Keeping Up With the Joneses

This fall we have been busier than ever but still determined to have a fun time as a family. Mason tried out for swim team (UV Rays) and was so excited to make it! He has practice 4 days a week and swim meets 1-2 times a month. Its great exercise for him and he loves it.  I had fun buying all the supplies for Mason's swim team. The suit has to be really tight, and we had to go down to a size 6 to fit his tiny body! The kids have had a ton of doctor and dentist appointments, and Max's eye appointment was the worst. It was supposed to be a 20 minute appointment and we were there over 3 hours. Max was trying his best to be cooperative but just didn't quite understand how to answer the questions. At the end they just said "come again next year" and we went out for snow cones.  Last Saturday we went up to Utah Olympic Park.  McKay practiced his climbing.  Marshall and the three oldest wanted to do the rope course. Max got a little scared and ...

I've been so ambivalent about this new job from the very beginning when it was posted, to deciding not to apply to it, changing my mind the day before the applications were due, interviewing, and finally deciding to accept the job and negotiate a contract. My old job at the Counseling Center was so wonderful and I made it into such a great fit for me, so it was hard to leave. But the more I'm in this new position (faculty in the Psychology department and Clinical Psychology program) the more happy I'm feeling about my decision. It is turning out to be just as flexible as I hoped it would be. I just teach Abnormal Psychology on Mondays and Wednesdays 12-1:15 PM and then supervise graduate students' therapy Thursday mornings 9-11. I'm starting to get into a good rhythm of class prep, private clients, and family stuff. My department had the BYU photographers take a professional picture of me for the website.  It took a lot longer than anticipated to get into my...

Why ain't it always summer!? It is always so hard when summer and the fun in Waterton ends, but we were determined to make a good start to the new school year. There have been a lot of big changes with me working full-time and Hannah (super nanny) having to quit to finish her bachelor's degree (yay for her). I visited 8 different daycares and preschools trying to find somewhere that would be good for McKay while I was at work and was feeling pretty discouraged until I stumbled across this one on Facebook and was amazed it actually had an opening. It's called It's Fun to Learn and is a preschool for ages 2-5 run by a wonderful woman named Linda. It is run out of a separate part of her house, she has all the licenses necessary plus extras she does she to ensure the best standards, and she truly LOVES the kids she works with. There are never more than 8 kids and usually it is just 4 or 5 at a time. While there, McKay has (a second) breakfast, school time, lunch time, nap t...

I wasn't planning on taking this last trip to Waterton because I was supposed to start my new job on August 1st. BUT. . .my new office wasn't ready and I figured I could get just as much done in the evenings in Waterton as I could at home, so we headed up for one final week of bliss (poor Marshall stayed home to work). It is amazing how easy it is to drive to Canada with these kids. By now I've got it down! We've found that McKay is happier in the back with the big boys, we know which gas stations to stop at, which snacks and movies to bring, and I've learned that if I have a good audio book the trip goes by very fast.  When we were in Waterton Gail was driving a charter bus in from Lethbridge and had some time to kill in Waterton. She knows McKay loves school bus and made his day by stopping by the cabin and letting him play in it.  We woke him up from his nap to see the bus and I think he thought he was still dreaming.  He sat here for hours s...

I've been talking so much about how amazing Waterton is that some of my friends just had to see it for themselves. My friends (and former co-workers) Jen and Corinne came up with me for about 5 days. We flew to Kalispell and then spent a few days in Glacier hiking and rafting before spending the next few days in Waterton. The three of us.  I hadn't been river rafting since I was a teenager and it was great to remember how fun it was.  One of the best things about the trip was seeing my stomping ground from fresh eyes. They would ooh and aww over all the beauty and it was a good reminder of how much I take advantage of it and forget to slow down and reconnect with the awe of my surroundings.  Our raft. Our leader got a little ambitious and ended up dumping out 3 of the riders.  Hiking the Garden Wall on Logan's Pass in Glacier.  The bears were cooperative and we were able to see 7 black bears as well as a grizzly and her cub all in 24...

We came back from Canada for Max's birthday and to see Kim and Rusty's family who were visiting Utah for a week. They stayed at our house for the first few days and it was so fun to have all the Jones cousins together again! Feeding 25-30 multiple meals for multiple days took a toll, but it was fun and I had good help.  We had a Lego Birthday Party for Max and here are the cousins working on Lego Bingo.  Max wanted an orange lego birthday cake. I didn't have much time in between getting home from Waterton and the party and so I just had Costco frost a cake in orange and decorated it with new lego figures.  Max was pretty happy with the party.  I love all these kids and am so lucky my kids have such great cousins to grow up with!

We spent A LOT of time in Waterton this summer and it was heaven. Here are some picture from our 3rd trip. Last year McKay was terrified of the boat (really probably just the life jacket) but this year he couldn't get enough of "gampa's boat" It got annoying as he was asking for a boat ride multiple times a day. Fortunately grandpa is a push over and would oblige.  There were some beautiful nights where we went driving and looking for animals. I think Max is taking over his dad's photography habit.  Grandpa took this picture of McKay with a mountie.  The kids had a really fun summer, but my one rule was that they had to do 4 workbook pages every day. You'd think they were being tortured--but they did it! Max was a natural and after getting over some frustration learned to ride a bike without training wheels like a champ.  McKay had a thrill when we rode the hiking shuttle (bus) up to the trailhead.  We hiked into Crande...