My Eternity

I've been thinking these past couple days about my awesome family. Well I always think about them, but lately I've been missing all of them a lot! This weekend, if we were home, we would be visiting the graves of both my grandfathers, my wonderful little brother and a family friend and celebrating the wonderful lives they lived (I'm not meaning to bum everyone out!). As I think this, my gratitude to my Savior is overwhelming. I'm so grateful for the plan of salvation and for the power of the preisthood that seals families together forever. I look at my dear sweet husband and I want to leap for joy knowing that he's mine for eternity, that our marriage extends beyond this life. I'm so thankful that the children I will have someday will be ours forever. How blessed we are to have the gospel on this earth.

This weekend, we would also be having SO MUCH FUN!! Because that's what my family is all about...having fun. And we do. I have the best family. They are perfect for me. And I love them so very much.

This holiday weekend, Ryan and I will continue the tradition :). We will celebrate the lives of those who have gone on who we love. We will also celebrate our own lives and all that we have to look foward to. And of course, we'll have lots of fun! We're going to a senior PGA tournament and having a barbeque with friends, who have become like family away from family and for that we Thank you!

This is a peek into my eternity...

P.S. That's my awesome mother with the surf board!!

We FINALLY had visitors

We were lucky enough to have our presence graced by two visitors!! We were so excited. Ryan's cousin Michael and his wife Richelle were in town on a little vacation and to visit Richelle's brother. We met up with them in Kirtland, where we went to an exhibit at the visitor's center there. It was an amazing bronze sculpture exhibit called "The Healing Power of Christ". I loved it. To see pictures and learn about the artist go here. I would post pictures but they are all copyrighted. The spirit was there in abundance. I wanted to take home all of the sculptures, but there would be no room in my house for them. The wonderful sister missionary who was our guide throughout the exhibit was just darling. I really was impressed with her amazing spirit. It shone through her eyes and the stregnth of her testimony was evident with every word she said. I found myself wanting to be a better person just by being in her presence.

After Kirtland, we all went out to dinner and on to our house for games and yummy strawberry pie (not made by me). Good food, good art, good company, good times!!! Thank you Mike and Richelle, we loved having you over. It was great. If you are ever out our way again, please stop by :).

I had to add this story. This past Sunday, nursery was going well. We only had 5 children. We missed all of those who were gone. We didn't quite know what to do with ourselves with only 5 children when we are so used to about 10 or 11 children. I don't think anyone else will find this story funny, but it WAS! We got all the children in their chairs to start singing time. One of the boys got out of his chair and started running around. While he was doing that, another boy came and sat in his chair. The father of the boy who was running around was there to help us. He called over to his son to come sit down. This little boy noticed someone else was sitting in his chair. He walked right up to this other boy and with a serious look on his cute little face said, "Get off!" He said it with a tough attitude! This little boy has a cute little face and a cute little voice, and he is little. The boy who was sitting in his chair was bigger and a little taller. I started laughing SO hard. I had to leave because I was interupting singing time. I know you had to be there, but oh man, it was hilarious!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Trying Not to be Bitter

So this is what Ryan is doing today...

(He's golfing, if you can't tell)

...While I'm sitting at work like a chump!

"Honor thy Mother..."

Beautiful...

Fun...

Smart... Creative...

Makes Everything Special...

Wonderful... Amazingly in Tune...

Loves her Family with all Her Heart...
Green Thumb... Caring...

Gives of her Time and Talents with no Thought of Herself...

Loves easily...

Loves me as much as my Heavenly Father loves me... Finds Joy in the Little things...

Death by Dr. Pepper

It

all started

when Ryan put his beloved phone on the arm of the sofa...

He was engrossed in a hockey game on the TV

of one of his good friends.

He, of course, had a glass of his ambrosia(aka, Dr. Pepper).

He somehow nudged his phone with his elbow and...

it

fell

feet

first

into

his

Dr. Pepper

(and if you're wondering, yes, phones have feet. My phone runs

and hides from me all the time)

So ends Ryan's cell phone. It was a good phone.

It kept him in touch with those he loved.

I guess if it had to go, drowning in Dr. Pepper would be a marvelous way to go.

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!!!