitty-gritty details, but here are the highlights:

The trip started off with a bang, but let me backup. We left at 4:00 am on sunday the 27th. Yes, I said 4 AM! That would get us to Vegas an hour before our flight, which should be plenty of time right? WRONG! Between all the old people & foreingers with 20 pieces of luggage-we almost didn't make it. They didn't even want to let us check in cuz they said we would never make our flight. But we took off running to security & luckily that line wasn't too long. We rushed through there & looked around for Ryan & Shannon-but couldn't see them anywhere so we figured they were already on the tram headed to our gate. So we take off running, again. I didn't even take time to put my shoes back on! We jumped on the tram & then ran all the way (shoes in hand) to our gate. I haven't ran that far in years! But Ryan & Shannon weren't there. Meanwhile they are calling for the final boarding of our flight. We are trying to come up with some scheme to stall them when we finally see Ryan & Shannon sprinting to our gate. We barely jumped on the plane before they shut the doors right behind us! Talk about a close one! Come to find out-Ryan got stopped at security cuz he forgot he had a huge Swiss army knife in his carry-on. Yes, a KNIFE! Are you kidding me?! So of course they stop him & he says 'Take it! I'm gonna miss my plane!'. They swabbed the knife & bag & it had traces of explosives-yes, EXPLOSIVES! Seriously?! So then Ryan explains that it is normally his hunting bag & he forgot to take the knife out. And they let him go! Can you believe that! They didn't search him or even pat him down-nothing-they jut let him go! Talk about lucky! But it does make me wonder about our national airline security...anyway...we made it to Miami safely & got on board our ship. Looking good Danny! My wet suit isn't too cute-but at least I can keep my diginity! :0) We were on the Royal Caribbean 'Freedom of the Seas', which is actually the biggest cruise boat in the world. And it was HUGE! They say it is longer than the Empire State building is tall-crazy! My favorite thing about the boat was the FlowRider. It is an artificial wave machine so you can learn to surf & boogie board. It was AWESOME! The boys tried it first & took a beating trying to surf-it is a lot harder than it looked! So we decided to stick to boogie boarding after that. However, we saw way too many peek-a-boobies, wet t-shirt contest, & the like, so Shannon & I dedcided to play it safe & rent wet suits. No one wants to see 2 moms loose their suits-if you know what I mean...can you say stretch marks? :0) Anyway-it was so fun. We got pretty good-we could get up on our knees & even do barrel-rolls. What a blast! My second favorite thing on the boat was the Rock Wall. We did that a few times & loved it. It was crazy to get to the top & look out at the miles & miles of ocean. What a view! We made 3 stops. The first was San Juan, Peurto Rico. That nite we kayaked through a maingrove forest to get to the BioBay. This is one of only 5 bays in the world where there are glowing plankton in the water. It was awesome! Everywhere the oars or our hands touched the water glowed. Of course no pictures turned out since it was nite time. Bummer! The second stop was St. Thomas. It was gorgeous! There we went sailing on a racing sailboat. It was pretty cool-& pretty scary! They actually teach you how to do a specific job (like one of the ropes) & then you race another boat. It was so intense! There we a couple times where we were almost perpendicular with the water while we were turning! It was such a workout too! My arms were pretty sore the next day. After that Shannon & I lounged on the beach while the guys snorkeled. (sorry no pics-Shannon has them...) The last stop was St. Marten. Here we took a bus into the middle of the island & did a tree top zip-line course. It was a blast! This was my favorite thing we did all week. It had zip-lines, rope bridges, rope swings, & tightropes to get from tree to tree, right there in the middle of the rain forest. So cool! Next time I wanna do the Extreme Course that is a lot higher up with longer zip-lines. I hope there is a next time! (sorry no pics-Shannon has these too...) The rest of the time we were either at the Flowrider, Rock Wall, or lounging by the pool. Danny & I even played in a pool volleyball tournament & we won against the all-male ship's crew team-WAHOO! I think Danny served 5 or 6 in row-I was so proud! Not too mention the nite time entertainment & all the food you can stand! I only gained 5 pounds-shocker! Especially considering I had 2 appetizers, an entree & 2 desserts at dinner every nite- What a pig! We met some really nice people. Tons of people where from Utah! Of course, we aren't too hard to spot in our modest swimsuits when everyone else is wearing bikinis, thongs, & speedos-YUCK! This is Ryan & Shannon...aren't they adorable! :0) Well, I hope I haven't bored you to death! We really had such a great time-but it was over way too fast! Although, we were getting pretty anxious to get home & see the kids. I couldn't wait to hear all about Averee's week, give Adee a squeeze, & rock Owen before bed. We missed them tons! Our babysitters (Ed & Amy) did an awesome job-Averee keeps asking when they get to come babysit again. It was so nice not to have to worry too much about them-thanks again Ed & Amy! Now we are back to reality & trying to get back into the swing of normal life. Home Sweet Home!

Tagged...

Thanks for this tag Christan! It is fun to learn a little more about each others lives & husbands...

This is a picture of Danny proudly holding a huge salmon that he caught in Alaska.

My Husband:

What is his name? Daniel Vause Jones

How long have you been together? 12 years (9 years married)

How long did you date? 3 years & 3 months (2 years of which he was on his mission-does that still count as dating?) he he he

How old is he? just turned 30 on January 27th

Who eats more? Danny

Who said I love you first? can't remember...how sad :0(

Who is taller? Him

Who can sing better? I would have to say me since I have only heard him sing a handful of times. But since the girls ask me to stop singing in the car sometimes-I am guessing that I don't sound that great...

Who is smarter? Danny

Who does the laundry? Me, duh!

Who pays the bills? Danny

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Danny

Who mows the lawn? Danny

Who cooks dinner? Me

Who drives? Danny

Who is more stubborn? Danny

Who kissed who first? Danny seems to think that I 'went in for the kill' first. :0)

Who asked who out first? It was a blind date, so I guess Tyler March & Jeremy Mendenhall asked us out! :0)

Who proposed? There was no actual 'proposal'-we had talk alot about it & just started thinking about a wedding date, then when he got the ring he handed it to me & said 'So, will you still marry me?' How romantic! :0p

Who has more friends? Me

Who is more sensitive? Me, a little too sensitive for Danny's taste :0)

Who has more siblings? Danny, there are 7 kids in his family & 5 in mine.

Who wears the pants? I would like to think we both wear the shorts-but who am I kidding-he wears the pants! :0)

Here is Danny with his 'Big Mac' that almost broke the state record up at Flaming Gorge! That fish was huge!

Now tag your it!

P.S. I promise that cruise pics are coming soon...

Favorite things...

So, much to my husbands dismay: I am an Oprah fan. I think she is awesome; a philanthropist, humanitarian, teacher, innovator, leader, strong woman, advocate of teachers, honors motherhood, & just an overall inspiration. She really tries to be a good person, help others & contribute to society. What she has been able to accomplish in her life is pretty extraordinary. Although I must admit that I haven't been super impressed with her shows this season, too many have been about gays, lesbian, transvestites, open marriages & the like. But one of her shows that I love is the Oprah's Favorite Things episodes. She said something like how it's not that they get free 'stuff', it's that they get a renewed hope in mankind-that someone else would do this for them. I really liked that. It's not the 'stuff' but the act or service. Anyway, I digress...I thought it would be fun for all of us to share our favorite things. I'll go first... If you know me very well, you know that I am a bit of an organization fanatic. Proud of it! I come by it honest-thanks mom! I like a place for everything & everything in it's place. I love anything to do with organizing & organization; especially my life. I feel like if I am organized I have tons more time & freedom to do what I want, when I want. I love being able to take the kids to park or library & not feel guilty because so much in UNdone. A great book that has helped me with this is Celebration! The 10 principles to more Joyous Living by Jaroldeen Aplund Edwards. Go read it if you haven't already! Anyway-that book wasn't the 'favorite thing' that I wanted to share today, it is this... I found this little goody at The Container Store.com. It is called the WhoMi notepad & I LOVE it! It is basically a little spiral bound notebook that has 3 sections: to do, call & shop. All in one! AWESOME-why didn't I think of that! I used to have a separate sticky note for each of those lists, but now they are all together in one cute little notepad. Then you can rip off the SHOP list when you head to the store, or take the CALL list with you in the car so you can make the calls while you run your errands. Yes, I admit-I am one of those people who talk on my cell while I am driving. Sorry! But it's the most convenient place cuz the kids are contained & occupied! Anyway-just wanted to share this super little product & hope it makes your life easier, happier, or at least less stressful! Now, start racking your brain cuz I tag all of you to share one of your 'Favorite Things'...can't wait to see what you love!

You leave the room for just a sec...

I was looking through some pictures today & realized that I have pictures of all three kiddos asleep at the wheel...I mean plate. How funny! Averee is a little over 2 in her picture, Adee is only 1 in hers & Owen is about 18 months in his mug shot. Of course, being the picky eater she was-Averee's food is untouched. :0) Adee almost ate it all (notice the noodles in her hair), but Owen might have even licked his tray clean! :0) Or he fed it all to the dog-which is the most likely scenario. I can also see how relaxed I have gotten as a mother. Averee's food is on a plate & she is wearing a full body bib. he he he! Adee & Owen have no plate & no bib. Silly how uptight we are with our first born huh? Or maybe that was just me? Anyway-I just love looking thru past pictures of my kids-it brings back some great memories. Hope you enjoyed this walk down my memory lane...now go enjoy your own.