I need to share some of my feelings about my dear sister Sandra who got to go home to Heavenly Father this morning. I think she is still holding her sweet son Daniel and I am so excited for her to not have to hurt any more, or throw up one more time.
Sandra often said she didn't want to be an example, but she was a shining example of so many things that I admire so I'd just like to name a few. Sandra was an amazing example of Christian giving, loving the Lord, knowing that Heavenly Father has a plan for all of us, testimony of Jesus Christ, positive thinking, endurance, pressing forward, choosing the right, crusading for her causes, bridging generation gaps, promoting music, fine arts and sports, doing hard things and telling about it in a comical way. She was an incredible storyteller and a good philosopher. Her green thumb gardening, oh wow! You can't top it.
I love to think of her as a "wilderness woman." When our kids were younger, she and I would go camping at Strawberry while the husbands worked or whatever. We loved it. We'd fry up potatoes, onions and bacon, eat them and then figure out what to cook next. She was good at making up games, and going on hikes and then talking all night. She always was "high adventure" and anything you did with her seemed to be a great adventure ~ remember Phantom Ranch? She always went to girls camp whether there was a bear scare or not. She was definitely a pioneer, without looking like it.
When I first knew Sandra, I thought she was so beautiful, tall and thin with her dark brown eyes. She was funny and full of spunk but I also thought she was way too young for Reid, she being nine years younger. We teased that someday she would have to feed him soft foods, take him for wheelchair rides and wipe his bum to take care of the old guy. But her maturity level serpassed many much older.
She was much more than this and I know this probably isn't something to post on a blog, but I just want the world to know that Sandra Jones lived an honorable life and left a great legacy to her family and friends who she shared so much love for. We all love her and will miss her. ~Elise
Hi Todd! Salt Lick! Honest, I'm not grimacing. I love Todd. And Willa too. Don't feel left out Willa! Oh, shoot, her head is down and she's feeling neglected. I bet she feels left out, and she's not in the picture. Poor Willa. Hi Todd, again!
Beth and Chris are expecting. Expecting this project to get finished, expecting a baby, expecting to pass the bar, expecting a lot of fun in the future. They are great hosts and treated us like royalty, and fed us oh, so well. Beth got us tickets to see Les Miserables and we got to sit on row G in the middle. I could actually SEE and Dad could actually HEAR. Other than Chris who kept comparing characters in the play to Muppet characters, we all loved it. It was, all in all, a greater time than we expected. We'll follow with random shots of the vacation. I'm saving the lady walking her cat shots "for camping."
Goliath!
Changing table that Beth put together by herself with her trusty hammer. She also assembled the crib 100% by herself. 
This was such a rewarding project because Chris and Beth were both so excited with every new row of rick rack. One thing I do have to say about painting is that Beth can paint circles around me. She came home from work as I was contemplating putting off the white trim until the next day. She jumped in and painted half the baseboards while I was still loading up the brush. She's amazing in the way she can just get things done. Way to work with slow poke, Beth.
BN~Before nursery... little Sophia would have been very stimulated in this room. but she may have had anger management problems. I do love the color and it made me sad to change it but June bud and serene sky did turn out very cute, with clouds in the serene and a cute huge sun light fixture that Beth found at IKEA. Which by the way, Kev, could you see your way clear to come install?
This may have been the scene just before the next picture. I'm not sure.
Stick in your thumb, and pull out a plumb... or hit it with a hammer and then work all day, later to find out it's broken. I'm not going to put in the picture of the splinted thumb because even though the doctor told him to keep it on for 4 ~ 6 weeks, it stayed on for 4 ~ 6 hours before he was back to work on the porch. 
Do you think it's a good idea for dads to be invited to a baby shower? Just a question.
Cute Beth at her baby shower. Note~ Chris wasn't allowed to open any gifts.
Who knew this was Todd's secret hiding place? When we looked down to see two piercing black eyes staring at us, heart jump start. Also, some of the biggest cobwebs you'll ever see reside here. Wishing Alyson was here to play "Tarantulla" for us, so the spiders would have music to spin by. As it was, I think they were a little intimidated by Dad's XM radio.
Chris and Beth's rotting out front porch~ya gotta start somewhere.
We're in waist deep. Where do we go from here? Looks like Dad's going to have to come back next week and clean up his mess. Wait, I think we left that for Chris and Beth to do. Sorry guys. We love Salt Lick!
