Brooke the Crow

Wizard of Oz clip...more to come

Many of you know we have spent the past three months completely absorbed in a local production of the Wizard of Oz. This clip has 5 of our FABULOUS leads. They are so talented and hilarious. Megan and Brookelynn are Ozians. Brooke brings in the stool for the scarecrow and Megan brushes the dog. Oh...and Beau and I are hiding behind the doors with the Oz gaurd. We helped carry those doors backstage as the curtains opened. I know it is all rather far away and hard to see and the sound is not great...but its the best I've got.

Army Tank Cake

My Chase turns 8 next week and he LOVES anything "army," so I decided to make him an Army tank cake. So much fun! Happy birthday Chase!

I remembered 1st Day of School Pictures this year!

Chase (who was not a very cooperative model this morning) is my "baby" in 2nd grade.

Megan is in 6th grade

Brookelynn is in 5th grade

This Years Bounty...so far

Brookelynn Kay

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

New Favorite Things

A few new favorite things:
1. LOVE this song by a little known artist named Peter Mayer. Most of his songs have a deep philosophical meaning. Truly beautiful! This one is called "Blue Boat Home." This is the only version I could find to put on here, but I think the pictures in this video are quite distracting (especially the second half). Too many pictures of the ocean when that is not at all what the song is about. My suggestion is to listen with your eyes closed.

2. I know we are way behind the pack on this one, but we just got a Wii. How much fun have we been missing out on the past few years??!! We also got the Wii fit, which is great. I think our favorite game is Mario Kart. Any suggestions for some other fun Wii games?

3. And, last but not least I found this website through a link on my cousin's blog (thanks Dyana!). This girl makes adorable purses and even sells patterns for some. I don't know if I'm brave enough to make one myself, but I did order this one:

Megan

If you've followed my blog for a while you've seen this before. This version is edited and updated a little more. I've decided that this is as close as I will ever come to scrapbooking. It's long, so don't feel obligated to watch the whole thing, but I love it! I love looking at the pictures to music and I am committed to finish similar montages for the other two kiddos in the next week or two.

Along with the video I thought I'd add a top 10 list about Megan too.
Top 10 things we love about Megan (in no particular order :) :

10. She is super creative

9. A talented writer

8. Independent and strong

7. Tender hearted

6. Always aware of what's going on in the world

5. Crazy funny

4. An awesome reader

3. Innovative

2. A great friend

1. And, Megan is a great big sister.

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

We Did It!

This weekend Melanie and I ran a 5k in Boise. The goal was to run the whole thing and we did it! We were both thinking that we would be completely spent by the end. The very strange thing is that we both felt great...like we could go on for another mile and be fine.

Besides the run we had a great time chatting and shopping! Thanks Melanie!

Some Pictures from Lamoille Canyon

Alice Hair

Last week Brookelynn asked grandma for a haircut. She said, "You know Alice from Twilight? I want hair like hers." Grandma didn't know, but thanks to the internet, we found a picture and Brooke got her cut. I was a little nervous. Hair is not my strong suit, and I knew I'd be responsible for making the do work every morning. It has actually turned out super cute! Here is a picture of her close to bedtime. It is much cuter in the morning. This picture really doesn't do it justice. I'll have to take another tomorrow morning.

Wrestling Video

Chase's wrestling season is now over. I had great intentions to videotape several of his matches but only captured one completely. Unfortunately, it was not his best match...but he still had a lot of fun. In the videos below he is wrestling his good little buddy "E" who is in kindergarten. (Chase is in 1st grade.) The match is broken into 6 short clips...but I think I got them in order.

Born to Create

My friend Melanie had this posted on her blog and I thought it sounded like fun. The video is touching and expresses the idea that we were all born to create. Small things, big things, temporal things, spiritual things. Watch the video and then read the rules below:

The first 5 people to respond to this post will get something from me!

My choice, handmade, for you.

This offer does have some restrictions and limitations:

1- I make no guarantees that you will like what I make.

2- What I create will be just for you.

3- It'll be done this year.

4- You have no clue what it will be (nor do I at this point).

If you would like to re-post this on your blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on your blog, be my guest. The first 5 people to leave me a comment telling me that they want to receive a homemade gift from me will indeed receive one. And, be sure to post a picture of what you win when you get it!

Just Sharing

If you're now seeing this post for the first time you missed out. I was found out and had to take the best one off :(

I am in the process of putting all of our pre-digital-camera pictures onto the computer and had to share these. Look quick because if Megan or Brooke see them for a second I am afraid I will be forced to take them down. :)

Granma Jones

Granma Jones - 17 years old (1937)

A note Granma sent me about 10 years ago. All growing up she would be sure to give us grandkids new bills when she gave us money so we wouldn't be infected by any germs that might be lurking on the old ones!

In case you have a hard time reading it..."Joy Honey-the bank insisted that they don't get new $ bills, so I ironed these on real high to kill the germs people might have left on them. I've always been able to get new ones before-

Have a blessed Christmas and here's $5 to help repay you for the precious pictures you've sent. Honey-I know it's just a drop in the bucket. We have 126...in our family now..."

I think this was Feb. 1995 - Granma's 75th birthday party.


June 1995


Megan pointed out today that I haven't posted anything for quite some time. Apparently, life hasn't been too exciting lately. But this month does mark what would have been my Granma Jones' 89th birthday. There isn't another person in the world who could make you feel more special and loved than this sweet woman. Some of my earliest memories are being held and rocked by her. I am sure I'm not alone in this. You can see in the note above that at the time it was written there were 126 members of our family.

Her house and car always smelled of graham crackers and bananas and she had the softest hands I have ever felt.
Just a few memories...out of many...
Happy Birthday Granma!

My Bubba's a Wrestler

We've gotten past the barbaric nature of this whole wrestling thing and are starting to have a lot of fun with it. Chase has wrestled in three tournaments. Last week he came in 3rd and this week 2nd in his weight class. He is getting stronger and learning more every week and the best part is that he doesn't even know if he lost or won a match when it's over. For now it's all just fun (and a little painful). We have taken a few pictures of him actually wrestling but none that are very good...so I will work on that this next week and hopefully post them soon.

Deer in Lamoille

Mmmm...them are gooood seeds!

(after living in Arkansas I am convinced deer speak with southern accents and have horrific grammar...even the Nevada deer)

Sunday, the kids and I took a drive up to a little town at the base of the Ruby mountains called Lamoille. There is a residential street there called Deer Ln. Apparently every year a whole crew of deer come down the mountain and winter in this little neighborhood. They were so beautiful (yes, I like to look at them...not shoot and eat them). They were completely nonchalant about our gawking. The deer in the last few pictures walked right up to our car so we rolled down the window and it seemed almost as curious about us as we were about it. The kids found some sunflower seeds and began throwing them out the window. The deer seemed to love them...hopefully sunflower seeds aren't toxic to deer...

Feeding Ducks

I think I've mentioned that my kids love to feed the ducks in Spring Creek. I don't think these particular ducks need any more feeding...they are rather fat and are happy to hang out through the frigid northern Nevada winters.

I don't think, though, that I've told the story of the first time we fed these ducks. We found them last winter right after a huge snowstorm. Everything was a sea of white. I stayed in the car with the heater and a newspaper and the kids got out and started running around throwing bread. For just a moment I looked up from my reading and surveyed the landscape. All of a sudden it occurred to me that the perfectly flat round area the kids were running across was not an empty field but a body of water.

The moment I realized it, Megan was literally in the very middle of the pond, Brookelynn was on the shore and Chase was near the shore. While, obviously, from my ice fishing posts you are aware that whole lakes freeze over quite nicely in this region, this particular incident was rather early in the season.

As soon as the light bulb went off in my head I tore open the car door and screamed, "You're on a pond. Get off the ice!!!" Ironically, Megan made it safely from the middle to the shore...but Chase fell through the ice just a few feet from shore. Thank goodness the water was only about chest level where he fell in. After a lot of screaming and ripping every shred of clothing off his body he did manage to warm up. I don't think I had the heart to write about it on here right after it happened. It may be one of the scariest things that has ever happened to us!

Spring Creek

Just a few pictures of the Ruby mountains just south of Elko. At the base of these mountains is the little town we may end up living. So many around here complain that Elko is ugly...While it's true that there is a whole lot of sage brush and very few trees, I think the mountains are simply breathtaking!

More Ice Fishing Pics

These are from another ice fishing outing...and this time they got to sled down a hill and onto the ice AND they caught a fish (a rainbow trout according to Brookelynn)! Good times.

A Proud Moment

I'm well aware that bragging on myself like this is not very kosher. But I worked my butt off this semester for these grades and am having a proud moment...

Ice Fishing

Beau and Rocco

Rocco

Beau and the kids have done some ice fishing the past few weeks. They love it and so does our big lug of a dog, Rocco!