Crawling Out of Our Shell

This spring more than ever I’ve noticed with the return of leaves and green grass has come a renewed desire for socializing. Maybe it’s the daunting task of hosting in our not-so-huge house, but once the hammock is out and the grill is fired up I’m feeling much more ready to send out the invitations.

We kicked things off a couple of months ago with the advent of Hoop it Up Thursdays. With Gavin not in any local sports this spring, he was hankering for an athletic outlet, and in the absence of a tribe of neighborhood kids we were looking for ways to get him together with friends more regularly. We’ve had up to eight boys join us after school on any given week. What started out as unstructured play has evolved to laps around the house, passing and dribbling drills, and two 10-minute halves. Until my class was over Chad served as ref – since then I’ve dusted off whatever basketball savvy I developed with the help of BYU basketball season tickets nearly two decades ago. The sport provides great opportunities to emphasize the importance of inclusion and of learning together across various skill levels. We’ve been thankful to the many friends who have joined us and hope to continue into the summer.

Over the past few weeks we’ve added the leaf to the dining room table, opened up the sunporch, pulled out the Adirondack chairs, and revved up the fire pit for various gatherings with friends. It’s been fun hanging out in the beautiful outdoors enjoying yummy food with old and new friends alike. One exciting development this season – I haven't been the only Jones to contribute to the menu. Gavin happened across a “scripture cookies” recipe in The Friend magazine and decided to try his hand at dessert. I love it!

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of hosting Dining Divas with a Salvadoran theme. It was the perfect opportunity for hands-on pupusa making (a skill I learned while serving a Spanish-speaking LDS mission in New York City). And my friends brought the most fantastic dishes – black beans and rice, avocado soup, fried plantains, mango cake, and an amazing batido. I could have eaten this meal for a week straight. Can I just say how much I LOVE this group of ladies and their culinary creations?