Happy 40th Birthday Danielle

My 40th birthday started off with a bang!  I began the morning with a morning boot camp to get my old bones moving!  Then my good friend Erin organized a birthday breakfast for me at Cinnamon Productions.  I am so grateful for wonderful friends!  Appropriately I had oatmeal for breakfast...since I am soo old now!  Haha!  I loved the advise I got from my fellow "40's" club members....this is the age when you no longer "care" about all those minor details that use to bog you down.  I liked that advise the best!

After breakfast I came home to some wonderful homemade cards from Trevor and Madalyn.  I will cherish those forever!  Mackenzie posted a sweet blog post to me on her blog also which was touching.  

Then the family brought me upstairs to open my gift...... a new iMac!  My computer's (pc) hard drive is going bad so Ryan and I went shopping for a new PC last night.  However the sales guy really got me excited about a Mac.  As we all know Macs are about $700 more than a pc so I was so surprised when the family bought me an iMac.  I am so excited to learn how to use it!  if there are any mac lovers out there that could share some favorite features that I need to add I would really appreciate the advise!

Ryan was so excited to see if it works that he plugged it right into the wall in our bedroom and got to work.  Super simple set up!

While Ryan set up the computer with the help of Meredith the other three kiddos were busy laying on our bed playing with their electronics...hello...anyone home???  I think not! hahah!

After the computer was all set up we drove up to Long Beach to have dinner with my family.  Ryan had made reservations at Javiers at the Spectrum since Mexican food is my favorite,  but I was craving Soupplantation.  I got a bit teased for wanting to go there for my 40th birthday, but whatever! My soup and salad were delicious...hahaha!!  After dinner my grandparents and sister came over and we had yummy cupcakes and ice cream.  

It was probably one of my favorite birthdays because I able to workout, spend time with friends, and share the day with my family!  Thank you to everyone who made this day so special!  I am loving 40 so far!

Christmas Day!

Christmas morning was not a disappointment at the Jones home!  Trevor and Meredith woke up around 7:00 a.m. and they were able to convince the rest of us to get up by 7:30 a.m..  So the kids all came down the stair together to see what Santa had left them.  

Mackenzie got some Vans:

 Madalyn a pair of over the knee leather boots:

Trevor got an ipod touch.  Mom did not want him to get this, but I guess Santa had other plans!

Meredith got a Victorious Barbie Doll that sings.

Since Christmas was on a Sunday this year the family got all ready for church after opening presents.  We were grateful for the 11:00 a.m. time slot this year!  Mackenzie and I sang in the choir and our Sacrament service was wonderful.  It was a perfect way to start out Christmas..singing praises and hearing the story of Christ's birth.

Immediately after church we drove up to my mom's house for Christmas dinner and celebration.  The girlies loved the mini pillow pets for Great -Grandpa and Great-Grandma Dickison!

Meredith was so excited to get the navy blue Toms she wanted!

Trevor was most excited about the Bakugan arena and spinners!

It seems the family gets bigger every year!  This year my parents had to set up three tables so everyone could fit!  I think there were about 31 family members this year.  That does not include any of Jim's kids either!  We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family on both sides!

Some additional gift highlights this year were...royal blue jeans, books, Bop-it, Madden Football, Fossil Fighters for the DS, 500 Days of Summer DVD and earrings.

Christmas Eve 2011

Christmas Eve was spent with the Jones side of the family.  We drove down to Carlsbad and celebrated with good food and family!  The kids put on the annual story of the birth of our Savior Jesus Christ.  Mackenzie was an angel, Meredith was Mary, Trevor was Joseph and Madalyn and Dallin were sheperds.  Rachel read the story out of Luke.

Since the family is small the Jones Brothers were the three wisemen!

All the Jones boys...what a good looking group!

 Trevor has so many similarities with Rodney so I had to get a picture of them together!

The dinner was delicious!  Prime rib, twice baked potatoes, salad, homemade rolls and lots of yummy appetizers!

She survived!

Mackenzie loves to play this.....

However she was born with a plica in the joint of her left knee.  This "plica" is a band of tissue about the size of an index finger.  Only about 5% of the population is born with this.  If those born with it are athletes it will get filled with fluid and inflamed causing knee pain and the knee to "give out".  Mackenzie was suffering from all these symptoms so she had the "plica" removed.  

She was super brave..did not flinch at the IV, came out of anethesia like a champ and has been recovering pretty well.  Today we changed her bandages and were surprised when we saw this.......

BLOOD.....lots of it!  This is just a sample.  It continues to ooze blood, but I am sure she will be fine in a few days.  She has been able to get up and walk on it a little and do her doctor ordered exercises every hour.  The doctor said it was a good decision to remove the plica because it was right at the bend of her knee and very inflamed.  He said once she recovers she should be pain free!

Singers Company

This past week Miss Meredith performed in another Singers Comapny performance.  The outfits were absolutely the cutest ever!!!

These girls are so crazy!!!

Day after the cruise

We had an extra day in Florida after the cruise so we stayed at the Sheraton Dolphin and extended our fun!

The hotel is right on the Disney Boardwalk so we smuggled ourselves into the Boardwalk hotel and enjoyed their carnival themed pool and water slide.

In the evening Ryan got to be part of the entertainment.  What can I say the cruise was pricey and he needed the tips..haha!

Here are the girls on the plane flight home...we wore them out!

Until we meet again!

This was definitely a "Dream" vacation and we look forward to "seeing you real soon" Mickey!

Miscellaneous...

Here are a few pictures that I liked:

In the main lobby was a handmade gingerbread house.  The entire lobby smelled of gingerbread!

There was a detective game the kids could play on the ship.  The clues were found in different pictures displayed throughout the entire ship.  We definetly got our exercise in running from picture to picture to solve the mystery!

My mom has famous sayings like whatchamacallits, whozi whatzits, etc.  The ship had a store name just for her!!

Castaway Cay

Our favorite stop is always Castaway Cay.  We had not been here for three years and it had a few changes made to it from the last time we were there.  There are now two "Cookie's", private cabanas and  a water slide/play area.

They had the island decorated for Christmas so we had to stop for the photo op!  Even the trams were decorated with garland.  I love the holiday season.  We were so lucky to be able to come during the holiday season and see all the decorations!

Ryan got up early and ran the 5K on the island.  He was so glad he did since the had been eating his fair share of Mickey heads on the cruise!

Here are two of my favorite photo spots.  I love that the ship can be seen in the backround with Pluto and I love the paintings on the bouyies.

A family tradition is to rent cruisers and ride along the bike trail.  The first time Meredith went on the cruise she was 4 years old and was able to ride the entire trail.  We all love to ride bikes and have lots of fun and laughs as we do so together!