My beautiful Mom turned 60 last week. There isn't a better mom out there. I love her so much!

Grandpa Jones

Last Monday, on my Mom's 60th birthday, my Grandpa Jones (her dad) passed away. On Tuesday, me and the girls hopped on a plane to Milwaukee and spent the following days in Dubuque for his funeral and wake. Although the circumstances were very sad, we had a wonderful time. All of my cousins on the Jones side were there except one. I realized while I was there how close my family really is. That in a time like this, we all do whatever it takes to be there for each other. There were lots of tears, but also lots of laughter and memories. The wake and the funeral were the most beautiful services I have ever been to. I'm sure Grandpa would be pleased. He will be greatly missed and REMEMBERED!
Here are some pictures I took of some of my Mom's pictures of my grandpa...

Thank you Jesus

So I turned on the TV tonight and the show "The Power Of Ten" was on. I've never seen it before. If you haven't seen it, it has Drew Carey as the host and people are asked what percentage of Americans answered a certain question in what way. One of the questions was "What percentage of Americans, if they were accepting an award would thank Jesus in their acceptance speech?"
First, I wondered what percentage of Americans were Christian. I thought of many Christian religions, and therefore, my guess was about 40%. Then I thought, out of that 40%, I bet only half of them would actually thank Jesus.
Boy was I wrong! The answer was-
62% of Americans would thank Jesus in an acceptance speech.
That's actually pretty cool! I'm not sure where they get their answers for this show, or how many people actually answer the questions for them, but it is pretty cool to think that over half of the people in this country would give thanks to Jesus for their accomplishments.

Sweet Lydia

When our children are newborn, we shower them with love, expecting nothing in return. When they are babies, they want us to hold them, because it feels so good. As toddlers, they start to hug us on their own accord, which is heaven! Then, they get older, and start doing sweet little things for us like writing love letters and drawing sweet pictures for us to show us that we are loved in return. I love it. I get the feeling that all the ups and downs have paid off and I really am a great mom when things like that happen.
Lydia drew this picture of me and her yesterday. She worked so hard on it. I love her forms of affection. They are so innocent and real.

A Desperate Cry For Help!

Anyone who knows Lydia, knows that she is quite the little "drama queen"! I was out shopping tonight and Ryan was home with the girls. Lydia was bouncing of the walls and Ryan was making dinner, so he told her to go sit on the couch and relax. She refused, and said she'd rather go to her room. Ryan agreed, and told her to go in her room and cool off. Being the drama queen that she is, she saw this as a horrible punishment, and that she needed someone to save her. So, I returned from shopping to see this note taped to Lydia's bedroom door.
The poor girl. She'll probably be scarred for life for having to cool off in her room!

Snow fun!

Lydia's "Hang Loose"


We went sledding last week and had so much fun! It was Violet's first time going sledding. Both girls had a blast! We went to a park nearby that has what we call "the Bowl". It's kind of crazy, because there are people going down the hill all around you, and you have to be careful not to collide in the middle! At the very end, Ryan decided to take Lydia down one of the biggest, steepest hills there. They flew so fast! Lydia just kept saying "That was so INTENSE!" over and over. Then we came home and had Lydia's favorite treat- hot cocoa and toast sticks!

Our New Honda CR-V!

We are happy to announce the new addition to our family- a 2001 Honda CR-V!

It's got 53 K miles and is in MINT condition!
It's got nice leather interior too!
Hopefully we will have many years with this car and make great memories in it too!