Tuesday, September 29, 2009

ULTIMATE FRISBEE!

So for the last couple of Monday's we have played Ultimate Frisbee at the little park by our house. It has been lots of fun and we plan on playing next week again! YAY! But here are some fun pics of the couples that were with us last night. Matt and Mary Smith, and Boyd and Lindsay Gunnell.This cracks me up. I said, "Make a GRRR face"....yeah not so much Matt.

Weekend Fun in Safford

I love visiting my family! It is always so fun and uplifting. This weekend was Dena's (my mija) birthday! It was Safford's homecoming, and the benefit concert for Kameron Haban (which was incredible) the same day, so late that night we celebrated. She turned 20 so everyone teased her that she finally wasn't a teenager anymore! :)

The Birthday Girl.

Oooh cute little couple.

Blowing out the candles.

AND NOW for the best part of the evening.... My sister Lela and I were rough-housing and landed on top of Leslie (who is pregnant, so a little more sensitive in certain areas). She got really upset and jumped up to try and pounce on Lela but Lela was too quick and pulled the recliner button so the foot rest popped out and hit Leslie in the shins. So she falls to the ground and everyone is laughing and she squeals through her laughter, "I just peed!" Which makes everyone laugh harder, except my dad who is rolling his eyes at us (because he doesn't like the word "pee" and we are all being really loud) so he gets up and leaves the room. All the while my mom is sleeping on the floor. I know your thinking, "gee that would have been fun to see." Well don't worry...I've got PICTURES!
Just a cute one of Leslie and Lela.

Also while I was there I took some pictures of beautiful Bella and my dad and Matt in their scout uniforms.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Gorgeous Sabra!

I posted these on my website, too. But I just had to share (in case you guys aren't looking at my website every day :)! Look at this gorgeous woman! I love her! And I found out that today was her birthday! So here's a little shout out to Sabra! You are beautiful and wonderful! Happy Birthday!This one (below) is my favorite. It's so playful. I just love it!

Thursday, September 17, 2009

Photographer in the making...

I am officially opening my little photography business and so I wanted to get my name out there! I will be in Safford in a couple of weeks, and in Mesa the third weekend in October if anyone is interested in getting some family pictures done. Fall colors are beautiful and I am very reasonably priced! :)
For more information on my prices and to see some of my work go to my web address @ www.calliesgallery.com
Also, if you know anyone who may be interested in getting some pictures done, feel free to pass along my web address.
Thanks!

Sunday, September 13, 2009

Just a quick funny...

Did you all know that I married a really funny man? I feel sorry for the people who don't get to spend as much time with Randon as I do, because he is SO funny.
We had some friends over for dinner tonight and they asked how we met. This was Randon's response...
"We met in a Spanish class.....she had me from hola."
I cracked up laughing.

UA VS NAU

Some friends in our ward (Bethany and Nate Price) had extra tickets to the UA football game and tailgate dinner last night so we got to go with them! It was lots of fun. The tailgate dinner had really yummy BBQ. And the game was really fun to watch. NAU didn't stand a chance but they held their own. The score when we left (with five minutes left in the game) was UA- 35, NAU- 10. The weather was a little crazy, too. It kept raining on and off and there was lots of lightning around. We had so much fun! GO WILDCATS!Before the game at the tailgate dinner, we took a picture with Wilma one of the mascots.Us with the Bethany, Noah, and Nate.The band was fun to watch, too.

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Happenings

So school is in full force. We are very busy. Last night Randon was sitting at his desk doing his homework (you know...calculating the sphere of the blah blah blah...) and I was sitting at my little table next to him doing my drawing homework (you know...playing with charcoal). Randon turns to me and says, "I can't imagine two more DIFFERENT activities that you and I could be doing right now." Ha ha. I get to take all the fun classes. Anyway, a few minutes later I had a really big itch in my nose. Being that the palms of my hands were full of charcoal smudges, and also my fingers, I used the back of my hand to rub my nose vigorously, while saying to Randon, "My nose itches! Come scratch it!" What I didn't realize was the backs of my hands had a little charcoal residue as well. So instead of scratching my nose, Randon laughs at me and takes a picture. Niiiiice.
And here's one of the drawings we have been working on in class. My teacher has been teaching us all about mark making. So these are my marks.
Also, in my photography class today we did these really fun things called "photograms". You place objects on a piece of photo paper and then expose the paper to light for about 7 seconds. Then you develop the paper and this is what you get. Keep in mind that these are pictures of pictures...so their not that great. But I thought these were kind of fun.

And the boys, of course, are back to the ol' white board. They had a study session tonight until almost nine o'clock. I'm so excited Randon is almost done! YAY!

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Labor Day Weekend

Randon, and his really good high school buddies Billy and Joe.

Oh so fun! We weren't supposed to go until Friday afternoon but we decided to surprise the fam and drive up Thursday night. Friday night Randon had a "Friend Reunion" party. It was a bunch of his friends from high school and some of our mutual friends from college. It was so much fun! We hadn't seen some of them since our wedding! We had dessert and just visited. It was good times. Afterward we visited at Kristy and Adams for a little while, and then went out to dinner with Jess and Rob (who are expecting their first child due in March! YAY!)
Adam and Randon. Adam stopped to pose for me....... Jess and Me
I fell in love this beautiful little girl...................... Me and Jennalee
Josh and JennaLee, Dave and Whitney and us.
These are some of my old EAC buddies. Whitney, Jessica, and Kristy. We were trying to spell EAC but it didn't really work out so well. :)

Saturday was my cousin Rachel's wedding. She married Allen Knight. It was so special. We were invited to their sealing, which was very wonderful and sweet. Rachel was a glowing, beautiful bride. Then they had a dinner in Scottsdale, so we drove over with my parents and Tawny and Will. (On the drive we heard the good news that Leslie and Brian are expecting! YAY!) At the dinner we sat at a table with some fun cousins and enjoyed the great food, company, and most of all...CHOCHOLATE! It was everywhere and scarfed down by everyone! Rachel has always been a chochoholic, so it's no surprise there was lots of it at her wedding. :)
Me and the Beautiful Bride.
Me and my sweetheart.
My cousin Amanda and I matched skirts so we took a picture at the temple.

Saturday night after all the wedding festivities, we stopped by my Aunt Ellen's for a quick look through my Grandma and Grandpa Jones' stuff. It was so fun to look through all their things. It smelled like them and brought back so many fun memories. It was like being in their home again. I got a quilt, a windchime (they collected them), a couple of dresses from Ghana (where they served one of their three missions), a paper mache doll, and Randon got a bunch of really cool old church books, including a 1920's Book of Mormon. It was really fun.
Sunday was nice and lazy. After church and dinner, me and my mother-in-law sat down for hours and made cards. I love making cards with her! It was so much fun. Even when we don't do a lot of talking, it's just nice to have someone right next to you enjoying it as much as you are! (Love you mom! Thanks!) While we did that, the boys played Halo. It was so funny to hear them laughing and shouting in the next room.
All in all we had a really great time! Hooray for LONG weekends!

Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Little Women


I have been reading this book for like a month because I have so little time to read. But it is one of the BEST books I have ever read! I love the style of writing, the descriptions, the story...it's just really good. So here are a few of my favorite quotes from the book. It's pretty long...but it's really good reading!

#1-This is Jo speaking to Marmee the day Amy fell in the frozen river. "It's my dreadful temper! I try to cure it: I think I have, and then it breaks out worse than ever. Oh, Mother, what shall I do? What shall I do?" cried poor Jo, in dispair.
"Watch and pray, dear, never get tired of trying, and never think it is impossible to conquer your fault," said Mrs. March...
"You don't know, you can't possibly guess how bad it is! It seems as if I could do anything when I'm in a passion; I get so savage, I could hurt anyone and enjoy it. I'm afraid I shall do something dreadful some day, and spoil my life, and make everybody hate me! Oh Mother, help me, do help me!"
"I will my child, I will...remember this day, and resolve with all your soul that you will never know another like it. Jo dear, we all have our temptations, some far greater than yours, and it often takes us all our lives to conquer them. You think your temper is the worst in the world but mine used to be just like this..."
"That is what troubles me- for the sharp words fly out before I know what I'm about, and the more I say the worse I get, till it's a pleasure to hurt poeple's feelings and say dreadful things. Tell me how you do it Marmee dear."

"If I don't seem to need help, it is because I have a better friend, even than Father, to comfort and sustain me. My child, the troubles and temptations of your life are beginning and may be many, but you can overcome and outlive them all if you learn to feel the strength and tenderness of your Heavenly Father as you do that of your earthly one. The more you love and trust Him, the nearer you will feel to Him, and the less you will depend on human power and wisdom. his love and care never tire or change, can never be taken from you, but may become the source of lifelong peace, happiness, and strength. Believe this heartily, and go to God with all your little cares, and hopes, and sins, and sorrows, as freely and confidingly as your come to your mother."
[Jo] led my her mothers hand, had drawn nearer to that Friend who welcomes every child with a love stronger than that of any Father, tenderer than that of any Mother.

#2- Jo and Professor Bhaer are at a party together and some young philosophers start up a conversation near them, "It dawned upon her gradually that the world was being picked to pieces, and put together on new, and according to the talkers, on infinitely better principles than before, that religion was in a fair way to be reasoned into nothingness, and intellect was to be the only God. Jo knew nothing about philosophy or metaphysics of any sort, but a curious excitement, half pleasurable , half painful, came over her as she listened with a sense of being turned adrift into time and space...
Now Mr. Bhaer was a diffident man and slow to offer his own opinions, not because they were unsettled, but too sincere and earnest to be lightly spoken. As he glanced from Jo to several other young people, attracted by the brilliancy of the philosophic pyrotechnics, he knit his brows and longed to speak, fearing that some inflammable young soul would be led astray by the rockets, to find when the display was over that they had only an empty stick or a scorched hand. He bore it as long as he could, but when he was appealed to for an opinion, he blazed up with honest indignation and defended religion with all the eloquence of truth. Somehow, as he talked, the world got right again to Jo; the old beliefs, that had lasted so long, seemed better than the new; God was not a blind force, and immortality was not a pretty fable, but a blessed fact. She began to see that Character is a better possession that money, rank, intellect, or beauty, and that if greatness is what a wise man has defined it to be, 'truth, reverence, and good will,' then her friend Friedrich Bhaer was not only good, but great."

#3- Beth has just told Jo that she knows she is going to die. "Simple, sincere people seldom speak much of their piety; it shows itself in acts rather than in words, and has more influence than homilies or protestations. Beth could not reason upon or explain the faith that gave her courage and patience to give up life, and cheerfully wait for death. Like a confiding child, she asked no questions, but left everything to God and nature, Father and mother of us all, feeling sure that they , and they only , could teach and strengthen heart and spirit for this life and the life to come...Beth lay a minute thinking, and then said in her quiet way, 'I don't know how to express myself, and shouldn't try to anyone but you, because I can't speak out except to my Jo. I only mean to say that I have a feeling that it never was intended I should live long. I'm not like the rest of you; I never made any plans about what I'd do when I grew up; I never thought of being married, as you all did. I couldn't seem to imagine myself anything but stupid little Beth, trotting about at home, of no use anywhere but there. I never wanted to go away, and the hard part now is the leaving you all. I'm not afraid, but it seems as if I shall be homesick for you even in heaven.'"

#4- The most beautiful description I have ever read in a book. Beth's death. (It moved me to tears in the cafeteria at school today)"So the spring days came and went, the sky grew clearer, the earth greener, the flowers were up fair and early, and the birds came back in time to say good-by to Beth, who, like a tired but trustful child, clung to the hands that had led her all her life, as Father and Mother guided her tenderly through the Valley of the Shadow, and gave her up to God.
Seldom except in books do the dying utter memorable words, see visions, or depart with beautified countenances, and those who have sped many parting souls know that to most, the end comes as naturally and simply as sleep. As Beth had hoped, the "tide went out easily, " and in the dark hour before the dawn, on the bosom where she had drawn her first breath, she quietly drew her last, with no farewell but one loving look, one little sigh.
When morning came, for the first time in many months the fire was out, Jo's place was empty, and the room was very still. But a bird sang blithely on a budding bough, close by, the snowdrops blossomed freshly at the window, and the spring sunshine streamed in like a benediction over the placid face upon the pillow--a face so full of painless peace that those who loved it best smiled through their tears, and thanked God that Beth was well at last."