Happy Halloween

As you can tell we here at the Fletcher/Jones house get overly excited for Halloween. As Amanda says, we haven't missed our mom so much as now that it is Halloween time a.k.a Sandra's fav. holiday. Maybe my halloween decorations have been up since September 15th. Yes I do realize that is longer than most people's christmas decorations stay up.

Devin also loves halloween and will be planning his costume for next year starting tomorrow. Hence why we have a costume party every year for his b-day in april. some people have christmas in July to tide them over until the holidays. we have halloween in april to get us through the year.

Here are this year's costumes.

I'm sporting Cruella Deville this year even though I have been her before because my Dad found me this fantastic new coat and we're poor. Feel free to rate us on how we did.

Laura Cruella


vs. real cruella


Devin is a perv. Okay not really but he really looks like one. He's Dick in a Box from the SNL sketch with Justin Timberlake. Obviously he is the hilarious one of us two. I think his costume came off rather well and it also cost zero dollars. yay us! (of course he did consider wearing this to the ward party. i told him it wasn't allowed.)

Devin and the box
Justin and the box

poor bubs

julia is often the target of me being a jerk to her. what can I say, we are six years apart and she is full of high school attitude these days. therefore every now and then we may have some tiffs that include louder than normal voices followed by getting over it and getting along quite well. But all in all I kind of torture her a lot as shown in the following...

Making her go first when we took pictures with the crocodiles. she looks nervous.



when I attacked her with sea weed in San Diego.


these are her "evil eyes" which seer your soul with hatred. I kind of get them a lot from her. and I'm sure I will be receiving them soon once she she's the pictures I put of her on this post. Oopsies!


I would put more pictures but she might kill me as is for the sea weed pictures. So next time you see bubs you know to feel sorry for her because of her mean older sister.

quetizzle

Alright this post is only a week late...I'm catching up.

So what's a gal to do when her favorite gas station attendant is leaving for Iraq to fight instead of manning his usual post at the local QT where he was her best friend from junior year on?

Throw him a party of COURSE!

Therefore Saturday night Devin and I could be seen at the QT on baseline and greenfield saying goodbye to our dear friend Todd S.



There was about a million kids who showed up to say see ya later. Devin and I provided the cake with the inspiring message Happy Birthday Timmy on the top. It was a fantastic time. I'm a little more than ticked because I forgot to take pictures of everyone. I am lame. (also forgot to take pictures of my ward halloween party extravaganza that has been the culprit for my non blogging status.) Anyways needless to say we laughed, huggged, and said tearful goodbyes to Todd who is shippin out soon. He will be sorely missed. I honestly believe QT business at that location will be going down because of his departure because we now have no reason to stop in.

Poor us Todd is gone. If you would like to see updates on how Todd is check out the facebook group Todd S. is king of the teenagers.

As Devin so appropriately stated. "We all know Todd S. from QT on Greenfield and Baseline. He is the go to guy for everyone between the ages 15 and 25 in the Mesa/Gilbert area. He is essentially the bartender for kids who can't drink and kids who don't drink. He also knows when to cut you off."

Todd S.,
We Heart You.

I feel loved

So I guess I'll end my year long hiatus of no blogging and repost. I apologize.

In other news...


Monday October 15th (yes I do realize this post is two weeks late. i've been busy.) I got an amazing surprise.

Set the scene: My morning classes were canceled because it was fall break and we meet an an elementary school. Therefore I was at my mom's house per usual in the morning helping Annie get ready. Bub's on the other hand was in tears at the computer desk because she lost her typed up 150 literary term definitions overnight that she stayed up until 2am writing. So being the good (not having to go to school) sister I am. I sat and started typing.

Event: I get a phone call. From one Vicki Sherwood (one of my favorite people on the planet who is always willing to give me a break from boredom when I am vista and talks to me for an hour. talks such as these always lead me to wanting to be a better person. amazing lady period.) She asks me if I will be at my mom's house for a while. I will in fact be there for another hour or so. Not thirty minutes later Vicki Sherwood, Stephanie Romney, and Peg Moffat show up on my door step with a delectable surprise (like them coming to see me wasn't enough).

They surprise me with this...


They then related their painstaking story of getting me the plate holder. Apparently after seeing my blog they decided they would try and find me the plate holder. The last day of their recent trip to California they went to a mercedes dealership. They went to the parts department and it was closed, so they braved the dealer's lot just so they could get it for me! The vulture salesman gathered but they were determined and managed to get out of their with just the plate holder and no new mercedes.

It looks so cute on my car. I'm a little bit obsessed with it and point it out to everyone.

I think they deserve more then ten points don't ya think?

Now Devin and I's cars are in heart because they say fletcher jones.

They sleep together...
They get their morning fill up together...

They are in heart as I am in heart with my license plate holders. Thanks so much girls! Aren't they so cute and thoughtful? You really made my morning and many other of my mornings when I walk out to my car and see the Fletcher Jones. Devin might be just a little sick of me say, "Hey devin look, it says fletcher jones on my car like me!" But he'll get over it.

You girls are amazing! Thanks for making me feel so loved!

elder henry b. eyring

things we learned from and about elder eyring at the institute dedication

1. his grandparents were ranchers in Pima, AZ
2. grandpa taught him he didn't have to believe anything that wasn't true
3. taught that the holy ghost will lead us to truth if we just try to live a good life and retain the spirit
4. his grandparents were so poor that his dad joined the ROTC in college (at U of A) because the uniform was free and he didn't have enough money to buy clothes.
   
5. his dad blended science and religion by simply searching for truth in everything.
   
6. we should pursue truth with vigor and at the same time be a child of God to receive blessings
7. institute is a place where people come and the holy ghost is present. it changes lives. it add another dimension to our lives.
8. we have divinity within us. we need to cultivated it through our learning. we need to study the word of God as we study at our universities.
9. we need to make time to meditate and ponder on the questions man has asked since the beginning of time

what we do for conference

1. Make vampire teeth out of candy corn



2. Color some humanitarian projects




3. Hung out and eat food (or ice)

Lunch Dates

This is why these two are my favorite people in the world.



I love going to lunch with them when Annie skips school. Its the best.

Timing is perfect as usual

I think Heavenly Father really wants me to know that his timing is impeccable and that somehow he's always looking out for me and has the best answers to suit my needs and others at the same time. I think it would take me four pages to write out the myriad of times in my life where I can see just how
perfect
the Lord's timing was including how/when Devin and I met and got married...


but apparently I don't recognize this enough in my life and so I got another one thrown at me last night and I am so grateful for it.


I met this friend of mine a couple of months ago when I was called as her visiting teacher. We had a lot of similarities and so we hit it off and always had so much fun when we were together. Needless to say it was really easy to get my VT done when I saw her because we always had a good time hangin' with her kids etc.

Anyways she moved out of the ward so I wasn't her VT anymore but we tried to stay in touch.

Recently she just moved close by me again and so we ran into each other. She told me that she was having her son tested because he hadn't started talking yet.

We went a while with out seeing each other again and randomly on Thursday I had the thought while in class that I needed to give her a call.

Well I put it in my brain on my list of things to do and she beat me to the punch and called me last night. I went over and talked to her and she told me her son was diagnosed with autism and she wanted to know if I would be his respite and habilitation provider.

OF COURSE I WILL!

I was so excited. For a while now I've been wanting to take on another client but I'm with Annie most of the time that she isn't at school so it didn't make much sense to get another client unless it was a younger child and I could work with them during the day when Annie was at school. So working with this family is PERFECT! Her son is two and just diagnosed so this mom is having to go through all the beginning steps and paperwork that comes with state service like occupational therapy, speech therapy etc. I also really want to do early intervention when I get older and advocacy and so this AMAZING mom is letting me help her while this child is still young so it is going to be the most amazing learning experience ever!

When Annie was younger getting all of her early intervention done, I was between like ages 8-10 so I hardly remember what we did for her. So this is my great opportunity to learn as much as I can about the parent's side of early intervention. I am so excited! This mom said I can come to all of the meetings with her and help take notes for her so she understands and so that I can learn.

Just goes to show that Heavenly Father knows EXACTLY what both of us needed and just how to help us both in the situations we are in.

hilarious. i heart everyone that ever worked at jc's.

may i please direct you to this blogpost. I hope you find it as hilarious as i did. i congratulate this family on making my night.

the end.

road trip

So last weekend dev and annie and i went on a little three day road trip with devin's dad david to san jose. it consisted of two nights of no sleep, getting to know devin's dad a lot better because he was the only one that stayed awake with me, hanging out with the fletcher crew and ainge bunch, eating tasty breakfast, and chillin' out max and relaxin' all cool.


annie is elated because she called shot gun for the trip up and the two guys over six feet tall conceded and sat in the back.


devin trying to stay awake all night with his DP which actually resulted in him asleep about 5 hours later


ten points to anyone that can find me a license plate holder that says jones fletcher on it like this one.
picture of devin and his two wives. devin is under strict instruction that when i die the only other person he can marry is annie.

we had tasty breakfast compliments of this very pleasant couple who are friends with devin's uncle. annie and i were very pleased with the food.


unfortunately this trip was strictly no smoking so my hands shaking got in the way of my camera...or at least i thought until i saw these pictures...


notice I am in the picture so it was not my hands shaking that made the picture shake. oh wait...an older gentleman was taking the picture who could have had a tremor...so the hand shake is still a possibility in my camera's inability to function. I was hoping to rule out my hands and blame it on the camera.

the trip was really for the adults to get together and go to a oregan state football game vs stanford and so annie and i on our off time (i think devin slept 75% of the time we were on this trip) went to the park and had a photo shoot.



haha apparently we aren't quite up to amanda's standard yet.

but the trip was a success i didn't run us off the road and david got to see his family. annie and i hung out like the bffs we are and devin got some much needed sleep. the end.

us smelling "the pretty"
sorry mom bad representation of your hair

so my mom used to say that even when she was in her grave i would come over and tap on the coffin and be like umm...mom just one more thing because she kind of made my life possible due to all of the help she gave me. needless to say i kind of resented her comment and wish she didn't view me that way but dang it all the time i think mom, i need just one more thing. examples include but are not limited too:
1. wishing all us girls could go to the relief society broadcast and then out to dinner like we used to.
2. being in the grocery store not knowing where to find random things i.e. today when i had no idea where condensed milk would be found so I called amanda and oftentimes she solves my problem but sometimes (like today) we are both clueless and wished we could call mom.
3. needing help knowing how much food to get for a ward party, i just got put in charge of our ward halloween party and that was her specialty. she would have known how much food i would need and where to get everything.
4. needing gardening advice. somehow my dad didn't pick that up from her she just always did it so he doesn't know.
5. needing my friend who i laid on the bed with and talked to about EVERYTHING.

so mom,
just a couple thousand more things...