3rd Annual...

Tonight we had our 3rd annual Jones Family Back-to-school dinner and fashion show. The kids had a blast and loved every minute of it! We had 'sack lunch' food and ate out on our patio. (just a little random fyi... don't buy the costco milk boxes, they were gross, my 7 year old asked me if I would please NOT put them in her lunches :).

After dinner the girls strutted their stuff in some of their new back-to-school clothes, which turned into an all out dance party, even our little man got in on the action! My kids seriously know how to bust a move, all three LOVE to dance! We finished up the evening by my wonderful hubby giving our kids each a special back-to-school Fathers Blessing (I am so grateful to have a husband who holds the priesthood). It was a great night and a tradition that is so fun each school year! I gave each of the kids a flash light with a note to them from me to let them know just how much I LOVE & ADORE them and to help remind them to "Let their light shine". This is our family motto for this upcoming school year...

Matthew 5:16

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

2010 Jones Family Back-to-School ABC's:

Always try your hardest

Be kind to everyone

Count your blessings

For dessert we had yummy homemade ice cream! It was SUPER easy to make...

4 cups cream

16oz sweetened condensed milk

2 Tablespoons vanilla extract

*I blended 2 cups of strawberries & 1 cup frozen berries into the condensed milk,

then added all the ingredients together,

poured it into the ice cream maker,

added the ice and rock salt, and about an hour later...we had ice cream!

Doctrine and Covenants Final Project

I love this hymn and I LOVE the Doctrine and Coventants, just wanted to share!

New Rule!

I have made a NEW RULE for myself... no Internet, tv, phone, or ELECTRONICS of any kind until I have said my morning prayer and read my scriptures for the day!!! Sadly prayer and scripture study seems to always get put further and further back on my daily to-do list, I don't like this and I don't want this! It isn't that I am wasting my time on the computer, etc... but when I do get a free minute from my busy days of mothering I almost always hop on the computer to check blogs, face book, etc... I want what little free time I do have to be spent in more productive ways, thus my new rule :)

Tonight I was studying in Doctrine & Covenants Chapter 35 and these Scriptures really spoke to me...

24) Keep all the commandments and covenants by which ye are bound; and I will cause the heavens to shake for your good, and Satan shall tremble and Zion shall rejoice upon the hills and flourish;

25) And Israel shall be saved in mine own due time; and by the keys which I have given shall they be led, and no more be confounded at all.

26) Lift up your hearts and be glad, your redemption draweth nigh.

27) Fear not, little flock, the kingdom is yours until I come. Behold, I come quickly. Even so. Amen.

To learn more about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints please visit www.mormon.org

"Mom, you know Diet Coke will kill you"

I was running errands with my kids the other day and I had a pretty bad headache. I stopped off to get a diet coke and my 5 year old daughter said to me very matter of fact... "Mom, you know diet coke will kill you, but at least I will still have daddy"! HA... don't know where she got that one but she sure cracked me up!

Papa's Garden... (square foot gardening)

I took a few pictures of my dads garden last time I was there visiting. Isn't it pretty?!?! He puts a lot of time and effort into it and it definitely shows. He started gardening again a few years ago and after the garden not being as successful as he had hoped he decided to try out the 'Square foot gardening' method, ever since he has had an amazing garden! http://www.squarefootgardening.com/

When it comes to having a green thumb, I just plain don't have one! I bought some cute hanging flower pots for my porch and within a matter of weeks they were TOTALLY DEAD! Thanks to the awesome owners of the house we are renting we have a beautiful yard of gorgeous plants and flowers, LUCKILY the sprinklers water those or else I would have killed them all quit awhile ago, gardening is just NOT my thing!

SPEAKING OF MY DAD... I sure love you dad! Thank you for always being there for me!!!

"I've got an itch"...

TO DECORATE!!! Decorating is my all time favorite hobby, bar none! My sister-in-law and I drove around Salt Lake today looking for homes for her and my brother. Whenever I look at homes I always end up thinking about how I would decorate them. Our house(s) have had the same "look" for quite a few years now. I really do love my furniture and decorations, but when the time comes to move I would like to graduate our current stuff to being the rec-room/basement furniture and decor. I am ready to do something totally different in my next living room and kitchen. We still have a few months left on our lease and will probably stay longer so that the girls wont have to move schools mid-year, but I'm not letting that stop me from getting my creative juices flowing... it can't hurt to look around and have an idea of what I would like to do.

Here is a picture of some of my current furniture and decor (except this was taken in our home in Kansas City)
I am thinking for our next house I would really like to go A LOT funkier! Brighter colors and more modern furniture. This is way outside of the box for me but I think it would be fun to decorate totally differently to have a fresh change. This is all day dreaming here, but here a few things I like...

* Lots of my furniture is really dark wood or black, so I want to go with white furniture for sure!

*I love damask, I think accenting with black and yellow could be really fun!*I LOVE RED!!! I have always wanted a BRIGHT red sofa :)

Well enough day dreaming for now! TOMORROW I will be hard at work on my TO-DO LIST, got to get goin' school starts so soon!!!

Priceless...

My friend Jodi (http://www.memoriesbyjodi.blogspot.com/) took our family pictures this week and they turned out so stinkin' cute! I LOVE THEM, especially this one...*She got so many great shots, check out her blog to find out more about her photography:)

Mission Organization...

Thanks to my husband winning a cute mini laptop at work, I am happy to be back to blogging!

(I want my house to be this organized!!!) With school starting just around the corner for my girls I HAVE GOT to get my house organized! I am the type of person who LOVES to organize, but I have a hard time keeping things that way. My goal is to get all of the projects on my to-do list done in the next couple months, starting with organizing my home. Doesn't it seem like summer ends, school starts, and then BAM before you know it is Christmas? At least it feels that way to me! This year I would like to go into the holidays with a clean organized house.

Our home (for now)
We are renting right now and I am finding it really hard to get motivated with house projects since it isn't "my" home and especially knowing that we will only be here for a little while longer. Our last home was our DREAM home, we had it built and originally had planned to stay there for a very long time! Well things change, my husband was laid off from his job and we had no choice but to move. For the past year I have done my fair share of complaining about this and being sad about having to sell our home. BUT, I have decided NO MORE, I need to be grateful for what I have, I am lucky to have a darling home to live in for the time being and I am even more lucky to have a darling family to live there with me:). I am grateful that my husband was able to find a great new job so quickly, it has been a huge transition going from living in the mid-west to life back in Utah, but I am FINALLY realizing that if I will change my attitude about it then I will ultimately be so much happier.

SO, it's time to turn my house into my HOME,

Even if it is only temporary!

I feel like my to do list is a mile long, but if I take it one day at a time I KNOW I can get it done.

TO-DO LIST:

1.Organize girls closet

2.Organize little man's closet

3.Organize playroom (clean toys)

4.Organize storage room

5.Organize craft room

6.Organize den

7.Organize master bedroom/closet

8.Organize master bathroom & deep clean

9.Organize pantry & wipe down shelf's

10.Organize kitchen cupboards & clean

11.Wash, clean out, & shampoo carpets in Van

12.Shampoo carpets in house

13.Deep clean kids bathroom

14.Deep clean hardwood & tile floors

15.Clean window seals & baseboards

16.Decorate girls room

17.Finish decorating family room

18.Paint kitchen table & chairs

19.Re-stain patio table

20.Hang coat hook & shelf (back hall)

21.Make pegboard tool holder

22.Finish family emergency binder

23.Finish #1 & #3's baby books & print