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.

Logan Ut.

On Monday we went up to Logan Ut. and saw some friends from the mission. Craig and his wife and then Kyle and his wife as well. At about 7:30 that night we went to a family from the mission that i really loved. it was a total surprise to me. We had a really fun time there we played a game that i totally forgot about, it is called the thimble game. One person picks a topic such as colors and thinks of one in their head (blue). That person takes a thimble full of water and goes around the room to each person playing. Each person has to say a color and whoever says the color the person is thinking (blue) gets the thimble dumped on them. It was really fun playing the game again and we had the best homemade Cheesecake i have ever had.

Later that night we had the Rodemacks come over and hung out with them and we started to play Rock Band. so here are some pictures of our crazy time.

Kyle, Craig, Charlie

Christina and Charlie trying to look cool sticking out tounges out at eachother.

Melissa, Craig and Kyle’s leg

Kyle, Craig, Charlie at Craig’s house

Charlie singing Living on a Prayer.

Graduation!!!!

Well, I finally did it! Going to school full time and working part time for the last 5 years have finally paid off, I have graduated from Arizona State Unversity in Elementary Education!!! The question I have been asked the most was, "Did you see Obama?" Yes, my parents, Charlie, Charlie's mom and dad, and my grandpa came to my commencement where President Obama spoke. Regardless if whether you voted for him, he is our president and it was a once in a lifetime opportunity. On our back to our car, we saw his motorcade of 16+ motorcycle police, several SUV's, 2 limos with the flags on them, an ambulance, a firetruck, several vans etc. We left our house at 2 pm and did not get home until 10 pm. Although it was hot and there a ton of people, I am so glad I was able to share it with the people that I love.
Two days later was my convocation. This is were I got to walk across the stage! Charlie, my parents, my sisters, Charlie's parents, my sister and brother-in-law and their baby, Charlee, my aunt and uncle, and my grandparents were there to celebrate with me. It meant so much to me that my family was there to support me. That night I had a party at my parent's house with my friends and family.

Charlie and I on the way to my Commencement

My friends and I at our Convocation

I have other pictures that I will post later.