Jones Family Camping Extravaganza!

Recently my dad had the brilliant idea of having a family camp out. At first I wasn't so sure about it since, really do I seem the camping type? Not that I don't like it, I just hadn't been in like ten years so it took me a while to warm up to the idea.

Apparently nobody else thought I would ever warm up to something like that because everyone that I told (in-laws, friends) would reply, "You're going camping?" To which I would reply in my whiniest voice, "Why is that so hard to believe?!" So here are the pictures to prove how tough of a camper I am.

Actually, it is mainly lots of pictures of the kids because they're adorable campers.

Aly was the fun mom and brought the swing ... and of course I was there to capture every magical camping moment...

Brynn:

Lizzie:

Aly also brought their hammock. They seriously camp in luxury.

More swing.

Sara couldn't come because the babies aren't super camp-able yet, so Philip and I brought Oakley with us. Let me tell you, watching someone else's kid in the potentially dangerous wilderness with potentially dangerous activities can be a little bit stressful.

Amy, who still won't admit that I'm her favorite aunt:

Caleb, same situation as above:

The kids found a caterpillar that they named Fuzzy. I know, brilliant name huh? Oakley thought that Fuzzy was amazing.

And based on the number of pictures I took of this encounter, apparently I thought Fuzzy was amazing too.

Come on though, have you seen anything cuter?

Right about now is when Fuzzy stopped moving, and Oakley said lovingly to him, "Here Fuzzy, eat some rocks." When that didn't work, he tried feeding him fishy crackers. It was so painfully adorable, it almost made me want a two year old of my own.

Um, yeah, he's cute.

I only got like two pictures of Melvin, who was behind planning the whole thing, and this is one of them. Thanks again Dad!

Guess what: taking pictures through a campfire produces blurry pictures. Just fyi. So here's the blurry camping half of Jake's family.

Camping Lindbloms! Oh, one thing to note is that we didn't sleep in a tent, we just made a bed in the back of Philip's truck, and it was amazingly warm and cozy. I think my favorite memory of the trip was us laying in the bed waiting until we saw a shooting star, then both gasping audibly when we saw an amazing one. Sigh, it was as romantic as camping gets.

Kirk and Aly and their girls. Seriously, they are the poster family for cute camping and family fun. The kids decided to be really awesome and tried to move giant logs around.

I'm not going to lie, it was way funner to watch than it probably was for them to do.

Does anybody else want to brush Noelle's hair out of here eyes?

Kirk's Jeep was definitly the cool car, and the kids played in it all morning and all wanted to ride with him.

If this isn't the most precious thing I've ever seen, I'm not sure what is.

I recently learned from a photographer friend not to ruin moments by telling kids to look at you and say cheese. Whoopsies.

That morning we went canoeing at the Blue Ridge Reservoir, which was amazingly beautiful.

Nielson girls and Oakley:

Have I ever mentioned that Philip is adorable with kids? Because you would want to die if you saw it, it is THAT cute.

If only we looked as pretty as the background...

Okay, so I was watching the other kids when this all happened, so I didn't quite see how it happened, but we had a small accident as soon as we touched the water. Um, what I saw was Marissa and Noelle freaking out-ish, them tipping water out of the canoe, and the girls getting soaked up to their waists.

In a word: hilarious.

I helped best by taking pictures.

In the meantime, here's more cute kids.

Despite Oakley's face, it was super fun.

Poor Jake was the only adult in a canoe with kids too young to be helpful. Caleb had an oar, but I think he hindered more than helped, because they often ended up facing rocks and making sharp turns or going backwards.

My husband, the unibomber. Poor thing had gotten sunburned already and didn't want to make it worse, hence the hoodie. Check out the scenery though, talk about post card material.

I know, right? Uncanny resemblence. Mine's cuter though.

And yay! End of canoeing and camping! Thanks again Dad for providing such a lovely trip for us! Let's do it again super soon!

We really had so much fun, the only thing that could have made it better is if more of the family could have come. Sad face. I've decided that the two things I hate most about camping though is being cold (it makes me a little bit miserable) and having to be so dang prepared. Like you have to take EVERYTHING with you and if you forget something, you're screwed.. Ugh, too much thought and preparation.

Other than that, seriously delightful.

Do you want to hear something funny? I kept thinking that I didn't take that many pictures of our 24 hour trip...hmm, I guess I was wrong.

Happy Birthday Sara!

Today is Sara's birthday!

She is truly one of my favorite people on this planet, and if you are lucky enough to know her too, I'm sure she's one of your favorites as well!

30 never looked so good, right?

Happy Birthday Sweetheart!

Google images was no help today...

Today I went to California on business.

And how is it than when I googled "Southwest Airlines" this was like third picture that came up?

Anyway, I flew there this morning, and then flew back tonight, which makes for a long day. Wait, you ask, business? Yes my friends, business. You see, we are buying this house in Newport: Because I fell in love with the amazing kitchen... Because $9,995,000 is fathomable, or in other words, $50,435 per month (that's even with our 20% down) is in our budget.

(Now I understand how Jimmy Cooper went broke. And if you know this reference then I love you a lot.)

Sighhhh, maybe when Mr. Walgreen of Walgreens decides to leave his favorite employee, Philip, ALL of his money, then we can buy that house. If nothing else, I've decided that I want white cabinets in all my houses, they are just so bright, I love them. So anyways, I went on business, which in short means I got a job. Yay...or something. I'm excited to have a job though I'm not in love with mine, whatev.

Beggars can't be choosers.

And the flights today allowed me to finish this book:

Though my copy from Walgreens doesn't look like that, but once again google images didn't have quite what I was looking for. Anyways, my rating for the book...meh plus sniff and tears. Like when I saw the movie preview, I was crying by the end of the 45 second preview, and though the book kept me interested, it wasn't as good as I wanted it to be but I still cried at the end. So, until I hit up the Mesa Public Library, I will go back to reading this:

(Once again, not what my book looks like, thanks for nothin' google) which I adore. I grew up watching the movies, but had never read the books. They are a little dull, like I read them to put me to sleep, but are tender all at the same time. You should put it on your summer reading list, it is a joy.

Have I mentioned that I love being graduated for the sole purpose of being able to read whenever I want? It's truly amazing, and probably my favorite perk...that is, until I get a paycheck. :)

Pictures of last week and the inevitable commentary...

Alright, most/all of you don't necessarily care about my hygiene life, but I love these girls and needed to have one last post with all of our class festivities last week.

On Monday we all got to go to dinner on Rio's dime. Well, it was actually the money that we raised all year, not Rio's, it was awesome though to not have to pay for dinner for a huge group of us.

Here are the group B girls, aka, the normal group. We all love each other. And even though I had like three of this picture, not a one of them were decent. Whatev.

Me and my sweet Angel. She recently told me that I'm the nicest person she's ever met, and I kinda started crying.

Me, Val and Angel being close. I had made a conscious effort to not put my head too close to Val's, (because I have closeness issues and am always touching cheeks with people in pictures and most times it looks kind of awkward. It's something I've been working on.) and wished afterwards that I had gotten closer to her.

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Me and Val. I LOVE Val. I've talked to her like 12 times since last week, which is amazing since I have phone phobia.

The Plastics.

Crystal, me, Diane, Sydney

Just kinda kidding. These girls are the greatest though.

Me and Di,

. HBFF!!!

(Hygiene best friends forever!)

. Me and Lorrie.

I had never met someone who eavesdropped on other people's conversations as much as I do until I met her. She also has the most freakishly white teeth I've ever met, and I'm always jealous that mine aren't as white as hers.

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. Lorrie, me, Kristi, Val & Angel

These girls seriously took care of me while in school. And we always all seemed to do really not smart things when we were around each other, and laughed really, REALLY hard about it.

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. . Me being precious, and Angel being a hottie.

Maybe I'm a little bit of a harasser, and would hit/slap/pat every girls' booty when I walked by them. If you were friends with me in high school you're realizing that I haven't changed a bit. Anyways, Angel is really going to miss it.

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Me and Di's last carpool ride together. We are obviously heartbroken, waah.

Once again, me being precious and having amazing posture. Then on Tuesday night we had our pinning ceremony, which is like the hygiene class graduation/celebration thingy.

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Anyways, I spoke at it. And I cried. But people laughed at my jokes more than I cried, so it worked out fairly well. And I didn't cry NEARLY as much as the other girl that spoke. Booyah. My super supportive family.

(After we took this picture Philip said, "Ha ha, I was slouching a bunch and you're wearing tall heels, so you're going to look lots taller than me." What a little punk.Oh, and Kev is awesome.)

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. The sibs, Kev, Sara and Aly. We kind of couldn't get a decent picture if our lives depended on it. So this one was the best.

And I know that I've already posted this picture, but I think he's super cute.

The Plastics again, plus Ashley.

After pinning was over, my dad took us to New York (can't you tell by the skyline?) for dinner. Or Oregano's, whatev. Either way, it was DELISH.

Then obviously Wednesday was our anniversary, and I tried to be a sweet heart wife, and since we didn't go out, I made dessert. This is highly unusual, dessert at our house is usually Little Debbie Fudge Brownies for me and Peanut butter Panic out of the carton for Philip.

I even used our two fancy glasses. I know, I'm sooo classy.

And despite my looks, I didn't just wake up from a nap in this picture.

Happy four years! (again.)

And lastly, the girls in my ward do Bunco every month, and this month it was 80's theme.

I'm the beauty in the turquoise prom dress, just in case you couldn't tell. And the answer is yes, you can probably borrow it. You'll have to ask Alyson though since she's the one that bought it when she was 14 thinking that she would actually wear it to a prom. Awesome huh? What's even more awesome? That she spent like 80 bucks on it, and it has been worn like 80 times since then.

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So I'm hosting Bunco in June, any ideas for a theme? I told them that the theme was Swimsuit, and that they all had to wear theirs, but they kind of weren't down. Your clever ideas would be much appreciated. :)

Four.

Today marks four years that we've been a

Mr. & Mrs., and I am still as delighted as ever that he is my Mr.

I recently ran into a lady that I adore at a wedding reception. She asked how long we had been married and when I replied, "Almost four years," she was amazed that it had been so long and how fast it had gone.

At the time I was apparently having a low self-confidence day, and said something along the lines of, "Yeah, almost four years, and no college degrees or careers, or kids or a big house, or a lot to show for it." (Poor me, right?)

Then the lady replied, "Sure, but I bet you've got a really strong relationship."

And I realized, HOLY CRAP, we do.

I love being married to Philip more and more every day. I love spending time with him, and I love when I can make him laugh, though it doesn't happen as much as I would like. I love how much he has supported me through school, and love how much he puts up with all of my garbage. I love that we talk about EVERYTHING, so that we can better understand and appreciate each other. I love that he doesn't complain when our house looks like this, and often will clean it before he lets it get to that point.

(Don't judge, it was a busy weekend, and now it's clean.)

But what I love most about Philip, is that he loves me to pieces. And he tells me often, though not in those gay-ish words.

Soooo, even though we now only have one college degree, we don't have kids, and we just have our little condo, we have each other and

WE ARE HAPPY.

Happy four years Love!

College Graduate

Why did nobody remind me of these two things? First, that NOBODY looks good in a cap and gown. And second, graduation ceremonies are BORING.

Other than that, it was fun to graduate again.

I look insanely tall and insanely white in this picture. I'm ghostly. The only thing that could have made me look more like a ghost is a white sheet with holes cut for eyes.

First up on my list of things to do as a graduate:

get a tan.

Does anyone need any laying out company? If so, I'm your girl.

More excitement...

I passed my clinical boards! Hip hip hooray that means that I never have to take an enormous test again!

(Please excuse the lame face, whenever I would try to take one smiling, Philip would tell me my smile was too big...like weird, obnoxious, not cute big.)

I also finished my last patient requirement for the semester yesterday, hoo-freakin-ray, and the next time I clean someone's teeth, I'll get paid for it!

Sorry everything on this here blog has been about school and whatnot, and that the next post will be of me in a cap and gown (you better believe I'm walking!), while it may be a little less than exciting to read it, it is an absolute thrill to be living it and finally accomplish something really really worthwhile.

Next up on the to do list...does anyone know if their dentist wants to hire me?

In short...

...I never have to study again!

(This is for the written boards I took in March.)

My excitement and relief is indescribable, and exclamation points won't even do this news justice. Pretty much the best news I've heard in years.

And apparently my brain has been a little preoccupied this weekend (I took my clinical boards yesterday) because today I realized that for the last three days I've been wearing one black flip flop and one brown. Thank goodness that my brain might be back to its normal-ish self very soon.

NYC or BUST!

Guess who booked flights to New York City...WE DID! I seriously am so so so excited about this trip! I'm pretty sure it will be the greatest ever!

I'm super excited to see the sights and hang out with this lady...

And this guy... Nothing says New York like Lady Liberty and Naked Cowboy right? Funny story real quick, when Sara and Jason went a few years ago, Jason wanted a picture with the above gentleman, and when he went to stand by him, the gentleman said, "So where are you fags from?" Jason promptly answered, "Arizona."

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Apparently Jason was cool with being called a fag.

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So anyways, here's the thing, since we've never been to New York, and we're a little bit clueless about what is there besides the Statue of Liberty and H&M. Basically all of our info comes from movies like Home Alone 2 and such, so obviously we need your help.

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If you have been to New York, please give me a quick rundown of your trip, or if nothing else, what is a MUST DO, and what is a Meh, take it or leave it.

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Also, I have not yet booked our hotel, so what's your take on what part of town is good?

. Seriously, I would like all the advice I can get, so all of you that have been to the big city, let's see what you've got!

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Thanks in advance for all of your tips!

Bring It.

This nugget of information made my week quite a bit better. Yep, I got a 94.5% on my mock boards! Nothing could have made me happier or more confident that I have indeed learned how to clean teeth than this little paper. So bring it Western Regional Examining Board, I'm ready!

Oh, and just to toot my horn a little more, this was one of the highest grades in my class, as in like top three. I know, I'm amazing right? Right...er, something.

And lastly, one month from today I will be a college graduate. Ahhhh! I'm kind of ecstatic!

April Loves...

A few things I'm loving this lovely April day...

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*my favorite Alyson

and today is her birthday! Happy birthday Aly, you are too cute for comfort, and I love, love, LOVE hanging out with you! Thanks for being like the best oldest sister and one of my best friends ever!

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*these adorable girlies who make me laugh so hard all the time

*Lizzie as a soccer player, and Aly doing her hair in cornrows

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*this innocent picture of Oakley being curious...

...followed by his curiosity grossing us all out and making us all laugh really hard.

*these little dudes *me trying to make them play, and being delighted when they "held hands" *being able to tell these guys apart without looking at their scars or toes or other defining features. Reese is on the left and Nate is on the right, see? I'm such a good aunt. :)

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*my new mascara I don't know why I wait so long to get new make up, it's not like I'm breaking the bank on my Covergirl. Confession: mascara is my guilty pleasure. And I don't even feel that guilty about it, it's more of a pleasure than a guilt. I use copious amounts of it, enough each time to probably make over four orphans from Russia. Excessive? Yes, but it is amazing what a good eyelash day can do for my confidence and self-esteem.

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Things I'm not loving today:

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*the canker sore on the tip of my tongue that consumes all of my thoughts.

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I googled pictures of them, but decided that they all looked too gross to post, and I didn't want you guys to think that those pictures were me and that I had herpes or something gross.

. *school

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No picture or explanation needed.

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Have a lovely week friends, and wish me luck on my mock boards that are on Friday!