7 Years!

In honor of our anniversary today, I thought I would take you on a little journey through the Jon and Mary story:
Although my family moved to Alpine when I was in 9th grade, Jon and I didn't meet until the summer of '95 when we were both called to be on Seminary Council (I think this is just a Utah thing, but people who went to high school in another state can set me straight). We spent some time together during our senior year, but just as friends and mostly because our friends were dating. Graduation came and went, he went to play football at Dixie and I went to BYU, and I'm 99% sure neither one of us would have thought about the other one if fate hadn't intervened. Fate, of course, referring to the housing crisis I experienced when I came home from my mission and found every one of dear friends/roomies that I had been with since freshman year was either engaged, married, or living abroad. I ended up taking the contract of a friend the weekend before school started. That first Sunday we ran into each other at ward prayer (an even more localized oddity than Seminary Council) and realized that we were in the same BYU student ward. We talked for at least an hour that night, became good friends for a few months, dated for a few months, were engaged for 2 months, and married on August 22, 2001. In the past 7 years, we've moved 5 times, been through 4 pregnancies, earned 3 degrees, had 2 children, and one heck of a time. Last Sunday after the girls were asleep, we had a great scripture study together and then spent a couple hours playing a wii game together. We both ended up laughing so hard, we were crying. I looked at Jon and thought "This is exactly the kind of happy I looked forward to when we got married." I love you Jon!

I Love My Wife!!!

Well, today marks 7 years of being married to Mary. I will be the first to admit that I have not been easy to be with over the 7 years. I know it may be a shock, but I do have faults ;)

Mary has truly been the rock of this marriage. I have been so busy with work and school that I haven't been able to be as supportive to her and our family as I would like. If I didn't have her as a friend, wife, and mother of my children then I think I would not be where I am and who I am today.

In many ways Mary has made me a better person. Before we got married I would say that I was in my own little world, doing and see things the way I wanted. She has helped me open my eyes to see things differently and to be more understanding of the world around me.

Mary is a wonderful mother. We have 2 beautiful girls and soon will add a boy to the mix. I see how much she does every day to love and teach those girls. I admire everything about her and what she does for them. She is so willing to love and teach in our home.

I love Mary's sense of humor. She can always make me laugh. I think she is great to talk to/with and have a good old laugh. I love how beautiful she is. I love her blue gray eyes. I love being able to be with her every day and every night. I love how she is a grammar and punctuation nut and helps me improve mine. I'd just like to thank the Joneses for having such a wonderful daughter. So Mary, here is to you, for seven years you have been my rock, my love, and my life. I love you very much.

Jon

Goals

I have to admit that I am not a big goal setter. I purposefully avoid New Year's resolutions because they are really just another way of setting goals. I think my aversion to goal setting comes from my mission where we were required to set so many goals that it felt impossible to keep track of them all so I just felt like a failure most of the time. Really, personal goals, companionship goals, district goals, zone goals, mission goals, blah, blah, blah, blah. Now that I've got two kids and one on the way, most days my main goal is to make sure everyone goes to bed having been cleaned, clothed, fed, and loved. If that happens, then life is good. But, sometimes a person feels the need to aim for something higher, reach for the stars if you will. So I've decided to set a goal--one that is sure to make me a happier person. And one thing I do know about goals is that you are supposed to share them with others so they can support you in your efforts. So here it goes: My goal is to eat one frosty a day from now until baby Max is born. Wish me luck friends!

Ah The Good Old Days

So when I was young, my brothers and sisters would go swimming in a "pool" in our backyard. I say "pool" because it wasn't really a pool at all, rather a large circular horse trough that we would fill up with water and swim in. The funny thing is that we have never owned a horse. It was about 2 1/2 feet deep, so just deep enough to sit in and get cooled off from the hot summer day. It was also small enough to run in a circle to make a whirlpool. Once we got the water going fast enough we would sit down and float along with the water. Good times I tell you, good times. In the video you will also see Emme and Grace play with a boat made out of a squash. This is also something me and the siblings would do with the overgrown squash or zucchinis. We would sometime race them down the irrigation ditch for more good times than you can imagine. So in short here are some pictures and a small video of Grace and Emme playing in the pool that we used to play in as kids. In a way it's kind of cool to see my kids doing things that I did as a kid. So here is to the good old days.

Goodbye Alpine, Hello Alps

Elder Max Jones and Sister Nancy Jones

My wonderful parents sent their last child on a mission (Christian is in Carlsbad, California) and decided to go on one of their own. After 16 years of living in Alpine, they've sold their home and are on their way to the Geneva, Switzerland mission. Jon and I are so excited to start saving our money so we can plan a trip to Europe in the summer of 2010 and visit them as well as my mission (Rome, Italy) and Jon's mission (Munich, Germany). We'll miss them tons. . . and, more than anything, envy all of the delicious bread, cheese, pastries, and chocolate they'll get to enjoy. Oh, yeah, and baptisms and stuff too.

What's in a Name?

Because I am so noticeably pregnant (I've been asked quite frequently if I'm having twins!), I get asked a lot what I'm naming this baby. The answer? Max Alexander Scoresby. Because Max has become such a popular name lately, I've been feeling the need to explain why we chose this name. I'll give you three guesses:
1. Jon and I have always really identified (code for absolutely obssesed) with Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony and we want our lives to mirror theirs. So when they named their twins Max and Emme, we thought, "Hey, we already have an Emme, let's name our boy Max!"
2. Our favorite television program is Dragon Tales and we are convinced (code for been brainwashed by secret coded messages implanted in all public television) that every sister named Emmy/Emme needs a little brother named Max. And, if I ever have another boy, what do you think of the name Ord?
3. My dad's name is Max and I have wanted to use that name for a son ever since I first thought about becoming a mother and naming children, which for most girls occurs sometime between getting braces, avoiding showers after gym class, and awkward first kisses. This equates to sometime long, long, long before the name became ubiquitous among celebs and Utah Mormon mommies alike.

And for the curious/bored (why else would you be checking my blog!) here's the rationale for our other children's names:

Grace: I wish I had a great story about some ancestor but truthfully I've loved the name Grace since I first saw the movie Annie. I was about 5 when it came out and I thought that Grace Farrell was the most beautiful, elegant, kind woman I had ever seen. I wrote all about it in my journal. It goes something like this--Grace Ferul iz so butifull. i luv that nam. And so Grace made the list of future baby names also well before it skyrocketed the charts of popularity.

Emmeline: I found her name in college. My freshman year at BYU I lived in Heritage Halls. The girls' halls are all named after prominent women in church history and one hall was named after Emmeline B. Wells. Around that same time, I read an article about her in the Ensign. She was such an outstanding woman! She served as one of the general presidents of the Relief Society. She was also the editor of The Women's Exponent, a magazine for Mormon women as well as an advocate for women's suffrage. She campaigned for the rights of women along with Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony. I thought she embodied so many qualities that I wanted my daughters to have--intelligence, confidence, passion, and commitment to the gospel.

Max: Well here's the answer to the little quiz up above. I am so excited/terrified to have a little boy. I can't think of a better man to name him after than my own dad. If I ever have another son, however, I might have some explaining to do. My next choice for a boy's name is Charlie, which just happens to be the name of the dog that our family loved for all of his 14 years. How would you like to be named after a dog?

Happy Birthday Grace!

Our beautiful Mary Grace turned 5 in July. We love this sweet, kind, intelligent, polite, adventurous girl.


The Wizard of Oz was a favorite gift



More presents at a cousin tea party


Special daddy/daughter dance


LOVING the wave runner with Dad at Bear Lake