The End of Summer.

This summer has been so fun filled and it's sad to see it come to a end.

But I am READY for it to end.

BRING ON THE FALL!

I am ready to put away my summer clothes and bring out the warmer ones! I love my hoodies and boots! I find myself looking at the daily forecast and getting excited that the weather is getting cooler. I hate being cold, and I feel like I always am (they tease me at work) but I do love sweaters and my house is loaded with lots of blankets. And hot chocolate, I keep that stuff stocked piled high in my pantry! So I'm set. The only downside with this weather change is that we need a new furnace. Boo. They are expensive.

I  absolutely love Utah's seasons. I love the change. I know by the time Fall and Winter are over, I'll be complaining about how sick  I am of the cold and am so ready for Summer. That's just how it goes, every single year of my life. At least it's something I can count on. For our family, we always know that fall is just around the corner when 3 events happen. First, the Jones Reunion, then the county fair, and then Peach days.

Reunions are kinda funny. Of course I know my family......but who are all those other people there? Apparently I'm related to them. If I have seen them in a store or at work, I'd wouldn't know them from the next person in line. Just a thought. Anyways.... of course I had  fun with my family, the ones I know that is, and I most certainly enjoyed the dessert table as well.

We love Bear Lake! So much that we just had to go again. But this time we went with the Arnolds! The whole family came up, it was quite the party! 

Can't go to Beak Lake without getting a shake!

Isn't she the CUTEST ever!

Lazy doggins! We had a full house of pooches! We didn't bring our Elles bells, but everyone else brought their dog! But I love doggies, so it was heaven for me.

Beach day!Yay!!

She's a mermaid.....

"Trying" to get a tan. It didn't work. Ryan coated like 5 layers of sunblock on me, he keeps telling me I'll thank him one day when I don't have skin cancer.

This is another reason I love him so. He is my big kid. He is going to be the best daddy in the world! Our kids will have the funnest time with him. Or is it the other way around? I really can't wait for a good excuse to buy and play with G.I. Joe's or Barbies again! =0)

Sand is pretty awesome, you pretty much can make anything! We had turtles, dolphins, castles and forts, snakes, and even the Grinch's mt. Crumpit.

                     Mt Crumpit --------------------->

It's a lot of work playing in the sun.

More doggies! They're everywhere!

The County fair was a huge event when I was in High School. It was the last week of summer before school started, I loved the rides, and there was lots and lots of boys there! haha! Now-a-days, it's not even close to a huge event. It almost feels like we don't fit in. The whole place is chuck full of teenagers and families with kids. Good thing there's craft booths and scones with honey butter! Otherwise I don't know if we'd go again until we have our kiddos.

Yummy!

I do love the bunnies, I kinda want one, but Ellie would probably eat it for dinner.

And last of all....Peach Days.

I actually didn't get any pictures during any of the usual peach day celebrations, 

but I did get this one:

This year was my 10 YEAR High School Reunion!!!

Holy crap, I'm getting so old!! How was it, you ask? It was okay. Not the best time of my life and not the worse either. I don't know what it is about High School, but it brings out the shy Karen. After 10 years, I can't get rid of her, she'll probably haunt me till the day I die! But even though I felt like the Karen back in High School again, I was able to talk to some old friends, and it was nice to see them. I don't know if I'll got to the next one....I guess we'll see when the time comes. It all depends who I can bribe to come with me =P

Good bye Summer, we'll see you next year!

The Waiting Place

In my moments alone I ask, “why me?”

  All the hospitals, doctors and tests 

The endless uncertainty 

Is a miracle too much to ask 

 When I’ve been faithful in the past?

How can I know what to do? 

Lord, won’t you show me direction?  

Show me which path leads to hope 

 From this path that I’m on to self-destruction 

Why all the suffering and pain  

When surely God has a cure? 

Pleading each time she prays, 

 “Please stop testing my weakness this way.” 

  Do my questions have answers? 

 Why has God hidden His face? 

And why has He left me alone in my waiting place? 

As we beg for peace and trust in His love  

We may not get the answers we want 

 But answers come pouring from heaven above  

And He whispers – You will know what to do 

 Just keep listening for direction  

The path is yours to choose 

 Turn your heart where I beckon  

Every question will be answered  

So don’t lose your faith  

God is here waiting with you in your waiting place 

 You are never alone in your waiting place.

 -Calee Reed

This is how I feel today. Sometimes its so hard to hold on to the little hope I have left. Each month comes and goes, with the same disappointment. Why is it so easy for others but so hard for me? I'm sorry, I don't mean to be such a downer, I'm just so heartbroken. Today my soul is sad. 

I feel like my waiting place will never end.

I know He's here with me, I am not alone. I need him more than ever today.

Game night and the Drive-in

Just when I thought I was getting all caught up on our life events, I look at the pictures on my computer for the past couple of months, then realize I'm not caught up at all!! Things keep happening, we take pictures to remember the moment, and it's a never ending process! It's hard to pick and choose between all the events, I want to remember it all! My life feels like it's flying by too fast and I just keep getting older and older, but I still feel the same way I did in high school/college (mentally that is). Pretty soon I'll be old and wrinkly, and I won't know what happened! When that day comes, at least I'll have ALL my pictures to remember all my cherished memories!

These cherished memories take place back in July, while my brother Jeff was in town. He and his family was in Utah for a whole week! Which means, lots of fun and lots of pictures! 

When I was little, I was like every other little girl. I LOVED anything pink and Barbies (still do). But unlike some little girls, me and Katie loved watching my big brother Jeff play video games! We didn't have to play, watching was just as much fun. It was like a movie, but we got to help my brother solve the puzzles and choose the endings. We started out watching Castlevania on Nintendo, then as time went by, it was Super Nintendo (oh man, did we ever love Donkey Kong and Mario Kart!), then it was the first PlayStation (that's where Resident Evil and Tomb raider began), and so on. Today, I still like watching Video games, and I sometimes watch Ryan play. So in honor of my brother visiting us, we had a gaming night! Filled with lots of pop, chips, and candy!

It was pretty awesome, if I do say so myself. We had 3 TVs all playing Uncharted 2 at the same time! It was my first time ever playing like that. I wasn't the best at playing the game, considering I was amongst some hard-core gamers, but I can proudly say I killed a good share of bad guys!

"Boom, Boom, Boom!!! Die Bad Guys!!!"

Now....there's some hard-core gamers!

Without further adieu, I now Introduce the newest baby boy of our family: Liam!

Liam is my Nephews little guy....so that makes me a great Aunt? Wow, if that doesn't make me feel old, what does? We love him so, he looks just like his daddy. And as you can see, all babies are welcome to our game nights!

The very next night, we all went to the DRIVE-IN!

More junk food to the rescue! Pizza and Root beer are my favorite combination!

The family that I love  =0)

The friends that are awesome  =0)

This is my brother Jeff's childhood BESTEST friend ever and his family.

 Ryan did a great Job at making sure we were comfortable for our movie! A blow up mattress, lots of blankets and pillows, and the hottest guy to snuggle up too....doesn't get better than that!

Oh, what a couple of nights it was! Definitely cherished memories!

{Family Par-tay}

Our family just keeps growing and growing! (I hope soon it will be bigger =0) Our last family picture was in 2004 or 2005, so....we were really due for a new one. Both my brothers that live far away came to Utah in July, so it was the perfect time to get us all together to make a new one. Of corse, with so many of us, I'm the youngest of 9 and all the neices and nephews (some married and/or have babies of thier own) it is basically close to impossiable to get us all there at once. My so talented sister Katie, took single pictures of each family and will photoshop all of us together. I don't know how she does it, but she is amazing and truely talented. The picture isn't complete yet, but as soon as it is, I'll post it so you all can see how amazing she is!

It was nice for us too, we now have new family pictures or our little family as well, even if it's just the two of us. We are missing Ellie, but we have plenty of other family pictures with her, so I don't feel too bad.

*My favorite*

*The Irish twins*

As we were all sitting there chatting together, the Arnolds old cars got brought up. So Ryan run home to grab the corvette to show off to everyone. For the next hour or so, Ryan was gone taking everyone one mini car rides. They loved it, but who wouldn't.....its just so pretty.

Almost all of us....

Just a fun pic of everyone who could make it.

The babies. All boys.

This picture makes me both happy and sad at the same time. I love it cause who wouldn't love all thoes adorable faces and I love them so! But it makes my heart ache to know my Jason is missing in this picture. All these sweet boys came soon after I lost him. He would of been the oldest, he would of been 1 year and nine months old this month. Some days Heaven seems too far away. How I miss him.

Definatly a full house.

Time with my family is always at the top of my list. We always have a good ol' time togeher.