FAMILY ANNIVERSARY #15 - TRIP TO PROVO, UT

I was so excited to celebrate our 15th year family anniversary with the family by going to Provo. The reason why we chose Provo was because the Provo City Center Temple had an open house going on right now. Perfect timing for us!!!

We left on Friday and headed down to Provo to our hotel. Our kids just LOVE staying in hotels. We don't get to do that very often, but we have been staying more often than in the past. We decided on Red Robin for dinner and met Laura and Jason, along with Sam!!!

Dinner was not great, but we did enjoy each other's company. After dinner, we took a dip in the pool and earned more points for our fitness challenge.

Saturday morning, we beat the morning rush to breakfast and headed to the temple. It was quite the rat race going back in forth in the lines in the underground parking lot. Luckily the standby line was quick.

After waiting for a little bit, we went into one of the theater rooms, put on the famous booties and watched a 10 minute video of why temples are so important to Mormons. It was beautiful.

It was beautiful. Kate was so touched at the baptismal font that she asked if she could be baptized for cousin Maze when she turned 8. I had to explain to her that girls are only baptized for girls. And then Robyn reminded me that children under 8 don't need any temple ordinances. He is perfect. It still gives me chills just thinking about that perfect nephew. I can't wait to meet him again.

Here are some pictures from online since photography is not allowed.

One of the entries

Baptism font

Staircases

Celestial Room

One of the sealing rooms

A beautiful picture of the temple and the sunset

The end of the tour ends with the Christus

Our pictures as we were leaving!!!

After the temple, we went to Spanish Fork to see Laura's apartment. We had a good laugh about how narrow her kitchen was. Dishwasher in the back, across from the fridge and then the stove. It's cozy!!!

The kids then played the wii and tried out several things. It was very fun!!! Here they are bowling!

the Peterson family!!!

 After the time in Spanish Fork, we went back to Provo to visit with the infamous Thomas family. We like to call them the Fa'aga'i's. Haha!!!

We had a wonderful time visiting at a lunch/dinner!

They brought up back to their cozy apartment. I had to take a picture of their picture frame!!! 

We all signed their frame while we visited even more.

After we were done visiting, we headed up to the Jolley's to visit with our cousins. We had dinner and then played card games while the kids played too. I love that they all get along and love each other.

Faith and Andrew

Dawson, Jony, and Kate

Too much fun!!! Sunday, we attending their full block of meetings at church. I really loved it so much!

The weekend was so much fun and worth every minute of it. I hope the other kids loved it as much as I did. Here's to another 15 years!!!

FAMILY GOAL 2016

Brandon decided that for 2016, our family should focus on being more active. We are definitely more of the couch potato kind. He thought that it would be cool if we would move it and get rewards.

So here's the summary of our 2016 get active challenge!!!

For every minute you are active, you receive 1 point.
For every glass of water you drink, you receive 1 point.
Every time you go out to eat and DON'T drink pop, you receive 10 points.
Each week, you can walk Echo for 20 minutes and receive 10 bonus points! (So you walk her for 20, but receive 30 points.)
And sometimes, if we are being really generous, you can even earn points for trying new foods!!!

I created 12 different prizes that we will receive. Some of them like the trips need to be earned by the complete family. Here is our vision board by the dining room table.

Rewards are accumulative, so you never loose points. Here's the summary of the rewards!

600 points - movie at the Reel Theater
1200 points - treat at Kiwi Loco or Geraldines
2000 points - movie at the big nice theater
2900 points - Outer Limits night
3900 points - dinner with the family
5000 points - $20 each
6100 points - board game
7200 points - moive at the big nice theater
8300 points - trip to West Yellowstone
9400 points - new shirt and pants
10,500 points - $40 each
12,000 points - trip to DISNEYLAND!!!

So, so excited to be more active and for the family to work towards these goals!!! Woot, woot! I will take monthly pictures to chart our progress. Good luck everyone!!!

SUPER MOIST THANKSGIVING 2015

This year was with Brandon's family. We were excited that we would be able to go down to Utah and spend time with Amy and Justin and the kids. And then about 2 weeks before, we figured to out that Brandon was on call. It was a pretty big blow to our plans. Since we couldn't leave the area, we made different plans. We invited the Fa'aga'i's to join, Kathy & Jerry if they didn't go down to Utah, the missionaries, and my parents.

The night before prepping...  Pie shell for the coconut cream pie

Rainbow jello

Blessing mix

That morning, we woke up to fresh powder! They said we got over 4 inches. So glad that we didn't have to drive on slick roads for the holidays.

I put on comfy clothes, a facial mask, and the Macey's Thanksgiving Day Parade. My idea of a great morning!!! I also stuffed all of the Christmas cards too. I know, overachiever.

Faith split a cup of water...

Brandon taking out the turkey...

We enjoyed a super moist turkey, mash potatoes, gravy, stuffing, corn, rainbow jello, and homemade rolls! It was delicious! We had planned to eat at 1:00 pm. The hardest part of Thanksgiving dinner is the timing. As I pulled out the last tray of rolls and called the family to the table, the clock turned 1:00 pm. That was my absolute favorite part!

Grandpa and Grandma

Faith, Dawson, and Dad

Mom and Kate

And while we were enjoying dinner, these two decided to start talking to their jello. It was really funny!!!

For dessert, we had the choice of coconut cream, pumpkin, and apple pie. It was delicious!!!

We visited with my mom and dad early in the evening. And I ate some super good cherry pie!

I really enjoyed the whole day. It was a different Thanksgiving than we have ever had, but it was a beautiful day. We have so much to be grateful for. Our homes, freedom, our religion, physical bodies and strength, our minds, family, friends... My list could go on and on. So grateful for this day to reflect and hope that we continue everyday to be grateful for all that we have. Hope you had a blessed Thanksgiving too! Love you all!

MISSIONARY FILLED WEEK

This week was a missionary filled week. The missionaries happen to stop by on Sunday night. That was when Brandon told me that I was supposed to call the ward mission leader to sign up for a dinner.

Elder Earley played the guitar. (He is really good)

And we took a picture of the missionaries - Elder Kim, Elder Earley, Elder Holiday

That was Sunday. Making the phone call, we found out that we would have them over for dinner on Saturday, but that meant that we wouldn't have Elder Earley. Another call later, we invited them over for dinner on Monday night, which used to be a regular thing for the Jolley household.

We served breakfast for dinner so that they could try pumpkin french toast!

We played General Conference Jeopardy which was fun to stump all of us. Good times!

Thursday morning, we got to pick up on of "our" missionaries and bring her to the airport to go home. Sister Richins really touched our lives and we just loved getting to know and love her. It was sad to see her go, but I hope that she continues to stay in touch with us!!!

Seeing her through security at the Pocatello Airport.

Saturday, Elder Kim requested that we do a 'greenie' dinner for Elder Holiday who didn't get his greenie dinner yet (he's been out about 6 weeks now.) I did not want to disappoint.

Green beef pot pie

Green salad

Green pistachio fluff

It was fun to have them over again. They taught us the message of the Restoration for practice. And for practice, Brandon pretended to be Catholic. We will just have to follow up with them the next time that we see them to see how things are going.

We love having the missionaries over because it fills our home with the spirit. It's really like nothing else. They are young and full of life. Plus they have deep and growing testimonies of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you Elder Earley, Elder Kim, Elder Holiday, and Sister Richins for filling our week with missionaries!

HALLOWEEN 2015

Friday was the Halloween parade and classroom parties at Chubbuck Elementary. I was able to help in Kate's classroom and it was very fun!

Kate had decided Thursday night that she did not want to be Snow White anymore, but I was thrilled when Grandma Cindy helped us pull this off. She was the only Snow White that I saw (both at Chubbuck Elementary and out trick or treating). She was just beautiful

Pictures with friends!

Kate and Jacie

Jordy, Kate, Jacie

Emma, Kate, Jacie

Jacie, Sophie, Kate, Emily, Maddie

I ended up helping with a craft. It was crazy! Thursday night I found out that I had a craft (thanks to kids who had my phone when the room mom texted me back - that was Saturday!). I decided on a paper plate ghost but I couldn't find any white crate paper in town! So Friday, I changed my mind to do a bat silhouette with paints and pencil erasers. It was a messy project, but it worked out okay.

Saturday also ended up to be crazy, but a whole lot of fun! I did Faith's hair in a mohawk braid and then we spray painted it!!!

Snow White on Saturday

the Eskimo

Effie from the Capital

My 3 kiddos!

We did a neighborhood trunk or treat and then went to my mom's house. After the first stop, Kate, Dawson and Jordan did a little bit of trick or treating around their neighborhood.

Next stop! Visiting Grandma Zoey 

Final stop of the night! Visiting with Grandma Kathy

The kids enjoyed the time out and did really well this year! Dawson did get too hot so he kept taking off his costume! Haha!

Here are our other favorite peeps across the country!

Beauchats - NY

Grace, Olivia, Bryleigh

Bohneys - TX

Myah, Cambrie

Ethan, Kaden, Chase, Cambrie

Mr. Jordan

Royces' - Nampa

Hallee, Jadyn, Kaylor, Colt, Bristol

Petersons - UT

Sam

We hope you had a very fun and safe Halloween!!! Love you all!