In The Beginning

At the Jones' house, Halloween is an auspicious day.

It's not about being scared,

or mounds of pumpkins.

It's not about the icons of the day

or the attitude.

 It's not at all about cute little trick or treaters.

Okay. That's a lie.  Cute little trick or treaters get me every time.

And it's certainly NOT about the candy!

What? It IS about the candy?

Yeah, I lied again.  I knew that about the candy.

At the Jones' house, the most important thing about Halloween is

The first meeting! The Love! The Romance!

Thirty-four years ago TODAY, we were both freshman.

Thirty-four years ago was also a Sunday.  My roommate (and best friend) and I came into the Morris Center cafeteria at Deseret Towers straight from stake conference, along with every other student in the dorms.  We took the last two seats in the whole cafeteria, right across from Stan.

That was the beginning.  Here we are, 3 1/2 months later at a school dance.  We were engaged 2 weeks after that, and married six months following that first meeting.  I was a mature 18, Stan an equally grown-up 21.

Thirty-four years have flown by and we haven't changed a bit!

Love ya, honey!



This One's For You, Ashley

I was talking to Ashley on the phone today and mentioned that Megan died.

Or rather dyed, if you want to get technical.  Ashley wanted pictures, so here you are:

Megan dyed her under hair VERY dark.  Nothing like a new hair-do to shake things up!

Not that Megan NEEDS to shake things up--trust me.

Unfortunately, I didn't get "before" pictures. 

You'll just have to remember "Megan, the old way" on your own.

When Hailey heard I was taking hair pictures, she demanded equal time. 

This time I got "before" shots,

"during" pictures,

and more "during" pictures.  This is where sparse hair comes in handy.  There's not much difference between "before" and "during" skimpy hair.

Hey! I'm talking about Makayla's hair here, not mine!

And finally, here's "after" hair.

You are welcome, Ashley.

Company's Coming

When Megan ran home for a quick lunch today, she noted the nicely set table,

the lasagna I was working on,

the homemade rolls rising on the counter,

a salad with a vinegar pomegranate dressing stolen borrowed off of Judy's blog,

 and a Costco pumpkin cheesecake in the fridge. Dessert on a Wednesday night? Megan knew I was up to something. 

But I think it was the kitchen floor I had mopped in the middle of the day instead of AFTER the messy grandkids left that made Megan say, "The missionaries are coming for supper!"  Yes, Megan, I'm giving you the opportunity to compare P Dubya to REAL men.  You're welcome.

I must say, some of the females of the house were spectacularly under impressed by my gourmet cooking.  Makayla turned her nose up at everything but the extra pomegranate seeds, swiss cheese, and bacon bits from the salad. 

And Hailey preferred to gobbled up Smarties and Dots

 collected from a Halloween party earlier that day.

Guess what kind of exotic cuisine they're getting tomorrow?

You forget (thankfully) how much more preparation company takes when you have little children underfoot.

 and how the rocks little hands washed up in the bathroom sink and you've learned to ignore may seem a little, well, ODD to company.

 or that pile of shredded plants you left for Hailey to clean up (after all, she's the one who put it there) may send the message you're asleep at the neat-freak wheel.

At least I know the answer to the question, "What is that smell??"
(and it isn't the lasagna)

Saturday Is A Special Day....

...it's the day we work all day on the duplex.

Stan tackled the north side with its peeling paint,

while I went in search of exterior primer and paint.  After visiting 4 or 5 paints stores, I began to think no one had exterior paint.  It's like they think nobody will be painting outside the end of October.  Weird.  I ended up with primer from one store and paint from another.

Megan helpfully watched her nieces for a couple of hours while we slaved.

Then Megan said she had to leave "to do more important stuff". 

Nope. Not the book.
Something about friends, eating out, planning for Twirp, and blah, blah, blah.  Really Meg?  You'd rather do THAT stuff than babysit? Really?

Meanwhile, I climbed the ladder and slapped on primer, using my most impressive artistic skills

while Makayla tried desperately to join me on the ladder

and Hailey tasted various pieces of paint chips (that's not a bad thing, is it?).

Finally, Grandpa banished the girls to the playpen and we worked till it was too dark to see what we were scrapping and painting.

Tune in next Saturday for the answers to these important questions:

Is it true paint won't dry in subzero temperatures?

Is the new paint job going to last for more than a month without peeling?

and

Can Chris really climb a ladder without falling and giving herself a concussion?

Strictly Business

Stan had a business meeting in Brigham City on Thursday.  As we looked at our calendar, we saw that Megan had no school on Thursday and Friday.  Most amazingly, Amy happened to have Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday off of work, meaning we didn't have babysitting duties.  We recognize Karma when we see her (him?).  We realized this convergence of free time was a sign we needed to take a trip down to bother visit the Idaho children while Stan continued on to Utah.

It's hard to put into words how much Megan was anxiously looking forward to spending all that

 time in the car with her parental units.

AND Megan could use the car time reading that Honors book that's due.

We left Wednesday at noon.

Of course, the first hour Megan had to eat lunch.

Then, obviously, she needed to fill the next two hours texting P. Dubya.

The final two hours were spent in dreamland.  I guess Barbie Kingsolver and her Poisonwood Bible will have to wait till another day to be sped read.

The weather was beautiful, the scenery was gorgeous,

and there was no snow to be seen--a real rarity for this late in the year.

Stan remembered to bring his TTF (traditional travel food)---pickle flavored sunflower seeds.

We arrived in Rexburg just in time to go to dinner at Rexburg's finest Chinese restaurant--New Fong's--with the Pearsons.

Thursday Stan continued on to Utah and Krew let us girls take him to lunch at another fine foreign restaurant--Cafe Rio.

Next, Krew insisted we go shopping, so we decided to look for a Twirp dress for Megan again.

Krew helpfully offered his opinion on the best dress choices.

On Thursday evening, the Backmans and Stan and I agreed to drive Megan to Pocatello.  Megan somehow arranged to meet up with that cute EFY Pocatello guy.  And that other cute EFY Pocatello guy.  Fortunately the 500 mile rule was in effect with P Dub--you know, the "out of sight, out of mind" thing.  HE'S in North Carolina.  Megan believes in that other rule "collect before you select". 

While Megan was reminiscing about the good ole EFY days, Stan and I and the Backmans continued the international dining experience and visited another Idaho fine foreign restaurant--Red Lobster, which as you know is Swahili for "Fish Food".

Krew has been sick and throwing up all week.  He helpfully showed us exactly how much his little tummy holds as he threw up all over Jessica and the restaurant floor shortly after we ordered.  Jessica wasn't feeling much better than Krew.  So we finished our meal, and

Princess Party Pooper declared the evening over and decreed it was time to end Megan's fun, pick her up, and make everyone go home and go to bed.   

On Friday morning we picked up Megan's dress from alterations and headed home.  It had been taken in by several inches, shortened by several inches, and is no longer strapless.  It looks adorable on Megan.  Of course, we've learned Megan looks cute in anything. 

(Check back November 6th to see the Twirp pictures.)

Who knew we could have so much fun in 54 hours?

Thanks for letting us party with you, Backmans and Pearsons!