Here are Jocey and Aimee riding horses at their friend Kayla's birthday party. Happy Birthday Kayla, thanks for a fun day!

Practice, Practice

One of the last few days in our old house and I found Aimee in one of her favorite spots...singing and playing the piano. Check out her perfect fingering! I wish I had thought to get video of it at the time because she has the most beautiful and tender voice. Unfortunately she caught me watching her, smiled, and got down.

Well we're late posting these pics, but here is cute Jocelyn on her "First Day of School"! She is loving Candy Apple Cove Preschool and her amazing teacher Miss Vicki. She has made lots of friends and is learning tons. In fact she can already say the full Pledge of Allegence and has learned lots of fun songs too. She is really blossoming and it is wonderful!

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

How to enjoy life...

So I was going to complain that I am really sick of being in "house selling, always have to have it clean, leave at a moment's notice, no sleep, stress all of the time" mode. But then I remembered something that my friend Jenny has on her blog:

"The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable or we make ourselves happy. The amount of work is the same." --Carlos Castaneda

Thanks to all of you that remind me to try to be positive and cheerful and "this too shall pass". I guess I could learn to take the advice I've dished out to two people this past month--If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it! Oh to have more faith...gotta work on that one. I really am so thankful that the Lord gave Cody and I the promptings that it was time to sell our house and to move to Germany because we had been searching for a while for the direction we should take for our family. And even though this brings so many "unknown's" which I hate because I am a little neurotic and always like to play it safe and plan everything down to the smallest detail, I know that everything will work out the way that it is supposed to. And what a comfort it is to know, as my favorite scripture says, "that it is by (Him) that (we) are led."

Baby Jacob!

So just look at how darling my little nephew Jacob is. This is Laura & JD's little cutie right out of the bath tub. Isn't he adorable! I can't believe how lucky our little family has been already this year to have had like six babies born into our combined families and every one has been healthy and sweet and cute as can be! We truly are so blessed to have so many choice spirits come to our homes. (In case you were wondering, when I have my little guy in a couple months the stats will be six boys to one girl!) I know Cody and I have often wondered "How did we ever exist before we had our kids?" They add so much to our lives and we love them, and our niece and nephews so much!

Truly amazing...

If you have a chance, this is something you can't miss. Check out my sister's blog found in my blog list--Keeping up with us Jones--and click on the video "Christian the Lion" on the left side just under the picture of her cute little boy Boston. Have some tissues ready. It's a good one.

After seven years of hard work finally the pay off--Graduation. Way to go Cody, we are all so very proud of you. You have sacrificed tirelessly always trying your hardest. In fact, you didn't just graduate with your BA in Psychology, you did it as only one of five in your class to graduate with honors (see the white rope Cody is wearing in the pictures)! How fun it was to share this day with you, beaming and crying by your side. I love you Toad and always will. Thank you also to all of our families who supported Cody on this milestone and always, we love you for it!

Selling the House Stress

Well, can I just say that getting a house ready to sell in a week has been crazy! Cody and I have worked really hard and now we're exhausted! The realtor came last night and stayed until 10:15 pm and then we crashed in our bed. Cody went right to sleep (because he still had work and school today) and I lay awake for a hour or so contemplating, stressing, and praying that everything will go well and that it will sell in the time frame that we need and for the $ we need. But when I woke up, feeling strangely refreshed, my whole house was clean and organized and I felt peaceful. Three items caught my eye and put a smile on my face so I thought I'd take a picture to savor the moment. First were the small white frames I put up a few days ago. ( I wish I'd had a friend here to help me choose the paper--I am too indecisive!) I have had these frames for three years and the shells for just as long but never finished the project. Now that they are up, and even in all their simplicity, they bring me joy. Next was a bowl of fruit on the table. Thank you to Cassy who gave me the bowl. I love yellow and green in the kitchen; so bright, so friendly. They instantly lift my mood. Finally I had placed a green pot with delicate purple flowers by my back door. Now even taking the garbage out is a positive experience. And while I know that I usually kill plants and so I can't expect to enjoy these for long, somehow that's okay. They are pretty and I love them.

Germany or Bust!

Well it's official, actually it has been for over a week now but I am a slow blogger, we are moving to Spangdahlem Air Force Base in Germany!!! Spangdahlem (Jenny will you help me practice saying it right?) the base and the town are both really small (population 800) and in a really rural location, as you can tell from the picture. The closest city is Trier which is the oldest city in Germany and quite historic. It is also pretty close to the German borderlines with France, Luxembourg and Belgium. It is by a large river so it stays pretty cool temperatures most of the year never getting warmer than the 70's in the summer but not too cold in the winter, around the 30's and 40's mostly. Which being huge and prego at the moment in hot, desert Utah sounds pretty good to me. From what I hear the German people are most hospitable and kind and I can't wait to get to know them and to explore the sites. In fact, we almost went to a different base in Germany, Ramstein, but that didn't work out. I am glad because that is in a really big city primarily made up with Americans and they have all the American stores and such and I wanted to go somewhere where we could really get a feel for the culture and give our kids the experience of a lifetime. I mean, if you are going to move to Germany, move to Germany, right? Before we go I want to compile a list of some fun places to visit on the evenings and weekends so if anyone has any thoughts about what to see in Europe (because it is hard for me to narrow it down) let me know. And hopefully I will still have internet access there to blog our travels. Ü