SON?!

is what Tyler said when he found Hayden like this.

The Waterfall

Now that summer is basically over, I'm having regrets. Such as, I was going to take my kids hiking all the time this summer, but we did go at least one time, to a waterfall in Pleasant Grove that I had heard about all throughout my High School years of living there, and so we finally went. It was easy, and it was fun, and it was dirty, but the boys were troopers.

Then the boys found a cave. On a completely Random note, Jackson informed me today that he was smarter than me. At 4 1/2, he's already convinced I know nothing. I told him that may be proven true later on in life, but as of right now, no he's not! And he looked at me like, "Wow, you really are clueless Mom." He just shook his head and said "Yeah, I am." Like poor me, poor unintelligent Mom. She really doesn't know anything! I thought this wasn't supposed to happen until later, like in the teenage years. (It was all I could do not to say, "At least I'm smart enough not to pee my pants." But he's been doing really well today, and that might come across as immature, which I totally am not, most of the time.)

Help.

You Volunteered?

Last Sunday Jackson had a piece of paper in his hand from primary. It said he was supposed to give a . . . TALK. When I saw it I thought, "NOOOO." Jackson is always, always coming home with these pieces of paper, for the scripture or for the prayers. I've felt so lucky that he hasn't had to give a TALK.

He told me that he volunteered, VOLUNTEERED, to give a talk. "They asked who wanted to give one and I just raised my hand." He said it so casually. Granted, yes, it is just a primary talk, it has to be like, a paragraph, but you don't understand. Not only do I have irrational fears about speaking in public, but I have a history, and so does Tyler, and it involves public speaking, in primary. Let me explain.

I think I was five years old. I had to give a talk. I still remember how it was about Joseph Smith's leg (and how it was hurt). My mom helped me all week. We went over and over the talk. I had pictures. They were awesome pictures. I even helped to color the pictures. I was prepared. I was more than prepared. My mom had no reason to worry. Then it was time to stand up and give my talk. I remember standing there and thinking. I do NOT want to do this, and I couldn't speak. I couldn't make a single word come out of my mouth. I remember thinking in my head, I don't have to be the one to say the talk. My mom can say it. She knows it better than I do. She'll even do a better job than I would. I just wanted to hold the pictures while she talked. So I just stood there, and I shook my head no. My mom came up and tried to get me to do it. I just kept shaking my head. There was nothing in the world that was going to make me speak in front of those kids. NOTHING. So then my mom gave my talk for me, and I held the pictures. As soon as she started speaking I felt SO MUCH BETTER. I was even happy. My mom felt like a failure. For years she wondered what she did wrong. It was only recently that we had talked about what happened, and how I told her that I just didn't want to do it. She could do it better, and she felt a little better. She understands me now anyway.

Moving onto Tyler and his first (or one of them) primary speaking experience. I'm not exactly sure if he was in a primary program, or if he was giving a talk, whatever the situation I believe he was about 5. He had his part memorized, and he had a picture to go with it. When he got up there, he did NOT want to say his part. There was no way anyone could make him. So his mom said it for him, while he turned around around and put his back to everyone, while holding his picture. But not only was he holding his picture. He was holding it upside down, ON PURPOSE.

So when Jackson showed me his paper, I thought, "And it's all coming back to bite me in the, (well you know where)." But apparently Jackson is a happy child and doesn't mind speaking in front of people. He's the kind of kid who volunteers. Sometimes I can't believe he's related to us. And he did a great job. My favorite phrases of his paragraph long talk included words such as, "Heavenly Fada, "and "live togeda foweva." I'm so proud of him.

Michigan part 2

I have a million pictures of Michigan that I love and want to post for my blurbing purposes, (Kristin took most of them) so here they are. The boys had so much fun swimming, doing sparklers, playing in the sprinklers, eating ice cream, going to the gardens, and dipping treats in Grandma's chocolate fountain. The funniest part of the trip, for me, was Jackson and Alexis making up a game they called "Calico." Calico (Sp?) is the bad guy from the movie BOLT. Grandma Jones gave all the kids their own flashlight. They went downstairs and made up a game where the uncles were Calico. The uncles had to hide in the dark and then the cousins would come find them. All the little kids had their flashlights on and if they shined their light on "Calico", he would die, dramatically. They LOVED this game and wanted to play it over and over. The uncles gave a very impressive performance. Uncles are awesome.

I'll also never forget Lincoln playing Calico and becoming very concerned when, "Uncle Nick found poop! Why?"

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Michigan, part 1

We had so much fun in Michigan. The boys had a blast with their cousins and they behaved themselves so well and I will tell you why. They just need fun activities to do everyday with their fun cousins. Grandma Jones had something fun to do every day and she had surprises for all the cousins every morning. So that's it. No down time. They just need to have fun all day while I neglect all household duties, which sounds like a good plan.

Anyways, the first day we were together we went a cute splash pad/lake/park called Hawk Island and the kids loved it.
Their cute cousin Alexis. Ty with Jocelyn and Hayden.There were actually 3 kids trying to get Ty, but I didn't get them all the picture.

St. George

Talk about family activites, we were on vacation for almost two weeks, and it was heavenly. My family had a familiy reunion, and then Ty's family had a family reunion, and I have so many pictures, I don't even know where to start.

We went to St. George with my family for 3 days. We had a lot of fun with all of our cousins, and there are a lot. Because my dad is a history worshiper and becuase he was in charge, we went to the temple and the tabernacle. We did a couple little tours and learned about some of the historical sites of St. George.

Here's Jackson going down the sprial staircase right before he fell and went down the rest of them on his back. I hate those spiral stairs. I ALWAYS fall down them, every time. This was one exception. Somehow I ran down them to get Jackson. So I guess that's the key. Have no fear for your own life and run down.

Anyways. We had fun swimming at Veyo and going to Tuacan. Look at my cute sisters and my nieces. Could me and my sisters be any more different?And, I can't believe I am posting a picture of me in a swimsuit with my hair matted down, but there you go. You should all feel better about yourselves now. On our way back from swimming, we stopped at the entrance of Snow Canyon and Ty got the boys a volcano rock. We're going to go back to St. George just so we can go back to Snow Canyon and Zions and places like that. I can't wait to go explore. It looked so pretty. Footloose was playing at Tuacan, and if you didn't know, which most people don't unless you're my friend Eryn, (and I might have borrowed her copy of footloose and lost it. SORRY!) footloose is one of my favorite movies. It has been since I was really little. Don't ask me where I first saw it, I couldn't tell you, but I've had it memorized for a long long time. Needless to say, it was fun to go see.

Here's a more typical picture of me. I'm sure I was saying "Whah?" That's right, without the T. I am from Utah. We don't have T's at the end of our words. And here's Amanda and Tyler being Amanda and Tyler. And where were Steve and Amy? Steve was getting a migraine and throwing up Cafe Rio in the bathroom. I felt so bad for him, but I was glad he left the show as he was sitting right behind me and I really didn't want vomit all over my back, but I did feel really really bad. :) He felt better in the morning.

We had a great time and then we drove back home and flew to Michigan where more family reunions continued.