Only 19 More Pounds To Go!

I only have 19 more pounds to go until I meet my weight loss goal. I started this diet/exercise program on 12/6/06 and really wanted to lose 100 pounds in one year. I have lost 81 pounds so far and I am very proud of myself. I am going to keep going strong until I make my goal. It is always the last little bit that is so hard to shed.

25 Things I Am Thankful For

1. My family: Mom, Dad, Ana, Andrea, Jason, Eli, Jonah, Emma, Anna, Lily, Jack, Rebekah, Matt, Nya, George, Amy Michelle, Sarah, Kate, Juliette, Jethro, Staci, Katya, Cali (coming Dec 1st), Gideon, and Nathan.
2. My Religion
3. The Atonement
4. My Faith
5. Living in Utah, even though I am sure most of my posts will complain about driving in the snow!
6. My Friends
7. My Jobs
8. Living with Rebekah
9. The beauty of this earth and the mountains that surround me.
10. Dr. Hendricks - helping me lose 75 pounds (still have 25 more to go)
11. All the medical professionals that have helped me over the past month.
12. The smiles on my nieces and nephews faces when they see me.
13. That I taught Katya to point to her head. She will even use both hands and smile and laugh when we all say "YEAH" She will even put her hands on her head whenever you say "where is your..." because that is what she relates the word "where" with. She will also put her hands on her head whenever she sees me because she knows she will get praise from her "auntie".
14. I am thankful for Daisy (Bekah's black lab) even though she ran in front of me when I was carrying a bunch of stuff down the stairs and made me fall down the last three stairs. Thank goodness for carpeting, a good cry, and that I didn't break any bones. Daisy is a great hiking companion and has been on a ton of hikes with me.
15. I am thankful for strong bones. I am 32 years old and have never had a broken bone. And I even hate milk and refuse to drink it. Therefore, I am also thankful for other sources of calcium- I love cheese and can't live without it.
16. I am thankful for blogging. It has been a great way for all of our family to keep in touch and updated about what is going on and I love all the pictures. Thanks Andrea for getting us all on board in the blogging world.
17. I am thankful for all my extended family - don't think I forgot about you!! Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Grandparent's. I love you all!
18. I am thankful I made it home in one piece my first night driving in the snow. (here come the snow complaints) I am thankful I made it safely though.
19. I am thankful for medical insurance - random I know, but two weeks in the hospital can really make you think about a lot of things, and a minute didn't go by that I was thinking about how glad I was I had insurance.
20. I am thankful I finally got my apartment rented out and sold some of my things. It will be a bummer when I am able to be on my own again and have to buy a lot of things, but I had to downsize major!
21. I am thankful for Nya and the joy she brings into my life each day I see her. I'm not playing favorites with Nya and Katya, they are just who I am around most often now. Kind of like how I used to always post about Sarah and Kate when I lived with them. Anyway, just a cute Nya story. So when I fell down the stairs I thought for sure Nya would be concerned about me, ,but she wasn't. She was more concerned about the fact that I had locked Daisy in her crate. All morning long I was carrying things down the stairs to put in my room. Daisy kept dancing around my feet and I knew something was going to happen. Of course before long Daisy tripped me and down I went. She just gets so excited when I am around because she thinks I am going to take her hiking. Well, I had Daisy go in her crate for safety reasons. First of all I didn't want to get tripped again, and second I didn't want Daisy to get hurt by me stepping or falling on her. It is hard to see when you are carrying boxes. Anyway, Nya was so upset with me that I put Daisy in the crate. She said "Auntie, let Daisy out of her crate right now", then she continued to yell at me in her little two year old voice "Daisy is my dog and I love her and she is not in trouble! I want you to move back to your apartment" I tried not to laugh because it was so funny, but I explained to Nya the reason why I put Daisy in the crate. She didn't care what my reasoning was, she just wanted me to let Daisy out. Then I showed Nya my knee and the rug burn I had on it, and it didn't even phase Nya. She wanted her dog FREE!!!
22. I am thankful for this day and age that I live in. Yes, I love my cell phone and the Internet, and I don't know how we ever survived without them.
23. I am thankful each night I make it to midnight at work. It is hard working that late sometimes when the phone calls slow down and you are tired.
24. I am thankful for peanut M&M's. Not on my diet of course, but the best choice if I am going to choose a type of candy and sometimes my sweat tooth gets the best of me.
25. I am thankful for the opportunity I had to reflect of these things I am thankful for. It really brings a spirit of gratitude at a very difficult time in my life. I realize there are many other "small" day to day things I am thankful for. Sometimes we just need to take a break from our lives and take the time to stop, breathe, and thank our Heavenly Father for all he has given to us.

Leaves Change Color in the Fall...

This year, so does my hair color. I have been blond for such a long time and decided it was time to go back to my natural color. I didn't want to spend the money to have a professional hairstylist do it, and Staci has been coloring her own hair for years. So I asked her to do mine. We went and picked out a color that we thought was closest to my original color. I think we did pretty good. I love it and think she did a great job. I know we will probably have to do it a few more times just as my hair grows out to get rid of all the blond.

I'm Still Around....

I realized that it has been just over two months since my last blog post. So I am still around. I have had a lot going on the past two months including a two week stay in the hospital (the reason of which I would like to keep private). I gained 12 pounds while in the hospital. It is so hard to lose weight and yet so easy to put it back on. Anyway, I hope to do better about my blogging and my diet so I can reach my goal of losing 100 pounds. I started my diet on 12/6/06 so my goal is to reach the 100 pound mark by 12/6/07. I have about 30 more pounds to go now, so wish me luck!!!!

It snowed here yesterday and I had my first experience driving in the snow. I hated every minute of it. Everyone told me to just go slow, which I did. I drove about 35-40 m.p.h. on the freeway with my hazard lights flashing and everyone blazing past me. Even got a few people honking, but oh well I wanted to make it home alive and not wreck my car or anyone else's for that matter. It was after midnight (that is when I get off work) and I was surprised at how much traffic there was. Probably because I am usually the one going 70 m.p.h. and I usually stick with the same few cars. So, since people were actually passing me I think I was more aware. Anyway, I made it home safe and sound and was so thankful I made it home safe. The entire time I was driving I wondered "Now, why did I decide to move to Utah?" Anyway, I know I will do better once I get used to it.

Joys of getting a 2 yr old to pose

It is always a challenge to get kids to give the perfect smile in a picture. I had to bribe Nya today to even sit down and take a picture with me. She gave it a good effort. At first we couldn't get her to smile.
Then she smiled too hard and her eyes were all squinted! She sure has saying "cheese" down.
Finally, a very cute natural smile. I love being with Nya and I really love it when she looks at me with her big blue eye's and says "I love you Auntie"

It's a GIRL!!!

I am so happy to welcome my newest niece. Congrats to George and Amy! Her name is Juliette and she was born this morning at 12:06. She was 6 lbs 14 oz and 19.5 inches long. Check out George and Amy's blog for adorable pics!

http://4keepingupwiththejoneses.blogspot.com/

Has it really been a month?

I can't believe it has been an entire month since I made a post on my blog. I have been really busy and just finished a long work day. So I am going to have to keep this short... I worked both my jobs today so I have been gone from 5:30 a.m. - 10:00 p.m. I have to get up at 4:30 a.m. tomorrow for work and why I am sitting here typing away is crazy, but no surprise to anyone who knows me. I seem to always burn the candle at both ends. And yet I wonder why I come down with migraine's. Anyway, Rebekah, Nya, and I went hiking up Little Cottonwood Canyon last night. We had a great time and Nya just loved every minute of it.
Nya ran most of the way and after a while she got tired so Rebekah and I switched off carrying her on our back. It didn't take Nya long to get her energy back and she was off running again.

This bridge overlooks the river. This is the cutest little pose that Nya did. She is so funny and likes to "goof around" when having her picture taken. She thought she was being funny here but really it turned out to be one of the cutest pictures of her. Notice has she has her little legs crossed at her feet. So dainty!
This is a picture of the river from standing on the bridge. It is beautiful.

I love living so close to the mountains and I love being able to enjoy all the beauty that they have to offer. It is even better when I get to share it with someone. So often I go hiking by myself and see so many beautiful places that I always wish someone was with me to enjoy it. I am glad Rebekah and Nya got to come along on this hike with me.

Weight Loss - Update/ Sacramento Visit

On July 1st I was in Sacramento. It was great to see all my family that lives there.
It's always fun trying to get the girls to cooperate for a picture. I made a deal with them. I told them that if they would pose nicely for a couple of pictures then they could make as many funny faces as they wanted to. So here are the "nice poses"

Here is a picture of Kate complaining that she wants to make the funny face and can't handle smiling anymore. Sarah already had her face down and it looks like George does too. I am still just trying to smile and look good. :)

Here Sarah and Kate are both doing their funny faces. I think they look really cute.


Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures with Amy. Next I will have to make her pose in a picture with me. Words alone can not express how much I miss Sarah and Kate. They are so cute. They both came with George to pick me up from the airport. They were in their pajama's and as cute as ever. I just love them so much. I can't believe how much Kate has grown up in the past month. I mean when I left she seemed to be getting so tall. After not seeing her for a month she looked so big to me. Even the way she would talk and everything she seemed like such a little adult. Sarah seemed a lot bigger too, although it wasn't as noticeable to me as Kate.

Here is a picture of Gideon and I. We are both laughing because Gideon is standing on his tippy toes so he looks taller. It was funny.

He was doing that because Nathan is taller than him, so he wanted to try and "show him up".

I've just got to love my brothers. Always in competition with each other. I guess it is the Jones way. We are all pretty competitive.

While I was there I also went and saw Dr. Hendricks for my weigh in appointment. I only lost about 4 pounds. I was disappointed in that since I hadn't been in for a month and I had been working out so much doing my hikes. However, I did have about a 5 day span where I had a milkshake everyday. So I am sure that is what did me in as far as my weight loss goes. I am going to go see Dr. Hendricks again in August. So, hopefully I will have better results and better self control. When I have my next appointment they are going to do my body composition. It will be interesting to see how much body fat I have lost. It will be a good comparison to see where I was at when I started this diet back in December. One thing I do know is that my BMI was a 41 when I started. It is now a 29. I have moved from "obese" to "overweight". I can't wait until I get into the "normal or average" category. I will be sure to post an update of all the stats.

Can You Handle the Cuteness?

O.k. Seriously, Can you even handle the CUTENESS!!! I love this little angel!! She is so happy all the time and she is such a doll!!!! I love Katya!!!



O.k. Seriously, Can you even handle the CUTENESS!!! I love this little angel!! She is so happy all the time and she is such a doll!!!! I love Katya!!!

I'll take it....

I know my brother's will be proud.

I'm a Ferrari 360 Modena!

You've got it all. Power, passion, precision, and style. You're sensuous, exotic, and temperamental. Sure, you're expensive and high-maintenance, but you're worth it.

"Take the Which Sports Car Are You? quiz.

It is so HOT

Oh my goodness it has been so hot in Salt Lake. Today it got up to 100 degrees. Too hot for my liking. So of course I decided to escape to the mountains. It was still hot up in the mountains, but there was a nice breeze so that helped. I asked Jethro if he wanted to go hiking with me tonight and he said he would. I was thrilled to have some company. We took Katya along for the adventure too.
Not only was it nice to have Jethro and Katya along for the company, but I finally had someone who could take pictures of the beautiful scenery. Of course the pictures just don't do the beauty of the mountains justice, but you get the point.

Katya was really good the first 2 miles of the hike, but on the way back she started getting really fussy. I think she was tired and it was getting pretty close to her bedtime. Once we got in the car she was just as happy as could be. Jethro enjoyed the hike and I hope to get him to join me on some more of my hikes.

Killer Hike!!!!

Oh my gosh! I went on such a hard hike today. It was approx 9 miles long and it was killer! I woke up at 4:45 a.m. this morning. I wasn't surprised because I have been getting up at that time everyday this week for work. I knew I would wake up early this morning and sure enough... 4:45 a.m. and I was wide awake. I wish it was that way when I really had to get up. Anyway, I tried to go to sleep and I had my alarm set for 6:00 anyway, so I just got up and decided to get started on my hike earlier. I did my normal 4 mile hike and then decided to take a trail I have been wanting to do. It's always scary going on a new trail because you never know what to expect. Man was I in for a surprise! It was so dang steep and did not let up at all until I got to the top of the mountain. It was certainly worth the hard work to get to the top. It was a beautiful view. Their were Aspen tree's all over and I can not even describe how beautiful it was. I sat at the top of the mountain for about 1/2 hr. Just me, all alone enjoying the sounds of nature. It is amazing how good you feel when you get to the top of a mountain. Yes, my legs were killing me, but I felt energized staring out at the surrounding mountains. Everything was so green and healthy and beautiful. I couldn't help but reflect on how blessed I am to be living in Utah. I love the mountains and have always found great joy being able to spend time in the mountains.

When I was going back down the mountain, I was sweating just as hard as when I went up. While I certainly wasn't as out of breath as I was on the way up. My legs were totally shaking from the strain. Going up they were killing me because it was so steep, going down I was dying because it was so steep. It was hard because there were so many rocks that were loose along with the dirt and it was slippery. Thankfully, I didn't fall or anything. When I got back to my normal trail I was grateful because I knew the layout and knew what was up ahead. I was glad I only had 2 more miles to once I got down the steep mountain. It wasn't so much the 9 miles that was so tiring. It was the extreme uphill and downhill that got me. I will probably do the hike I did today again, but it will take some getting used to. It was a great workout!

Finally - A Weight Loss Update

O.K. so I know I have been really bad about updating my progress on my weight loss. I guess so many other things have been going on and I am so used to focusing on my weight everyday that I kind of forget to mention it on my blog. Well, I honestly can't remember how much I weighed when I went to my last appointment with Dr. Hendricks on May 23rd. I guess I could read through my blog and try and figure it out, but as you all know I am so "long winded" it would take me forever to read through everything. Gosh now I know how everyone feels when they read my novels. Oh well, I have always said this blog is more for me to use as an outlet than for anyone else. So am I ever going to get to the point......

YES! It is not official, because I have not weighed in at Dr. Hendricks office, but I believe I have lost another 10 pounds. I have been pretty good about staying on course with my diet. I have found a new "dangerous snack" though. It is the Costco Trail mix. While, it is good for me to have nuts for the protein and fat, it is NOT good for me to have the M&M's that are in the trail mix. So, in the beginning I used to pick them out. Now I just eat them. But, I have increased my exercise routine so much that I really think that is the key factor in my losing the weight and inches. I bought some more clothes when I moved up here, and they are now starting to fall off me. I am now officially a size 12! I can't believe it. I was a size 22 in my pants when I started this diet. I think I only have 25 more pounds to go to meet my 100 pound weight loss goal. I am going to fly to Sacramento at the end of the month for my weigh in appointment.
As far as my exercise routine goes... Thank goodness for the mountains. At my May 23rd appointment with Dr. Hendricks they really emphasized me working out 7 hours a week. I have never been good about 7 hours a week. I would usually do about 5 hours a week which consisted of walking. I would average about 20 miles a week. Well, when I decided to move to Utah the most exciting thing for me was hiking. I go hiking about 3-4 times a week. I have my favorite hike up Milcreek Canyon and it takes anywhere from 1 1/2 - 2 hours. It is about 4 1/2 miles long. I just love it. The time it takes me varies on one thing. If I decide to jog the last part down the mountain or not. I can usually cut about 15 min off my time depending how much I jog. What determines if I jog or not? How bad I have to go to the bathroom. T.M.I. I know, but I drink so much water that sometimes it goes through me faster than other times. So, if I am o.k. I can usually jog the last part which consists of about 20 minutes of downhill. Believe it or not, the trail is so steep it is actually easier to jog rather than try and walk down it. So, I have been getting about 8 hours of exercise a week. And let me tell you, it is killer. Oh my gosh, I always think I am going to die when I am going up the mountain. Rebekah can testify of the difficulty of this hike. (Unfortunately she still has not fully recovered from her knee injury from when we did the 8 mile hike). I would love to do the 8 mile hike each time I go, but it takes almost 3 hours and I need to be more prepared. Like, getting a hydro pack and also packing something to eat. Otherwise, I get too weak. Being on such a low calorie diet, even doing my two hours is very exhausting. I probably burn up all the calories of the two protein shakes I have just on the steep incline alone. Yesterday when I went, I finally got smart and took some trail mix. So when I got to the end of the trail I sat down by the river and ate the trail mix. It made a big difference in how I felt. So I will have to do that from now on. I am happy that I get to enjoy the beautiful mountains so often. It is great!!!!

American Express

I started my new job at American Express yesterday. I absolutely love it! Yesterday was orientation and it was great to hear about all of the great benefits that the company has to offer. Today I started at 6:00 a.m. That was tough seeing as I couldn't get to sleep until 1:00 a.m. and woke up about every hour until my alarm went off at 4:45 a.m. My shift during the next twelve weeks of training will be from 6:00 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. Monday thru Friday. I wish that was always my shift, but once training is over I will be working later. I am going to try and work the evening shifts because you get paid more. Anyway, I like everyone I work with so far and our trainer is awesome. This company has a lot of great advancement opportunities and I am looking forward to that. I still need to find a second job so that I can focus on getting out of debt. I will spend more time next week looking for a second job. This week I just want to try and adjust to my early morning schedule. I am so happy here in Salt Lake. I love my job and can't wait until tomorrow when I get to go back. It feels good to be able to say that.

Church History Museum

Last night I went on a date. We went out to dinner and then went to the Church History Museum. It has been several years since I have been there. On the top floor there is a children's area that is really cool. I thought that Nya would love it. So today I took Nya, Sophia (age 4) and Natalie (age 12) to the museum. They had a great time. In one area you can build a temple with wood blocks. Here is a picture of Sophia building a temple.

Nya and Sophia building a temple

Here they are coloring stained glass windows. They had a lighted board that you could put the colored picture on and it looked like stained glass.

Natalie and Nya playing dress up as Angels. Nya is holding a little stuffed sheep. She grabbed it out of the Nativity scene and didn't want to leave it.

Nya, Sophia, and Natalie dressed up as Shepard's.

This quilt was in another part of the museum. I really like it because it is so colorful. Notice how Sophia is sticking out her tongue. I know it is shocking to see me wearing a sweater in the middle of June, but it is freezing here right now. On Tuesday it was in the upper 80's and only cooled down to low 70's at night. Then on WED we got major thunderstorms and the high was only in the 50's. It was 52 degree's when we went to the museum so I had to borrow a sweater from Bekah. Tomorrow it is supposed to be in the 80's again. Random.

I love stained glass. This is so pretty. Too bad the girls weren't looking at the camera.

I got a job

Yesterday I was hired by American Express. I start Monday. I will be making about 1/2 of what I was making in California so I will be getting a second job. But I am glad I have this job. It has a lot of potential for growth, which for me will be no problem. I will start out as a customer service rep, but as I told them in the interview "Don't plan on me staying in that position for long". I fully plan on moving on up quickly. The lady interviewing me said "I would expect nothing less from you. From your past experience I know you will go far in this company" I have always advanced in my jobs so I don't mind starting out on the bottom. The main thing is getting your foot in the door. This is what I wore for the interview. I had Bekah take this picture after I finished my interview and got hired.I got a lot of compliments from people who were there on my outfit. The lady interviewing me said that I looked great. I figured I had the job at that point :)

I have training for 12 weeks. It will be M-F from 6 a.m. -2:30 p.m. I wish that were going to always be my shift. Once training is over than I am required to work Monday's and Saturday's. It is a full time position and I can choose the hours I want to work as long as I start after 10:00 a.m. I also have to option to work 4 - 10hr shifts. So I think I will work Monday, Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday from like 1:30- midnight. I am going to work the late shift because I get a 10% increase in pay if 50% of my shift is after 5:00 p.m. So I am going to do that. Then I will have Sunday, Wed, and Thursday's off. I hope to get another job that is like 8-12 M-F something like that. We'll see. The good thing about American Express is that there is plenty of opportunity to work overtime and even double time shifts. I am already used to working 60 hrs a week so I will always volunteer to pick up extra shifts. The nice thing is that I will be getting paid overtime. At Judi's I was on salary so it really sucked that I would work 60 hours and only get paid for 40. Another awesome thing about American Express is they have a gym in the building that is open 24/7 so I will be able to work out everyday. It is awesome. I am just thrilled to be working for them. When I was in Sacramento I said I wanted to get hired on with American Express because I knew they had offices in SLC. They also are on the Forbes Top 100 companies to work for, they have great benefits and everything. I know I will be happy there and I know that it will be a great job for me.

I also got these great pictures of Nya in her dress up ballet clothes. Too cute.

8 Mile Hike

Saturday Rebekah and I went on a hike. It was so awesome. I would have taken my camera, but that is one extra thing to carry and I didn't want to deal with it. Maybe I will take it next time and take some pictures of the great views we saw. Anyway, I arrived at Rebekah's house a little after 7:00 a.m. On Friday I went on a 4 mile hike. It was pretty easy except for the first 1/2 mile which was very steep and the last 1/2 mile that was very steep. Rebekah wants to take Nya hiking in the jogging stroller and so I said I would scout out some possible trails. I thought this trail would be a pretty good one. There are a few area's that are quite narrow, but I figured Rebekah could go on the hike with me and check it out for herself. So we arranged with Matt to watch Nya and we went hiking Saturday morning. We were on the hike and there was a trail that we could take that was an extra 4 miles round trip. We both felt pretty good and weren't too tired so we decided to go for it. Oh my gosh it was killer. It was so steep, but we were so glad we did it.

The trail we went on was up Millcreek Canyon. As kids our parents took us hiking there quite a bit. One memorable experience we all remember is when my mom was 9 months pregnant with Gideon. She was overdue and wanted the baby out!! Any of you that have been pregnant can relate. Anyway, as usual we all went in single file up the mountain with my Mom and Dad in the back. When we got to the top we would turn around and all of us kids would race down the mountain. We always wanted to see who could arrive at the car first. This time was no different. I can't remember who got to the car first (probably me Ha, Ha)

Anyway, as Rebekah and I were almost to the end of our hike we were jogging down the steepest part of the mountain. Rebekah tripped on a rock and tried to catch herself from falling. While she didn't fall flat on her face, she did still get hurt. She twisted her knee. She was unable to stand and put any pressure on it. I told her I would run and get the car and then come back for her. I ran all the way to the car. It took me about 15 minutes to get back to her. She tried walking and using me to lean on but it was too hard. So I had her jump on my back and I carried her down the mountain. We were totally laughing at how funny we must have looked. We got home and Rebekah suggested that I get Nya's jogging stroller and take Rebekah up to the house that way. So that is what I did. I insisted that Rebekah let me take a picture of her in the stroller so I could post it on my blog. She was a good sport but told me to hurry so that none of her neighbors would see her.

By Saturday afternoon she was still in a lot of pain so she decided that she better go into urgent care. I took her in and thankfully we didn't have to wait long at all. They took an x-ray and the Doctor came in and examined her knee. Thankfully, it was only a sprain and the Doctor said to rest for 24-48 hours and she should start to feel better. Phew, thankfully it was nothing too major!!!

Nya Stretching

This is a video (about 4 minutes) of Nya doing her exercises and stretching. Stay tuned to the end with special cameo by Katya. Cutest! Thanks to Jethro for hookin' a sister up with the video.

Nya

I just love Nya to death. She is such a cutie, but she will not give me the time of day. She is 2 1/2 years old, such a fun age. She likes to cling onto Rebekah, which drives Rebekah crazy. I am sure she will warm up to me eventually, but since I am impatient it seems like it is taking an eternity. I miss Sarah and Kate so much, so the sooner Nya will pay attention to me the better :)

I did however get this "lucky" picture of us together.

Of course she loves her Uncle Jethro, I mean what kid doesn't love Uncle Jethro

She likes to tease him

Nya has changed so much since I saw her last about 2 months ago. She is so talkative and intelligent. She is very particular about the way things are around the house. She doesn't like her room to be a mess or anything to be on the floor. She has to have a napkin when she eats and has to have her cup filled all the way to the top. If you don't feel it to the top she won't drink out of it. She also is very independent and likes to do everything herself. Except go to the potty. She always wants her Mommy to take her. It is tiring for Rebekah, but better than her having an accident. Nya also loves to run. We have gone on several walks around the block and she runs, runs, runs. She also loves to jump off of things. Here is a picture of her climbing on a rock and getting ready to "Jump"

She also loves to walk Daisy. It is funny because Nya doesn't understand that if she just pulls back on the leash that Daisy will stop. It is a hoot to watch Nya walk Daisy because she just runs and lets Daisy pull her. It is really funny.
I know as Nya gets used to me she will warm up and then will come the big challenge of having her spend the night. :) I know Rebekah is excited about that. I don't think I will become Nya's favorite "auntie" because I have stiff competition from Staci. In fact Rebekah said that Staci is about the only one that Nya doesn't give a hard time to. But that is o.k. because I love Staci to death and she is awesome. Katya and Staci get home from Oklahoma today and I can not wait to my hands on my little Katya!!!! That is when I am really going to be in 7th Heaven.

Memorial Day

Today I went over to Rebekah and Matt's house for a Barbeque. It was really good, we had chicken, steak, and ribs. Matt is a great cook and loves to entertain.

Getting everything ready. Jethro, Matt, and Autumn (Matt's sister)

Yummy salad the Autumn made, it was sooooooooo good!

Abigail (Amber's daughter) with a great smile.

Cute Demetrius (Not sure how to spell his name. I will have to check with Autumn)

David (Amber's son) He's a little cutie too, but he wasn't feeling too good.

Da-Da (Autumn's daughter) Yes, another beautiful child... I am loving it....

After dinner Jethro and I decided to take all the kids on a walk. Amber's two sons Thomas (check out the boots. I love it) and Matthew are so cute. Also "little James" (Autumns oldest) who isn't so little standing in the back. He is 13 or 14 and 6'3. He helped us out with all the little angels.

Of course we couldn't go on a walk with out Daisy!

All the kids took turns walking her. I only got a picture of Nya with her though.

One thing Utah has a lot of is "ANTS". I hate ants. Nya is fascinated with them and always picks them up. She will hold them between her two fingers and come and show Rebekah. It is really funny. Here are some ants that we saw on our walk. It looks like a bunch of dirt, but it is a ton of ants.

Nya really wanted to hold hands with Thomas while they were walking. It was really cute. I tried to get a picture of them from the back, but Thomas wouldn't hold Nya's hand for too long.

We made a quick stop at the church so the kids could tackle uncle Jethro on the grass. It was so cute!

It was weird not to have Scott and Christina and all their kids there. They were in Boise. I am excited for them to get back in town. It was also weird not to have Staci and Katya there. I can't wait for them to get back from Oklahoma. I can't wait to get my hands on Katya. Yeah!!!!