Quarterly Catch Up

 On General Conference Sunday in October, Meg gave birth to her 2nd child, Teanne.  Paige and Kaylee and I (and my sister-in-law, Debbie) drove up to Provo to see Meagan and Hyrum's family.  While we were there we went to Provo Canyon and had a fun cook out.

 Provo Canyon was absolutely beautiful!  The weather was nice and we had lots of fun.

 Here is one of the last pictures of Kaylee as an 11 year old.

 Here is Auntie Paige holding/squishing her new niece, Teanne.

Then we hurried home to help with the final preparations for the marriage of these two goofballs, Sarah and Shawn Garrison, who were married October 20, 2012, not quite 2 weeks after Teanne was born.

 Meg and Hyrum then drove to Arizona for the wedding.  Teanne was already growing up and turning into a big girl.  Isn't she cute?

 We even had time for a quick trip to Tucson to see all of the animals at the zoo.

 Hyrum and Brigham had lots of fun looking at the animals.  The weather was really nice while they were here so we even got to BBQ and try out our neighbor's hot tub.

 In November we had a family reunion.  Here are some of the Jones cousins playing a minute to win it game where they had to move an Oreo from their forehead into their mouth.

Of course, Devin Fletcher won the contest.  Was there ever any doubt?

 Here are Chad and Allie at the reunion.  Can you believe that they have almost been married a year?

 Here are the newlyweds, Shawn and Sarah.

 Here is Emily with Julia and Brennan Crist who were visiting from Idaho.

 Here is Laura and Gabe Fletcher.  We miss you guys and hope you have fun in Texas!

 Kaylee and Sarah.  What cute sisters.

 Our cousin, Kurtis, and his brothers, entertained us by wearing their kilts and showing us how they compete in the Highland Games.

 Here is my mother, Mae.  She enjoyed the reunion and loved talking to some of her nieces and nephews.  This reunion was to honor her side of the family, the Blacks.

 Here is my sister, Sharon, and her grandson, Tate.

 Paige with her newest brother-in-law, Shawn.

 What a cute bunch!  We were all wearing red to signify that we come from my mom, Mae's line.

There were so many of us that some of us got cut out of the picture.  Can you believe that all of these people came from Mae and this doesn't even come close to representing all of us.

 In late November Kaylee turned 12!  She had a party with her friends and got her ears pierced.  Best of all, she is old enough to go to mutual and girl's camp and she gets to go to the temple with us every week and do baptisms.

 Look at all of the snacks she had at her party.

 Richard had a birthday in October.  Here he is in his "man cave" enjoying a book with his "girlie" dog, Dixie.

 I bought this candy machine for Richard's birthday to assure that he will not be the "scary, out of town Grandpa" when the grandchildren come to visit.

 In December, my mom hosted her annual Christmas party.  We had a white elephant gift exchange this year.

Santa even made an appearance.

 I snuck away the 2nd week in January and flew to Utah to help Meg celebrate her 25th birthday.  Meg is 25 and has a 20 month old and a 3 month old.  It is pretty hard to create any more fun than she is already enjoying on a daily basis.  Her children are so fun!

 Teanne is getting big and changing her look all of the time.  She is such a happy baby.

 Here is Brigham.  He was a little skeptical of this lady named Grandma who came to visit.  He decided he liked me because I had snacks in my bag.  Brigham loves nuts!

 My arms were not long enough to get any really good pictures of the 3 of us, but it didn't stop us from trying.

 This is what Brigham does every time he is asked to smile for a picture.  It is as if he can hardly stand it, but he sure does like looking at the picture after you snap the shot.

Like I said, this little girl is one of the easiest babies I have ever watched.  She is very calm and smiles the most beautiful smiles.  She even put up with me for a whole day and took a bottle while her parents went skiing.

Here is Hyrum and Meg on Meg's birthday, suited up and ready for a day on the slopes.  It was Meg's first time to try skiing, so it was mostly her buns on the slopes but they had a good time.  I had lots of fun visiting and hope to get back to Provo a few more times before this year is over.

Zumba...I'm Not Worthy

 My daughter Allie is always telling me how awesome Zumba is, so today I snuck away to the Red Mountain Generational Center in the middle of the day to try a class.  First of all, let me just say that I am not a coordinated person at all.  Sure, I played sports in high school and college and I still enjoy sports, but dancing is a whole other thing.  I am not a good dancer.  Wait, that is being too kind.  I stink at dancing!  I entered the class feeling pretty good about myself because I was the youngest one there by about 10 years.  I actually thought, "this is the class for me, I can keep up with these retired snowbirds."  And I could keep up with them, I just stink at dancing.

 By the end of the class I felt like this lady looks, old and ridiculous, if not incredibly limber.

 How do those women do it?  I had no idea what the instructor was saying for most of the hour.  She kept saying something about a combo and all that made me do was think about ordering food at a restaurant.  The music has a fast tempo, but I felt like someone was yelling at me in Spanish for an hour.  Now I know how Matt must have felt when he first got to Mexico.  The whole experience only cost me $2, an  hour of my time and my pride.

Let me just end by saying that I have a whole new respect for anyone who has ever been a dancer or a cheerleader because it isn't easy and I now realize that they work way harder than us "jocks" ever did.  So next time you are at a sporting event and it is half-time, give the dancers the respect they deserve.