A week or so in Review

Last Saturday, I went to the play A Christmas Carol with my aunt Stacey and her family at the Hale Center Theatre in Orem. It was really fun, we went to Olive Garden before, and then headed to the theater, it is such a cute place and is very small, so everybody can see everything really well. I thought the play was awesome, better than the new Christmas Carol movie that came out! Thanks Stacey for inviting me!

The next day we took a Jacobs/Jones/Bingham family Christmas picture and it turned out that there was a the perfect place to photoshop Branden into! Here is the before......

And here is the after.... still doesnt seem quite right, but we laughed so hard at it!!!

Here is Ryan, Ashlee, and baby Carter!

So cute!

Later on we went to Grandma and Granpa Carter's house for the traditional tree decorating.

Here is the finished product!

The family mingling

and my cousins baby Clara just hangin out

Here is my mom, me, and my Grandma Carter holding baby Carter.

Grandma Carter and baby Carter, so precious!

I also went to Keaton's Christmas band concert.
He was the best drum player there!

Oh, I decided I am NOT growing my hair out, so I butched it!

I love it!

And this Saturday was the Jones/Jacobs Family Christmas Party, we had some yummy baked potato soup and rolls...

Here is Keaton, me, and my mom

my mom, Dave, and Necana

Austen, and Keaton

and Ashlee, Ryan, and Carter.
Jeremy and Beau had to work, but came later and we all played doubles while carter slept under the Christmas tree!

It was a fun night!

Bingham Christmas Party

Last night we had the annual Bingham/Fowers Christmas party. We had some subway sandwiches and other good stuff to eat, and played doubles. This year the kids had their own doubles game, which they didn't understand how to play, but they enjoyed opening the presents! Here are the adults playing doubles...
and here I am trying to open the one present I got!
(which is one of the presents I brought....a tin full of Wint-O-Green mints!)

It was a fun night! (Thanks Chantel for the pics I stole!)

*Also today we went to the First Presidency's Christmas Devotional down at the conference center thanks to Sheri for getting the tickets and inviting me! It was really good and reminded me of the true meaning of Christmas, and I especially loved the Christmas music from the Tabernacle Choir! *

Festival of Trees

My mom, step dad, and I went to the festival of trees earlier this week to see my little brother Keaton play the drums in his school band, but because of INSANE traffic we missed him! There were so many people there, it took us a half an hour to turn into the parking lot and park! So, since we were already there, we stayed and looked at the trees, here are a few of my favorite ones!
I wish my tree looked like one of these!


The tree below was made for Gracie Hill, which was the little toddler that died this past month from being ran over by a truck, they are in my mom's ward... so sad.

Anyways, it was a fun night regardless of missing Keaton play,

and it definately got me in the mood for Christmas!

A Familiar Face

I got to talk to Branden on skype last night which I havn't been able to do for a long time. He just looks so good, and it makes me so happy to be able to see him, even though it is a little blurry! I miss him more than I could have ever imagined, at least there are only three months left! He is doing good, and is in good spirits, he stays very busy working something like 80 hours a week, doing 2 online classes, and working out in the gym. Yesterday he actually had the day off, so we were able to talk a lot on the phone, skype, and facebook! It's going to be hard to not have him here for the holidays, at least I have a lot of family around me! I am so blessed to have such a wonderful husband and family!

Love You Brand!

ThAnKsGiViNg 2009

If you look back a year ago at the post I did, the title was...

"A Bitter-Sweet Thanksgiving", well that's exactly what is was this year too.

This is now the 3rd year in a row that Branden has not been home for thanksgiving, next year he should be home but ya never know. I wish he could have been here, but it was still pretty good. First, I had dinner at my mom's house with the Seabolts (my mom's sister and her family) and ate a lot of food...

Here's the fam..
and me...

Later on, Ryan, Ashlee, and baby Carter joined us....

So precious!

My cousin Bryce holding Carter!

And then later I went over to the Binghams for a 2nd dinner,

where I ate a lot more food! And pie!

Thanks Everyone who made this thanksgiving a good one!

New Nephew!

Introducing Carter James Jones!

He was born on November 18th at 1:55 PM

and weighed 6 pounds 10 onces, and was 20 inches long.

Sooo CUTE and TINY!

I had to wear a mask because I had a bit of a cold,

but I am definately smiling underneath it!

Everything went well and mom, dad, and baby are doing good!

Congratulations Ryan & Ashlee!

and welcome to the world baby Carter!

HaPpY hAlLoWeEn!

Last night the Binghams had their annual Halloween Party and it was way fun as usual! Everyone always dresses up, and Branden's mom put together a scavenger hunt, and we had soup and caramel apples! I just wish that Branden could have been there.

Here is my witch costume! (Thanks Ashlee for letting me borrow it!)

Blake and Melissa

Cyndi and Judd......or is it Judd and Cyndi! Ha Ha!

Chantel and Avenley

Dieter and Shay

Buzz and Woody (Ashton and Matthew)

Luke

and Anna!

I didn't get a picture of everyone's costume, but they were all cute!

I especially loved the babies!

I hope you all have a HaPpY hAlLoWeEn!

Random Stuff

These are just some random pictures of some of the stuff we did when Branden was home when we weren't in Hawaii. They're not as cool as the Hawaii pics, but not very many things are! Anyways, here are some pics when we bowling on base, it was only 50 cents a game, and we have our own shoes, so we played 4 games and is was 4$! Cheap date!

I hate looking at these....

I miss him SOOO much already!

Some action shots!

Im cheesin it in the picture above because I was so excited about my score, and I got 3 strikes in a row! I think that's called a turkey? Anyways, I think this is my highest score ever, and probably will always be my highest score!

We also went on a hike up on a mountain right by our house. The weather was perfect! I just wish all of the fall colored leaves were still on the trees!

It was a great view of eagle river and anchorage!

The missionaries also came over for dinner a couple of times, this was one of our meals....doesn't it look amazing! It is called a chicken enchilada ring, and it is soo good, and I don't even like mexican food! It is one of Branden's favorites!

And lastly, Branden has been needing a new suit for a while, he was still wearing the one from his mission which was like 7 or so years ago, so Men's Warehouse was having the buy one suit get the next for $100, so we gave in and got him a couple of suits. He really likes them, and so do I! I made him model them so I could practice some photohgraphy skills, I still need A LOT of practice and learning!

What a Hunk!

I'm flying to Utah tonight, so goodbye my Alaska friends I will see you in a while! And Utah friends and family I will see you soon!