Photography

So we have had a nice camera for quite a while and I decided to try to learn how to use it:) Especially since I have such a cute victim that can't run from me yet. I would like any suggestions to improve this picture. Is it good, ok not good etc... Also what would I do in photoshop to make a picture look better. Any input would be great!

Ice skating

On New Year's Day an ice rink here had a special for family night. We paid $12 dollars and it was entrance, skates, popcorn and a drink for 5 people. We had so much fun! We went with a couple other families from our ward and the kids loved it. It was nice that they had the metal things to hold on to. I would say that it does kind of hinder them from learning to skate though. They just depend on that and don't learn to do it themselves. Next time I think I'll try to get them to do it without the metal thing. I got them to each try it without it for a little while and they actually did pretty well. It is kind of funny/sad that when they start to get scared they panic and their feet start to go like 100 miles an hour even though they aren't going anywhere, then they loose their balance and fall. If they would calm down instead of panic they could regain their balance every time. Just funny to watch. I was surprised at how well they did. We will probably do this again if they have another family night that isn't a Sunday.

Blake and Parker were there too. Blake and I traded hanging out in the lounge area with Parker and Alissa(she only lasted 15 minutes on the ice). I guess I didn't take any pictures of him skating. He was there though and he enjoyed it more than he thought he would:)

Blessing Day

This is about how blessing day went!

We have always liked blessing our babies in our home ward, where our records are. So we decided to bless Parker the first Sunday of the year. I tried to get everything ready on Saturday because our church was changing to 9:00am instead of 1:00pm. This would be a huge adjustment. So Sunday morning came and the alarm clock went off at 6:30. I was sooo tired, so I told Blake to turn it off and set the alarm on my phone. Next think I know I wake up and it is 8:15. I jump out of bed to get ready and we all run around like crazy trying to get everyone ready. At 8:55 we are trying to decide if we should go ahead and bless him or do it the next week. Big dilemma, we were kinda late to bless him that day, but weren't early enough to tell the bishopric that. They were planning on it. I didn't know what to dress Parker in because I didn't want him in his outfit if we weren't blessing him and didn't want them to announce we were blessing him and not have him in his outfit. So I just said, let's do it. So we dressed him in his blessing outfit and got everyone in the car and to the church.(luckily we only live 2 blocks from church). We walked in as the counselor in the bishopric was saying,"I guess, that's all the ward business...(pause). So we'll do the stake business now." Great! I peeked my head into the chapel and he saw me, so I nodded to him. We all went and sat down and after the stake business Brother Roblyer got back up and said we will actually be having another baby blessing. Blake took Parker up and game him a beautiful blessing. I was worried that after a frantic morning he wouldn't be able to feel the spirit very well, but as usual he did an amazing job. His testimony and spirituality are some of the biggest reasons I married him. After the blessing I went to the bathroom with Remi to blow her nose and my 2nd cousin Shana walked in. She had come up for the blessing! Her and her daughter Lauren came for lunch and we had fun visiting. I hadn't seen her for like 10 years. She lives in Lincoln, so we are only like 45 minutes away.

At the end of church when we went to get our kids from their primary classes I got a slip of paper asking if Remi and Broden could be the reverence children the next week. Our ward has 2 kids from primary go up by the pulpit 10 minutes before sacrament meeting starts and fold their arms to remind everyone to be reverent. I laughed and decided it was their way of helping us be on time the next week:) Then later that week Blake got asked to speak in church too. So the next Sunday we were 15 minutes early. It was much more relaxing to get there early.

Christmas

Christmas morning!

She must have Candy! That is the only time she smiles this big:)

I remember laying under the Christmas tree with my dad looking at the lights when I was a little girl.

Grandma Great Jones and Parker.

Broden's present from Santa.

The boys under the tree.

Christmas dinner

Adults and Broden at Christmas dinner.

Christmas eve program. My mom made up the program when she was 16, just after she joined the church. It is on the big paper my brother is holding. She told us it didn't go over very well with her family when she was 16 because they didn't know the songs very well and she couldn't play the piano very well. Hopefully this was an improvement. Cindy is good at playing the piano and I think we knew all the songs, at least the first verse. Alissa thought it was heaven to sing songs with all of us.

Remi and Broden were both so excited to give their presents to eachother. Remi wanted to make everyone corn bags. She got to make one with me at mutual last year and Broden has wanted one ever since. So she helped me make them for Broden, Alissa, Parker and Dad.

Broden really wanted to make Remi and Alissa clothes for their dogs. So we used some of my old pajamas and made them into pajamas for the dogs and matching pj's for the girls. I tried making some for Broden and his dog the day before we left, but I had my nephew try them on and I was pretty sure they wouldn't fit Broden. Christmas eve the kids were getting ready to sit in the hot tub with dad and Broden came over to me and whispered,"I really want pajamas that match dot(his stuffed dog)." I had all the stuff, the dog ones just weren't done yet. So while they were in the hot tub I hurried down to my moms sewing machine and finished the dog ones. Broden was so excited! His were really tight but he didn't mind. They only lasted one day though, then they got a huge hole in the crotch. Oh well, at least he got them for a day. I'll have to make another pair.

 

My dad actually has matching pants that Cindy and I made him for Father's day a couple years ago. I had the extra material at my house to use for Broden's pants.

Papa and Parker. Papa is my mom's dad.

Santa brought us a WII and we used some of our Christmas money to get WII fit plus. We have fun playing it together.

 For Christmas this year we got to drive home to Idaho. We left the Friday before Christmas at about 3:00pm and started driving. The roads were great, but we knew there was a storm coming so we drove as far as we could. The kids fell asleep around 8, so we wanted to keep driving on good roads and in a quiet car. It was awesome! Then we got to our hotel room at 2:00am in Evanston, Wy. The kids thought they had slept for the night and were ready to play and have breakfast. Blake and I were exhausted. We finally got them to calm down and lay in bed at about 3:30am. Then our "neighbors" came home. They were so noisy! Our kids all got up again. Blake and I tried to sleep a little and just let the kids play, but at about 4:45am our room started filling with smoke. Not just any smoke, pot smoke. It was disgusting. I tried to ignore it, but couldn't. So we called the front desk and told them. They said they would call the room and ask them to be quiet. They were quiet after that, but the smell just got worse. So at 5:00am I called the front desk and told them we wanted our money back and we were leaving. They told us we could get $10 off. We packed up in the car and Blake went to the front desk and talked to them. They ended up giving us all our money back.

So at 5:30 am we were on the road again, headed to SLC to visit Blake's Grandma, Grandma Webb. The roads were really bad the whole way there. It was just supposed to take an hour, but took closer to an hour and a half or 2 hours. We got to her house at like 8, and she wasn't expecting us until 9. We called and no one answered so we figured she was either in the bathroom or still sleeping. At 8:45 she realized we were there and let us in. We had a fun visit with her, then left around 11, to make it to Cindy's (my sister) basketball game at 3:00pm in Idaho Falls. As soon as we got past Ogden the roads were really bad. There were like 13 cars off the road in the first mile of slick roads. Then we only saw 1 more car off the road all the way to IF. When we were leaving Salt Lake I called my brothers to tell them we were headed to Idaho Falls instead of staying all day in SLC so we could see temple square that night they told us they were just driving through SLC too. They were just a couple miles behind us. Just before Pocatello we heard honking and looked over and they were next to us, Eric was hanging out the sunroof and Tyler was driving. They were both waving like crazy. Our kids were SOOOO excited. Broden said, "LOOOOK its ERIC!" Then he said, "Where is uncle Eric going?" I thought that was hilarious. I think They sat backwards all the way to Blackfoot waving at Eric and Tyler. Then in Blackfoot Blake couldn't stay awake any longer so he jumped in with Tyler and Eric drove our car.

Our week and a half in Idaho Falls was pure fun and games. We stayed with my sister Kristi in their nice large home they built. They have a guest bedroom in the basement with its own bathroom. She also has 5 kids, so our kids had a blast. Blake and I actually got to sleep in a little in the mornings because the kids would just play together and her oldest son, Grant would get them breakfast. We rotated where we would hang out during the day and eat meals at night, so we got to spend time with everyone. We played speed uno, smurf, a new pool game my brothers taught us, sat in the hot tub, watched basketball, played basketball and volleyball, watched movies, ate, and ate and ate, partied and had a blast!

Our drive home was much less eventful. The roads were icy all the way through Wyoming, but fine once we hit Nebraska. We just took it slow and the kids did awesome! It was so much fun seeing all the fam over the break, but we might stay home next year. We'll see where home is:)

Miss Personality!

Just a few funny things about Alissa. She usually stays up later than our other kids and has mommy daddy time. She loves it because she has 100% of our attention. The other night we were getting her ready for bed and she kept saying, "up". We tried for a second to figure out what she was saying then finally it dawned on us that she wanted us to warm UP the corn bag for her. I guess she hears us say,"Should I warm it UP?" or "Want me to warm it UP?" So she shortens it and just says, "UP."

Something else she learned when Broden had his tonsils out is that he got lots of yummy things and medicine. So now if there is something like a good drink, ice cream or medicine that she wants she asks for it, then cries for it, then says,"ooowwwiiiieeeee," while holding her throat. It's pretty funny how fast they catch on to things like that.

At naptime I take her into her room and we read the same books every day. These are the 4 she always wants.

 This book is called "Eeek." When we go to the welcome center here they have a story and song time and when we sing the itsy bitsy spider at the end they say,"The itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again. Oh look there's a spider. EEEKKK!" So now she calls this book EEEK.

This book is called "Poopie." It's about a bear named poopie and biggle(piglet). When she first started asking for this book she would just say poopie. So I would say are you poopie? And check her bum, then ask her if she needed to go poopie. Then I finally figured out what she was talking about.

This book is just called "cat." She really only cares to read one page in this book. In the book Mulligan is the bookstore cat and he has a couple different jobs. On one page it says his job is, "entertaining customers." The picture is of a little kid looking in a duffel bag and there is a cat hiding in it. As soon as I hold up that book she starts saying, "hiding, cat hiding." Then when I get to that page she yells,"Hiding!!!" She thinks it is pretty funny. Then on the last page it says,"Every book store needs a bookstore cat, Don't you think?" Alissa always copies me exactly, with voice fluctuations and everything, "Don't ya think?" It's so cute.

This is her newest addition to the favorites. It's about monkeys playing drums and says things like rum tum tum tum hum tum rum tum. She just repeats the whole book then wants me to sing her a song about monkeys.

Laying her down for naps is usually a pretty fun part of the day. After books she likes me to sing songs. One song she asks for is BUM BUM. If anyone knows a song about a bum bum let me know. I usually just sing, bum bum, bum, bum, bum bummm and she is satisfied. I don't know where she got that idea from. The other one she always wants is the Sunbeam(beam) song. Then as soon as I am done with that one she starts saying temple(I love to see the temple). I love that she loves books and music so much. She also loves to sing. Whenever we are singing in church or here at home she will get out  book and "sing" along. I love it.

Parker Ryan Jones

 Getting ready to start IV's and Pitocin.

 Just waiting.

 Parker Ryan Jones 7 pounds 7 ounces. 21 inches long.

 Picture with Dr. Kay Thatcher.

 Dad still has that calming influence on a new baby.

Ready to leave the hospital. Look how tiny he looks in that huge car seat.

So we went in to the hospital at 6:00am on Friday, November 19th. They started me on fluids right away then started the pitocin about 7. Blake left to get a few things from the store before things would start happening. While he was gone the doctor came in and broke my water, about 9. At 10 I felt a contraction, so I asked for an epidural. I got it about 10:30. They checked me at 12:00 and said I was ready to push as soon as the doctor got there. She came in at 12:30, I started pushing at 12:35 and he was born at 12:36. Pretty textbook delivery. We stayed the 2 days in the hospital, then went home on Sunday, November 21st. We were lucky to have Blake's mom here with us to help out at home while I was in the hospital and after I got home. I felt so bad leaving Broden to go to the hospital, but he had fun with Grandma. She took them to the park almost every day. It is a huge stress reliever to know my kids are having fun when I am not with them. We also ate well for those 2 weeks. We had a huge Thanksgiving dinner. I wondered what we were going to do with all the leftovers. We ended up eating almost all of them ourselves, except for some of the turkey we froze for soup. It was delicious. 

Parker has been such a good baby(according to me) and the kids are so good with him. I have had some really special experiences with him that I will post another time. It is too late right now. We are so happy to have him with us though. There is nothing like a newborn baby.

Craziest Weeks EVER

 Broden with his new dog "dot".

 

Being wheeled off to surgery.

After surgery.

So a couple weeks before I was due Alissa wasn't sleeping very well.  We had all had colds off and on and fevers and just been sickly. So we decided to take her and Broden to the doctor to make sure everything was ok and they were healthy, before we had a new baby. When the doctor looked in Broden's throat he thought his tonsils looked large. Then another doctor came in and said the same thing. They wanted to refer me to an ENT. So I went from there to the referral office to get a referral to see someone not at the base clinic. This was on a Thursday, I think. While I was in the waiting room waiting for the kids to be seen I realized neither of them had had their yearly check up. I didn't really think they needed them that bad, but I wanted them to be up to date on their shots. So, I scheduled appointments for them the next Tuesday, the 8th.

So, Monday the 8th I went in for my check up and we decided on an induction date of Friday, November 19th. Then Tuesday morning I took Broden and Alissa in for their yearly check ups, and like the Thursday before they said they are both healthy and developmentally ahead for their ages. Then we stopped by the shot clinic and got their shots up to date. From there we drove to the ENT. He looked in Broden's throat and said that his tonsils are big and probably affecting his sleep because he can't breath very well. He thought we should remove them because if he ever got sick and they swelled it would be dangerous. So, we scheduled it for the following Monday, so it could be done before the baby came.

So the week of the 15th went like this. Monday morning a friend came over to stay with Alissa and get Remi off to school. Blake and I took Broden to have his Tonsils taken out. The nurses were awesome and he did really well. He started eating and drinking as soon as he woke up. They said as soon as he could do this he would be released. So we left and drove to the base to get his prescriptions. Then we went to get Alissa. We thought Broden would be out of it for a while because of his meds, but it was actually hard to get him to lay still. The medicine made him high-per instead of drowsy. Tuesday morning I had a doctor's appointment and I knew I couldn't miss it because it was my last one and they wanted to check me to know the timing of things of Friday. I didn't want to leave Broden with a babysitter, so I took him with me. That afternoon, I took Remi to get her cast off. Then on Wednesday night Blake's mom flew in. Thursday we prepared for baby and Friday he was born. 

I have always liked doctors and hospitals, ever since I can remember. But these few weeks were a little too much of both for me. I don't mind going in for me, but I don't like taking my kids in. Luckily they have a little bit of my curiosity about the body and health and they don't mind doctors. It makes life much easier when you have to spend lots of time at the doctor.