Thanksgiving Recap

Happy Britain with Aunt Chelsea

Playing with Uncle Stevie

Brandon did her hair on Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving.  We got to spend time with my Dad and his family first, then we moved on to my grandmother (my mom's mom) and saw a bunch of cousins and aunts and uncles and then we drove to Santaquin where Brandon's family was hanging out.  It was really great to see so many people.  My favorite part of the week was probably seeing Chelsea, Brandon's sister who lives far far away in North Carolina.  I was so happy that she got to stay at our house last night and that she got to go to church with us today.
My Gratitude List:

Britain being happy for Daddy

-I am grateful for a husband who shares my same values and a love for our family.
-I am grateful for a child who loves unconditionally and is so happy and resilient.
-I am grateful for the gospel, specifically the law of tithing that grants us so many blessings.
-I am grateful for a Heavenly Father and his son Jesus Christ and the Atonement that heals me.
-I am so grateful for the support system that I have through my family and friends.
-I am grateful for the jobs that Brandon and I have, I'm so glad we have the ability to work hard.
-I am grateful for the peace that the Lord grants me when I feel so much fear.
That is a small sampling of all the wonderful things I have to be grateful for.

On Friday night we went to Temple Square.  It was really cool because one of Brandon's uncles works there and he got to show us where he works and some other really neat stuff.  I loved seeing Temple Square like that. Plus, its a perfect kick off to Christmas!

Britain and Grandpa being cold!

Brit and Grandma seeing the Pretties!

Brit and Uncle Josh at Temple Square

Last night Chelsea ended up dying my hair (Thank you Sheralyn for the dye and Chelsea for the dying of the hair).  It was really funny because last night I was thinking "that's weird, it looks kinda like my roots are glowing..." This morning everyone tried to be nice about it and I didn't want to be the first to say anything because Chelsea and Sheralyn were so nice for dying it for me... But my hair was orange. It was funny.  By about an hour into church both my dear sister in laws were mentioning that it was kind of glowing orange and would I mind if they fixed it by re-dying it?
It was funny... moral of the story.  I have dark hair now that isn't glowing orange at the roots. It is much better. I am really excited that my hair is dark.

All us girls taking a nap before dinner

Tonight Chelsea left for the airport.  I cleaned up my house that was trashed from having so many people and so many things we did all week.  I miss Chelsea already.  I hope we get to see her at Christmas.

Scary pasta Baby

Brandon made pasta.  Britain got it all over her face. It was pretty awesome.  She got a bath, which she does not like doing until she gets to splash around.  At that point she gets mad when I make her get out of the tub.  Bathtime is a no-win situation.

Sorry guys, I know this is a super random post, but I mostly just wanted to post anything to get back in the swing of things since I didn't post for so many days! Love you all.

Water Colors

paint away!

Tonight Britain learned how to paint :) As far as I know, this was her first time using any kind of paints.  It was a lot of fun.  She ended up being more fascinated by dipping the brush in the water than anything else.  A close second favorite was dipping the wet brush in the paint... She had almost no interest in the paper once she got going. But it was still super cute to watch.
Also, Britain learned how to chew gum today.  She found Brandon's pack and successfully chewed three pieces without spitting them out or making a mess for two hours! It was hilarious... She didn't even try to swallow it. She is one happy mint baby! Getting her to spit it out before bed was tricky, but eventually she did without a fight.  I love my happy camper.
I got a cold today, so I will not be taking her snow playing anytime soon. :( I really can't afford to be sick right now...But what can I do about it? Brandon is officially job hunting like a mad man so keep your fingers crossed for us. It's been a long year, but we are hoping to start the Christmas season off on the right foot.  Like a preview for a fresh new year. :) I'm so grateful to be married to the strong man that I am married to. He is the best person for me and I appreciate everything he does.
Another thing that I am just super excited about is my super duper awesome Christmas-with-no-money skills! I have successfully come up with Christmas present ideas for all of my sisters that will be totally from my heart, even though we are broke.  It is turning out to be really fun to think hard about that stuff rather than  just spending hundreds of dollars with no real thought.  I love my family.  I hope they have the best Christmas season ever, I sure feel like this will be my best Christmas season yet :)
Love you all.

ME

I am a strong woman.

I am a good mother.

I am a good wife.

I have the potential to be amazing.

I can reach my potential.

I will reach my potential.

I will never stop trying.

I am a beautiful daughter of God.

I am loved by many people including myself.

I make hard decisions.

I follow the spirit.

I am brave.

I am happy.

I am me.

List :)

Tonight I have things to do and zero motivation to get them done... Soooo, that means I need to make a list.  Nothing motivates me quite like a list motivates me.

LIST:
1. Start load of laundry
2. Pick up bedroom
3. Pick up living room
4. Get Brandon from work
5. Get Britain back to bed
6. Rotate laundry 
7. Unload Dishwasher
8. Load dishwasher
9. Read Scriptures 
10. Hit the sack!

Alright, I figure I have 2 hours to get this going.  Good luck to me :) Sorry I've been bad at the pictures of Britain.  Life has been a little insane the past two weeks.  Britain got Uncle Brady's hand me down snow pants today. Now she has a winter coat, snow pants, gloves and a hat and boots so soon we should be tromping around out there in the winter wonderland we call Provo.  I'll make sure to get pictures when that adventure happens :) love to you all!

Words

Today was fun.  Britain got her first coat.  :) Thank you TJ Maxx.  We went to three stores and tried on four coats.  Britain kinda threw a fit by the end, she was really sick of the phrase: "Britain, Arm!"  As I'm sure my dad could have guessed, we ended up buying the first one we tried on.  It is truly not my favorite... but that's okay, it was pretty obvious that it was Britain's favorite.  I love that my beautiful daughter is learning how to communicate and express her preferences.

After getting the coat we went over to Deseret Book to browse around and check out some Shadow Mountain titles from the in store employee library.  Brandon and I are going to read Fablehaven :) (Brandon is wanting to watch that publishing company for internships, but that is not the story that I am trying to tell.) 

Aaaaanyway...

Britain was being super cute while we window shopped.  She started poking her tummy and each time she poked she said be-be.  I finally recognized what she was saying! She learned that she is my Baby! It was so fun! She said it for about five minutes over and over but it never got old. 

Then when she finished practicing that word Brandon said "Britain, say Britain!" and she tried really hard.  It sounded a lot closer to "Ti-Tin" but it was super cute too.  She is finally learning to talk!  

When we got home Brandon sat down and said "Britain, can you get me the x-box controller?" and she said, "no."  That was my favorite moment!!! (Just kidding, but still funny.)

She is learning so much.  Yesterday she put herself to bed by making the "tired" sign and walking into her bedroom while she did it. Then she got really excited when we knew what she wanted.  It was awesome.  And super cute.  I didn't think she would even remember that sign because we only practiced it for two days a few weeks ago, before we decided she wasn't understanding it.  It was neat to realize that my baby is so receptive to knowledge, she is such a sponge.  I am so grateful for her mind and her ability to learn.  I get so much joy from watching her grow.  

Sorry for the lack of pictures.  I'll get some up soon when we make it outside to play in the snow, we didn't play outside today because she had no coat.  :) Now we won't have any excuses so we will share our fun times soon.  Love you all.

Moving Forward

Life stinks sometimes

...the end...

***********

HAHA just kidding, I'm not leaving my thoughts to that!  :) But really sometimes life does stink.  Like when your hair poofs in the morning... Or when BYU looses to Utah... Or when the president isn't the guys you hoped/voted for.  But guess what.  It happened (actually all of those things happened to be exact...) and I'm moving forward.  I hope you can too.  I really appreciate all you lovely people who chose to read my Election Results post.  Somehow, hearing from so many people telling me that they read it, made me feel like my vote and my voice really was heard... Even if it was heard after the event.  

I am still working on getting politically educated.  I feel like I am totally lost in everything, so much garbage to sort through before we actually learn the facts, but that's okay :) making the effort to learn about the issues is important.  Anyway, I just wanted to make sure that I thanked everyone for giving me the chance to be heard.  It meant a lot to me. 

About the Jones Family:

I feel like I've left my family out of this jonesy blog a little too long, so here is some fun information about our upcoming life plans in chronological order (I hope).

Turkey friend

November 21: Brandon's sister is flying to Utah for Thanksgiving, and his parents are driving in.(And Steve?)  

Thanksgiving (22nd): 

-We are eating Dinner with my family (Johnson's) around 1pm

-Next we are eating pie and hanging out with my Smith's around 5pm

 -Hopefully we'll see our Jones's before bed around 7pm.

(Just so everyone knows, these were all tentative plans and are in no means written in stone... only in blog... which is totally changeable. I just wanted to write down how I see it going, so I can be corrected before the day if needed :) )

From the Festival of Trees

Another weekend that is exciting is the first weekend in December:

Friday: Festival of Trees at the Sandy Expo Center :) :) :)

Saturday: Michael McLean's Forgotten Christmas Carols

Basically that wasn't a lot of information, but it was a lot of stuff that I am so ridiculously excited about.  I absolutely love the holiday season and I am thrilled to be Christmas shopping at all :) even if it is really really small this year.  I just appreciate the season and the love that fills the air :) 

Dealing with Election Results

      Last night was really exciting.  Then really nerve-wracking. Ultimately it was devastating for me.  I am scared.  I was counting on America to elect Mitt Romney for President.  And I was just sure that it was the best thing for us.  I sincerely appreciate every minute of time that the Romney's put into this campaign.  I sincerely appreciate the integrity that he held onto for this entire campaign.  I wish that Obama supporters could be more humane towards these people.  I just spent a good 30 minutes on Ann and Mitt's Facebook pages, and there are so many cruel comments about them.  I do not think our nation can afford to pick on each other.  I think that we need to recognize that America needs people who are looking out for each other.  

      Let me just say my thoughts because I think they are worth mentioning.  I totally get that people voted for issues like abortion, or gay rights.  I get that those are big issues, but ultimately, I don't feel like either of those issues outweighed the financial issues that we are facing as a nation.  I do not understand how Americans can be uneducated about the national debt.  I am very under educated, I'll be the first to admit it, but I do know that if something doesn't change fast, we are headed for a huge crisis. 

      I guess the root of my anger about last nights results stems from fear.  I am terrified of the future of our nation.  I am scared of a lot of things.  I am afraid of raising my children in a nation with family morals that have been completely undermined and ultimately destroyed.  I am devastated to think that abortion is something that parts of our country find perfectly acceptable. I am terrified about what will happen to us as a nation when we can't borrow any more money.  What will we do when the dollar just crumbles? Will we have disasters like Greece? Will we be able to maintain any form of democracy? Will our military just collapse leaving us defenseless? Will we end up with wars on American soil? Will my babies be safe? Will I be safe? Will my job be enough to pay my bills with inflation still going nuts? What is our future going to be?

      I know some of those questions are not very smart.  I know that a lot of them are legitimate reasons to be afraid.   

      I sincerely hope that Barack Obama succeeds.  His success or his failure is directly tied to our success or failure as a nation.  I wanted so badly for those results to be inaccurate last night.  But they were not.  Nothing we do or say will change what happened last night.  I cried, literally.  Sobbing.  But my tears don't fix anything. I hope that I am able to take this frustration and fear that I have and direct it toward making a difference.  Toward getting educated and then getting involved.  We have to be smart about the next four years or our nation and each of us will suffer. 

      The Lord is in charge.  He knew the outcome of this election before we ever started voting.  He loves each of us.  Including me.  He wants what is best for each of us.  I don't think these next four years will be easy.  But life goes on, the Lord is on our side even if it doesn't feel like it sometimes.  I hope we can all do our part to help this nation before healing is no longer an option.  I hope that we don't waste any time trying to fix the things that we can fix.  I love my Heavenly Father and my Savior.  I know that I can find peace in what has happened through the Atonement of Jesus Christ.  I love that I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  I am so proud of all that Mitt Romney did for me, he got me interested in politics and helped me understand how important it is for me to be involved.  I appreciate the freedoms I have here and I'm so grateful for good people in the world who want to make things better.  Good luck guys.  I hope we succeed together, regardless of our party affiliations. 

God Bless you, Mitt Romney

Election Day!

I wasn't super excited to vote... Until like two days ago... Suddenly it got really exciting... So...

I VOTED

I'll be honest.  I was planning to vote.. In fact this was the first time I've ever voted.  And I'm going to be totally honest.  I am one hundred percent for Mitt Romney.  I hope so badly that he wins. I've prayed and fasted for him.  I know he would make a huge difference in our country.  Well that's all I've got for you guys.. Britain doesn't care about the election... She is tired and hungry again, so I've got to go..

GOOD LUCK MITT!!!!

Weekend Park Goers

My Girl Forever

 This weekend was a lot of fun. Brandon took Britain on what was supposed to be a daddy daughter date, but I crashed their party and went along.  I don't have a lot to say, except, Britain has become an excellent finger food dipper, slidder, climber and runner.  She is my whole world.  Too cute for words. 

Dipping her nuggets in ranch, yum yum

Mommy helping Britain climb up a tube (it was hard!)

Check out daddy's concentration face :)

Britain loves the slide she giggles the whole way down!

This was when we told her it was time to leave... She ran back

Just so you all are aware, I might be an awful blogger this week. Please don't hate me.  I just have a lot on my plate and as much as I want to keep blogging frequently, I have to keep my priorities straight.  I'll be working extra hours this week and trying to write my religion paper.  Thanks for being patient with me.  Also, Brandon recorded Britain talking on the phone with Grandma Jones.  I'm mostly putting the video on here for her sake, but anyone is welcome to watch it.  This is how cute she is every time she talks on the phone :) Enjoy: