One of those days.........Weeks.............Months!!!

Ever had one of those days?



When it seems like the whole world is pushing down on your shoulders?

That's how my week has been!

I would love to relax, maybe even get one of these.......


Or take a nap here.................





Maybe someday, when this is finished.....

Soon, I tell myself, Soon I will be relaxing in the comfort of my new home!

Swim like a fish

Trent and Easton took swimming lessons last month.

(yes I am only bogging about it now, three weeks later)

They had such a great time. The really love the water, they must get that from me, being how Jason never learned how to swim. (that's right babe, your secret is out!)

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Their cousins, Xander and Tristan,

took them as well!

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It turns out that Trent is a very good swimmer, so good that he was bumped up to the next class on the first day of lessons. This isn't much of a surprise being that Trent is so adventurous and very athletic.

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It also turns out that Easton, is a class clown.

This isn't shocker to me either. I've always figured that Trent would be the brains of any operation and Easton would just be there for comic relief. Although he did very well and passed the class, he just kept the teachers very entertained while doing it.

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4 wheels on the 4th

This year for the 4th of July we headed for the hills. We usually stick around town and do the whole tradition of parades, and parks, and fireworks. But since we haven't had much of a chance to go camping this year we decided that we'd take the kids and join the rest of the Jones clan at our favorite spot, Cold Springs in the fish lake national forest.

We had so much fun, we rode 4-wheelers and fished and just hung out with our family. Trent and Easton caught a few fish and they thought that was the coolest thing. I had forgotten how much I LOVE our camp spot.

On the 4th we all packed up our coolers and 4-wheelers and made a day ride, by the time we got back to camp we had gone 70 miles. Talk about sore bum's, The boys were troopers and loved the whole thing. Sister rode on the razr with Papa and Gloria and was so happy to sit on Gloria's lap.

We had to cross several streams along the way and one of the times we took advantage of the cool water to wash off a little of the dust. We first started by just splashing through the river on the 4-wheelers, then one of the kids rolled up their pants and was wading in the water, little by little the clothes became more and more wet. By the end my boys were swimming in there unders and even a few of us adults were enjoying the water. It was so much fun to see the kids playing and I think the memory of the long 4-wheeler ride when we swam in the river will stick with them for a long time to come.

The past 7 yrs. In a Nutshell.

Seven years ago today, on a very, very hot Friday morning (very early 7:00 am to be exact) Jason Richard Jones and I were married for time and all eternity in the Salt Lake Temple. It seems so crazy to think that it has been seven years already. So much has happened in the past seven years.
We bought a house, got a dog and a cat. Lost both the dog and the cat.
Tried our hand at parenting, (yes we decided to take on a kid even though we couldn't take care of our pets. Thankfully we did much better at parenting then we did at pet-owning.) thus came about Trenton.
Had another kid, just 12 months and 3 weeks later. The result was Easton. Without him rushing to join our family, Trent would have ended up an only child.
We got a degree in Business from UT St. I say "We" because I did write several papers for Jason's English class so I deserve at least 4 credits of that degree.
Sold our cute little house on Fox Run.
Bought a new house. Did months and months of remodeling.
Had another baby, sweet little Bryn Leigh
Sold house on 550 South
Began construction on our dream home.

Through all that changing we have grown more and more in love, for each other and our little family.

Love you Jason, here to seventy more years just like the last 7 ( or maybe 5 wink, wink.)

Framing Complete!!!! (almost)

Here it is! This is the makings of our new home. It is coming along so nicely, with only a few delays. The weather earlier this month did set us back a few days, but we are still hoping to be in sometime in Sept.

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The Grand Tour

There is a bonus room above the garage but the window hasn't been cut out yet. Jason is so excited to have a large garage.

Looking from the kitchen toward the great room and bedrooms.

Looking up the stairs toward the bonus room. Jason and I added the window just this week (it's a good thing my framer is patient with me) so we could see our awesome view of the lake.

The Back View, the covered patio is one of my favorite things.

My New Venture

I am going to start doing more photography as a business. I have always done it here and there but now I'm going to focus (no pun intended) on it more as a business than just as a hobby. Hopefully if things go well we can put a studio in the basement of my new home. Wish me luck and send anyone that you know in need of photography my way.

The new website is: www.amandajonesphoto.blogspot.com/

I don't have all of my portfolio online yet as much of it is still in storage, but I will add more pics as time allows.

I plan on doing mostly location shoots, weddings, engagements, bridals, senior pictures, families and I would love to do sports photography since it seems like I am always at sporting events.

Thanks for your support, and referrals.

Amanda

The Framing Has Begun!

It may not give you chills to see a bunch of 2x4's and some plywood all nailed together like it does Jason and I, but never the less the framing has begun!

We are so excited to see the progress on our new home.

With a little bit of luck we will be in by Easton's birthday-Sept 18.

The boys are pretending to "sleep" in their future bedroom.
The back view.

The View From Our Front Porch! Isn't it Amazing!

Well at least it will be when we cleanup the trees a little.

The boys think we have a pond in our front yard. Thanks to good ole' mother nature, who by the way isn't helping with this whole process.

A day off.

We have been so busy with all that goes along with building the house that we haven't had much time to do anything fun.

So we took the boys out to do something they love.

Ride four-wheelers and we stopped for a picnic on the way.

The boys had a blast, and so did Jason and I. It was a nice little break from all the chaos.

Rain Rain Go Away!!!!

This is what the weather forecast looks like for five of the next seven days. This doesn't help me with my timeline to build a house. I had to cancel concrete this morning because it can't set up in the RAIN. So now I'm begging, like the old song I used to sing as a kid.

Rain, Rain Go Away Come Again Another Day.....

like a Sunday, that would be nice, we don't work on Sunday's anyway!

THS Class of 2009

Don't Wait For The World To Get You.....
YOU Go Get The World.

SUCCESS IS NOT A GOAL,
IT IS THE JOURNEY... IT IS NOT ONE THING,
IT IS THE EVENTS LEADING UP TO THE END. Anonymous

Congratulations Michael!!!!!
We are proud of you and of the person that you are.

Thanks for being such a great Uncle to our kids. Good Luck!!!