Lake Shasta

Last wednesday we headed to Lake Shasta which is about 2 1/2 hours away and boarded our houseboat!



Here is Ella with her cousins Ellie and Seth. Ella wore this neat suit most of the week. My sister found these at Sam's Club and they were perfect. It has the life preserver in the suit so we didn't have to keep messing with a life jacket.



It has been years since we have done one. It was a blast! We all had so much fun. It was the perfect vacation in that we got to do fun stuff together but it was still relaxing. Ella loves hanging out with her cousins! Especially my sister Nikki's daughter Alexis. For some reason the 2 have started calling each other Jello so that is there nickname for one another. Kind of cute!



I also was able to get up on one ski which I haven't done since Ella was born. That was awesome and felt so nice! I tried wakeboarding and did pretty good until I caught the edge and smacked the left side of my body against the water really hard! I have bruises all down my body from my shoulder and back on down. It hurt so bad. I think I will stick with skis. I just like it so much better. Sure it has something to do with not being much of a snowboarder either.



Ella loved this water trampoline! It was a lot of fun for her.


Here is me and Steve after we had been jumping and diving off the very top. I jumped, he dived and did all sorts of tricks with my dad. Me and my 2 sisters also jumped off the very top altogether. That was fun!


Such a great trip and can't wait to do it again!

Family Reunion 2009

Every year my family has a reunion in Oregon. The church owns this camp that has cabins and is on a lake. We haven't gone in a couple of years since we were in AZ. But this year we went. We had a really nice time. We did some boating, Ella loves the tube and some canoeing. They had craft time for the kids and we even had talent night where Ella sang Itsy Bitsy Spider for everyone. It was super cute!

We have arrived in Oregon!

Here is Ella with her Aunt Katie on moving day. She liked the truck!


We packed up on Wednesday morning and here we are after it was all done. It was a nice 112 that day I think. So Hot!!!


Ater we were done packing, we hit the road. We made it all the way to Bakersfield that night. Got 5 hours of sleep in a hotel and continued to Sacramento to stay with my sister Nikki. Ella was such a trooper! I was pretty happy with how well she did. It was also nice to drive through LA at night as this thing is a beast. With our car and everything it is 45 feet long! In California the roads were so bumpy we started singing oprah....it was so funny! Then, one morning after breakfast I got in the truck to drive and there were these workers on the side of the road and they all were laughing at me. They didn't think I could drive it! Ha!


It was a pretty good trip but we were happy to make it to Central Point! We pulled in on friday afternoon with missionaries and the Elder's Quorum there to help us unpack. Here is our house! It was built in the 1800's and has some character.



Here is the entry way. Please note the beautiful tile that Steve put in. It turned out awesome!


Living Room


Dining Room


Kitchen...I painted the cupboards blue. I really like how they turned out. Before they were white with just a little yellow. They were hideous. You can't see it but there is also a huge pantry to the left. So much room....gonna have to start my food storage.



Study. It is a work in progress. We are trying to find a desk and some other things. But the shelves are so nice. If only we had enough books to fill them.



After we were here for a few days we were at Lowe's and when we came out there was a huge hail storm! Ella loved it. It was crazy!




There is our moving story! More to come....

The going ons of the Jones Household!

Here is a quick update of our lives with some new pictures! Most importantly I just got my hair done and love it. I am growing it back out but needed a trim and some major blonde!



Here is Ella climbing into our dryer! She was cracking me up. What a cutie. She just continues to amaze me as she picks up more words and is putting sentences together. She is so awesome!



Mother's Day was really nice. I made my Mother-in-Law and Sister-in-Laws a little treat. The strawberries turned out so cool. One kind was a strawberry dipped in chocolate with crushed walnuts on it and then there were some combos of white and milk chocolate. It was kind of a selfish gift to my family as I enjoyed making them so much!




My friend is starting up Survivor Swimming Lessons at her home. Her 3 year old and 18mo. old swim like champions and living in AZ it is a must. So Ella has been going over there a few times a week with some of her friends. At first she didn't like it and wouldn't kick but now she is a little fish. She does so well! It gives me such peace of mind. If Ella were to fall in a pool she could swim to the edge and use her hands to go along the edge until she got to the stairs. I am so proud of her! Her teacher is so good and patient with the little ones. Even though on the first lesson I don't think the 3 girls stopped crying the whole hour.









Next week is Girls Camp! Since I am in the YW Presidency I get to go. I am so excited. It is definitely going to bring back some memories. Will post some of that when I get back!

Easter....finally!

I know i look a little tired. It was a long weekend and by sunday afternoon I was worn out. But we had a very nice day. We went to Steve's parents ward as his mom was speaking. She gave a very good talk. Then we went back to their house and had lunch.



After lunch, Uncle Cody brought bubble stuff to play with. It was a big hit!




Then, Ella and her cousin Sidney went on an Easter egg hunt! Ella kind of figured it out but after she picked up an egg she just wanted to eat the candy inside. She didn't care about getting more.



She looked so pretty and grown up in her Easter dress. I love it!

Sweater has been found!

So the other day I go to walk in my bedroom and my sweater is laying on the floor! I squeaked it up majorly. Apparently when Ella was sick and we went through every towel and blanket we own last week, out came my sweater that had been rolled up in a blanket from the park. Thanks a ton to Steve who found it for me. Hooray! It kind of smelled but I wore it right away anyways.

So much has been going on in our lives this last week. Some sad and some just busy. My pictures from Easter will come soon....when I can breathe.

Missing Grey Sweater...as seen below!

Hear is a shout out to all of my friends and family! Especially those I have visited in the last couple of months. I have lost my grey sweater. It is a zip up with 3/4 sleeves and a hood. I believe it is gap. I am wearing it in the picture above. I have had this sweater forever and I love it! I have never seen another one like it and will be heartbroken if it cannnot be found. I must have left it somewhere so if you have a random sweater at your house...please let me know! Thanks!

Cooking Blogs!

Random post.....
So my thing this week is looking at recipes. Maybe because I am doing some freezer strawberry jam tomorrow (which is why my husband fell in love with me btw...so I should get some points) or just have the spring bug and nice weather makes me want to have parties and cook. But I have found a couple of really cool cooking blogs. These girls have some yummy looking recipes that I am excited about. My most favorite one is this:

http://carolinesbakeshop.blogspot.com/

This chic works at shade which is how I found her. I love yummy things that aren't too extensive and use pretty normal ingredients. If you enjoy cooking and yummy food check it out. I will let you know if I find any specific recipes that I love!

Scottsdale Art Show again!

On Saturday night the Art Show my sister has been in held a little dinner for the artists and their families....Me! So steve and I went. We had such a fun time. I love having some of my family in AZ that I get to see every once in a while. Plus, when Steve and my brother-in-law Matt get together, we are guaranteed entertainment! We also walked around and looked at the other artists. There is some really cool stuff there. The show ends on the 29th so if you want to go you have 1 more week. Here are my favorites this time that she had hanging up! These paintings are like 4ft by 4ft. So they are huge!





I do have to say that dinner was okay... but definitely not as good as a certain caterer I know.....The Irresistible Dish! Will have to get them to use Alisa next year! She would have blown them out of the water. Here are some pictures from our night. I even got some pictures of me and Steve together!





Having lived in Oregon and Utah I would definitely say Arizona has the best sunsets. The weather was perfect and the sunset was so pretty!

Ella turned 2!

My beautiful baby girl is 2! Where did my little baby go? It really has flown. Ella was born on St. Patrick's Day, just barely. After 21 hours of labor she finally arrived on March 17th, 2007 at 12:31am. She weighed 7lbs and 7ozs. and was 21.5 in long.
Here is a picture of Ella last year on her birthday. She has changed so much!



This year we had a huge party. In the morning her little friends came over and then in the afternoon all of our family came over. She had a very fun filled day. We got her a big castle bouncer which she still asks for.


She loved all of her presents. They have kept her really entertained all week. It has been really nice.



I could never have dreamed up such a cool little girl. She was nothing what I expected but so much more. I love you Ella!

Disneyland!

My lovely husband has turned into a Scout fanatic! Who knew?! He went to Woodbadge a couple of weekends ago and has University of Scouting today as well as another weekend of Woodbadge soon and Little Philmont camping trip. So between work and scouts I haven't seen him much. A few weeks ago I saw this good deal for Disneyland and we decided it was a good time to get away for a little bit. Ella had never been and she is finally old enough to enjoy it.

Here is Ella in the car on our way to SoCal. She did pretty well in the car. This was the longest road trip we have ever done with her.

We invited Steve's family to come along. Here is Ella with her cousins, Blake and Brock, and Porter!

Ella loved all the characters. She even got a kiss from Mickey but I didn't have time to pull out my camera! She followed the characters whenever she saw one. I was surprised she wasn't more scared.


She even loved the tea cups! I can't even ride those. They make me so sick!



She was chowing on those chips! I guess it is okay at Disneyland. She loved the Tiki Room show with the talking birds!


We had a wonderful time. A bit short but all we could fit in right now with our schedules. We did 2 days at Disneyland and California Adventure. Ella's favorite ride was Pirates of the Caribbean! She keeps talking about the rides and the boat. I was surprised how many rides she can go on. We didn't even have time to do them all. Can't wait to go back!