David Clyde Jones 1925-2008

As many of you know, my grandpa passed away last month (September) on the 16th. It was pretty unexpected, which is never much fun for family members, but is probably the prefered way if you're the one that has to go. Anyway, he was truly a wonderful man who will be genuinely missed. Following are some pictures of him, and some of our family during the time of the funeral. We love you Grandpa!

David C. Jones was born May 19, 1925 in Virden, NM. He served as a communications officer in the U.S. Navy during the end of WWII and throughout the Korean War.

What a handsome sailor!

He married Iris Brown in the Mesa, Arizona temple after serving in the central states mission. Iris also served in that mission. When she finished her service, they continued to correspond until David returned home. They were married a lengthy four months later (I believe it was 4 months).

Grandpa left us a legacy of love, faith, and BYU devotion. This is a picture of the last time that we saw him in person. It was my graduation in April. He wouldn't miss it!

The family had this BYU flower arrangement made for his funeral. I don't know that there was ever a bigger BYU fan.


The viewing was very nice. Melissa said that it reminded her of our wedding reception in Arizona. The guests just kept coming through the door all night long.

The ten living grandsons (two preceded him in death) were the pallbearers.

Military Honors - How neat!

Goodbye Grandpa. We love you!

David Clyde Jones
May 19, 1925 - September 16, 2008

The day before the services, we took family pictures at the temple. Nearly all of his posterity was able to be there. We haven't received the group picture yet, but will add it in later. Here are some other fun pics.

Nini and Papa with their grandkids.

Uncle Jason with the kids.

Gary Jones Family

Jared, Mackayla, and Grandma

Mackayla and her cousin Sophie. Cute matching dresses!


Other random pictures from the weekend.

Mackayla and Bradley wrestling for the chair at Grandma Jones' house.

Mackayla and Melissa enjoying pancakes at Grandma's.

Our lovely family. We met at Melody's for dinner the first night we were there.

Debt Free

This week we paid off our entire student loan. We have absolutely no debt! This is probably the only time (at least for a long time) that we will be in this situation, without even a house payment to make. Whenever they started talking about debt during conference this weekend, we just turned the TV off...nothing that we needed to hear! (totally kidding!) We'll purchase a house and perhaps another vehicle before long, provided the economy seems stable enough to do so, so we're just enjoying this feeling for a short time. It sure does feel good though. :)

We had a great conference weekend. Unfortunatly our kids have decided to stop sleeping this last week so we were pretty tired. We're finding it's rather difficult to be able to listen attentively to the speakers with two little kids demanding attention. We're excited for the Ensign to arrive next month so we can read it carefully and fill in all the parts that we missed.

Here are just a couple of pictures taken of Bradley this week.

Chocolate Overdose
Let's Go Cruisin'

PS: Congrats to Derek and Danielle on their successful escapade.

Autumn

We went up the canyon today for our annual autumn drive. It's always so beautiful to see all the colors!

Last weekend we made a quick trip down to Arizona for Grandpa Jones' funeral. I didn't really take any pictures myself. Jared's cousin Chelsea was the official photographer and she took A LOT of pictures! As soon as I get ahold of all those pictures I'll be putting up a big post on the event for the sake of our family journal. It was a really great time, though, to be with family and remember Grandpa. We're so glad we were able to be there.

The kids did great on the car trips. We left in the later afternoon both ways so the kids slept for half the trip. Mackayla and I made travel pillows for the kids the day before we left and they were a big hit. I took pictures of each of them in the car with Jared's phone camera. Mackayla didn't want her picture taken... shocking, I know.

Bradley helping Papa drive his truck.

These are just a few random pictures...

Mackayla loves to help vacuum now. I'm quite impressed that she can manouver the vacuum herself because it's quite a beast!

We learned about leaves a couple weeks ago. This is Mackayla studying all the different leaves we gathered on our nature walk.

The kids both love the playground. Bradley can't get enough of the slides.

Playing dress up

Happy Day!

We had a wonderful week. Our only complaint would be that Jared is still working long hours, but at least when he does come home he doesn't have homework. :)

On Saturday we decided to make some Happy Pancakes for breakfast.

Mackayla loved it and was very happy... until I tried to take a picture of her with her pancake (of course).

This is one of the kids' favorite hangouts. We've gotten more use out of the pool without water in it than we did with water. Bradley loves to play around in there and its wonderful when we want to get some things done in the yard.

Another favorite hangout. Bradley is becoming a typical man and is happiest in the car when he's behind the wheel.

Bradley is a great eater and loves whatever we put on his tray. Unfortunatly, he needs a bath after every single meal (he doesn't get one though.) He loves to rub his food all through his hair.

Our little cougar fan


A nap with Mom

M

This week we did a little finger painting with pudding. They both loved it. They made quite a mess and ate pleanty too!



***************

Mackayla brought a little baby doll with her to church today to keep her entertained. We were sharing a bench with an older single guy in the ward. Mackayla was sitting between me and that guy. I looked over and she had her dress pulled up to her shoulders and was "nursing" her baby. Afer getting a good laugh with Jared, I tried to help her understand that we don't nurse in sacrament meeting (more than anything, I was trying to help that guy not feel too awkward). That suggestion didn't go over well, and with risk of a 2 year old melt down, I convinced her to put a blanket over her until her baby was finished eating. It was pretty cute and definitely worth sharing.

My poor family...

This last week probably wasn't the funnest week our children have ever had. At the beginning of the week I got another Mastitis infection. Although it has been awful every time I've had it, this time seemed to be the worse and last the longest. This weekend I finally felt better but was still very tired. I plan on being 100% recovered by morning. :)

The poor kids hardly left the house. Mackayla watched hours and hours of TV. Thier Mom was absolutely no fun at all.

Jared is very busy at work right now. He's working LONG hours and Saturdays until things slow down a bit. This last week though, the poor guy would come home and have to completely take over with the kids. Aunt Lori and Julie came over one afternoon to help me out and brought dinner to us. The dinner lasted us two nights so at least my family had food!!! We were very appreciative of that.

And of course, poor me! I really thought I was laying on my death bed for a few nights there. One night I was laying in bed while Jared was putting the kids to bed, wondering how long it would take Jared to remarry. Luckily, I'm still alive so he never gets to remarry.

This week we're planning on making up for last week. I'm going to try to do a lot of really fun things with the kids. Hopefully we'll have some fun pictures to post next week.

On a lighter note...

We enjoyed watching the BYU game on Saturday (thanks to the Henrys.) We were watching for my Dad and Chad in the crowds since they went to the game, and were very suprised when we spotted them. Here's their picture.

Go Cougars!