The Pitter Patter of Corgi Feet

Say "Hello" to Jazee everyone! That's right, the Hicks family now has two dogs instead of one. We "rescued" Jazee from a not-so-good situation and she is now making herself right at home. The fun thing is that she is Rylee's biological sister. They were from the same litter. My cousins had her, but when they moved she stayed at my mom's aunt's house. She and her brother were never really claimed and so they just lived in a pen in a Blanding Utah backyard.

Poor Jazee got attacked by her brother Baloo, and a stray that they kept at their house, and was torn up pretty bad. My grandma says that she looks pretty great for how terrible she looked then. Her right ear is her battle scar, and it doesn't stand up like it should. It's also a bit wrinkled looking, but it's still just as soft as her other ear and it makes her unique.

We took Jazee to the vet as soon as we could and she got all the vaccines that she was overdue on. (Pretty muc all of them) The only real medical problems she has is a bit of gum disease (from poor quality food) and her ear, which needs to be cleaned every other week, and her obesity. Other than that, she's a happy, healthy corgi. After her vet appointment we went out and got her the collar and tag she's showing off in this picture.

So far, she's getting along with Rylee, the boys love her, and she's been a sweet heart. We were just going to foster her and find her a family, but we're thinking she's a keeper.

Welcome to the family Jazee!

We'll Miss You Grandma Jones

So, I know it's a little late, but this past weekend I attended my first funeral. It was for my Great-Grandma Jones. She died on Monday, December 1st, at about 1:00 in the morning. It was sad, but at the same time very happy. She was the youngest of 11 children, and was she only one left in her family. We were happy that she got to go home to her Father in Heaven. She was, after all, almost 96 years old.

Anyhow, to make some more room in the van for my family, I rode with my aunt and uncle (Tammy and Tim) up to Utah. It was pretty fun, and I got to take lots of pictures of the scenery.

I do have to say that I love all the cacti, there were tons, but this was the closest I got to capturing any of them because we were driving.

Don't be fooled by the snow and green trees, this is still Arizona.

On EVERY single road trip we take, we always stop at Little America Hotel in Flagstaff to fill up on gass and use the restroom. It's almost like a tradition. You can't NOT go there.

Now once we got to the hotel (which was established by my Great Uncle Erv) our room was too small so they had to put us in the "suite": Room 200B.

It had two beds in the main room. (One for mom & dad, one for the brothers.)

And a little bathroom with another room off o the side. This room was for me and McKenna (my awesome cousin).

So, after the viewing, my mom, my aunt Tammy, and I sang "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" and it was a beautiful arrangement. They also had all the Grand and Great-Grand Children come up and sing "If the Savior Stood Beside Me". This was a little funny because just about everybody was either a Grand Child or a Great-Grand Child.

Of course, after the funeral was over, everybody whipped out their cameras and had to start taking pictures.

My Uncle Sterling and his grand daughter Jordyne.

From left to right is my cousin Courtney, her daughter Jordyne, her dad Sterling, her sister McKenna, and her other sister Brooklyn.

My Uncle Goobee (Dan), his wife Melissa, and their daughters Heidi (toddler) and Natalee (Baby).

My Uncle Scott, his wife Stacey, and their kids Cole and Gwendolyn.

This is my aunt Jone's head stone. She died when she was only 18 months old from meningitas.

Here's the cute part. Jordyne and Heidi couldn't keep away from it.

Before leaving we all gathered as a family in front of Grandma Jones' house for one last family picture. THis was a lot harder than I ever anticipated. Why? It was, after all, haunted. Well, yes, that has a bit of truth to it, but to me, this house is what Blanding was. I didn't want to leave it. I had a bit of an emotional attatchment you could say. After taking this picture, Kenna and I walked through Grandma's garden. I remember as a little girl walking through the rows of raspberries, and strawberries, and any other kind of berry you could think of, and picking cherries from the cherry tree, and helping Grandma saw of a little branch from the walnut tree, and Sydnee and Brooklyn tricking Kenna and I into eating raw rubarb... YUCK! I always thought of that garden as the secret garden, but it almost died with Grandma. Every bush was bare of leaves, not fruit (the fruit that was there was rotten and ready to fall) and it looked very gloomy. As we were leaving I put my hand on a branch and it snapped. The middle was green and I knew that this garden wasn't gone yet.

So, ya. I'm going to end on a high note and say that I just LOVE that wasy it looks when the clouds rain from far away?

A Season of Thanks

One of my favorite things about Thanksgiving is the fact that it's always at our house. We never have to pack up the car and drive to someone else's house. Plus, we usually have control over what goes on the menu. This year was no different. The kitchen was crazy, croweded, and smelled AMAZING!

This is a glimpse of what our laundry room looked like. It was lined with rising rolls. Both the washer, dryer, and the counter space were lined with pans and cookie sheets.

And this is what the rools looked like once they were out of the oven. We all agreed that they were the best ones yet.

While everybody else was preparing the Thanksgiving "Lunch", I was put in charge of watching the kids while they played at the park. It was really fun for all of the cousins to get together. Especially those who were visiting from Oregon whom we rarely see.

They had a blast. It's times like these that make a person glad they live right next to a big park. They rode/ran down the hill from the wall to the edge of the basketball court, depending on whether or not they had wheels. From left to right the cousins are Cole (5), Troy (3), Mikayla (8), Trey (8), Travis (10).

Troy was the little turtle from Snow White tagging along behind the others.

This year we had a new cousin join the family: Thomas! He's my aunt Tammy's new step-son and he fits in great! The boys love him and they get along great. He had a lot of fun at the park as well with all the kids.

There was lots to do in the semi-wet sand from all of the rains the day before.

Trey, being Trey, decided to be funny and throw his shoe on top of the ramada above the playground. Yep, that's what boys do when they get too wound up. I'm not sure if we ever got it down.

Back at the house everybody was busy getting ready. Here in this picture is my cousin Ashlee making our famous Grenadine Punch. It's fantastic!

Poor baby Natalee didn't feel so well and wasn't very happy.

But she calmed down... just look at that face!

But no matter how little or how much food you have...

Or how many lightsabers are in the backyard...

Even if it's a little rainy...

Without exceptions...

Human and canine alike...

It's all about family! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Lights Out! Heads Together! Pencils in the Air!

Alright, so today was a bit of what you'd call a crazy day! The morning was slow and a bit chilly (since I wore my loose, short sleeve girls camp shirt), and it took me till second hour to realize that it was Monday not Wednesday... oops! Well, anyhow, in 3rd hour I got the oprotunity to play with Concert Band in the concert (December 4th if any of you were wondering... please come!) along with my group, Wind Ensemble! In case some of you didn't know, the order of bands at our school going from lowest to highest is Concert Band, Symphonic Band ,and Wind Ensemble. Apparently there is a song in wich Conert Band needs a little assistance in, so a few Clarinetists and Flutests were asked if they could learn the music along with their own and play with them in the concert. I'm excited! Ok, so after that I walked to seminary. I dropped my clarinet off in the classroom and ran to the bathroom. I didn't have a whole lot of time left before the seminary bell would ring so I kind of ran into the bathroom. So while I was still in the stall and everybody had left the motion-sensitive lights all shut off at the same time along with the air conditioing! I was so freaked out! I was alone in a stall in a completely silent, dark bathroom. I even made one of the squeaking noises that most girly girls make when they get scared. I really softly called out, "Hello?" as if someone might say, "Oh sorry, I didn't know someone was still in here!" and then turn the lights back on... but, alas, there was no such voice, just my weak echo. So, I finished in a scared slow motion (you know what I'm talking about. When you get scared you always do things in slow motion), so up slowly, almost noislessly put my bakcpack back on, and opened the door a crack so I could peek out. at the other end of the bathroom the security light was on, so it wasn't as dark by the sinks but I was still like a slug getting over to them. So I was washing my hands and the sensors realized that I was in there and both the lights and the air conditioning turned back on. This scared me more than the lights going off had. I threw my hands in the air and screamed. I'm also pretty sure that I splattered the mirror, but it all happened really fast. I got out of there as soon as I could! It was pretty embarassing walking in like five minutes laste to seminary, but Brother Blair didn't make a big deal out of it. So that was the lights out portion of my post.
Here is the heads together section. So I have this friend from church named Kyle. For the past three years he had been sneaking up behind me and grabing my shoulders. Sometimes he throws in a "Ra!" and every time I never fail to scream at the top of my lungs and do some kind of wierd ducking motion. I don't blame him for always doing it. I react so rediculously! Anyhow, my friend Mimi reacts in almost the same fashion and I think he discovered this when he was trying to scare me and accidentally scared her. So today when I was walking to 6th hour with her neither of us noticed Kyle coming up behind us. He put a hand on either of our shoulders and yelled "RA!" really loudly and we both screamed at the top of our lungs. In the confusion we both tilted our heads the same way and smacked skulls at top speed! Man did it hurt! My temple was throbbing and her poor forehead had a big red spot on it. At least Kyle had fun in during the whole thing. =) Last but not least, sixth hour is my Honors English class is by far my mostdifficult subject. So we were busy writing down and correcting our Shakespere vocabulary word when the fire alarm went off. It was like something in a movie! Every single person, even the boys, screamed, wide eyed, and threw their hands into the air. Pencils went FLYING! There was a moment of dead silence, except for the fire alarm of course, and then we all cracked up laughing. We were eventually herded out by Mrs. Salce, but it was truly a Holywood moment for us.
So... ya, that was my crazy Monday, let's hope that the rest of the week will be just as full of wonderful surprises.

Finally! Halloween Has Left Us!

Now I have looked at a lot of people's blogs and they all say "Happy Halloween!" And have some kind of cute story about how much they loved halloween. Me... not so much. I really don't like Halloween. I don't dress up anymore, and Friday night I was lucky to even sit outside and chat with those who were passing out candy. I'm sure that once I'm a mom and have kids to dress up it'll be fun again. But anywhow, that's not why I'm posting, I'm posting because it's now November! I don't like Halloween, but I LOVE Thanksgiving and Christmas! And now, they seem closer than ever.

Thanksgiving:

Thanksgiving is about coming together, being grateful, counting our blessings, and eating delicious food! Who doesn't love that? Another nice thing about Thanksgiving is that it's usually at my house. This means that we not only have tons of left overs afterward, but I also don't have to go anywhere. I can have this wonderful holiday in the comforts of my own home.

Christmas:This one is self explanitory. Christmas is a time of hot chocolate, warm snuggly clothes, warm cookies, gifts, glowing trees, glowing temples, and happy music on the radios. I love Christmas so much! We have already started singing Christmas music in our ward choir and that makes the coming of Christmas even more exciting!

So, as you can see, I'm excited. This week the weather is supposed to be in the 70's! Ahhh, I couldn't be happier. Though there may be so much drama at school and all around, at the end of the day, it's nice to be able to walk outside and breath in a nice breath of crisp cool air.

Having Fun With My Rylee

I've been learning how to take better pictures with my camera and having a bit too much fun with it. The only thing is, my only model is... Rylee! Here are a few of my favorites!

Look at that face.

Definatley one of my favorites. It's very artsy.

This one turned out way better than I thought it would!

Look at those eyes!

This one actually looks freaky if you look at it long enough... try it!

After a while, she got tired of pictures and had to say, "Enough already!" in her own way. I happened to be taking a picture when she did and, VIOLA! This is what happened.

Like I said, I was having WAY too much fun with this. Anyhow, on a different subject, thank you to all of you who commented on my last post, it was greatley appreciated, if anyone was left out and wanted to be able to view my blog please let me know. Thanks you, and have a great day!