Birthdays all Around!!!

Hunter has just turned 3 ... and Collin 5. It's been a whirlwind of non-stop birthday parties culminating in this weekend's extravaganza of a monster birthday get together for all spring birthdays on the Jones side. Aunt Angie made some very fancy cakes for the Whetstone party (Hunter had a Wall*E cake and Collin had a three-tiered BYU basketball cake!) We forgot our camera so we'll have to get some pix from Chris -- suffice it to say they were awesome and the boys were in birthday cake shock!

In like a lion ...

Wow, I’m not sure what to do with myself right now. Savannah is at tumbling, Collin took Hunter to his friend Carson’s house, Trey is taking a snoozer and Kelli is teaching her math class – one of those moments when there is so much I could do I don’t know where to start! So, why not write a blog entry since those have become few and far between since our move from overseas.

Life is really good these days. I think we’re finally coming out of our winter snow dumping. I guess it wasn’t as bad as last year, but just 2 weeks ago we had a snow storm that dumped 18 – 24 inch by the time I got home from work. It was really the first time that I felt an 800 snowblower would be well worth the money. Lucky for us we have some great neighbors we helped get the really slushy stuff from the road plows so we could get into and out of our driveway --- after 2 hours of shoveling that wet stuff

myself it was just a little tiring. Excited for some spring weather and chance to work out in the yard and an excuse to kick to kids off the Wii!

Speaking of the Wii, Hunter is hilarious. He navigates through the menus like he’s 18 years old. He knows every little character, how many weapons they have, if they are good or bad, and all the various levels. We wish he had some little friends to play with in the area, but now that he’s potty trained he figures he’s earned the right to tag along with Collin.

Collin is doing really well. He enjoys preschool and loves to come home and color his ‘homework’. Last week we went to the

BYU-Utah basketball game. He first of all has a count down chain to his birthday … and somewhere on there was the a chain for this game he’s been counting to for about 10 days … uh, oh – Trey’s awake … free time over! ……. And here it is nearly a week later and I’ve found some more time to finish this e-mail. Collin was a rabid BYU fan at the game whipping the white-out towel right in my face as the cougars moved ahead towards the end of the game (and a good sport at that). We had to make BYU and Utah pancakes the day of the game. He loves to play b-ball on his little hoop in the basement and is always making ‘squishes’ as he calls them.

Trey is growing in leaps and bounds. He hates Dad babysitting him twice a week because that means 4 hours without Mom and his food source. It’s actually kind of funny. I’ll hold him so his back is against my chest and he’s facing outwards. When he’s hungry he wants nothing to do with me. If he ever sees me or hears my voice, he automatically starts to cry. And he’ll only take formula once in a while. One thing I’ve found that works without fail is to play basketball with Collin and hold Trey in one arm. That pacifies him every time …

Savannah is doing really well in school, tumbling and loves to play with friends. We just attended her parent teacher conference and her teacher, Mrs. Shaw, says that Savannah is a joy to have in class and is very respectful. Savannah says that she only likes school a ‘little’ and that’s because she likes her friends and recess, but doesn’t like doing all the work. Mrs. Shaw says that they’ve really been driving the kids hard this year … almost too hard. So, Savannah is feeling a little burnt out. We’re really wishing we had the Australian school year so the kids could get more of a break (2 weeks between terms) and spread things out a little more. She did have crazy dress up day at school which she found very entertaining.

Kelli and I are doing well. Kelli continues to train for her triathlon in May and is teaching twice a week at the community college. I am enjoying work at ATK, training for a 100-mile bike race and ‘playing’ with the scouts and kids. All quite crazy and yet entertaining. And thank goodness we can finally see the grass again ...