sweet home

(There was only one reason I included this picture. Even you readers who love B's long hair must agree that the time has come to bid farewell to the lovely locks. Right?!?!?! He wants a mullet. "Because it's business in front and a party in the back!!"--his words. Heaven help us all. PLEASE click on picture to enlarge for full effect before posting opinions.)

Haven't been blogging so much lately.
I've been super itchy for almost 2 months now and when I sit for too long I just can't take it.
Don't know what it is yet, but I'm ready for it to be gone!
We've also been super duper busy.
But that's life I know.

We went to our town's Christmas parade and came home with a bag of warm cheese biscuits from Jim N Nick's (soooooooooooo good) and more candy and beads than Halloween. (not kidding) See Santa on top of the fire truck in the background?!?! We're all bundled up because it SNOWED the night before.
While I was up in Utah for Boppa's funeral we got to spend some quality time with Porter. He's 6 months old. Why is my almost 18 month old child as big as her 6 month old cousin?
And (don't tell the big kids) Santa came for his annual visit because so many of us were together. Let's just say Cate was NOT a fan. She started crying when he walked into the room.


You can read my cousin's post about Boppa here. and his wife's here.

Happy Birthday Lewis! Sorry I wasn't there to celebrate with you. Sweet 32 is twice as good as sweet 16! Thank you so much for working so hard for our family. I love you and am so proud of you.

A loves you more than she loves being right.

B loves you more than he loves coloring his nose red and wearing his Rudolph ears.

C loves you more than anyone or anything else.

Hope it was a great one!! love you!

My grandfather, Boppa, passed away yesterday and I just wanted to write something quick about him. I'm heading up to Utah later today for his funeral, but I know that he loved to look at my blog so I wanted to put something here for him.
I love this picture of him reading to my kids. I know it's not a great picture, but it is so sweet. Boppa loved to read. He had so many books and was always filling his coffee table with more and more. Another thing that we had in common was our love of France and the French language. He served a mission in France just after World War II and he always kept up his French and loved to speak it with me. Also, he loved having a garden. He always had the most amazing garden and fruit trees. We collected the best apricots, cherries, and garden treats from their yard. I can't think about Boppa without thinking of the cabin. We had so many wonderful times there and I know that it was because of all of his hard work.
I am grateful to have such a wonderful Boppa!! I know that there are so many who are sad and missing him now, but we are all grateful for our knowledge of and faith in God's plan of salvation and in Jesus Christ. I am especially grateful for our eternal family and the knowledge that I can be with Boppa and all of my family forever and ever.

JJ is out of town, and the kids and I decided to go camping. We went to a local state park and had a blast. We got there early and set up camp. What did the kids immediately do? A went for her coat (a little overkill in the mildly cool weather) and B hit up the marshmallow bag.




We watched the sunset and had foil dinners.




After dinner we had the much anticipated smores which were a hit, although B did decide he prefers his marshmallows "not toasted."


We went to bed, and the kids fell asleep early in spite of the group of 10-14 year old kids next to us. A woke us all up before sunrise (thanks!).






Georgia had a great time running around.




We then played frisbee, had breakfast, and went to the highest point in the state (check).




We capped off the trip with a hike to some waterfalls, and the kids were great hikers.




I think the secret to their great hiking lies in the proper selection of a hiking stick--gotta have one of those to go ANYWHERE!




We had a great time and would love for anyone to sign up to come on our next campout, which the kids are convinced needs to be tomorrow.

...but it's also Talledega weekend! Last week (while Lewis was TRYING to study for his step 2 board exam) we had a "2 trip to Lowe's" toilet problem. Luckily for us they had Jimmie Johnson's car there and it was pretty sweet! It was sort of a "you know you live in Alabama when" moment. (we have lots of those)


We had a great time at Trunk or Treat. Our primary really goes all out and it was lots of fun to play at the carnival and to go car to car getting candy. The kids were all animals (A-kangaroo, B-alligator, C-giraffe) and I was the "Jones Family Zoo Vet". Lewis was a party pooper ("I dressed up last year") but someone thought he was a skater. It was so funny.

Now if it will just stop raining for once so we can get some loot tonight!

Last night was our church trunk or treat. I let some friends borrow our Flintstones costumes from 6 years ago. How has it been 6 years?
us:
them: