Thomas turns 8

Thomas turned 8 on May 6. I can't believe I have an 8 yr old. Mark is going to baptism him in July in the upper Provo river when it will be warmer. He is very excited about this. Had to go through a lot to get it approved. Mark has said before we were even married that he wanted to baptize his children in the river. He had an amazing missionary experience like that up in Seattle, WA.

For Thomas' birthday we got a suite (Kevin Costner's suite) at the Stein Eriksen Lodge where Mark works. We invited my sister's family, three families that were Mark's childhood friends, Uncle Mitchell, and Aunt Lindsay just happen to be in town from VA with her babies. It was a crowd, but so much fun. I wish I had taken more pics of the whole crew. For the weekend we went swimming in the heated outdoor pool, had pizza, opened presents, cake and ice cream, Hot Tub Club went on all weekend. Us Ladies went to the Spa and got massages. We were only gone for three hours, lol. We walked Park City main street and watched movies every night. I think the kids all had a great time. I know us adults did!

Here are my three kids up stairs in the loft with wet bathing suits after Hot Tub Club

This preeeeety much sums up the weekend for the boys and their friends...video games.

Mark and his sister Lindsay with naked Carolina who loves to be free.

My kids peaking through the balcony rail

Most of the kids...

Pinata time. I had more pics of this, but Amanda was in all of them and they weren't very pretty.

Hot Tub Club is gonna make you sweat.


Boy Scouts

Thomas absolutely LOVES cub scouts. I had no idea he would take to it to quickly. He takes it very seriously and enjoys it every week. Mark loves that he loves it so much. He was so impatient for me to get all his patches sewed on. I called my Mom to tell her how tedious it was ans she said that she just stapled my brothers on. I laughed so hard! I think the sewing thing skipped a generation with my Mother.

Brothers



School Music Performance

1st grade, Mrs. Patterson

"A Sailor life for me"

Outside of Thomas' classroom hung a piece of art work that he did of himself. On his tummy it reads below:

"When I grow up I want to be a Pilet. I will drive areoplanes. I will take them to Arizona and see my Grandma and Grandpa. It will be fun to play with Grandma." ~Thomas Jones/1st grade

Thomas and Carolina (Lindsay's daughter)

Thomas walking Carolina to his class room

I showed Lindsay this and she said that Carolina like to have people smell her "buddy" (blanket)

Pinafores, Stays, bonnets, and treasures

Lydia's mid 1800's Pinafore

(for our Civil War Reenacting)

I absolutely love the white pinafore that I made Lydia to go over her brown dress, but I was afraid that she would continue to get grass stains and dirt on it. Mom and Dad suggested that I save it as an heirloom. So I had to make her another on to wear. Girls never wore their dress without a pinafore unless they were in a formal setting. It's like an apron kind of. To keep their dress from becoming soiled. They were worn about an inch or two above the bottom of their dress, which for Lydia's age group that is right around the knee. I didn't have a pattern so yesterday afternoon I measured Lydia and went for it. It only took five hours. It's getting easier to make up patterns now that I can vision it. It reminds me of doing hair. Someone brings in a a picture of a hairstyle they want and I have to figure out how to create it.

I put four pleats in the front which you can't see unless you double click on the picture. Pleats were fashionable and also trimmings (lace)

Stay

Here is Lydia's Stay I made. Little girls wore them from the beginning under their dresses. They had two purposes. The first reason for it was to prepare them for a corset when they become of age (16yrs). They had no boning in them, so they were soft and quilted. The second reason was to keep their petticoats up because we all know how little kids have no hips/figure quite yet. Just a cute pudgy belly and therfore their slips and petticoats would fall below their tummy and show beneath their dresses which was a no-no. They had buttons to hold the slips and petticoats up on the Stay.

They were always done up in the back.

My first Bonnet

I needed a white bonnet. I didn't have a form and I didn't want to pay $ to have one sent just so I could stick some bird on it, so I made this one. It's not the exact shape I like, but it will have to do till I can get a pattern. FYI-in the mid 1800's the more "junk" or decorations and lace you had on your bonnet the more fashionable you were. This is about as far as I go. I am not a lacy person, so it takes a lot to have that bow on the side by the feathers and that crotchet tie. They actually wore fake birds with birds nest on their hats and bonnets. I laugh at this because I swore I would NEVER go there. Well, I made the first step. I was in Roberts and crafts. I pass by the wedding section. I notice I am all alone. I start laughing to myself, because the thought of wearing a bird/nest on my head is ridiculous! Well, I circled around the store and then right before I checked out I said, "Oh what the heck" and I went and purchased three birds and one nest. I came home, made my bonnet, and they told myself NEVER!!!!!!!!!!

1800's picture case

My Dad found this old photo case frame in an antique store. They are very rare and hard to find in such good condition. There was a picture of a young kid in it already.

Dad kept the picture of the young kid and put pictures of him and and I. This is something I will treasure forever! Thanks Dad!!!!!

Dad didn't know how old this photo case was until he tool the picture of the young kid (around 18 yrs old) and found his name and date. How amazing is that??? Picture of that below

Inscription below:

November 30, 1861

George W.

Conn

Lanterns! I love them. I have no idea why? Maybe because I think it's romantic. Either way, I love them. The three small ones I got for my kids. Lets just pray they don't burn a battle field down at night.

This is for my Mother (to help set the scene) and any members of the 9Th Heber Ward that missed this fantastic new fashion I wore on Sunday. I have many different birds to choose from if any would like to borrow one. Extra charge for the nest.

I have a....

Regular brown bird

A white dove

AND, a quail.

Random pics...

Here are some random pictures that we have taken over the past few weeks.

SUBWAY

You have to put in for a drawing/pass to hike the subway here in Utah. It's a pretty big deal to get one. Mark went when we were first married. One of his friends got a pass to go again so they went in May. It was so cold and the water was high (and it was a lot higher a few months ago) so they all wore wet suits and so forth. Looks like fun. I want to go next time. I think I am becoming more adventurous the older I get. Isn't that backwards?

See them down on the right?

Red Falls on the way out.

Don't ask. It looks a little dangerous. They had to tie rope to that hole to help get down.

Gooseberry Mesa/Angels Landing hike

(Another boys trip in May)

Mark and his childhood friends went on a four day hiking/biking trip. They had a lot of fun. Mark said they spent a lot of time tossing/breakign off rocks/boulders and pushing them off the mountian. Just goes to show you that boys never really do grow up.

What a view. Isn't he handsome?

Lydia playing my dulcimer, which she loves to do. After ten minutes I have a headache from the tin sound banging that she so loudly plays.

We these pom-pom worms. The kids enjoyed makign them and I have burt finger tips from the hot glue gun to prove it.

Cousin Gracy came over with Emery to stay the night. Lydia and Gracy slept side by side. This is how I found them when Mark and I went to bed. Their hands are to cute.

Lydia fell asleep on our bed just like this. It made me laugh. So tierd.

Lydia still loves her Butterscotch from Santa/Aunt Melissa!

Geocaching

I had never heard of this till I married this great man of mine. He is so out going. He had his GPS and you can link it to a website www.geocaching.com and download all the coordinates to local geocaches in your area. Basically, it's like a modern treasure hunt. The fun part is, is that you bring something you want to give away and when you find the geocache you open it up, take something from it and then leave something behind for someone else. The kids love finding the old Mc Donald toys in our house and using those to exchange for pencils and cars. We couldn't find the one in the Heber Cemetery. Maybe next time.

After work, Mark downloads a new coordinate for a new geocache and then we hop on our bikes and ride a round town to find them. Surprisingly, it is a lot of fun!

This one was around 300 North and 500 East in Heber. It was easy and our first successful "treasure hunt" as the kids like to call it.

This Geocache below was located on someones property on 100 South and 500 West in Heber. This was the best one by FAR! It had dollar store toys and then some. Kelsey came with us on this one.

More Geocaching to come......

P.S. Mark wants to find someone he doesn't care for and hide a geocache on their property, download the coordinates, and see how many visitors come to find it. It sounded so mean but so funny:) I wouldn't put it past him

Skiing winter 2010

We figure that if you are going to be raised in Utah, you might want to know how to ski. Mark grew up skiing since he was ten and loved it. He and his childhood friends Nate and Brad started teaching their kids since January 2010. It was a fun fun winter for our boys...and Mark. You could just about bet that every Saturday Mark and the boys were on the slopes. Our boys caught on so fast as most kids do, fearless at this age. Towards the end Mark said he had to try to keep up with them. I can't wait till next ski season when Lydia and I can go. Mark is panning on teaching Lydia next winter. This will make it so I am not home every Sat. by myself. We can go as a family. I am very excited!

Nate (Mark's friend since he was 5) was a ski instructor. He was fab with them.

Thomas (left) and William (right). This was on their first day.

Still first day...

Deer Valley Ski resort

Mark and Lydia

Playing in the snow while the boys ski

William dodging a snow ball coming from Dad.