It's a New Year Miracle...I am posting!

Happy New Years! I know I haven't posted in awhile. Really haven't felt like it but it will make this post really interesting with all of the stuff that has been happening!

October! Ella was Cinderella for Halloween and was a very good one at that! When we would call her "Ella" she would say "No, I am Cinderella!" She still asks almost daily if she can go trick or treating again. It definitely went much better then last year.



November!
Unfortunately, Ella and I got rear ended pretty bad in November. We were at a stop light and a big truck just ran into the back of us. Our poor little camry got smooshed but after a month and a half we have it back! Ella was pretty much okay with a few minor strains but I have had to go to the chiropractor 3x a week since then. But I am starting to feel better. Glad we are all okay and realize it could have been so much worse.
We had a very nice Thanksgiving here in Oregon with my family. Lots of yummy food!
Ella and I were also scheduled to come out to Arizona right after Thanksgiving but after 2 days of waiting in the airport they cancelled our flight permanently due to cold weather! We were so bummed and are hoping to be able to redo the trip in January or February.

December! It definitely started getting pretty cold in December. For about a week it was 14 degrees during the day. We were packing our bags but thankfully it warmed back up a little for the rest of the month. Steve finished his first semester up here and did such a good job. He finished with a 4.0 and we are that much closer to getting his undergrad done. I am so proud of him. He isn't home much with work and school which is hard on him but he is doing very well. Steve's parents came up for a week for Christmas and it was such a nice visit. It had been so long since we saw them and Ella was just thrilled to have them here. She didn't want them out of her sight. I also had lots of help with her and enjoyed my naps and taking it easy! We got the best of both worlds for christmas and had members of both families here which was a first for us. It was such a nice holiday. We were so sad to see Dave and Brenda go but are making plans to see them soon!
I also turned 26 after Christmas! I am starting to cross over to the later half of my 20's! Kind of weird. I had such a nice day. My mom and sisters took me to breakfast and shopping and then Steve and I had a date night and went to Indian food and saw The Blindside. Such a perfect birthday!

We are excited for 2010 to see what it will bring. But it is already looking busy. Steve starts another semester on the 4th and we will be having a new addition to our family in the end of July. We are so excited but grateful there are only 2 more weeks in my 1st trimester. Hopefully I can start feeling more normal after that. Ella will be starting pre-school in the fall and she already talks about going to school. There will be lots of changes but lots of opportunity for us to grow! Hope everyone had nice holidays! Hopefully it won't take 4 mo. for me to write again.

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.