Califorina Easter 2014

I know this post is WAY late, but I wanted to make sure to post it and be able to remember it.

 For Easter this year we were able to go to California to spend it with his family. It was so much fun, I had not met his grandma and grandpa or his uncles and aunts, and we were able to spend time with them and get to know them a little more.We were also able to visit Jonnys grandma in the hospital, that was really special for us and for me to meet her. She was not able to speak, but you could tell how happy she was to see us and hold our hands. 

 We were able to even go on a really beautiful bike ride with his uncle Bill. It started at the top of a mountain and ended at the beach. It was really pretty and we just enjoyed each others company on the ride down.

 

  We were able to drive and visit the town that Jonny grew up in Palmdale... It made me miss home not going to lie. There were no trees and in the middle of the town there was a HUGE lake BUT you are not allowed to swim in it because its there city water. When Jonny told me he grew up in the desert, I didn't really believe him.... well now I know. I'm glad we were able to make time to go see the house he grew up in, as well as the elementary , middle, and high school he went to.

 








We went to a famous stop near Jonnys home town Palmdale called Charlie Browns. Jonny always talked about this AWESOME Banana Split, well 4 bananas, chocolate fudge, Carmel, peanut-butter, peanuts, and a few Cherry on top latter we were pretty full.....  ( yep, my friends we ate the entire thing... don't judge). The pic above is Jonny after, I was the same way. This place was packed full of all kinds of crazy stuff, from all types of meats to ostrich eggs to frog legs.   

 In the Holden family there is a collectable corvette that is passed down through generations, and we took it out for the day. We drove through the canyons and national forests, it was so beautiful even if there were not to many trees :P. Since we drove with the roof off Jonny got a nice forehead sunburn, and me well just a little tanner :)... It was so nice to just drive and enjoy the ride, while listening to the radio.

We were so glad that we were able to go to California for Easter this year, seeing the beach was really nice to, BUT I still think the Atlantic beaches are better :). Easter dinner was also a really nice as well, it was fun hearing the story's of the Holdens.The trip was a lot of fun and needed. California is a pretty cool place, to bad its so expensive to live there.

BABY COLTON

Baby Colton has finally arrived!!!

I can just not get over how cute all my nephews are!!!!! They are all so handsome I am so proud to be their aunt :). Colton Ervin Thomas is 8 pounds 6.3 oz and 21 inches long. Born August 11, 2014 I now have a birthday month buddy ( August is the best). Colton is just as handsome as his dad and even as sweet and loving as him mom :). congrats to the new awesome parents. Im so happy to have another little nephew I can love

SUCH A LITTLE STUD !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nauvoo 4th of July 2014

This 4th of July was a really fun and unexpected one, we had a cook out with some friends: Us, Alexa and bear and family, and  Gina and Phil. We brought chocolate pecan pie, that turned out to be a hit we played corn hole and hit baseballs around and just enjoyed each others company. Alexa and bear had just had their twins and it was so much fun to hold them, Jonny looked so handsome holding the little guys:). It was beautiful watching the fireworks over the Mississippi and watching the sunset, even though the firework show only lasted less then 5 min. it was still pretty. Jonny even made us an amazing breakfast to kick start our day.

We decided to drive up to St. Louis with our friends to see the concert ( the fray)  and firework show there. We got there and we went to Lush and Jonny rockets.it was a great but HOT fun trip.

Steam Boat Days

The week of june 10-14 is quite the celebration here in small town Iowa, its STEAM BOAT DAYS :) ! This year the performers where Toby Keith, Christ Young, Jerrod Niemann and a few others but we only saw the country concerts. We got an awesome deal on the tickets and just could not pass up such great country singers.( I mean they are no Brad Paisley but still good :) ) Every night we got there with our lawn chairs and we were super close to each night! I guess that's the perks for living in the middle of no where...  There were concesion stands everywhere and every night we went, we could not have asked for better weather. Our first concert we say was Jerrod Niemann. 

I was so excited I forgot to get a picture of his trailer with his logo on it, but we sat and saw a pre-show by a guy named Dallis Smith, let me tell ya, that boy is going to make it big one day !!! (AMAZING) The concert was really great and we actually ran into one of Jonnys coworkers and his wife. We ended up sitting next to one another and having a great night cheering and singing along. We have actually seen him before in concert and this time, It felt like a lot of his songs were about drinking. IT WAS SO FUNNY, we were sing along to a song that we really liked, and Jonny was really into it. Then Jarrod holds up his glass and says something like, " If you drinking give me a HELL YA.." then Jonny fist pumps the air and yells Hell ya.. not even knowing what he was cheering about. Everyone around us look at him holding his little NON-alcoholic lemonade in his hand, and his coworker and wife who are members of the church just bust out laughing along with me. Jonny is a silly/ fun one to be with and makes every adventure a memorable one.

Our second concert was Chris Young, he was our favorite singer of all. NO songs about getting drunk and drinking. We had so much fun just kicking back in our chairs and singing along to good old love songs :). AND to top off the awesome night we got a funnel cake :):):) YUMMMMMM I sadly pretty much ate the whole thing, but Jonny had some I made sure to share. 

how can anyone ever pass up one of these bad boys !!!!!!!!! The only thing bad that happened  was on the way down to the concert Christ Young broke his arm, so he was not able to play his guitar.

Our last concert we went to was Tobey Keith, Burlington although it is close its far to drive when you work the next morning and it takes 45 min to drive home. With the Tobey Keith I was super excited, but then he started singing all these songs about smoking weed with Willie Nelson and getting high.... He only sung like two of his songs that actually where hits !!!!!!  So I think it is safe to say that we were very disappointed with Tobey Keith, and will prob never go to another one of his concerts again. We were even right next to the stage really close, but after impaired people split 4 drinks on me I was ready to go sit down in our seats. When he played his last song we left because he was not coming out for another song, so we left... well 25 min after his last song while we were walking to the car he plays his Top AMERICA song.... What the heck TOBEY.... so anyway it was fun and the most important thing was I got to spend some time with my best friend in the whole wide world .

Baby Nixon

On April 27, 2014 my brother and sister in law gave me another adorable nephew !!! Nixon Thomas is such a wide eye cutie ! I can not wait to meet him, Ethan and Kaytlin are such cute parents.

Geode State Park

Now that it is finally nice outside, we decided to get out a bit and explore what the area has to offer. We found a famous park called Geode State Park that's famous for all its Geode rocks. In the middle of this park there is a huge, beautiful lake and around the lake is a trial.I wanted to go on the lake trail Jonny was a little hesitant about it and I didn't know why until about a mile in he said, " you know this is a 7 mile hike right?" WHAT was my reaction, none the less WE FINISHED that trail and it was beautiful cool day :) but I do not think we will be making it again for a while.

It was so nice there was benches all along the trail with beautiful lookouts, the lake reminded me of Fontana Lake. There was even a little beach area that you can swim in, we saw lots of fishing boats and people paddle boarding !! It made me wish we had our kayak, or something that water was calling my name !!!!  All along the trial I was looking for the geode rocks, I never found one but maybe one day ill come across one for sure. This was such a fun day trip that Jonny and I got to spend time together and enjoy the outdoors :) It was sooooooo extremely green, its hard to believe this is the same place as it was during winter. The lucky think is this park is only 40 min away so we can go camping or hiking any time we want :)

A Famers Life For Us

This week we did something crazy, Jonny always talks about how his family has chickens up in Minnesota and how he wants to try and raise some, well we decided to take the leap...  we looked up what chickens laid the best and most eggs and we were off to the farm store :). Before we left Jonny and I went out back and started building a little cage coop for the chickens to stay.( Jonny had a whole plan to build them a big wooden Chickens coop/ castle)

  we got 3 different kinds of chicks, California white, Australorps and Barred Rock. We have to admit it we were a little nervous about our dog wanting to eat the little chicks up, but she could not be more excited about the little new additions :) her new favorite thing to do is just to sit in front of there box and watch them. running from side to side trying to get the best view. When we let her outside she is so excited to get back inside and resume her watching post. ( its cute, now we know that he will be good with kids... we think).
We HOPE that all the chicks are girls/ hens but I do think we have at least one Rooster....... :( I do not want a rooster for many reasons 1- they crow and wake me up in the A.M, and i like my sleep. 2- They are mean, and have sharp claws. and 3- THEY DON'T LAY EGGS... so they are useless, we will see how long he lasts if he is a boy. People keep asking me if I am going to name the chicks, and the answer is "no" we did name them all KFC though. The man in the store asked Jonny if I was going to name them, then he proceeded to tell me, " let chickens be chickens." So that is what I'm going to do. :)
We don't know much about chickens, but we will have to learn quick because these things grow so fast I swear you can watch them grow! so far a week in we have not killed any of them yet, we had a close call by almost frying them with a heat lamp, but they are alive and well. I cant wait till we get our first egg, there will diffidently be a post about that one :)

The Thomas Twins Reunited

Bethany Jex came to visit me right before Easter, we had not seen each other for over a year and that is just not exceptionable. She came all the way out to little Nauvoo to see me, one thing I always did for Bethany was draw up a game plan in high school. So I drew here up a Nauvoo fun game plan... kinda hard because there is really nothing here (hahah), but I think I did a pretty good job. ( its kind of hard to follow, but if you can good job :) )

Jonny and I took Bethany to the Casino in Burlington, for a nice dinner and we might have done a few dollars on the slots... at one point I was up $15 and Bethany was telling me, "cash it out, cash it OUT" but I did not listen and I lost it all. I don't think I'm much of a gambler. ( but I did get some cute earrings out of it)

After our  gambling night, we decided it would be good to go to church and see the temple. Before church Jonny had a meeting so Beth and I just walked around the temple grounds catching up. I miss this woman she is the best. The wind was really strong that day and it was a little over cast but it was so much fun walking around and enjoying the beauty. We wanted to go do a session, but the temple was closed that week for cleaning. :( maybe next time Beth :P

While we were doing all of our adventures, we had several people ask us if we were sisters. we may as well be so we just say yes :). We went to the visitor center, and old Nauvoo flats it was a lot of fun, we even went on a carriage ride. It was kind of a colder day, but that was good because there were less people out and about. It was fun but there is only so much history you can take in a day.

after our long day of out and about we dropped by the Fudge Factory to get some delicious treats. you cant come to Nauvoo and not go here, its like that only good place besides the temple :).

That night we all went out for a little game of Put-Put. It has to be the hardest courses I have ever played, but it was 18 holes of fun. The loser had to buy ice cream and we where both glad that unfortunate Jonny was the loser. It was so fun, we also did the batting cages and just enjoyed the night. I'm so grateful for such a great girl friend, I wish her husband could of come down. Next time we will have to go visit them. It was sad to take her to the airport and say goodbye but we will have to go on that cruise we were talking about soon. :)

Relief Society Reenactment

The Relief Society of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was officially organized March 17, 1842 inside the Redbrick store in Nauvoo. This year I was able to participate in the Church s Relief Society Reenactment that takes place in the same place the Redbrick Store. I was asked if I would be willing to play a woman named Helen Mar Whitney. I agreed and I memorized my part, (it was pretty long I was a little nervous.) We practiced a few times and got our costumes, women came from all over to see it and to attend the woman's retreat, all the way from Utah, Idaho, California, Arizona, Washington and New Mexico.... I was surprised :)
I had so much fun playing the part and feeling the spirit in the room during the performance. It was a blessing to be apart of it, and now I am able to say that I was in a church reenactment in Nauvoo :). All the women where so fun, and im so glad that I got to know some of them a little more. We did two shows, the picture below is of us outside after the last show. I wish I had a picture of the whole group, but ill try and find one.

After the show a few women came up to me and asked if I had been in pageants or reenactments before, (NOPE) it made me feel good that someone noticed that I did well. Jonny wished he could have come, but it was i the middle of the day on a Thursday so when he came home I gave him my lines:)

Growing On Up !!!

Our puppy is almost no longer a puppy, she is a growing dog for sure when we first got her she was maybe 2 pounds, 2 weeks latter 7 pounds, 2 weeks latter 14 pounds... its safe to day she is around 20 pounds now.  we were told that she was an Australian shepherd/ terror mix ( so she would stay small.) Well we went into the vet yesterday and they said she was defiantly an Australian shepherd but mixed with an Australian Cattle dog, soooooo long story short Harley will be a lot bigger than we thought she was going to be... BUT she is still pretty small so we hope she will stay such.

we have taught her many things such as: 

-Sit

-come 

-down

-stay 

-fetch 

-"NO" hahah 

-patience

-and to PRAY before she eats ( I will post a video of her doing it, so you will believe it)

She loves to: 

-bring us her bowl when she is thirsty or hungry and will bring us the right bowl

-she likes to take us on walks wile bitting the leash and pulling us along

-she loves her belly rubbed 

-loves sleeping on or next to you at all times and snuggling

-hates, but loves spicy foods ( I can throw a jalapeno down on the floor and that will keep her busy for 20 min.)   

-she smiles when she sleeps and also runs while sleeping to

- sleep on her back with her legs in the air, or streched out as flat as she can make herself

She is such a good dog and we are so glad that we got her, she follows us everywhere and will sit by my feet when im doing the dishes or putting my makeup on in the morning.bring us toys when she wants to play and is always so excited to see up even if we were only gone for 5 min. We have high hopes that she will be a great old dog in our family one day. Harley, you were a steal of a deal darling :)

Texas We MIss You

 

We recently visited Texas to visit friends and as well as apply to more schools, while we were down there we got to spend time with our friends and go out to dinner. Us girls went out and all saw the movie " Frozen" together, it was the best catching up and seeing everyone. We spend a few days with David and Kye Holden with their new baby daughter Mary. She is a cute tough little girl, just like her mom. It was so nice to get a break for the weather out in IL and back to warm weather, we enjoyed taking walks together through the neighborhoods and looking at the houses. Jonny also sold his dirt bike for $100, so we could get it out of Davids garage.We got it up and running after a lot of hard work, so Jonny was able to take his last joy ride around before we got rid of it. We rode that bike on our first date, I wish we could of had more use for it while we were in Texas. It was a quick trip, but we were grateful to see all of our amazing friends and family.  

Sweet North Carloina

Visiting home sure was a treat, I enjoyed spending time with my parents and Jessica, Eric and Baby Emmett. While I was home for a week I turned in some applications and for some dental programs and then just enjoyed spending time with my wonderful family. My mom sure is a champ and is the BEST MOM ever for helping me do all that I needed to do while I was down there. My family is the best I love them all so much, and I feel so blessed to always have their support no matter what :).

Ohhhhhh how I just love sleeping babies, Emmett just napped and napped on me all the time. I never wanted to put him down, he is such a cutie for sure! He is just a smiling baby, you ever did see :D I asked Jessica if we could give him a bath every night, just because he loves them so much and he giggles and squeals while playing in the water:). Both my sisters are such great moms, I hope that one day I will be half as good a mom as them. Mom don't worry you are at the top of that "best mom's List." 

When I was home Jonny was able to come down for a day or so and I promised my dad that I would make him my famous Apple Pie ( YUMMMM) It was pretty dang good, not a crumb left at the bottom of the pan. Jonny was impressed as well, because I have not ever made him one before... now he knows all my secrets :)

The best part of the night was not pie, or shopping it was seeing my little nephew just laugh and laugh as we played on the floor together :)

My Nauvoo Job

I am the new manager of the Nauvoo Vacation Villas, I have been so busy with applying to schools and going to school that I have not been able to get a job. ( believe me I've tried) But now the snow is melting and people are starting to come out of hibernation, I decided that it would be a good time. So far I've bee working there for 2 and a little weeks and its going great. Its extra money that will help us reach our goal of buying our future home and starting our family. I cant wait to decorate our home one day and to have our own home. pinterest is already well planned with my many, many ideas of what I would like to do in our home together. The more we save the more we can make our home, HOME :)

Mr. Sow Man

This winter was a really harsh one, so we decided to try to make the best of it with building a snowman. All Winter whenever it snowed we were not able to make a snowman because the snow was to dry and felt like flour but, one crazy day all the planets alined and we were able to make a small Mr. Snowman. We even were able to watch a beautiful sunset hoping and wishing that the Summer would PLEASE come. We went around with my brand new camera that Jonny got me for valentines day, and took some amazing pictures. I love the winter and snow, but its time for it to go away and bring on the flowers.

Two Love Birds

This Valentines day was such a great one, this year we had a little more time to think about it and time to prepare.  Jonny had to work during the day, but I decorated the house and got everything ready for when he got home that night. This year I got him a Cook Book that he had been wanting, wrote him a cute Love letter, and money to buy any tool that he wanted... ( he talks about it all the time ) It was a simple gift, but a thoughtful gift. 

Jonny on the other hand went above and beyond !!!! I found a paper that was not meant for my eyes so all week he was throwing me off by giving me hints saying it was one thing and then another. By the end of the week I had no idea what Jonny had gotten me, he had me convinced that he got me shoes. ( witch might be a good one for the future :) ) He had gone on my Pintrest account and looked through my folders of the things I wanted and went from there. 

After eating a delicious / romantic candle light dinner with sparkling cider, we opened our gifts. And to my Surprise he got me an AMAZING Nikon Camera ... Nikon D3200 24.2 MP Digital SLR Camera

He not only got me an amazing camera he even got me my camera strap that I really wanted, If I ever did get a camera. ( to the right) This is the picture Jonny saw on line, he is so sweet and thoughtful. I am so excited to capture all the wonderful moments that will happen in our lives and so I can remember them forever. Jonny is soooo sneaky tricking me and keeping it a surprise, mom knows how hard it is to surprise me... I'm to smart for my own good, i find out what it is before i get it, or Jonny will accidentally spill the beans without knowing.. silly Jonny:)

I am so grateful for an amazing husband who knows and listens to me talk about all the crazy things I want one day. And I'm even more thankful that he makes those CRAZY things come true  !!! What a bblessing my husband is to me, every day of my life :D

Baby Its Cold Outside!

Snow, Snow, Snow and Ice..... we cant get away from it here in Nauvoo, so we decided to make the best of it and buy us some snow sleds. We bundled up since it was in the single digits, and went out to find the BIGGEST hill. ( Now don't make fun of me, I'm not the one to buy cloths for animals but, I just felt bad for Harley with it being -40 out ! ) Once we found the hill Jonny climbed it, with of course Harley following his every footstep reached the top. Jonny decided that it would be cool to take Harley down on the sled with him.... BAD idea... 1. the hill is very steep 2. its not a smooth ride and 3. Harley is small... But he made his mind up and went for it. 3 seconds into the ride they hit a Huge bump and Harley went flying in the air doing flips with Jonny right behind her. Then both falling into the snow with a big white snow cloud. A few seconds latter I see Harley running out, having escaped the death trap. Lets just say I refused to take her down with me the next time, but she continued to run up and down the hill after us. It was snowing really hard when we decided to go, so by the time we were done we were covered with ice and snow. It was also nice because We were the only ones on this hill ( freezing our buns off) that's probability why we were.
We had fun and enjoyed the beautiful snow while we walked through old Nauvoo, but I'm ready for spring to get here already... you cant even make a snowman with this snow...

Welcome Baby OWEN !

 The Thomas Empire is growing and growing, Vanessa and Mike Tedrow had there 3rd baby boy Owen Winters Tedrow :) He,  just like all my nephews are very handsome little men !! I think Owen will be the body builder latter down the line ( he was born with muscles) big strong tank:). This post is a little late, Jonny and I visited North Carolina at the end on January and we both think he is just a cutie. We think that our boys, that we will have one day will have some competition of the cutest and strongest.

So cute and sweet, I just love babies :D I, one day wish I will have babies like Vanessa... Owen only took 15 min and he was OUT.... ( CHAMP ) But I also know that it was NOT easy, I'm just saying ;)

I think its so awesome that there are so many babies that are going to be born this year, Kaytlin and Ethan with there baby BOY, and Shannon and Jared who will find out in a week or so of the gender. Our family reunions in 10 years will be a CRAZY one for sure! I cant even fathom how fun all the cousins will have running around playing football. We are so blessed to have all the little nephews we have so far and love every little finger and toe they have:)

New Year, New Adventures !!!

2013 was a wonderful year for us, we had lots and lots of change and blessings that came our way. Now that its 2014, we already know that it will be one crazy, exciting year for sure. :) Our family is growing by one baby at a time, already have 4 nephews and one more on the way! We have been so blessed, with family and opportunities this year already. Jonny and I even stayed up to 12:00 am to celebrate... I think that, that tradition will have to catch on latter on when we have kids that are old enough. We both made a few resolutions this year.

Jonnys Resolutions are:

- Get in shape

- To Catch the king of the river "Fish" of the great Mississippi

- Excel in the work feild

My Resolution's are:

- To get into a Dental Hygiene Program

- To get in shape

- To go on as many adventures that we can 

As you can tell we both have a lot of work to do to make all these happen :), but I have a great feeling about this new year. The Years just keep passing up so quickly these past few years, hopefully this year it will feel a little slower. We are so happy to have such great family's and friends who support us and love us. Thanks for everything and may your New Year be FILLED with love and happiness .