{JONES}

new curtains.

2012-01-13T15:13:00.000-08:00

I finally made new curtains for my kitchen window. I discovered that it was best to have just a partial curtain to keep it open and let in more light. I got the idea of hanging it up with ribbons from Pinterest. They turned out way cute and I'm glad I finally have a curtain in the kitchen again:-)

Thor.

2012-01-10T14:00:00.000-08:00

Mataya's temple.

2012-01-09T14:00:00.000-08:00

Mataya was hard at work building a "temple". We have to keep busy around here while the boys are at school:-)

raising children to change the world.

2012-01-04T13:39:00.000-08:00

I picked up my copy of "A Mother's Influence" by Margaret D. Nadauld while cleaning my room today and read something I wanted to share.
"Every time a child kneels at a mother's knee to pray, the child is taught.
When going to church is the expected natural course of events each week, a child is taught.
When classroom teachings are discussed at home, a child is taught, twice.
When home teachers are welcomed with appreciation, a child is taught.
When titihing is paid first and regarded as important, a child is taught.
When parents love the Lord and find joy in living His teachings, a child is taught.
When a parent repents and asks forgiveness of a child, a child is taught and then forgives and forgets.
When a parent honors marital vows with complete fidelity, a child is taught and feels safe.
When scriptures are part of teaching in the home, a child is taught, by the Spirit as well as by the word.
When a parent is seen reading for enjoyment and information, a child is taught.
When parents read to a child, a child is taught, and feels loved."

Indian Petroglyphs.

2012-01-03T18:00:00.000-08:00

Grandpa Blackwell took Cory and the kids on a little adventure to look at some Indian petroglyphs near where they live.

My dad has always been a fun dad and he has turned out to be quite the grandpa!

little buds.

2012-01-02T18:00:00.000-08:00

Mataya

Zoe

Little buds!

Santa.

2011-12-31T18:00:00.000-08:00

Mataya loves Santa! She couldn't wait to sit on his lap.

Parker had a very lengthy list to share.

Spencer was shy and only asked for a bell! (a bell from Santa's sleigh)

Christmas.

2011-12-31T14:15:00.000-08:00

We spent a few days leading up to Christmas at my parent's house. The boys went outside and shot some pumpkins.

They went for a hike one day and brought back their treasures. They put together a cow skeleton on the porch. My dad said to Parker, "Hey, I'll get you a garbage bag and you can take all those home." Parker said, "OKAY!!" Grandpa was messing with him, but you better believe he would have taken those home in a heartbeat!

We came home on Christmas eve about 9:30. We found our doorstep loaded with goodies and presents. Those helped sustain us well into the night getting the goods ready. Spencer is holding up his Angry Bird.

The little princess was right in her element!

Parker got his art set and a huge roll of paper. He went right to work and tracing his little sister.

Mataya topless in the kitchen hard at work. At least she has pants on!

Check! Parker got a glass chess set and Cory taught him how to play. Now all Parker wants to do is play chess. It's really fun and makes you think!

The Christmas day nap is a must!

frontrunner, temple square.

2011-12-30T18:00:00.000-08:00

As part of our advent calendar for Christmas this year one of our activities was to ride Frontrunner to Temple Square and see the lights.

Mataya was a little angry here.

Mataya would not turn around. She's strong willed, that one!

Lighting struck Parker in this one and again Mataya is being difficult!

It was a lot of fun and we ate dinner at J.B.'s across from Temple Square and while sipping hot chocolate and waiting for our food to come Spencer said, "This is the BEST vacation ever!"

Santa's got the best seat in the house.

2011-12-29T18:00:00.000-08:00

One day we were driving along and Parker says, "Look! It's Santa!" We weren't sure what he was talking about and then, sure enough, we saw Santa sitting on top of a Buffalo on the roof of a tire store.

I did NOT see that coming!

helping hands.

2011-12-28T18:00:00.000-08:00

After the big Davis County wind storm we decided to check out my grandparents house in Kaysville. It was hit pretty hard and their two huge trees were down. It was just incredible to see these trees just ripped out of the ground and laying there. Their wonderful neighbors helped out so much.

The next door neighbor had been hard at work cutting the limbs off.

We brought some garbage bags and picked up some debris and apples that were scattered all over their yard. Spencer was so excited the whole time and said, "This doesn't even feel like work, it's SO fun!"

thanksgiving in s.d.

2011-12-27T21:02:00.000-08:00

South Dakota, that is! We got to visit Cory's family over Thanksgiving. It was wonderful and Kay and Spike spoil us with good times and amazing food.

We met up with Cory's grandmother Jean and went to The Journey Museum. Jean has an item on display at this museum and can always get in for free and get tickets for any of her guests. We were immediately won over when we saw a triceratops skull in the entrance. And I 'm not sure what Mataya was wearing, our motto with that girl is "just roll with it"!

Spencer digging for a dinosaur bone.

And Parker checking out some deer antlers.

These boys are obsessed with birds. And Spencer's face is saying, "I'm too cool for school."

This picture describes the picture above it. This is the item of Jean's that is on display. It's a human hair wreath. It took Phoebe 27 years to make. It it really amazing and so detailed! How cool it was to show our kids something in a museum that belonged to their ancestor!

Spencer was like 85% sure that cougar blinked.

These were the bulk of the pictures I took from our trip there. We had such a wonderful time. Cory took the boys to a hockey game, the boys went hunting the day after Thanksgiving while the girls shopped, we ate at Taco John's, the kids did a little sledding, and we made it home safe and we sure enjoyed visiting the Wild West!

sewing.

2011-12-08T23:38:00.001-08:00

Ahh, I have a computer again. If it wasn't past midnight I'd upload some pictures and try to catch up, but...later.
Earlier this week I was looking through my craft container (my cedar chest at the end of my bed) and found some material me and the boys had bought over a year ago with the intention of making pillow cases. It was all washed and neatly folded. I turned to Parker and asked him if he wanted to learn how to sew. He said sure. That kid is up for anything! So I taught him how to measure, pin, cut and get it just right to sew. Then I got him set up at the table with the sewing machine and gave him all the proper instructions. He did a practice run on a scrap of fabric and then it was time to sew the pillowcase. I stood next to him and just made sure the fabric stayed straight while he ran it through the machine. He did it totally by himself! It was one of my favorite mom moments ever. And to add to his excitement the bobbin ran out of thread half way through, so we had to wind the bobbin. Pure excitement!
He was so proud of his new pillowcase that he made all by himself....he's already planning his next sewing projects. I see a few more pillowcases in our future:-)

Wind.

2011-12-01T22:08:00.000-08:00

I haven't had a computer for a couple of weeks. Makes blogging a little difficult. Our laptop crapped out and had to get a new hard drive...yadda yadda! Thank you iPhone for making this post possible while in the comfort of my bed. I was about to set my alarm for the morning when I remembered that school is cancelled for tomorrow due to all the wind. Parker always wanted a snow day, but tomorrow he gets a wind day and he's pretty happy. Mostly because he wants to go to Subway for lunch. We probably will, that kid is a born salesman:-)
I wonder how many trampolines blew into the Great Salt Lake today. Cory said probably 700 or so. Give or take. Cory was driving down a residental street and a trash can was blowing along side him and actually going faster than him. We thought we left the wind behind us when we traveled home from South Dakota for Thanksgiving. Wyoming and South Dakota each have a PhD in "Windology" if you will. We are such one-uppers here in Utah. As we were returning home after the 11 hour drive Spencer said "Mom thanks for taking me to the Wild West!" I love that boy!
We got our Christmas tree and decorations up yesterday. Then our beautifully decorated tree tipped over twice tonight, I stepped on one too many ornament hooks and I almost cancelled Christmas. But to make up for my feisty mood I ran and grabbed a dozen doughnuts for the family. Mataya promplty ate the chocolate frosting off of two of them. Atta girl, she's got just enough Blackwell in her:-)

more family pics.

2011-11-09T13:37:00.000-08:00

Here are a few more pictures I wanted to post of our little family. I should really put a family picture on the header of my blog, but I just love that picture too much:-)

apples.

2011-11-08T18:58:00.000-08:00

We had our annual apple picking party in my grandparents backyard. They have 2 apple trees and we go and help them pick them every fall. The kids were really helpful this year and each wanted to have a turn on the ladder. I didn't take too many pictures, but Parker took a nice one of their birds in the apple tree.

So needless to say we've been eating lots of apples. Applesauce, apple juice, apple fritters....you get the picture:-)

trunk or treat.

2011-11-02T11:36:00.000-07:00

Here are the kids at the annual trunk or treat/chili cook off. Spencer is a wolf, but decided not to wear his head piece.

Parker did the scars on his face:-)

Ladybug and wicked witch!

And then there was Po from Kung Fu Panda! It was a big hit.

Happy Halloween!

cute girl.

2011-10-30T20:50:00.000-07:00

Cute little Mataya Mae!

blue thumb.

2011-10-30T20:46:00.000-07:00

Mataya came up to me today very puzzled as to why she had a blue thumb. She ate a small Airhead that was blue and that is the thumb she sucks. Case closed....lol!

kid Halloween.

2011-10-30T19:53:00.000-07:00

I threw a little Halloween party for the kids this week. I had way too many things going on and it was a full week, but I had promised the kids we would do a party so here we are. We had 11 kids altogether and there were lots more we wanted to invite, but we just couldn't. It turned very cold this week so the party was inside.

Here are the kids decorating pumpkins with foam stickers. Thanks, Jaimee you saved my life:-)

Here is Mataya breaking the sugar cookie frosting rule....she is licking her knife. She ended up having her own frosting.

It was fun we played some games, did a little craft, and decorated and ate cookies!

Ogden Nature Center.

2011-10-25T18:39:00.000-07:00

Since the boys didn't have school last Thursday and Friday we went to the Dinosaur park one day with some friends and the Ogden Nature Center the other day. It was a beautiful day and a great chance to be outside and see some great stuff.

Here the boys are standing in front of a bald eagle. Parker is in awe as you can tell. All the birds and animals they have there are rescued animals and all of the birds were injured and cannot fly. We loved seeing the bald eagle and golden eagle. We even got to watch several of the birds including an owl eat some mice. Just what boys love to see!

Standing by Arrowhead Pond.

Mataya had a rough week not feeling good, sleeping good, and being clingy. I held her a lot of the time.

We stopped to see this furry little black caterpiller. Spencer touched it and then squealed with delight.

Walking over to the bird blind.

Checking out the birds.

Inside the teepee.

I let the boys get a bird at the gift shop. Parker's was attacking his ear or telling him a secret.

There were lots of great bird houses that people had made and they were all along the path. This one was the Nut House. I feel like I live there sometimes;)

The Ogden Temple birdhouse.

We started posing their birds in the birdhouses and took some pictures. We got a kick out of it!

Mataya got a bouncy ball at the gift shop and it's in the bottom of the picture there. She didn't want the birds to be having all the fun so her ball made it into a couple pictures.

Fun times. I had fun with the kids while they had a break from school. They make life pretty grand:-)

family pics.

2011-10-17T22:37:00.000-07:00

Spencer was doing it up right with that pose. All of his uncles would be so proud! Here are just a few fun pics, there's plenty more so stay tuned:)

I love us!

The Homestead.

2011-10-14T15:34:00.000-07:00

The night before our Dirty Dash race we stayed at one of our favorite places in Midway, The Homestead. We did a little swimming. And that night Cory was reading to the boys at bedtime and Parker lost a tooth. Thankfully the tooth fairy found us!

Here are my cute little boys ready for race day!

It is so beautiful there.

Checking out the pond by the golf course. Grandpa Blackwell was here the day before, too bad we missed him:-)

After breakfast we discovered lots going on outside. There was a balloon festival happening complete with a rock wall.

All 3 kids gave it a shot. Mataya thinks she can do anything the boys do:) They put a little harness on her and she tried, but it ended quickly in tears.

Parker and Spencer.

In the parking lot we saw this hot air balloon. The boys really wanted to stay and ride in it. Which would have been fun, but we ended up having a pretty fun day!

Deer Hunt 2011.

2011-10-07T21:41:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again! Cory has had a lot of stress in his life lately so hunting came at a perfect time. He got to go for almost a full 5 days. He loves it deeply. He loves the whole experience, the mountains, fresh air, sleeping with nature, carrying around a gun, and general manliness. And he is gone again this week to Bear Lake for an executive management retreat. So....I'm alone again. But I did get to have a very enjoyable evening with the bishopric and their wives. This was planned a while back before Cory knew he would be gone. I thought about not going, but I really didn't want to miss out on going to dinner with them and playing games. They are such a fun group of people. There was 9 of us and a few babies so it was all good!

Cory in his full gear. I love how he gets all giddy pulling out all his hunting stuff. He was showing me how his binoculars, which are strapped to his chest, have a cover over them so they don't get dusty. And he has all kinds of gadgets and gear that make hunting more enjoyable.

Parker got to go up with him Friday after school. He is just like his dad, he loves to be outside and is up for any adventure.

Cory hoisted Parker up to the branch of this tree.

It was pretty high off the ground. He said he had to lift him up over his head to get him up there. I think it's a way cool picture!

Very cool picture with the rainbow!

I'm glad that Cory got to go hunting (because he loves it) and that Parker could be there to spend time with him. Cory makes a lot of sacrifices for our family and I appreciate him so much. We love the times when he is home and we get to laugh and play together.

Mataya will ask me most days during the day "where's Daddy?" Then she will answer her own question and say with the utmost assurance, "Daddy's at church." Lol! He is there a lot and we love him for it!

pumpkins.

2011-10-02T21:06:00.000-07:00

We have been so excited to watch all of our pumpkins grow this year. I planted 3 pumpkin plants this year and paid $2.75 for all 3 plants. I'm happy about that because I don't have to buy any this year!

Parker was so excited!

And Spencer too!

Teamwork.

Load 'em up.

We put them on our front steps.

Goofy goobers! We decided to hold off and only pick 4 for now. We've got a couple of biggies that we will carve when Halloween gets closer.

Spencer and Soccer.

2011-09-29T21:04:00.000-07:00

A little action shot of Spencer at his last soccer game.

What a handsome young man!

Showing off his cool haircut. And lets not forget his strangely dressed little sister in the background!

Cory is gone hunting this week. So my week has consisted of canning peach jam (yummy), wrestling stinky boys into the shower every night, and eating cold cereal for dinner guilt free!

I'll leave you with a conversation that I had with my little Spencer yesterday:

Spencer "Mom I'm going to have 7 kids when I grow up."

Me "Wow! That's good."

Spencer "Well, maybe I want to have 20 instead."

Me "You can have whatever you want, bud."

Spencer "But if I have 20 then my wife might die."

Me "Uh....you might be right!" (laughing hysterically)

The Dirty Dash!

2011-09-27T20:07:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday I competed in a race called the Dirty Dash. In case you aren't familiar with this race I'll give you a quick run down. It's held at Soldier Hollow, the distance is 6 miles, it's very muddy (hence the name), and there are TONS of obstacles along the way. All of which are designed to be challenging and downright filthy!

We arrived all clean and ready for the action and completely unaware of the muddy muck that awaited us.

At the starting line with my game face on. A little mud on the cheeks to get me prepared for the race.While I was racing Cory was doing his own race as he called it "The Daddy Dash"! Hiking all around watching for me and snapping a few photos. What a guy!!
The mud was just too irresistible for these little piglets.

A little flexing....nice!

Cory got here right before I did. I stood up on the hay bale muddy and proud to show off my strength and skills.I swung on the rope while getting sprayed with water. And wiped out on the landing. The knot at the end of the rope whipped me in the face as I fell...instant headache! And so great that Cory got a picture:-)

The huge slide. As Melissa well knows that a slide of any kind is my arch enemy! I went head first all the way down. I stood up part of the way down and ran to get some momentum....well turns out the slide ended sooner than I expected and I came flying out at the end and landed in the big ruts you can see. That nice Miss #70 said, "Oh my, are you okay?" It was pretty painful and all I could do was laugh. I scratched my arm pretty bad and both my hips hit the ground and are bruised. They are still black and blue now! Plus there were a lot of people watching and Cory snapping another pic of me. I told him I must be trying to show off for them because both times they were watching me I got injured.

The final muddy event. I decided to go head first, which seemed like a fun idea, but that mud is no respecter of body parts and I came out feeling like I breathed it in and it was in my ears, nose, and mouth! And everywhere else!

There were so many challenges and obstacles along the way I was equally impressed and surprised at how many there were, it was the most fun I've had running 6 miles in all my life! Jumping over double stacks of hay bales, wading through waist deep, muddy water for 1/4 mile, climbing a cargo net, jumping through tires, climbing over walls, climbing through pipes, falling down, I could go on and on. I hoping now I can rally the troops for next time and get a group together to run with me!
The filthy finish!

My feet were lovely!

Trying to dry off and warm up waiting for the Piglet Plunge to start.

So the boys have been anticipating this race for a while now. This was Spencer's first race and a few days before he said, "Mom, I really hope you will hold my hand while we run." We held hands most of the way in a muddy, squishy grip. Mostly to keep him from falling down.The kids race was just 1 mile. They got to slosh through lots of mud, go down the slide, and jump in the huge mud puddle at the finish. This picture shows me and Spencer running down the slide in the 4th lane.Parker went for it and jumped right in. Spencer decided to hang with Mom and just go chest deep.

Little swamp thing!

Another filthy finish! What a fun time it was to race with my boys. Cory was a little worried about me doing 6 miles and then another 1 mile. I laughed so hard I didn't notice being tired or fatigued.

There were showers at the end. They had freezing cold showers or $4 hot showers. I told Parker to man up and get clean with the cold water. It got ugly complete with weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth on his part. He was already so cold so showering was pure torture. I told him it was all apart of the fun and I knew how he felt because I had to do it after my race to get clean.

We made it out of there after getting clean and changing clothes! It was a memorable day:-)

brownie batter and a tutu.

2011-09-22T22:09:00.000-07:00

Sunday + a nap + brownies + that outfit ='s one very happy girl!

Mirror Lake Highway.

2011-09-17T20:55:00.000-07:00

This was a couple of weeks ago, but we took a drive on Labor Day. We went to Evanston, WY and from there drove on the Mirror Lake Highway. Cory has been wanting to do it for a long time and it was nice to have a whole day to do it. Cory has hunted in this area and wanted to go as a family. We saw a pay phone. Weird! How practical is a pay phone in the middle of nowhere?!?

We stopped off at Whitney Reservoir. Spencer was gathering sticks to make a fire.

The boys did some fishing....

....but didn't have any luck catching anything.

Very beautiful!

We ended up driving home through Park City and went to dinner and shopped a little. It was a fun day!

The Sassy New Hairdo!

2011-09-09T20:32:00.001-07:00

Mataya's first haircut. She sat right up there and held so still the whole time.

Got it all straight, now it's time to start cutting.

It was so long in the back.

Got some cute little bangs!

When we left she was so excited about the cows. She went right under the fence and started walking towards them until I called her back.

I got my hair cut too. Not that exciting, but I love my little mini-me!

Oh my goodness! I felt like I watched her change before my eyes while she was getting her hair cut. Yeah for no more rag-muffin hair!

naptime.

2011-09-07T20:12:00.000-07:00

Lately, Mataya gets mighty feisty and doesn't want to nap. She eventually gives in and boy does she sleep!

joy.

2011-09-06T08:21:00.000-07:00

Sometimes life is just so great you have to throw your head back and laugh!

(that's how Mataya feels anyway:)

Officially in Kindergarten.

2011-09-01T19:29:00.000-07:00

Here is Spencer on his first official day of Kindergarten waiting for the bus.Anxiously waiting in line.And, of course, the first official step onto the bus!
Love you Spency buddy!

a poem.

2011-08-30T08:07:00.000-07:00

This was in our Relief Society newsletter. It really struck a chord with me today. It is a poem found written on the wall in Mother Teresa's home for the children of Calcutta:

People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway.

confessions and a cute picture

2011-08-29T10:11:00.000-07:00

I have 2 confessions to make and thought I would put it along with this cute picture of Mataya enjoying a shaved ice after getting 2 shots at the doctor.

1-I let Mataya eat 4 pieces of gum during sacrament meeting yesterday. She would chew them for a good 3 minutes and then it was down the hatch. She actually chewed the fourth piece and spit it in the trash during nursery. After sacrament Cory saw Mataya was chewing gum and he said, "Why is she chewing gum?" I said, "Don't worry she'll probably swallow it, and also don't judge me it kept her occupied."

2-I buy blueberry muffin Poptarts and hide them from my kids so I can eat them. I know understand why my mom would hide the Pepperidge Farm mint milanos when I was a kid:)

First day of school.

2011-08-24T12:38:00.000-07:00

Getting ready to head out on the first day of school. Parker was really excited about his new lunch bag. I think it's a robot:) When did my kids get so big? Parker started 2nd grade and Spencer Kindergarten. They both have wonderful teachers and lots of friends in their classes. We are looking forward to a great year!

My Mom is a school teacher. Her first day of school was today. This is her last year of teaching and then she is RETIRING!!! I jokingly asked her if she was going to cry on her LAST first day of school. She said no, but said she was excited which is an unusual feeling...lol!

Lots of new posts!

2011-08-23T14:58:00.001-07:00

Just keep reading, just keep reading!

Good Job Parker!!!!

2011-08-23T14:41:00.000-07:00

Lots of reading this summer. I challenged Parker to read 100 books this summer before school started. It was a tough road met with challenges and me pushing him so hard that at times I felt like the Tiger Mom...lol!He did it! Cory upped the anty by telling Parker if he read all of his books he would pay him 100 dollars. Cory also said if he read 99 books he would get no money. So it was all or nothing. He finished on Saturday afternoon! Here he is with his cash and the clip board where we kept track of all the books he read. I'm really glad we did it. He has improved a lot and towards the end of the summer he was reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid! A huge step from where he started at the beginning of summer.

Hogle Zoo.

2011-08-23T14:12:00.000-07:00

We finally made it to the zoo this summer. We weren't sure if it was going to happen. We kind of decided last minute to go. We woke up and got ready and headed out the door. The kids were so excited!

The dinosaurs that sprayed water out of their mouths was a big hit. We had to go by there a dozen or so times.

I like Mataya's pose!

Oh, the crocodile....one of our favorites. Our other favorite was the tigers there were 4 of them and they were so active and fun to watch. There was a big crowd around them and I was more worried about losing my kids in the huge group than taking pictures.

Spencer is saying, "please, can we go to the bird show?"

We went to the bird show. And it was AMAZING! So many cool, pretty birds to see and so many of them flew right over our heads throughout the show. It felt like their wings grazed your head as they went by.

Super fun day!

swimming.

2011-08-23T13:56:00.000-07:00

Here is Spencer's leap of faith to his teacher Liz. He loved her she was so cute and patient with him.

Here is Spencer on his very last day playing "Sharks and Minnows" with lots of the other kids. Spencer has improved so much through the summer. He is a lot more brave and he is learning there is a lot he can do if he just gives it a shot! My phrase for the summer to Spencer was, "Just try your best!"

Parker's last session he had a wonderful instructor. He really pushed him and Parker learned so much in his class.

This is on the last day. Parker is doing the back stroke for 25 yards.

25 yard breast stroke. They had to do elementary backstroke, breast stroke, back stroke, and front crawl 25 yards each on the last day!

Hopefully Parker won't be needing the kick board for the triathlon next summer;-)

cousin fun.

2011-08-23T13:40:00.000-07:00

We got to see our cousins a couple of weeks ago. The kids had fun at the splash pad!

Mitchell and Mataya...the 2 year old trouble makers!

Spencer and Marley....best buds!

Spencer ate a chocolate Popsicle and ended up with a sweet little chocolate goatee:)

Little Diva.

2011-08-11T22:21:00.000-07:00

Work it girl!
Mataya will do just about anything in life as long as it is her idea. Like getting dressed for church on Sunday is sometimes a challenge. But on this particular day she embraced her inner diva and walked around in my shoes while simultaneously picking her nose. And she said it was a "scratch" not a "pick" by the way. You be the judge...Lol!

Summer swimming.

2011-08-07T22:17:00.000-07:00

Me and Mataya get to kick back and watch Parker and Spencer while they do their swimming lessons.

MONKEY.....
AIRPLANE.....SOLDIER.....

Well, they almost did it in unison. They love the elementary backstroke:-) Cory and I decided it was time to dedicate more time into our kids learning how to be better swimmers. They have done lessons twice this summer and they start their third session on Monday. Parker is zipping right along and Spencer jumped off the diving board on Thursday. This was a big step for him and I was so proud!

Cute boys!

I have mixed feelings about the fact that school starts in 2 weeks. Crazy! I just want to keep my kids to myself and not send them into the world. Is that so much to ask? Oh, it is! Well, bring on Kindergarten and 2nd grade then!!

Latyon Triathlon!

2011-08-02T20:51:00.000-07:00

I arrived bright and early at 6 a.m. to the Layton Triathlon on Saturday. I had to get my bike and everything ready in the transition area, get body marked, and be there for orientation. This picture was taken right before it started. Cory got there at 7:45 with the kids ready, fed, and he even did Mataya's hair! He deserves a lot of credit just for doing all of that and keeping the kids entertained during the race.

This was a long wait at the pool. All of the mini-sprint people are in the water swimming. All of the sprinters had to wait until the pool cleared so we could start. They stagger the swimmers every 10 seconds.

Where's Lindsay?I waited until the last second to put on my cap and goggles because they squeeze my head so much. I didn't want to have a headache before I even started. I didn't get nervous until it was my turn to get in the water, but once I started swimming it was all good.I look like a legitimate swimmer here....right?!I put my helmet on before my shirt....smooth!

Biking back in after the first 5.5 miles. Here I am heading back to the pool. This was a unique triathlon. They split everything in half and you do each thing twice so that means jumping back into the pool. It's 5 transitions, but I thought it was kind of fun.

Back out on the bike!

It was a great run course. It was a cloudy day, which made it even sweeter!

Crossing the finish line!Olive Garden for dinner!

And this cute boy will make his racing debut in September doing The Dirty Dash! Stay tuned:-)

This was such a fun race, I'm so glad that I did it! I've missed doing triathlons I haven't done one in a few years.

A big THANKS to Cory, I couldn't do it without him;-)
Check out the next post about Parker's triathlon!

Parker's First Triathlon!

2011-08-02T20:23:00.000-07:00

I made this sign for Parker as a surprise and when I pulled it out of the truck he was so excited to see it. We don't call him PJ, but his friends at school do and he loves it....so I went with it.

Here we are setting up his bike and gear at the transition area. This kid was so excited and ready to race.

Getting body marked.
Eating a few Starbursts while he waits for his turn to swim. He really had his head in the game!

He's up next to jump in.

Cory was on one side of the pool and me and Mataya were on the other. I was holding his sign up and he could see it as he swam.
And the lady with the pink shirt and the huge lense on her camera....you would think her son was Michael Phelps! She was getting right in there snapping those pics. There were a lot of us nerdy, overly excited parents cheering from the sidelines.

Go, Parker, Go!

A quick 1 mile on the bike. I ran the .44 mile run with him and I carried a Gatorade and camera with me. I captured this picture and shortly after he told me he thought he was going to throw up. I said, "welcome to the wonderful world of running!" LOL!

Crossing the finish line!
Way to go PJ....you really do ROCK!

temple.

2011-07-29T18:16:00.000-07:00

I pretty much have the best calling ever. I am the temple preparation teacher. Which means I get to study and teach other people about the temple on a weekly basis. I went on Tuesday to the Salt Lake Temple with a couple I just finished teaching. It was wonderful! The Salt Lake temple is so unique and special. I love the fact that it is downtown and temple square is always buzzing with people, but once you walk inside you forget all of that. Plus I saw Elder Jeffrey R. Holland cross the street when I was on my way to park....bonus!

24th in Marysvale

2011-07-28T22:13:00.000-07:00

We were so excited to be able to celebrate the 24th with family in my hometown of Marysvale, UT. Here are my kids, clearly thrilled, in the back of Grandpa Blackwell's truck ready to be in the parade. Spencer didn't want to wear a hat, Mataya had a fever, and Parker is giving me a courtesy smile here.

We had a disco theme and it was super groovy. The disco ball was the perfect touch. We made a sign that said, "Peace, Love, Popsicles!" We blasted some 70's music and the kids danced and threw otter pops to the parade crowd. The last half of the parade the people looked confused as to why it said Popsicles in our sign because the kids managed to throw 200 otter pops out in a very short amount of time...haha!

Mataya decided riding up front with Grandpa was the place for her. She actually fell asleep during the parade amidst the loud music and whatnot. Poor girl was getting some molars.

Becca standing tall in the middle with the full outfit on. We now refer to her as the Disco Queen.

During the parade Grandpa was rockin' that little purple, sequin hat!

Ahh, the fish rodeo. A place where kids go to catch fish and parents pretend that they aren't totally grossed out. We got there a little late so a lot of the fish were gone, but the boys managed to run around and grab a couple. They had a lot of fun!

Parker with his "prize" fish!

Spencer back at the house telling tall tales only fishermen can tell.

Later that evening we had the 1st Annual Blackwell Family Talent Show.

Here we have Thor (Spencer) defeating The Bad Guy (Parker). They worked out a whole fight scene. It was cute.Beau a.k.a. David Blane worked his magic with a quarter trick.Mataya jumped right in to show us her talent. She held really still by the tree. I think her talent was that she held still longer than any 2 year old ever that is conscious. Which was a little over 7 seconds. Parker and Thomas got the crowd pumped up with the "Banana Dance".

Those two really know how to work a crowd because we were all going bananas by the end!

Luke showed off some of his sweet swimming skills.

Cooper and Carter had us all laughing with some stand up comedy.

And then out of nowhere Super Campbell came flying in!

Allison and Rebecca ended the evening with a song and dance. It was lovely!

We love coming to Grandma and Grandpa's house!

There seemed to be a grasshopper migration happening. Lots of boys+grasshoppers+ant hills='s little boy heaven!

We stopped at the little convenient store in town to grab some bottled water and there was a sign on the door that said, "There will be no beer sold at the rodeo!"

Thank you Marysvale....you always make me smile!

4th of July

2011-07-06T13:47:00.000-07:00

Waiting for the 4th of July parade to start.

Mataya got to pet the horse or as she calls it "hee hee".

The boys were on a float with their tumbling group.

Waving to Dad, Mom, and Mataya.

I walked to pick them up and they got to watch the end of the parade.

We went to my sister's house later for a BBQ. They have a fun sandbox in the backyard. The boys were loving it!

Cute Mataya!

Crying because......

She wanted to hold the kitty, but it needed to drink it's milk first. Melissa's neighbor does a foster program for animals. She is taking care of two kittens that had been abandoned and she has to feed them. Mataya did get to hold them and she loved it!

Parker held one only with a blanket on his lap. The kitties were pretty scratchy.

June.

2011-06-30T15:10:00.001-07:00

I haven't taken too many pictures this month of all our fun activities because we've been too busy enjoying the summer.

All three kids just finished swimming lessons. They did awesome and it's fun to see Parker and Spencer improve. Yesterday I watched Spencer do the front crawl and it brought tears to my eyes. He was trying so hard to swim to his teacher and I was so proud of him for putting forth so much effort. We will take a little break and then do swimming lessons again. We've been loving the warm, but not too warm, weather June has brought us. I'm sure July and August will make up for it:-)

Parker and I have been training for our triathlon coming up on July 30th. I tried to talk him into it last summer, but he wasn't quite ready. And I was a crazy runner last summer so the timing is a little better this year. Parker is a little rockstar! They offer a kids triathlon to get kids excited about the sport. It's a 100 yard swim, 1.2 mile bike, and .44 mile run. Go Parker!

I'm watching you.

2011-06-27T20:59:00.000-07:00

Spencer lines up his animals and the occasional dinosaur to stand guard while he eats breakfast.

This is the Place Heritage Park.

2011-06-24T15:28:00.000-07:00

We got to ride in the front of the train.
All the kids sitting on a bench enjoying an ice cream cone.

Swinging away.

Mataya was loving the goats! She would get right up next to them and pet them and follow them around. We need to be making a trip to the zoo:-) She's our little fearless girl!

Nice!

We love spending time with our fun cousins!

Summer.

2011-06-21T20:32:00.000-07:00

Summer is here and we are loving it! There is lots of playtime outside, picnics in the backyard, Popsicles, and we started swim lessons this week. And the kids got sunglasses which was a big hit!

Happy Birthday Mataya Mae!

2011-06-16T16:56:00.000-07:00

Mataya was kickin' back taking it all in on her 2nd birthday.

We had a BBQ in our backyard and had lots of our favorite people there.

L to R Grandpa Ray, Papa, Grammy, Emilee holding Zoe, and G.G.

Everything seems right in the world when you have cousins playing in the backyard wielding toy weapons.

Eating on the grass and our chunky dog got the leftovers when the kids abandoned their plates.

Peanut butter, chocolate pie and cupcakes. I love making food and especially for other people. I held nothing back....lol!

Tyson had a captive audience!

We were SOOO happy to have Grammy and Papa there. They came all the way from St. George. And I was so happy Grammy was there to try my orange fruit dip;-)

We are so grateful that we didn't move. A couple months ago I was thinking we wouldn't even be having a party for Mataya because we would be moving. So having all the family over that we did was so wonderful. It does my heart good!

more family fun.

2011-06-13T12:11:00.000-07:00

This post is a continuation of our fun family weekend last weekend. This is our rowdy bunch at the park after Tyson's blessing.

There always has to be a crier and today is was Mataya. She was tired and angry at this point.
Here's all the little babies that joined our family in the last year. Oh, and their mom's are pretty cute too!

The three oldest holding the three youngest. Abbi holding Dylan (left) Alli holding Claire, and Becca holding Tyson

The fab four!

G.G. turns 80!

2011-06-07T17:30:00.000-07:00

We celebrated my Grandma's 80th birthday last Saturday. We reserved a room at Mimi's Cafe and had my mom and dad and all my siblings and their spouses and kids. We are quite the group we total out at around 35. All 18 grand kids in one room my parents were in heaven!

G.G. and Claire

Aaron enjoying the cake

Parker and Mataya love each other to the point that they hug each other to the ground:-)

Abbi, Alli, and Becca

We made a big Shutterfly book for G.G. We had each family create 4 pages and it turned out perfect. She was crying before she even opened the book....just like we hoped!

Mataya didn't want her picture taken apparently.

Tyson is a ornery little guy....haha!

Silly Spencer

Silly boys a.k.a. The boys of '04

Thomas, Parker, Beau

Grandpa Ray and G.G.

Lexi Lou

Luke wasn't too happy because he had an unfortunate incident with a rose bush moments earlier.

But he is still dang cute!Zoe

Mataya was clearly very happy to be there

Zoe and Abbi

We herded all the under the tree for a picture. I have no doubt this group could take down this tree in a matter of time...lol!

All the grand kids. Sorry to Tyson for only getting your feet in the picture.

our weekend.

2011-05-31T21:52:00.000-07:00

Ryan, Melissa, Tyson, Jaris, and Jimmy

We had a fun weekend in Marysvale. It started out with the wedding of Jaris in the Manti Temple. It was so fun to see her! She is really a neat person and it's so wonderful to see her so happy.
Grandma and Grandpa Blackwell's is the best place to see wildlife. Spencer went right out with the binoculars looking at the deer. They also have a hawks nest in their tree with some little baby hawks too.

Outside playing at the wedding reception.

At the reception there was chocolate cake and chocolate covered strawberries. I was really hoping the white shirts would make it through the wedding reception and be presentable the next day for church. My mom and dad had another reception to go to after this one and offered to take my boys and they were so excited to be with them and ride in the Mini Cooper. Needless to say after 2 wedding receptions and Taco Time for dinner Spencer's white shirt was in need of a good washing Saturday night. Parker's had a couple of spots, but nothing serious:-)

Spencer's graduation.

2011-05-24T19:15:00.000-07:00

My cute, sweet little Spencer graduated preschool today. When the graduates walked in there was a whole lot of flash photography! My kid was the cutest, of course:-)

Receiving his diploma. Miss Angie on the left is the owner of the school. In the middle is Miss Christine (teacher assistant), and his main teacher on the right Miss Angela.

She read stuff about Spencer when he was standing there. She said Spencer wants to be an Indian when he grows up because they hunt dinosaurs. And what makes Spencer special is that he can run faster than a cheetah and a raptor!

We love you Spencer! What a fun and amazing little boy you are!

Father's and Son's Camp out

2011-05-20T13:47:00.000-07:00

The annual Stake father's and son's camp out was last weekend. It was a success! They had chili dogs for dinner. Yummy!

The bishopric chowing down! These guys are so much fun and have a sense of humor and you can clearly tell.

Gage was Parker's shadow. He kept going up to him and saying "hi". He is a little cutie.

Where sticks, dirt and water are concerned little boys will always have something to keep them occupied.

Carter, Spencer, and Mason.....little buds! I love the dirty faces too.

They had a meeting at camp and all the little boys sang. Parker said, "Mom, it was like church, but we didn't have to wear church clothes!"

They made it home on Saturday by 10 a.m. with dirty clothes and fingernails. Smelling of a campfire with smiles on their faces.

Thanks, Cory, for taking the boys on an adventure!

spenc.

2011-05-19T23:01:00.000-07:00

Spencer

This little boy of mine is an absolute joy! I got to go on a walking field trip with his preschool class on Wednesday. They walked across the street to an ice cream shop and got to see how they make ice cream and waffle cones. And they got to eat ice cream too. All the boys choose the blue cotton candy flavored ice cream. I wish I had my camera because it was hilarious sitting there with 6 boys, who were chomping away, showing each other their blue tongues. Spencer was so excited to have me there, it was a lot of fun. I don't know how those teachers do it. I was only with them for an hour and I was ready for a nap:-)

I've found it a little easier to blog now that Cory got me a laptop as a mother's day/anniversary/birthday gift and he's always gone and I tend to get bored...lol! So I'll just keep on blogging about food, kids, and ordinary life.

girls night out.

2011-05-16T08:41:00.000-07:00

While the boys were off on the stake father and son's camp out eating chili dogs for dinner and doing "guy" stuff me and Mataya were doing girl stuff.

We hung out with some fun girls and went to the park, McDonald's and then painted fingernails. I have never painted Mataya's fingernails so it was good to be around other little girls so she could see what being a girl is all about. We are at the point where she loves Go Diego Go, wearing boots all the time and playing with Spencer's lions, tigers, and dinosaurs! A girls night out was in order!Mataya picking out her colors. She chose purple, sparkly nail polish. Good choice.And the little girls watched Tangled and Strawberry shortcake while the moms chatted. And I'll be honest adult conversations are few and far between for me these days. So it was SO nice!

Cory is a very busy guy these days so me and the kids don't see him too much. So I was so glad they got to go camping and spend time together. He took some great pictures so I'll be posting those soon.

Welcome to the Club!

2011-05-14T21:29:00.000-07:00

My sweet little Mataya taking a nap wearing her favorite pink, polka dotted pants. She has such a spunky personality and has a strong opinion when it comes to her wardrobe. I wrestle her into a dress every Sunday while she is kicking and screaming and thrashing around. I have to often remind myself that I'm the mom and I'm in charge and she will wear what I tell her to wear....lol! She is not even two years old yet. I'm really in for it:) I told one of my friends that I'm embarrassed to take her places because of what she is wearing and she said, "Welcome to the club!"

yummy!

2011-05-13T13:22:00.000-07:00

Chicken taquitos

Now that my life is settling down a bit I've been able to do some things that I love. One of those things is cooking. My fabulous mother-in-law got me the Our Best Bites cookbook as an early birthday gift. All last week I only made things from it for dinner. The recipes are awesome and easy to make. And Cory loved everything so I scored some points there:) One night I made an orange fruit dip that involved cream cheese, orange juice, and marshmallow cream. My Grammy would love it! Parker asked me if we were going to someone's house for dinner and I told him no we were just staying home. He said, "are you sure we aren't going to Melissa's because fruit dip is very 'Melissa style'?" Melissa does love her fruit dip, but apparently my poor kids think fruit dip these days is "fancy"!

dinosaur park field trip.

2011-05-09T19:54:00.000-07:00

Spencer's preschool had a field trip to the Dinosaur Park in Ogden today. It was a rainy day and it looked like we were in for a wet, cold morning. But I knew we had to go because there was no way I would be able to talk Spencusaurus out of going:) So I wrestled Mataya into a long sleeve shirt and jacket and off we went. This is a picture of some of the kids from his preschool.

I managed to lose Spencer 5 minutes into being there. I was helping the teachers carry some food for lunch and I thought he was with our group walking to the picnic tables. I realized he wasn't there and started to walk back to find him. Then I heard on the intercom "Attention ladies and gentlemen, we have a lost child his name is Spencer and he is carrying a Spider man umbrella." I got there right after the announcement and the lady said she was impressed with how calm he was and he stayed right where he last saw me. Good job Spenc!After exploring the park for a while we got to make a craft and learn more about dinosaurs. Here is Spencer coloring his triceratops for his puppet.Mataya liked sitting in the chairs with the big kids. And she really enjoyed using the glue sticks. She is all about the messy stuff!Mataya managed to splash in every puddle she could find and by the end has soaking wet socks and boots. It didn't seem to bother her because she ran right along with the other kids and had a fun time.We got to have pizza, salad, bananas, juice, AND cookies at the park. It was really fun and as you can see Spencer was very excited about his big piece of pizza.Spencer only had 2 more weeks until school ends and then it's the big graduation day! I LOVE LOVE his preschool! The teachers are amazing and do so much with the kids and teach them a whole lot. I really love teachers especially on field trip days....bless their hearts!

birthday boy.

2011-05-05T11:19:00.000-07:00

Cory's birthday was last week. We went the night before his birthday to the Capitol Theater and saw Young Frankenstein. It was very good, but had a few crude parts. It was nice to spend some time together in the middle of a stressful, crazy week. Friday we went to Cory's brother's house and had dinner with them and we brought a Farr's ice cream cake. It was very yummy. Here is Justin lighting the candles on Cory's cake. He rolled up a piece of paper and lit it on the barbeque and brought it in to light the candles. This is called lighting candles "South Dakota" style....LOL!
Those South Dakota boys know how to get things done!

cousins.

2011-05-05T11:11:00.000-07:00

Mataya loved swinging Tyson!

We went and saw Tyson and Lexi this week. I got to hold this little guy for an hour and he was talking and smiling at me. He is such a good little baby. Melissa and I decided it would have been tragic for us to move away. So it's good things turned out the way they did:-)

A good reminder

2011-04-29T14:17:00.000-07:00

It's nice to find noodle art like this when you are cleaning up lunch!

Say What?

2011-04-28T22:03:00.001-07:00

I will keep this brief because the subject has completely exhausted me this week. We are NOT moving! Cory now has the opportunity (as of Wednesday morning) to be Sales Manager in the N. Salt Lake office. For us we get the best of both worlds he gets the promotion and we don't have to move.

We are very excited to stay. We love our neighborhood, friends, schools, and ward. We love the idea of resuming our normal lives and not uprooting our kids from the only house they've ever known. There are a lot of boxes packed, but that's an easy thing to undo. I have been busy all week with the help of my mother-in-law cleaning and packing and getting our kitchen, dining room, and hallway ready to paint.

As I type this I remember last week I was working on getting Mataya's room "ready" in the sense that it's decluttered and presentable for an interested buyer. I put everything in place, it was clean and cute and girly. I then took a bunch of pictures at every possible angle so I could remember it all after we moved! Sad...I'm very sentimental. How could I leave this house without a picture to remember what her closet looked like?...LOL! Tonight Mataya opened her closest and said, "all gone!"

I'm not cleaning or packing or doing anything that resembles hard labor tomorrow. I'm going shopping with Mataya. Not grocery shopping....real shopping!

Leap of Faith

2011-04-26T20:22:00.000-07:00

Changes are happening at the Jones house. We are moving to the Phoenix area June 1st. Our lives have been in a complete uproar for the last several months and we've been waiting for things to settle down. The day after Cory was called in the bishopric, things at work started changing. The owner of the company that Cory works for kept asking him to apply for the Sales Manager job in their Phoenix office. Cory kept saying no because of his new calling, but eventually he decided to apply. I knew they would offer him the job, because he's pretty darn good at what he does.

I was sitting in a Young Women presidency meeting when I got a text from Cory saying, "Mark just called and offered me the job and I accepted." It is very difficult amidst talk of girls camp and trek later in the summer. It breaks my heart to know we will be leaving our ward. Honestly, it is a privilege to serve in the church, but this one will be hard to leave behind. Cory was working in AZ last week and I got to fly down on Friday and spend the day and Saturday house hunting while Cory's sweet mom was at our house watching the kids. We looked at a lot of places and got a feel for the area, and we may just rent an apartment for a few months then we can find the perfect house for our family. Me and the kids plan on living at the pool all summer! We went to the Mesa temple on Saturday in between realtor appointments. As you can see I'm wearing a jacket and Cory told me I was going to get kicked out of Arizona for wearing a jacket...Lol!
These little babies are next to the parking lot by Cory's office.

Friday night we drove up to Scottsdale for sightseeing and dinner. It is very beautiful there the trees and flowers are so pretty. We decided to go to a movie so after much searching we decided to go to The King's Speech at a cheap old school theater. They re-released it PG-13 and it was so good! We went to the 10 o'clock show, I guess we thought we were back in college because that got a little late after a long day, but it was fun. I got a picture in the theater by Batman and Superman for my boy's enjoyment.

Now our number one priority is selling our house. My days are full of packing, cleaning, painting, and Diet Coke! And my kids have been watching way too much t.v., but I'll save the guilt of all that for another time.

Parker is excited to move and looks forward to making new friends and swimming a whole lot. Spencer took a little while to come around. He was very concerned with scorpions. But now every time he prays he asks Heavenly Father to bless us to travel safely when we move to Arizona. That's good enough for me!

2011-04-20T13:19:00.000-07:00

So it looks at though this little blog of mine has been a little neglected. What can I say? We've had a few things going on at our house. Some of which I will post about later on in the week. I saw this "keep calm and carry on" poster in a blog post that was hanging in a kitchen. I liked it so I thought I would share.

Maybe I spoke too soon.

2011-03-13T20:39:00.000-07:00

Today was an interesting day. It started earlier than I was hoping with a cute little girl snuggling in bed with me (good:) and Spencer throwing up (bad). Cory had to be at his first meeting by 8 a.m. So I was on my own. And I knew I wouldn't be going to church and I was disappointed because it was the first day of our new ward and Cory was speaking in church with all the bishopric.

So my morning was full of yucky mom stuff like cleaning up throw up and poop. Good times! Then I find out I have a meeting with the 2nd counselor in the bishopric. I'm getting a calling. I'm thinking "please let it be a primary teacher or visiting teaching supervisor".

I was extended a call to be 2nd counselor in the Young Women's. When I heard those words I wanted to cry. I love young women's, but this was uncharted territory for me/us with Cory's calling.

Earlier in the week I was reading in Mosiah when Alma and his people were persecuted for doing what was right and for praying. If they were caught praying they would be put to death. To protect their lives they prayed to God in their hearts and he knew the thoughts of their hearts. They experienced much suffering and affliction. And the Lord knew of their pain.

The verse that I thought of today and one that I love is Mosiah 24:15:

"And now it came to pass that the burdens which were laid upon Alma and his brethren were made light; yea, the Lord did strengthen them that they could bear up their burdens with ease, and they did submit cheerfully and with patience to all the will of the Lord."

After receiving this call today I felt a heavy burden placed upon me and my family. All I could think about was the time away from my kids and the meetings and mutual night and girls camp and we are still going on trek.

Even though I couldn't go to church I had the opportunity of going to the church afterwards to be set apart with the rest of the young women's presidency. Cory set me apart which was very neat. I know this call comes from the Lord and he won't give me more than I can handle.

I know our burdens can be made light when we have faith in the Lord's plan. It does take patience and trusting in the Lord's timing. I'm so excited to get to know the other leaders and young women. It really is the best calling and I feel privileged to serve with these ladies. My feeling obviously changed throughout the day, which I hoped they would!

What did I say the other day? Out of the frying pan into the fire? Well, lets try "Out of the fire and into the burning inferno"!

Spencer's 5th birthday party.

2011-03-12T20:51:00.000-08:00

Here is Mataya demonstrating a game we played at the party called "Hook the Treasure". The kids had to use the hook to pick up the necklaces and see who could pick up the most in 30 seconds.

Spencer got some super cool gifts. I'm not sure he is looking at his new toy, but it looks like it:)

Cute cousin Marley.

The wee little pirates.

On the hunt for treasure with Spencer leading the pack. I took pictures of things for the clues so it would be easier. We had them running all over outside and they we all breathing heavy by the time they got to the treasure.The treasure was in our outside storage bin we use for toys. It was full of goodie bags and pirate swords.
The boys running around with their treasure.

We played a game where I put uncooked rice and pennies in a big bowl and the kids had to wear a blindfold and had one minute to get as much money out as they could. This game was a time filler and I thought they would think it was lame, but I think they really loved it.

Little Mataya. She napped for most of the party, but she was out there at first running around with the kids.

We played "Pop the Cannonball". I told Parker to go easy on the little kids.....well you can see how well that pep talk went....lol!The goodie bags and treasure bottle. I got small soda bottles and had the kids put rice and small treasures in them.

Spencer and his buds.

Blowing out the candles on the treasure map cake.

It was a fun party and fun day.

out of the frying pan...into the fire!

2011-03-07T14:58:00.000-08:00

So two weeks ago I was really stressed with life and my calling. We had a super busy weekend with Melissa's baby shower and the next day I had 3 meetings for young women's and trek. I just felt like I was running around like a crazy person barely getting by. The next day I get a phone call saying that the stake president wants to meet with me and Cory the following Wednesday. Those phone calls are scary! Cory tried to convince me it was for me, but I thought it was him.

We go on Wednesday (Feb 23rd) and meet with the entire stake presidency. And he extends a call to Cory to be the first counselor in the bishopric of a new ward. At first I'm thinking a singles ward or something, but then he tells us they are rearranging the boundaries of 5 wards and creating a new ward. It was an incredible experience and I'm grateful for these men and their words of counsel and their strong testimonies.

They didn't even tell us who the bishop was we had to walk into the high council room to find out. It is Jared Jones and we love him and his sweet wife so we cried and hugged (okay I cried:). Then we went in a room and talked and got to see the new ward boundaries and it was very shocking for our ward. And the worst part was we had to keep it a secret for almost 2 weeks. That was very difficult.

It was very hard to carry on at young women's and mutual night knowing that I would no longer be the 1st counselor in y.w. and that I would no longer be in the same ward as almost all the girls and leaders. There has been lots of crying on my part. However, I am very excited for this opportunity for Cory to serve and to have new people in our ward to meet. There are still lots of people in our ward that we know so it will all be okay.

So 2 weeks ago I was the busy one in my calling and now Cory is the busy one times a thousand! They have to fill all the callings for a ward in a short amount of time. But at least they can meet at the church and not a secret location like they had to last week....lol!

So that means no girls camp and no trek. My summer just suddenly opened up. Okay, I guess there is a chance Cory and I will still go on trek, but right now thinking about that is not a priority.

There are bigger fish to fry and they seem to cook better in an open fire:)

new stuff.

2011-03-05T22:34:00.000-08:00

It's late and I'm patiently waiting on my chocolate raspberry cheesecake to cool so I can top it with the chocolate ganache....and put it in the fridge.

In the meantime.....I've posted a few things so keep scrolling down:)

baby bumps and cupcakes.

2011-03-05T22:13:00.000-08:00

Emilee, Mom, Me, and Melissa.

We threw a baby shower for Melissa at her house a couple of weeks ago. She had baby Tyson just a few days ago and everything went great! She was shopping at Costco just over 12 hours before he was born....you go girl!

Melissa and Angela. This is Mel's sis-in-law. Melissa is 5'10" tall and she loves to be around Angela so she can feel like the "short one"!

Black bean salsa, vegetables, ham wrapped asparagus, chocolate peanut butter cupcakes, strawberries and cream cupcakes, and homemade carmels.....yep it's a baby shower!

(Heather we missed you tons....love you!)

Mataya @ the Dentist.

2011-03-05T22:09:00.000-08:00

Mataya had her first trip to the dentist. She wouldn't lay there for the hygienist, but she did for the dentist. He is checking out her teeth and she's got the death grip on her toothbrush, toothpaste, and dental floss. She did great and she loves it when I floss her teeth!

Parker's 7th Birthday

2011-03-05T21:41:00.000-08:00

Parker turned 7 a few weeks ago. We had a little friend party and we were lucky enough to have great weather in the middle of February which made it possible to be outside for most of the party.

Lining up for a game.

Little sis having some pizza.

The party crowd looking into the sun:)

Megan....Parker and her love each other! They are in the same class at school and their afternoon teacher got married this week and on Monday they had a little party for her. There was lots of talk of marriage and love and Parker came home and told me he asked 8 girls to marry him and they all said yes. I asked him if he asked Megan and he said he asked her and she also said yes! Her last name is Jones so it would just make sense:)

There was a treasure hunt outside.The treasure was locked in the shed in the backyard.

Parker has some cute little friends and it was a fun party. Parker is an awesome kid and always has been. He is so responsible and hard working. As a mom it is so nice to be able to count on him. He is also very honest and he always tells it like it is. He LOVES school and works hard at reading and math. He is obsessed with maps! It's very cute he has a map of the world on the wall next to his bed and lots of books about the world and educates all of us. He loves to play on my iPhone and I usually think he is playing games, but half the time he's on the Google earth looking at the world!

since when is 29 old?

2011-02-21T21:52:00.000-08:00

Cory lovingly pointed out to me that I haven't blogged in a while. Life has been full of birthday parties, a baby shower, Valentine craziness, church callings/meetings, and I got an iPhone....oh baby! It was Cory's idea to get me that phone so I partially blame the fact that I haven't blogged in a couple weeks on the new phone. (and Cory....lol!) Who wants to blog when you can play Angry Birds for hours on end?
I will put something worthwhile on here soon. I'll leave you with a conversation I had with my now 7 year old Parker:)

Parker: "Mom did you play games on this one website when you were a kid?" (he told me the website, but I forgot)
Me: "No bud, there was no such thing as the Internet when I was a kid."
Parker: *stands there in utter disgust and disbelief*
Me: "The Internet started when I was in high school."
Parker: "Whoa! Well, you are really old Mom."

When your kids tell you you are old....end of conversation!

spencer's prayer.

2011-02-06T19:56:00.001-08:00

Spencer's prayer for lunch today:

"Dear Heavenly Father, thankful for this day. We're thankful for Parker even though he's silly during the prayer. And we're thankful that Parker goes to school. We are thankful for Dad for going to work. And we're thankful for mom because she plays 'Go Fish' with me. We're thankful for Mataya that she is sleeping. We're thankful for Jesus and all that he does. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen."

This is pretty good considering he sometimes throws in a Spiderman or Curious George reference:)

kids.

2011-01-31T09:02:00.000-08:00

Mataya snuggling with Spencer's Curious George while he is at school.

This picture fits her personality so well, wild hair and wild smile!

I was trying to get a good pic of all of them, but they were distracted by the cookies they were eating.

Parker and Spencer have been SO sick this last week. They have each had a fever and cough that lasted for days. They both woke up fine this morning and made it to school. It's so sad to see your kids be so sick.

I love these cute kids of mine and feel so grateful everyday to be their mom!

buddies

2011-01-26T10:02:00.000-08:00

It's kind of cool when your older brother is also your best friend:)

Jazz Game

2011-01-17T20:37:00.000-08:00

Cory and the kids went to a Jazz game last week and got to be in a suite. It was on Wednesday night and I didn't feel good about skipping out on young women's so Cory took the kids by himself. He is really a great dad and loves to have fun with the kids. Mataya has a little pink Boozer jersey. She loves hanging out with the boys:)

They loved the food!

Spencer-ism.

2011-01-09T20:37:00.001-08:00

This afternoon I grabbed a kitchen chair for Cory to stand on to hang our clock back up in the family room. (It was down because we painted this weekend....yeah!!) This conversation followed:
Spencer, "Are our home teachers coming?"
Me, "No, we did get new home teachers, but they haven't come to visit yet."
Spencer, "Oh, I really hope our new home teacher is Joseph Smith!"

I hope they call me on a mission.

2011-01-03T19:56:00.000-08:00

We started 9:00 church on Sunday and I'm happy to report that we made it out the door on time with smiles on our faces....especially Mataya!

Tonight we had family home evening on missionary work .

I had Cory tell the kids about his mission and he showed them his scrapbook. I made sugar cookies for the kids. Mataya had a regular circle cookie and...The boys had cookies in the shape of a tie. Spencer already took a bite of his before I could snap the picture. They frosted and loaded them with sprinkles before they ate them (of course:).

Merry Christmas.

2010-12-28T21:15:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas!
We went and saw Santa a few weeks ago and much to our surprise Mataya just sat right on his lap and happily accepted a candy cane:)

Fast forward to Christmas Eve. We went to my parents this year and it's been a long standing tradition to have crab. My Dad is a pro at cooking them just right. My two favorite people to watch eat them were my Dad and Parker:) And I love Mataya's "cheese" face. My cute parents with the empty crab shell pile. I love my Dad's buttery chin.
Parker, the boy with the hollow leg...lol!

Christmas morning was fun. Santa gave us lots of great stuff:) This was the best pic I could get of Mataya she was such a busy butt. She was loving all her baby stuff.

I think she was wanting me to take off her pants so she could try on some of her new clothes. That's quite the face and hair!

Spencer and Parker in their matching p.j.'s from Grandma and Grandpa Blackwell. Spencer woke up and he wasn't very excited and didn't seem like himself. He was opening presents and discovered a poptart holder with a poptart in it and he quickly ate it.

But then he sort of sat there and started to look pale. I told him to go close to the bathroom in case he needed to throw up. Well he did throw up in the hallway going towards the bathroom. And once we got that cleaned up he was back to his old self. He just sort of came alive and was talking and got really excited about his presents. I guess he just needed to throw up his Christmas poptart and then it was all good after that...lol!

"Inner peace"

Parker with his Kung Zhu pets resting on his knees.

Once all the gifts were open the boys got down to business of playing with their stuff while topless.

Grandpa and Parker playing gladiator on the Playstation Move. Parker kicked every one's butt.

My sister and her family stopped by on Monday and we finally got to meet our cute little niece Zoe. She is such a doll and you can't see in the pic, but Mataya is standing below me having a panic attack over me holding someone other than her.

Thanks Mom and Dad for the fun Christmas. And, Mom, especially for the carmel AND chocolate covered pretzels....lol!

dress-ups.

2010-12-20T22:07:00.000-08:00

I have to share these even though the second one is embarrassing for Parker, but that kid only wears clothes when we leave the house. Otherwise it's underwear! When I pull out the camera this is Mataya trying really hard to give me a good smile. I hope she doesn't hurt herself:)

The kids got into the dress-ups and even Mataya joined in on the action. She had a Shrek head around her neck and a "How to Train your Dragon" helmet that is on sideways so it looks more like a rhino horn than a viking helmet:) Spencer is cute in his cape. And then there's Parker!! And notice the wall behind them is no longer red...wahoo...progress!

lunchtime with Mataya.

2010-12-18T12:49:00.000-08:00

I love those little crossed ankles under the table!

She took Spencer's dog from him and is giving him a look that says...."you're not getting this back and don't even try!"

The "trying too hard" smile....love it!

Mataya Lou Who?!

2010-12-12T21:21:00.000-08:00

All dolled up and ready for church. Someone said she looked like Cindy Lou Who from How The Grinch Stole Christmas.

I think they might be right:)

I love December.

2010-12-09T19:34:00.000-08:00

I love December for all the fun times and food. I'll start with the good stuff here...the food.

I made these little beauties for young women's one night. We had game night and treats.I made this dessert for Cor and I on Sunday night once the kids were in bed. It was a pear poached in a liquid of different juices and sugar. Then there's a sorbet on top with almonds and drizzled with white and semi-sweet chocolate. It was very easy and tasted great! Thank you Taste of Home!We painted on Saturday and just decided to do so on Friday night. And thankfully child labor is really cheap so we lucked out:) We are going to eventually paint our whole house so we started with the red wall that I painted when I was pregnant with Spencer and here we have Spencer painting over it. I guess we've come full circle..lol!

Spencer had a field trip to the Christmas village in downtown Ogden. It was really fun, but it was so cold. And after about 15 minutes we had 2 homeless guys start following our preschool group on our tour with Mrs. Claus. It got a little sketchy, but it's a rough part of town so it's to be expected. Spencer got to visit with Mrs. Claus at the end and she gave him a little bag full of treats.Cory calls me on Monday night as he's leaving work at 6 and says someone just handed him 2 tickets to the Jazz game that night that starts at 7 p.m. They were on the 7th row so I said hurry home and you and Parker can go. They always have to get a churro when they go:)So here is Parker harassing the Jazz Bear he grabbed his tail and then ran and sat by Cory and the Bear came and sprayed them down with some silly string. Parker was loving it!

nursery girl!

2010-12-06T21:42:00.000-08:00

Mataya got to eat a candy cane while I put sponge rollers in her hair on Sunday. It was her first day going to nursery so we had to dress to impress.

She looks so big in this pic. She is such a doll and I cannot believe she is so big. It seemed like with the boys I couldn't wait for them to go to nursery and with Mataya is came so fast I don't know if I'm ready for it.

This picture isn't great and I didn't even get her whole head, but when you are running late this is as good as it gets! She loved nursery! We knew she would, she's not very shy:) Sometimes you worry that your kid will get picked on or hurt by another kid, but Mataya stands up for herself. If she's threatened she will bite and head-butt....just ask her brothers!

thanksgiving.

2010-12-03T18:55:00.000-08:00

After the "Blizzard of 2010" we barely survived and made our way to South Dakota for Thanksgiving....haha! It snowed for an hour and a half on Tuesday and we left on Wednesday and the drive there was smooth sailing. I can say that because I only drove for about 90 minutes of the 11 hour drive:) What a great husband I have. Sledding with Uncle Brandon's 4 wheeler. Not much snow, but lots of fun.
Mataya was a busy little butt at Grandma's house. She loved the play kitchen with the food. I think Santa might have to bring her one of those.

Here is Mataya saying "CHEESE!" What a cute little face.

She loved Uncle Brandon. She such is not shy around people she doesn't know very well and she was so tired and went to him and crashed out with her Cindy Lou Who hair!

And then moments later Brandon fell asleep....haha!

The boys enjoying the snow and such.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving they have a lights parade in downtown Rapid City to kick off the Christmas season.

This was was really cool from the air force.

Mataya snuggled in with Grandma to watch the parade and try to stay warm.

This one's for you Grandma B:)

2010-11-29T22:49:00.000-08:00

2010-11-29T22:37:00.000-08:00

family fun.

2010-11-21T22:18:00.000-08:00

Back home to our cute kids. Our flight landed at 11:30 on Friday night and Mataya first saw me early on Saturday morning around 3 a.m. Cory's mom brought her in because she was crying and she didn't know what to think of me. She wanted Grandma to hold her, but she wanted to look at me and her look told me this, "Hey, I just realized you've been gone for a while...what's the deal, lady? And you just expect me to come running into your arms all happy and such?" She had middle-of-the-night wild hair and eyes so it was to be expected.

We came out on the couch and sat for a minute. I just sat next to her hoping she would warm up to me. She kept looking and me and staring. I was so tired and I started nodding off sitting there and I felt a little hand patting my cheek and I look over to see Mataya with a big grin on her face. She did that several times...what a cutie.

Phew....we're friends again! Here in my daughter wearing footie pajamas, a puffy vest, jacket, and boots. She puts together some strange outfits.

Cory's parents stayed a couple extra days once we got home and we went to temple square and explored. Here is Mataya pointing at a cool fountain next to the new Deseret Book.

In the south visitors center there was a Christmas tree. Here is Parker doing his best pose. (Uncle Aaron would be proud:)

We got to hang out with our cool cousins and celebrate Mitchell's 2nd birthday. I love Spencer's frosting mustache.

Mataya wearing her new fav vest "texting" on my phone. Oh dear, what kind of example am I being to my kids? Cory sent his parents (on the right) and their friends visiting from California on a carriage ride around temple square. A little "thank you" for watching our kids!

Big glasses, Scarface, and Versace.

2010-11-19T20:24:00.000-08:00

I call these my South Beach glasses. Cory said I need little windshield wipers for them...haha!

Cory chillin' reading a book on the Kindle. (which is completely awesome, btw!)

Our last dinner on the cruise.
Back to Miami! It was a beautiful day. We were lucky to have great weather the entire trip.

We got back to Miami in the morning and our flight didn't leave until 6 that night so we went on a tour of Miami and South Beach.

"Say hello to my little friend!"

This is the house where Scarface was filmed.

This was a home in the art deco district. There were a lot of cool old houses in this area.

This was a cool looking memorial to the victims of the Holocaust.

This is the Gianni Versace mansion. I've secretly always wanted to see it. He was murdered on the front steps in 1997. Here is Cory saying, "What's the big deal with this place?"

Hangin' on South Beach.

mexico.

2010-11-17T12:38:00.000-08:00

Wednesday afternoon we made it to Cozumel, Mexico. Cory and I didn't want to do any off shore excursions so we just walked around and shopped.

There in the middle is a brown hut with white curtains. During our shopping we walked on the beach and found this massage hut. We wanted to get a massage and the ones on the ship are way overpriced so we found this place and we both got a great massage and we were right next to each other. I told Cory the only way I will get a massage in Mexico is if he is with in arms length of me...lol!

Here I am by a strange sort of statue.

Viva la Mexico! We've been fortunate to travel to Mexico twice this year and I think I'm good for a while:) I've got my feel of vanilla and authentic knickknacks made in China...haha!

We soon discovered that Cozumel isn't the most exciting place, but we had fun shopping! In the yellow bag that Cory's is holding we got some stuff for the kids. Cory really wanted to get the boys whips. (That's not a bad idea at all:) So we got them each a 4 foot whip. When we were getting back on our ship we have to go through security and everything. They made us deposit the whips and we could pick them up the morning that we would be leaving. Kind of funny. They hold stuff for people that they don't want them to have on board....mostly alcohol...and weapons.
The boys love the whips and so far no injuries!

This is Cory saying, "Can we please go back on the boat before we spend any more money?"

This is our ship the Carnival Imagination. It looks small next to the other boat.

no spam for these cruisers.

2010-11-16T21:14:00.000-08:00

We went on a cruise last week. It was a work thing so Cory had to go to a couple of meetings and do a presentation, but we had plenty of free time as well. We had Grandma and Grandpa Jones come to our house AGAIN for the week to watch the kids. Bless their little hearts!We got on the ship in Miami. Here we are relaxing and getting prepared to eat for 4 solid days:)

Tuesday we woke up in Key West. We came here on a cruise for our honeymoon, but didn't really see any of the island so we wanted to really tour it this time. Here I am with a sponge guy.

I think this guy is checking me out:) Riding the trolley car through Key West for the grand tour. The whole island is 2 miles by 4 miles wide. I asked Cory, "How could anyone train for a marathon if they lived here?" He said, "They probably don't." I realize that's a strange question to ask, but I was just wondering...lol!

Taking in some of the local flavor.

Wahoo! The southernmost point in the USA!

This is the southernmost house in the USA. So exciting....I guess you had to be there:)

We got off the trolley to walk around and explore. We went to a little cafe for a bagel and this was our view from our table. Pretty cool!

Cory went deep sea diving and this is what he caught!

Okay, maybe not! I took this pic for the benefit of my boys they have a deep rooted love for sharks and all things that live in the ocean.

I wish I could've bought one of these. They are fossilized Megalodon teeth. The big ones in the middle were over a thousand dollars! (Megalodons were prehistoric sharks that were enormous and lived millions of years ago! Just in case you didn't know and don't have little boys obsessed with dinosaurs and sharks and all that good stuff that live at your house:)

In this same gift shop we found something that I wanted to get for Parker. It's a crocodile head! I should post a picture, but when we got home and were giving the kids their gifts I had the croc head in a bag wrapped in paper and before I even opened it Parker said, "I really hope it's a crocodile head, I've always wanted one!"

I guess it's good we got him one:)

The houses were very cool. Even the new homes looked old that's just the style they build there. The tour guide said when there is a hurricane they can have up to 6 feet of water covering the whole island and people ride jet skis in the streets!

thankful.

2010-11-05T00:20:00.000-07:00

I am feeling very thankful right now. It might be because I got away for a couple hours with some girlfriends tonight after the kids were in bed and went to Chili's and had 3 diet cokes and a brownie sundae and laughed so hard that I cried and thought the waitress would tell us to leave for being so disruptive!
I'm also very thankful for Cory's sweet parents driving all the way from South Dakota on Friday to watch our kids so we can leave on Sunday for Miami and then board a cruise ship on Monday until Friday. Spoiled doesn't begin to describe how I feel!
Earlier this week Spencer asked me if I remember when me and Cor went to Mexico and I told him yes and that I was going again next week. He said, "Why are you and Dad always going on field trips!?" (I love that kid!)
The boys are a little disappointed they can't come, but promises of gifts and surprises upon our return seem to help ease their sadness:)

halloween dinner.

2010-10-31T22:30:00.000-07:00

Since Halloween was on a Sunday and all the festivities were all over I wanted to make a fun dinner. I got these bread bowls at Great Harvest. There is so much goodness at that place. Have you tried their pumpkin chocolate chip bread? It's to die for!
Spencer kissing his pumpkin. He set the whole table complete with Halloween napkins under each person's bowl. And while he helped me we had some great conversation. He said, "Mom when I was in heaven with Jesus I picked you because you are so pretty!" That boy has always melted my heart!
Mataya's like "Mom, leave me alone so I can eat!"
Parker pretending that it is a real pumpkin and he's digging out the insides. We never actually carved pumpkins this year....so this was as good as it got!

Here is my pumpkin flowing over with homemade Almost Famous Cheddar Broccoli Soup. And I added the bacon as my own special touch....that never hurts, right?!

trick or treat.

2010-10-31T21:39:00.000-07:00

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

It started out very rainy for trick or treating. Me, Spenc, and Parker made it for a while, but ended up getting very wet.

I cannot believe how big these girls are!

Mataya the cheerleader cheering for "Team Daddy"....and Lexi the ladybug!

I love Parker plugging his ears in this one. Mataya was not happy and she was getting loud:)