4th Picture, 4th Folder

So I was tagged a while ago and I'm just now getting around to it. Sorry Shontel! :) I'm supposed to post the 4th picture of the 4th folder in my pictures file. And I'm a little reluctant to do so. It couldn't have been something awesome or nice, nooo...it has to be this...

Me being a deer. My sister Kelly put some twigs in my headband and I hid behind a little bush while Scott took this picture. I was trying to pull off the "deer in the headlights" look. I did pretty good I think. From this picture I realized how silly I am :). It's fun though :).

Prom? Really?

It's true. Ryan and I went to "prom" last saturday. It was Case Western School of Dentistry's formal dinner. We actually had a lot of fun. It was especially fun for Ryan because it was held at the Terrace restaurant at Jacob's Field (Still can't say Progressive Field. Sounds weird). We went with our friends Brett and Brittney. There was a really nice dinner of filet mingon (I have no idea how to spell that:)) and an open bar, so I got non stop soda, yay!!!!!! With the open bar, it was quite entertaining to see Ry's class mates get tipsy :). There was also dancing. I was SO excited! I haven't danced for a while, so I was very happy to be out there on that dance floor. I dragged Ryan, who doesn't dance, out on the floor with me. And guess what guys? He danced! Yes you heard me right...he boogied!!! It was awesome. And he was good too. He felt insecure, but quickly got over it, maybe it's 'cause I was dancing a little crazy. Man, that was fun. There was a few slow dances. That made me think back to those high school days when I would wonder who was going to ask me to dance for the slow ones. I would giggle with my friends as the boys would prowl around looking for who they wanted to dance with. Luckily, I had a lot of guy friends so I almost always got asked to dance. Ryan didn't ask me to dance, he just took me by the hand and led me to the dance floor (after I looked longingly into his eyes, of course :)). I loved slow dancing with him. It reminded me of our wedding, minus all the tears (Ryan's :)). As we danced he pulled me closer and put his head on mine and whispered, "You're little". I just smiled. I love it when he says that.

Here I am with my ever handsome Ryan.We had a good night. That's about all that's going on with us. I can't wait for tax season to be over; work is a little crazy...ok, A LOT crazy!! But it makes the time go by fast. The only thing is, I'm working late and Ryan has to study for finals (which are about only 3 1/2 weeks away) so we don't get to spend that much time together and I feel like I haven't talked to him for days. But we did get to go to the grocery store together last night to get milk. That was awesome!! We got to talk and hold hands. It was great :).

We hope all is well with everyone else.

Here we are with our good friends Brett and Brittney, who are getting married in July. Yay!!

Roll Tide Roll (but really, GO UTES)

We are in love with Orange Beach, AL! :) And Tuscaloosa, AL. Why? Because it was warm and we got sunburned and we spent two whole days on the beach!! And most important, we were with Kelly and Andrew. Spring Break '09 baby, WAHOO!!!! (Please forgive the white pastyness from the above picture :))Here we are on campus, in front of the stadium.We went to a baseball game in the rain. It was so fun!! Alabama won, which just put the cherry on top :).Me, Ryan and my beeeautiful sister Kelly. I LOVE those palm trees in the background. I want to go back!!!Lamberts is the awesomest place to eat. They throw rolls at you and come around with apple butter. Oh man, and the food is DELICIOUS!! We were full.
Here's one of those throwed rolls :).
We had so much fun. I love Kelly and Andrew. And I love that I can post new pictures on our blog.

Summer?

I'm feeling extra happy today. I woke up this morning late as usual (I'm sorry to those of you who are reading this who have young children, I'm not trying to rub it in, I promise :)). I got ready for work, kissed Ryan goodbye, and walked out my door. And I felt really happy. Not because it's friday and not because I'm able to go to work today in jeans, but because for the first time in what seems like an eternity, I had my coat on and DIDN'T NEED IT!!!! It's not sunny today and it is windy, but the wind is warm and it smelled so good, like summer. It's all the way up to 60 degrees today. That was enough for me to want to go back inside, throw on my swimming suit and lay out, even though the sky is covered with grey clouds. But of course, I just got in my car and headed off to work. I smiled as I pulled my coat off and threw it in the backseat. My coat is cute, I just don't want to see it...not even in my peripheral. I realize I will have to wear it again soon, but not today! :)

Something else that has made me happy, I did something I've never done before. The missionaries asked Ryan and I to come with them to an investigators house this past monday. I've never really had a missionary experience before. That's my own fault, I know. I can do better at that. We gave the same investigator a ride to church the sunday before. This was his first time going to our church, so he seemed a little reluctant as we were driving there. The way back was a different story. He said he felt so light and happy. He was anxious to go back. He was a lot more talkative. You could just see the difference in him. It was an amazing experience. I was so happy for him. We went to his house on monday with the missionaries. He wasn't there. But he called and said he had some school stuff and he rescheduled for the next night. Anywho, the whole point of this story is the missionaries. I can't tell you how impressed I am with those two. We've gotten to know them and I have felt a deep appreciation for them. As we were leaving I watched one Elder give some pamphlets to some people walking by before he got into his car. They are such hard workers and such good missionaries. This certain investigator told us that the reason he came to church was because the elders were being persistant and he felt like they really had something to tell him. That impressed me. We found out that both of them are getting transferred next week. That made me sad. They really are great missionaries. They set such a wonderful example for me. I'm so thankful for that.

So I'm going to enjoy the warm wind, with the promise of summer in it's wake. And I'll enjoy the warmth from my experiences this past week. Happy Friday!!!!!!!!!!!!

White Coat Ceremony

I've wanted to post these pictures for a while, but I keep forgetting. We posted a blog about this back in August when we didn't know how to blog. Now that we know what we're doing, I'm posting the pictures in the right place, only six months later :). (sheepish little laugh)

This is Ryan's White Coat Ceremony that took place back in August when he first started school.
He's becoming "Student Dr. Ryan Jones".I tried to take a picture of him walking down the aisle, but the bald man you see at the bottom stood up right when I took the picture. I wanted to smack that shiney scalp.
This is the class getting ready to take class pictures. Ry is second from the right. The guy on the far right is Ryan's really good friend Kevin. The guy standing right next to Ryan is another of his good friends, Jim. Right next to Jim on the left is another good friend, Brett. Of course, they weren't good friends at the time this was taken, but it didn't take long. This is the class of 2012 (Man that seems like forever away). I'm not sure exactly where, but another of Ryan's good friends, Nathan, is over there somewhere on the left. There was a reception held afterward with really good food. Ryan could hardly contain himself. This is pretty much how he eats normally :). This was such a fun day. I was just brimming with pride for my hubby. It was neat to see him in that white coat. He's never going to wear it again though :). He's gonna be a scrubs dentist.Here we have Student Dr. and Mrs. Jones. Wait... what is that I see behind us? Is that lush green plant life? Are those beautiful green leaves on that tree? I've almost forgotten what that looks like. I miss summer!!! And look how dang hot my Ryan looks!!! yowza!!!

The Fab Five

A friend of ours, Kellie Buckner, posted a blog that I thought was creative. We decided to take the plunge and respond to her blog, and here are the rules :

The first 5 people to respond to this post will receive something made by me for you.

I get to pick what I make for you, but it will be especially for you.

But here's the deal:

~1 I make no guarantees that you will like what I make! (But I'll try to make something cool:)

~2 What I create will be just for you.

~3 It will be done sometime this year.

~4 You have no clue what it will be.

~5 I reserve the right to do something extremely strange.

The catch?

The catch is that you must repost this on your own blog and offer the same to the first 5 people who do the same on their blog.The first 5 people to do so and leave a comment telling me they did will win a FAB-U-LOUS homemade gift by me!!So come and play along!

...and so it begins...

This, folks, is my cute chubby nephew and his wonderful mother:) And I would have to say that this picture is my favorite picture...EVER...of anything. First of all, my sister Shawna is amazingly beautiful, and second, Kallen is the cutest baby I've ever seen. The look on Shawna's face says it all. I don't have to tell you how happy she is; you can see it. And who wouldn't be. I think motherhood brings out even more beauty in her. I can't tell you how happy I am for them, mostly because it's kinda hard to type when your eyes are swimming in tears, and partly because, and I know it's quite cliche, but there are no words to describe it. All I can say is I'm grateful for adoption :). It's taken them years to get to this point. I already love that kid, even though I've only seen pictures of him. I can't wait to meet him. This picture just makes me want to snuggle with him and feel his soft skin. His skin looks so soft. I LOVE BABIES!! Yes, I'm a little crazy :).

Anywho, not much else is going on. Just work and school. But we do have something very fun to look foward to. We're going to visit my l'il sis Kelly and her husband Andrew in Alabama in March. Kelly, Andrew & Ryan all have the same week off for spring break, wahoo!!!! I've never gone anywhere for spring break and I haven't had a spring break for many years. :) I couldn't believe my work let me go since it's a pretty busy time. But I'm not going to say anything! I'm so excited. Hopefully we'll have our camera by then so I can take pictures. I've missed my camera. I need new pictures to look at.

I hope you all enjoy looking at this amazing picture. Because I sure do.

By the way, Scott, if you're reading this, when we get there in July, I want to take some family pictures. And I want some of Ryan and I that aren't of our wedding and that are professional. A'ight? Love you:)

Two Peas in a Pod

At this moment, I feel joy. Nothing in particular has happened. It's still cold and I know that when I look outside my window I will still see 50 feet of white snow (ok, that was an exaggeration, but there is a lot of snow out there). I still wish summer would get here much sooner than it's going to. And I still miss my family so much, I wish I could travel in seconds like they do in those fantasy books I like to read. I feel joy because I'm sitting here in our bed eating a crunchy apple and reading a delicious book. Best of all, I'm all snuggled next to the person I love the most in this entire world. He is playing games on his computer and intermitently tickeling my side. I tell him to stop tickeling me, but I really don't want him to. I love seeing the gorgeous smile that spreads across his face when I laugh. It's worth it. I'm just so blessed to have him in my life. Not only have him in my life but to have him be my life. We are like two peas in a pod. That's why, no matter how much of a mundane day at work I've had, I can go home and be as happy as can be; I get to go home to Ryan. Now he's reaching over and playing with my hair. That's one of my favorite things he does. He plays with my hair when he's tired or concentrating or anxious, or when he's sitting in sacrament meeting, or pretty much anytime. I worry that I'm going to go bald because of it. But that is an irrational fear, I think. :). He's so cute. I just love the cute things he does. I just love being by his side. I'm lucky I get to call him "my baby".

Snow Day!

So it snowed today...I should say it's still snowing today. I should also clarify that Ryan is writing this post. This started as our blog then I got lazy (very unlike me eh?) and Kristy kept it up for us both. So back to the snow. They canceled elementary schools today because we got 4-8 inches. Dunno exactly how much cause I haven't been outside yet... it's 1pm :) So despite my maturity level I probably need to explain how that translates to a grad school program. We are doing sealants for elementary school kids again this week. And since they all got it off, so did we:) I love it when I get to sleep in while Kristy gets up and goes to work. That leaves me a day at home and what to do? Study?...Should. Talk to my sister for an hour and fifteen minutes?...Did it. Sleep in way too late?...Obviously. Clean up a bit?...I'll get to it, eventually. Write a blog post letting every know how I'm doing?...Why not? :)

School has started out alright in my second semester. We have an immunology course which is tough, but I've been trying to stay on top of it. Thanks to a good friend who majored in immunology and has answered all my questions; I feel like I have a good hold on the material. My other classes are tough, but manageable so far. It was a hard transition for me coming back to school this semester for some reason, but after a week I got into it. I've been very tired lately though and am glad that it snowed last night. I feel refreshed today.

Wow I thought that I would have something more to say, and am remembering why I don't blog much, and why I was so bad at writing while on my mission... I'm boring. Guess I'll go study... or play Mario Kart, we'll see which.

P.S. We will buy a new camara one of these days so we can start posting pictures again.

Would you like some bubble gum?

Something funny happened today, well two things really. If you don't think they're funny, that's ok, they were funny to me. :) It really doesn't take much for me to laugh. Anywho, I was on my way to the post office today to drop off some letters for work. There was a young man running on the sidewalk. He was all decked out with hat, scarf, running shoes and of course iPod. I was thinking this man is very dedicated to be running in such conditions. There was about four feet of snow piled on either side of the sidewalk and it was snowing just a little bit. I passed him up and about a minute later, stopped at a stop light. Now, if you have ever stopped at stop light in Cleveland before, you know how unbearably long they are. So I was sitting there listening to my Harry Potter on tape, watching the snowflakes lightly falling on my windshield, when I saw some movement out of the corner of my eye. I looked over and saw the same young man that I had noticed running just a moment ago. Only he was no longer running. He was gliding. And that's just a fancy way of saying he was slipping...for a really long time. His arms resembled windmills and his face was that of pure terror...and he just kept sliding, sliding, sliding past my window. I thought for sure he was going to face plant it right there on the sidewalk, which obviously was his thought by the look on his face. Suddenly he turned slightly and fell right into a pile of nice fluffy snow. He quickly jumped to his feet and with a look of sheer relief,brushed himself off and started running again. I know this was situational, but the funny thing about this story was the look on his face. Going from pure terror to relaxed relief in one second was priceless. I really wish I had a camera. And I'm glad he was able to continue his run...unless he found another long patch of ice.

I get to the post office, after waiting at another long light, and then I wait in a long line. It's finally my turn. The cashier was a very pleasant, older gentleman. He was funny and helpful. I noticed some weird things about him though. He had long fingernails. They weren't painted or anything, just long and yellowing a little. That kind of grossed me out. But I looked past that; he was nice. *You can stop reading here if you are weak stomached* This nice man turned his head to talk to his co-worker and I noticed something that was behind his earlobe. I looked again and realized...he had stuck his bubble gum behind his ear! I've only ever read about things like that. I chuckled to myself a bit and quickly got out of there completely grossed out. I guess we all have our weird things, eh?