A Jones Family Get-together

We got together with the Jones family at the very end of April.  We haven't seen everyone since Christmas.  It was awesome to spend time with the amazing Joneses!  We all met at Aaron's and Kristin's place.)

(left to right)  Sierra, Sophie, and Emma.  

Jacob is in the middle (not smiling!) :)

We had an early dinner together.  Yummy food and great conversation!

Annie, Rob, and Zach

I don't know why I can't get my kids to smile...even at a family party!  Sheesh! :)

Dallin

(clockwise) MaKenna, Malissa, Alice, Judy (Grandpa's fiance), Grandpa, Owen (At least I think that is Owen), and Parker

And here's Spencer, Kyle, and Jacob

  At least Spencer is smiling a little bit. :)

And here's another picture of Sophie

Zach and Annie (and a bunch of people in the background) :)

This is kind of the same picture as above.  Behind Annie is Todd, and then Shauna, and on the side is Rob and Mike.

Here's Ryan (holding Henry) and Kristin

And there's Aaron on the far left, with Zach and Annie in the front, and Ryan and Kristin in the back

We all had a great time!  And it was awesome to see everyone, even if it was just for an afternoon. We love the Jones family! (And we miss Grandma terribly!)

Dallin goes to Prom 2016

Dallin decided to ask someone to Prom!  Originally he wasn't going to go, but then a few weeks before, he decided he wanted to.  This is how he asked the girl! 

"Have you heard the news?  You're being asked to prom!"
(Get it?  Newspaper?  News?) :)

And this is how she answered him...(the rubiks cube was all messed up and he had to solve it to read her response.)  Cute idea!

Ready for the big night!

I love this picture of Dallin...it cracks me up. :)

Hunter and Dallin

Hunter, Jason, and Dallin

Is everyone ready?  It's time to pick up our dates!

Dallin asked this girl.  Her name is Sadie Durham.  I can't remember how they know each other for sure, but I'm assuming they have a class together at school or something like that. :)

Since none of the boys could drive with other teens yet, Todd drove the boys in our van and picked up each date for Dallin, Jason, and Hunter.  (The last kid in the picture met them all at the final house...don't know his name...or his date's name.) 

Then they all stayed at the last girl's house and took some pictures.  

Todd then drove them all to dinner at Spaghetti Factory.  I think it was fun for both "parties."  The kids enjoyed  themselves, and Todd had a great time also.

After dinner, Todd drove them all to the dance, which was up at the U of U.  They all had a good time and I'm glad Dallin decided to go.  Todd was a good sport to drive them everywhere too.  (You're a good Dad, honey!) :)

After the dance, Keira (Hunter's mom) picked the kids up and took them to get ice cream just before dropping everyone off at their own homes.

I would say the night was a success!  

Hopefully next year the boys can plan to have one of them drive, so a parent (Todd) doesn't have to do it again.  HA!  :)

Kyle Jones and Spencer Bigelow--BFF's

Do you remember our friends, the Bigelows?  Well, they have been living in Recife, Brazil the last couple of years because President Bigelow (he used to be our stake president) was called to serve as a mission president there.  Anyways, their oldest daughter, Sara, recently got married and so Tammy, Megan, and Spencer all came for the wedding.  (President Bigelow couldn't come because once you're a mission president, you can't go home for any reason until you are released.)

Kyle was so excited to have Spencer come!  They flew in on Thursday (Mar 31) and on Friday, Spencer got to come to our house and hang out for the day.  I even kept Kyle home from school.  (He was double-y excited for that.)  :)  Since Spencer just turned 12 in December, he really wanted to go to the temple "in the states" with Kyle and do baptisms.  So that's exactly what we did.  

I can't believe how grown up they both look...

After the temple, we came back to our house!  It was so fun!

These kids are so crazy!

That evening Sara had a bridal shower at the church, so I took Spencer, Kyle, and Jacob over to play in the gym and on the stage.  They had such a blast playing with their dart guns!  They literally played for hours!

We didn't get a chance to see Spencer again until Sara's wedding reception, which was a week later.  But it was still totally awesome!  

I love these boys!  They have always been such amazing friends and I'm so thankful that they've had each other to grow up with!  There aren't many kids in our neighborhood, but these two have been instant friends from the beginning!

And here's a picture of Eric hugging Sara!  They have been friends since the beginning as well.  

We are so happy for Sara to have found her eternal companion!

Eric and Sara and Rob Leonard

The Bigelows will return home next summer and we are so excited!
We LOVE the Bigelows!

(We'll see you guys soon!) :)

Kyle got glasses!

So for the past month or so, Kyle has been saying that he can't really see the words on the blackboard at school.  At first I didn't really think much about it because even though Todd wears glasses, no one else in our family does.  But because he kept insisting it (and because I'm quick to catch on), I FINALLY took him to the eye doctor.  And sure enough, Kyle needed glasses!

Here are all the pictures I tried to take of him wearing his new glasses.

Finally, I got this one!  (Oh wait, those glasses are upside down!!)  Grrrr...

Kyle!  Be serious! (Nope, still upside down!)

And then finally....I got these last two! (And they were taken a totally different day than the others because I gave up!)

I think he looks so good in them!  What a handsome boy!  And I'm really glad that he can see now.  When he first put them on, he said, "Wow!  Look at all those blades of grass!"  Oh man, I'm pretty sure I'm up for the "Mother-of-the-year" award!  UGH! :(

Easter 2016

Easter came in March this year.  If I remember right, it's been quite a while since Easter has come in March.  Most of the time it falls in April.  But no matter.  We'll take Easter whenever it comes. :)

Here is a picture of the kids' Easter baskets.

 Eric's basket

You can't really see much, but he got several pair of "crazy" socks.  That's what he wanted and even though that might seem boring, he really liked them. (And they really weren't cheap either!)  :)

Dallin's basket

He also got a "treble clef" key chain and a music book stabilizer tool.  And you can see the Titanic puzzle in the background.  Dallin loves 3D puzzles!

Kyle's basket

Kyle just recently became the badminton champion of his PE class. Way to go Kyle!  So the Easter bunny brought him a Badminton set.  The book in the back is by John Bytheway, and it's "You're Gonna Make it Through Junior High."  I'm pretty sure that every junior high-aged kid could benefit from this book.  (And Kyle's even read some of it.)  Awesome!

Jacob's basket

Jacob got a couple new books that he absolutely loves...Diary of  a Minecraft Zombie.  (The series is kind-of a spin off from Diary of a Wimpy Kid.)  He really enjoys reading them.  He also got a "4-piece metal puzzles" kit.  He's really into mechanical things and figuring things out.  I'll have to ask him if he already solved them all. :)

These next few pictures aren't that great because everyone scattered so quickly on Saturday morning.  I was lucky to get a pic of each child. :)  (Gosh, they're almost worse than when they were little.) Ha!

Jacob (and Ziggy)

Dallin

Eric and his crazy socks! 

Kyle would hardly even let me take a picture of him.  Oh, and by the way, he got glasses!  I'll try and get some better shots of him in the near future. Silly Kyle! :)

We had a wonderful Easter.  We did the "bunny" stuff on Saturday, and on Sunday we focused on the resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  After all, that's what Easter is all about.

Happy Easter everyone!