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"