Defying Gravity...

Maddie put her Halloween costume on tonight for a school party. I tried to convince her not to do the green paint tonight but she wanted the "works". If you haven't noticed yet, Maddie is not just any ordinary witch, she is "Elphaba" from "Wicked". Ever since Maddie saw Wicked she has been obsessed. When Maddie gets obsessed with something she goes a little overboard! She listens to the CD every night and loves to sing along. We have disovered that she actually has a pretty good voice! She is talking about singing one of the songs for the Talent show at school. I promise I am not one of those Mom's who eggs it on! She says she wants to be an actress and go live where the stars are on the sidewalk! (I don't know where she picked that up). She wants to be the "real" Elphaba someday on Broadway. For now we'll just pretend... and maybe she'll grow out of it!

Don't mess with Texas!

Okay, so it has been a little while since I have blogged, but I have been busy catching up on things since I spent 4 whole days away from my family! Don't get me wrong, I love my husband and my kids, but a mom needs a break once and a while, and I have never really had one since Maddie was born (almost 6 years ago!) So last Thursday I said goodbye to my kids and Chris... and I took off to Texas with my Mom to surprise my sister, Heather for her 30th birthday. It was hard to get away but I did it, Chris had to take a couple days off work, I had to give all kinds of instructions for Chris to know what time the kids needed to be dropped of at school and picked up at Preschool, and then there is homework and dinner and baths and making lunches. And the list goes on! I even set out the kids clothes for church. Chris did a superb job and I think he was a little nervous! He even said he would do again next year!

So back to my trip. It was so nice being able to relax on the plane and not have to worry about anyone but myself. I was not used to it, so it felt weird. By the time we got to Heather's it was 1:00 am. She was so shocked, I wish I had it on video. She had fallen asleep on the couch and when she got up and saw us she looked as pale as a white sheet and then she fell on the floor and laid there for a few seconds. It was so much fun we didn't go to bed until 3 or 4 am.

I had a great time in Texas. It was my first time being there! The weather had just cooled off so it was wonderful. I loved all the beautiful trees and the friendly people. Texas is very different from California and in a good way. I was surprised to see so many wholesome family oriented people, I didn't see too many wild and crazies like we do in Cali. I love all the beautiful brick homes. In California everything is stucco. People are so much more respectful too, everyone says Ma'am and Sir. In Texas they have a Sonic on every street corner! Although it is not enough for me to move there! I do love California!

It was wonderful to see Jeff and Janelle and their kids too. I can't believe how much they have grown up. I had fun enjoying all my nieces and nephews without my own kids there. It was nice when we all went out to eat and they where all worrying about there kids, I just sat back and said, "Just me, myself and I!" Now that was nice!

Well it all ended too fast but we came home to crazy winds and terrible smoke from all the fires. The pilot had some trouble landing and I thought I wasn't going to see my kids again. Everyone on the plane looked at me like I was crazy. I was glad to be on the ground when we landed. I was so excited to see Chris and the kids. Sawyer wasn't as excited to see me as I thought he'd be. I think he was holding a grudge against me for leaving him. After 10 minutes he got cute and smiley though. The kids had a great time with Daddy but were glad to have mommy home again! Its good to be back but I already want another break!!!

This was after we sang Happy Birthday to Heather. Sorry about the flash in the mirror!

The Texas Cousins (they are now referred to) minus Collin (he didn't make it in the picture!)

Disneyland in October

On October 11 we went to Disneyland with our friends the Guest's from Utah. Chris and Wayne were companions on their missions in Argentina. They have 3 kids the exact same ages as our kids so it was lots of fun! The weather was really nice and the kids had a great time with their new friends! Maddie even had a little crush on Riley, the boy her age! She kept trying to hold his hand and go on rides with him. We are going to be in for some fun teenage years!

It was pretty funny because it looked like Mormon day at Disneyland. Our friends came down for a little vacation because they had a week off of school for teacher inservice. Well apparently the entire state of Utah had the week off! We go to Disneyland a lot and of course we always see several BYU hats or CTR rings but that day was way more than usual! It was pretty weird!

Here are a few pictures of our day at Disneyland.

Just Bloggin...

I thought I'd post something today, even though I don't have much exciting going on! I think this is my first post without a picture. I am so excited about our new Jones Girls Recipe club blog. I saw the idea somewhere else and just loved it. Those of you who know the Jones family we love to cook, and eat too! We are constantly calling each other for recipes and Mom and I even put a little cookbook together once with all of our family recipes that we grew up with. Mine is completely unbound and the pages are all dirty. I know Chris lost his, so I love the idea of a sort of virtual cookbook. We can each contribute our recipes to a blog and then eventually we will have hundreds on there. So when you want a good recipe, come to our blog and look around! Here is the link jonesgirlsrecipeclub.blogspot.com . There is a link on my blog as well. We're just getting the ball rolling, so check back often!

We had a good day today! Carter, Sawyer and I went to the park with some friends. Carter had a blast, Sawyer kept putting things in his mouth, the worst was a used band-aid, of course it was the worst part of the bandaid, the part you put on the ouchie. So I am just crossing my fingers that Sawyer doesn't come down with Hepatitis or HIV. I'm sure he'll be fine, it didn't have any blood on it. I'm sure I would have freaked out a lot more if it were my first child!

So our weather is getting really Fallish. Today was cool and overcast, I love it! It made me in a chicken soup mood, so I whipped up a batch of homemade chicken noodle soup with homemade noodles. (I'll put an entry on the recipe club blog). It was delicious!

Chris took Maddie and Carter to a movie tonight so it has been so nice having the house all to myself (and Sawyer but I just put him to bed!). I think I'll have a diet coke and watch some shows I have TiVo-ed.

Ventura Beach... Again!

Daddy has been going out of town a lot lately, he has been working in Ventura and Santa Barbara. We miss him so much when he goes! Maddie had a day off of school yesterday so we decided to go up to stay with Daddy on Sunday night and do some fun things on Monday while Daddy was at work. We had a great time. Our hotel was right on the beach and we got to stay on the 9th floor so we had an awesome view of the ocean! Here are some pictures of Sawyer and Carter and Maddie on our balcony. On Monday morning we went out to the beach and the weather was wonderful. It was about 80 degrees which is unusual this time of year especially in Ventura. We played in the sand and Maddie even went in the water (I thought it was a little too chilly) and Sawyer enjoyed getting his feet wet, he got a little more than his feet wet a few times! He didn't seem to mind though! We went back to our hotel room and Sawyer took a nap while we got ready and played for a couple of hours. The kids were sooo good! They were just so excited to be in a hotel! When Sawyer woke up we decided to go get some lunch and find something fun to do. We found a real pumpkin patch on our way! Being a city girl, I don't think I had ever been to a real pumpkin patch! The kids of course hadn't either, unless the ones on the street corner with the lights and the carnival rides count! We had a blast! They had rows and rows of pumpkins and big humongous ones too! We got to go on a hay ride pulled by a real tractor, which thrilled Carter, he even got to get in the driver's seat to take a picture. Then the kids each picked out their very own pumpkin. We had a great time. By the time we got back to the hotel, it was time for Daddy to come back from work. We drove up to Santa Barbara with Daddy and walked down the pier and saw the beautiful sunset. What a gorgeous place!! We ate dinner and then it was time to go home. We were sad to leave Daddy again but he will be back on Wednesday. The kids got in their jammies and fell asleep on the 2 hour ride home. What a fun day! Now back to life....

Ventura Beach in September

Sorry I haven't blogged in a while, I have been so busy and haven't been taking pictures. A couple of weekends ago we spent a fun day at Ventura beach. We didn't go to the beach very much this past Summer so it was kinda nice to get one last beach day in before it gets too cold. Surprisingly it was a beautiful warm day and the kids had a blast. Maddie loves the water and is already a regular beach bum! Carter is a little more cautious and eventually got his feet wet. The water was pretty cold! Sawyer had a great time playing on the sand and getting dirty. We had a great day and we drove up to Santa Barbara after to see the sights up there. What a beautiful place! Enjoy the slide show!