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.

I am thankful for muscles I didn't even know I had

 For Thanksgiving this year, we got together with Richard's side of the family and ate and played kick ball.  I had so much fun!  Why do I forget sometimes how much I LOVE playing kick ball?  It must be one of those things you forget with age.

 Well, I don't know if it is actually true, but in my mind, I am awesome at the game of kick ball.  However, today my competitiveness has left me with a few sore muscles, which makes me laugh, because every time I move and something hurts I smile and think all over again about how much I LOVE kick ball. :)  Richard, I am proud to report, has not lost any of his kick ball skills over the years and his performance as pitcher was truly amazing, making me proud to call him my husband.

Last, but not least, this picture was taken at Sarah's wedding and has nothing to do with Thanksgiving or kick ball, but it makes me laugh every time I look at it.  This is a picture of Paige and her cousin Annie giving us there best "come hither" looks.  Hysterical!  Oh yeah, since this is a Thanksgiving post it would be rude of me not to say that I am so thankful for my family, our health, our home, the blessing of living so close to a temple and...KICK BALL.

Sisters!

I just looked at a blog post today that contained a picture of 5 sisters and I thought, "hey, we have a  picture almost exactly like that."  Aren't these girls/women cute?  I know, I am the Mom so I am a little partial, but I LOVE these amazing girls and I am so blessed to be their Mom.  Even though I have siblings, I did arrive pretty late in the birth order and grew up mostly as an only child.  Heavenly Father definitely made up for that by sending me these amazing girls to love and have fun with.  Thank heaven for little girls...and big ones too!

If You Really Knew Me...

O.k., I haven't posted in awhile and I have really liked reading some of the blogs that I have read over the past few months entitled, If You Really Knew Me..." , so here is my attempt to fill you in on me.  I have broken more blenders in my life than I can count.  Why?  Because I use them too much.  To make healthy smoothies?  Of course not!  To make slushes for my family that are bad for us and full of sugar.  We thinly disguise them as healthy because we use fresh squeezed lemons and strawberries.  We live on these concoctions during the summer and they help to keep us cool.  

True story, if I really took every blender that I have ever broke back to the store to make good on the 1 year warranty that they promise, I would have only paid for 1 blender in my whole life.  

I enjoy doing ridiculous things like decorating our front door.

This is a picture from when I went to Mexico with Meagan 3 years ago.  Mexico was interesting to say the least and no one could have been more surprised than me when Matt was called to serve his mission in Mexico.

 I don't remember Mexico being as fun as Matt is making this picture out to be but I am glad he is finding joy in his journey.  I LOVE reading his e-mails each week!

 In the past year I have gone white water rafting and para sailing.  Both were very fun.

 I discovered one of my favorite places this year.  Rooster Cogburn's Ostrich Farm.  Pretty much the best time $10 can buy.

 I am not a huge fan of animals but some of my children are.  I will do crazy things, even allow a giraffe to lick me (yuck), if I am having fun with my kids.

Temple Tuesdays are always my favorite day of the week.  It is fun to see who will show up at our door each week to go to the temple with us.  

My children tell me that I have an unhealthy relationship with feta cheese.  This could be true.  I think a psychologist might call it a feta fetish. :)

 I love my family so much that I allowed this small beast to move into our home and live with us.  Her name is Dixie and she is fond of biting my toes to get my attention. Double yuck!  However, because Matt, as well as others in our home, love her so much I am ridiculously good to her.

 Family really is the absolute best!  I love this picture of our family, minus Matt, that was taken recently at Sarah's wedding.  I even have 2 adorable grandchildren now.  Who would have thought?

 I love Richard.  Especially when he acts silly, which is rare, but worth waiting for.  He would do anything for me and usually goes to extremes because I am not always easily impressed. :)

 Here he is with me in Colorado celebrating an unbelievable baseball catch from the stands!

 Had I known that having a son serve a mission would be such an incredible experience I would have maybe wished for more sons.  I do remember having my days with him and telling him that I hoped he got called to a place where when he got there they handed him a machete to cut through the brush and a flea collar.  Living in an apartment with no means to cook and eating a diet consisting mostly of corn flakes isn't the same as a machete and a flea collar, but close.  I couldn't be more proud of him.

 I like unusual things like pomegranates.  I grew up eating them in St. George, Utah, with the juice staining my hands and my clothes and running down my arms.  Delicious!

 I do NOT like roller coasters!

I'm so glad I married Richard.  What would I have done the last 26 years without him?