Jones Memorial Day Party 2017

We had a Jones get together on Memorial Day this year.  It was so fun!  We all drove to Ryan and Malissa's house in Stansbury park and had lunch.  Then their neighbor let us use their backyard access to Stansbury Lake.  It was so awesome!  It was like our own private little lake party, complete with a little beach and everything!  

Ryan borrowed some kayaks, some canoes, and a few paddle boards.  The kids had so much fun!

Todd and Kyle

Some of the Jones crew!  Even Eric and Andraea came.  Matt and Haylee came too! (They left early though, so I didn't get a picture of them).  :( 

Kyle is the King!

Jacob paddling away in his own kayak.  It wasn't as easy as he thought it would be! :) 

Dallin and Emma (on the left)

Eric and Andraea returned the paddle boat to some neighbors across the lake, and I love this picture of them as they are paddling away together.  So cute! :) 

It was a little windy, but such a nice day!

Sweet little Henry!

How would you like this as your backyard?  (Complete with full access to the lake and your own private little beach?  So awesome!) :)  

Cute Alice

(And I think that's Sierra in the background) 

Jacob

Yep, that's Sierra (on her way back)

Cousin fun!

Owen, Parker, and Henry

Eric and Andraea (with Kyle on the left)

Kyle wouldn't look up from his hat.  He purposely hid under it!  That kid... :)

And I couldn't get Dallin to smile either, but at least he wasn't hiding his face!

These guys are so cute together!

After we hung out at the lake for awhile, we went back to Ryan and Malissa's and had cake for Parker's birthday (which was actually 2 days before Memorial Day) 

 Malissa made this cute cake for him!

Parker 

Everybody was at the party (except Brandon, of course).  Mike and Shauna and their family drove down the night before from Idaho and stayed with Aaron and Kristin in Roy.  

It was so awesome to see everyone!  

Happy Memorial Day!

Remembering Family 2017

On the Saturday before Memorial Day, we went and decorated Todd's Mom's grave and the Jones relatives who are buried nearby.  It was a beautiful day outside.   

We sure miss Grandma Jones!

And of course, we always bring flowers for Matty, Todd's little brother who died when he was two years old.  He and Jacob share the same birthday, and it's one of the reasons we gave Jacob his middle name, Charles.  Pretty cool, eh?

 

Hey look!  Dallin is smiling! :)  Kyle is not...But I can always count on Jacob!

It was really sunny outside, so we were definitely squinting! :) 

This one is a little better...

Jacob is the only child who will do some "selfies" with me...(I wonder how long that will last! I guess I'll take it as long as I can get it!)

These are Todd's grandparents' graves. (His Grandpa's name was Charles and my Grandpa's name was Charles too...a couple other reasons Jacob's middle name is Charles.) 

Todd's Great Grandparents...

It seems crazy that this September will mark 6 years since Todd's Mom passed away.  We miss her more and more every day.  The family really needs her and even though we know she is watching us from above and helping from the other side, it's still hard to be without her in this life. 

We love and miss you Grandma Jones! 

Happy Mother's Day 2017

This was one of the best parts of Mother's Day!  Talking to Brandon.  We were totally ready and excited in anticipation of his call!

Sadly, the lighting was really bad, so it was like we were talking to a "mystery" person.  But it's okay.  We knew it was him!  And it was still amazing!

Plus, he will be home in 5 weeks!!! Yep, you heard that correctly!  AAHHHHH!

We had a really nice visit even though we couldn't see him very clearly.  Brandon is doing well and is on the home stretch!  He never served in Detroit, (which he really wanted to do,) but I think he's had a great mission.  And we are so proud of him! :)  Great work son! (We'll see you soon!) :) 

It was an awesome Mother's Day!  We had my parents over for dinner and that was great too! The older I get, the more I realize just how much my mom has sacrificed for me through the years.  I have a better understanding of how mothers never stop worrying about their children and how they always want what's best for them, no matter how old they get.  

I love this picture of me and my mom!  And I'm so grateful and lucky that she is my mom. 

I love you mom!  Happy Mother's Day! :)

Dallin's Junior Prom 2017

Dallin asked a girl named Sara to Junior Prom this year by making a "Saran Wrap Ball."  It's actually a game that is  meant to be played at Christmastime.  Basically you wrap up a lot of different items in saran wrap, a little at a time, until it's a huge ball!  Here are some of the things we put in it.    

See how the ball is getting bigger...  

As we wrapped different items, we also wrapped little pieces of paper with different letters on them, so that when Sara unwrapped the ball and found all the letters, they would combine to spell Dallin's name.  It was actually pretty fun to make.  

We also cut the saran wrap several times throughout the wrapping, so that there would be separate pieces to unwrap, which made it a harder task.  Dallin really wanted this girl to work for it!

Here's a picture of the final product!

And here's a picture of Dallin the night of the dance.  I don't have any other pictures of him or of him and Sara.  (Frustrating!)  Dallin didn't take any pictures on his phone and I don't know if the girl's Mom took any pictures.  UGH!

Dallin asked a girl who had never been asked to a dance before.  He is such a sweet, tenderhearted kid.  He wanted her to have an opportunity to go.  I think he had an okay time, but while they were at dinner, Sara told Dallin that she had to be home by 11:00.  But then at the dance, she said she had to be home by 10:00.  Since Dallin didn't drive to the dance (he and Hunter went together), Todd had to pick Dallin and Sara up at like 9:45.  It was pretty sad, actually.  They didn't have time to get pictures at the dance and of course they didn't go get ice cream afterwards either, like he was planning.  

I felt really sad for Dallin and I could tell that he was pretty hurt too.  It was a somber evening. I don't know if Sara just didn't want to go, or if she was stressed about something, or if her parents really wanted her home.  I can't imagine that any parent would really want their child to be home from Junior Prom so early.  It was a sad night, especially because Dallin was just trying to do something really nice for this girl.  He could have asked anybody, but he decided that he wanted to ask her so that she would have a chance to attend Junior Prom, especially her junior year.

Growing up is hard...and hurtful.  You couldn't pay me to go through it all over again.  It's all part of life, I know, but it's still hard.  It's hard as a parent to watch your children get hurt too, especially when you can't fix it or make the pain go away.  I guess that's part of life as a parent.  Either way, none of it is easy.  

Hopefully next year, Dallin will have a better experience at Junior Prom. I'm sure he will.  I'm so proud of him though for being such a great kid and for always thinking of others first.  He truly came that way.  And someday he will be an amazing husband and father.

We love you Dallin! :) 

Easter 2017

We celebrated Easter in April this year, but not until April 16th.  Of course the Easter Bunny always comes on Saturday, so that we can concentrate more on Christ for Easter Sunday.  Here is a picture of our Easter Bunny loot!

Dallin's Easter basket

Kyle's Easter basket

Jacob's Easter basket

And of course, we had to add a few more movies to our collection...

Even Ziggy got in on the fun!

I can't believe how old my kids are getting.  I'm really grateful that each of them is still excited to get up at 7 to see what the Easter Bunny brought!  The older they get, the more I realize that this activity will become less and less.  And it makes my heart a little sad...

  

I didn't take too many pictures, but we still had a good Easter.  I sure love these boys!

 We are very blessed to have the things that we do!  I'm also so thankful for Christ's resurrection and that because of Him, we will all be resurrected too.  

Happy Easter! :)