Happy Birthday Jared!

Jared had his 28th birthday today. He decided to open his presents as soon as he got home from work. Mackayla was more than happy to help him.

For his birthday dinner he requested a mexican meal. I made chicken mole, and he even got to have his favorite tamarindo drink (non-alcoholic). I don't know how well the whole dinner turned out, but I'm sure he appreciated my efforts.

After dinner we went to an Orem Owls Baseball game. It was a lot of fun, and Mackayla loved cheering for the team.

I made Jared tell me what kind of a cake he wanted for his birthday, and he finally came up with a saw cake. So in case you can't tell, its a saw.

This is a picture of Mackayla at a birthday party for her cousin Sophie a couple days ago. She hit the pinata once, but was more interested in just playing with the golf club.

Family Reunion in Yakima

We spent the last week in Yakima with the Hatfields. There was a big Tree Family Reunion over the weekend. We had a great time, and did so many things. Mackayla loved being with family and cousins!

The Saturday we arrived the whole family was able to do some temple work for their family.

At the Tree Family Reunion, wearing our Tree Family t-shirts

Grandma Davenport (Tree) with all 7 Hatfield cousins. We celebrated her 90th birthday at the reunion with 90 (counting soon-to-be-born children) descendents in attendence.

Mackayla loved taking rides with her daddy on one of the Tree's farm vehicles.

Grandma Davenport (Tree) and her 5 children.

Mackayla wanted to help her dad win the limbo. Too bad it didn't work. He went a long way though.

We spent a couple of days boating and playing at the lake. This is Mackayla on the beach with her newest cousin Ethan.

Jared and Mackayla playing in the water. Meagan is in the background.

Mackayla would have stayed in the water all day. She absolutely loved it!

Relaxing with cousin Jaden and soaking up the sun (in the shade).

Riding on the tube with Jared. Melissa went too, but she wouldn't let us go very fast.

Crashed out! Mackayla had so much fun with all the family, but she was certainly worn out by the end of the trip!

Below is a video clip of some of our activities. Just click on the play button (triangle) in the middle of the box to see it.

Camping at Tinney Flats

We decided last minute to go camping for the weekend since it was so hot down in Provo (we know that you people in Arizona might think we're wimps, but so what). Luckily we didn't meet the bear that had been seen a week earlier in the area, but I had a rifle there to protect the family either way. Melissa did feel like she was going to be eaten by the bugs though. I told her that they were termites and didn't want to eat her, but that didn't seem to relieve the stress. We had a great time anyway!



Mackayla wasn't too sure about putting the mashmallows in the fire. She was even less keen on eating them after they came out. Hopefully she'll learn how fun roasting mashmallows is by our next camping trip (Melissa told me that we can go again in five or more years).



Mackayla loved sleeping in the tent. She curled up right next to daddy and slept great all night long! I, on the other hand, woke up several time to move her back to the middle of the blow-up mattress while Melissa enjoyed most of the night on 2/3 of the mattress with all the room a pregnant woman could dream of.



Mackayla created a new game. We told her not to touch the car because it was dirty, so she would walk over to it, point to any given spot, and ask "is this dirty?" This is just a guess, but we must have heard those words at least 17 million times!

Ahh! The breakfast of champions! No, not wheaties, I made eggs and pancakes. The cooking went a little slower than using our griddle back home, but we survived. We had a great time, and Melissa was a good sport about everything. She even said that we can go camping again before the five year mark. She asked on the way home if I knew of any good camping spots without bears or bugs that we could go next time.

God Bless America

Happy 4th of July!

We had a great fourth of July. We went to a parade in the morning. Mackayla loved seeing everything and waving to everybody. She also did a great job of waving her flag!

Mackayla was anxiously awaiting the start of the festivities in our front yard. Jared put on quite a show with his own fireworks. Then we ejoyed our perfect view of the Stadium of Fire show with the Henrys.

Tyler, Brooke, Ryan, Mackayla, and Michelle

Would you like to play a game?

You're invited to play "WHERE'S MACKAYLA?" It's just like where's Waldo, only you're looking for Mackayla. There are three different levels of difficulty here. Each picture will get harder. Good luck and let me know if anyone can pass all three levels!

Level 1

Level 2

Level 3

My trip to Yakima

Mackayla and I went to Washington for almost a week to visit my family. I was away from Jared for FIVE whole nights which is the longest we've been apart since being married. We both missed him like crazy, but loved being able to spend time with my mom and everyone else. Unfortunatly, my dad was gone on a fishing trip, but we'll get to see him a few more weeks.

*many of these pictures will be repeats for my family...sorry*

Jaden and Jackson were both excited to see their cousin Mackayla.

April and I are due only a few days apart, so we had to take a comparison picture.

Mackayla LOVED having Buffy around. She followed him all over the house all week.

Mackayla riding Grandpa's four wheeler

Mackayla spent a long time getting this shirt on all by herself. Once she got it on she decided to add her pants as a hat. She's becoming quite the fashion queen.

Mackayla enjoying some time on Grandma's lap and giving baby Mitchell a big kiss.

At last, the day came to be reunited with Jared! He greeted us at the airport with two suprises, purple roses (my favorite flower) and a smooth face! No more mustache!!!

We can't wait to head back to Washington for the big Tree Reunion in three weeks. The best part will be that we get to take Jared with us this time!

The Jones Reunion in St. George

We had a great time in St. George with Jared's Family. My goal was to get rid of my Farmer's tan, which didn't happen, but we still consider the trip a success.

This was Mackayla's first real swimming experience, and she loved being in the water

Just kicking our feet in the pool

Mackayla and Sophie posing in their new family shirts.

I love this picture. I took the picture of them taking a picture of the little girls.

First annual Jones family reunion shirts - Mackayla loves her shirt so much that she slept with it on top of her pajamas the other night, and didn't want to take it off for church the next morning.

Jared opening his Father's Day presents with Mackayla

Taking a dip in Lake Mead

Mackayla, the captain of the ship!

Where's Jared? Oh, he's up there.