My Heart

my Greasers

Last night was my first Special Needs production.

I am so glad that it won't be my last. The nervous energy was palpable! We had so much fun but here is the part that sticks with me....

After our dance (Grease) I snuck into the auditorium to take a peek. I haven't seen the full play yet because I am in charge of many people. The place was packed. The love from the audience was audible. Every year there is a boy that does push ups no matter what dance he is in. As he was doing his push ups people from the audience were yelling his name, cheering him on. After the play was over and he was walking to the car I noticed all the back slaps from boys that couldn't be older than 18 telling him how awesome his push ups were.

While I was on stage all I could hear were people yelling the names of people in my dance. It fills my heart that people come and support us. There is a girl that is mostly deaf and she was trying to sign to me that she could hear her family calling her name. She tried to tell me that she was so embarrassed but she was glowing with pride and I didn't believe her.

this caveman can do 35 pushups!

 Backstage I had the time of my life listening to everyone encouraging one another, telling them what a great job they did or good luck. In my group I have one of the Hansen twins. Three decades ago they were born conjoined at the head, one is in a wheelchair and the other is partially paralysed. When we came out for curtain call she pulled another person from our group with her who is quiet and doesn't dance much and convinced her that she needed to twirl in her poodle skirt. She told me "you only get to wear a poodle skirt twice this year, you need to show it off!". The two of them did their twirl and were in their own slice of Broadway for less than a minute. They loved it, I loved watching them.

 All the costumes were hand made by a group of talented seamstresses. The stage crew is there voluntarily. The scenery done by the leaders. Nobody takes a dime home. I'm taking my camera tonight to get pictures of everyone in their full gear which I will post tonight...

Thank you to all my great friends and family who came to support me but fell in love with the Special needs kids. Tonight we are expecting a full house!

me with the star of the show...Jeff Weston

San Diego Zoo

Remember how I said we had 410 pictures? Well 300 of them are from the zoo and only 4 have my kids in them. Yes, Jeff took all the pictures. Yes, he took pictures of animals that you can google. That's why I love him. Em and the zoo go hand in hand, she had so much fun. She was so surprised that she saw only one Magpie in California and it was at the zoo. Glad I nixed the BB gun from her packing list.

 We got pictures of every bird ever made

Garrett loved the snakes and reptiles 

Abby wants a chameleon.

 Here they are eating ice cream...we needed to boost their blood sugars after all that walking. It was a little chilly that day and the ice cream didn't help.

This picture doesn't show it but Garrett just threw a bit of a tantrum. It was pre ice cream.

We loved the zoo. If you want to see it I have pictures of every animal. Every animal folks!

Nancy Kerrigan

I'm downloading pictures from our trip right now and guess how many there are? 410! I love my camera.  I'll start out with the only trauma that happened....I was heading up some outdoor cement stairs and my toe got caught on the bottom of my PJ's. Since I am so graceful I fell up the stairs banging my shin on the edge of the stair. No biggie right? There is a knot bigger than my knee right below my knee and now my leg has all sorts of colors running from the knot clear down to my ankles. Just in time for the Special Needs Production that runs on Thursday and Friday night. Yes, I'll be in a dress. The only thought that ran through my mind was the Nancy Kerrigan "whhhyyyyyy" when Tonya Harding hit her with a lead pipe.

It was an eventful trip for Garrett when he got proposed to. We all laughed and cheered when he said "yes" and he was so embarrassed he started to sweat.

I will post pictures by tomorrow but right now I am having anxiety over unpacking and laundry.

Mostly I'm having anxiety over being in a play and having to dance. I probably should start practicing in the mirror. 

my ego...

Everyone needs one of these for their ego....

Last night I was getting mad at Gil because he kept dinkin around when he should have been sleeping. After a stern "go to sleep" from me (Jeff laughs at my stern voice) he said he needed to pray to calm down. Here is his prayer:

Garrett: Heavenly Father, thank you for making Jodi Jones. I love her. Amen.

At which I had to leave the room cause I was laughing so hard but had to maintain my sternness.

Please don't grow up Gilly

Brilliant Blue G

nice

Froggin

These pictures speak for themselves. Thank goodness Sadly, they didn't catch a frog.

Things that fill my heart part 1

Family update for those of our family that are across the country and across the ocean.

This is Gilly after he won this shirt at school. He also likes to post gang signs whenever he can. This kid hilarious. Every time I make mashed potatoes and gravy with rolls (twice a week) he tells me that I'm the "best cooker ever" and "mom, you should get a job at a restaurant cause you cook so good". Anyone who has had my cooking knows that isn't the case. Jeff has taught him to call me "pretty mama" and I laugh every time Gilly says, "Dad, we suuuuure love our pretty mama don't we?". Who wouldn't love that?

Emily. There are few things about this kid that don't make me smile. She carries around a bird guide and binoculars. Right now she can't wait to catch a frog, we go frogging on warm days. She loves trains, she can tell the difference between an SD70 Ace and an SD90 Mac.

My almost teenager Abby. The ups and downs have started. She is a fantastic girl that loves art. And her wiener dog. She is starting to find her own style and she is a great teacher. Right now she's trying to show Em how to draw dragons. And her addiction to Pepsi is almost as bad as my addiction to Mt. Dew.

 This is her with her hair curled. I love when she wants her hair curled!

 Maggie the Wiener

she eats poo and is pretty much a glorified pillow

but a part of our family none the less

I love this dog! This is Molly. She's Em's pup and besides ruining our backyard with her feces she is the perfect dog. On hot days she lays in the pond. Pretty much all of the Koi are dead. 

Em being her silly self eating jalapeno string cheese.

 Ahh, Jeff. I couldn't be luckier. In this picture he is showing Gilly how to spackle. I'm so glad that he has turned Garrett into his apprentice. They do everything together. Every project (and there are many) he includes Gilly and teaches him the little secrets to doing things correctly.

 We call these two Dip and Dot.

There are so many more pictures to post but these were a few of my favorites. 

Things that fill my heart part 2

On my birthday I got the best call ever. It was my friend from my Special Needs ward. They wondered if I would be interested in doing a photo shoot for the Ensign. Its a story about a girl with health problems who loses herself in service for Special Needs. Hmmmm....sounds familiar! Look for it June.

 This is my friend Dave. We are putting on a Production that will run at Layton High in April. He's part of my dance group, this guy can dance!

                                                                               

This is my group. We will be doing a number to Grease is The Word.

These are my other special friends. I love them dearly and they add so much to my life. This is us celebrating Birthdays in March.

And if you can't tell...I figured out how to get the pictures off my camera!

Grandma is here

I'm going to be a Grandma!!! No not Abby (she's 12) my oldest son/half brother. I am so excited for Johnica!

Yay for the floating baby!

I've noticed when your uterus gets cobwebs you love babies even more. I could never ever have another myself, even though Garrett begs for a brother, so this is as close as I'm going to get. The best part about being Grandma is I get to sleep all night and I don't have to buy diapers. I am going to spoil that little stinker though.

For my one reader (the other one already knows this) John is my brother that I love like a son. Jeff and John are best buddies/farmers and I couldn't ask for a better son. Well, I could cause I have Gilly and he likes to call me Pretty Mama and if John ever called me that I don't think it would be as cute. Plus when Gill farts I think its cute, when John does I run for the Febreeze and I don't think its as cute cause my eyes water.

broken foot and the circle of life

Today started out great: a funeral. I know your probably thinking that's not a great way to start your day and I'm going to say that you don't know my family. Being around my grandma Lona was like being wrapped up in a big cozy blanket on a cold, wintery day. Only she was a blanket with beautiful blue eyes. My grandma died some time ago, today's funeral was her sister. She came from a pretty big family so seeing all her siblings kind of stops you in your tracks. Well during the funeral I leaned over and told my sister how my friend directs the music in church and uses a wand with a pointer finger and if your not singing she'll point at you. Which is kinda funny but during a funeral it was the one liner that cracked us up. I should do stand up at funerals. Any joke (as long as its tasteful) goes over well cause you need a tension breaker. So here I am rambling and I'm not even to the good part of the story. Emily.

Emily didn't really have anything to do with the funeral but when you have been to a funeral your day is kind of messed up because you don't get your nap are thinking of the circle of life and all. Plus is it normal during funerals to plan your own? My sister and I made a pact to make sure each others is closed casket. I told her I'm going to bury her with her running shoes on and nothing else if she dies first. I'm passive aggressive like that, make sure your on my good side. Plus I wonder what embalming fluid does to your boobs cause mine are looking like warm jell-o at this point in my life. If I could put some embalming fluid in my boobs it might just make them less jell-oey.  On that subject I bought a new bra and they accidentally gave me a push up one. 5 words: warm jell-o on a shelf. Its not a sight to see.  Sorry, back to Emily.....

Em gets home and is hopping on one foot and says we need to have a private conversation.

She rips off her shoe to show me a swollen foot.

Someone pushed her she says ( I don't know why it needs to be private)

We rush into get it xa-rayed.

It has a small break.

Now she is walking around like a pirate in her walking boot.

She loves every second of it though.

Yes, the pictures are coming soon.

Can someone show me how to work this blasted camera?

Let me take this opportunity to update my blog....

Hello old friend.

I have severely neglected this piece of my life. Let me explain. After what happened in November I feel like I have lost my funny.

Thats bad.

But slowly, oh so slowly, I am getting it back.

Maybe its the winter blues and now that my spring flowers are peeking out its slowly getting better.

There are lots of things that need to be blogged about.

Abby's Birthday

my new camera

me becoming a celebrity

The swear Nazi

up coming vacations

and much more.

This is all pending me figuring out how to upload pictures from my new camera. As soon as that happens I will post again.

Thanks for being patient

Drugs and the conversations that go with them

Abby is learning about all kinds of drugs in 6th grade.

For one of her homework assignments she had to teach the family about them and come up with

a family rule.

Here is the conversation that ensued:

Abby: The first thing is tobacco (this is pretty much all Abby gets to say in this conversation)

Jeff: Do you know what tobacco is?

Emily: Oh, I know. Isn't it some sauce that's spicy? Or something like that.

Jeff: No, its whats in cigarettes and it causes cancer. You know Grandma? She's had cancer (and an extremely long winded Jeff continues to go off on a small tangent about how cancer affected his family. I sympathize but I've also noticed the clock and how we are 15 minutes past bedtime. I start to sweat a little in my armpits thinking about bedtime and how if they don't go to bed on time they wont wake up happy and there goes my day).

Emily: So Grandma used to smoke?

Me: NoGrandmadidn'tusedtosmokeletsmoveon.
Jeff: No, Grandma didn't used to smoke, all kinds of people can get cancer. Lets move on.

Garrett raises his hand

Garrett: Uh, dad, what did you used to play with when you were a kid? Were you ever bored?

Me: (under my breath) crap

Jeff: I was NEVER bored. I played trains or built forts. I played soccer or with my horses. I played with my trucks and diggers..........(it goes on and on but for the sake of a lengthy post we'll stop)

Me: Well, well. Lookie here. Wasn't he lucky? The only toy I got to play with is the cat poop in the sand box. Well, that and a stick if I was lucky.

Garrett: (rubbing my back) Mom, I feel so sad for you. Your only toy was poop?

Me: Abby whats next?

Abby: Alcohol is next, it kills brain cells

Garrett: What is a brain cell?

Emily: a cell is this little thing that has its own brain. Like when you itch your head and you have dandruff, thats dead cells.

Garrett: So alcohol is going to give me DANDRUFF? (horrified)

Jeff: Well, let me tell you a story about alcohol...............

And it went on. Me feeling guilty for rushing this very important conversation. But seriously? If I didn't hear kids sleeping soon I was going to have my own alcohol story.

I decided to take a xanax and let the conversation flow...just kidding. I didn't have the energy to walk into the bathroom to get one.

Drugs...a very interesting topic at the Jones household.

PS...in all reality we decided to continue the homework assignment when time was on our side, like tomorrow evening at 6. With Jeff-ipedia we need a few hours.

gill

In all the Holiday hustle and bustle my baby celebrated his 7th Birthday

Where would one go for their Birthday dinner? Well if its Gilly then we'll be at Sizzler. He wipes that place out of cubed ham and watermelon every time we go. When I asked him what kind of cake he wanted he couldn't make up his mind. He was with me at the grocery store and when I saw the price quality of their cakes I said, in a serious fashion, "Geez, for that we could buy you that remote control helicopter you wanted." Thats all it took for him to choose a small cake at a much smaller price. He really isn't a big cake eater...okay, he is but he sure likes his helicopter. Besides, they have a dessert bar at Sizzler.

And see this train? This was SUPPOSED to be his Birthday present but because of shipping matters we had to switch Christmas with Birthday. Jeff and Gil are quite obsessed with trains right now. They spend hours setting up, cleaning, making track. And we even had my brother who is an artist paint graffiti on some box cars. I like his cute little head poking out to check the speed of the train.

 From his silliness to his love of sports. From him still needing his mama to being just like his dad. His one armed push ups, his pronouncing words a little bit wrong (Louie is the wii), trying to be like the big boys and everything in between, I love this kid.

New Years

This New Years Eve we had a great time. We pulled out the Raclette (I didn't get pictures of that because I kind of forgot to get the camera out). We then progressed to some New Years activities. The kids picked out some dinosaurs to dig out. They were intent on staying up till midnight. I was intent on turning the clocks back 2 hours because I didn't want to deal with ornery kids the next day.

We thankfully had Sadie with us

Gil working on his T-Rex

They found some rubber gloves so they wouldn't get their hands dirty

At 11:30 (9:30) we went out and lit sparklers

Blew the air horn

lit more sparklers

and had hot chocolate afterward thanks to my new hot chocolate maker

Happy 2011

The greatest part of the night was when we tricked the kids that it was really midnight....there was a car commercial on with a times square ball dropping. We yelled "Look! the ball is dropping!" and quickly averted their attention so they wouldn't notice that it was a commercial. I was snuggly tucked into bed with my book by the time the real 12:00 rolled around. I know it won't always be this easy.

Actual text from Jeff

This came in while I was taking a mommmy break with some friends

"Em started reading the Bible, Abby has a cough and Gilly prayed "Heavenly Father, please bless mom will come home."



I love my life.