Finally!!!

We have been patiently waiting to find out where the Air Force will be sending us. Blake kept telling me we wouldn't find out until December, but I still had high hopes it would be sooner. So last Thursday I was out and about with the kiddos and when I got home there was a message blinking on the answering machine. I pushed the play button and this is what I heard,
"This message is for Blake. This is Anne with the Air Force, I was calling to let you know you were accepted into the AEGD program and the baseyou will be stationed at is Offutt in Nebraska. This was your first pick, so congratulations."

I couldn't believe she just left the message on the answering machine. I felt bad that I found out before Blake. I just figured they would send a letter and we could open it together. But we are excited to know where we are going. Our friends who were seniors when we were freshmen went there and went through the same program, so we know it is an awesome program. My best friend from high school also lives there and I have a cousin 45 minutes away. We also have a family in our ward that just moved here from Omaha. There is also another dental family we know, going to the same base! So we have some connections and are excited to make new friends and see new places.

We don't know exactly when we will move. Blake graduates in the middle of May, then we will be in limbo until August 4th, which is his report date. A lot of what we do will depend on if our home has sold or not. We really want it to sell sooner than later, but we shall see. So we could be in Ohio, Idaho, Arizona, or Nebraska next summer. Only time will tell:)

We love you Broden!

Broden turned 3 last Friday and we had so much fun celebrating his birthday! We wanted to make a big deal and have a party with just friends, no adults, but Blake was sick so we had to cancel that. We still had a fun day though.

Remi and Broden don't think it is a birthday unless you have cake and a party. Well, since on Broden's actual birthday Blake would be in school all day and we had the Adult session of conference we decided to just do everything on Wednesday. So, Broden had no idea Friday was his real birthday.

So Wednesday when he woke up he immediately knew it was his birthday. He even held up his fingers to show me how old he was. He had been practicing for a while, and this was the first time he actually did it, where you hold your pinkie down with your thumb and leave the other 3 fingers up. For two he always held up his pointer finger and thumb. It took people a while to realize he was telling them how old he was and not pretending to shoot them:) He kept asking about his party and his friends, but we had to tell him we were just having a party with our family. We put a candle in his breakfast of choice, cereal, and sang to him. Then we played around the house.

After we ate lunch we went to Patterson Fruit Farms to get pumpkins, apples and donuts. It was freezing when we got there, so the kids weren't really into picking out pumpkins, the apple orchards were closed because it was too cold, but we did enjoy some donuts by the fire. Broden loved sitting in the rocking chair eating his donut.

When we got home I finished his cake, we ate dinner and had cake and ice cream. Broden is so into dinosaurs lateley so he wanted a Little Foot cake. The cake was a little funny looking, but he knew who it was and loved it. Then we opened presents and he loved all his presents. He really got the hand of it this year. Open one, smile for a picture, then move to the next one. Then when they were all opened, we took them out of the packages to play with. He even slept with one of his toys.

Broden is such a sweet, loving boy. He loves to hold my cheeks and say, "Mommy, I love you soooooo much." Some of the funny things he does right now are:

He'll say,"Sometimes I like that(dinner, game, whatever), sometimes I don't."

All of his words that start with a "Y" he says with an L. Leah(Yeah), Lellow(Yellow) etc.

Broden loves to play with dinosaurs, and whatever Remi is playing with. He loves her and tries so hard to be like her.

He is a true Jones boy and already loves to hunt, fish, hike and everything else outdoorsy.

A couple weeks ago we were playing in our back yard and Blake was teaching the kids about different sports. This is a soccer ball, and this is how you play. This is a basketball and this is how you play. This is a tee ball and this is how you play etc... So we played soccer for a while and Blake kept saying don't touch it with your hands. Then later that week we went to watch a soccer game and the wall went out of bounds, so one of the girls picked up the ball to throw it in and Broden started yelling,"Don't touch it with your hands! She touched it with her hands. You can't touch it with your hands." It was so funny.

For general conference we put some pictures on a shelf of Jesus, scriptures, family home evening, prayer and President Monson, then put bowls of treats on the shelf. When the kids heard someone say something that was in one of the pictures they got to pick a piece of family. So Broden has really learned to pay attention to what he hears. So a couple weeks ago Blake was watching football and the announcer said something about the team calling time-out. Broden said,"He said time-out. That guy is going in time out. Mom, that guy is going in time out." I just laughed and explained that time out means you take a break from whatever you were doing.

We love him and are so excited to have such a fun 3 year old. He is already looking forward to turning 4. I think it is because he can show that he is 4 much easier than 3:)

WE love you "Boden Weese Jones" aka "buddy"

Happy Birthday Alissa!

Our baby just turned 1 on Tuesday. I can't believe it. That year went by sooooo fast. Alissa has been such a good baby from the day she was born. She is so content to just be here. One of her favorite toys is a cell phone. She likes real ones, but if no one will share she will use one of the toy ones. She usually finds Blake's old phone, then climbs in her chair and sits there talking on it. It is so cute.

On her birthday my sister called to tell her happy birthday. I put the phone on speaker and handed it to her. She put it up to her ear and when my sister started talking she got the biggest smile on her face and just looked at the phone. Even after my sister hung up she still held the phone smiling for like 10 minutes. It was so funny. I don't think I have ever let her "talk" on the phone before and she loved it.

Alissa isn't walking yet, but she'll take one or two steps sometimes. She can balance really well, but after a few steps she gets scared and sits down. She loves playing with Remi and Broden and tries to follow them everywhere. She is the first baby I have stopped nursing before they were one. So she had formula for a couple months and now just drinks water in her "ba ba" when she is going to bed. It is amazing how much easier it is to get her to sleep without having to worry about when to nurse, or where or for how long. I can just give her the bottle and lay her down. Her dentist isn't complaining about her sleeping with a bottle, so it must not be too bad. I think as long as it doesn't have formula it is ok.

Anyway we are so blessed to have Alissa as part of our family and even more blessed that she is such a good baby. We love you Lissa.

May camping trip

A little glimpse into our busy camping trip.


We caught fish-for pets. The raccoons loved the midnight snack we left out for them in the buckets, but the kids weren't too happy to find their "pets" missing in the morning.




















Catching frogs in the rain!!!


These were our other camping "pets"
They hid in the mud by our tent and we couldn't find them after that.









Blake was more afraid of the frogs than the kids were.











Remi and Broden love cooking and eating marshmallows.









Our camping trip was 2 nights and tons of fun. The first day was rainy, but we still went fishing. Then we went for a drive and saw tons of frogs jumping across the street. So we stopped and Blake and the kids caught frogs.

The next day we went for a bike ride, then fished for a while. Then we got into our swimming suits and went to the beach for a while. Alissa loved the water. She is definitely a little Remi when it comes to the water. That night Blake fished and the kids and I went to the playground. Then we built a fire and cooked smores.

The next morning we fished then loaded up and headed home. It was a fun trip and nice to stay 2 days so it wasn't all unpacking and packing.

The next morning we fished then loaded up and came home.

{Getting to know me, getting to know all about me}

{Getting to know me, getting to know all about me}

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

Fun activities with family.

What is your greatest fear?

Losing someone i love.

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?

That I am shy around strangers or in big groups.

What is the trait you most deplore in others?

No values, or not living up to what you say you are.

Which living person do you most admire?

The people who stand up for what they believe in.

 What is your greatest extravagance?

Gym membership.
 What is your current state of mind?

Frustrated

What do you consider the most overrated virtue? 

NONE
On what occasion do you lie?

When I might hurt someone and it isn't necessary.
What do you most dislike about your appearance?

My stretched out stretch marked stomach.
 Which living person do you most despise?

I don't think anyone.

 What is the quality you most like in a man?
When they are comfortable enough with themselves that they don't have to put others down.

What is the quality you most like in a woman?

Women who always think of ways to help others. Not even huge things, but phone calls or dropping by to say hi.

 Which words or phrases do you most overuse? 

Sorry.

What or who is the greatest love of your life?

My husband
 When and where were you happiest?

The last 2 weeks here at home.
 Which talent would you most like to have?

Being able to sing.
 If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

Not care so much what other people think of me.
 What do you consider your greatest achievement?

Being able to still learn while being a stay at home mom.
 Where would you most like to live? 

Near family.
What is your most treasured possession?

My husband and kids.
 What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?

Having to bury a child...losing someone really close to you.
 What is your favorite occupation?

A mom or nurse
 What is your most marked characteristic?

My smile I guess.
 What do you most value in your friends?

Knowing I can ask them for something when I need to. And being able to talk to them.
 Who are your favorite writers?

Don't have one.
 Who are your heroes in real life?

I have too many to name.
 What are your favorite names?

My kids names. :)
 What is it that you most dislike?

When someone is mad at me.

 What is your greatest regret?

I don't know if I have one really. I might have one, but it led to other great things, so I can't really say I regret it.
 How would you like to die?

In my sleep.

I don't really have one, but I like this one If you don’t stand for something you’ll fall for everything.

I want to tag Julie J, Julie L, and Amanda and anyone who happens to read this blog.

Cancun

So this is actually my sister's post from her blog. I copied it to ours until we get a chance to catch up on our blog. Thanks Julie!

As you can probably tell by the pictures...we had a blast in Cancun! We got to go with all of my brothers and sisters and my sisters' husbands and my mom and dad. (i.e. no little kids) But we all acted like a bunch of little kids anyway.

Eric, Nate, and Cindy decided to see how many pieces of bubble gum they could chew at once.

I stepped on a sea urchan (sp?) while snorkeling and couldn't walk that night. The natives there told us just to put vinegar on it and it would swell up, but be fine. We went to the doctor at our hotel and he said he would remove them for $70, but Jenny (my sister) and Nate decided they would remove them for free. So this is them cutting into me. Just so everyone knows you can't really just pull them out because it's more like ink and it just dissolves, so I let them work on me for about 15 minutes and made them stop. By the next day they felt fine. (It really didn't hurt that bad...I was just putting on an act for the camera.) This is a real shark that a kid caught on the beach.

Do you see the iguanas in the last two pictures. They were all over and didn't really care if we came close to them.

We are covered in sand in this picture because we were playing a serious game with frisbees. My brother, Eric, and brother-in-law, Blake, didn't let us rest too much. There was lots of frisbee, football, volleyball, tennis, etc.

So let's note this next picture...we stayed up late the night before and everyone else got to sleep in the car, but these are the drivers who didn't get to sleep until we got to the beach. (The guy sleeping on the left is my brother-in-law, Blake. You'll notice if he's not going, going, going then he crashes.) Okay...this picture is really funny. My brother, Eric, stayed up all night the night before we left, so this is him asleep at the airport. This gum on the side of his mouth isn't his, but is my sister's. We put it right on the edge then when he started to wake up, he moved it into his mouth and fell back asleep. We had everyone sitting near us laughing so hard. Eric didn't appreciate it very much. This is a picture of me and my daddy. We all did a lot of eating while we were there. This is us in a cenote, which is an underground cave with water. They were a nice cool change from the heat outside.

Hiking to the top of Coba

At the top of Coba

This is our rental car. I had to take a picture with Nate by it because it's quite a big difference than his HUGE truck he drives here.

On Sunday we got to go to church where Tyler served part of his mission. A family in the ward invited us over for dinner. They fed us a yummy true Mexican dinner and we taught them a fun American game. Although there were only about 4 people in this big crowd that could speak both English and Spanish, we all had such a great time! (Besides the family that fed us, the bishop and his family came over and the missionaries, which one of them Tyler trained.)

This is us mocking my mom (the photographer) when she tells us to get closer together.

We were all pretty proud of ourselves for hiking the Coba ruins.

Excited

I know I'm way behind on blogging everything, but I'll catch up later, maybe. We have been so busy. After our birthday's was our anniversary and I left to Arizona to visit my grand parents that day with Alissa. It was a fun relaxing vacation. I got home and then the next day we left for NYC which was a blast. Blake went back to school and since then we have been going on bike rides, camping, swimming, fishing and enjoying the summer in Ohio.

Tuesday we leave for Idaho and I am so excited!!! It is going to be so much fun. We will be busy there too. A vacation to Utah with the Jones', a baby blessing for Makenna, baby shower for Kristi, trip to Mexico with the Davis adults, Garrett's wedding and reception, 2 baptisms, family pictures and another wedding reception for Garrett. Are we going to be there until Christmas? Nope, we are doing all of this in only weeks. It is going to be so much fun! I do need to motivate myself to get ready to go. Our house needs to be ready to show since it is for sale. Right now it is in a continuous stage of chaos. Sewing stuff on the table. Ironing stuff on the kitchen counter, the couch is in front of the stairs as a baby gate, blankets on the floor and couch from Remi and Broden being cold in our 80+ degree house, dished in the sink, towels on the porch, laundry in the dryer, toys EVERYWHERE, dirty bathrooms and the list could go on and on.

Right now though, I am enjoying listening to Remi and Broden playing together. And watching Alissa play on the floor with toys instead of getting into the cupboards, or my sewing stuff, or the garbage, or the toilet paper, or climbing on the stairs or pulling on the computer cord. In a nutshell they are all being really good right now, so I'm sitting down enjoying watching instead of cleaning.

Anyway, I love being a mom. Some days are overwhelming, but I still wouldn't change anything. I'm trying to be better at laughing at what the kids are doing instead of crying about what I'm not getting done. It has been working for a couple days. I just need to keep the perspective that it won't matter in 10 years how clean my house was, but I do want to remember how much fun my kids had playing and how much fun I had with them.

Ok, I'm going to go clean now.