Jones, Henry Jones

Isn't it great when you're in kindergarten and can wear costumes to school?
What? You can't wear costumes to your school?
I guess you're not dressing up as Indiana Jones then, becuase this attire is absolutely acceptable at my school.....even when you wear it EVERY SINGLE DAY.




Happy Friday from Dr. Jones!

What Would You Do With An Extra Week?

So I totally screwed up. But, in a good way this time. You see, I was thinking I was speaking at Friday Forum THIS Friday. But I'm not. I'm speaking NEXT Friday. And, I was thinking I only had two weeks until my Mother's Day Retreat to Oregon. But I don't have two weeks...I have three!

For some reason, I completely got ahead of myself this month and didn't realize how much time I had left int it. I had a mental deadline for a few projects to be done by the end of the month, and I had promised myself I wouldn't work on any other "fun" things until I got the "had-to" projects done. But then I realized my mistake, and I had already finished all the "had-to" projects, so I got to move onto some of the fun stuff. So what did I do with my extra week?

Got obsessed with bubblegum, of course.

I set a goal for myself at the begining of this year to decorate my home a bit for each of the more "seasonal" holidays....you know...Valentines Day, Easter,etc.(I know, it's a totally useless goal...I should have decided to read my scriptures more, or have more love and peace in my home, or something really worthwile - but this has just been fun...and we've needed a bit of that around here) And, for Valentines Day and Easter, I did it. But then Easter was over and I was kind of at a loss...how do you decorate for Memorial Day, or Mother's Day? Then, I got inspired, not by those holidays, but by the toy bubblegum machine that's been sitting in my house for years. Maybe I went a little overboard, but it's been fun. I don't know why. Maybe it's becuase my husband HATES gum. Seriously, he hates it. He hates how it smells, how it gets stuck to everything, how people look when they chew it, everything about it. I can only chew gum when not in his presense, and my kids only get it when they're with their grandma. So, me bringing home two giant bins of gumballs to use in my decorating was not at the top of his list of favorite things I've done. But it just says "FUN" to me. And, while no one is allowed to actually chew the stuf, we're sure having fun looking at it!




P.S. - Keep the Mother's Day comments coming....you're doing great, and I'm getting some good stuff. Check out my friend Vanessa's blog and see what she wrote too...
www.vanessachristenson.com

And, my husband just sent me a link to this article. It was an absolutely lovely addition to my afternoon - even better than flowers....

Help Wanted

I need some help!!!!

I've been asked to speak next week at Friday Forum (a class for college aged young adults), and my topic is....

"What Mother's Really Want"

So, first of all, why am I the expert on this topic? From an eternal-perspective-type-of standpoint, I'm really still in the infancy of my motherhood journey. What do I know what mothers REALLY want? All I really want right now is to be able to take a five minute un-interrupted shower. Certainly that is not the kind of thing my audience is going to appreciate. So, come on, help me out! Leave a comment...if you're a mother, tell me what you really want this year on Mothers Day. If you're not a mother, tell me what you think your mother would really want this year. Tell me everything...from the silly to the serious...I want all the details.

And if you don't leave a comment, consider it completely your fault when I completely bomb out next week and can only squeak through the experience by bribing my audience with free ice cream (which is probably what I'll end up doing anyway).Just trying to get the guilt thing going here....moms are good at that you know.

Thanks everyone....

P.S. YOUR comment is what I REALLY want this year....(sorry, going for the guilt thing again...just picture me, standing up in front of a bunch of people half my age, stuttering and stumbling my way through 30 minutes of pure agony)

The Rest Of The Story

And now, for the rest of the story:
Our two weeks of spring break were well spent. We started with a lovely Easter morning breakfast provided by dad (who found a great recipe for creme brule french toast). Because Easter fell on General Conference this year, we enjoyed a morning at home without getting dressed up in all the traditional Easter garb. I did make all the boys put on their pink shirts for breakfast though....Charlie was not impressed.

From Spring Break 2010 Pictures

Monday morning at five a.m., I put all the kids in the car and started the trek to Arizona. They all did awesome....it took us ten hours and only two stops to make the six hundred mile journey. We settled in to the hotel and enjoyed some swimming. I didn't even try and count the number of times people counted my kids as we paraded through the hotel, or the number of times I heard, "wow, you've got your hands full", or "you sure are a brave woman". The kids were great and really stuck to our motto: "DON'T MAKE MOM LOOK LIKE A CRAZY LADY."

We met up with Aunt Chelsea and a variety of Earnest cousins. The Allen family treated us to an awesome barbecue and horse and carriage ride through the streets of Mesa. My kids were uber-impressed.

From Spring Break 2010 Pictures

Wednesday found us driving into Phoenix to pick up dad at the airport. I finally took a deep breath and relaxed a little.

Thursday was spent at Jump Street - an awesome indoor trampoline center. They had all variety of bouncing apparatus....I even got in on the action!







We enjoyed swimming with the Earnest cousins...these boys think they're pretty cool:


Finally, we finished up with a very entertaining evening at Organ Stop Pizza...an old favorite destination of the Brundage family trips to Phoenix. I don't know exactly what I was expecting, but it was SO fun. Probably the best night of the trip. The kids so enjoyed seeing the giant organ and all the pipes and paraphernalia.







We made the trip back on Saturday...which took us a little longer and a few more stops, and had Sunday to settle back into life before school started back up.

I've rested for the past three days and enjoyed the pure bliss of putting my four oldest children on the school bus every morning and snuggling back up in bed with the littlest two.

And that, for now, is the rest of the story.