Thanksgiving pictures with the Thulins!

Yes, finally I am able to post some Thanksgiving pictures!! Stephen's cousin, Daniel and his wife, Iris, and their baby, Bradley came from St. Louis to celebrate with us! We had a great time and ate great food! I made sure to put a cute picture in here of Bradley, just for you, Barb!!

Twilight

I finally saw it! It was so weird seeing it (the things that I had read) as a movie! Overall, I really liked it and thought they did the best they could considering how much stuff is in the book. I felt Bella was perfect. She played her part well as a boring person! I did not like Edward at first, but by the end, I loved him. I liked how they let him show some humor. I loved Alice! I thought she was perfect. I also thought Rosalie was a good pick too. Emmett was good. However, the guy playing Jasper needs some serious acting lessons. What was up with his "deer in the headlights" look? He did get better when he loosened up. Esme was fine and Carlisle was good, but I pictured Carlisle as older, so it was a shock when he was so young. I found out though that Carlisle is supposed to be only 23! Jacob was a good pick. I did not like his nose though! Oh, and Victoria and James were perfect!!! They even scared me! I can't wait for the next movie!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am going to list the things I am thankful for this year! I saw this on Jackie Malone's blog and loved it!

1. I am thankful for my husband, Stephen. He is working really hard in school and at home to keep me happy!
2. I am thankful that all of my kids are healthy and relatively happy! We're still trying to convince Derek that Topeka is not that bad!
3. I am thankful that we have teenagers that live near us that babysit!
4. I am thankful for student loans!
5. I am thankful for our ward! They have been very nice and made us feel welcome!
6. I am thankful for my parents and Stephen's parents! They are such a huge support for us! We can't wait to see all of our family at Christmas!
7. I am thankful for my sisters and sister-in-laws and all of my good friends!
8. I am thankful for pilates. This time they are really working!
9.I am thankful for food! I can't wait for the turkey gravy and mashed potatoes!
10. I am thankful for books!

The End

Lindsay's mouse viewpoint!

I know you are all thinking about how gross it is to have a mouse in your house!! I feel that way too!!!!!!!!!! They are so smart too! We tried everything! Like the poisoned mouse food, the little black traps, the sticky traps with cheese in the middle! NOTHING WORKED! The only way we could get rid of our mouse was to try and catch it! Like Stephen said, every single day, I would open the vacuum closet and pick up the vacuum and shake it and nothing happened! So, when I went to vacuum the floor, you can imagine the HORROR of that sound and the streak on the carpet! Now I know you're all thinking, "I would never use that vacuum again." or "I will never sit down on Lindsay's carpet again!" I do not blame you! However, we are broke! Christmas is coming and we are going to Az for Christmas! So, that is why Stephen used the shop-vac (which I think actually worked really well) I'm not sure about the vacuum. We will let you know! Good luck, Stephen!

Lindsay Killed Mickey Mouse.

It is with a very heavy heart that I report the death of our beloved pet Mickey Mouse. He was a very good mouse, one of the best. The kids loved to watch him sneak out from under the fridge to look around our house early in the morning to find and scavenge for food. We caught him once and released him out into the wild. He came back a second time. I guess he loved the companionship of our kids and our furnace. Last night at about 4:30 PM we were preparing our home for a guest. We were going through the last of the pre-arrival routine. You know making the kids stop beating each other, doing the dishes and setting the table. I was in the kitchen hastily making crappy gravy(never use a new pan to make gravy), and Lindsay had pulled out our vacuum cleaner. Now I think you all know where I am going with this story. We knew that the mouse had been seen by the vacuum in the past. Last week when the Kerby Vacuum sales person wanted to see our current vacuum, don't ask, Lindsay pulled the vacuum out and Mickey ran like the dickens. Every now and again we would open the hall closet and shake the vacuum to see if Mickey was there. He did not run out so we assumed that he was not there. Well as Lindsay turned on the vacuum we all heard a bad noise. Lindsay did not know it was the mouse stuck in the roller until she pulled the vacuum back revealing a bloody streak on the carpet. I knew what it was when I heard Lindsay's scream. It was not good. All the kids were in the room and they knew what it was and that Mom screaming was not good. How do you explain to the kids that Mom just killed the mouse we had been trying to catch for the last two days. I had to take the vacuum out side, and will be cleaning it later today. We then sprayed the "offending spot", we all know that I am talking about the mouse carcass emblazoned in crimson on the floor, with resolve. I then boiled about two gallons of water and deeply sanitized the "spot" finishing it off by shop vac'ing it out. Oh the joys of Sunday in Kansas. So please inform your children that when you visit Disneyland they should not expect to see the beloved rodent, for he is forever enshrined into my carpet and vacuum. Mickey you will be missed.

Happy Halloween!

We had a great Halloween! The weather was perfect! Just a tad chill in the air! Ben was Tigger and carried Derek's sword around all night instead of a bucket. Derek was a pirate. Jillian was Snow White or (princess)! Austin, of course, was a blue power ranger. If you don't know, the color of the power ranger determines what type of ranger you are, so it is way different than the red power ranger he was last year!! He wanted to go trick or treating with friends and by themselves! Yeah, right! After trick or treating, we went home to pass out more candy, eat popcorn and watch a movie! It was a blast!

Garage Sale Find of the Year!

The seller had a sign taped on it that said, "Sells for $500 at Hobby Lobby, $40 OBO!" Were they crazy? I only paid $30.00 for it! It's in perfect condition! Yay, me!

The story still makes me laugh.

I have been thinking alot about this very funny story that happened when I was in High School. I would like to tell you about it. Todd Gale if you are reading this I apologize. Let me set the stage. I was in Mrs. Cameron's creative writing class. This was a great class. I was in there with Todd Gale and Bubba Mow. We got to write about anything we wanted to, all we had to do was write in our journal and share with the class one or two writings a week. This was normally done on Fridays. On the average day she would give us about ten minutes to write in the daily journal. As I have said before we could write whatever we wanted to. I loved to write about the girl I was in love with "Lindsay Anderson", songs I liked, or how Mesa High football rocked. I would just rant on about anything. Most times it did not mean anything. Well on this Friday I was ready to read and was looking over my journal entries. There was "that" girl. She was what I would call grungy and a twig eater. She got up and was really getting into her poem. She was swearing and using the "F" word in class. The only person I can compare her to is Lloyd Dobler's female friend in "Say Anything" who wrote 65 songs, 65 songs about Joe and pain. Well Mrs. Cameron loved it, she was also really getting into the poem. And then just like that it was over. The next person was Todd Gale. He was shocked and looked through his works for something good to share. He turned to Bubba and me and asked if we had anything. I said I could just give you a page from my journal. He quickly accepted it and was off. He got up in front of the class and started to read what I had written. I quote "Day after day, night after night loneliness creeps in my window, she like the dark turns off the light rehearsing a kiss on her pillow. She cries, all in a day's work." The room was still, no one could believe that Todd could produce such work, let alone Mrs. Cameron. Everyone in the class was really impressed, then Mrs. Cameron asked Todd if he wrote that. Not wanting to get in trouble and say that I gave him the poem said he did in fact write the words he had just read. She then said that what he just read sounded like a song. Todd said no, then she said yes I think it is a song. It was at this time I think Todd heard both Bubbba and me laughing behind him. He said he had been listening to a lot of music this week and maybe that was how he had copied a STYX song in his journal. He was, needless to say, very mad at me. I on the other hand, thought it was the funniest thing I had every seen. It still makes me laugh fifteen years later. Thanks Todd and Bubba.
P.S. That song is one of the best ever.

Friends!

Mindi Hall and Karen Turley came to visit me this past weekend! It was so great! I will post a picture as soon as Stephen gets home! They got to my house around noon on Friday, and we just hung out and talked and talked some more! Stephen got home early, and we got a babysitter so that all four of us could go out! We had heard some good things about Via's pizzeria, so we tried it. The pizza was really good! We were happy! We talked there for a little over 2 hours. Then I took them to my new favorite custard shop, Sheridan's. Sadly, it was freezing outside, so I'm not sure they enjoyed it much! Then we went to see "Get Smart." Mindi had already seen it and liked it. The rest of us loved it! It was hilarious! On Saturday, Stephen took the 3 oldest to a Washburn football game. They had a great time! Mindi, Karen, Ben and I went to the mall, of course! We found some great deals! Mindi should be a professional shopper! She knows how to find stuff! We went to Hobby Lobby because Mindi wanted Karen and me to make this Halloween craft that she had just done. It was very easy and way cute! While we were making this craft, we were talking, of course, and it came out that Stephen had changed his political party to Democrat. Karen was blown away!! She could not believe it! She also said that Geoff is going to have a hernia! They had a great debate! Karen texted Geoff about Stephen and he was so violently upset that Karen had to tell him it was a joke! Geoff, if you're reading this, please stay our friend! After the craft, we watched "The Notebook." Stephen and I had not seen it. We now belong to the cult that loves this movie! Stephen even teared up during it! I love Karen and Mindi! Even if we haven't talked for a couple of months, when we do get in touch, it is just like old times! Thank you guys for coming, it made my year!!!!

She is the Best..

I do not have a lot of time. I just wanted to give a little update on the Joneses in Topeka. I got a ticket. Still driving without my registration. I don't think I am going to like what is about to happen with this whole car thing. I am pretty sure that I should have left the crappy thing in Utah.
That being said Lindsay got a new calling in the ward. As if being my spouse was not enough, she is the new second counselor in the Relief Society. She is a really good person for this. I know that she will do a great job. If only I could do more for her, and by that I mean if I could just do something. She should have know what she was getting into ten years ago. Well other than Derek starting to like, very grudgingly, Kansas all is well. He still calls Kansas "this stupid place". All the other kids are doing great. Be good.

The gallon of Milk.

I must confess the mishap that befell me last night. Let me set the scene. For the last few days I have been on deaths door. For that means I have had a cold. I do not handle being sick very well. For me and my kind it is called the "man flu". It can be fatal. Well last night at about ten o'clock I was wondering around the kitchen foraging for something to eat. I was at a loss because Lindsay was asleep with two of the children. I had been coughing or as Lindsay would call it hacking up a lung almost all night. I found out that she was awake with Ben. He did not want to go to sleep. Lindsay was now done with her husband and made me take six ounces of the most foul substance known to man. This is what they are giving to the terrorists in Abeu Grab. Its bad. But it is supposed to put you to sleep and stop your coughing. That is really what I was looking for. Fast forward two hours. It is now midnight and the Dodgers game is now over, they lost. Yeah. I am in the kitchen turning over the family night brownie pan with my knuckles looking for small crumbs. As I was licking the plate clean I had a flash of brilliance. MILK. I needed a big cold glass of milk and then I could got to bed. Now all I had to do was find the cups. Not that hard to do, however, I was high on cheap NyQuil. So of course I took the milk out, took the lid off and set the open milk on the top of the freezer. We have a fridge with the freezer on the bottom. It has a nice shelf to place milk on. That is what I did and was going to get the cup. Well there is a reason why we don't put milk on the shelf. Because the milk will fall off. That milk hit the ground so fast I could not catch it. Besides all that it went everywhere. It shot like thirty feet across the room on to the other wall. I could hear the milk rushing out and the air rushing in. My first thought was to leave it and then blame it on one of my kids. They are very young and I was pretty sure I could get Austin to help me blame it on Jillian, she is only two. My kids are always spilling crap like this. Alas my conscious got the better off me and ten minutes and a roll of paper towels later I was able to clean it up. I drank the milk and went to bed. It was here that I was rudely awakened by a very large spider crawling on my arm. It was huge about five inches long a very hairy. It freaked me out. I got up woke up Lindsay and told her to get out of the bed. To which I was told that the room was pitch black and could not see anything and that I was having my dream again. I do this about once a week. It used to freak her out now she just tells me to go back to bed. Cheap NyQuil must make the spider hairy.

Sarah Palin?????????????

I do not know what to do with this person. As I said a few posts ago, I was at one time a rabid Republican and thought that party politics was by far the most important thing in the world. I have come to really despise that idea. I understand being pragmatic about something. Do I really need to like something because my party does. Well shortly after the 2006 election I left the Republican party, or the Republican party left me.J/K I love it when people say that, I think its funny. I was living in Utah at the time and if you are a Republican in that state you have no voice. Stop throwing things at me Utah Republicans. By this I mean if you ran a dirty sock against a well qualified Democrat, and there are so few of those, the sock would win in a landslide. That is true by the way, they have a mayor in a small town who is a sock. How can I effectuate any kind of meaningful change in a state where 80% of the people are going to vote the same way no matter what? Now it is not my desire to knock Utah, Massachusetts is the exact same way just to the other extreme. So I became a Democrat so I could get my fathers goat in the Sunday night debates. More importantly I wanted to stick it to the Party that I thought had lost its way. If I was a small government guy my only choice was the Republican party. When they grow the government larger than ever before, where can I turn? I know, lets have debate, maybe we can fix the problem from the inside. At least that's what the gunner from my Property class would say. The correct answer is NO NO NO. I turn to the enemy of my former party and show them that my vote can not be taken for granted. The only way to punish a party is to deprive it of the one thing it wants. Power. Anyways I watched some of the debate last night. Now, I think I am going to vote for John McCain, I think. I just don't know what to think about Palin. Now I am not saying that I dislike her. I just don't know how to come down on the subject. The thing that really leaves me cold in the whole process is what the other side says the other side is saying. According to the Democrats, John McCain wants to drill offshore for oil so he can take away the control of a women's body and eat little children for lunch in one of his 35 homes all while worshiping baphomet in the basement of the Church of Scientology with Tom Cruise. And according to the Republicans Obama wants to kill all the unborn children in the US, bronze them and give them to Kim Jong Il along with the sovereignty of the United States. And if I hear that "this could be the most important election in my life" again I may actually vomit. How many times can you say the same thing. This may be the most important bite you ever take, would get really annoying at thanksgiving. It just drives me crazy. If there is one thing that makes me more mad than private blogs it is Politics. Chad this was for you, sorry I mean Bishop.

New Baby!

No, not me!! Ha, Ha! Kristen and Seth had their third baby girl on Saturday night! She was born at 5:06 p.m. She was 7 lbs. 2 oz. and 20 inches long! So far, her hair is blonde and her name is still undecided! I will let you know as soon as I find out. Kristen and the baby are doing well!

The Markets.....

Is there anyone else who is scared about these developments? The real problem is that the left and the press have been crying wolf for the last eight years to try and make President Bush look really bad. How can we believe it now, other then the fact that it is the Bush administration that is saying it now. I do not know what is going to happen and that scares me the most. I am, however, pessimistic by nature and almost always see the bad in any given situation. What would a meltdown of the financial markets of the world mean? I guess on Wednesday we were about two days from a seizing up of the markets. That is not good. I think it is ridiculous for the politicians to play politics with this situation. The posturing on both sides is ridiculous. I heard a Republican Senator say that if Wall St. crashed it would not mean much for the average tax payer. This is the guy who makes the rules in this country. If he wants to say "Listen I am a conservative and believe the markets are the final authority and will work themselves out in a few years." That is one thing, I may not agree with him but I can respect his view. But to say something as stupid as what he did to show that he does not even understand the economy is just moronic. I do not have the answers and I am not saying that one person is right or wrong, there are very smart people on both sides, but to say that it does not exist is not the right answer. I think there will be lots of incumbents on both sides losing their jobs this November. Maybe Brian has the right plan, If your sixty-nine, you will be fine! That would loosen the load.

Random pictures of cute kids!

Jillian Jones

Here are a couple of cute pictures of Jillian. Today at church, she was wearing a yellow and white dress. After getting out of the car, she went up to the car next to us and used the front of her dress to "clean" the car!! Yup, right before walking into the building!! Gotta love little girls!

The Winter Quarters Temple

A week ago, I was able to go on an overnight temple trip with my new ward. I was a little leery because I was sharing a room and a bed! Have you ever had to share a bed with someone you don't know before? Well, it wasn't bad at all! We left Topeka at about 2:30 in the afternoon on Friday. It takes 3 hours to get there. The drive was beautiful. The scenery is fields and hills! The temple is in Omaha, Nebraska. After dinner, we headed to the temple for one session. In the morning, we all did two more sessions, went to lunch and drove home! It was my first time to a small temple. It is small, but beautiful! There is lots of stained glass. The main front window has several circles of pictures of the pioneers and Brigham Young etched into the glass! Right next door is the cemetery that the Saints used when they were living at Winter Quarters. Unfortunately, we did not have time to walk around. Across the street is the Mormon Trail Visitor Center. It is like a little museum. I took a picture of Brigham Young's cane that he had with him when he found the site for the Salt Lake City Temple. (After declaring the Salt Lake Valley as (the place), Brigham Young turned right back around and went back to Winter Quarters).
It rained all day Friday, and Stephen and the kids had their first tornado watch! A tornado actually touched down about 35 miles away from us!

Law School is Awesome!

Not having a full time job is the best. Yesterday we went to the Air Force Base by our home and visited the Air Combat Museum. We spent a few hours there. The kids thought it was awesome. They got to see many planes, including the star of Top Gun (F-14). It really was cool, I mean, not as cool as being invited to be on the Rachel Ray talk show, but cool nonetheless!

Here I sit lost at school.

Well I am now at the end of my first two full weeks of school. I hope that the next three years go by this fast. The major thing that I have learned here at school is this. Never make decisions that will send you to court criminally. Criminal law is sooooooooo boring. If my Professor sees this I was only joking. I like torts, they are fun. I like property, I even like contracts. You learn lots of really cool stuff, like how to get out of contracts, or at least how to sue people. But for some reason criminal law leaves me feeling cold. Maybe because it is so serious and depressing. This has been very cool. Though I have learned for my self that Sprint service is much better than Verizon in Kansas. I was shocked as well.
Something major has happened in my life I have officially changed my party affiliation to an independent. I could only support the Democrat party for about two years or at least until the Presidential election. I really did think that Obama was going to be different. That's why I voted for him in the primaries. I thought he could at least change the bickering that goes on between the two parties, and that's not just in Washington. I really do not care so much about "being ready to lead from day one" thanks HRC, like being married to the President made you a leader, by that rational lets just elect Laura Bush. I did not care that he gave no specific proposals about what he would do once in office. All that does is give the press, well not for Obama because he is a Democrat, and your enemies words to throw back at you when you don't get them done. Also its very hard to inspire people to greatness when talking about the debt to income ratio or cost basis this. I just lost Brian. A President can only do so much, in fact he is only as good as his political skills will allow him to be. On that front I thought Obama would be great. If he was going to be different then I think he would be great as a leader. But you HAVE TO BE different. He lost me when once he became the presumptive candidate he went to spouting the exact same party talking points that any other Democrat would spout. Every thing is the fault of George Bush and whomever the Republicans run will be four more years of the same. If that is your platform then I will not, nay, I can not vote for you. A platform of "Vote for me because I am not like this guy" is not change, it's John Kerry.
I have a fear that this post will be coming down soon, so be the first to post. Be good.

This is a great picture of my kids and their friends all dressed up to play power rangers! Now remember, it was over 100 degrees this day and Jillian was wearing a heavy plastic costume! She wanted it off shortly after!
Update in Kansas, We went to the first activity put on by the J. Reuben Clark Society at Washburn. It is basically for all members of the church to get together and hang out. We met at the church and played volleyball and got to know eachother! It was great! They also do "girl's night out" and play groups! The cool thing is that everyone had kids! One family was about to have their fifth child, but he was a third year! I was definitely the only first year mother with 4 kids! Next week is a girl's night out and the opening social! I am finally beginning to think that I might actually have friends out here. I have been down in the dumps lately especially because I have been so sick. It started out with a fever and an upset stomach, then it morphed into a cold and cough that seemed to get worse everyday! I finally went to the doctor, and they think it's a sinus infection. I woke up today with a migraine. We did not go to church! It sucks not going to church here because for me it is the only people I talk to all week!! Poor me, huh?! Just teasing, every day gets better! We switched over our cell. phones to local numbers, so I will be getting in touch with all of you with our new numbers! Stephen has his first holiday off in 9 years!! Yes, that's right, he does not work on Labor Day!!! We love this new school schedule! During the week, he leaves the house around 7:30 am and gets home around 6 pm. For me, it works really well. Of course, this was only the second week of school, so it may get busier! Derek started preschool last week. He goes Tuesday and Thursday in the afternoon. He loves it!!!!! It is so weird only having Jillian and Ben at home! And the best part is that they both take naps! Yay! Is it time for another baby? I will leave you with that thought!

Broken window

This is a picture of the window on the back door that was broken by Austin during the first week we moved in. Yes, it's true! I was outside, and Austin and Derek ran in the house and then chose to run out the back door. Well, apparently after Derek got outside, he turned around and put his face up to the window to make faces at Austin. Austin started hitting the window where his face was and after a few good punches, the window broke!

Our new home in Topeka!

Here are pictures of the front of the house and the family room inside. The kitchen was not clean, so I didn't take any. Those will come later!

Jillian's first haircut

The first picture was taken right after the cut! And I just took the other two. Sorry, I've been sick with a sinus infection, so I have not done her hair for awhile. This is the best I can do, but she still looks cute!!

One of the worst movies of all time.

I would ask all of you to go and watch "Deep Impact" either again or for the first time. I think that no matter who you will be voting for this election there is one thing we can all agree on. And that thing is that this movie, "Deep Impact" is one of the worst movies of all time. Many people will point to some other movies and say "I don't know Stephen "Battlefield Earth" is a really bad movie". I agree with that, but think of who is in that movie. John Travolta, who with out the help of Quinton Terinteno(spelling) can not pick a good script to save his life. Truth is I sent him cook book once by accident and he called me and told me he thought it was going to be a great artistic movie and that he would love to act in it. What ever movie you believe to be the worst ever made, I want you to think, don't say it out loud, about the list of actors who star in that movie. Now I will give a full confession, I went to see this movie in the theaters when it came out in 1998, so my money went to it. This was an action packed talent laden summer blockbuster. Paramount Pictures said well we gotta have something to compete with "Armageddon", also a really bad movie. Can we get John Travolta to be in this? Robert Duvall, Morgan Freeman, Tea Leoni, Elijah Wood, Jon Favreau, Mary McCormack and Vanessa Redgrave. How is it that they all made this movie? They must all have the same agent. I mean the music was even done by James Horner, he did "Glory" "Titanic" and just about every movie ever made. Check him out on Wikipedia. Well I am done ranting, I just wanted to get that out of my system. I mean I watched the movie and I thought its been almost ten years since I saw this, there is no way it can suck as much as it did ten years ago, right? Wrong. Be good. Who ever was blog stalking us in Turkey, Thanks. You are our second international hit. You rock.

Topeka! We are here!

Hello everyone! We made it! I actually like our house here better than our home in Spanish Fork in a lot of ways (except for the backyard!) Stephen and I actually have our own bathroom now! The kids' rooms are very large and we have air conditioning! So far we like our ward. There are a lot of kids in Austin and Derek's primary classes. Benjamin is officially in nursery next week with Jillian!!!!! Yippeeeee! Austin started 1st grade last Wednesday. After I put him on the bus, I went inside crying and called my mom. She thought I was calling to tell her that the bus ran him over or something! She made me feel better and then promptly called my sisters to "tell" on me!!! He is gone from 8:06 a.m. until 4:00 p.m.! that is so long! I totally miss him, but we could tell he was ready for school! Derek will be starting preschool next Monday. I was worried that he would have a hard time without Austin, but he loves being the one in charge over Jill and Ben. I took advantage of Stephen being home last week and did nothing! He actually told me that I was going to eventually have to do something around the house! I have zero motivation to finish unpacking. After all, who's coming over? yeah, no one! please don't feel too much pity for me because part of the reason I don't want to clean is because I just borrowed the book "The Appeal" by John Grisham ( I think that's the title) and it is actually (so far) one of his better books. We haven't gotten our student loan money yet either, so I can't go out and party! Just kidding! Stephen started school today! He is so ready just to get on with it, so he can finish! He thinks he is really going to like it. I will post pictures soon! please feel free to comment on this posting!

We are here.

Well school starts tomorrow and I am very nervous. In prayer tonight Austin asked that I could be calm, as calm as I can be. I do second that. Well the move went very well. Bless the Elders out here. They and the LDS family that lived in this house before we did were here when we showed up. They were a most welcome site to my father, who would have been the one lifting the other end of the washing machine that is made up of dark matter or a black hole and explains why it is so very very heavy. So I did what all good home owners do when Elders are there, we lashed them to there young backs and sent them down the stairs. It was awesome. The house is nice and the school is very cool. Austin started school and really likes it. Being gone all day has been a transition but a nice one. Anyways I need to get back to my homework. What the heck is that all about, how can you have homework before the first day of class? I hope Law school is not to hard, you know how lazy I am. Be good. Gary fire Mark and Bryson. Later.

We outta here.

Hello everyone in Blogging land. I was just sitting here thinking about how much I hate to pack up and then unpack. Over the past few moves, and there have been many, I was very fortunate to be working during the packing phase and then I would do the lifting. Well this has not been the case for this move. But thank heavens for my mother and Jessica and Leslie Malloy. I can stand the moving part and by that I mean the driving and lifting part. If only I could have someone come in my house and pack it up. Well then my phone rang and it was a few of my customers, I mean my former customers and they needed help. I was under no guilt to answer and help them, so I didn't. Then I thought about the most famous people who came into my store. The best was Louis Crandall. Almost no one will know who this man is. If you can think back to "Legend City" in Arizona you will know him. He is often known as the Walt Disney of Arizona. Just not as rich or successfully, or dead come to think of it. He was awesome. Next there was Ryan Shupe from Ryan Shupe and the Rubber Band. OK he is not real famous but I do love his banjo music. Then there was Steve Young's mom. The only reason that I mention her is that after helping her several times she told me that her son was Steve Young. We all knew that. She then told me she was going to do something special for me and had me write down my address. She then told me that she would send my some autographed cards. I gave them to my kids and they destroyed them in about five minutes. Then there was the guy who came in for and interview and was high as a kite and did not spell one word correctly on his resume. I should post it online it is glorious. He listed steel toed boots under special talents and tools. Now that I think about it Verizon had better and more famous customers, like when Dennis Farina came in and I said "Look and me Bones". He was not amused. If I did not proofread this post you will have to forgive me I have to get back to my dear Edward in Stephanie Meyers new book "Breaking Dawn". Can you believe how it ends? Cassie do you want to know? Be good.

Moving is NOT FUN!!!!!!!!

I am at work right now. Happy birthday Emily Nielson. I am watching my poor co-worker struggle with a customer that I pawned off on him. Now that I only have two days left I am really giving out some work to those who will be replacing me. Gary think of it as in house training. Turns out they want to add four lines, AWESOME FOR PORTER. Unfortunately we no longer get paid on lines added we get paid on phones sold and they are using their own equipment, soooooo Porter makes no money. Poor guy. Anyways the house is slowly turning into a "Tetris" game screen. Boxes Boxes and more boxes. I don't mind moving to a new place and getting to know new people, I just hate lifting boxes. My back is already killing me and I have not even begun to lift. Sprint I love you and have had a great time here. Be good. This post will not be here long, Lindsay will make me take it down.

Our First International Hit

I only have a few things to say about things. First and foremost I was hoping that there would be a little more debate about the best movies in the 80's. How are we every going to come to any consensus about the greatest movie of the Glam rock years. I mean the decade that gave us movies ranging from the good i.e. "Gremlins" to the absolute classic "Gleaming the Cube". The bad news is that you were all wrong, I would have accepted either "Watcher in the Woods" or "Time Bandits". Sorry about that, but maybe next time we will get a few more posts. Secondly, the Jones family had our first international blog hit. Thank you to the people in Brunei. I always knew that our blog would go international, I just didn't think that it would happen so soon. I rally do not know who to thank first. Well we are leaving on the 5th or 6th of August. We will be moving into the house that Lindsay and Krista found on their trip to Kansas. It is an old Air Force base that has been converted into student housing, so it is going to be very similar to ASU East. If you did not know we did not get that old house that was big and beautiful. It was also drafty and expensive. This is going to be awesome. Yes Joe we do need a copy, I wonder if Aaron is still mad about missing that last buffet. Be good all.

Lindsay missing for three days.

I need some help. Lindsay has been missing for the last three days. The last time I saw her she was headed for the airport, something about going to Kansas with her sister. I am not really sure how the whole conversation went, I was only thinking about having all four kids for the three days. She flew out on Tuesday night. She had two days to find a house. Many of you might not know that the really old and cool house that we wanted to get was rented right out from under us. Those mouth breathing, knuckle dragging heathens. Now we have to find a place that is cheaper, newer, and less money to cool and heat. Needless to say,Lindsay and Krista found a place in about three hours and then decided they were going to spend the rest of the time on vacation. I asked her how she was sleeping and all she could do was laugh. She said that she did not wake up one time during the night and slept in till nine AM.
Anyways, back to me. So there I was alone with all four kids, scary I know. Who was going to feed and bathe my children? Actually that was not my biggest fear, I have done all of those things and do them most every Sunday. No my biggest fear was who was going to do Jillian's hair? My mother would be of very little help in this department, she had six boys. Well it was not pretty but I did her hair. By not pretty I mean, it was bad. There were two pigtails that were shooting out of three sides of her head at very different angles. You should have seen it. Poor, poor girl. I have had a great time playing Mr. Mom. Great movie by the way. I know that there are five people in Spanish Fork who are going to be very happy when a plane from Denver lands tomorrow. I hope she enjoyed her vacation cause now it's time to pack. The picture is from our trip to Disneyland to eat in this little club. It has nothing to do with the post.

Thundercats HOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

Can you believe I am sitting here with my very good friend, Krista Montgomery. We are both related to William the Conqueror. We rock. But she just asked who the "Thundercats" were? I said what? She said no one knows who the Thundercats are. Can I get a few shout outs for my feline family, who battles MUMRA? That is in fact if you remember who they are. Joe and Gary don't let me down on this. That is all. Please enjoy the "Thundercats" theme song in list of music.

Apologies...

Please go easy on my husband, Stephen. I do not agree with him about the private blogs. I was also not aware that he was posting his feelings until after the fact. Stephanie and Staci, please do not take this personally! We still love looking at your blog! My husband just wants to be a "fast" stalker!

The 80's Movie fest.

Question, and please feel free to post as many times as you would like. What in your estimation is the best 80's movie? My bet on the most 80's movie of all time is "The Wraith". Thank you Joe Dairman for introducing me to that little gem. When you are deciding what movie fills you with the dread of feathered hair and pegged pant legs, keep in mind thees three 80's movie tracers. First a helicopter, second really bad acting, and third in almost all 80's movies there is a monster truck. In order to make this a little more difficult you can't use "Breakfast Club" "Can't buy me Love" or "Red Dawn". That is all, Thank you.

Nothing personal BUT!!!

I want everyone who reads this, and now that I have that handy new map tracker thing at the bottom of my open blog I know who you are, to know that I hate private blogs. That is hate with a capital H A T E. When I am meandering through the endless mind numbing cornucopia of blogs and I have almost made up my mind that it might be better to actually do something productive with my spare time. Like read a book or mow my lawn, I come across a blog that I think I might know the person who created said blog. Well I want to see it. I want to see if that person’s house is as dirty as mine, maybe they have gained as much weight as I have. When I go to click on their blog and all I get is "Sorry loser this is a private blog, oh and by the way we do not like you." Well it makes me sad inside.
I thought the point of a blog was to be one part exhibitionist with a healthy dose of voyeurism. Our blogs are where we can put on our best faces. This is where we can church ourselves up. We can celebrate all the really great things in our lives, and leave out all the stuff that makes our lives mundane. According to the blogs I have seen all my friends are doing really well, most are becoming Doctors and all they do is go on really great vacations. On my blog for instance, those two people who view it, might see that I own a banjo. That’s right, there is no shame in that. Lindsay bought it for me three years ago for Christmas. You should know that is by far the best thing I have ever received for Christmas. The fact that I can not play it could never be picked up in a blog. People that I knew back in high school or from my mission or that I just met on the street can stumble upon my blog and see that I own a banjo. They might even think to themselves "Steve plays a banjo, which explains so much." So come on folks let’s open up those blogs and let the people, aka me, look in on your lives. Remember the great blogging motto "We are all blog stalkers at heart."

Topeka, here we come!

Here's the plan: We are very excited for Krista, my sister, to come visit this Wednesday! She will be here a week before the two of us leave for Topeka to find a rental home. She is bound and determined to go through a session at the SLC Temple and visit the cemetery where Pres. Hinckley is buried. We might visit Timp. cave too!
We load the rental truck up on August 4th, and drive out on August 5th! Kumen and Mary Ann will be driving with us, thank goodness! They are planning a short side trip to Nauvoo after we get to Topeka! They have not seen the Nauvoo Temple yet. Austin's school starts on August 13th and Stephen starts on August 18th. My wonderful mother is coming out on the 11th to help get us settled! She will be there for Austin's birthday on the 13th! Austin is having the hardest time with this move. His best friend lives across the street and they do everything together. And his cousins, Abbi and Claire, just moved back to Utah and he doesn't want to leave them. Hopefully, there will be some kids his age in the ward or the neighborhood.
It's time to pack! Can you believe it?

My pool pump sucks, No literally.

I just thought that was a really cool name for a post. I was telling a really great story about our pool and how I came home from work to go swimming but it was too green. I have to swim at night or my backyard neighbors will not stop complaining. This is a picture of me. Yes I have been called "PLUMP". I was going to swim laps in my baby pool but by the time I had cleaned it it was too cold to swim. Utah is awesome, it stays light until almost ten o'clock and then the temperature drops from 100 to 60 by about 11 at night. Then Lindsay had the nerve to tell me I could not use my new swear "odds bodkins and copper pots" in "her" blog. Well I had to put a stop to that. Another great reason I love living in Utah is that there is no male bloggscrimination. It is OK for a man to be proud of his blogging, wait. Hold on. Nope I just got a call from all the males in Utah and I have been told that it is not OK from a man to openly blog. When will my people find respite from our trials. I must get back to listening to my show tunes(Les Miserables and Miss Saigon) and get ready for tonight's re-run of Oprah. Don't you think she has lost a lot of weight again, how does she do it? Male Bloggers of the World UNITE. Together we are strong individually we are just really strange.

Nine Years, can you dig it?

I was just looking out upon the blogging world, this is what I do as a blogging guru, and I saw that someone I knew back in high school had been married five years. The thought flew through my sleep deprived mind, wow that is a long time. Then it hit me; in three days Lindsay and I will have been married for nine years. That is very crazy. It is hard for me to realize that I have a seven year old son. Truth be told he is only six, turning seven in August. I really feel for her, Lindsay that is. She has gone with me from one state to another over these last few years, and has never let it bother her. Each new "adventure" is the same. She packs up, moves unpacks and gets to know everybody in the new area. I only get to know these people because I get to spend time with Lindsay. She is a remarkable lady. I don't know why she does it. I have no special skills. I can't fix anything really. In fact my bow staff skills are way below normal. I am not particularly good looking. I don't even shop real well. I bought a three year supply of the world’s worst tooth paste, Crest vanilla mint, simply because it was cheap. Trust me its not real good. All this being said I knew that we were going to be a great couple on that fifth night of our friend cruise. It was Joe, Lindsay, Mindy, and me. That night after summoning all the courage that could and letting her know how I felt about her, she told me that "she would never date me because she knew me too well". It has been a great nine years. I am a very lucky man. Like I have always said, my worst day with her is better than my best day before we got married. So off we go to Kansas, and there is no one I would rather share this “adventure” with than Lindsay. No Lindsay I did not proof read this. It all seemed to make sense at the time.

The update on the car and rake.

After a number of inquiries into the condition of the rake and the car, I am very happy to announce that both the rake and the car are resting comfortably and will be released this Saturday. In other news Stephen has tetanus and will be losing his foot and the ability to chew. That is all.

The New Counter

I did this all by my self. I am like a blogging guru.

My flawed paw.

This Sunday a tragic accident befell our tiny little family. When we got home from church( yes, we go) and were getting ready to get back into the car to go to Grandma's, we found that our poor little van would not start. I, being the mechanic that I am, knew instinctively that it was a bad battery. I drove my Toyota up to the front of the dead van. I popped the hood on the Camry and discovered the pistons that keep the hood open were no longer in operation. Looking around I found a very useful tool in propping the hood up. Imagine if you will the sharpest gardening tool in the gardeners arsenal. Trent, you know what I mean. If you watch enough late night TV you will inevitably see the gardening tool of which I speak. It has five very long and very sharp prongs that get shoved under the weed and when stepped on pop the weed and a large chunk of dirt up in the air. Well, I did not do a very good job of propping up the hood with the implement of weed death. It must weigh about five pounds and it fell on my flipper clad foot. Needless to say I now have four identical holes of varying depth in the top of my foot. Lucky my bone was there to stop the puncture or it would have gone deeper into my flesh. It hurt. Bad. I am truly pathetic. My poor wife did not know if she should laugh at her inept husband or feel some form of sympathy for her husband of nine years who was at that time writhing in pain on the hood of the van. It was the scream of the worst pain. I mean "Princess Bride" pain with my dear Wesley on the table and the six fingered man sucking his memories out of his head pain. It was in-fact that bad. If you thought you heard a person scream on Sunday, that was probably me, it would have been around five o'clock mountain time. That's four Arizona time. In other Jones News, we have been looking for a house to rent in Topeka Kansas. the one that is at the top of our list can be found on this link.
http://www.topekahomesforrent.com/1253%20sw%20macvicar%20%20addph.html
Pleas just cut and paste. I do not know how to add a hyperlink to this stuff. At least my blog won't give me holes in my feet.

More random pictures!

Random pictures!

Here is Benjamin posing in his new pajamas that Grandma sent him.

Derek's birthday!

Derek turned 4 in March! Yes, I am finally ready to post pictures! Please do not pass judgement on Derek's haircut at this time. We don't really know what happened!!

Besides watching the cemetery, we actually had plans for Memorial Day too! We went to Stephen's Aunt's house for a barbecue and swimming! It was freezing outside and raining, but the pool was heated. It stopped raining long enough for us to swim for about an hour and a half and then it started raining again! Austin no longer uses floaties in the pool! He is a good swimmer. Derek finally feels comfortable enough to let go of us with his floaties on! He loves swimming now. Jillian and Ben just love being in the water. Austin and Derek start swim lessons in 2 weeks!

Memorial Day!

Our house backs up to the Spanish Fork cemetery! It is so beautiful! You would not believe how many people came to the cemetery this weekend. It was so busy from Friday thru Monday! The city even provided portajohns! People are really big here about decorating their family member's graves. Here are some pictures!

Friends!

Here is a picture of Austin's best friends. From left, Connor, Josh and Austin! Connor lives across the street and we do everything with their family. Josh lives around the corner and comes over a lot too!

Soccer

Here are some pictures of Austin playing soccer! He was the best player on his team, if I do say so myself!