By Popular Demand...meet the Jessops/Barlows

So it was my sister that requested this photo, but in the blogging world you can always pretend that thousands of loyal followers are awaiting your next update--which would make posting this photo even more scary, but anyway, here we are in all our fundamental glory. For anyone that is fooled by the facade and/or veneer my husband tries to pull off--you know, that he is Mr. reserved conservative--get a load of this picture and the post below this. He is soooo easily persuaded to dress up, despite his fiegned protests, one might suspect that he enjoys this kind of thing! I mean, doesn't he look happy in the photo below? Who wouldn't want wives as lovely and cheerful and subservient as these?

And yes, I must confess, both of the dresses in this picture were in my closet, and were once worn in public not on Halloween!

THE Swine Flu

Here is Steve on his last day of work at is old job. Really, what more can I say?

Picture Dump

I tell my students to avoid "info dumps" in their research papers--but here's a picture dump for anyone who cares. So much has happened since I last updated, so here are a few highlights. First, the kids started school, but I didn't even take their pictures on the first day! Here's G and B on G's first day of preschool with Miss Debbie. S is in middle school--8th grade--A is in 5th, J in 2nd. Time goes so fast. Oh, and I started teaching at Dixie College and love it, though I am way too busy to be a good teacher. B has taken a few baths since I last wrote. She was pretty proud of this hair-do Grandpa Jones turned 90 in September and we had a big party. He still talks about it--he says he thought he was a lonely old man with no friends, and couldn't believe how many turned out to partaaaay at the assisted living center.

Oh yeah, I ran a marathon with my buddy Christie. We didn't train at all, and couldn't believe two mothers with 10 kids between us had decided the night before to do something so KRAZY, but had so much fun! I came in at a swift 5 hours.

We had our first (annual?) Jones-Tullis reunion in Pine Valley at the Dixie College cabin. Here are most of the cousins with their painted T-shirts. We had a scavenger hunt, did crafts, had a talent show, a flag ceremony, played football and ping pong, and made some wacky skits that we recorded so we could remember them forever! We had so much fun and EVERYONE actually came!

Sydney and Sadie--the more mature cousins!

B doing a sawdust treasure hunt

The next weekend we went to Moab with the Slembos for Fall Break. S had swine flu and Nat was also really sick with stomach flu the whole time, but we ended up having fun anyway. Lots of scary rocks to fall off of in Arches

G shown here with his Gatorade. He dropped it not once, not twice, but three times into a deep gully below Delicate Arch, and we had to go get it that many times! What a guy.

B at the campsite. It has been 6 years and two kids since we last camped in a tent as a family. It was freezing cold, but the kids actually slept well.

On Sunday we had our own "church" up in the mountains. It was peaceful and beautiful, and I love all of those kids so much. They sang songs and were so cute.

I had to hand it to these proud fire makers--they were so excited to finally get to roast marshmallows in the mountains. We teased our two "eagle scout" husbands--neither of them brought even one flashlight! Good thing they both had the flashlight app on their iphones!

Fast-forward to Halloween week. S had an 80's dance at the church for YM/YW and Steve went to chaperon. Here they are looking totally radical--do you see Steve's mullet?

Here's Annie, Little Orphan...

Friday night we went to an adult costume party--here we are as Japanese Geisha and ninja/philosopher or something? Hey, we only had a few minutes to pull this together...

G as spiderman with Miss Debbie's preschool.

Here are some of the kids in J's class Halloween party that I helped with.

Here are the kids on Halloween before the neighborhood party. One teenage girl is noticeably absent--she was at a soccer game. She's too busy for us! Really, I never see that girl!

Anywho, I feel better now.

Steve started his new job this past week and thinks he loves it--having Friday off was soooo nice! You should see our garage! I think he might start saying that he does have to work on Friday so he doesn't have to work so hard on his day off. S is in a play that begins this week--Willie Wonka--she's an oompa loompa and will be glad when the late night rehearsals are over. And I will be happy to get to know her again. We really don't see her:-( A is really into reading this year, which does my heart good. I actually had to ban him from reading at recess. J was awesome in his soccer game yesterday. He says the girls go "monkey" and chase him at recess (I know I would if I were them). G is learning to actually enjoy coloring as a recreation--that was the hardest part of preschool for him. He is more of a kinesthetic learner! B says "Mommy, I stink" I say "you do?" and she says "yes, it's really bad." And I am starting to feel a little less stressed. Our primary program was two weeks ago and went so well, and now it's just a matter of staying on top of grading. That's it for now!

FOR SALE!

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And clean, well-groomed toddlers

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Weed patch underneath promotes great work ethic and keeps out sand

Unconventional swing configuration inspires hours of creative play

Important safety features included, free of charge

No reasonable offer will be refused--but hurry! A gem like this will be gone in a flame (I mean flash!)

COMING SOON--Don't miss our blowout sale on quality used carpet!