Mr Incredible

Since the day I met Darran my life has been full of adventures.  There is never a dull moment when he is around.  After we got married he occasionally would comment that he wanted me to make him a super hero suit.  I would laugh it off, but as the requests came more often, I began to think he was serious.

One year for Christmas he got Superman pj's and I thought, "Oh I can make him a superman cape, that would be easy." But alas (love that word) it never got done. 

So fast forward to Christmas.  I knew we were going to be celebrating in Utah this year, and I was trying to figure out what to get Darran.  Early one morning a thought popped into my head.  Get him his super hero suit. 

Years ago the darling friends who introduced Darran and I had mentioned that they thought he looked like Mr. Incredible.  So I started searching for a Mr. Incredible suit.  That was something that I knew he would never be expecting to get on Christmas.  With some help from my sister, we found the perfect one, and I had it shipped to my parents house.

I know what you are all thinking.  What wife gives her husband a super hero suit, for Christmas?!?!?!   Just the coolest wife in the world who is married to the biggest kid on the planet! :)

So you can imagine my excitement...when it came time to open the super hero suit. Here the hubs is reading the note I had slipped into his gift, saying that he didn't need the super hero suit to be my Mr. Incredible. 

After reading the note

Do you think he was excited?!??!!

Once he opened it he rushed into the other room to put it on.

Here he is Mr. Incredible! In all his muscular glory. 

After spending the morning in his suit, we headed over to the Whitakers (family who introduced us and have been telling Darran for years that he looks like Mr. Incredible) to wish them some Christmas cheer.  The funny thing about this was, that Darran HAD to wear his suit in the car ride from my parents to the Whitakers.  It was hilarious! There we were driving in my mom's classic Cadillac with Darran wearing his super suit (mask and all).  We stopped at some traffic lights next to a car full of little kids, and Darran looks out the window and waves.  The kids went crazy that Mr. Incredible was waving to them.  All the while I was in the drivers seat laughing hysterically.   See told ya, NEVER A DULL MOMENT!!! 

When we got to the Whitakers, he went to the door, and the laughter when the door opened could be heard all throughout the neighborhood!

After a long days work (or in this case, just wearing the suit) every super hero needs to put his feet up and relax!  I so love that I have married one of the biggest kids on the planet and that my life with my hubby never is dull!  He makes life so fun and entertaining!!! He truly is my Mr. Incredible!!

Christmas

How we loved being in Utah for Christmas!  We had the greatest time watching the nieces and nephews open presents.  Seeing the excitement on their faces was the best Christmas present ever! 

My sisters family lives in Massachusetts and so the kids were worried that Santa wouldn't find them in Utah.  They were so excited to wake up Christmas morning and see that Santa had remembered them at their house in Massachusetts and also brought something for them in Utah.  Mr. Smarty was thrilled with his binoculars, as he has become an avid bird watcher.

All Miss B wanted for Christmas was to be a princess.  Santa didn't disappoint when he dropped off this pretty princess dress.

Add the shoes and tiara from Grandma, and she was the complete package.

Cutie 2 shoes was so excited to see the camping stuff and tent that she got for her American Girl doll.

After Church my brother and his family came over to show us the loot they got from Santa.

Sweet Tart was thrilled with her new ITouch

Tootsie Roll loved her new Cosmo hat

And Chooch loved his new Lego's.

 He and Mr. Smarty got lots of Lego's for Christmas.  I sat in awe and amazement watching them both put the Lego's together.  I could not believe how quickly they did it!  They are true Lego masterminds!!! 

Even though there was no snow, the cold weather helped make it feel like Christmas to me.  We loved being with my family, but missed Darran's parents.  These are the times that I wished we lived on the same continent! 

Christmas Eve

In true Jone family tradition Christmas Eve was held at my parents house where we enjoyed a fabulous meal, read the Christmas story and then opened our Christmas Eve present...our Christmas Jammies.

Little B and her dad intent on opening B's gift.

Tootsie Roll & Chooch getting ready to open their gifts

Love that Sweet Tart (the oldest grandchild) and Cutie 2 Shoes (2nd to youngest grandchild) love spending time together.  It's so sweet to watch Sweet Tart with her younger cousins.  She is such a great example to them!

As you can see from the earlier post about the BYU bookstore.  We are a BYU loving family.  It started with my parents.  That's where they met, where my dad played football, and where my parents fell in love.  So BYU blue runs through our veins...well at least most of us.  Those of the family who don't bleed blue (although we know deep down they do) are very patient and good sports to appease us and our crazy BYU obsession.  This years Christmas jammies, were BYU jammies.  My mom was so excited that she decided to have our family photo taken in our BYU blue.  My parents neighbor, was kind enough to come over and take the photos. 

Love the kids waving in this photo.  And so happy we got pictures with my grandpa.

Grandma, grandpa and Grandpa Great with all the grand kids.  Little Miss B was done with pictures.  And Cutie Two Shoes, was just getting started on her photo poses.

Chooch and Mr. Smarty  sporting their BYU blue

After the family photos were taken and my parent's neighbour left to go back to his family party.  Grandpa Great thought it was getting late and left to go home.  But the photo shoot continued.  Every family wanted to their family photo taken, and I was happy to take a few pictures.  We got some great shots of each family, including these gems.

My sister and her family

My brother and his family

Us

My cute parents

It was so nice being able to spend the holiday season with my family...even if there was no snow, it was great being home and spending this special night together!

Rise & Shout

We have officially been home for a month, and I have yet to finish blogging about our trip to Utah. I  know...terrible, but looking back over the trips we have taken  back to Utah over the past five years... is nothing new.  But that is no excuse.  I need and want to be a better blogger. So in an effort to catch up, grab a cup of cocoa and enjoy!

One of the things on my list of things I wanted to do while we were in Utah was go to BYU.  I have so many great memories of my time spent there going to Uni, and I hadn't been there for several years.  As I was talking to my sister about the things that she and her family had on their list of things to do, BYU Bookstore was on their list as well, so we decided to make the pilgrimage together.  We were thrilled to find out that my mom and brother's daughter Tootsie Rol, whol has become an AVID BYU fan and wanted to come with us as well. 

Here is Tootsie Roll in front of the BYU Bookstore. Love that she is rocking her Cosmos cap!

We happened to be there the day of the BYU bowl game and were able to catch the end of the game at the bookstore as we were checking out.  So fun!  So fun to see the excitement on the kids faces as we watched the Cougars win!  We had a great time at the bookstore, and came away with wonderful treasures!

As we were leaving the Wilkinson's Center the kids wanted to stop and take a few pictures.  I was only too happy to assist!  Here's Tootsie Roll.  I love that she wore her BYU shirt and that she loves BYU!

Showing his Y spirit, and rocking his newly purchased Y cap.  So love it!!!!

Little Miss Cutie 2 Shoes and her new buddy Cosmo.   She was totally into getting her pictures taken and actually posed at several different "good spots" as she called them on our way from the bookstore to the parking lot.

These are three of my favorites from our BYU photo shoot.  How I love these precious kids!  What a fun day we had at the BYU bookstore.  We were disappointed that the food court at the Wilk was closed due to the Christmas holiday.  But promises were made that we would go back for lunch the next time we were all in town.

As we got in the car to head to Brick Oven for lunch, the kids were having so much fun checking out BYU and having their pictures taken that we had to take a detour and head to the football stadium and visit the cougar statue.  The kids had no idea, and were so excited to see Cosmo as we rounded the top of the hill.

Rise & Shout!  Goooo Cougars!

Hopefully this will be the next generation that will be attending BYU.  What fun it would be to pull these photos out in 10 years and see that they all were students there!  We had a fantastic day and I was so glad that we were able to enjoy our time at the Y!

horse back riding lessons

Another fun thing that I got to do while we were in Utah was to go watch Tootsie Roll at her horse back riding lesson.  To say she has found her niche would be an understatement.  She totally rocks in the saddle!

Love the horse in motion in this photo.

Tootsie Roll warming up her horse.  And boy was it COLD in the barn!

After  warm up, it was time to practice passing another horse as Tootsie Roll was preparing for a competition.  I was amazed at the way she handled a horse. She is a natural, for sure!

See you can see how cold the barn was.  Look at the horses breath, but don't over look the cute cowgirl!   So glad that I was able to see Tootsie Roll in action! 

Lights at Temple Square

So it's been four years since we were in Utah for Christmas.  Four years people!!!  And to say that I have missed the cold snowy Christmases of my youth, is an understatement.  So you can imagine how excited I was to be spending the month of December in cold snowy Utah.  Not to mention spending the month with my family.  Well imagine our surprise (not really - we had a feeling this would happen) when it only snowed twice and melted just as quickly as it fell while we were there.  We did hear that it was the hottest and driest December in Utah in 100 years.  But even though there was no snow, it was colder than the 90 + degree temperatures of an Australian Christmas.

Christmas in Utah wouldn't be complete without a trip to Temple Square to see the lights.  And boy they did not disappoint! 

I miss good Christmas lights, so it was fun to be on temple square and enjoy the thousands of lights .

The reflection pool outside the temple grounds holds wonderful memories of taking wedding photos, which I might add were very very bad, but oh so funny.

I loved walking around the temple grounds, not only on this night but on another visit.  So blessed to have married my hubby in this scared building!

We had a great time going with my brother Jeff & his wife Jodi and the kids.  It's always a party when we are together! Don't you love Chooch's face! :)

Awwww pretty.

We ducked into the Tabernacle to get out of the cold for a bit.  The organ never ceases to amaze me.

Then it was off to the North Visitors Center, where we stood in line to go up to the Christus, which was a new experience for me.  Sure do love these guys!

It was wonderful to fight the crowds and get to see the Nativity, and celebrate the true meaning of Christmas.

As you can see Chooch was loving having Darran around.  Actually, I don't know if there is anyone that doesn't like having the darling Aussie around.  I know I sure love it!

A visit to Temple Square to see the lights wouldn't be complete without walking by the red tree.  The last time we were here, was when we got married.  When we took Darran's parents to see the lights.  There are always great memories to be made when you're out seeing the lights!  So glad we were able to do this while we were in Utah!

Hoover Dam

One of the things that Darran wanted to do on this trip was go to the Hoover Dam, so since it was so close to Vegas, we got up and headed out to Hoover Dam.  Darran, as you know loves movies and he was hoping to catch a glimpse of the "all spark" from Transformers which was housed in the Hoover Dam.

The dam is amazing!  It hasn't changed since the last time I was there as  a little girl, but it never ceases to amaze me!  It really is incredible!

Standing on the top looking down.  Yes those are cars parked at the bottom of the dam.

They have built a new bridge to bypass the dam on your way to Arizona.  It's pretty cool, and ties in well with the scenery around the dam. Here's my superman posing at one of the look outs.

View of new bridge

Darran getting brave enough to look over the edge

Looking straight down

The water was quite low, so no need to let water out.  See those cement rectangles with the circles on them?  That's where the water comes out when they need to let some water out.  Who knew?

A view of the dam from the visitor center side.  See that tower in the middle?  There are bathrooms there...promise!

 

Leaving Hoover dam going under the new bridge

Good buy Nevada, Las Vegas and Hoover Dam.  Hello Utah!!! It's so good to be home!!!