A dreadlock

Here's a funny conversation I just had with Gigi.
me (noticing Gigi's hair as we get out of the car): "Gig, you've made a dreadlock in your hair."
Gigi: A dreadlock?
me: A dreadlock.
Gigi: Yay! A dreadlock! I'm so proud of me!

Just one of those moments that I wish could last forever.  Love my little girl!

Gigi & Grayson, Halloween 2011

Should I be worried if my daughter is her own imaginary friend?

Today Gigi runs into the bathroom and slaps me on the back of the legs then says, "Don't hit my mommy!" Then she says to me, "Gigi hit you!" I said, "Oh, you hit me?" Gigi says "No she did!" (pointing to herself). So I say, "Gigi hit me, but it wasn't you?" "Yes" she says. Then she whispers to herself, "Tell mommy you're sorry, Gigi." And then she turns to me, pats me on the arm and says, "Sorry mommy." WTW?!

Potty Time!

This picture is of Gwyneth the first time she sat on her toilet about 3 weeks ago. She had been pulling her pants down and saying, "I want toilet" so I got out her potty and started letting her sit on it. She actually has her diaper on here. Then, whenever she'd say she wanted toilet, I'd put her on it and just see if she'd actually go... which until now has always been nothing. Like I said, until now... Today is the first day that we put her on the toilet and she actually peed!! Yeah! So, I know that I shouldn't get my hopes up about her being potty trained by next week and I am totally laid back about it, but I thought this momentous occasion should at least be documented. This toilet plays a song when sensors in the bottom get wet so when she went, of course, the song started playing. Then she was so happy about it that she stayed on the toilet for several more minutes and kept saying, "I want song! I want toilet! I want song!" Eric tried to explain that the human body doesn't make pee on demand so she'd have to wait until next time she needed to go potty but she still kicked and screamed a little when Eric took her off the toilet.

So I haven't blogged in a long, long while so I thought I'd throw a few more pictures in this post while I'm at it. Like this one of Brooklyn and Gwyneth, after they'd pulled all the books off of the shelf and were quietly looking at them in her bedroom. I love it when they play this well together.

Poor Frankie and Roscoe, but especially Frankie because he's the more playful dog and he doesn't run away when Gwyneth comes near like Roscoe does. He gets tormented by Gwyneth on a daily basis. I was quick enough to be able to snap proof of this torture so when Gwyneth tries to tell me she was a perfect little sweetheart... boom! Out comes this picture! (She is pulling his hair and he is whining a little.)
I laughed so hard when I saw Gwyneth come out of her room with this Barbie dress on her head. She loved her newfound hat! She is a goofy little girl! Whenever Eric tells her she is goofy, she says, "I goopy!" Why can't they stay this cute forever?!

3rd, 4th of July & Samantha's blessing

Well there were many memorable things about the 4th of July this year! One being that we celebrated it on the 3rd this year due to the 4th being a Sunday. Two, baby Samantha was blessed on the 4th of July this year! Three, this was the coolest 4th of July I can ever remember. I actually got cold tonight, sitting in Eric's parent's backyard! And four, I missed out on going to a big fireworks show but I've decided that next year we are going to go to one! I love the 4th of July and it has always been one of my favorite holidays, next to Christmas. I love everything about 4th of July. I love fireworks, parades, swimming, barbecues, popsicles, popcorn, carnivals, sunshine, red,white & blue, being outside and being with family. I'm thankful for every opportunity that I have to enjoy this holiday because of every person who has stood up for and defended our nation! God bless the USA!

What a sweet little devil!


Proud Grandma Brenda snuggling close with baby Sam.

Wild boy Evan!

Whitney asked for this picture to be taken... but I'm glad she did!

Cute shot of Dad, mom & baby Sam.

Ahhh... refreshing!

Don't know why neither of them were looking at me because they were supposedly posing for this picture... gotta love grandmy & grandpy!

Baby Dax... I don't have a clue how he got such fair skin! He doesn't really look like his parents but he's handsome!

We played this game in the backyard, it was pretty fun. You just toss washers into this box, its kind of like horseshoes.

Concentrating.

Memorial Day & Father's Day in Pictures

He did it!

Hip, hip, hooray! Three cheers for Eric! I am very proud of him for sticking it out and obtaining a Master's degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the U of U. We love you babe and are very thankful for all of your hard work and dedication.

Gwyneth & Cash

This is me being creative with my new digital scrapbooking software that Eric gave me for Christmas! Starting in January, I began babysitting my neighbor's son, Cash, on Tuesdays and Cash's mom, Mindie, watches Gwyneth on Mondays. I also am watching another neighbors kids, Austin & Brooklyn, on Wednesdays and that neighbor watches Gwyneth on Thursdays! Its working out okay so far but it keeps me super busy! Anyway, here's some cute photos of Gwyneth and her new buddy.

Information travels faster in our modern age

There’s probably some really great quote out there about how when a person is informed they are empowered. Well, that is my quote for the day. Today I realized how very uninformed I have been for the past 2 years on our family’s cell phone billing. First of all, for the past 2 years my husband and I have been paying $107 a month for our 2 cell phones. A seemingly “normal” cost these days but still unbelievable for what we are actually using.

So, about a month ago my dear hubby says to me, he says, “you’re probably going to be mad at me.”

“Why?” says I, knowing that I am usually mad at him in his ignorance so this must be really bad if he is aware of the problem.

“Because today I signed up for the employee discount with Verizon that I have been eligible for since I’ve worked with the state” says Eric.

“Wow! (incredulous) You have got to be kidding me? What is the discount?” says I.

“It cuts our bill by about $20” says Eric.

(pause to gather yourself, Jenny)

“Well, that’s good that you did that. I just can’t believe that you knew about it and you didn’t do it sooner” says I, trying to be supportive.

So let’s tally up $20 a month for about 24 months = $480. But wait there’s more…

TODAY I go online because my mom brought to my attention that my cell phone emits too much radiation and so, since I will be eligible for a new free/discounted phone in a couple of weeks, I must research which phones have the lowest SAR values. (Feel free to laugh at this, I won’t mind, just wait until you get cancer and your ear falls off because of over-radiation and then we’ll see who’s laughing.) So I start looking at some other things on the Verizon Wireless website and discover, quite unexpectedly, that Eric and I aren’t even on a family plan that would save us an additional $20 per month!!
Let’s see, 2 years, $40 a month we could have been saving with the exact same service we have now comes to a total of $960 that has gone into some Verizon corporate big wig’s pocket to help pay for his or her daily golf and spa package. Meanwhile, I have been slaving away to improve the oral health of people that don’t even care enough to floss! So the point is, BE INFORMED. That should be added to President Hinckley’s “Be’s”. Oh, and by the way, if you are INFORMED about your oral health you will definitely floss or at least use some kind of interdental cleaning device daily.

Po' Roscoe

I'm sure we all know that dogs eat crazy things from time to time. For instance, my friend Ashly's shih tzu has been known to enjoy a frozen poop, or a "poopsicle", from his porch in the wintertime. I personally have witnessed my dogs feasting on Gwyneth's spit up (its very convenient sometimes because she spits up on the tile and then, boom, its gone!) Of course, they also will eat their own vomit most of the time as well. Most of these things are pretty harmless in modest doses and the dogs go about their day as usual. Well, today is not one of those days because today Roscoe actually ate Gigi's poopy diaper. Yes, he ripped apart the diaper and consumed about 80% of the inner absorbtion material leaving only the outer shell and the liner left to be discovered. I was very worried about him, naturally, so I called my brother who manages a veterinary clinic. He says, "You should make him throw up by forcing hydrogen peroxide down his throat and then shaking his belly like a volcano." Eric also called his co-worker, Teresa who is a dog officianado. She called our vet, Dr. Dan Goode for us. Dr. Dan says, "Just wait and see if it passes and he'll have severe diaherria for a couple of days. If he gets depressed and drools a lot, then he probably needs surgery." Well, after careful contemplation, we decided to get as much of the pain over with now by forcing him to vomit. So we took an unused bulb syringe and repeatedly filled it up and squirted it down his throat. Within 5 minutes about a cup of diaper material, hydrogen peroxide and dog food was spewed onto the lawn. Then the vomiting continued for about 10 minutes. Now, po' Roscoe is just laying on Eric's leg were he hasn't moved for the last hour.

We love you Roscoe! We're all pulling for a speedy recovery and can't wait to see you back to your usual neurotic-yet-playful self.

Quick Update

This is probably the most recent picture on the whole post, but all the picture are totally out of order and I didn't have time to organize so enjoy the chaos!
Gwyneth loves sucking on the rag during bathtime. Now that she's discovered it, she's constantly trying to get it in her mouth!
Just a perfect little sweetheart!

What are you doing dad?

A couple of weeks ago we went on a tour of the Mountain Meadows Massacre sites. It was a fantastic learning experience. Gwyneth was about a 6/10 on the scale of not fussing during the tour but she was a 10/10 on the scale of being cute on the tour.

Uh oh! Live action puking.

Brice was hiding her face from the camera and Ashton posed like this. He's so funny!

Cute nephews! Cooper, the one year old, downed a whole package of Hot Tamales. This kid'll eat anything!

Gwyneth really loved her participation in the race. Mainly because she got to sleep through most of it.

Ashton was so cute running with Kent and he did such a good job of not letting anyone behind him pass for awhile. Finally, when someone did pass him he started to get really depressed and then when Eric and I passed him, he cried. It was a little sad, but I guess you gotta learn to deal with disappointment at some time in your life. Better 4 than 20!

This year the Jones Family Reunion was "Fiesta" themed. Gwyneth didn't particularly love her stay this year because she was too little to play with all the kids that kept her awake way past her bedtime. Maybe next year will be better? I'll tell you one thing though, she looked the cutest in her Jones tee shirt.

The annual moose sighting. Can you spot the big brown spot in the middle of the photo?

It's sad how closely she resembles Eric in this picture.

These pictures are totally out of order, this is Gwyneth on the way to Island Park.

Frankie and Roscoe spooning.

They're just best buddies! I promise, no funny business!

This picture makes me long for summer to be back in full swing again. This was a pre-movie backyard baseball game on a "bad movie Thursday with the Jones'".

Just a dang cute and funny picture I found of Gwyneth on my parent's computer. She's just 12 hours old!

And this is just 3 months old and cute as ever! Thank heavens her eyes aren't crossed still!

Funny pregnancy picture... it seems like so long ago now! Really, it was only March!

That' s all for now, maybe I'll be able to update a little earlier next time. Gwyneth does have her first cold right now so the last two nights I've slept on the couch while she's been in her swing. Maybe tonight I'll get to sleep in my own bed, here's to hoping!

Eric's graduation BBQ

Just wanted to post some of the pictures from Eric's BBQ which was a huge success! Perfect weather (good thing we didn't wait until June, eh?) and a great turnout. Thanks to everyone for coming and pitching in with the food and drinks. Most of all, thanks to Eric for graduating! I'm proud of you and all the work you put into getting your degree. Now one more year for the Masters.

He deserves some rest!