The Living Planet Aquarium Labor Day 2015

We decided to take a last minute trip to the Living Planet Aquarium in Draper on Labor Day.  Todd and I have always wanted to go there, but we never have.  It's not very cheap, that's for sure.  But we had a good time walking around and seeing all the different animal displays.

 

Toucan...

 

 

 

Turtles

 



 

They had this rope/bridge thing that you could go across.  It was high up.  I decided to just go to the other side and take pictures...pretty smart, wouldn't you say? :)

 



Funny kids!

 



 

Here is a blue frog.  I'm not sure why I felt compelled to take a picture of this little guy, but since I did, I couldn't leave him out...

 



 

 

I believe this is a picture of a crocodile (or alligator).  Can you see his eyes sticking out just above the surface of the water?  Creepy!

 



 

 

More turtles...

 



Turtle...and me and Jacob.  (I must secretly like turtles.)  :)

 



 

 

I have no idea what kind of birds these are, but they were sleeping (well, trying to) and they were so cute standing on one leg. Does anyone know why they do that?  I would definitely fall over...

 



 

 

This is a dolphin.  They were so cute.  We loved watching them swim and "waddle" around on land.

 



 

 

The shark tank was at the end.  I love these next two pictures of the kids, as they are taking pictures themselves.  Kind-of cool.  :)

 



 

 

And here is everyone!  We definitely missed Brandon!

 



 

Having a rest before we went home. 

 



 

 

Sharks...

 



 

...and more sharks.

 



 

We had a good time at the aquarium.  I'm glad we went.  Happy Labor Day! :)

 



Happy 16th Birthday to Dallin!

Dallin turned 16!  (Oh my gosh, what is happening?)

 

Dallin wanted pizza for dinner, so that's what he got. :)  Grandpa Jones came over during dinner and that was awesome.

 

 

The birthday boy and his amazing cake!  I mean, really, how much more spectacular could that cake be?  (Well, there could be decorations, candles, and bday greetings, but besides all of that...)

 



Smile for the camera, Dallin. :)

 



 

Yea, boy!  What's better than kit kats and a rapid ramen cooker?  HA!

 



And chocolate milk....let's not forget that.

 



His real present, however, was a phone!  That was Todd's idea (mostly).  I just went along with it.  :)

 

Dallin loves having a phone! 

 I think this is the most I've seen him smile in a very long time. :)

 



 

Me and Dallin

 



 

Dallin and Grandpa Jones

 



 

Grandma Johnson and Dallin

 



 

 

Grandpa Johnson and Dallin

 



Happy Birthday son!  We love you!  And we are so grateful that you are a part of our family!

Jones Backpacking Trip August 2015

The weekend before school started, Todd took all of our boys (except Brandon, of course) on a backpacking trip.  They had a lot of fun.  They went to Twin Lakes in the Uintahs.  That is where Todd has been going for years, even when he was a kid.  I've never been there, but apparently it's pretty awesome! :)

 

Here is some of the camping gear...they're getting ready to load up!

Oh, I just love this picture.  All my cute boys! 

 

Jacob is prepared with his walking stick!

 



 

And here are some pictures of them at their camp.  Matt and Rob joined them the first night, but then they went home the next afternoon.  They all had a great time!

 

Matt, Eric, Jacob, Kyle, and Dallin  (I love the toilet paper in the picture right by Eric's foot...that's funny!  Don't leave home without it!)  HA!

 



Dallin, Eric, Jacob, Kyle, Matt, and Rob

 



 

It really does look pretty there.  Cool!

 



 

 

One of the new activities they have started doing the last few years is stacking rocks.  There are tons of rocks around the area where they camp and they try to stack as many as they can without them falling over.  The crazy thing is that they are all different shapes and sizes.  It's really all about balancing them.  Physics at work... :)

 



 

Todd loves doing this activity and it seems that he's pretty good at it too.  Pretty awesome. 

Good job honey!

 



They all had a great time and they all survived.  Whew!  And what did I do, you ask?  Well, let's just say that I had a whole 48 HOURS to myself and it was over way too quickly!  :) HA!

 

BUT, I was glad when they came home.  Life is meant to be shared with families! (Of course, breaks from families are good too...just sayin'!)

 



First day of school August 19, 2015

 

Jacob is in 6th grade this year!  I can't even talk about how my baby is 11 years old!!! (So, don't bring it up.)  This is Jacob's last year at Arcadia Elementary.  That seems absolutely crazy to me!  No more Arcadia?  WEIRD! 

 

Oh....and I didn't even walk Jacob into the school this year.  He just wanted to say goodbye outside.  I tried not to cry as I walked towards the car to go home...sniff, sniff

 



Dallin is beginning high school!  I can't believe that either!  What is happening?  Dallin is in the jazz band this year.  (Remember all the early morning rehearsals with Brandon?)  Yep, he has to be to school at 6:15 in the mornings (Tues, Wed, Thurs).  UGH!  But he's excited.  He's got some hard classes this year, but he's ready to take them on.  

 

And Kyle is starting 8th grade!  I swear my kids are growing up behind my back...except right in front of my face!  How dare they do that?  :)

 

Kyle is in Chinese again this year.  He really liked it last year.  I guess we'll see how it goes.  Kyle does not play an instrument, or sing, so we won't have any concerts for him.  As busy as it always gets, it's a little bit of  a bummer.  But, I'm certain Kyle will find his "passion" sooner or later.

 



 

Here's to another school year!  Oh gosh...I'm really not ready for this!

 



Happy 24th of July 2015

We didn't light any fireworks on the 4th of July this year...and now I can't remember why.  So we decided we had better do some on the 24th.  We got together with Brad and Michelle (and their family) and Grandma Johnson.  We even waited until it was almost dark!  :)  (That's funny!)

I love this picture of Josiah, even though you can't see his face.  What would it be like to be a kid again and just casually sit on the grass and not have a worry in the world?  It's too bad that we're too young at the time to really enjoy it.

Woo Hoo!  Pretty cool fireworks, eh?  :)  (You can always count on the Jones family to have some wild parties!)  HA!

Grandma and Eric

I'm sure they were watching the fireworks too...

This is a firework I had never seen before.  It says "Doggie Doo Doo" on the package.  When you light it, it looks like "doo doo" is coming out the back end.  Picture the black snakes that you did when you were a kid.  Gross, huh?  But you can tell that Joshie loved it and couldn't wait to show it off.  :)  What a cutie!

Moriah came dressed in parts of 3 different costumes for the fireworks.  It was so cute.  Michelle said she couldn't make up her mind of what she wanted to wear...so this is a combination between Buzz Lightyear, a dancer (with a tutu) and a super hero mask. (I can't remember what the mask was...bummer.   But she is such a doll!

This is just a random picture that Kyle took of me.  I thought it turned out pretty good.  :)

Brad and Michelle

Grandma and Eric

We had a great time together!  We did have one mishap though.  One of the fireworks shot sideways towards the porch.  It was really crazy.  It was lit in the road, just like all the others, but instead of going straight up, it flew sideways, which is where most everyone was sitting.  It shot into our rose bush, then bounced off some of the brick on our house.  It even scorched a few places on our house and a couple of  burns were on one of our chair pads too.  It was REALLY loud.  I pretty much missed the whole thing.  I had just walked into the house when I heard a HUGE explosion.  I remember thinking, "Wow!  That was a loud one."  But apparently that's what happened...a firework went haywire!  Anyway, Todd told me it was probably a good thing that I wasn't out there, because I probably would have freaked out.  Me?  Really?  Ummm, yes!  

Anyway, after that happened we were done.  Luckily we had already lit off most of the fireworks.  Other than that, we had a great time! Happy 24th of July!  :)