We would like to introduce our little miss, Charlotte "Charlie" Mae Jones. Almost 3 weeks early but she is perfect. We may be a little biased on that one lol. She was born at 1:43 pm on 12-14-16 coming in at 6lbs 8oz and almost 21 inches long.

Her birth definitely caught us by surprise but she came out healthy and that's all that matters. A few have asked to hear her birth story so I'll get that posted up here soon.

Sooo after a super long break from blogging I figured it was time to get back at it! So much has happened in our lives the past year, I felt I should document it. Some of it good, some of it bad. I may go in to detail on those topics in another post but for now I just wanted a welcome back, this is what is happening right now post.
Well as you can see our biggest news is we are expecting baby J due at the end of the year. We are so excited and can't wait for little one to get here. We found out in April, on the hubs birthday to be exact, but did not tell anyone until May 16th. I was running the Potato Half Marathon and had asked some family to be there at the finish line. Allen got creative and made signs with the ultrasound photo attached. His read "hunting and fishing gear for sale" and my sign read " Mama's 5th half marathon, Baby's 2nd half marathon, Daddy's in for a marathon". I was also wearing a shirt that said running for 2. He had the signs hidden away until I got to the finish then we handed our camera off and said we want to take a picture. It was pretty funny because it took everyone a minute before they realized what the signs said. They hadn't even noticed my shirt until after they read the signs lol.

I plan on tracking most of my pregnancy on here with weekly bumpdates and random pregnancy info. So check back to see our progression.

baby J's first photo

30 Birthday = 30 Acts of Kindness

I am so excited for this post! It is something I have been wanting to do for some time now and wanted to document it with the hopes of inspiring others. As my big 3-0 birthday approached back in August I kept getting asked what I wanted to do, or what I wanted. Well the more I thought about it, the more I realized I wanted to do for others. I had seen on Pinterest where people had done ROAK's or Random Acts of Kindness. Some where truly random, some were planned. I thought Yes! This is what I want to do. So I made my list and set out to do as many ROAK'S that I could the week of my birthday. Some were greeted with open arms, while others did not understand why on earth I would want to do something for others with nothing in return. Sadly the later was more common. I had to learn to be sneaky with some of my giving, received a lot of strange looks but in the end there were a few that were so grateful it would almost bring you to tears. I'm not going to lie, after doing all of these it really did give me the warm fuzzies inside.
Now to find out what items certain organizations needed I simply called or looked it up on their websites. Yes many of the things on this list did cost money, however there are many examples that do not cost anything but time. Also I went through the house to see if I had any items laying around that I could use. Some of the items seemed silly for me to even put on the list because to me they were common sense but a friend suggested it may not be to others and may inspire them to be a little kinder. There were many other ideas I wanted to do but did not get the chance. After completing this I will make sure to add them next time.
Well here's the list in no certain order. I tried to get as many pictures as I could but in my sneakiness had to be quick and did not get all of them.

RANDOM (PLANNED) ACTS OF KINDNESS
1. Left popcorn on the Redbox machine
2. Taped money to the vending machine at the hospital
3. Paid for the car behind me at Starbucks (these ladies were so excited, they flagged me down at the stop light to say thank you)
4-6. Mailed out handwritten cards to 3 of my very dear friends
7. Left a silly shark gift on a friends doorstep
8. Left a gift of chocolate and a drink on another friends doorstep after they mentioned they were craving it on Facebook
9. Left flowers on my moms car at work
10. Made a donation of food and towels to the Idaho Humane Society
11. Held the door open for a mother who was struggling with her stroller (also after a gentleman so rudely let it slam in her face)
12. Cleaned out my cupboards and made a donation to the Meridian Foodbank
13. Played coupon Fairy at Walmart and left random coupons through out the store
14. Made a hospital "survival kit" for a mom to be
15. Donated hygiene supplies to Mirror Image, which puts together hygiene supplies for teens in need at no charge to them
16. Dropped off coloring books, crayons, and word search puzzles to those staying at the Ronald McDonald house in Boise
17-18. Purchased two gift cards to Chic FilA. One I gave to the Ronald McDonald house to give to parents that are staying there. The other I took to the hospital and told the lady on the peds floor to give it to a patient she felt was "in need".
19. I purchased cookies and gave them to one of the nurses stations at the hospital
20. Held the elevator door open for a patient at the hospital
21. Made a donation to a friends Alzheimer's fundraiser page
22. Made my best attempt to be a polite driver, with all this construction going on
23. Leave post it "love notes" for the hubs around the house
24. Left quarters at the candy machines at the store
25. Helped out the inlaws by watching theirs boys while they welcomed a precious new addition to the family
26. Spent some good quality time with my Grandpa (which I don't do often enough) and helped dust his house.
27. Took grocery carts back inside the store instead of leaving them out in the parking lot corral
28. Held a friends baby while at lunch so she could enjoy her meal without wrestling the little one
29. Took my mama out to lunch
30. Donated bags of clothing to a great organization called The Closet. They are one of the few donation centers that I found that does not charge, in any way, for teens to come get clothes who are in need.

Summer time is finally here!

So technically I think we have another week before it is actually here but its hot outside so I'm counting it. Well we have been busy busy busy. The wedding count down is getting shorter and that means more things to be checked off our list. This is when the wedding planning starts to get more real. All the vendor contracts are signed (well almost all), decorations seem to be piling up in the office, and the DRESS should be here in a few weeks!!!

But even though the planning process is full steam ahead we still need to have a normal life every now and then. This last go round Allen was gone 6 WEEKS. That made the month of May very long. So when he did finally come home what do we do? We went out of town. It was our first "camping" trip of the season. Now I say "camping" because we actually stayed in a very nice 5th wheel that has a shower. But there was a camp fire and we played outside. Here are a few of the high lights from the trip...

A little 4 wheeler action. Notice my awesome new giant backpack that Allen bought. Its almost bigger than me. Apparently Allen wants me to "survive" in the woods. 

Patriot had to dig the dirt just right so he could lay in it.

There was also some shooting and a lot of Morel mushroom hunting. (apparently this is a popular thing to do) We spent hours just walking through the woods looking for these ugly mushrooms. I found a bunch, Allen not so many since he can't see that close to the ground :) Well this was just the beginning to a fun packed summer. It will go by in a whirlwind and be over before we know it. We have a few more trips planned before summer is over so that will give us a break from all the wedding madness. Actually it hasn't been madness for me. I love wedding planning. I asked Allen the other day whatever am I going to do once this is all over? I will have to find a new hobby. Any suggestions? 

Where has the time gone?

Wow I didn't realize how long it had been since my last post. I have been busy busy busy. Busy with wedding stuff but at the same time I needed to step back and take a break from it all. As much as I have enjoyed every step of this wedding planning process it can (and did) get a little overwhelming. Not only do you have so many options, ideas, decorations to choose from but EVERYONE and their mother feel that they need to give you their input on how you should have YOUR  wedding. Do things this way. Don't do that. Your going to hate it if you do this. And the ever popular... Don't waste your money on that, no one will care anyways. Well I must say yes someone does care. That would be me and Allen. Remember? It's OUR wedding. We have carefully planned out every little detail of our wedding to match things that we like and we enjoy. If we choose to have appetizers, dinner, AND dessert its because we enjoy food. If we decide to have our wonderful dog Patriot in the wedding party, its because he is our child and thats what you do. You put your kids in the wedding. I wouldn't question it if your child was in your wedding.
Now I'm not meaning for this to sound like a b**** fest. I just needed to get it off my chest. I do appreciate the underlying intentions behind this "advice". Please just remember the way it is presented. And if we have an idea that just sounds out of this world crazy all I ask is for you to smile, nod and say "well I'm sure you will pull it off."

Ok now thats done time to catch up on what we have been up to the last month..Well theres been fishing, a birthday, a day at the lake, more fishing (for Allen), and a random 72 hour roadtrip to Santa Cruz. In between all of that we have come a long way with the wedding planning. Videographer-booked. Bridesmaids dresses-picked out and almost all ordered. Grooms wear- picked out. Bachelorette and Bridal showers are in the works but dates are picked (I think) Center pieces and decorations are currently being assembled, glued, and are taking up my office and kitchen. Still a lot to do but it is all coming together so nicely and peacefully. I keep waiting for that stressful moment every keeps saying will happen but so far nothing :)
Well better get back to gluing and painting. I'm getting crafty with wine corks. Happy wedding planning

My lovely Bridesmaids

 Well now that I have officially asked all of my lovely ladies I can write this post. So the groom, I feel, has it easy when it comes to his groomsman. A simple text message, phone call, punch to the shoulder, "Wanna be in the wedding?". Maybe they high five and its done. Measurements must be in 1 month before the wedding. Thats the extent of a groomsmans duties. But now a bridesmaid, thats a whole other story. There is a lot a of thought and planning that goes into a being a bridesmaid. Mostly they are there for moral support. The appointments, late night brainstorming sessions, cake tastings. Well normally a lot of these are done with the groom but since Allen cannot be here to help with those (which I secretly think he is thankful for) I am relying on my girls.
  Now since I put a lot of thought into who I would have by my side I did not want to just ask them in any boring way. My craftiness and ocd kicked in and I made these lovely gifts for the girls.

I bought plain wooden cigar boxes from the craft store and painted them in our wedding colors. Each one was decorated a little different than the other and I personalized with each of their names.

When they opened it up this is what it said. But I did not just give them an empty box...

On the inside I placed different little trinkets. I included a little poem asking them to be a maid. A ring pop that said "my turn to pop the question". Tissues for the "tears of joy". A notepad. I also put together a swatch of our wedding colors using scrap book paper.  There was also a note explaining our venue, theme, and what I ask from them as a bridesmaid. Mostly that I understand life, family, and money may get in the way sometimes but what is most important is that I have them next to me on our special day. I need them more for moral support than anything else.
  So thank you girls for being there for me and Allen as we take this next step. It really means a lot to me that you are willing able to help.
Happy Wedding Planning :)

The Dress Hunt is Finished!!!

 So a quick recap of the last post. My mom and I flew to sunny San Diego to look for a wedding dress, hang with one of my bridesmaids, and go to wedding show down there for ideas. Well the trip was a success! Other than there being no sun the entire time we were there, it may have been sunnier here in Idaho.
But for the most important part of the trip, drum roll please..... I FOUND MY DRESS! And it was way easier than expected. So easy in fact it was the first dress I tried on, at the first store. We had 3 appointments scheduled for that day and I didn't even go to the other two. That's how fantastic my dress is. It was a little hard to make that commitment so early, a little hyperventilating in fact. I looked to others to make the decision for me but ultimately it was all on me. The girl I was working with was amazing and knew all the right things to say to convince me it wouldn't get any better. I think the moment I knew it was the dress happened when I first walked out of the dressing room. They were really busy and there were probably 25 other brides/entourages trying on dresses. But when I walked out everyone got really quiet and stopped and stared. It was a little embarrassing at first but then I remembered, that's the look I'm going for.

So...Do you want to see it?

Or is it?

Actually its none of these. You didn't really think I was going to show everyone my wedding dress? That is the one secret, sacred thing that I get to keep to myself. Other than that you will have to wait til the wedding to see it. On that note as well, if you were one of the wonderfully special people who were able to get a sneak              peek at the dress, please do not share it with anyone. Even if they are family or a stranger at the grocery store. It was meant for you and you only.
I will say this is the man who made my dress

I think they said this was taken back in the 70's but I don't care. He makes amazing dresses.

 Now that the biggest stress of the wedding is over what will be next? Everything is falling into place so easily I am afraid I will wake up and it will all be a dream. Until next post. Happy wedding planning