Jones Family 2012 Best and Worst

Top Row: Oak (11), Holly (40), Mike (40), Noah (15), Danny (13)
Bottom Row: Mercy (7), Joycie (20m), Sage (4)

Joyce (20 months)

Best- Even without joining us for our two months of INSANITY workouts, Joycie can still hold a squat longer than any other Jones.

Worst-We haven't discovered any yet.

Quote- "She looks like the guy on top of the temple." Mercy discribes Joycie throwing her head back to gulp down her bottle.

Sage (4 years)

Best- Tidiness. She wants a clean rag set next to her plate while eating to maintain perfect cleanliness of hands, face, and table.

Worst- She is SLOWLY (too slowly) learning that a pleasant tone and the magic word PLEASE usually works best to get what she wants.

Quotes: "Aren't "puff-ups" BOOOOOTIFUL" lovingly sighs as she admires the BRAS in the lingerie aisle at Target. (Puff Ups?!!)

"Mommy, when I die, is I going to be a bone?" asked with sincerity while cuddled with Holly watching Disney's Snow white.

Mercy (7 years)

Best- Winning a young artist concerto competition and playing a Haydn Piano Concerto with the Utah Valley Symphony in October.

Worst- Taking almost three times as long as anyone else in the family to eat - a clever ploy to avoid doing dishes or is she simply TALKING?

Quote: After characteristic no-stop chatter from Mercy, she pauses long enough to say, "Will you please give me some silence? I need to think about something."

                                   
Oak (11 years)

Best- Laughing fits interrupted with screeches of pain while Danny and Noah tickle and wrestle their younger Bro.
Worst- Almost hourly updates for the whole family on the local weather and snow pack @ ALTA.
Quote: What bother you in social situations? "When no one is paying attention to me, or... when everyone is paying attention to me."

Danny (13 years)

Best – As a student of Irene Peery-Fox, Danny has found new love for the piano. His entrepreneurial spirit has turned this new love into a business venture as he opens his own studio and accepts his first students.

Worst – Not excited about being assigned to the ALTO section of his afters-school youth chorus, He considers himself the manliest ALTO ever.

Quote – “I totally know my part already!” Danny’s confident but delusional exclamation after just 5 rehearsals for a community production of Handel’s Messiah in which he, Holly, Noah and Oak participated this month.

Noah (15 years)

Best – Currently leads his dad 6-2 in their on-going basketball competition playing the game “21”.

Worst – Proud of every inch of black dust and grime covering his ENTIRE body each day after 10 hrs of cleaning the back rooms @ Biomerics plastic factory – his first summer job.

Quote – “Oh no, now I have to go FAST.” Noah laments that he must speed up to 25mph after turning out of a parking lot on his first drive with his learner’s permit.

Holly (40 years)

Best – The lucky lottery lady!  Holly wins THREE successful bids in last-minute lottery for permits to hike Zion’s SUBWAY.  , after going once with friends, we got rained out on our second attempt, but finally succeeded in taking our kids on the last trip.

Worst – Her German grammar, as she switched back and forth from English to German while entertaining several German friends this year.

Quote:  When asked, what one word best describes your life, Mercy replies:   “I can’t decide between two words, ADVENTURE and MOM.”

 Mike (40 years)

Best – Leading a Boy Scout 50-mile backpack in the Wind River mountains of Wyoming. . . great fishing, no injuries and grand mountain vistas.
Worst - Tearing his left medial collateral ligament on the best POWDER day of the year while skiing with Oak @ ALTA.
Quote  “Just one more picture, so we can prove we were here” a phrase dreaded by the family as Mike shoots hundreds of photos on trips to Zion, Yosemite, Bryce, and Arches, etc.

Mercy Plays with the Utah Valley Symphony

Mercy Jones Plays Haydn

with

Utah Valley Symphony

Mercy has loved playing the piano ever since her first lesson with her mom at the age of five.  She especially loves practicing with her mom and trying to accomplish MORE than Dr. Peery-Fox has assingned her each week.  After auditioning to play with the Utah Valley Symphony, Mercy was walking out of the concert hall with Holly.  She could barely contain the excitement she was feeling about how she had played.  She turned to Holly with a wide grin and exclaimed, "THAT WAS FUN!!".

Riding Bikes around Yosemite Valley

The best thing we did was to bring our bikes on this Road Trip.  We especially appreciated them while in Yosemite.  This video leaves a lot to be desired, but it gives a basic idea of how much fun we had riding around the Valley as a family.  Joycie road with Holly and Sage road with me.

SPRING BREAK ROAD TRIP

Yosemite, Central California Coast, and San Fransico

The Jones Family RV Express

We drove from SLC to Reno where we parked in the SCHEEL's parking lot to spend our first night.  At 1AM the security guard awakened us and told us that we were not allowed to park RV's in that parking lot.  So much for internet knowledge.  We moved the RV to a street just outside the SCHEEL's parking lot and slept through the remainder of the night.

The next day we made it to a campsite about an hour outside of Yosemite National Park.  We didn't dare drive into the park and find all the last-minute RV sites full.  Every mile in the RV is about $.50 in gas so we don't like to back-track if it can be avoided.  We spend a very quite night near a nice lake.  Noah ended up with Poison Oak rash due to an early morning hike through the woods, but thankfully it cleared up without much problem.

Leaving the Snow in our Cruise America RV

The next day we drove into Yosemite and reserved a last minute RV site for the next two nights.  We felt fortunate to be travelling in the shoulder season when such reservations were available through a lottery system.  In the summer we would have been OUT OF LUCK.  The next two days were spent enjoying the splendor of Yosemite.  Granite cliffs, bike rides along the Valley floor.  Hikes up the valley walls, along pristine rivers, and through the giant Sequoia groves.  A few of our photos are included below:

WE LOVE THAT OUR KIDS ARE BEST FRIENDS

Running among the Ancient Giants