Oops – I Did it Again!

With apologies to Ms. Spears...

 
When we last encountered the Jones' family matriarch, she was making empty promises about posting more often and giving a detailed account of the family's summer. Well, I think we all know how that worked out, as here we are a month (at least) later!

 
Anyway,  here's the Reader's Digest condensed version of our entire summer:

 

• Dropped Evan off for basic training
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• Went on vacation where the kids and I were thoroughly sand-blasted in Arches National Park in Utah, visited Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado, and rode the old narrow-gauge steam engine from Durango to Silverton, also in Colorado.  We had a near-death experience with a raging posse of killer-ninja-mutant old-people in an ancients-only RV park in Dolores, CO and also inadvertently freaked out a policeman who had pulled us over with my desperate need of a restroom.  I had informed Tom roughly 100 miles before that I needed a restroom whenever he could see fit to pull over.  He said that he would and then promptly forgot.  Finally becoming desperate, I reminded him of his promise and he pulled over immediately, seeing as how his life depended on it, or at least the pristine state of his truck seats. The policeman was just approaching the window as I barked at my dear husband to hand over the keys to the trailer, RIGHT. FLIPPING. NOW. then sprinted to the door like an Olympian.   The policeman, who had apparently been following us for awhile as Tom looked for a place to pull off, took pity on Tom and let him go without even so much as a warning.  I wouldn't have cared if he'd been hauled off to jail, so long as I got to use that lovely porta-potty!
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• Weeded a gigantic garden patch
  
• Planted a gigantic garden patch
  
• Weeded a gigantic garden patch
  
• Watered a gigantic garden patch
  
• Weeded a gigantic garden patch
  
• Ate a squash and 10 pea pods from the garden, all that has grown so far besides the gargantuan weeds. Got sick after realizing that each pea pod cost the equivalent of $23.50 each, give or take a few dollars…  
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• Vow never to plant another garden, at least until next year when I will fondly remember how sweet and crisp the peas were.  What's a few-hundred dollars for a nice handful of fresh-grown veggies? 
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• Savannah and I spent an awesome weekend in Idaho eating the incredibly sinful and delicious food cooked by my cousin-in-law Chris.  And spending time with my good friend and cousin, Karen. And spending oodles of hours gazing into the precious face of baby Jackson, my newest cousin. And spending time with my bestest friend since sixth grade, Dawn and her adorable son Bryson.  And stuffing myself with Chris' German pancakes. And hanging out with an aunt and uncle I don't see nearly enough.  And walking along the Falls trail, downtown, practicing my photography. Oh yeah, there was the Blue Angels air show going on next door too, which was definitely worth seeing…  And did I mention the food?!!!  
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• Took my photography class - best money I ever spent!  I never would have learned what my camera can do without it and I will NEVER go back to automatic settings...   See http://brookesnow.com for details about her classes. 
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• Shipped Braden off to Tennessee for 2 ½ weeks to stay with Josh and Jess, also referred to as "Joshica."
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• All this while working a full-time job (with a dash of annual leave thrown in!)...
  

Next up: Evan comes home in 6 days, Braden 3 days after that, school for the kids starts 11 days later, and 4 days after that I start a class at the University, my first in almost 2 years!


See you in December…:)

p.s. Today's photos are all from the weekend trip to Idaho. I'll post vacation pictures soon, I PROMISE.

We saw the most beautiful sunset on our trip home, which was almost outdone by the moon that rose after the sun went down.  Stunning trip from beginning to end!

Savannah was once-again forced to be my practice model.  She was being a bit of a smart-aleck about it, then bonked her head against the tree.  Just the universe's way of teaching her to respect her mother!