Paradox? or Paradise?

We were very sad to hear that Naaman's Grandmother, Dot Wilden Eades passed away on Saturday, February 20, 2010 at the age of 86. Grandma Eades was an incredible woman. We was always doing service and thinking of others. She was very talented. She was a great cook. She loved to can all her fruits and vegetables. I will forever miss her apple butter. For as long as she could, she always had a project in hand. She loved to crochet, knit and sew quilts. She made a quilt for each of her great grandchildren until 7 years ago when she was diagnosed with alzheimers. Caleb and Aspen will always cherish these quilts. Grandma Eades lived in a small town called Paradox, Colorado. It is also known as Paradise (so they called it). Paradox is a town that is like no other. It is an hour outside of Moab, Utah. I will do my best to describe Paradox. Paradox is a valley that is surrounded on all sides by steep cliff red mountains, much like the ones in Moab. The valley is almost the same size as the Salt Lake Valley, yet there is maybe a total of 30 homes. There is a post office, a small elementary school, a very small LDS church, a cemetery and many cows. Grandma was born and raised here and lived here the rest of her life. Grandma loved it in Paradox, but I am sure that she will now enjoy the real Paradise. We love Grandma and will miss her so much.

This last Monday I spent the day packing so that we could go to Paradox. We left early Tuesday morning and arrived at Grandpa's house close to noon. We spent the afternoon with Grandpa Eades and Naaman's parents. This was the first time that my Lil' Gilbert got to meet his Grandfather who he was named after. Gilbert Leeander Eades, who is now 95 years old. Grandpa gave little Gilbert a little porcelain shoe with his birth information written on it. Grandpa was so excited to give this to me and Gilbert. I think that Grandpa was ticked to have his grandson named after him. It was so great to spend this time with him. By the end day the house was full of all of Naaman's extended family. It was great to see everyone. That night we drove to another very small town 30 minutes away called Naturita, to stay in a motel. I laughed because Caleb kept calling it a 1/2 star hotel. What do you expect for such a small town?

Grandma's funeral was on Wednesday February 24, 2010. It was short, but very sweet. Many great memories and words were said. After the funeral we didn't want to bombard Grandpa so we went back to the motel and spent the rest of the day with cousins. We all enjoyed it. Thursday morning we packed up our things and went to Grandpa's house to eat breakfast. We took pictures and said our goodbye's as we left for home. Our hearts and prayers still remain with Grandpa. I am sure that things will be quiet and lonesome for him now. Oh, how I wish we didn't live so far away.

3 new babies!

3 new babies from heaven were reunited again...for the first time.

Grandma Kearl must be so excited to have her 3 newest grandchildren finally here. She got to see all 3 of them at the same time just last weekend (February 12th-15th). We were in Bear Lake for Rodney's blessing. I am quite sure that Makinlee, Gilbert and Rodney were up in heaven waiting together for their big day! They each have their own story. We are so grateful that they are here and healthy.

Little Makinlee was born unexpectedly 3 weeks early in Nephi when Marci went to her in-laws for Thanksgiving. We are glad that she listened to her instincts and went to the emergency on Thanksgiving night since she had not felt the baby move. After Marci had a c-section, CPR was performed on baby Makinlee so that she could be with us today. She was born November 27, 2009 weighing only 5 lbs.

I had a wonderful pregnancy. My complaints didn't start until I was neared the end. I was induced 4 days before my due date in fear that I was going to have a big baby. Gilbert was born on December 30, 2009. What a surprise when the nurse said that Gilbert was only 6 lbs 8 oz. I thought I could only have big babies. Gil was healthy other than he struggled with jaundice for 2 weeks. Putting him under the bili lights made me cry.

Rodney was the last of these 3 babies to come into this world. He was born just 4 days after Gil on January 3, 2010. This was Gil's due date. Amy, his mother was anxiously waiting for him to get here. She was sooo done being pregnant. Rodney is named after his 2 great grandfathers...and GREAT they were! Great grandfather John Rodney Moore and Great grandfather Alten M. Kearl. I am sure that little Rodney wont have a problem living up to his great name. Litl' Rodney also struggled the first few days of his life. He had to stay in the hospital a few day longer until he was able to keep his blood sugar level up. Despite what Amy may say, I think he is a good sleeper. He was asleep every time I saw him.

We are so grateful that our precious little ones are doing so well! We love them dear.

In this picture:

(right to left)

Gil 6 1/2 weeks

Makinlee 11 1/2 weeks

Rodney 6 weeks

We found some snow!

It has been a LONG winter.

Since the snow pays a big part in our life, I am always paying attention to the weather man to see what the weather is going to do. The Jones family likes it when it snows. In December is snowed quite a few times, 8 to be exact. There was not a lot of accumulation though. I think it only snowed an inch or two for each snow storm, not leaving much for great sledding. January was a month of just cold and haze. Snow in February? Since the month is half way over it doesn't look to promising. The kids and I have just been craving some good snow to play in.

We came to Bear Lake this weekend to be with family. Rich and Amy are blessing baby Rodney tomorrow. It will be a special day. We were so excited to know that Bear Lake had some great snow. We made sure that we packed the boots and gloves. Today the kids and all their cousins got on their snow clothes and went sledding down the hills by Rich and Amy's house. They all seemed to have a fun time. They didn't freeze too much. Uncle Rich pulled them around the block on a sled behind the 3 wheeler. That was the highlight for all of them.

Malori-playing in the snow...and showing off her missing two front teeth.

Shaylee, Noelle and Aspen...laughing and giggling!

Caleb sliding down the hill.

Noell and Aspen approaching the drop off! Ahh!!

Memories were definitely made today in the snow!

Date Night

You may think that we are crazy, but I'm telling you that we are not...Date Night is fun. We and 3 other families in our neighborhood have gotten together and formed a Date Night group. One weekend each month Naaman and I watch all the kids while the other 3 couples have a night out. We don't mind it because we know that the other 3 weekends of the month we get a night out without kids. I can't believe we have been doing this for a year and a half. The kids have gotta love it. They get to have a party every weekend.

There is nothing wrong with that.

Tonight at our house they started out playing basketball. 5 basketballs...

watch out, don't let one hit your head.

Adam made sure no time was wasted!
The tinker toys and the magnetic gears were the toys that the kids went for first. I think that the gears were constantly turning during the whole night.

Gil, the youngest of them all, slept during some of the excitement.

Little Benjamin just walked around and waved to me all night. So cute!

Ella and Gabrielle played babies.

The kids loved to play the piano. We have some 'little' composers in the group.

Thanks for the great music Nathan.

...and of course. We can't forget to play wii and playstation!!!

Aspen was so cute with the younger girls tonight. They all went into her room and she put beads in their hair. The girls were so excited...until they fell out later in the night.

Pizza again!
I do have to admit, it does get a little crazy when it is dinner time. Since our table is small we wanted to let the kids eat in shifts, but they were all to hungry. Someone said the word "DINNER" and they all came running. Before I knew it they were all making themselves at home on the floor. They thought it was great. It is a good thing I swept today.

Oh no - little Aaron didn't want to have his picture taken!

Nathan gave into the girls. He let them do his hair. They said

they were getting him ready to be their butler. I don't think Nathan

would admit it, but I believe he was having fun.

See what they did! Nathan...their masterpiece.

Caleb, Jacob and Caleb tried to watch Harry Potter.
Could they even hear with everything going on?

I counted the kids tonight.

5+5+5+3+1=19

We invited my little nephew Kasen too.

What is one more when you already have 18?

Hey kids, thanks for an entertaining night!

The end of 2009 brought a great beginning of 2010

2009 was a fabulous year, but the best part is the way it ended. On December 30th Gilbert Ledger Jones was born into our family. As the whole world was preparing for a party to celebrate the 'soon to be New Year', Naaman and I were having a party of our own. We were at the hospital with our precious new little one in our arms. We are so blessed to finally have him here. The name Gilbert comes from Naaman’s Grandfather’s who is currently 95 years old. Little Gil was born at 4:10 p.m. He was 6lbs 8oz. 19 ½ inches long. What a surprise to us that he was so little. On January 1st, we began the New Year 2010 by bringing Gil home. Naaman is a proud dad to have a new son. Caleb, Aspen, Malori and Ella are also so excited to have a new little brother.

Gil struggled for about 2 weeks with jaundice. We went to the Dr. Office every day for the 1st week to have his little foot poked for a blood test. He was under the lights for a day and a half. That was so hard for me. I cried. Little Gil didn’t seem to mind, he was so content to lay with only a diaper on under the warm lights. It was stressful because the little cotton eyes pieces wouldn’t stay on his eyes. They kept falling down over his nose. I was afraid he wouldn’t be able to breathe. Naaman and I didn’t sleep much that night, but do I ever get sleep these days?

I am so grateful for friends and family who have helped me in so many ways; carpooling my kids here and there, watching my kids, baby gifts, phone calls, beautiful pictures, friendly visits and for those who made and brought yummy meals to us. I am also very grateful for the time that I got to spend with my mother as she came to help me. I have been blessed and my family was definitely spoiled.

I do agree that there is nothing better in life than holding a new born baby in your arms…so that is what I do all day. Who says that the dishes and the laundry need to get done and the beds get made? After having 4 others, I have realized that they grow up way to fast and that I have to cherish this short time. They say you can’t spoil a newborn…but I know that he is already spoiled.

Gil has been such a wonderful baby. He still sleeps a lot. I love to watch his facial expressions change as he sleeps. I watch for the little smiles. I also love the little squeaks and squills that he makes. He was born with lots of dark brown hair that I love so much. We just celebrated little Gil’s 1 month birthday. How did that happen? Where did January go? January was a fabulous month...even though I was awake for most of it.

We love little Gil!

pictures taken by my friend Jueneta-Thanks!

My New Goal!

I have this dear friend of mine who suggested to me to keep my blog up to preserve my families memories. I love taking pictures of my family in hopes that someday I will scrapbook, but my pictures just sit in a file in my computer. I enjoy writing in my journal, but I have 5 children, so that doesn't happen like it should. My new goal, thanks to the encouragement of my friend, is to spend more time on my blog. I am so excited to give it another try. Thank you, my dear friend!!!

Meet Gilbert