Taytam's Headstone

After waiting 2 1/2 months, Taytam's headstone is finally complete & installed. Not sure how I feel about this? On one hand, I am glad it is done. And it turned out beautifully. On the other hand, it is the last piece of this horrible puzzle. It makes it seem so final & official. Very surreal. It is also quite bizarre to see my own name on a headstone. We bought 3 plots at the Tonaquint Cemetery, Taytam is laid between us. We got the longest headstone we could so that it covers Taytam's plot & goes halfway in on both of ours. I guess we will be spending a lot of time here over the years. Although I must admit I don't feel closer to her or anything like that when we are there. I actually have a hard time associating the cemetery as the place where Taytam is. I know that she isn't really there. Yes, her body is there, but she is not. She is in a beautiful place surrounded by Love & Light. That is where I picture her, and it makes me smile.

Piano Recital

Averee & Adelyn had a piano recital & got to wear their costumes. They were so excited! They both played spooky songs & they did a great job. All that practice really paid off!

Adelyn played a duet with her adorable teacher Camille Jennings

Way to go girls! We are so proud of you!!

Grandpa Jones 70th Birthday!

Happy Birthday Grandpa Dale! Can't believe he is 70! He doesn't seem a day over 65 ;0)

As usual-Reese is playing games on her Daddy's iphone. She loves it!

It was quite a large crew singing Happy Birthday-we were only slightly off key

Not a great picture...but here is Grandpa with Averee, Adee, Owen & Reese. We love you Grandpa!

Pumpkins for FHE

What can you do for fun on a Monday night in Enterprise? Pick pumpkins! Our good friends Ben & Cammi Randall invited us to come up to Enterprise (Ben is originally from there) to pick pumpkins at his parent's patch. We had fun trying to find just the right pumpkins...

Gorgeous view from the pumpkin patch Owen is on the hunt for the perfect pumpkin Reese is such a cheese ball! Averee with her pick of the pumpkins Owen finally decided on this one

Adee picked an oblong pumpkin

Owen was more interested in finding the gross rotting pumpkins The Jones Family The Moms: Camille Jennings, Cammi Randall, Kayla Gubler, Me & Tiah WrightThe Whole Gang: Ryan & Kayla Gubler Family, Danny & Maren Jones Family, Joe & Tiah Wright Family, Ben & Cammi Randall Family, & Steve & Camille Jennings Family

After picking pumpkins, we headed back to Ben's parents house for a story & treats. Ben's younger sister, Angel, is battling a brain tumor. Even with all this, she wrote a children's book called Snow Angels. She is an amazing & inspirational young woman. She read the story to us & we all really enjoyed it. It was a great nite spent with great friends!

Potty Trained- woo hoo!

Even though I have known that Reese has been ready to potty train for awhile, I just wasn't up to the challenge. But actually it wasn't that bad. I started on Thursday & by Sunday she is pretty much done! It started out kinda rough though. Thursday, she never did go in the potty. SO frustrating! Friday, she was half in the potty & half accidents on the floor. That was expected. But by Saturday, she only had one accident & she even pooped in the toilet! On Sunday she had an accident, but it was my fault. She told me she needed to go, but I put it off cuz we were in the middle of making cookies. Then sure enough, she peed all over the chair she was standing on to help with the cookies. It was cute though cuz she kept saying 'sar-wee mommy'. I told her it was fine & it was my fault, but she was pretty upset about it. She has done so so good! She will still wear a diaper at night for a few more months, but I couldn't be happier that she is basically potty trained! WOO HOO!!

Bubble Wrap Clothes

The kids found a bunch of bubble wrap in Danny's office & decided to make clothes out of it. They are so creative! Notice Reese is not wearing pants...we are still potty training. And she won't even smile for the camera cuz she is too busy playing games on her daddy's phone!

Adee is Belle from Beauty & the BeastOwen is a knight in shining armor

Averee is Princess Jasmine

Saturday is a special day...

After talking to my friend today (thanks Elsha!) I got to thinking it would be a good idea to document the kids chores-it might be pretty interesting to look back in 10 years & see what the kids did for chores & how much they got paid. Saturday is our cleaning day, everyone is usually home so it is the easiest morning for us to get it all done.
So after breakfast the kids do the chores that they are expected to do each week just as part of living here & contributing to our family:
Averee (8.5)- Deep Clean Room, Clean 2 bathrooms (mirrors, sinks, toilets)
Adelyn (6.5)- Deep Clean Room, Wipe down Living Room furniture (couches, coffee table & end table)
Owen (5)- Deep Clean Room, Wipe down all Light Switches & Door Knobs
Next comes the chores they can do to earn money. The amount of these chores they do is up to them, depending on if they want to earn money or not. But sometimes if they have been naughty, or if I just feel like the house really needs it, I make them do all their money chores:
Averee (8.5)
Wipe down 1 wall of Mom's Choice $.75 (can be done multiple times)
Clean Pantry Shelves $.50
Organize Toy Room $1.00
Clean 5 Doors of Mom's Choice (front & back) $1.50 (can be done multiple times)
Clean Inside Fridge $1.00
Wipe Down Dining Room Table & Chairs $.75
Adelyn (6.5)
Wipe down 1 wall of Mom's Choice $.75 (can be done multiple times)
Clean 5 Doors of Mom's Choice (front & back) $1.50 (can be done multiple times)
Clean Front of Fridge, Back Door Window & TV $.75
Clean Entertainment Center $.50
Clean Kid Tub $.50
Clean Mom's Tub $.50
Clean Front of Stove & Dishwasher $.50
Wipe down 1 Door Frame $.50 (can be done multiple times)
Owen (5)
Wipe down 1 wall of Mom's Choice $.75 (can be done multiple times)
Wipe down Hutch & Under Bar $.50
Clean Front of Kitchen Cabinets (lowers only) $.50
Clean Front of Bathroom Cabinets $.50
Clean Front of Mom's Bathroom Cabinets $.50
Clean Baseboards in 1 Room $.25 (can be done multiple times)
Clean up Backyard (put toys away & pick up garbage) $.25
Well, that's about it. Am I a slave driver? Hopefully no one calls CPS after they read this post :0) The kids seems to actually like the opportunity to earn their own money. Plus, it gives us a chance to teach about savings & tithing. They might just thank us later. We can only hope.

FHE at the Park

We figured the kids needed a break from our usual structured Family Home Evening. So we took them to the park to play baseball & throw the Frisbee. We had a great time-our kids are hilarious! Averee's favorite thing to do was scream & run a celebration lap whenever someone hit the ball The kids got progressively better as the afternoon went on. Mom's not the best pitcher-but we got pretty good by the end of the day. Look at that hottie! Our version of baseball: Danny hits the ball as hard & far as he can & the kids race to be the first one to grab it. We definitely need to do this more often!

Feeding the Ducks

The weather was a little cooler so we thought it would be fun to go feed the ducks for Family Home Evening...

The ducks heard us coming so they got out of the water & came to meet us on the pathThis was the first time for Reese, she was a little nervous at first These ducks are pretty tame!

When we had given the ducks all the bread we brought, we headed over to the park so the kids could play & get all their wiggles out. The girls had to show off their monkey bar skills. They are getting pretty fast!

Elder Beau Jones

Congrats to our nephew Beau! He will be serving in the Little Rock, Arkansas Mission. He leaves after Christmas. His parents, Danny's brother Todd & his wife Michelle, threw a fun 'mission call' party. Everyone got to guess where they thought Beau would go & boy where the guesses all over the map! Then when Beau finally opened his call & read Little Rock, Arkansas, we were all surprised & excited! His mom thought he was kidding :0) Beau is an awesome guy & will make a great missionary. We are excited to have a missionary in the family to write & send packages to. Good Luck Beau- we love you!!

Yankee Meadow

We took the kids & went camping up at Yankee Meadow with Danny's brother Ryan & his family. We love hanging out with these guys-never a dull moment!

After trying for about 10 minutes, Reese finally figured out how to blow bubbles. Then she didn't ever want to stop. What determination!

The kids spent most of the time making forts & playing in the trees...and getting dirty of course!

We ate at a cute little diner-the food was delish & the portions were huge! An older German couple came over & told us how cute all our kids were & that we needed to stop telling them to be quiet :0) Then he started singing really REALLY loud-it was hilarious! The kids thought it was the highlight of the trip.

The whole gang-from left to right around the table: Danny, Shannon, Ryan, Stockton, Megan, Cam, Brecken, Averee, Adelyn, Owen & Reese. ( I am taking the picture)

Reese is a very early riser-no matter how late she goes to bed. The only way we could keep her quiet was to let her listen to primary songs on the iPod. It was pretty cute to hear her sing along. She thinks she is SO big!

It was a great trip, with great food & great company! Thanks Ryan, Shannon, Megan, Stockton, Brecken & Camden!

Tuacahn Presents The Little Mermaid

When I found out that Tuacahn was going to do The Little Mermaid this summer, I knew I just had to take the girls. They were so excited! We made it a girls nite out & went with Grandma V & her little neighbor girl, Aunt Alesha, Aunt Angie & cousin Aiva. Grandma brought enough candy for the entire audience, but at least the sugar kept the girls awake-it was a late nite. The performance was amazing & the special effects were awesome! I was surprised by all the different songs-but loved it anyway. So glad we got to do this with some of our favorite girls!

Panguitch

The weekend after we got back from San Diego we went up to a friends cabin in Panguitch. Chris Gunn was super nice to let us stay & we had a great time! We invited the Ryan & Shannon Jones family, Glen & Rachel Page family, & Joel & Brenda Andrus family to come along. It was great for the kids to have so many playmates to chose from. Here are some of the highlights from the weekend:

The girls loved playing 'restaurant' in the yard using some old dishes we found in the bushes. They made some delicious things for us :0)

While we were there a rodeo was going on, so we went over to watch that for awhile. Reese was quite entertained by the calf roping. The rest of the kids seemed a little disturbed :0)

At the rodeo- Cam Jones, Owen, Brecken Jones, & Reese Reese & Sara Page playing houseThe favorite past time for the kids was playing in a huge tube. The kids did this ALL day long. They would push each other all over the yard. Stockton even rode the little motorcycle thru it-crazy!

Reese with Aunt Shannon. She finally found the way to Reese's heart-candy of course!

Adelyn found a grasshopper (with a broken leg) and she carried it around for over an hour!On the way to the cabin-aren't they so sweet when they are asleep?

We also did a couple little hikes in Bryce Canyon, played games, went fishing, & ate yummy food. It was a great weekend thanks to some great company!