Jones Family Photo shoot

My mom had my cousin Jessica come and take pictures of the family while Jenny and Scott where in town from Michigan. I thought they turned out really cute.

All the cousins

Everyone

Grandma, Grandpa and grandkids

Brooke and Brielle

Brooke 4yrs

Brielle 7yrs starting 3rd grade

The Salmon Family

Adam 18 months

Cali 5yrs starting Kindergarten

Casey Jones 16, junior at Higley High

Isaac  3yrs

Alisa Jones 

The girls

The girl cousins

The boys

Ashley and Casey

Bruce and Terri

Ashley Jones - 18, freshman at BYU

our new pet

 Near the end of May we got a baby kitten from some piano student's whose cat had kittens. I wasn't going to get a cat since I'm allergic to cats but I gave in when I saw the picture of the litter of kittens and I knew the girls would love a cat so much.She was six weeks old and the runt of the litter. The girls named her Ginger, though Chad wanted Tigress, mostly we call her Kitty. She's a sweet tempered cat and very social. She's very pampered and tortured at the same time. Brooke constantly searches for her and carries her around and at least once a week is bitten or scratched enough that she cries. The Kitty is very patient though since Brooke only gets scratched once a week but terrorizes the cat daily. Still the Kitty doesn't run when she sees Brooke. I like the Kitty more than I thought too. Every night after the kids go to bed and I sit on the couch she climbs up onto my chest and purrs while I pet her. My allergies haven't been any worse than they usually are either. I don't know if it's because she's still a kitten or if my cat allergies have subsided a bit since I was a kid.

The Kitty is actually asleep like that.

She would find the tiniest hiding places. She's lucky no one sat on her.

Can you find the cat?

Honk Jr.

Brielle auditioned for the school musical Honk Jr. and got the role of Beaky last spring. It's the story of the ugly duckling as a musical. Her character was one of the ugly duckling's siblings. She was thrilled to get a "real" part because last year she was just one of the choir members. She had about 10 speaking lines and was on stage for a good portion of the beginning. She really enjoyed it and can't wait to audition for this year's musical.

Brielle's Song

Brielle loves to make up songs on the piano. This is one hers.

Easter

The girls' Easter baskets

Brooke had forgotten all about Easter and so a few days before Brielle told/reminded her about getting Easter baskets and then she was very excited. They each got a new kite, flip flops and a new swimming suit plus easter eggs and candy.

Sweet Sisters

 I saw the girls working so nicely together and I had to take a picture. They really do get along great.

 Brooke loves to draw all day. She goes through at least 15 papers a day.

Daddy Daughter Dance

Back in February Brielle's school held a Daddy Daughter Dance. Chad was nice enough to take her. They had fun and got ice cream sundaes and he even did the Chicken dance with her. Chad said most of the other dad's wouldn't dance which he thought was silly because why would you take the time to go to a daddy daughter dance just to stand around. You're there it's not going to be fun so you might as well make it fun for your daughter.

Cotter Easter Party

I keep forgetting to bring camera places, so these are the pictures that Marianne took of the Cotter Easter party. The highlight for the girls was the easter egg hunt. Their baskets were overflowing. Then they had another Easter egg hunt at Grandma's house and their baskets were again overflowing. I think they got less candy at Halloween. The Easter bunny must have known because he didn't bring much candy.

Happy Birthday Brooke

Brooke had been planning this party for months.

But I convinced her that the park was a good place to have a party.

Friends, though I don't know why they are lying on the ground.

It was an easy party. The kids played around at the park.

I still don't know what they are doing.

It was really hard to find people to come, it always is after Christmas. 

After playing around the park the kids hit the pinata.

Then it was cake time.

We also had sandwiches but none of the kids ate them.

 She loved her party and was excited that she was big now. I've liked four a lot too. She's mellowed a little bit and we've found a discipline program that works for her so she minds and doesn't have nearly as many temper tantrums. She is a very fun sweet girl. My favorite thing that she kept saying over Christmas was "I'll share with you Brielle." Every time she opened something she assured Brielle that she would share. She's very concerned about her older sister and they are very close. Sometimes only Brielle can calm her down. She's an excellent sharer and just loves to play and tease. Her favorite thing to do is play dolls and draw. She loves Spongebob and is one of the few four-year-olds that asks to go to bed at night. I love it when she sings about how she loves her mother. She is still my sassy little girl, but more sweet is coming out now too.