Happy Birthday Momma!!!

Today is my Mom's birthday! Now, I know that most people think they have the best mom ever, but sadly I'm here to tell you that this is just not the case. As my siblings and I can tell you, we lucked out!! We actually got the best mom ever! I sometimes feel bad for my kids because I know that I will never be as good of a mom to them as my Mom was and is to me. But at least they get to have her as their Granny, and that's almost as good!! She is always so thoughtful and helpful - always taking time out of her schedule to do things for us and to come and see us. She is always picking up things for me just because she knows I like them - candy, lotion, candles, anything! And she always sends cards for every holiday, which the kids LOVE! She also takes them birthday shopping - a special day that the kids get to spend with just her doing whatever they want. They love that too!! She even plans a special Christmas weekend at Granny and Grandpa's house for all the grandkids. They have been asking about the one for this year since they got home from the one last year! My Mom is such a great example to me and my kids and I am so grateful to have been blessed with her as my mom. She used to tease us growing up about other girls my dad had dated before her and how we could have ended up with one of them as our mom but I'm sure glad that didn't happen!! If it had, I'm sure I wouldn't have a bag of Christmas Peppermint Nougat candies and Christmas Nerds Jelly Beans in my room. :)

We love you Mom and we hope that you had a wonderful day!!!!

Let the photo tribute begin!!

My Mom and Grandpa Loe

My Mom and Grandma Loe

My Mom in High School

My Mom and Dad at a High School Dance

My Mom and Dad just after getting married

My Mom and Me - Spring 1973

My Mom and Me - Fall 1973

My Mom and Me and Beau - Fall 1975

Me, My Mom, My Dad, and Beau - Winter 1977

My Mom and Me - Fall 1978

My Mom and Dad with Blake - Fall 1978

The Jones Family - Winter 1981

Beau, My Dad, Brooke, Blake, My Mom, and Me

Me and my Mom - Fall 1989

The Snowflake High School traditional Mums for Moms pinning - yeah, she had to do it so that I didn't stick her with the pin... :D

The Jones Family - Fall 1992
Me, Brett, My Dad, Beau, My Mom, Blake, Brooke, and Brianna

The Jones Family - Winter 2004

Brett, Beau, Elliott, Brooke, My Dad, My Mom, Laurissa, Blake, Jillen, Me, Jensen, Tim, Jayden, and Jorden (the only ones missing where Brianna and Justin :( )



The Jones Girls - Winter 2007

Me, Brooke, Brianna, and My Mom (with Ellee in front)

My Mom and her sisters - Thanksgiving 2008

My Mom, Peggy, Micki, and Nancy

Jorden and Granny - 1996

Jillen and Granny with Jorden - 1999

Jayden and Granny and Grandpa - 2000

Jensen and Granny - 2003

Happy Birthday Mom!!!

We Love You!!!!!

TAG: My Mosaic...

I saw this on Bri's blog and thought it looked really fun! And it was!! Some pretty weird pictures came up for all of my normal words!! :D Wanna know my answers? See if you can guess them from the pictures I chose...

Questions --

First Name?
Celebrity Crush?
Favorite Drink?
Favorite Color?
Dream Vacation?
What do you want to be when you grow up?
Favorite Dessert?
What do you love most in life?
One word to describe you?




Some are a little confusing huh? Okay, I'll take pity on you.

First name? Brandi (You should know that!)
Celebrity crush? Hmmm, let's think... My Spunk!! Robert Pattinson :)
Favorite drink? Vanilla Pepsi
Favorite color? Green
Dream vacation? Scotland
What do you want to be when you grow up? A Mom
Favorite dessert? Strawberry Pie
What do you love most in life? Seeing my children learn
One word to describe you? Obsessive (Gee, who'd have thought...)


The Rules: answer the following 9 questions about yourself:

First name?
Celebrity crush?
Favorite drink?
Favorite color?
Dream vacation?
What do you want to be when you grow up?
Favorite dessert?
What do you love most in life?
One word to describe you?

Want to play? Type your answers to each of the above questions into flickr search. Using only the images that appear on the first page, choose your favorite and copy & paste each of the URL's into Mosaic Maker. (3 columns, 3 rows)

TWILIGHT...

In case you've been living under a rock lately, you know that Twilight came out in theaters yesterday. It had opening day earnings of $35 million, with $7 million of that being in midnight showings! It's on track to do around $75 million for this opening weekend!! Needless to say, Summit Entertainment released this statement today...

My friend Melissa and I went to a midnight showing and then went back 3 more times yesterday, so we've seen it a total of 4 times -- so far... :) And even though the movie was not as good as the book (really, when are movies based on novels as good as the books?) it was awesome!!! We loved it, even though we were missing several parts of the book that were left out. We were glad to see some new things added too it and we were also happy to see how wonderfully the characters were portrayed. The actors did a great job! And we even have a new crush now... But more on that in a minute. ;)

Here we are in the theater -- just before our 4th viewing of the it! It was so fun to be surrounded by fellow Twilight lovers for an entire day! :D

And here are my ticket stubs just to prove that I really did spend 8 out of 18 hours watching Twilight. :P Not counting the trailers and the extra time sitting in the theater waiting for the movie to start. We did have to get there early for decent seats. And we got a wide variety of them, let me tell you!! I think we've seen it from every angle possible!! :D

And here is my show of support for My Spunk!! Jillen wrote on my arm a couple of weeks ago and I thought it was funny, so I took my marker to the theater with me and made sure to ink myself up, just in case anyone wondered where my loyalties lie. I may be Team Edward, but I'm smitten with someone else...

Rob and Kristen did such a great job as Edward and Bella!! Their chemistry on the screen really was as amazing as everyone said!

One of my favorite scenes of them was a little scene of them walking across the parking lot on the first morning that he drives her to school. She is a little uncomfortable because she thinks everyone is staring at them, which they are. This is the basic dialog -

BELLA
Everyone’s staring.
EDWARD
Not that guy over -- yeah, he just looked.

Then he says something else and puts his arm around her while everyone watches in amazement. It's a light little scene that I loved!! Oh, and he has his sunglasses on through all of it, not like in this picture. So cute!! Another little scene that was great was when Bella was cleaning her truck and he tells her that he wants to take her to 'his place' to meet his family. He is just so happy and carefree, a total 180 from his mood at the beginning of the movie. It's great to see him happy...

And I gotta say, the kiss scene did not disappoint... It was great!! And I did not slide out of my seat even once! I think I had properly prepared myself before hand so I knew what to expect. But I did start to cry the first time we saw the piano scene... I love him at the piano...

Okay, I mentioned having a new crush. Now, it's not totally new. I have felt all along that if I didn't already have a crush on Edward then I would totally crush on Jasper. But it just feels weird to like him and his brother. :D After seeing this movie, I think I may not care anymore how weird it feels!! :P He had, literally, like 5 lines in the entire movie, but he stole the whole show!! He was so perfect as Jasper!!! And I'm not even gonna get into the hotness factor...

Melissa and I's favorite scene from the whole show (I'm pretty sure it's still this one anyway) was the baseball scene!!! It was AWESOME!!!!! And I just gotta say, Jasper with a bat -- genius!!! It upped his hot factor by about 200%, and he sure didn't need any improvement in that area!! :D I think that's why we have both decided we need to join Team Jasper!! What a cute boy!!! Yeah, and we won't even get into the southern accent, which is his normal accent. I think I may slide out of my seat now...

And I found this on YouTube... I have no idea how long it will stay there, so if it stops working then it might have been removed. You'll need to turn off my playlist, like always, but it's SO worth it!!! Obviously the quality is not great, but you can still see it. And you gotta make sure and see the part at 3:53 when Jasper says one of his 5 lines -- "Oh, I think we handle that!" Did I mention how awesome he is???

Don't get mad at me, I didn't tape it. I'm just remembering the scene that I saw 4 times in the theater so far, and enjoying the wonder of it. You really should see this movie... I know I will be again some time soon. :D

Ahh, now back to real life. How boring... But I do have New Moon to look forward to!!! Oh, the scene when he leaves her is gonna kill me!! But then he will be back, and that will make me cry too, I'm sure. And we should get a few more kissing scenes, so that's always good. This movie only had 2 kisses in it, but I swear I think the screen started smoldering... They were THAT good!!!

Reasons I Love Twilight - #1...

Reason # 1 – The Meadow!!!

How could this not be the number one reason?!?! After all, it’s what started off the whole Twilight movement. On June 2, 2003, Stephenie Meyer had a dream about 2 people in a meadow – one was a normal, average human girl and the other was a vampire. He was beautiful and very conflicted in his feelings for the girl. He was obviously in love with her, but he also wanted to kill her. To make things more difficult, the girl was also in love with him. Stephenie awoke that morning and didn’t want to forget the dream that was so clear it almost seemed real. She wrote the dream down, just so that she would remember, but then she kept writing. She wrote from there until the end of the story, then went back and filled in the beginning. She was only writing for herself but eventually the story was published and the rest is history. The dream she had that night is basically chapter 13 in the book, and the scene is included in the movie. It’s such a beautiful interaction between Edward and Bella – each of them seeming to realize that their future, or lack there of in Bella’s case, hangs in the balance of their time in the meadow. We see the meadow in following books and the magic we feel from it during this first time there remains and we know what a special place it is for them. This is where the Lion and Lamb quote is said; the place where the “I’m your brand of heroin” statement is made; the moment that Edward realizes Bella is not afraid of being with him, but rather of being without him; the first time Edward ‘sparkles’ for Bella, showing her what he truly is; the last few seconds just before their first kiss. The emotions experienced by Edward and Bella are all over the page during their time in the meadow, but they emerge from this experience with a new knowledge and dedication to one another. The devotion they feel when leaving the meadow is true and can’t be broken…it’s forever.

Edward and Bella in the meadow --

I'm not sure that this is the same meadow scene, but it's a really cute picture of some of the playfulness between the two characters --

Edward must always be so careful with Bella - even the slightest touch from him could kill her if he is not careful. Even something as simple as putting his arm around her could be deadly --

Edward showing Bella how his skin 'sparkles' when in the sunlight. In the book Edward takes his shirt off, but not so in the movie. I've heard that this is about all we get, and even this made My Spunk nervous. He started working out before the movie in the hopes of having the perfect body that Edward has, but after losing 30 pounds and starting to look like an alien (his words), the director told him to stop, so back to an all cheeseburger diet it was. But this is good enough for me --

Edward and Bella -- she is in awe of him. Everything about him amazes her. And oddly enough, he feels the same way about her --

Aside from the magic of The Meadow, I think we need to discuss something else that is vital to the movie. That something is Chemistry. Sometimes actors just have it and a movie is great because of it. Other times the actors really have none at all, and the movie suffers. By all accounts, Rob and Kristen have it. Just looking at them in real life and how they act towards one another, you can see that there is something special there. From all I have heard, they are truly magical on the screen. I can’t wait to see for myself, but all of the little scenes and bits and pieces of the movie that I have seen lead me to believe I have nothing to worry about. They are both wonderful actors who really put all of themselves into their roles, and I think they compliment one another well. They are not only beautiful to look at but something special to watch. I really hope we get to watch them together for another 3 movies!!!

Rob and Kristen in a recent photo shoot, him being all 'brooding' --


At that same photo shoot - he's obviously not brooding all the time! :D He said recently that he loves to make life difficult for her, that's why he says things about how wonderful she is and how it would be easy to fall in love with her. I'm sure her boyfriend appreciates that... :P


Look at those eyes!! Another recent photo shoot. I love some of the other photos from this shoot, but I haven't seen this one much and I think it's beautiful...

Yet another photo shoot. So pretty...

And the gorgeous twosome at the Twilight premiere Monday night. It doesn't get much prettier than this...

Now that you've seen 30 reasons to love Twilight I expect to hear from you all about how you ran out and bought the books and read them all within a week and now can't stop thinking about Edward and how amazing he is and Bella and how hopelessly in love with him she is. I even want to hear how you hope Jacob gets hit by a bus for doing what he does in Eclipse... I won't spoil it for you, it's WAY too good!!! These books are an easy read yet they are so personal that it feels like you are reading someone's journal or something.

I hope you enjoyed a little peak into my obsession, well one of them anyway! :D Now I must sleep because it's after 1:30 in the morning and at this time tomorow I will be sitting in a movie theater with my bestest friend Melissa watching Twilight and oohing and aahing over My Spunk. Oh, I can't wait!!!!!!!!

It's Twilight Baby!!!!

Reasons I Love Twilight - #2...

Reason # 2 – Edward’s Crooked Smile

I know I’ve mentioned this smile before – the one that stops Bella in her tracks and basically leaves her breathless. She calls it her ‘favorite smile’ and after Edward realizes what he’s doing and how it affects her, he seems to do it more and, in certain instances, on purpose. At first he thinks something is wrong with her. He can hear the thoughts of other human women when he uses a little extra charm on them, but he never imagines that Bella is reacting the same way they do. He’s so used to hearing their thoughts that he doesn’t take into account the changes in their heart beat and breathing, which is the only change he can notice in Bella.

The first time Bella sees the smile is in Biology class. It’s a week after she has started school in Forks and a week after the day Edward seemed to hate her. That first day, the day he smelled her blood and fought the urge to kill her, he acted furious with her, but really he was angry with himself because he was letting a human affect him in a way no one had ever affected him before. He hated her because of it. He left for a week and then returned with a renewed determination to not kill her, but to be stronger than the desire he felt for her blood. That day, as they sat together in Biology class, they had to perform a lab and work together. Edward introduced himself to Bella and seemed perfectly polite, which led her to wonder if she had imagined the entire incident on her first day of school. As they sat, Edward turned to her and said –

“Ladies first, partner?” Edward asked. I looked up to see him smiling a crooked smile so beautiful that I could only stare at him like an idiot.
“Or I could start, if you wish.” The smile faded; he was obviously wondering if I was mentally competent.
“No,” I said, flushing. “I’ll go ahead.”

And here’s Edward’s version of it, showing that he really had no idea what he did to her.

It felt like it took every single ounce of self-control that I’d achieved in seventy years of hard work to turn back to the girl, who was staring down at the table, and smile.
“Ladies first, partner?” I offered.
She looked up at my expression and her face went blank, her eyes wide. Was there something off in my expression? Was she frightened again? She didn’t speak.
“Or, I could start, if you wish,” I said quietly.
“No,” she said, and her face went from white to red again. “I’ll go first.”

Just think, 4 books of this!! How could you not want to read them all??? :D

Edward and his 'crooked smile' --


He uses it again on her when they are in Port Angeles --

Here's My Spunk at some Hollywood event. Nice...

And again at a movie premiere. Seriously, don't you want to see this smile every day??? *sigh*

And my favorite picture, well one of them. So many good ones have come out recently. Oh, the cuteness...

Here is one of the first trailer’s for the movie. It’s on the Penelope dvd. (Which was a really cute movie, by the way! :D ) The awesome ‘crooked smile’ bit is at the end, but the first part of it gives you a good idea of what it’s about. Plus the little interview pieces with My Spunk are just lovely… He’s awfully sweet…



Can you believe it, ONE MORE DAY!!!!! O_O Wow!! Time sure does fly!!
What ever will I do with all my spare time when I’m not typing out reasons every day? Oh that’s right, sit in a movie theater watching all those reasons!!! :D

(PS -- I think the world has caught on the the awesomeness of My Spunk... I'm not too sure how I feel about this. I'm glad that they love him, but I don't like to share... He is My Spunk, afterall. :D )

Reasons I Love Twilight - #3...

Reason # 3 – Edward’s Piano

Edward plays the piano. Really???? Is there anything that Edward can’t do? No, he can do anything, and do it better than most anyone else. At least that’s what Bella soon finds out after spending some time with him. I hated piano lessons when I was growing up. But I will be the first to admit that I wish I had stuck with them and that I could play the piano now. I did a little in high school and afterwards, but without a piano in the house you can’t really practice. Maybe one of these days I will change that.

One of the scenes from the movie that I am most looking forward to is the piano/lullaby scene. I am dying to see My Spunk play the piano. That’s kind of my idea of Heaven… To just listen to him play the piano and then play the guitar and sing. That’s not bad, right? :P Well, that while drinking Vanilla Pepsi and eating Mexican food and whatever candy I’m craving at the moment. That would be just about perfect. :D

In the book and apparently in the movie, Edward writes a lullaby for Bella and when he takes her to meet his family, Esme encourages him to play the piano for Bella. He’s a little hesitant, but he does it. This is the conversation after Esme notices Bella looking at the piano –

“Do you play?” she asked, inclining her head toward the piano.
I shook my head. “Not at all. But it’s so beautiful. Is it yours?”
“No,” she laughed. “Edward didn’t tell you he was musical?”
“No.” I glared at his suddenly innocent expression with narrowed eyes. “I should have known, I guess.”
Esme raised her delicate eyebrows in confusion.
“Edward can do everything, right?” I explained.
Jasper snickered and Esme gave Edward a reproving look.
“I hope you haven’t been showing off – it’s rude,” she scolded.
“Just a bit,” he laughed freely. Her face softened at the sound, and they shared a brief look that I didn’t understand, though Esme’s face seemed almost smug.
“He’s been too modest, actually,” I corrected.
“Well, play for her,” Esme encouraged.
“You just said showing off was rude,” he objected.
“There are exceptions to every rule,” she replied.
“I’d like to hear you play,” I volunteered.
“It’s settled then.” Esme pushed him toward the piano. He pulled me along, sitting me on the bench beside him.
He gave me a long, exasperated look before he turned to the keys.
…Edward looked at me casually, the music still surging around us without a break, and winked. “Do you like it?”
“You wrote this?” I gasped, understanding.
He nodded. “It’s Esme’s favorite.”
I closed my eyes, shaking my head.
“What’s wrong?”
“I’m feeling extremely insignificant.”
The music slowed, transforming into something softer, and to my surprise I detected the melody of his lullaby weaving through the profusion of notes.
“You inspired this one,” he said softly. The music grew unbearable sweet.
I couldn’t speak.

Here is a little video with scenes from the movie set to Bella’s Lullaby, the one written for and used in the movie. This video isn’t the greatest quality but I love it because it actually shows the piano scene. I get to see My Spunk playing the piano!!! You'll have to pause the playlist at the bottom of the blog so that you can hear the lovely lullaby. I'm still bummed it's not the actual one that My Spunk wrote, but those dvd extra's are starting to look better and better...





Did I mention how much I love a boy who can play the piano??? I guess maybe I did…

Reasons I Love Twilight - #4...

Reason # 4 – A Quote

This quote is one of the most famous from the Twilight series. It pretty much sums up the whole Edward and Bella relationship. People have this quote tattooed on themselves! I’m a huge fan, but I don’t know if I’d go that far. Maybe something else though…

This quote is heard in The Meadow scene, which we have yet to address – the scene that started off the whole Twilight craze. As Edward shows Bella what he really is, Bella shocks him by not being afraid or running away. She knows how crazy she is to stay with him and she finally understands how truly dangerous he is, especially to her because of the way her blood smells to him, but she loves him and she can’t leave. Neither can he and with that they finally realize the emotions that they are each feeling for one another.

“And so the lion fell in love with the lamb…,” he murmured. I looked away, hiding my eyes as I thrilled to the word.
“What a stupid lamb,” I sighed.
“What a sick, masochistic lion.” He stared into the shadowy forest for a long moment, and I wondered where his thoughts had taken him.

Ahh, that’s so sweet. And, as a side note, I really love the shirts that people have now with the pictures on them pertaining to this quote. So Cute!! They say –

(And if you haven’t read Breaking Dawn then you will find this spoilery… Sorry. :D )

Keep in mind these are pictures - Lion + Lamb = Loch Ness Monster

(Explanation - lion = Edward, lamb = Bella, Loch Ness Monster = Reneesme, or Nessie as Jacob nicknames her, who is Edward and Bella's daughter.)

So Funny!!!

Edward and Bella...

Edward and Bella in a rare happy moment...

Edward and Bella again...

Rob and Kristen in a picture for the Entertainment Weekly magazine from last week...


And the gorgeous picture I found last week that was taken when Rob and Kristen were in Rome a few weeks ago. When you see this picture up close you gotta see the eyelashes. Wow, so pretty!!

Only 3 reasons to go!! I can't believe it's almost here!!!