The Latest...

So I know I haven't updated my blog in a long while, so I thought that I would do it all at once. 

Andrew's birthday party went really well. My good friend Melissa made a Veggie Tales cake for him, which he absolutely loved. It turned out awesome as you can see.

For Thanksgiving, we had my parents over and I cooked a really yummy turkey and some potatoes, stuffing, and some jello with mandarin oranges, apples, pineapple, and walnuts, yum!!!! Mom made some pies and brought veggies as well. It was a much needed day of rest.

Ryan is actually finishing up this semester tonight! He has his Organic Chemistry final left to do and then we get a few weeks off for Christmas break. I can't wait!!!!!!!!!!  We are just waiting on one transcript to arrive for two of our applications to pharmacy school. We should hear soon if he will get an interview and then hopefully an acceptance letter. We have worked so hard and I can't wait until the next chapter to begin:)

 

Pumpkin Time!

Today we went to my good friend Sara Glock's house for a halloween party with the kids. Andrew was one of the younger ones there so he mostly just ate some yummy food and snacks and then wandered around finding toys. Ethan did a really good job and just people watched the whole time. We had a wonderful time and I thought the boys were just too cute in their little costumes. Drew was a Knight and Ethan was a Bumble Bee. We carved a pumpkin later on after dinner as well. Ryan was at class so we decided to take some pics so that he could see. The boys really didn't find it too fun, Andrew thought the insides were, "eeeeew, gross." All in all, it was a fun day!

A long time coming...

I know, I know. I haven't "blogged" in quite a while. I guess between not having my camera handy to put my new pics on the computer and my pretty crazy, busy days lately, I just could not find the time. I have finally sat down to add lots of things to my blog. So here ya go! I have pics of Drew and Kinsley having a blast in the "more fun than toys" box.  A trip to the zoo on the crazy "free" day. Oh, and of course one of my favorites- the day at May Farms- the yearly "fall festival". 

ENJOY!!!

Jones Family Camping Trip

So Ryan and I decided that it would be a good idea to take the boys on their first camping trip. Some may say "kind of silly to take a four month old camping, aye?" Ok, so it was kind of hard trying to keep the boys asleep and wondering if that was a bear we heard or some other scary creature outside our tent all night, but we really did have a great time. I think we will wait a little while longer until we try this again. Maybe we'll go in a camper next time. A few more minutes to try to scare a bear or mountain lion off, when there are hard sides to your makeshift wilderness home would be nice:) We went across to the other side of Colorado to Rifle Falls. It was just beautiful there. We had a camp spot next to some really nice people and the Falls were just a 3-4 minute walk from our sight. This will definitely be a trip to remember.

Finally, our new house...

So if you have not heard, we were finally able to get a renter in our tiny condo, and move to a bigger place. We are living with our very good friends, Justin and Melissa, which we have known for many many years. It is a huge help to have friends around while Ryan and I are trying to finish this whole Pharmacy thing. HARD WORK :) So here is a pic of the new house. 

Too Cute!!!

Andrew and Ethan have been LOVING our new home. Ethan likes to sit in his "Bumbo" chair in the living room. I tried to get him to smile at me and I snapped the picture at just the right time.

Andrew climbed in the entertainment center and started crying because he got stuck. It was really the cutest thing. He also got a new guitar which he can not put down. He really doesn't care if other kids take his toys, but if anyone comes near his guitar he takes it and runs saying,"no, no, no, no, no".  Ryan was practicing for the worship service the other day and Drew was playing and singing right along with him. I think they will really enjoy playing together when he gets older. Like father like son:) 

Fun in the Sun

We got to go to the Northfield area the other day and had a blast!!! Andrew was scared at first but soon he warmed up after he saw Natalie, Layla, and Kinsley playing and laughing. We went to Jim and Nick's BBQ after and I would say that this was one of my favorite days this summer. I am still taking pics of everything so I will put one of the new house here very soon.

Tattoo Tattoo!!!

K... so Ryan and I decided that we were going to get our first tattoos together while we were in St. Louis. I didn't want to write about it in my last blog because I had not yet taken pictures. So here they are! I know, I know, some of you may not think that tattoos are that great but, I have wanted to get one for quite some time now and I think that they can be beautiful like a permanent piece of jewelry. I can brag about my two great boys when people ask about it! I would eventually like to get maybe one more, especially with Ryan's name somewhere in it, and of course if we ever have more children, they will need to be recognized as well. Hope you enjoy!!!

4th of July in St. Louis

This year we visited Ryan's fam in St. Louie for the 4th. We had a lot of fun but not a lot of time. Of course we were right in the middle of moving during this time so things were a little crazy, but all in all we had a great time. We spent Friday (the 4th) at dad's house with him and Carrie's family. On Saturday we went out to dinner with mom and Alicia to Texas Roadhouse which was a lot of fun. I had been craving steak for a few weeks, so we decided that it would be fun to take them to one of our favorite restaurants. Sunday we visited Hope Church, where they have a newly finished sanctuary that is just beautiful. Afterwards, we went home to mom's and bbq'd up some yummy chicken and hamburgers. Faye, Norv, Rachel, Uncle Bob, Aunt Pat, and Ryan's friends Ryan Sanders and Will all came to hang out with us. We played a game Apples to Apples. You should really play, it's a blast! We went to Dairy Queen later that night to meet Ryan's other friend Lamond (spelling?). He is very funny and you can tell he loves the Lord. Ryan really enjoyed his time home and I was happy that the boys were able to meet the other side of our family. 

Summertime Craziness

Every summer seems to get really busy and just fly by. I really wanted to make this summer a memorable one with the boys and have a really good time this year. So far we have gone to Virginia for Julie and Scott's wedding, and we are leaving tomorrow for St. Louis to visit Ryan's family. They have not yet met Ethan and are so excited to get to spend time with both of the boys. We are also in the middle of moving. Since we have a renter moving in on Friday and we leave tomorrow, we have to move out before we leave. The crazy thing is, is that we can't move in to the new house yet since Justin and Melissa have not closed yet, so we have to move our stuff to our good friends Jeff and Jenn. Then as soon as we get home we get to move again. I have to say, I will be relieved when we are done with all of this crazy stuff and we can just enjoy the bigger space and being near our friends. I will post some pics of St Louis and the new house when we are settled in.

 So back to our plans for the summer- I would like to do all of these things this summer, (we'll see how much actually happens:)

Overnight camp trip with the boys

Trip to the Zoo

Estes Park for Labor Day

A tattoo for me (some of you may think I'm crazy)

The Aquarium

I would also like to lose all of my baby weight and then some. I am starting today to eat healthier and work out. When we get back I think it will be easier to get into a routine. My goal is to lose 30 lbs. I will let you know how it goes!!!

More Pics of Julie's Wedding

No More Norton Girls!!!

This weekend we went to Julie and Scott's wedding. I would definitely say that the best day was they day of the wedding. You put together a beautiful wedding Julie!!!!! I was happy to see them tie the knot and finally get hitched!  They had a smaller ceremony and a few more people for the reception. Ryan sang "Making Memories of Us", by Keith Urban for the ceremony and Andrew was a true "ham" walking, or technically tripping all the way down the aisle as he played the role of ring bearer. Of course it made everyone laugh though. At the reception Ethan slept the night away while Andrew got down and "boogied". He partied so hard that he crashed when he came home and slept a little longer than normal the next morning. We got to see some of our out of town family and it was nice that they were able to join us. Kassidy (my cousin Jason's daughter) was the flower girl. She looked just amazing. The morning of Julie's wedding, I was able to relax by doing what I love to do. HAIR!!! I had 7 styles to do in 3 and a half hours including my own and the most important one of all... the BRIDE:) I hope you enjoy some of these pics!!!

Ketchup Anyone?

At lunchtime today we had chicken nuggets and french fries. I thought Andrew might like some ketchup with his food. Not a good idea. It only took a couple of seconds, and when I turned to look at him, he had a surprise waiting for mommy! Of course, I had to get a picture of how silly he looked:) 

Just like Daddy

Andrew always likes carrying around clothes for some reason so we thought it would be funny to try on Daddy's. Of course, they were HUGE on him but he thought it was pretty fun. He kept trying to get up and walk around though, so that is why he looks like he is trying to "escape".

I'll take this one

I took this picture of Andrew "shopping" at my friend Nikki's house the other day. I just thought it was so cute! He was picking foods out of her pantry that he just had to "buy". He probably was only thinking it was fun to put things in the basket, but I thought it was pretty funny. He seemed as if he was actually shopping like mommy and him do sometimes.