It's a BOY!!!

Sorry this post is so short, I promise to post more later, but I just wanted to let everyone know that Charlie and I are expecting a healthy baby boy! Here are our ultrasound pictures!!!

Baby's face

It's definitely a boy!

Baby's active legs!

Tomorrow's the Big Day!

Tomorrow we find out whether we are having a little boy or little girl! Charlie wants a boy and I want a girl, but would both be so happy with either! Not only am I excited to find out what we are having, I am so happy to see our little boy or girl and find out how he/she is doing developmentally.

Update on the pregnancy:
I am feeling much better over all, but still get really nauseated first thing in the morning and in the evenings, going to bed is really hard because I feel so sick. I try to catch up on my sleep on the weekends because the school week is so busy! My stomach is getting bigger, but still just looks like I've had to much cookies! I am feeling the baby move a lot more, but Charlie hasn't been able to feel it yet, hopefully he will soon!

Any guesses on what we are having? We will let you know tomorrow!

My New Job!!!

Yes, you read that right, I got a long term sub position in the Chandler School District! This position is really an answer to my prayers to be able to bring in some extra income before we have our baby. I got a call on Monday, interview on Wednesday, and started Thursday! I am working full time in a K-2 MIMR (Mildly Mental Retardation) special education classroom until Christmas Break. There are ten students and four adults including me in the room (for those of you who are not familiar with special ed, believe or not but 4 adults to 10 children is not enough!) The other 3 women that I work with are so sweet, flexible, and awesome to work with!

I love this job, but it is extremely tiring, plus I am still teaching all of my piano students three nights a week! I have pulled 12 hour days plenty of times while going to school and working, but it is a little different when you are pregnant! Pregnant women are not meant to be on their feet for 8 hours in nice shoes and bend over to tables at knee height all day! I am getting used to it and putting my feet up at lunch.

I couldn't be happier about this job, if all goes well, they may have a position for me come January! I just wanted to share my happy news!

Two Trips in Two Weekends

Conference weekend Charlie and I drove to Utah for his mission reunion and to go to Conference. It was a very quick trip that went something like this:

Thursday - Left 7:15 am for Utah. Saw my aunt and uncle that evening in Salt Lake.

Friday - Visited with my Grandparents in SLC and picked up their Conference tickets. (My grandfather used to be a General Authority and gets amazing tickets)

-5:00pm head to Provo for the Mission Reunion but got there at 7:00pm because of lovely rush hour and the BYU vs. Utah State game. (it is only about a 40 minute drive)

-8:00pm go to dinner with friends from high school and their wives. (David Lake and Zach DeFrancis)

-10:00pm go back to reunion because some people showed up after we left and really wanted to see us. We ended up staying out with these guys until 1am!!!

Saturday - Watch morning conference at my cousin's apartment

- 2:00 Attend Conference at the Conference Center.

- 5:00 head to Bountiful where my other grandparents live and where the rest of my mom's family is meeting for dinner. I visited with the women and Charlie went to the Priesthood session with the men.

-9:30 head back to SLC

Sunday- Eat breakfast at a friend's house that we did not get to see at the reunion

-Head back to AZ

WOW! It was a really fun weekend, but too short!!! I highly recommend the experience of going to conference, it is amazing to be in the same room as the prophet, apostles, and general authories! Here are a couple of pictures:

Charlie and I outside of the Conference Center
Our view at the Conference Center

Charlie and I outside of the SLC Capitol Building which is where we parked to go to Conference!
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The following weekend was our ward's campout. I was really nervous about going because I had been so sick the night before. Luckily I felt much better Friday and we were on our way that afternoon. We borrowed Charlie's parents pop up camper, which was really nice because it was really cold that night. There was not a lot of people there, but it was still really fun. We made beef stew in the dutch oven and smores! We played Phase 10 with friends of ours before deciding we were all too cold and it was time for bed. In the morning after breakfast we walked down to a creek that was behind our camp ground. It was a really fun camp out but I am going to think twice about camping in October again!

Charlie seeing if there is anything more to see of the creek

Charlie and I

Our friends and their baby Spencer, Kirsten, and baby Zoe

(this is the only picture we had of them)

Nevermind

So apparently I spoke too soon this morning in my earlier post about feeling better and going 2 weeks without throwing up. Today has been awful and I've thrown up 7 times in 7 hours! It must be a bug. I was trying to wean myself off of Zofran and decided to see how I would do today if I did not take it. Apparently not so well. I guess I'll be taking it tomorrow!

My Pregnancy Updated

A lot of people have been asking me how my pregnancy is going so here is the update:

- I am 13 ½ weeks
- I have gone 2 weeks without throwing up! Before then I threw up at least once a day and lost 16 pounds as a result.
- My tummy is getting bigger
- We have not had an ultrasound, but we will have one around Thanksgiving to find out the gender of the baby!
- I have been feeling better, but I still have nausea and fatigue.
- Because I have been feeling better, I am starting to substitute teach, which I love!
- I swear this baby is taking brain cells from me because I am so forgetful and ditzy!

We could not be happier about this pregnancy, thanks for all the congratulations!

Diamondbacks Game!

Last night my family and I went to the Diamondbacks game. Unfortunately Charlie wasn't able to go because he had to work. My dad was able to get incredible tickets through one of his patients who is a ticket broker! Our seats were on the first and second row right behind the SF Giant's dugout! It was a ton of fun, even though we lost 4-5.

This is our view of the game!

Baxter throwing out T-shirts

Drew batting

Elizabeth , dad, and I looking at the World Series trophy.

Jennifer, mom, me, and dad standing outside of the stadium.

We're Expecting!!!

Yes you read that correctly, Charlie and I are expecting our first baby in April! We heard our baby's heartbeat for the first time this morning. At first it just sounded like static, but then we could hear a good, strong heartbeat. The doctor said everything sounds fine and the baby is probably around 2 inches.
This is the best feeling ever to finally confirm that everything is going ok. Even though I have been throwing up every day, hearing the heartbeat made it more real that we are pregnant. We can't wait for April to come so we can meet our beautiful baby. The Jones Family is a waiting the new family member with excitement and love!

Good bye Old Friend

So over the past couple of weeks we have been shopping for new cars. well on the 22 of Aug we bought a brand new Focus. The CARS Program from the government was running out and we would never get $4500 for my truck so we traded it in. After 3 hours getting the price we wanted we walked out with our first car Christina and I have ever bought.

Last Night with MY Yellow Truck. Sad Sad Night.

Our New Car. I like it but now we have two Ford Focus. This is a really cool car and has come a long way from what my wife’s car is (now it is my car, the old focus that is.)

Happy Birthday!

Thursday was my 23rd birthday! It was Charlie's last day of summer school and he had to work so I didn't get to see him until about 6:30 that night. Lucky for me I have a great family that I was able to do things with all day! My mom and I got a pedicure in the early afternoon and then my sisters, mom, and I went to As You Wish to paint pottery. It is very fun and relaxing!

Jennifer, Me, and Elizabeth

Elizabeth, me and my mom painting

That night Charlie met up with me and my family at The Cheesecake Factory (my dad was able to get some gift cards on trade)

Dad, Mom, Jennifer, Me, and Charlie
After dinner I opened presents. Jennifer created my birthday cake. She made it a "road of my life" It was basically a road she made out of fondant. She then put little figurines along the road that represented milestones of my life. It was so cool!

I got so many other nice things, too much to mention. On Sunday we went over to my in-laws to celebrate my birthday and my father-in-law's birthday. We had tacos and a really yummy cake!

Overall my birthday was amazing! Thank to my family and family-in-law for everything and to my friends for their birthday wishes!

Friends!

On July 26th we had our friends over from high school. Brittany and Dan, Shane and Lonna (and Drake), Matt, and Peru (Maurico) came over for dinner. It was so fun to have everyone over to our place. Dinner was delicious and dessert was even better!

Here we are eating the wonderful cake that Brittany and Dan brought over.

The guys decided to break out Rock Band. We had a lot of fun watching them!

Drake was fanscinated with the Rock Band. He was dancing along with the music.

We had such as great time we can not wait until we get together again soon!

Camping

My family's ward had their campout at the end of July and Charlie and I got to go! We got a tent for our wedding and hadn't been able to use it until now! Yes, it is little, it is a backpacking tent and it is perfect for the two of us!

This is our tent all set up! It is so easy to set up, I could it up by myself!

Charlie and I

Charlie lounging around in other people's comfy chairs.

Wicked!!!

For our 2 year anniversary and my graduation gift, Charlie bought me Wicked tickets! For those of you who do not know what Wicked is, it is one of the biggest things on Broadway. It is the story of how the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz became wicked. Basically it is the story of what happened before the Wizard of Oz! I had seen the Broadway play 3 years ago and absolutely loved it! I used to play the sounds track all the time and because of that Charlie has become very familiar with the music! This was his first Broadway play and my 5th! Our seats were on the 14th row, on the far right. They were amazing seats! We had so much fun, it was a spectacular show. Thanks so much Charlie, I love you!

Our play bill, tickets, charm and the bag it came in.

Picture of us at the end of the night

This is a close up of the charm that I bought. It is the big clock that they had on stage, Elphaba’s broom, and Glinda’s wand.

Hanging Out With Friends

On Monday, Charlie and I went to our friends' house, Lonna and Shane. Brittany and Dan Calkins and Matt Petrie were also there! Lonna and Shane just bought a house out in Queen Creek and it is beautiful. It was so fun to have a BBQ and catch up since we all have not seen each other in such a long time! We all decided that we all need to get together a lot more often!

I PASSED!!!

I found out last night that I passed the Middle School Math AEPA test! This was the hardest test I have ever taken and I was sure that I did not pass. I missed part of our trip to Utah and Yellow Stone to take this test. It was a 4 hour test and I barely finished when time was up. Although it was a middle school math test, it covered high school and college math, none of which I really remembered. Now that I have passed I am highly qualified to teach Middle School math, which is my number one choice in a job!

Still no word on a job, it is really frustrating to finally graduate and then have no offers. I have heard of countless stories of people getting hired the week or days before school starts, so I am crossing my fingers and praying for a job, it is not over yet! If I do not get a job, and Charlie is able to keep his job, then I will substitute teach. If he loses his job, then I will need to get a job that will provide benefits for us.

Fourth of July

Today was our ward's Fourth of July breakfast, Christina and I are on the activities committee so we got to help out with this one. This was our first one that we have been able to attend because the last one was when we were out of town. So this morning we get up and are at the church at 7am (that is early for us, since we have been getting up around 9 or 10 each morning). Christina started to make the Tang and Lemonade while I helped put up tables and chairs. Then proceeded to make pancake batter. Like always I got it all over my clothes and the counter that I was working on. By now it is 8 and the food is ready. My mom and dad and Christina's sisters came I am sure they had a good time even though I did not get to sit with them, I was busy helping cooking or just getting things out. It was a lot of fun!

Charlie had to work Saturday night and my parents were out of town, so my sisters and I decided to check out the carnival at Mesquite High School. We soon found out it was more geared for families with small children, but we had fun anyways! The firework show was the best part of the whole night! It was a solid half hour show and the finale was amazing!

Christina, Jennifer, and Elizabeth

I loved the firework show!

The Loss of 6 Family Members to the East Coast

Now the title sounds like they died but that is not the case. My sister and her 4 sons and her husband have left for the east coast for 3 years. Matt got into school back there. As this is eating my sister up inside but like the Jones in her, she is being strong. To my sister that has giving me a lot of grief over the past decade (and I have giving my share of it as well) I want to say thanks for all the good time we have had. Some of the best times were watching her play volleyball or camping out in the great outdoors.

Mileage of the Trip!!!!

First leg of the trip started at Christina’s parents house in Chandler Az, and ended at her Grandparents' in Bountiful Ut. which is about 684 miles.

Next was bountiful to Ashton Id. it was 255 miles. It was a little more because of the detour we took to see Bill's aunt and uncle. I did not drive to the park, or around the park so I am not including that in this report.

On Saturday we drove from Ashton to Jackson Wy. that was 71 miles.

That afternoon Christina and I drove from Jackson Wy. to Salt Lake City Ut. that was about 273 miles.

The next day we drove from Salt Lake City Ut. to St. George Ut. that was about 302 miles.

And last but not least from St. George Ut. to HOME it was about 431 miles.

So lets add it all up and we get…..2016 miles.

Long way to go for such a great trip. oh and my wife drove form Cedar City Ut. to St. George Ut. But then again I didn’t need her to dive but she wanted to drive so I let her.

Map of Yellowstone, the Places we went.

These where the highlights of the one day we went to Yellowstone National Park.

Yellowstone

Last year is was my grandparent’s 50th wedding anniversary but they were serving a mission in Nauvoo and not everyone was able to go back there to celebrate, so we decided all of my mom’s family would go to Yellowstone this summer to celebrate!

We all stayed in a cabin in Aston, Idaho and drove to Yellowstone on Thursday. We saw Old Faithful, Artist’s Pointe, Painted Pots, Bison, and Elk. It was a lot of driving, but walkies talkies in each car made the car ride fun! Here are some of the pictures we took that day.

Entering Yellowstone!

We saw these bison from the side of the road.

Charlie and I in front of the painted pots.

This is one of the painted pots, I am not sure why they call them that, but they are geothermal ponds that are basically boiling water. It is amazing to see how blue they are and to see the steam rising up!

This was a really cool tree that had fallen over. What you see is the roots and we are standing on the trunk.

My little cousins were taking our picture and wanted us to kiss for one of the pictures! Of course we were more than happy to!

Charlie and I sat in the back of my parents car the whole time.

Charlie and I waiting for Old Faithful to erupt.

It was really cold, so there was a lot of steam that made it hard for us to see Old Faithful, but here it is! This was Charlie’s first time seeing it and he was disappointed, it wasn’t as cool as he thought it would be.

These were Elk that we saw from the side of the road.

All three of these pictures are at Artist’s Point. Here is where you can see the yellow stones and this amazing waterfall. It was so beautiful. Charlie and I both agree this was our favorite part about Yellowstone.