Friday, October 17, 2014

SCHOOL PICTURES FALL 2014

8th grade

5th grade

2nd grade

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

THIS GIRL OF MINE

This girl of mine. She is beautiful, talented, and has the sweetest heart I know. I love her! As I listened to Glorious by David Archuleta, I wanted to sing it to her! I know that I would never want to go back and be a teenager again. It's tough... so I hope she knows (I tell her daily) that I love her and that she can do hard things! We are all special, but we are given special gifts by a loving Heavenly Father. So, it's time to play our part!!!



Glorious - David Archuleta

There are times when you might feel aimless
You can't see the places where you belong
But you will find that there is a purpose
It's been there within you all along and when you're near it
You can almost hear it.

[Chorus:]
It's like a symphony just keep listenin'
And pretty soon you'll start to figure out your part
Everyone plays a piece and there are melodies
In each one of us, oh, it's glorious

You will know how to let it ring out as you discover who you are
Others around you will start to wake up
To the sounds that are in their hearts
It's so amazin', what we're all creatin'

[Chorus:]
It's like a symphony just keep listenin'
And pretty soon you'll start to figure out your part
Everyone plays a piece and there are melodies
In each one of us, oh, it's glorious

[Bridge:]
And as you feel the notes build
You will see

[Chorus:]
It's like a symphony just keep listenin'
And pretty soon you'll start to figure out your part
Everyone plays a piece and there are melodies
In each one of us, oh, it's glorious

Tuesday, October 7, 2014

LIFE AD - ECHO

I think that we are now referring life to BD and AD (before dog and after dog.)Yes, life is different, but very fun with a puppy. She is sweet and has been a lot of fun for our family!

Soon after we got her, the kids really didn't want to help. We have had a couple of come to Jesus meetings. The discussions mostly go like this: "Everyone here in this family wanted a dog. She is a living creature and needs us to help take care of her. That means that everyone will help!"

Puppys are cute!

She has even lost a bunch of teeth. (We found two just the other day. I'm guessing that she ate the other ones.)

She loves to please us and gets the zoomies after bathtime. It is so funny to watch her run around the yard and act completely and totally obsessed. I have to say that we are a little obsessed with her.

So, imagine the shock and horror of it all when our cute little chewbacca was totally given the worst hair cut ever. I seriously had tears in my eyes. It took all that I had to hold it together. Even she looks sad about this hair cut.

Short, short, and shorter!

Falling asleep after the day at puppy day care, her hair cut and then puppy class. She seems to fall asleep everywhere. A lot of times she even sleeps on her back which I find quite hilarious!

And she likes to snuggle and jump up when she is allowed to.

A lot of hard work and training will still be in her future. She is now digging (especially at Aunt Tracy's house), climbs and jumps the kennel at doggie daycare, still has the zoomies, and just today brought in a dead (decaying) bird and egg to stink up the whole house! We love our little fuzzball and are glad she is part of our family!

Monday, October 6, 2014

IT"S A JOLLEY CONFERENCE HOLIDAY! OCT 2014

We always look forward to general conference! This time was no exception! I took the day before off so that I was able to do a lot of prep work for conference. Here are the kids getting all settled in for the night. Even Echo wanted to play in the tent!

The next morning, we ate pumpkin french toast and got all ready!

Here is a little sampling of snacks that we have for conference. Granola bars, crackers with spray cheese, cookies, chips, licorice, trail mix, nuts, gummies, and that BEST fruit tray with fruit dip!!!

We also usually have danimals (Dawson LOVES these) and string cheese. I also made homemade salted nut rolls and homemade twix. You can see the pumpkin french toast below as well.

The kids had fun coloring, writing notes, and listening to conference. We even had the sister missionaries over to our house to eat turkey pot pie between the sessions on Sunday. Towards the end, Kate wanted to show me our family.
Kate- pretty
Dawson- funny
Faith- gorgeous
Mom-  helpful
Dad- smart

I loved that she took the time to write some of our talents down and that she wanted to share them with us!

We are so lucky to be able to hear conference and listen to the words from the Lord. I am working on already re listening so that I can pick my top 3. Have you already decided which ones are yours?

Saturday, October 4, 2014

I'M NOT A CHILD ANYMORE! 14 YEARS

I can't believe this little beauty is already 14 years old!!! She decided to tell me that night that she was not a child anymore! How sad! I hope that she still needs us because we need her!

We started out the day by having her eat on the you are special red plate. And then she was able to bring one friend with her to the spa!

Bailey 
  Faith

Receiving makeovers!

Beautiful girls!


Receiving pedicures and eating Wendys!

Finally receiving manicures too!


Their toes!



Faith is quite lucky to have some really good friends! Thank you Bailey for helping make Faith's day special!

Faith also had her family party and BOY! Was she spoiled? She received skinny jeans, jewelry, books, money, candy, boots, and a shirt! It was AMAZING!




Here is Faith when Brandon showed her that her cake was Black Veil Brides!

Then we sang happy birthday to this amazing, beautiful, and talented daughter of mine!!!

We also surprised her with 14 reasons why we love her through text messages. It was a fun way to celebrate and I hope that she appreciates it! You'll have to guess which texts are from me and which ones are from Brandon!

#1 - We love your smile and dimple when you get laughing really hard!
#2 - You are such a sweet and caring friend to everyone around you!
#3 - You are so helpful around the house! We know we can always count on you to pitch in!
#4 - You are a great example to Dawson and Kate and to others around! Thank you for making good choices!
#5 - You have a very strong testimony of Jesus Christ and the gospel.
#6 - You love everyone no matter what they look like or even act like. You are very accepting!
#7 - Your smile lights up the room!
#8 - Your eyes are beUtiful!
#9 - You have great taste in music like your Dad!
#10 - The way you thirst for knowledge and love reading!
#11 - The patience you show towards your crazy family!
#12 - You often remind us that things aren't the end of the world and that we are going to make it till tomorrow. Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya!
#13 - The way you think you need to be my English teacher...
#14 - You are just the bomb in every way. We were so blessed to have you in our family! So thankful that Heavenly Father put us all together to learn and grow!

Keep making us proud! We love you! Big hugs!