Donut Falls

This last weekend we went on a hike up to Donut Falls! It was absolutely gorgeous, and a ton of fun! We went up with Amy and her kids, as well as the visiting Brazilian exchange students. We played in the water, which was absolutely freezing, but so refreshing! It was a nice way to spend our Saturday morning! If you haven't done the hike, I highly recommend it! All around it is about a 3 mile hike, with quite a steep incline. So be prepared with plenty of water! And don't forget your camera to take some pictures! Here are some of our pictures, I'm still waiting to get a copy of Amy's pictures.

Here I am starting to hike up the fall, and then there I am about half way up.

I am the one in the green shorts. :)

Nick really liked this piece of wood, it was amazing! When I was up there a couple of weeks ago for mutual I also noticed how amazing it was! It was so smooth and it looked like it has been there for a very long time!

I think that one of the reasons the wood is so soft and smooth is from the water that rushes over it.

Here's cute Nichole, she was throwing rocks into the water and she would start laughing! She was a good sport keeping up with everyone. I just had to keep telling her that it would just be one more hill.

I just really like this picture that Nick took. That is Matheus in the background, he is one of the exchange students.

My Country Tis Of Thee...

Happy late 4th of July! It was such a fun weekend!!! Full of a lot of things, parties, bbqs, fireworks and more parties! It was way fun! I think my favorite part of the whole weekend was doing fireworks! I love to light them and watch them, or I like to watch the ones that different cities do. So we started off Saturday morning having our pancake breakfast at Steven and Diane's. It was way fun, and super delicious! Diane makes the best buttermilk pancakes and buttermilk syrup, although I have to give credit to Steven for making the syrup, with just a little help from me and Diane. After breakfast we met Amy and Manny and the kids at Sandy Days. Which for me has always been a highlight of the 4th. I have done it since I was a little kid, and every year that I don't go I feel like I am missing something! But it was way fun, me, Amy and Nichole all got our faces painted, so much fun! It made Nick think I was a little kid, but who isn't a little kid at heart? And I proudly wore the paint on my face for the whole day! It was great to see all of the people's reaction to it! I got quite the compliments.

After Sandy Days, we went home to rest for a little while and so I could work on making dessert for Nick's family party that night. I made a patriotic ice cream cake, and firecracker bites, it was all so delicious! Then we went over to the in-laws house where we had lunch and then we went and bought fireworks! Then we came back and had an awesome dinner! After dinner we all went outside and started playing with some of the fireworks. Nick's brother brought him some firecrackers and he was in heaven! He also brought his potato cannon and we shot candy out of it for the little kids, it was great, we would shoot the candy out and they would all start yelling, "CANDY! CANDY!" and run after it like they had never seen candy before in there life! So that pretty much sums up Saturday, it was a very busy, but fun day!

On Sunday, we went over to my parents house, because they have Brazilian exchange students living with them for the month, so we had another big party over there! I again made dessert, which turned out to be heavenly! I made carrot cake, which I had never done before but it tasted so good! If I do say so myself! Then me and Nick,went out to the front yard and started playing with more fireworks. Eventually, everyone came out and started watching them. It was quite the day!

We both had the day off on Monday, so we didn't do a whole lot of exciting things. We did do some cleaning that I have been wanting to get done for a very long time, so that was nice. But other than that, it was a nice relaxing day! I hope you all had a great holiday weekend!

St. George adventures

The last weekend of June we had the chance to go down to St. George for a couple of days and watch my brother play basketball in a tournament. It was quite fun! I loved the heat and the sun! And the team was way fun to watch! They came in 2nd place in the tournament, they won 11 games out of 13. And they sadly lost to Copper Hills, who is one of the rival schools, but at least they beat them during the actual season. So, I guess it is okay. But while we were there, we stopped by the St. George Temple and took some pictures, and we also stopped by the Jacob Hamblin house. We also got to see a gorgeous sunset! It was absolutely beautiful, it made me so grateful for the beauty of everything around us. I think there is something so majestic about the redrocks in St. George! I can't even begin to describe the beauty of it! Here are a couple pictures of our adventures!

Grateful...

So, this last week I have been pondering a lot of things about life. I am so grateful for so many things. I just wanted to share some of them.

-Nick, and the wonderful person that he is and that he loves me no matter what! I have loved being married to him! We have been married for 1 year and 8 months today, I can't believe how fast the time is going! I'm so grateful that I get to be with him for the rest of my life and for the rest of forever!

-Simba, the fact that he is sitting at the door every day when I get home from work and he is so excited to see me, and that he shows me so much love! Who knew I would ever love a cat this much?

-Matthew, I don't know about you? But I'm pretty sure I have the COOLEST little brother! He is my hero! I look up to him in many ways, and not just because he is now a head taller than me:o). He always knows how to make me smile or laugh! I hope he knows how much I do love him!

-My sweet Grandpa! Me and Nick are so lucky to be able to live with my grandpa. It really has been a blessing. I will always cherish this time that I have spent with him. I think my favorite part of the day is tucking him into bed and giving him a kiss on his forehead! He truly is a wonderful person!

-My job, I love my job! I love the people I work with! I especially love the environment! To me it is the closest thing to working for the church. Earlier this week, I woke up feeling all stressed and I was having some anxiety and I just couldn't get it to go away, until I walked into work and it automatically went away. It was so neat! I am so blessed to work where I do!

-The Gospel, this week I am teaching YW's and my lesson is on how to receive personal revelation. So I have been pondering it a lot this last week, and it hit me really hard just how important prayer is in each of our lives. I have no idea where I would be with out it! I am so grateful for the gospel, especially the Plan of Salvation! I am so grateful that we can be with our families for forever! I am also eternally grateful for my Savior! I know that on the days when I feel so alone and lost that I can always call on Him and He will be there for me, and He will wrap His loving arms around me!

It's been awhile....

I apologize, I really don't have much of an excuse as to why I haven't blogged in almost 4 months. Other than the fact that I am just lazy, and we haven't done anything super exciting the last couple of months. But just to give an update on what has been happening in the life of the Jones family.

Lets see, in January we went to Sundance with Nick's family. It was a lot of fun, it was my first time. We saw Tommy Lee Jones, and to be honest he wasn't all that nice, but I was able to get a picture of him. He is a whole lot shorter in person.

That was all we did in January, well at least that I can remember. February was a busy month for us. The first of the month Nick had surgery on his leg, they were able to go in and fix what was wrong. His knee still gives him trouble every once in a while, but we are glad that we got it done. Now if we can just get the rest of the hospital bills paid. The following week after his surgery I quit my job at First American, which turned out to be a blessing! And then one of my good friends got married, aren't they cute?

After their wedding it was Valentine's Day, and we didn't do anything to exciting. I got tickets for Nick for the Paul Cardall Celebration of Life concert. It was absolutely amazing! We sat on the front row and I loved every single minute of it! These are the beautiful roses that Nick gave me!

In March all I can really remember doing is going shooting for the first time. I absolutely loved it! It was so much fun! We packed us a lunch and were gone for the day, and it was wonderful!

It was also my wonderful little brother's 16th birthday. It was a lot of fun! We went to Tucano's Brazilian Grill. We also went to a lot of Matthew's basketball games. I love my little brother! He is truly one of my best friends! He is one of my heroes! Sorry, I don't have any pictures from that day, but it was sure a fun day of celebration!

Let's see, that now brings me to April. We didn't do a whole lot the first of the month, well we did do a lot of babysitting, we had Tyson and Nichole sleepover on seperate weekends. That was fun, but, wow, they have a lot of energy! But I still love them. I also had a lot of job interviews but none of them worked out. So, I went to the Church employment services and they helped me get set up on the new beta system. Which is totally awesome! So one morning I was looking through the jobs and I found one that sounded really interesting and so I gave it a try. I called them at the beginning of the week, and I didn't get a call back until Friday afternoon. They asked me to come in on Monday afternoon for an interview. So all weekend long I was very anxious and quite nervous. Monday, I went for the interview and it lasted about 10 minutes, they told me that they would contact me no later than Thursday if they had any information. And after having so many job interviews and having them tell me that they would get back to me and never following through, I was like okay, whatever. So all week long I kept hoping that they would call, Thursday afternoon came around and they still hadn't called. So my mom said that I should call them and see if there was any information. This is what they said when I called, "Oh I was supposed to call you today, can you come back in for a second interview?" I was shocked! I was so excited! So I hurried and got ready and went in for my second interview. While I was meeting with them, one of the men that was in the room, he was like, "Just offer her the job already!" So needless to say, I am now working part time at McDougal Funeral Home. I absolutely love it! I love all the people that I work with! They are wonderful! My job entails of me calling the families after there is a funeral and setting up appointments to meet with them. I have been here now for three weeks and I am loving it!

Sorry this post is so long, I promise that I am almost done! Let's then last week my brother in law got married, and it was wonderful! I helped do the flowers, which was way fun, tons and tons of flowers! I will have to do a seperate post all about that. Also on the same day, one of my dear friends and adopted grandma's passed away. It was a very emotional day, but I know that she is with her loving husband and with the Savior! It made me very grateful for the Plan of Salvation and Eternal Marriage! Well that sums up the first couple months of the year. I'm sorry that I really have been such a slacker at doing this, I will be better I promise!

Memories of the last decade...

So, my sister just posted her top 5 of the last decade, and I thought I should do the same. So here goes...

My top 5 best moments or memories are:

1. Starting to date, then wait, then marry the love of my life, Nick!
2. Being able to go to the Temple and doing baptisms, waiting while family got married and being able to go through the Temple for myself!
3.Learning how to drive, and getting my own car.
4. Graduating from High School!
5. Going on awesome family trips, such as Florida to go to Disney World and Universal Florida, going on the most amazing senior trip for graduation, my parents took me and Matthew on a two week Church History tour, which was absolutely amazing!!! Going to Florida again, but this time to play at the beach, and this year going to Oregon to see Nick's mission, I love it there!

My top 5 hardest moments or memories are:

1. Friends, mostly in high school
2 Death of loved ones, especially my grandparents
3. Coming to a realization that every family has their problems.
4. Waiting for Nick while he was on his mission!
5. Getting laid off from jobs.

And 5 things that I look forward to during the next decade are...

1. Becoming a mom...no this is not an announcement.
2. Spending more time with Nick!
3. Hopefully going back to school, and doing ASL.
4. Visiting new places!
5. Trying new things!

What things to you remember most from the last 10 years?

Happy New Years!!!

So, I am so excited for the new year! Not that 2009 hasn't been a good year, I am excited to start fresh this next year! I have been so blessed this year! I have come to have a greater understanding of the Atonement this year and that the Savior really truly does know each one of us and loves us more than we can ever imagine! I wish everyone knew this, and that there is someone that cares about them! I am so grateful for my family and all that they mean to me! I have been blessed with such wonderful parents who show me so much love! I want them to know that I will always love and support them! I also am so grateful for Nick! He is amazing! He treats me like a queen! I don't know what I did to deserve him! I can't believe that we celebrated our one year anniversary this year! I'm excited to spend the rest of FOREVER with him! I am also grateful for my friends! They always seem know how to answer my prayers, whether it be a letter in the mail letting me know that they are thinking about me, or telling me that they are here visiting their family from out of state, or coming by to see me while me and Nick are up in Logan at a hotel! I am so blessed! I could keep going about all of the wonderful things that Nick, my parents and my friends have done for me this year, but I don't want this to be too long. But I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy and safe New Years!!! Love you all!!!