You Might Be Wondering...

Is the Jonas family ALIVE?

YES! WE ARE!

You also might be wondering...

What on earth have those people been up to?

Well wonder no more! Here is our update starting in May...

Bailey "graduated" from pre-school. Watch out kindergarten!

 Bailey and Adeline had their year-end dance performance

 In June John went to Moab for youth conference

 He grew a "play-off beard" for his beloved ice hockey team, the LA Kings, who won the Stanley Cup this year

 We celebrated 11 years of marriage

 Austin decided this year to do baseball instead of soccer. It was a fun season.

 We loved watching all of his games

 He loved the sunflower seeds

 And played hard

 We had a traditional 4th of July, starting at the Freedom Parade

 Swimming in the afternoon

 And fireworks in the evening

 My baby girl turned 1!

 She is still a perfect joy

 John and I snuck away to Las Vegas to see Phantom with some friends.

Our lives have changed dramatically this summer. We originally planned to remodel our current home and stick around here for a few more years, but "THE" house came to us without us even looking. It's a massive fixer-upper, so our lives have been consumed by contracting out the remodel and making a million decisions.  We've had a steep learning curve, but it's starting to come together so we are seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I will have before and after pics in the next few weeks!

BOOM! You're UPDATED!

Oh, Just a Tuesday!

 Today was just to beautiful to stay home, so we pulled the kids out of school and headed to Temple Square  to see the spring flowers

 The sun rested nicely in the sky for a few pictures in front of the reflection pond

 I love these next two pictures...
John has the rare opportunity as a father to be around 100% for Lila. He, literally, does half of all the care for and her and he loves every second of it. Just look at the way he looks at her...

 And the way she looks at him! These two have an amazing bond that makes my heart want to burst.

 After dinner at Cheesecake Factory and a little shopping at the new City Creek, we cooled off in the fountain.

Perfect weather. Perfect scenery. Perfect food. Perfect company. Perfect day!

Is 32 Gross?

Because I'm 32 today and I kind of feel gross. I mean starting from the top, I have the skin of a 70 year old woman AND a 14 year old boy...at the same time. How is that fair to a 32 year old? It's not! But I have age spots and acne and neither are very becoming or age appropriate. Gross!

Moving down...I have nursed 4 babies....mmmm hmmmm.

And just below that (and I mean JUST below)... I was at the grocery store with just Lila the other day and an old woman came up to me and said "Looks like your baby is going to have a brother or sister soon." Now, I am under no delusions about the shape of my body. I know my baby is 9 months old and I know I should be back to my pre-pregnancy weight, but I'm not. I exercise a lot and eat well, but I'm just not, OK? And believe me, I'm way less happy about it than you! I wanted to say all this to ignorant old woman, but instead I walked away before she saw me cry. Then I came home and put every single thing I was wearing in the DI pile and had a big crying pity party!

32 is GROSS!

Moving along... I went hiking all over Moab this past weekend with my beautiful, strong, healthy family.

WAIT! I hiked all over? With ease! Maybe my body isn't so bad. My body carried and delivered 4 cute babies.

Babies who are growing up to be these incredible little people who are smart, healthy, fun, active, creative, etc., etc.

And this man I married... He's pretty awesome. And funny. Funny and awesome and smart and doesn't care that I still look a little pregnant.

I also belong to a church where I have knowledge of the fullness of the gospel! Because I belong to this church, that means I have the gift of the Holy Ghost. How anyone functions in this life without it is beyond me!

So summing it up... I'm 32 and enjoying good health in myself and my family. I'm watching these 4 children grow, which brings indescribable joy and I get to do it all with a man that adores me for me. I'm surrounded by family and friends (you know who you are) who let me talk about myself endlessly, serve me selflessly and never tire of laughing with (and maybe at) me!

AND I have faith and hope and an eternity of all of this to look forward too...

I guess 32 isn't so gross after all.

Our Easter

 I think Easter is my new favorite holiday. We had such a great time!

Remember I have the PERFECT egg hunting yard? So I love to host a hunt and a lunch for the family.

My BFN (best friend niece) is at that awesome age where a few eggs are plenty. Now time to start in on the chocolate.

mental note: don't try to take a cute family picture after hunting and lunching

Keeping with the tradition my mom started, each basket is hidden for  an Easter morning hunt

 This is a true story: when I was pregnant with my 2nd child and an ultra-sound tech said "it's a girl," my very first thought was "Easter dresses!" Then when I was pregnant with my 3rd and again I heard "it's a girl," my very first thought was "matching Easter dresses!" and so on...

JOY!

Girls Trip 2012

 Last week, I had the opportunity to spend a few days shopping, eating and relaxing with some of the most amazing women on earth.
My sister Cami and I flew to California where we met up with Michelle and Tiffany. We started with dinner at my Grandma's then shopping.
Then more shopping

Shops at Laguna Beach

Tiff modeling a great find

Resting our feet in the sand

And more modeling

Ouchie! $4.55 for gas!

Beach at The Montage

Shopping is seriously hard work! More relaxing on the beach

HAD to have Thrifty's ice cream. We went through a gallon and a half in 3 days! YUM!

Good visiting time with my Gram. I am so grateful to have her blood in my veins. She is amazing. I  want to be just like her!

We took a morning off and went to the Newport Temple

 The temple is just down from Sprinkles, so we HAD to go get a dozen cupcakes!

 Can I just say, I came home exhausted! We never ran out of things to talk about and had to stay up until (at least) 1am to get it all in.

 I had to catch a rest here and there

Fashion Island

TK Burger on Newport Beach

 How perfect is it that The Hunger Games came out while we were together? We had to force Cami to come, but she doesn't regret it!

Waiting in line to get in

SO EXCITED! (It was awesome. I'm going to see it again this weekend with the hub)

"Does this make my butt look big?"

Snitching candy from Gram's nutcracker

AND some hot tub time to sooth our bodies from all the work and maybe sweat out some calories!

Now I'm home and happy to be a wife and mother! It's so fulfilling to spend time with the women I love. I'm uplifted and motivated to be better now! Love you Ladies (including you Gram!)