Quick Trip

I just returned from a fun family vacation to Rocky Point. I will write more later, first I wanted to document my trip to CALI!

As most of you know, and often make fun of me, I love Disney. I had a free ticket that was expiring on aug 1 so my cousin Lindsay and I decided to make a quick day trip to Disneyland. The sad thing is that we couldn't go to Disneyland, for my pass I had a blackout day, but we could get into California Adventure, so we spent the morning playing there.


Our first ride of the day was the brand new Toy Story Mania, it is now one of my favorites. It is an interactive 3-D game that you go and shoot at targets in five different games. I wanted to ride it again, but didn't want to wait in line because it was a forever long line since it just opened. We strategized and got in line for that first, and only waited about 45 minutes. The use of technology on this ride was amazing, I can't wait to ride it again, especially since I lost to Lindsy.



We rode the fun rides that we wanted to and then just walked around taking fun random pics with characters and just loving being at disney. We then found where the cast store is where I can get amazing discounts on merchandise. We had a fun little shopping spree. Oh how I love the perks of working for the mouse! We then made our trek home, it was a fun quick and much needed getaway!




I don't think I can ever be too old to take pictures with characters!

Party on the Freeway

The last loop of the 202 here in Mesa is finally finished. To celebrate the freeway being finished they had a party on the freeway tonight. It was so much fun and there were tons of people there. With my dad being the Vice Mayor(scary I know!) we got VIP parking and got a nice parking spot with a fun shuttle provided by the Flying Scottsman, which is an airport shuttle where the drivers drive in Kilts with awesome accents, so it was great fun. So we start walking along the freeway and see some fun vendors that are handing out all sorts of free things, like sno cones and other useless things that people like to pass out to promote themselves.



After walking around for a while it was time to head to the stage area for the ceremonial ribbon cutting and other festivities. When we got there we met some other city people and then someone really cool, Ali Vincent, the winner of Biggest Loser. It was fun to sit and chat for a few minutes and hear what she has been up to and what it is like to be in the Spotlight. She said it is kind of weird because she is just a girl from Mesa AZ. When the ceremony was over we walked way down the freeway to where they were doing a hula hoop contest, and had fun trying to hula hoop. When the contest was over Tiffany and I went and got our picture taken with Ali and Bette Sue. They are the funniest ladies. Bette Sue makes me laugh. Earlier in the evening she was riding in a gator and she said she felt like moses parting the waters. what a crack up! Meeting Ali was kind of inspirational and makes me want to work harder at working out, it was really neat. We then came home and had a delicious, yet not too healthy dinner at In and Out.

I love Sundays!

Today was a great sabbath day. I woke up early to go to my cousin Aaron's missionary report in sacrament meeting, formerly known as a missionary homecoming. It was great and really fun to see the changes he has made since he left. We then went over to my aunt and uncles house for a lunch gathering. It was so much fun because my cousins that are married and out of state surprised their parents and came down for the weekend to see their brother. When the Jones family gets together it can be really scary, but mostly just really hilarious! Today was no exception. After a couple of hours of many laughs me and my other cousin decided we should head to our ward for the combined priesthood/relief society meeting to see what fun topic our bishop would be discussing. When we arrived at the church building we were treated to a pleasant surprise, the bishopric had been released and a new one called. We were shocked. I never miss my ward, and when I do, something big happens. Like the last time I was gone, a bishopric member was released and a new one called. I quit! It is so frustrating, but I am excited for the new chapter of our ward and the fun things that will come. I have been neighbors with my new bishop for about 14 years, so it will be good. It is a change I wasn't ready for, and then came as a shock since I was gone, grrrr. How I love family bonding!

What the?

The other day at the pool I work at we had the most random of questions asked. I was sitting in the front of the office doing some paperwork like always and then I over hear a conversation coming from the back of the office from one of the lifeguards and a patron. The patron asks if we have an ax so that he could chop of the legs of a boy that keeps stealing the ball and blocking the basketball hoop. Come on, what kind of question is that? People these days! Yay for the parents of Taylor!

The End of a Chapter and Beginning of a New One

Most of the fam at the lame graduation

So the end of the school year was really crazy. It has been kind of weird to think about because my youngest sister Marilee was graduating, so it was the last of everything. Graduation was really depressing, not that the baby was graduating, but because of Arizona's bipolar weather, only my parents got to go because it was raining and the graduates only got two tickets. It was so sad because we had been looking forward to this day for so long since Marilee is the baby and 5th and last to graduate from Mesa High, we were all looking forward to sitting on the field, and I know this sounds weird, I wanted to hear the recognition that our whole family had graduated from Mesa High. Life goes on and we don't always see the big picture, but we will survive. Summer is now here, or at least it is trying to come. Memorial weekend we went to the cabin and there was snow. What is up with that?

With the high school chapter of our life over, my parents are trying to figure out what to do next. On monday I went to the Mesa City Council meeting in support of my father as the new Mayor and Council members were sworn in. The crazy thing about the night is that my father was elected by the council to be the new vice mayor of mesa. That is weird. We are still trying to think of what all that is supposed to mean. In the meantime I shall stay busy at work. If you get bored you can come visit me at Taylor pool.

Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious

The past week has been crazy! Friday there was no work since it was April Break, yipee! That did not mean I had a day of rest. We went down to Thatcher for Spring Sing, and it was so good. EACompany, which I still often refer to as Choraleers, because that is what is was known as when I was there, had an amazing set. The set was all about having fun, and included songs from Big, High School Musical and then two of my favorites, Legally Blonde and Mary poppins. Whipped into Shape isn't one of my favorite songs, but is good because it involves jump roping so it is a major workout. The last song of their set was my favorite, Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, and it reminded me of when I went to New York and saw Mary Poppins on Broadway. I was talking to my perfectly pocket sized friend Jensen and he said that they lifted the choreography off of you tube, so it was like exactly how it is on Broadway. It was great fun, and then we got back in the car and headed home because my mother was doing flowers for three weddings on saturday. We got home about 1 am and then went to bed for a few hours before waking up for a marathon day of doing flowers! We started off the day with a pancake breakfast at the fire station for my dad, with him being on city council and all. It was really funny because the mayor came and sat at our table, and we had a very casual conversation with him. It was kind of odd, but I just laughed inside because not everyone goes and chats with the mayor like family does.
We got all of the flowers done in time for their deliveries and drove to drop them off and then we had some family arrive from Yuma that was spending the night at our house. It was crazy, yet tons of fun. `My mom is such an amazing florist. The weddings she had were all completely different, yet they looked so good for the wedding that they were for. My favorite was the hot pink and bright yellow gerber daisies. They make me happy, and maybe someday they will be in my bouquet if that day ever comes! I know it will, I just have to be patient. I am just fine with that because I am student teaching in the fall. I just found out that I will be at Shephard Jr High. I am so excited, and another thing I am so excited about is I am going to be the Assistant Manager at Taylor Pool this summer. I haven't worked at such busy of a pool, so it will be fun.

(One of my favorite bouquets, it is so bright and fun!)

It is almost may so the countdown to summer is here, YIPEE!

Another One Bites the Dust!

The past week has been very crazy. My dear cousin Emilie and I took a cake decorating class back in September, and we got hooked on cake decorating and do it a little when we get the chance. When her sister Valerie got engaged we thought it would be fun to make her wedding cake. Due to the fact that she was marrying a Canadian and other things, the date kept changing, so that gave us plenty of time to prepare. Emilie actually got married before her, and that is another story all in itself. The week of the wedding finally came and Emilie and I were preparing to make the cake, and got all the cakes baked. We started putting the cake together Thursday night, and started questioning why we volunteered to make the cake. We then resumed again Friday afternoon and did as much as we could before the wedding dinner, and boy was that fun. There was an accident down the road and apparently the car hit a power pole, which caused the power to go out at the church. Luckily people were running late, which happens frequently with our family, and so the dinner didn't actually start until after the power came back on. When that was over I headed back to Emilie's house to work on the cake some more. By this time we had already stacked the bottom two layers and were smoothing everything out. Emilie had been working on the top layer and it wasn't working, the filling was oozing and it was very frustrating. Nothing started looking right so we decided to go to bed and finish it in the morning. That was such a good choice to make, because then I went down to the church to see what still needed to be done decorating wise, and my mom was waiting for me to help with the backdrop. I then made her go home to finish the flowers, while I finished the backdrops. They turned out nicely and I was excited. In the morning it was time to finish the cake. I wasn't sure how it was going to go, but I was hoping for the best. We started working again on it and things started getting better. When we started adding the finishing touches it started coming together and we got really excited. We finished it right before Emilie had to leave for the wedding. After the wedding we got my mom's van to drive it to the church, and boy was that a long, slow and scary drive. We made it there in one piece and joyously placed the cake on the table. It looked so good and we were ecstatic. The flowers that my mom added made it look even better. All night long we would tell everyone about our amazing cake. The best part is that the bride was happy, and so were we. Who knows when our next wedding will be, probably not until October when Emilie's brother gets married, but it will probably go better now that we know what we are doing! Thank goodness Emilie's husband Irving knows what he is doing because his mom decorates cakes too. We would have been lost without him. The reception was gorgeous, and the vintage theme was so much fun. The background music was so fun, and reminded me of my favorite restaurant Streamers. I was never in doubt of the whole vintage wedding theme, but it turned out so much better than I could have ever imagined.

The cake before my mom added flowers to it to spruce it up

the final product, isn't she beautiful!

The ecstatic cake decorators with their finished product

The happy couple had to come and join in the celebration