No tricks or treats

The world has changed a lot since  we used to go trick or treating back in "the day".  Whole neighborhoods dressed up and went house to house and everyone decorated in anticipation of the coming of the goblins.  Today it seems that safety and the ability to get more candy in a shorter distance have changed the way things are done.  Our house sits on a hill on a dead end street so why would anyone make the hike up for a piece of candy..maybe we need to up the ante.

Our ward" trunk or treat" turned into a quick "trick or treat a room in the chapel" when the weather didn't cooperate so we didn't even get to decorate our trunk. When we got home I got out our Halloween stuff  and began to show it to Tommy (he was spending the night) and it was so fun to see him delight in all the fun flashing objects.  He set them all over the room and even went to sleep with them lit.  I thought you might enjoy hearing him sing "gouls just want to have fun" along with my Avon Witch! Made my Halloween!!

Well,,,,no good excuse

It's pretty obvious I haven't added anything in a while. It's not that things haven't happened or that things are boring it is just that life has a way of getting away from me.  We've had a number of birthday's that I haven't posted, and our anniversary slipped by with no new pictures and last week we even went to the State Fair and the camera didn't work so here is my first little attempt at getting back into the swing of things.

 Today was Tommy's 4th birthday.  Talk about time flying!  JJ left 4 years ago to go on his mission to Brazil the day Tommy was born and now he has been back 2 years and is married!  4 years ago on Oct 11 I arrived in Virginia to help Emilie after Tommy's birth and and ended up never going back to Oregon to live!  Our lives have all changed drastically in these 4 short years and this little boy has brought so much joy to all of us.  So, for your enjoyment:  Tommy's Birthday song!

Two cute patriots and a couple of birthdays

 Once again I am trying to play catch up.  I couldn't let these cute photos not get posted so here you go.  On July 4 we(Papa, Emilie and I) took the kids to the VMI parade grounds for the Balloon festival in Lexington.  The Balloons were all gone because they had taken trips that morning and weren't back so that was a little disappointing but we wanted to go before it go too hot. John and I had purchased tri-corner hats for the boys on our ramble to Fredericksburg and beyond (see old posts).  Here they are, our little patriots!

Jack almost fell asleep on the way (6miles!) so he's a little drowsy here

Our cute little guys!

 and off we went to the festival. 
In the afternoon we traveled to Charlottesville to John Loy's birthday party.  For a long time Tommy and Jack were the only kids there.  It was supposed to be a barbeque but there was a huge cloudburst just before we arrived and everyone had crowded inside.  Tommy and Jack LOVED the rain and went out on the deck and splashed around. Papa stayed with them a supervised the fun!

Emilie and Logan always have a great time connecting with their cousins and catching up on all the latest. 

 

Shannon sharing about her store and how it is being moved to a new Larger location.  Yeah Shannon!

And of course, pictures of the birthday boy!

On the way back home......

Sorry Logan, but it was just so cute I couldn't resist!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then 21 days later it was Papa's 66th birthday.   He wanted Crepes for his birthday so he made his own meal since we all know he is the best crepe maker!
Emilie made  Dad's favorite, German Chocolate cake, for desert.  She got creative with the chocolate chips!

We didn't want a blaze so we had one candle...to be truthful, I forgot to buy candles and improvised!

Papa and Anna!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How grateful I am for the blessings of family! 

A walk down memory lane

Since we didn't have to work on the 2nd we decided to take a 2 day journey down memory lane.  I have never gone to Fredericksburg Virginia just to explore the city I was born in.  I have looked around it a couple of times or driven through it and when Kathy was in college we would take her there but I really didn't know that much about it so we decided to make it our destination for Friday.
We drove there by way of Charlottesville driving past many gorgeous horse farms and through the Wilderness Battlefield where we stopped to look and then stopped again at Chancellorsville. We will be going back to see these places in more detail at a later date I am sure!

  We made reservations at the Marriott that is right downtown so we could walk around town and sink back into history.  Fredericksburg claims to be the Most Historic American City ranging from times prior to and during the Revolutionary war and the Civil War.  Thomas Jefferson wrote The Virginia Act for Establishing Religion while staying in Fredericksburg and, most important of all, I was born in Fredericksburg!
We took a trolley tour that lasted 75 minutes and took us all over town pointing out history on all sides:

 and walked all over town after that

We asked where the "old" JC Penney store used to be (where my Dad worked when I was born) and a fellow told us it was here:

It didn't "feel" right to me but I thought maybe he knew better. I then asked at another store and got a different answer so we went there but it definitely didn't look like a Penney Store (we used to visit them on our vacations and they all had a certain feel about them.) While standing on a corner we discovered from a placard that the first place used to be the F.W. Woolworth store where sit ins occurred during the 60's. Then as we went around the corner from the second place we found it.  It looked right and felt right and when I looked up I could see the faint outline of the letters J and C!  Today it is an Irish Store and a women's store.  My dad used to come here each day and  his manager slept with his pants at the bottom of his bed so that he could come and get my mom to take her to the hospital as soon as she went in to labor because my parents didn't have a car.  Because of his excellent work he was made an assistant manager of the Silver Spring Maryland store which eventually led to his being made the manager of the first J.C. Penney store in Richmond Virginia.  I sure wish that people could still have the same feelings and loyalties to their companies as they did back then.  We were part of the Penney Family! How he loved that company...and he rose from working in the stock room!

Next we went to find the "old" hospital.  My mother used to always tell me that I was born in that awful "old" hospital and the visitor center people were able to tell us right where it was.  Today it is condominiums.  The trolley driver told us that there is a man living there that was born there when it was a hospital.  It is the same building, just re-done.  The original entrance still has the hospital name over it!

For dinner we ate in the old train station at a great restaurant called the Bavarian Chef.  We had amazing authentic German food and could barely waddle out of the restaurant.  We really need to go back again some day!Even though the station is no longer needed the train still stops there and many people commute to DC from there.

On Saturday before we headed out we toured the Battlefield which is just up the hill from the town.  The visitor center was opened before I was born so this would have been there when my parents were here.

We saw the Sunken Road which had a stone wall all along it which made for great cover for the confederate troops as they took the high ground in the city.  The park service bought the road back a few years ago and put it back just the way it was in those days. Part of the wall is original, part was rebuilt in the 30's and the rest more recently. 

There is a huge cemetery for the Union Soldiers that is a federal cemetery.  Most of the graves mark unknown soldiers.  There is a separate, non federal, cemetery for the confederates.  Most confederate deaths were caused by friendly fire from above them on the hill.
This is the spot where one of the pontoon bridges came across.  For a very historically accurate account of the battle of Fredericksburg watch the movie Gods and Generals.

Across the Rapahanock river from here is Ferry Farm where George Washington used to live.  He used this road when he would come into town to shop or go to school and even when he helped move his mother off of the farm and into the city.  These are the original cobblestones!

We then drove down the Northern Neck of Virginia headed towards the home my father built and retired to and where my mother lived for most of the last 20 years of her life.
We found a great family fruit farm and stopped to buy peaches and to have a red, white and blue sundae:

 We stopped at George Washington's birthplace and even got some tri cornered hats for Tommy and Jack to wear on the 4th of July. This is a replica of the house but it wasn't this big when he lived in it and they discovered that they built it in the wrong place....they now have an outline on the ground of where it should be.

This guy was really interesting and told people way more than they probably wanted to know but I loved it!

As we got closer to Wicomico church we were pretty sure we could find Mom's house.  Wicomico Church only has one road coming into it from the River side and we knew we should look for the fertilizer tanks and we would know where to turn.  Well, the fertilizer tanks are no longer there!  After wondering around for awhile we stopped at the only store in town to seek directions.  I wished that I had googled it or at least had an address with me so I could put in the GPS!  The large road map we had didn't have Barrett Creek on it!(imagine that!)  The gentleman in the store had a local map and after a little searching he found it.  As we pulled up to the house I was surprised by the flood of emotion that I had.  Fortunately Connie called right at that moment and I was able to pull myself back together.  John had hopped out of the car and the owner came out to see what he wanted.  It turns out it is still the same person that bought it from my Mom and she was happy to show us around.  For those of you that have been to Mom's here is how it looks today:

Expanded Porch, Trek Dek

More porch, new door

Look at the length of the dock! Creek is more shallow now

Whew!

New additon

Mom would love this!

The 7 C's

 We then went to Hug Harbor for a great seafood dinner.

 Two very nostalgic and relaxing days in my beautiful home state of Virginia!

Jamestowne

We went to Newport News and stayed with my sister Connie and her husband Chuck.  We had a great time just relaxing and visiting and then we went to see the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in concert in Norfolk. They, of course, were amazing and  Governor McDonnell got to conduct the choir during their final number!
  The next day we traveled to Jamestowne on our way back home.  We chose to go to the official landing site instead of the restored site (note the e on the end of the word) and it was definitely a good decision.  They have an ongoing archeological dig happening there. For years it was thought that the original fort was under water but a very persistent archeologist discovered that it was not.  We were fortunate to be there while he was there and to  talk to those involved in the dig!  To actually stand in the spot where America started was humbling!  Here are some pictures for your enjoyment!

This is the guy!

An Amazing Month!

A month ago yesterday Anna was born and started us off on a month long period of joy for our family!
On the Wednesday after she was born my west coast children all arrived in Virginia.  We picked them up in Richmond with Christy coming through New Jersey and Hope, Seth and Tara (favorite niece!) coming through Charlotte.  We headed for DC to see some sites and to prepare for the wedding.  We had found an amazing deal at the beautiful Wardman Park Marriott in downtown DC right across from the zoo.  We checked in and then took the metro into town. Christy has some good pictures of our adventures in DC on her blog Keeping up with the Jones's.

When we arrived back at the hotel Emilie, Logan and the kids had arrived as well as JJ.  I can't express what it meant to me to be able to have all of my children in the same place at the same time!  It had been a long while....  We got together at 10 at night in a restaurant in the hotel to eat and share stories and reconnect, all the things that warm a mother's heart!
Papa and I finally wandered off to bed and the kids reconvened in one of their rooms to talk and give JJ advice.  I don't even want to know what the advice was!
The next morning Dad drove our car and I rode with JJ to the Temple.  He was so calm and happy.  It was  a wonderful thing to see such a worthy young man, well prepared and excited to be moving in to the next phase of his life with a well prepared and pure young lady... All the things a mother prays for as she rears her children.
The sealing was short and simple. The wait was way longer than the ceremony! Yes, I did cry but not when expected.  Shortly before Brittany and JJ walked into the room I felt the presence of Richard and I broke down.  I miss him so and it is always such a wonderful feeling when he gets to be with us and a great reminder of the eternal nature of family and how much those on the other side are still very close to us and involved in our lives.
When the bride and groom entered the room a wonderful feeling of happiness and peace came with them!  What an honor it was to be there.
Here they are coming out of the Temple!

 I'll post some of the Temple pictures once we get them from the photographer (she's in Alaska right now).  We are looking forward to some good pictures of the family.  Here are the girls at the Temple:

 And me with my beautiful Daughters:

After the pictures were taken at the Temple we went to dinner at a small Italian Restaurant that I found called DaMancos.  We enjoyed the company of about 30 people including the bride and groom and some good Italian Food at a non chain restaurant!

After dinner we lumbered back to BV while the Bride and Groom enjoyed the night at the Crown Plaza in Silver Spring, courtesy of their friends.  The hotel even upgraded them to a King Suite!

On Saturday we all got to work to get ready for the reception.  Since we were in the middle of a heat wave we decided to have the food and most of the tables in the house.  We took most of the furniture out  of the living room, family room and dining room and proceeded to decorate.  Brittany's mom figured out how to produce Brittany's dream reception and so we just helped her to put it into place.
Here Seth is helping hang lanterns:

The yard takes shape:

Tara does Brittany's hair:

 Living Room, dinning room and cake:

The cake had Marzipan pears imported from Belgium!

This was the first wedding of one of my children that all of my sisters attended the reception and it was so wonderful to have so much family there! 

So many wonderful people stepped forward to help with the reception and so many were in attendance despite the fact there was a play on campus, education conference and another wedding. We had Brazilian Stroganoff, passion fruit mouse,  heart shaped watermelon, eclairs and other assorted yummy foods all made with love by our Brazilian friend Maria!

I've struggled to get this post up so I am going to just do it.  It really should have consisted more of my feelings of awe and happiness that I felt as I was able to be with all of my children once again and to share in this sacred ordinance of our last child.  Man is that he might have joy and we certainly felt that joy this month!