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). :)

March 2007 Sydney's Baptism

Sydney was baptized on Tiffany's 17th birthday on March 31, 2007 in our Allen, TX ward. Tiffany was baptized on Rick's birthday and thought it was neat that Sydney was baptized on hers. Sydney looked so sweet! Grandma and Grandpa Jones, Aunt Carrie & family, and our good friends the Mansell family who all live in Texas were there. Uncle Gary, pregnant Aunt Jen, and 2 year old Kya flew in from Utah. Her program went smoothly. After she was baptized her skin broke out in a rash that burned her. I felt so bad. The water at our church has had problems passing inspection and I have a feeling her eczema prone skin reacted to the "extras" in it. Once we got home we had her shower, treated her skin, and the burning stopped.

Nana was on her mission but still bought Sydney's first set of scriptures. Gary & Jen got her a matching hymn book with her name engraved on it. The Mansells gave her a cute necklace with the number 8 on it. Later that night we celebrated Sydney's baptism & Tiffany's birthday at Chilis. This was before blogging, I am lucky to have found these pictures.