We used to do bucket lists for the summer to make a fun list of things we wanted to make sure we got in during our summer break. It was fun until it switched to something that became a job. I use lists to get things done and if something on our bucket list wasn’t going to get done it stressed me out. I felt like I was leaving something unfinished. So we got rid of the list. We still do fun stuff of course but we plan it a little more week by week so it doesn’t get overwhelming. I did like having something kind of focusing the summer like the list did, so instead of the list I decided to have a theme. Last years theme was ‘Work Hard, Play Hard’. The kids grumbled during examples of “work hard” and of course were more than happy to participate in “play hard”. Overall I felt like it was a fun idea and a year later when I told them I was going to pick another summer theme for this summer they remembered what the theme was from the year before and rolled their eyes at me. I took that as a sign that it was successful. That sign further motivated me to come up with a 2019 Summer theme. The one I decided to go with was “Try, Try, Try”. I liked this because I can apply it to almost any situation I need. Try harder, try again, try more, try less (usually applied to arguing or other unpleasant behaviors), try once, try something new, and so forth. We are nearing the end of the summer and I think it is sinking in pretty good. They may not always actually try whatever it is we say to try but, they are getting the words burned into their brain so they at least think it more often.
Emilee’s biggest ‘Try Challenge’ has been eating a full balanced meal AND broadening her ideas of edible food. She is such a picky eater. I can figure out no definite rhyme or reason for her pickiness either. Sometimes its texture, sometimes taste, color, firmness, mooshiness, it is really quite ridiculous. She is working on trying new foods.
My biggest ‘Try Challenge’ I have been working on this summer is interacting with my children (and everyone but it is hardest with my children) in a more positive way. I felt like I was falling into grumpy, less patient and intolerant ways of communicating or interacting with my kids. So I have been trying to change some of those bad habits and be more pleasant with my kids. Specifically when I am mad or irritated with them. I think I have made some positive strides, I still have my not as good days but they are becoming out weighed by the good ones instead of vice-versa.
Allison has been trying to see things differently and take offense less. The tricky part is to not let her know that she is doing it. She is willing to apply the theme to trying a new food or something simple (for her) on occasion or teasing her siblings about trying something but actually setting a goal for her to work on she was not having any of it. So to help her with those try’s I have had to try harder (applies to me too) to present things to her in a more positive or appealing way when I interact with her. To sum up hours and hours of therapy and thousands of dollars-it is all in the presentation with Allison.
Matthew’s biggest ‘Try Challenge” has focused on baseball. He has set fitness goals and been trying to stick to them each day.
It has been a good summer. It wasn’t perfect but I think overall everyone got along better and was kinder to each other. I think everyone had fun trying new things, or trying old things again.
The day after we got home from Colorado we started the unpacking of all the suitcases. Around lunch time we decided to go out to lunch together since we hadn’t gone to the grocery store yet, and I hate to cook.
The stars aligned and all the moons were in the right place and whatever else needs to happen for a miracle so everyone was happy, speaking cheerfully, and using good manners. As we were eating a lady sitting next to us turned and pointing at Matthew and Allison said, “Your kids are so cute, are these two twins?”
I have never been asked this before so I was a little caught off guard but I was swooning in the compliment about my kids because usually one is crying, one is whining, and one is asking if we can go yet over and over. Allison didn’t hesitate a second and like she had answered the question a million times and said, “Not identical, I am awesome he his not.”
Matthew’s face after receiving a completely unexpected and completely amazing ‘burn’ from his sister was just as funny as Allison’s comment. He had a flabbergasted look on his face and said, “I’m awesome too.” The lady laughed and moved on, I don’t know if she realized they weren’t twins or not.
It was pretty funny. It was one of those moments that I still think about every now and then and get a good chuckle. Hehe, Allison and her spunky wittiness.
Yes, the above picture is on our date night. After taking me to a yummy dinner to finish our date we washed his car, then I was asked to step out so he could vacuum and wipe down the inside of the car. Then told I could carefully re-enter the car. I was allowed to wear my shoes but told the option of not wearing them was preferred.
My punkin is very good at taking me out on dates when I ask, or asking me himself. This post is just to give him a hard time because I tell him his new car is his first love lately. I like to tease him when I find him sitting out in it, just hanging out, enjoying his new car. I don’t know if I mentioned that her official name is Stela (Tesla=Stela). You can type the name in the computer so when you say certain commands you can call it by name. There is also a Tesla wave you do to other Tesla’s when you pass them on the road. I have been chastised for not doing the wave when I was driving. Apparently a Tesla passed us and the driver waved and I snubbed them. I assured Ryan it wasn’t intentional. It was because I don’t care what other cars are on the road when I am driving as long as they aren’t crashing into me. I have also been reprimanded for eating a chocolate protein bar in his car. To be fair to Ryan, I did have a crumb fall and melt on the white seat. To be fair to me though I inadvertently cleaned most of it up with my own jeans and I am adult and can eat in my husbands car.
Sarcasm aside, I am glad he is enjoying his new car. He has worked hard the last few years to earn it. I am glad it brings him joy. I get it. I’m still going to occasionally give him a hard time about it though.
As far as being asked to step out of the car so he could clean it on our date, I was perfectly content playing my spider solitaire game while he did it, and taking this picture to write this post to tease him about it.
Several months ago…way back in March. Allison got the idea in her head that she wanted a hamster. I quickly told her no thanks and dismissed it. Allison would not be deterred. She promised to take care of it, do all the work, blah, blah, blah. She said all the things that kids need to say to get a pet. I was not convinced. I pointed out all the negatives of having a pet. She was not convinced.
She even convinced me to go to the pet store with her to ‘just look’. You might think, “big mistake” but that is how my siblings and I got our dog. We just went to ‘visit’ the pound and came home with a dog because my mom couldn’t handle seeing all the sad dogs. I knew what she was planning. After driving me crazy asking to go to the pet store I told her I would take her but we were NOT coming home with any pet. It actually worked out in my favor. Kind of. I saw the hamsters and was immediately grossed out. They are basically a mouse without a tail. No. I hate mice. Allison asked the employee if she could hold it. She told her that hamsters don’t really like to be held and they tend to bite a lot. Allison seemed a little put off by that and as I was getting ready to suggest we head home the helpful employee continued on to suggest that Allison hold a guinea pig instead. Guinea pigs like to be snuggled and they aren’t as fragile so it is easier to hold them. She hands Allison a bushy guinea pig. That’s all the convincing Allison needs to decide she would rather have a guinea pig.
The next few days she peppered us with reasons why she wanted a guinea pig and I responded with reasons why I didn’t want one. Allison is a very determined little girl if you haven’t figured that out already. She would not let it go. Somewhere along the way I said that I would not spend my money on buying a guinea pig. She said she would earn enough money to get it herself. I told her she had to save enough money to get the guinea pig, a cage, and all the things it would need and THEN I would THINK about it. Of course I thought that would deter her when she realized how much money it was or she would get distracted with other things along the way that she wanted instead. Allison went to the computer and googled everything a guinea pig needed, then price checked and shopped for it all online so she new how much she needed. At first she decided she needed $65 for the cage and guinea pig. Then she decided she wanted to get the food, bedding, and a toy and some other things so her grand total came to $120.
For the next five months Allison went to work thinking of anyway she could to earn money. She sold all her slime to friends at school, she offered to walk peoples dogs, she did extra chores for me, her aunts, her uncles and anyone that had something for her to do. She had her own table at the neighborhood garage sale. She did bake sales and lemonade stands. She saved every penny she earned or was gifted (both grandmas contributed to her cause). She would not be redirected either. She didn’t spend any money on treats, or anything else. She bought one shirt for herself that she really wanted, that was it. There wasn’t anything else she spent her money on. I was very good at giving her options of things that I thought she would like too. Especially the closer she got to her $120 goal. I did my best to get her to change her mind and focus on something else with her money besides a guinea pig. She would not be deterred.
A few days after her birthday when she added in the last of the birthday money she had gotten and a few more dollars for extra chores, she triumphantly came into my room and excitedly told me that she had finally reached her goal, she had $120.80. She was ready to go to the pet store. I tried, with no luck to change her mind one last time. I talked with Ryan and he said that he thought with the dedication, determination, work and effort she had put into earning the money we should let her get her guinea pig. Grrrr! Curse Ryan and his logical, lesson teaching parenting. As much as I wanted to disagree though I couldn’t.
On August 2nd Allison, Leah, Emilee and I headed to Petsmart. They were out of guinea pigs and said it would be a few weeks before they got more. Once again, Allison was not going to give up that easy. She quickly suggested trying Petco. When we got there, she asked if she could hold a guinea pig. The person helping us said she could. The three they had at the store were pretty jumpy and not on their best behavior. I thought things were playing out rather nicely. Maybe she would decide to be satisfied with the stuffed guinea pig toy I got her in Colorado. Then the employee proceeds to tell Allison that a family that has been a customer for years had just (like thirty minutes before we got there) brought their guinea pig back to be rehomed because they had gotten a cat and the two weren’t getting along. He took her over to show him to us. I still had hope because Allison said she wanted a girl and this one was a boy. He also had long hair and all the ones she had wanted were short haired. He picked him up and handed him to Allison. This little guy was much calmer and was used to being held. He snuggled in and started purring. Allison asked how much he was, the guy told her he would give her a good deal-$5!! Allison kept her game face on and said, $5 for the pig and the cage? He agreed and Allison was sold. I tried not to be annoyed, we were getting a guinea pig. Because of her stellar $5 deal she had plenty of money left to buy food, bedding, grooming stuff, and even a toy with money to spare. We brought him home, cleaned his cage really well, gave him a bath, brushed him and introduced him to his new home. I ordered sanitizers, deodorizers, gloves, and anything else that made me feel less gross about having a rodent living in my house. The store said his name was Brownie but Allison renamed him Peanut and later decided that was short for Peanut Butter at a suggestion from her Grandpa Jones.
We have now had him for a few days and I will admit so far it is not so bad. I think it is nice that he can be left in his cage and I really don’t ever have to take care of him. We are still setting up ground rules about where he is and isn’t allowed to be, washing hands after touching him, his cleaning requirements and such. He does seem to be a sweet little guy though, and of course the kids love him to death already. They spent today making him a ‘play area’ out of boxes, and anything they could find they thought he would like. Hopefully my biggest issue with him will be what to do with him when we go places, which already was and is one of my biggest arguments against having any pet.
Aside from the obnoxious consequence of now having a guinea pig, I am very proud of Allison. She showed a lot of initiative and determination and self control to earn him on her own. She made a plan, stuck to it, and reached her goal. Not many 8 year olds would be able to stay focused and stick with their goal for 5 months. Ryan and I have both told her she showed and worked on developing many good qualities that will be good to have in her life with this experience. We are very proud of her. We also reminded her she gets to continue developing those qualities for the next 7-8 years of her guinea pigs life by taking care of all of his needs. She can do it.
My cute niece is getting baptized this month. She is a sweet little girl. Her and Allison became pretty good buddies this summer. I’m glad they got to spend a little extra time together, I think she was a good influence for Allison.
Our little Allison is getting less and less little everyday. We celebrated her 9th birthday this week.
For her birthday she wanted to have a sleepover with her cousin Leah and then go to the World’s of Fun and Ocean’s of Fun Amusement Park. We went for the first time last summer, she loved it so much she wanted to do it for her birthday.
She had her sleep over with Leah the night before her birthday. The morning of her birthday we picked up birthday donuts on the way to pick up Aunt Lauren and the rest of her cousins. When everyone was aboard we were off. We started in the World’s of Fun area. We rode the roller coasters, water rides, and as many of the other fun rides as they wanted before we were ready for lunch. Once we finished lunch we spent the rest of the day at Ocean’s of Fun. There was water slides, obstacle courses, and a wave pool that kept them happy and loving life for hours. Everyone played and swam until we were exhausted. On the way home we stopped at 5 Guys for a yummy dinner and then by the time we got home everyone was ready to go to bed.
For her present this year she wanted a new bed. She asked for a loft bed with a desk under it. While she was gone on her trip with Grandma and Grandpa Jones we got her bed and set it up for her. We got a few other things for her room so she had a fun knew room when she got home. She was pretty happy with the final product.
Leah spent the night again later that week. In the morning they woke up early and made menus, and a breakfast for everyone. When we came downstairs they handed us a menu to order our breakfast from then served us. It was pretty cute. They did a good job. She had a fun birthday. We did lots of fun things throughout the week to have a fun week in general.
I’m glad to have my girl back with us. We missed her and her spunky self.
9th Birthday
Allison likes to leave her Froggy in silly places. She made him a little Kleenex thrown.
These are pictures that the rafting company took for us while we were on our trip. We didn’t see all the animals pictured, I wish we had, but they were included in our picture package so I stuck them in here.
Since Ryan and I got married we have been switching off Christmas’s between our families each year. When we all started having our own kids some of us wanted and/or thought it was easier to stay home for Christmas so a few years back my family decided to start having a biannual family reunion in the summer as our ‘Christmas’ get together. It is a little easier to travel in the summer, a less crazy time of year, and we all seem to be more summer activity people than winter. It has worked out pretty well I think. We get a VRBO cabin or home that is big enough for all of us and we all stay and play in it for the week. We have picked different locations each time too which is also very fun to travel and see new places.
The first year we did Castle Rock Colorado. It was a fun place. Tyler kept telling us there was a monster in his room one night and we kept telling him to go to bed, there was no monster. Then we found out there was a bat flying around in his room…basically a monster to a little kid. We then spent over an hour trying to eradicate the bat. I went on a hike with the Caziers and my kids and we almost got washed off the mountain in a flash rain storm. We also rode horses and did some target shooting.
Two years later we went to Orlando Florida. The house we stayed at had its own pool and a huge community pool with a lazy river. Matthew swam for seven hours one day and ended up getting swimmers ear. He said it was totally worth it though. We also went to Disney World, Sea World, and spent a day at the beach along with all the swimming.
The third reunion we picked Gatlinburg Tennessee. It was a unique place. The house we stayed at was not as big as advertised so we were a little cramped. We also ended up with about 50% of us getting a stomach bug so there was way to much throwing up going on. Emilee even dumped her puke bucket full of puke all over the van, that was fun to drive home in. We still squeezed in some fun though. We did a lot of sight seeing in Gatlinburg. We went on a helicopter ride. All of us played at the rec swimming pool, and some played racquetball. Some of us went to the Dolly Parton Country Stampede dinner show. The dinner of soup potatoes, a whole chicken, corn, and dessert was all served with no silverware. The kids thought it was great to eat everything with their hands. We also did hiking, zip lining, and white water rafting. Lots of fun new activities.
This year we ended up back in Colorado. This time we went a little more north to Oak Creek. It is pretty close to Steamboat Springs Colorado. The name of the cabin we stayed at was Maverick Hollow.
After last time we made sure we had a home with enough rooms and bathrooms for each family to have their own private area. We left Sunday morning from DeAnna’s house after my Grandpa’s birthday party the day before. The cabin was pretty remote. There were other cabins around but I didn’t really see anyone else while we were there. You couldn’t see any other homes from our cabin. We all arrived and got settled on Sunday by about six. We made a big breakfast dinner (kind of a tradition) to eat together that night. Pancakes, hash browns, eggs, and bacon. The cabin was 5900 square feet so there was lots of room. There was a big loft too that most of the older kids slept in each night. We finished the night off with a fire and smores.
Most of the days we started with a walk/hike around the cabin with anyone that wanted to go and explore a little. We did that on Monday. There were lots of beautiful wild flowers. We saw bear tracks, deer tracks, lots of chipmunks and ground hogs. We only got lost the first day too. After our hike and breakfast we played some games then everyone got ready to go to the Stagecoach Reservoir, about a 15 minute drive away. Matthew explained to me that he was excited to go to the reservoir and swim because usually they are man made so there is not any fish to worry about touching when you are swimming. I smiled and let him swim without fear of a slimy fish touching him. He also didn’t notice the “fishing areas” and “fishing license sold here” signs on the way to the swim area. We rented a paddle board, and the Caziers rented a canoe so we played on those and swam the afternoon away. After we got home, showered, and ate dinner, we had a Family Home Evening together. It is another tradition we have done each time. Grandma and Grandpa taught us a lesson about recognizing miracles in our lives and ways that Heavenly Father helps us daily. When the kids were put to bed that night the adults did a white elephant party. This is another tradition we do each time we get together. There is a nice blend of ridiculous, silly, and semi-usefulness with the gifts. Ryan and I found our gifts at the Limon Colorado gas station gift store. It was a gold mine.
Food shopping for the cabin
Waking up from a nap on the way to the cabin.
Coming into the Oak Creek area.
Smores time!
Flowers on our walk
FHE Minute to Win it Game
View from our room.
Hiking.
I used Matthew’s shirt as a hat…looks ridiculous but was effective.
Hannah and Allison on the paddle board.
Dad got a surprise re-gift from the previous year.Mom got a love your selfie cat mug.
DeAnna got her big glasses and fancy suspenders. John got chocolate bacon and a cow pie frisbee.
Matthew got popcorn and spam, Ryan got ugly teeth and funny glasses. I got a cherry pitter and a decorative basket.
Kenny got a cat puzzle and twix, Sherri got a children’s book and toy.
Tuesday we went to Steamboat and tried out one of the Alpine slides. Everyone went down except my parents, my mom had fallen down the stairs the night before and hurt her knee. The first time I went down with Tyler. He was a little nervous at first but had a fun time once we got going. The second time I went down on my own and raced Matthew. We switched back and forth going down but he ended up winning by a smidge (a small smidge) at the end. After the slide we all ate lunch together at Qdoba. We ate at a Qdoba several times as we were traveling. It is now one of my favorite restaurants. Another great place we tried was Which Wich. One of the best sandwiches I have ever had. We wandered around Steamboat a little after lunch. We found a fun little stream to play in a little and cool our feet off. It was freezing cold but it felt wonderful. That night after dinner we all played games and hung out together. Ryan and John played a few of their more involved several hours long games. The rest of us played Bananas, Cobra Paw, Avalon, Bonanza, and a few other quicker games. We had smores again that night. My dad also heard something early that morning and when he looked out the window saw 5-6 deer just outside our cabin. He found a salt lick that someone had set out for them so every morning and evening the deer would come to get the salt lick. It was pretty awesome. We saw a lot of deer while we were there on walks, drives, and at our cabin. They were almost easy to find.
Playing Bananas.
Deer coming for the salt lick
Emi watching the deer.
Sherri and I eating our smores and ignoring the deer.
Matthew didn’t care about being wet in his clothes, the water felt to good.
Cooling off in the stream.
Driving back from one of the fun filled days in Colorado.
Wednesday the Caziers minus Hannah and Tyler, and my parents went on a hike. The rest of us went to Kremmling to go white water rafting. My mom was going to come with us but her knee was still hurting so she thought a hike would be better then bouncing around in a raft. It was about an hour and 10 minute drive. The first half was a dirt road with gorgeous views and steep drop offs. Two huge elk jumped across the road in front of Kenny and went straight down the almost sheer cliff on the other side. It was pretty cool to watch them. Once we got to Kremmling I went to check us in and found out we were not rafting that day. We were rafting the next day. Grrrr! It was pretty annoying. We decided to go back to Steamboat and go tubing down the river there. It was more driving but we were able to make it before they closed for the day. Kenny and Aubry didn’t go because they said Aubry was to little. We should have just brought her anyways though, it was not that bad. It was a lot faster than any other tubing adventure I had gone on. Tyler got stuck in a ‘washing machine’ which terrified him while he was in it but when Ryan bumped him out he thought it was pretty awesome. We did a little souvenir shopping after that. Matthew got giant bear paw slippers. Emilee got a backpack with a little peak hole for a fox, deer, bear, and moose to poke their heads out. Allison got a stuffed animal- a guinea pig, now named Snuggles. Ryan and I each got a t-shirt. That night we played more games and hung out at the cabin when everyone got home from their hike or long round about drive to go tubing instead of rafting.
Thursday the Caziers and my parents decided that they were going to the Hot Springs Pool in Steamboat. Hannah wanted to do that instead of try rafting again with us so she went with them. They had a great time. They had several different pools to swim in that ranged from a warm pool, to bath water, to nice and toasty. The Cazier’s are pretty thin people so I think the warm water helped them maintain their body heat better than a regular pool so they loved it and swam all day. There was also some fun slides. My dad had a fun time but prefers regular cold pool water to swim in instead of a hot springs. Our cabin was on a vault system so we had to be careful with our water usage so they all took advantage of a nice long shower at the pools too.
Allison woke up with a stomach bug early that morning so Ryan and her stayed home from rafting and the rest of us headed to Kremmling again. Since our numbers dropped from 10 to 7 we decided to switch cars around a bit so we could take one instead of two. My parents took Kenny’s car and we took their van. The weather was a little over cast that day so it was a little chilly but we still had a great time. We went down a stretch of the Colorado River with class II-III rapids. Our guide brought along a five gallon bucket and several water guns. He was very good at instigating water fights with other rafts and guides and getting us wet. Everyone had fun going down the rapids. After the first one Aubry decided to put her head down on the raft while we went through the rapids. She preferred the smoother parts of the river. She also had no problem yelling, “Stop it! I do not like that!” when people splashed her. Overall I think she had fun. A little past half way through the trip they stopped at a place called Jump Rock. If you were over 90 pounds you could jump off the 25 foot cliff. If you were under 90 pounds you could jump off a shorter 10 foot cliff. Matthew and Emilee both gave the shorter one a try. They said it was the coldest water they had ever been in. I wish we hadn’t had to drive over an hour to get their twice to go rafting but we had a fun time.
Bus ride to or from the river.
Passing around water guns. Tyler loved squirting them.
Climbing around a little at Jump Rock.
Having fun together!
Our guides name was Christian. He fit the profile of a river guide perfectly.
Waiting to get in our raft.
Emilee on ‘Little Jump Rock’
Matthew on ‘Little Jump Rock’
Emilee being the hood ornament for our raft.
Aubry taking her position after seeing the next rapid coming.
Heading over to jump.
On the drive home most of us dozed off while Kenny drove. About two minutes before we got home to our cabin a car passed us and stirred up some dust, as Kenny was driving through the dust a deer ran in front of him. He slammed on the brakes which locked them up and we started to slide/fishtail on the dirt road towards the edge. Sherri and I woke up when he hit the brakes in time to see the van heading off the road straight for a tree. Kenny turned the wheel and hit the gas to pull us out of the ditch before we slid completely off the road and to avoid hitting the tree straight on. The van turned enough that instead of hitting the tree it side swiped us and ripped off the side mirror and crunched the side of the car and shattered the back window that Matthew was sleeping on. This all happened in about three seconds. My first thought when I saw we were sliding was a prayer that we were not heading over a sheer cliff like most of the ride home was and if we were the trees would be strong enough to hold us. Once we settled and I realized we were still on the road and not seriously hurt we took stock of everyone. Sherri and I were fine, Kenny was shaken up a bit and in shock. Aubry was crying but not hurt. Matthew, Emilee and Tyler were all sitting in the back seat were the window had shattered so they had glass all over them. Tyler bit his lip and it was bleeding. Emilee was not hurt. Matthew was next to the window and probably hit his head on it. He had glass all over him head to toe. Luckily his eyes were closed (one of the first things he said was, “I think Heavenly Father made me fall asleep so my eyes didn’t get hurt.”) so none of the glass got in his eyes, he had a couple cuts on his forehead and elbow. The car still worked fine so once Kenny settled a little he drove the last two minutes to the cabin. When we got there Tyler and Aubry hopped out like nothing had happened. Emilee had to go shower to rinse all the glass off her. Matthew started to go into shock a little bit. He started to shake and cry. We helped him out and got him showered and fixed up and then he was already saying he had a cool story to tell his friends. It put a damper on our evening for sure. Kenny felt awful for the accident and the headache my parents now had to deal with since it was their rental car. We were all glad that everyone was safe and no one was hurt except the car. Being in an accident is scary, and if you are the driver it makes you feel even worse because you are responsible for everyone in the car. I told Kenny I was glad he was driving though because he stayed calm and new what to do to keep everyone as safe as possible. The van could have gone completely off the road, it could have rolled, it could have been a lot worse. We all said a prayer of thanks for our safety and I am sure there were many individual prayers said as well. My parents took the news pretty well. They were glad everyone was safe first off. My dad seemed to handle it well and said it would all work out when he saw the van. My mom looked like she switched from wanting to throw up, to wanting to cry several times before she processed it all.
After everyone was home and we settled down from the accident and had dinner and visited about the positive parts of our day, we decided to have one more fire and smores night. We took some group pictures too. We should have taken them the first day when we were clean and fresh but we went for a more natural, week in the woods look.
You can never have to many smores!
Me and My Punkin!
10 of 13 Grandkids.
After a week in the woods we still look good!
View from our other bedroom window.
These two always find a place to play catch.
The Jones Clan, minus John, Rachel, Kylie, and Aiden.
Friday was checkout day. My parents left first to get to the Denver airport early to turn in their now smashed passenger side van. Kenny and Sherri left next. Sherri and Aubry were flying on the same flight as my parents back to Florida. They got home about 11pm Friday. Kenny ended up driving their rental back because there was a mix up with the one way rental and they were going to charge them a ridiculous amount of money. He is extremely adverse to flying and usually finds one reason/excuse or another to not have to fly. Intentionally or not instead of flying, he drove from Colorado to Florida with only a brief stop to sleep for a few hours at our house. He got home at 4am Sunday morning. The Cazier’s left the same time we did. They got home about 7pm that night to Utah. We didn’t get home until almost 2 in the morning. Stopping to charge the Tesla adds a few hours. Allison was still sick on our way home so she was a trooper traveling 14 hours in a car with a stomach bug. Much to all of our delight after the first three hours she stopped throwing up and just wanted to sleep the rest of the time.
Emilee will create a little home for herself full of stuffed animals, anywhere she goes. 🙂
Just told them we still have three hours to go.
Just like that we all go from being together in a remote Colorado cabin to being back to our homes in Utah, Florida and Kansas in a few short hours. (A few more hours for Kenny but crossing more than half the United States in less than 2 days is pretty crazy) It was a very nice week. I am already looking forward to the next reunion in two years, wherever it ends up being. I am glad that my family enjoys being together and we make the effort to see each other when we can since we live no where near each other. Hopefully next time John and Rachel will be able to make it and we will have everyone together.
My Grandpa Jones turned 90 this month! That is pretty awesome. There was a weekend celebration held in his honor. Friday night was a dinner with his kids and their spouses. Saturday was a party in his back yard with games, water, cotton candy, and snow cones. One of the games they had set up was called Nine Square In The Air. It is a really fun game. It is perfect for a large group too. Nine people play at a time, it is fast paced so you don’t have to wait long, and we had people age 5 to 65 playing. Saturday night there was a dinner with everyone and then we took pictures. It was fun to see everyone and visit. Almost all of my Aunts, Uncles, and cousins were there. My brother John and his family and my Uncle Jareds three kids were the only people not there.
My Grandma and Grandpa Jones
Aubry isn’t quite ready for her picture.
That’s better!
Grandpa talking to us before we all ate dinner together.
Nine Square in the Air, and other fun activities.
Endless cotton candy and snow cones.
Emilee ran into a bear on our way to Utah.
They became friends though.
Doing a word search with dad on our way across the midwest.
We left our house Wednesday afternoon and arrived in Oakley Utah Friday night. We stayed at Sam and Tiana’s house. They were both in the same mission as Ryan. We try and stop and see them every couple years. They have a little boy named Charlie that Emilee quickly became buddies with. We visited and had pizza and the next morning they took us to ride horses before we left for DeAnna’s. We stopped at DeAnna’s for a few minutes before we all headed to the birthday party. We got to see Allison for the first time in three weeks! It was good to see her and everyone else. Afterwards DeAnna hosted all of us at her house for the evening and then we woke up and headed to Colorado for our bi-annual Jones get together.
Riding horses at Sam and Tiana’s house.
My Aunt Kristin took pictures of everyone that was there after the dinner. She has a photography business that she does called Any Angle Photography. She is pretty good!
My dad’s parents and all seven of their children.
Four generations of the Richard and Annie Jones Family
We had a really fun busy July this summer! We spent a lot of it traveling which is the best thing to do when you live in Kansas in July-visit somewhere else.
The few days we were here we filled with summer activities. Emilee’s friend Laney asked her to do the school basketball camp with her. This picture is right after we signed them in. From there, Laney went on to have a great time. Emilee was all down hill from there. She spent the first half huddled in the fetal position refusing to even look at anyone. Then she sat with her group. The last ten minutes she finally participated and had a good time but said she would not come back for the rest of the week. She stuck to her guns on the not coming back part and I decided I didn’t care. I think it was mostly because camp started at 8:15 and she was exhausted from being at Grandma Terry’s the whole week before. She has also decided that basketball is not her thing, at least for now. Ryan is highly concerned she is wasting her natural athleticism and height. I keep telling him she is only six and has plenty of time to decide to like playing sports.
Matthew had a bunch of his rained out baseball games to make up so we squeezed all those in July. Not the best time to play baseball but still had fun. This is a video I got of him getting jiggy to the music during warm ups.
We had another trip to Harvesters planned. Allison was going to go with a group of her friends but she was on her trip so Matthew invited some of his baseball buddies. Emilee requested to stay home with a babysitter. We repacked over 5000 pounds of sausage that was given by Pizza Hut.
After Harvester’s they all came back to our house and we had a sleepover. We were planning on going to the pool but the collection of four boys brains decided to put dish soap all over the trampoline and then add a sprinkler and bam! You have four boys thoroughly entertained for hours on end until I dragged them off to go to baseball practice.
The French’s stayed at our house for a day or so on their way to Utah. Emilee has always been enamored with her Uncle Kenny and usually has to be told to remember that he has a space bubble. She is often found lounging across his lap or wrapped around his neck. I took these pictures in a two minute time span shortly after they arrived. What a nice uncle he is to her. We reviewed space bubbles after I took these.
