May/June 2008 Heelys Equation

Spencer was riding his Heelys in front of our house. His wheel hit a gap in the sidewalk and he was thrown. He put his arm out to catch himself and broke it right next to the elbow. They put him in a waterproof cast that he was supposed to get wet every day. The next day he was in the pool swimming. When his arm got hot and itchy we used the kitchen sink sprayer and shot cold water through the cast. He was lucky to have a waterproof one, especially here in Florida.

Spencer spent the last 5 weeks of school in his cast and only fussed about it a couple times. The day after school got out he went for follow-up xrays and his arm had completely healed. He was really nervous about getting the cast off. They didn't explain to him (like they did to Sydney when she had hers removed) that the saw would only cut the cast and not his arm. If you look closely at his face in the pic you can see the fear. His arm was so skinny and weak. His doctor told him no running or jumping for a week (yeah right this is Spencer) and that his arm would be back to normal in about two weeks.

Spencer, Sydney, and I left on our cross country road trip later that evening. He favored it for a couple weeks but by the time we got back to Florida six weeks later his arm was back to normal. Yay!

June 2008 Tiffany Graduates

2008 Wesley Chapel High School Graduate!

(If you look closely you will see her small act of rebellion. From her cap hangs my gold & blue tassle from Orem High School class of 1988 instead of the silver & blue from her school).


This was taken right before we left for the commencement. (Yes, Dason needs a haircut). :)

Tiffany said to him "You have no idea who I am, do you?"

Meredith, Tiffany, and Alexia (her two best friends who also graduated this year from WCHS) outside of Olive Garden after graduation.

Melanie, Tiff, Alexia, Kate, Jen with Talana & Meredith in front

Sydney and Maddie are best friends just like their big sisters Tiff & Meredith.

No one could be more excited than Tiffany to graduate from high school. She handled moving from Texas to Florida her senior year with grace. She really missed the organization, quality of the teachers, and especially her friends she had at AHS, but made the most of it. She has been mentally attending BYU the moment she was accepted this winter. Go Cougars!!!

June 2008 Dason's Surprise Party

Austin, Melanie, Dason, Kate, Meredith, Alexia


front row: Melanie Tiffany Alexia, Meredith, & Kevan
back row: Austin, Kate, Danny, Casey, Dason, Ian


Austin, Melanie (she planned the party for Dason), & Casey


Dason, Kate, and Meredith

A few days after Dason's official birthday Austin and Melanie sneaked into his room, threw a blanket over his head, and kidnapped him for a surprise birthday party. They took him to Melanie's house where more of his friends were waiting. Melanie's mom, LaRae, made everyone pancakes, they played games, and went swimming. He had a really good time for his birthday this year. Thanks Deans!!!

June 2008 Farewells

Dason's best friends Danny and David (front) moved to Utah this summer. They made this last year really fun for him (and Rick who teased Danny mercilessly. Don't worry Danny dished it just as much). Tiff got to know Ian and Kevin (back row) because of working with Ian at Target. He just left on his mission and Kevin will be leaving on his soon. They are all amazing teens and we miss them so much!

What is cute about this pic is that Danny & David are twins, Ian and Kevin are twins, and Sydney and Spencer are Irish twins. They had just got in from playing tennis, so they are all a little sweaty and weren't too happy with me taking this picture. :)

June 2008 Dason is 16

On the night of Dason's 16th birthday, Melanie and Meredith surprised him by bursting into the house singing "Happy Birthday" at the top of their lungs. They gave him a plate of cookies they made for him.


He is just realizing what his first present is. Yes. Socks. Rick's mysteriously disappear and we are hoping this helps end that. :)

Dason loves to read and we had taken our family to Barnes & Noble and told the kids we were there only to browse. Once Dason had put the books he wanted back on the shelf. I distracted him while Rick purchased them. You can see the happy surprise on his face.

This was the mac daddy present! Since we give him a hard time about how much he loves his computer, he never thought he would get this much coveted accessory.

June 2008 Spencer's First Pack Meeting

Spencer before he left for his first pack meeting. He earned his Bear patch and a couple other awards. It was held at the Armstrongs house and Rick held him upsed down while he tried to put the pin on my collar. He was pretty nervous.

This is a pic of Spencer D., Quinn, and our Spencer after pack meeting. They are the only other cub scouts in his den. We are really good friends with their families. To our dismay Quinn's family just moved to Montana and Spencer's family just moved to Arizona. Both of their dads just finished up their residencies here in FL and are off to private practice. We miss them so much!

April 2008 Spencer's Baptism

Spencer was baptized April 12, 2008. Now that we live in Florida we were grateful to have Uncle Gary, Aunt Jen, Kya, and Brennon from Utah plus Grandpa and Grandma Jones from Texas come out and support Spencer. He was really nervous about being baptized, but was so cute and really enjoyed the experience. Dason gave a great talk on baptism and Sydney gave the cutest talk on Holy Ghost. Tiffany lead the music. For the sake of tradition Jen Played the piano and stayed up until almost dawn with me helping me make the program. Thanks Jen!

Even though Nana was in New Zealand, with Gary's help, she kept her tradition of getting her grandchildren their first set of scriptures. Gary & Jen got him the matching songbook with his name engraved. Grandma & Grandpa Jones got him a cute pillowcase and a holder for his new scriptures.

Later that afternoon, Spencer chose to have everyone eat at Chili's. Even though Sydney and Spencer don't ever eat what they order; it is their favorite place to go for special occasions. Notice the noodle sculpture he made instead of eating it & his embarassment at them singing Happy Birthday to him.

March 2008 Tiffany is 18

Oh my goodness! It seems like yesterday I brought her home from the hospital. She has been such an easy teenager, an amazing daughter, a fiercely loyal friend, and an awesome sister. Our family has truly been blessed because of her. Thank goodness she has always had common sense to go along with her free spirit, intelligence to go along with her fearlessness, kindness to go along with her stubbornness, and a spiritual side to go along with her desire to do her own thing. Truly, she has been a rarity when it comes to being a teenager. She has kept her hands clean and her heart pure. We love her so much and are so proud of her!

Tiff's 18th Birthday Party --
Melanie, Meredith, Talana, Tiffany, and Alexia being silly

Dec 2007 Temple Square & Snow Chunks

Well, we couldn't make a trip to Utah in December and not see the lights on Temple Square. We went with Gary, Jen, Kya, Brennon, and Nana's friend (from NZ days) Katie. They had nativity scenes from all different countries. Because Nana is on her mission in New Zealand we had to hunt down the Maori creche for a photo op. :)

At Temple Square Spencer was fascinated by all the snow chunks. He climbed under the roped off areas to collect them and carried each one 10 minutes or so until he needed to upgrade the one in his arms. While we were admiring the lights and Nativity Scenes he was trying find his next chunk. He named each one and said the two smaller ones were friends. It was way below FREEZING and the wind seemed to cut through our clothes. I was layered with thermals, a wool coat, turtleneck, and was still shaking (missing Florida). All he had on his hands were those cheap cotton gloves that were soaking wet and beginning to freeze. He didn't care. (Later on he did talk me out of my mittens). Many visitors there commented on how funny it was to see a little kid carrying around a huge chunk of snow.

Here he is showing Kya his baby chunks. To get the last picture I had to plead him to put down the chunks so I could take it. I have no idea how he didn't get frostbite.

Dec 2007 Snow at Nana's House

Our younger two have only lived in Oklahoma, Texas, and now Florida, so they haven't really experienced snow that doesn't melt as soon as it lands. They were beyond thrilled to make snow angels and have snowball fights with their cousins Kylie and Kya.

Dec 2007 Brennon's Blessing

At the beginning of December Sydney, Spencer, and I flew to Utah for my sweet nephew's blessing. Brennon and his big sister Kya are absolutely adorable! This is him after church on his blessing day plus pictures of Nana's other "sweet" grandchildren (minus Tiffany & Dason).

Why the Jonas Brothers performed at Tiff's School for Sydney & Spencer's School

In 2007, the Jonas brothers - Kevin, Joe and Nick - were stranded and had to get to a gig. The owner of an aviation company in Wesley Chapel got them airborne and saved the day. The band wanted to thank him, and he suggested a benefit concert for a playground for the special needs program at his daughter's school, Seven Oaks Elementary. This happens to be Sydney and Spencer's school too. Lucky us.

Making sure Spencer wouldn't feel left out I purchased a ticket for him, Sydney, and their friend Maddie. After the first song Spencer asked, "Can we go now?" Sydney and Maddie enjoyed every second of it. The Wesley Chapel High School Theater only has 900 seats, so everyone had a great view. (Later that week they played a sold out 22,000 seat venue). The screaming girls.. holy smokes! I thought only dogs could hear the sounds they made. My ears are still ringing.

August 2007 First Day of School

Tiffany's first day as a Senior. It is hard to believe that 20 years
ago I was starting my senior year! Tiffany had things to finish up in Texas and didn't get out to Florida until right before school began.

Dason's first day as a high school sophomore. He had a great summer in FL hanging out with lots of new friends and looked forward to starting school after an uncharacteristically stressful time in UT.

Don't ask. Just a pose that they have been doing for the last year or so.

Spencer's first day of 2nd grade and Sydney's first day of 3rd grade. They too had a fun summer playing with lots of new friends.

I showed up with Sydney and Spencer at their school with forms filled out and all required documents on the first day. I was informed that they couldn't start school until the next. Thus, this is the picture of their official first day of school. (Turns out school got in trouble and was on the news for doing this).

Finding a house in Florida was more difficult than we had planned. We were looking at homes in a couple of school districts and registered the kids at the last minute in the one that we thought we'd eventually live in. So, for the first month of school we were still in corporate housing in Tampa. Thank goodness we guessed correctly and didn't have to change schools. We moved into our home in the middle of September and were so grateful to finally feel "settled."

Our Move to Florida 2007

Our family relocated to Florida for Rick to be a district manager for Target in the Tampa Bay area. After living in corporate housing for 2 months in Tampa, we found a home in Wesley Chapel and in September we moved in. Yay!

The kids were troopers and made friends and adjusted quickly. (Rick too). :)