Excitement & Surprises

I went to the doctor last Thur (36 wk appt) and these were his exact words, "I'd pack your bags because it could happen any day now." After a little pause, he then said, "Am I the only one excited here?" The nurse was looking at me waiting for some kind of reaction. I just didn't know what to think at this point. I've been worried for a few weeks already that this baby was going to come too soon and then for him to say that; I'm just not quite ready yet. I mean I've had my bags packed the the car seat in the car for a couple weeks now, but I just want this baby to make it to Oct. Anyway, some mixed feelings there.

Another surprise that happened that day that I think I was more excited about was a sign that said, "Hobby Lobby comming soon." I was first introduced to this store while living in Texas, later found out that it was in Utah close to my in-laws, but no where to be found where we are living in Washington. I don't think I've every been this excited about a store.

Happy Birthday Joe!

His birthday was last Mon (13th). I wasn't sure what to do for his cake, but you can't go wrong with anything relating to basketball so this was pretty safe--He loved it, and I loved making it for him.

We were just talking today about how his birthday really starts off every other celebration in our family. Once his birthday hits then we'll have baby brother's birthday (still waiting to find out exactly when), followed by Halloween, Thanksgiving, Brooklyn's birthday, my birthday, our anniversary, then Christmas. It's a wonderful time here in the Jones family!

August Events

Many inside and outside projects were being done this month while we took advantage of Joe being home most of the time until the new school year started. Before our July vacations, all we had set up were our beds so the first thing to do was to go through and unpack all the boxes.

Living Room

(Before)

After

Family Room
(Before-completely full of boxes I can hardly get in the room)

After

Utility/Storage room

(hopefully there will be a washer & dryer here by the end of the year)

lots of storage closets-a perfect size for a little hiding spot

Kitchen-cleaned up and finished with the new tile

Dining area with an actual table and not our usual card table we've been using for the past 5 years (I was so excited when I found this table at a second hand store in fairly good condition)

Bathroom

(Before)

After

Brooklyn's Room
(Before)

After

Baby Brother's Room
(Before)

After

Sorry you don't get to see our room because frankly, it's not finished--the bed's up and made with boxes of clothes and things all around (mostly my stuff, I will admit).

Outside projects happen rain or shine because we're running out of time. It's too late to get a garden started for this year, but we want to prep the area so it's all ready to go for next year.

Not where the garden will be, but I grew up mowing lawns and always hated mowing around trees. I had a better idea for this little area.

(Before)

After

And where did all the grass go? We threw some of it away but most of it, we laid it in other areas of the yard that hadn't grown grass in years. Most of the grass has taken root and looks fantastic. Did I mention this was my Grandparent's home so I know what it use to look like--everything needed a good sprucing up.

I'm all about straight lines when it comes to mowing the yard so we're cutting out more grass. Some of this area will be for planting flowers and some will be for a garden.

(Before)

After

Main Garden area for next year--pulling out these Yuka plants this fall
(Before)

After

Trying to straighten out this side
(Before)

After--ran out of grass to transplant but hopefully we can get more to grow by watering

I feel like I can finally work on my pitaful food storage now that we have room to store it and don't have to worry about packing it all up and moving it half way across the country. We may still move again but hopefully within a short distance. Also, being 4 blocks away from my Mom, I have to take advantage of her homemaking skills that I never really did while I lived a home.

Homemade Granola

(I made about 4 of these containers full but this is all that was left when I remembered to take a picture)

Freezer Corn

Freezer Peach & Raspberry Jam and Peach Jelly

46 quarts of fruit!!!

This last picture should say it all when I say it was a busy month. I quickly learned my lesson that it is counter productive to try and can while entertaining a 2 year old. It took me 4 hours to do one batch of peaches while Brooklyn was awake. After I put her down for a nap, it only took me 2 1/2 hours to do one batch of peaches. This may still sound like a long time to those of you who can often, but I thought I was doing pretty good considering this was the first time I'd done this all by myself.

July Events

July 1st brought Brooklyn and I flying into WA, and Joe's long drive with the moving truck. Brooklyn and I, of course, arrived that evening while Joe arrived on the 5th. I'm not sure what would have been worse--flying while being pregnant (I got very motion sick) or riding in a car for 4 days. At least the flying was over quickly I guess. We then only had 3 days before we left for McCall, ID, (a couple hours north of Boise) for the Haworth family reunion. Also squeezing in a doctor's appointment with my new doctor before we left traveling again.

HAWORTH REUNION

Activities at the cabin

Treasure hunt (Brooklyn's favorite part was finding and keeping all the clue cards)

Family scripture reading and Family Home Evening

Crafts

Celebrated Grandpa & Grandma's 40th wedding anniversary.

Brooklyn's 1st time fishing and also the 1st one to catch a fish. She caught it within the first 10 min we were there and was done fishing after that. She had more fun throwing rocks in the water with her cousin Reagan.

The view and things we did in the cute little town of McCall.

Walked by the beach

Ate ice cream in a cute little shop in the alley (it had to be chocolate for Brooklyn)

One of Brooklyn's favorite thing was to carry the flag across the street--she just hated putting it back.
Ice Skating--1st time for Brooklyn and a long time since I had been (took me a while to get the hang of it again, but we sure had a lot of fun)

Following the Haworth reunion was the Jones' reunion in Island Park, ID, just outside of Yellowstone National Park.

JONES REUNION
Activities around the cabin
Family Home Evening
A hot tube full of 17 little grandkids and a couple adults
Marshmallow wars (although I didn't think it was a very good idea with the bear that came to visit our cabin the night before)--luckily no more bears and everyone had a safe and fun time
And of course what Brooklyn had been waiting for was for Grandma to paint her fingernails--we picked out the polish before we left on the trip, and Brooklyn picked a purple polish to do Grandpa's nails although that never happened

Yellowstone National Park

Old Faithful

Wildlife up close and personal

Watched a play of "Beauty & the Beast"--Brooklyn was first scared of the beast and would cover her eyes but by the end, she was wondering where he was

While we were gone to the Jones' reunion, my brother and his family came up and laid tile in our kitchen, utility room, and half bath. It was a big job, and we tried to help out as much as we could with all the prep work beforehand. We came back from the reunions on the 17th to a bunch of boxes but a nice new floor.

OLD FLOOR

Prep work

NEW FLOOR

Joe then had to go to a conference for his new job down in Orlando, FL, the following weekend on the 24th until the 28th. He was sad to be away from us but enjoyed his early birthday present of visiting Universal Studios. I wish we had pictures to share, but I didn't think of sending the camera with him. So by the end of July, it was nice to get back together and start working on unpacking and actually living in our new home.