Bedtime for Brycen

This was my converstation with Brycen as I was putting him to bed tonight:

Brycen: I love you forever

Me: Do I get to keep you forever?

Brycen: Yeah

me: But what about when you go on your mission?

Brycen: (with a don't you know sort of voice) I'm not going all by myself!

Me: So I'm going too?

Brycen: Yeah and you know where I'm going on my mission--to Disneyland! But remember we have to get to the hotel when it is already dark.

Cute PJ Picture?

Take two overly exicted, exhausted boys on Christmas Eve, add another brother who doesn't want anyone sitting next to him and a mom who bought cute Christmas jammies and really wants a picture before sending her sweet children off to dream of sugarplums and what do you get: HORRIBLE PICTURES!

A Christmas Show

The preschool that Brycen goes to is owned by the man who produced Legacy and The Testaments. There is a large emphasis placed on performing. Because of our trip to Disneyland we were going to miss Brycen's Christmas show. The teacher let us come for a "rough dress rehearsal" before we left. At the Thanksgiving show in front of all the families Brycen was one of the loudest singers, but for our private show he was very quite--go figure!

A Mickey Vacation

We just spent four very fun days at Disneyland. It always takes Zac awhile to feel comfortable there since he is still deathly afraid of characters. But once we convinced him that the characters were all away on vacation he did great. Luckily we saw most of the characters before him so the fib worked. Both Zac and Brycen have moved on from Fantasyland and prefer rides like Big Thunder Railroad, Star Tours, the Matahorn, and the Buzz Lightyear ride. Of course the Dumbo ride, the tea cups and the rockets are still cool too. Zac also discovered the Jungle Cruise this time I think he went on it at least ten times. The new Nemo submarine ride is very cool, but we only went on it twice because the line was always so long. I can't decide is Disneyland or BYU and Aspen Grove are the happiest places on earth--maybe it's a tie! It was really funny to watch people reaction to Brycen in Scott's old wheelchair stroller. We got lots of sympathetic smiles and he got lots of attention. I figure it is just one of the perks of having two brothers with disabilities.

New Blog

We have started a new blog that will be linked to our adoption profile--we hope. Please check it out. If you know of anyone who is thinking of placing a baby please tell them about us and invite them to check out the blog. Feel free to comment, just don't include any last names our names of cities. I'm not sure if I 'm going to keep posting on both blogs or just the new one.
hopefulfamily.blogspot.com

Zac's award

Zachary received an award at his school's first trimester award ceremony for being so kind and being such a good friend to everyone. He may not have all his math facts down, but he sure knows how to show love!

thanksgiving

We spent Thankgiving and my brother Jason's house. He and his wife put on quite the feast, the kids all had a blast, and we grown-ups even got to play a card game (expect my dad who kept the kids entertained with help from Shrek 3). Zac is usually afraid of the horses, but yesterday he couldn't get enough of them. Brycen and Hannah enjoyed taking pictures of eachother taking pictures of eachother. Scott managed to skip out on all pictures by hiding in the bedrooms, he doesn't like their hardwood floors in the front rooms.

The Caves

Here are some pictures of Zac's class field trip to the cave. It was really amazing. What was even more amazing than the cave though is that Zac wasn't scared at all. Physically he did great too despite the fact that there was a lot of climbing and walking and some areas were very slippery. The final picture is of Zac's birthday party when we watch E.T. outside--notice that Zac is sitting hanging out with one of the moms--somethings never change! By the way this cave was even cooler than the nutty putty caves! It is so big that at one time it was the gathering place of a town. It was where they held church, weddings, town meetings, and dances. They still offer to have wedding there but so far only two "modern" couples have done it.

Brycen's Birthday pictures

Yes the cake took a lot of time, but the kids thought it was great. The kids all had a blast painting their own ceramics, and passing the bucket of "coal" without spilling the coal.

Disneyland

I love watching Amanda's slideshows so I thought I'd try one too. These pictures are from our trip to Disneyland last year, but since I wasn't a blogger back then I think it is okay to share them now anyway.
http://www.onetruemedia.com/share_view_player?p=4399d1887a8a5b975034d2

Ready set pose

If you look through our most recent bloggs you will see that Brycen has a new favorite picture pose. Can you say ham?

I'm thankful for...

Zac came home from school with an adorable turkey with feathers describing what he is thankful for it is so cute I just had a share it.

I'm thankful for...

Feather 1: My grandma

She makes good porkchops. She babysits my brother Brycen. She plays games with us. She bakes yummy green pumpkin pie (ok I have no idea where that came from my mom doesn't bake, nor have we ever had green pumpkin pie--but he has been reading Green Eggs and Ham a lot). I love my grandma a lot.

Feather 2: My Friends

Natalie walks me to class. Jordan reads to me, and all my friends do good stuff for me.

Feather 3: Family

Because we have Family Night. (yeah Zac!)

Feather 4: School

Because it is fun and I like to learn.

This little turkey made me feel like we're doing an pretty good job as parents! Thanks Zac.

Brycen's Sleep Over

Brycen sure knows how to have a sleep over.

(posted by Lance)

Pumpkin Cookies

Attention all Jones:

You know how whenever we are all together in Mapleton we go through dozens of those pumpkin chocolate chip cookies; well, I found a recipe for them that taste very much like the real deal for those of us that don't live in the "Land of Zion."

1 cup pumpkin

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup oil

1 egg

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup chocolate chips

nuts (optional)

Dissolve soda in milk add pumpkin, sugar, oil, egg

mix remaining dry ingredients add about half to pumpkin mixture add vanilla than add rest of flour mix.

add chip and nuts

bake 375 for about 10 minutes

Get me out of Here!

Picture this, opening day of little league, all the children are happy and excited, except for one--my Zac! The look of utter fear in his eyes is completely rational to him, and perhaps the rest of us are fools for not being afraid. Someone invited the mascot from the Sacramento Rivercats baseball team. So what, you ask, well according to Zac people should not wear costumes with "big heads and eyes that don't blink." I think maybe he has a point there. But I still need a picture to scrape book so we can always remember this great day. With a promise that we will leave right after the picture--thereby getting away from the non-blinking rivercat monster and missing the first came of the season--Zac agrees to stand next to his team.

Side note: this actually all took place during the Spring, but I just got the roll of film developed today. It is hard to remember to process film now that most of our pictures are digital!

The Club

Yesteday Lance took the three boys to the gym and signed our family up. He got a great deal and we get four hours of childcare each day! Tonight, Lance and I met with our personal trainers while the boys hung-out--that is until we were paged back to the kids' club because Zac was missing me. Funny how only Mom's hear pages! Anyway Brycen had been waiting all day to try the climbing wall. How many of us can say we have rock climbed in our PJs? I was very impressed by his strength--GO super-four-year-old GO!

Brycen and Mommy Day

Today Brycen and I finally had a free day (well it would not have been free had I remember to take Brycen to speech--oh well)! Instead we went to the zoo. The animals were good, but Brycen had the most fun climbing on stuff. The train at the big zoo was broken, so we had to go to our little zoo for a ride afterwards. It was a lot of fun just to have special time together, Brycen is growing up so quickly; I just want to make every moment count. It is also wonderful to have such great weather in November--the boys can't understand why I wouldn't let them swim anymore. Unfortunately although the weather is warm enough, the water is way too cold.

The Innocence of Childhood

Somehow during the craziness of the day I paused long enough to witness just how pure children really are. During Brycen's prayer at the dinner table he said "please bless the Bishop and Jesus" --my prayers are so often full of pleas for help and sweet little Brycen blesses Jesus. Why can't I be more like that! Later I sat back for a moment before joining the group and watched Lance, Zac, and Brycen admire a rare California thunder and lightning storm. They were so excited so amazed by the show that was being put on just for them. Perhaps even more wonderful was being able to watch Lance be so excited for them, while sitting on the floor at the edge of the open back door loving every minute of it. It just makes me love him even more. I am so grateful that I was there to share in their wonderment. Watching them discover the world brings me such great joy! So I guess tonight I will have to thank Heavenly Father for my wonderful, busy life and ask him to please bless Jesus too!

Zac's Party

We finally had a birthday party for Zac tonight. It was a "lateover" so the kids came with blankets and pillows and we watched E.T. outside with a projector and a sheet nailed to the side of the house. It was a lot of fun--none of the kids had seen the movie before which made it even better. We had popcorn, nachos, candy, and hot chocolate with marshmallows and whipped cream. At 9pm we sent them all home with a sugar high!

Happy Halloween-Almost

Halloween Trunk or Treat pictures. It is strange to have Halloween with out Grandma Carolyn and Grandpa Lowell here. If I counted right they have been with us for 5 Halloweens since Zac was born! Maybe next year :)