Christmas

Hooray for Christmas! We did our very own Jones family Christmas for the first time this year. It was lots of fun! Ruth was so excited for Santa to come on Christmas morning. On Christmas Eve, we had a simple dinner of olives, cheese, crackers, pickles, and bread. The fun part was eating it by candlelight (an old tradition from my family when I was growing up.) While we were eating we talked about the story of Christ's birth. After that we all got to open one present (PJ's). Ruth wouldn't hold still for a picture so I made her lay on the floor. We had a lot of fun playing Santa and setting up Christmas for the kids. Christmas morning was early but fun. We got up at about 6:15 AM and went to wake up Ruth but she was already sitting up in her bed waiting for us to come and get her. She was very excited to find her toy kitchen with a toy phone. Gareth was pleased to open up a booster seat and loves eating dinner with the whole family. Jonesy and I were very happy to get a GPS device from my parents. We are going to start geocaching very soon.

Hmmm...

Background: In the movie Ratatouille there is a scene where a young man who cannot cook worth beans gets a job at a restaurant as a garbage boy. After this and that the head chef (who is very short) is forced into hiring the guy on as a chef. The head chef isn't too happy about it and plans on making him work hard. He says to the young man "Welcome to Hell."

So today Ruth was telling our friend Beth about this movie on the way to church and she says (with a giggle):

"So the short cook tried to trick the guy and he said 'Welcome to Hell'. That's not the name of the restaurant!!"

We laughed so hard we started to cry. We couldn't decide if it was funny or if we should tell her she can't watch the movie anymore. Someday we will explain to her what the chef really meant. In the meantime, we will let her continue believing that the guy was trying to make the young man believe he was at a restaurant named "Hell."

Book A Month Club

Holy crap, Jones posts!

So, our friend Anali wrote in her blog about this thing called the Book of The Month Club. Basically, every month they pick a theme and you read a book about within that theme. Then you write a review about that book. Since Havilah and I like to read, and I would like to expand my reading experience beyond Fantasy and Sci-Fi, (not that there's anything wrong with that) I figured I'd sign us up. So, if we somehow overcome the fact that I will be uber busy next semester without much time for reading, AND the fact that I read 1 millions time faster than Havilah, hopefully you'll see a joint he said/she said book review from us every month. Or we'll fail miserably, and you can mock us for it.

Es En Oh DoubleU (S N O W)

We got snow! The total snowfall we got over Monday and Tuesday was (according to our cute little weatherman) 17 inches. Yahoo! Ruth was very excited. This is her first snow in her memory. It was lots of fun playing in the snow. These pictures are from Wednesday. Today we went outside with a spray bottle filled with water and food coloring and "painted" the snow. We didn't take pictures though.

Here is Ruth STANDING in the snow

The forgotten cookie- the snow was too exciting

Where is the sidewalk??

There used to be some rocks under there...

This is our back porch with piles of snow. All the snow there is now blue from our snow "painting" expedition.

Ruth=Funny

We were at the shoe store looking for some snow boots for Ruth but they were completely out because of the recent snowstorm that we had here in Flagstaff. Our eyes caught a 5 dollar special for Gareth sized shoes so we went over there and were trying shoes on him. Ruth disappeared. When we found her she had selected her favorite boot, tried it on and was walking around. It was so funny...I guess you had to be there.

Santa...

Hooray for the Holidays! We're very excited to be celebrating on our own as a little family for the first time. We will be starting new traditions and keeping some of the ones that we grew up with.
Ruth met Santa twice this weekend. The first was at our Ward Christmas party on Friday night. The second was at the library's holiday party on Saturday. I only got pictures from the library party. I can't believe how excited Ruth was to see Santa even though she knows that he's not 'real'.
She told him that she wants a toy kitchen and a phone to go with it. Luckily the kitchen we have in mind for getting her has a phone that comes with it *phew!*

Another Flick

Ruth wanted to make another movie for Santa. I recorded this with my phone. At about the 2 minute mark, I got a text message so when you hear "Mom, did you hear that?" that is just my phone telling me about the text... hope it's not too confusing.

A Movie

This is Ruth talking to the world.

Christmas Newsletter/Cards

If you want a fun letter from us for Christmas then please email me your address!

wifej0n3z@gmail.com

Do it FAST or you won't get one!!

To Act or Not to Act....

I think we have an actress in the family.

Ruth sometimes likes to play a "story" with her stuffed animals. She is especially prone to doing this when I have some background music playing. Today I was reading and Gareth was sleeping and Ruth was playing with her monkey named George. It got pretty quiet and so I looked up to check on her. She was sitting by the Christmas tree with George and she was acting very sad (interesting to note that the music that was playing in the background sounded kind of sad). She was holding George close and saying "poor George." She was doing this for a while and she finally looked up and me and I saw REAL TEARS slowly making their way down her cheeks. She was so overcome with emotion that she ran to me and started crying harder. I asked her what was wrong and she said she would tell me later. (I think she was still in character). So I waited and finally when she felt like telling me she said that she and George were making up a movie. In the movie she and George were in a place they weren't supposed to be (which was true.. she's not allowed to play by the tree) and she said George got dead-- which was why she was crying. I don't know what to make of this and I don't know what (or if) I should do or say about it.

Don't worry...we won't be those kind of parents that start their child early in Hollywood....although it would make us awfully rich......................

Our Thanksgiving Trip

I am ready to write about our trip now. I have excuses for why it's taken so long, but none of them are good so I won't tell them to you.

We left early Tuesday morning (4:30AM). After driving slowly through Colorado City (on the lookout for polygamists and wondering which house was Warren Jeffs' (is that bad??)) and getting to Hurricane by 9:30AM, we decided to swing down to St. George for a couple hours to see Brent, an old friend from USU. After that we made our way to Alpine to visit the Capel family. We spent the next few days just hanging out there with family and friends. Thanksgiving was fun. We had lots of Turkey and other T-dinner types of food. It was so good to be with family this year. We spent Saturday watching the BYU vs. UofU game with my dad, my grandpa and my sister (who are huge BYU fans) and my poor little brother-in-law (who- for reasons unknown- is a fan of the Utes). Lunch that day was made up of chips, dip, chips, one bite-sized carrot, and some chocolate cake. The end of the game was very exciting, but my dad had to miss the last 2 minutes because my niece came in with her arm shaped like a pretzel. She had fallen down and broken it (for the second time in 4 months). We spent Saturday night in the company of old friends, Angel and Bryan (we miss them so!). Sunday morning we left early and had an uneventful drive home (except for the almost fender-bender with a 'Colorado City-an'-- we do love driving that way...). The sad thing about this trip is that I forgot to get the camera out of the car until we were by Lees Ferry on the way home. We got some fun shots of Ruth playing on (and in) the big boulders that are found just randomly laying about. BUT OF COURSE my camera's batteries just died and I can't upload them to the computer without getting off my lazy bum bum and going out to the car to get the battery charger. So, I promise to upload the pictures later because they are really cute.

Christmas Ornaments

The Jones Clan started a Christmas tradition last year of making homemade ornaments for our tree. Last year we made some that look like gingerbread cookies. Here is the recipe:

Cinnamon Christmas Ornaments

• 1/2 cup ground cinnamon,
• 1/3 cup applesauce, and
• 1 Tbs. Tacky glue

Mix in bowl and stir until well blended. Work mixture in hands for three minutes to form a ball. If it is too dry, add applesauce, if too wet, add more cinnamon. Knead ball on cinnamon-sprinkled surface until it holds togehter well. I roll this out and use cookie cutters for the shapes. I also use a drinking straw to cut a hanging hole. These can be air dried for 24 to 48 hours. Turn several times. They can also be baked in a slow oven. After they dried, we used puff paints to paint on them.If you're wondering, Jonesy did the one on that is being hung by his toes. It looks so cute hanging off the bottom of the tree.

Does anybody have any ideas for this year's Christmas ornament craft? It has to be something a 3-year-old can help with. Suggestions would be marvelous!

Don't You Fret

Okay, so I bet all of you are very sad and feeling lost because I haven't posted in so long. Well don't you worry! As soon as I get off my lazy bum-bum and go out in the cold to the car to get our camera, I will update the blog and tell you of our adventures during the Thanksgiving weekend. Until then, just cozy up with some warm hot chocolate at the computer and keep hitting the refresh button. A brand new post will show up eventually.

Little Birds

Ruth and her friend Daniel built nests at the park. They sat on them for a little while pretending to be birds. It's kind of hard to see the nests in the pictures...but then again, it was hard to see them in person. I think it was more imagination they were sitting on than actual nest.

This is What Keeps Me Going...

Whenever I watch this, it makes me laugh. I thought I'd share the love.

Infections

I think I've been suspecting it for a few weeks now that Gareth had an ear infection, but Jonesy was insisting that I was just being paranoid. Finally, I made an appointment with the doctor so I would stop thinking about it. On the way, Jonesy and I made a bet. If Gareth didn't have an ear infection, I would have to clean the bathroom. If he did, Jonesy would have to clean the bathroom. Since Gareth has two ear infections, Jonesy has to clean both bathrooms. Yay! I mean... how sad for Gareth.

Book Reccommendations

I have learned that it is a lot of fun to read books that are recommended by friends. The latest have been a series about a "Demon-Hunting Soccer Mom." Yeah, it sounds cheesy, but these books are actually very good. I am about to finish the second book, and I am assuming the third is just as good as the first two. If you are in the mood for a well-written, exciting novel that doesn't require much in the way of thinking, then these are the books for you. Trust me, they're fun!

First Haircut

Gareth got his very first haircut this weekend. He was getting a bit shaggy so I got out the buzzer and buzzed it all off. Okay, not all of it. I was very nervous that I was going to ruin his beautiful red hair, but as you can see it is still there!

Before...

After...

Halloween Traditions

This is Ruth with her new toys from the "Halloween Fairy"

Sorry I took so long to post this.. I know Halloween is over, but I wanted to post this anyway.

So we started a new Halloween tradition and Ruth loved it. We told her that after trick or treating, she would get to choose five pieces of candy to keep and the rest she hid under her bed. While she was sleeping, the "Halloween Fairy" came and took all of her candy and left a toy in its place. Ruth was so happy when she woke up in the morning, she didn't even miss her candy.

Halloween Costumes

I said I'd put up some more pictures of the kids in their Halloween costumes. So here they are:

Halloween Celebrations

Last night we went to our Ward Halloween Party. After eating chili, we went out to the parking lot for "Trunk or Treating." Ruth had so much fun. She was a beautiful princess. Gareth was a leprechaun. Tonight we are going to have them wear their costumes to story time at the library. Trunk or Treating was enough so we won't be going Trick or Treating. (Don't tell Ruth!) Hopefully we can get some better pictures tonight and I'll post them tomorrow.

This is Princess Ruth with her best friend Ninja Daniel

Here is our little leprechaun.

Princess Ruth with her friend Elvis and his wife.

Pumpkins

We had a little pumpkin carving family night with some friends on Monday night. It was a lot of fun. Kate and I sat and watched the babies while Jones and Brian carved the pumpkins. Ruth and Daniel ran around in circles, taking the occasional break to help get the guts out.

Adventures in the Dollar Tree

We spent the afternoon at the dollar store today. As you can see, we had a lot of fun.

Sleeping in the Road

We were driving home from some friends' house tonight about an hour past bedtime and this is what Ruth told us:

"Daddy you need to hurry and drive fast so we can get home in time to fall asleep in our beds because if we didn't get home in time, we would have to sleep on the road and then a car would drive over us and it would be a huge axdent and then a fireman would come and give us a ticket and say 'you have to go to jail for what you did' and that would not be good so go fast!"

I am pleased to report that we did make it home in plenty of time for Ruth to fall asleep on her bed (an hour after we got home). I am so glad we didn't have an axdent--whatever that is, I'm sure it would not be fun.

To Germany We Go....

I had a dream last night that Kate, Sarah and I were taking a vacation together to Germany. When we got to the airport, I realized that I didn't have a passport. So I went to a place in the airport and got my picture taken and they made me a passport right there. But while I was waiting, this man came up to me and took my suitcase. I chased after him and hit him really hard and he dropped the suitcase and ran. So I went back to get my passport and while I was signing some papers, the man came back and successfully ran off with my suitcase (and somehow my passport was in my suitcase). So we couldn't go to Germany. Sadly, we returned home to continue our less exciting lives.

On another note, I was at volleyball last night and I threw out my back. Yay me... I can't move. I feel bad for Gareth because he wants me to hold him and I can't. Ruth keeps getting hungry and I can't really get up to get her food. Today is TV day. I think I need to get my back checked out because my back has been bothering me off and on ever since I had Gareth. Ugh.

Fall in Logan

I stole this picture off of a friend's blog. It is a picture of sardine canyon right outside of Logan. This is right about where Jonesy and I met (working at a Haunted Forest) at exactly this time of year five years ago. This is what I miss most about Logan, Utah.

A Nightmare

So we had to speak in church today and it was like my worst nightmare! We got there and the microphones were not working! Ugh.. I can't project my voice worth anything and there are a million kids in our ward who chose today to be loud. So I stood up there and gave my talk and everybody acted like they heard me but I know that they couldn't. It was embarrassing (especially when everyone kept saying "you gave a great talk!" and I KNOW they couldn't here me at all so they were fibbing to me (which didn't make me feel better, only more embarrassed (oh well))). Parenthesis are fun.

A Conversation At Bedtime

Ruth: "To do a magic trick, you turn toys into different toys."
Mommy: "That's right! Do you want to be a magician when you grow up?"
Ruth: "Yes, but I still want to be a cook."
Mommy: "Do you want to be a mommy too?"
Ruth: "Yeah, I want to be a mommy too."
Mommy: "You can be anything you want to be."
Ruth (thoughtfully): "I want to be a giraffe."

Climbing Kids

(Sorry it's blurry, I was using my phone to take the picture) I should have taken a better picture so you could see that they have climbed up onto this shelf in Ruth's closet. Ruth and Daniel love to play together. They were pretending to be at a restraunt of all places while they were up on the shelf. Oh to be young again!

Homework...Or Not

So I'm supposed to be doing schoolwork right now. But the pages are taking so long to load! I could have been done an hour ago, but I'm not. This is a screen shot from my Film class. It's a very fun class. I get to watch movies (fun) and write about them (not-so-fun). And that's all I have to say about that. So....seen any good movies lately? Please recommend some in the comments section!

Oh Deer

We went for a nice Sunday drive yesterday to look at the fall colors. Ruth was so excited to see her first real deer. The leaves were beautiful. I have to admit that we live in a beautiful area.

Art On the Go

Our children have made very large strides in their development this week. Two days ago, Ruth was showing very little interest in drawing. She would scribble a few seconds, then request a fresh paper. I will admit, I was starting to worry. Then yesterday, we were sitting down about to start another session of paper-wasting when she decided to show me her hidden talents. I drew a ghost on my paper and told her to draw one on hers. This is what she drew:

Then I drew a pumpkin and told her to draw one on her paper:


After that, a witch!


Then a sun...


And finally, a mouse...


Isn't she amazing?! The most amazing part was going from scribbles to these in one day. Yay Ruth!!

When I mentioned that our children had made strides this week, I meant it. Yes, it's true, Gareth is absolutely crawling now. I can't decide if this is good or not; tonight while Ruth was supposed to be going to sleep, Gareth slipped away and went to visit her in her room... she thought it was hilarious. I guess it's time to start keeping a closer eye on him.