Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving this year was SO MUCH FUN!!!! We got to spend a LOT of time with our families, and that always makes the Holidays seem, like you never want them to end! It was nice to get a break from school, and just have some time to spend with the people we love most! 

We spend a good amount of time with our nieces and nephews on Sterling's side! Carly and Josh and their 4 1/2 kiddos (one is on the way), came down from Salt Lake, and they just moved to Utah from Virginia... so it's been a while since any of us have seen them! I have so much fun with those kids... I love that they live a little closer now! Jordan and Stacey and their 3 kids also came up from Las Vegas to spend the week with everyone! We love those little hooligans too, and are so glad they live close to us!

 Sterling is like the "favorite young uncle" who all of the nieces and nephews LOVE! So yah... it's fun to be married to the fun one... because I just kind of inherited the role as the "fun aunt"! We don't have kids of our own yet, so we just get to spoil these sweet things as much as we can! :) Ster thought it'd be a fun idea to take all of the kids to the "spin park", and turns out... he was right! THE KIDS LOVED IT! We love living in warm St. George weather... where it's nice enough to take the kids to the park even towards the end of November!!!

Needless to say... we tuckered those little munschkins out! They had a great time, and so did we! We were all ready to eat Thanksgiving dinner by the time our "play time" was up!

 

I also had a fun run with my dad, on Thanksgiving morning! Man... for bein' an "old guy"... this dude can still kick my trash! Sheesh!!!!  I should have known, running with a multi-marithoner, and High School Cross Country coach... I'd be eating his dust! ha! It was so much fun though, and we just ran up over the red rocks of snow canyon! I love this guy, and love the hobbies we do together! I hope when I'm 50+... I can be in as good of shape as he is!

We also got to spend a little bit of time with my family over the Thanksgiving Holiday too!!! I sure love them! We are a wild and crazy, loud, funny, bunch... who LOVES to be together! We are one of the only families I know of... who has such a big group at Thanksgiving time, that we can't all fit in a house! Every year since I can remember, we have had our Blake Family Thanksgiving Dinner at my Grandma's church! It is the perfect spot! Tons of kitchen space, TONS of eating space, a nursery for the little kids, a big lawn for football, and there are even a few pick up games of "SCUM" or "around the world" after the tables get put away! It is such a fun time!

 We also all love to look through the Black Friday Adds, and see what's going on sale that night, or the next morning! I have done "Black Friday" a few times... but it's not really for me anymore! ha! I may be lame... but it just hasn't been worth it to me in the past recent years. Most of what I love, I can get online, and they are still the black friday deals! THAT'S how I do it! :)

I also had a weird allergic reaction late Thanksgiving night! We have NO IDEA what I was allergic to... but I turned in to Will Smith off of HITCH! hah! My face and throat were swollen, and I hurried and ran to Stephen and Rhonda's house to grab a benedryl and Zyrtec! Glad they lived close! No worries though... it was just a little scare, but all ended well! I just have some ridiculous pictures as proof!

All in all... we had a great Thanksgiving, and have SO MUCH to be thankful for! Our Father in Heaven has blessed us with COUNTLESS blessings! We have faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, we have a happy eternal marriage, we are healthy as can be, we are blessed to be in the "thick" of school (sometimes... I think it's a curse, but I know deep down it's truly a blessing), and we live in a free country! Honestly... we are super blessed! Hope all of your holiday festivities were as fun as ours!

Halloween

Halloween was so much fun this year. We had Kayelee with us for part of the time, and she was a little Japanese girl! She had about a million things she could have been, but she was so EXCITED to be a Japanese girl, because her momma went to Japan on her mission... and Little Miss thought that was so cool! Ster and I had some authentic Asian costumes his parents brought back from a trip... so for Halloween... A little Asian family we were! haha!

 We went to our Ward Halloween party... but got there right as it was ending! Darn! Just in time to help clean up! ha! :)

 Since we didn't get to stay very long at the Ward party... we decided to come home and make Halloween treats! Sterling needed to take a "spooky treat" to work the next day... so we decided to make pudding dirt cups! They were a yummy snack, and Little missy was a good helper at "licking the spoon".

 On REAL Halloween night, Kayelee went Trick or Treating in Ivins, and all around her neighborhood in Santa Clara... and made a HAUL!!! This girl knows how to Trick or Treat! Aunt Sydnee was a Baseball player for Halloween, and Jeff and RaCail were a "Mexican" and a "Witch".

It was a fun Halloween, and having Kayelee around makes everything so much more exciting! Her mommy has been really sick lately, and has just been diagnosed with cancer! It's not the kind of situation we (as a family) would have hoped for... but we believe in miracles, have a lot of faith in Heavenly Father, and will do anything to help each other out! If ya can't tell... we sure love this girl a whole bunch!

New Family Pictures!

The last time my family took family pictures, was only about a year and a half, to two years ago. It wasn't too long at all. But since that time, we have had 3 awesome additions to the Jolley family. THUS... the need for a new family photo sesh!

Here are some pictures from our last family photo shoot:

It's amazing how things can change in just 2 short years! haha! Our family of 6, went to a family of 9! WE HAVE LOVED EVERY ADDITION TO IT!

Our new family pictures, we took over General Conference weekend. We left to go up around Pine Valley area, just after the Afternoon session of Conference was finished. The timing was great, and the leaves and trees, and WEATHER were perfect! Here are a few shots!

 Immediate Family

 The whole Group

 The Guys

The Girls

We had some fun with these shots too! I think Jaycee and Brady are the only ones who didn't have a goofy picture! They're just cute all the time!

It was a fun time with the fam, and I just LOVE THE FALL WEATHER!!! It's fun to have updated pictures of our family, with everyone in them... when someone is NOT in a wedding dress! haha! (we've had updated family pictures taken professionally, 3 times during the past 2 years... but they've always been at one of our weddings! haha!)

  

 

  

 

 

We think the new pictures turned out great!

September (Birthday Month) Catch- up

Whole 2 months of celebration at the Coons Home!!!!

With Sterling's birthday last month, and mine this month... we've done a LOT of partying lately! We loving finding a reason to have family and friends over to help us have a good time! We don't love this whole "one year older...but not so much wiser" bit that comes along with birthdays! This birthday... I became a quarter of a century old!!! 25 big ones... chalk'em up! haha!

The "Grand Chaw-hee Hat" still stands as a Birthday tradition in our family!

 Jordan and Stacey's family came up to St. George for a lil' visit! I love this lil' niece of mine... sometimes she's sugar, and sometimes she is total SPICE! haha! These pictures capture all of it!

" Better Thank Sex Cake"... my favorite kind of birthday cake!

 The whole birthday crew!

 Twins!

 Jaycee made me this DARLING magnet board for my birthday!

 Love my parents!

 Yah... he's gonna be a FANTASTIC dad someday!

 My cute in-laws in their scooter with a side-cart! We love going on Sunday evening rides with them!

Look what darling Young women I have!!!! They are seriously so thoughtful, and gave me some DELICIOUS cupcakes for my birthday! I seriously love these girls, and how amazing they are! I'm so lucky to be their leader! I learn so much from them!