Cousin's Christmas names

We drew names for the cousins for Christmas yesterday. I apologize to Carrie for not getting it done sooner. Maryssa finally got me on the ball to get it done and I am so glad she did! Zachary----Saige Megan------Wynter Mikala-----Morgan Ryan-------Zachary Madison----Trey Sakoya-----Maryssa Saige------Madison Denali-----Ryan Derringer--Darby Wynter-----Tru Maryssa----Mikala Mason------Sakoya Morgan-----Jakoby Trey-------Derringer Trent------Megan Tru--------Denali Darby------Trent Jakoby-----Mason Price limit is $10 Mothers------could you please let me know the kid's sizes-----this would help a lot. Thank You!! Love you all!!

OUR NEW AUDI!!!!!

Yes that's right we are the proud owners of a 1985 Audi!!!!!!!! In Germany they have an actual birth date on the titles and ours is Sept. 16, 1985 so our car is 1yr and 7 days younger than Josh! It is really nice though to be that old. Not much new going on here. Today we went on a bus tour with the Army to all the different hospitals so if we have an emergencies we know where to go. We still don't know when we are going to get to move into our apartment but I am really hoping that we will be in there by the 1st. I can't wait until the Christmas season cause everyone says it is amazing. Everyone decorates and there are craft fairs all the time. I'm so excited. Well, here are some pics of our new car, that's right we even have a sunroof in it! Yeah you may have to hand crank it open and shut but we have one!!!!!!! Josh wanted me to add that we Practically Stole It!!!!!

:))

Yeya! I love all the pictures and the stories make me laugh! Well school for me is going great! I really dont know what last years freshman cheerleaders were talking about the coaches are awesome! The cheerleaders (from last year) just sucked! haha(who says they got over that? NO ONE!) haha but we are having a mini cheer camp on saturday and the dance we made up is so cute (for the little girls) us big girls (haha) look a little silly doing all the little cutesy moves but owell! .. I have good grades in school and my friends have (finally) stopped being flaky! YAY! U haha but I have made more guy friends because I trust them more(some of them haha). but every thing Rocks with me so lets hear more from all of you!!!!

So. . . Natalie and Josh! Do you drive from the passenger's side now? What does the car you rented look like? Like that little matchbox car you posted on the blog?

We're not hoofin it anymore!!!!!!

Yes that is right, we rented a car! We couldn't stand sitting in the hotel another weekend so we got ourselves a car. We drove two hrs yesterday to Ramstein to the Air Force base to a craft bazaar! Needless to say it wasn't Josh's pick but he was a good sport. It was the coolest craft show ever! There were over 170 vendors from all different countries. It was really neat seeing all the arts and crafts from them. We still don't know when we will be moving in to our apartment but keep praying that it will be soon! They moved us out of our room because it was booked for October Fest and moved us over to their temp apartments and it is horrible! We don't get internet so I am down in the restaurant typing this, and worst of all, we don't get CNN over there so we have NO English channels. I can't wait to have a home again. I told Josh once we get in we are not eating out for a long time. I miss cooking in my kitchen!!!! Here are some pictures from yesterday. Enjoy! Grapes for wine, that is all the Germans do it drink!!!! Pictures from the bazaar! I thought these bags were cool! They are made of Cork! The Polish Pottery is beautiful 100% Crystal! I didn't see anything else with anything relating to the states except this! I thought it was funny! There was this guy from Jerusalem who had all these beautiful handcarved items like crosses, nativity scenes, rosery, and in a little corner Josh found these! The nativity scene in the African booth!

Sense of Funny haha

My friend Jazz told me a really good blonde joke..."What do you do if a blonde throws a grenade at you....................take out the pin and throw it back!!" hahahahaha well i thought it was good! Okay so what if those of us who get on here like every day need a good laugh....huh??? Well remember those good jokes that your best friend, or coworker told you at lunch go home after school or work get on the blog and write it down and push PUBLISH POST and YYAAYYYY you just shared your joke!!!!!! haha sorry I'm so bored........luv ya'll........MEG

I'm So Sick And Tired, of Being Sick And Tired, That I Needed A Laugh

. How many of you are sick to death of the Political news of I'll do this and I'll do that. "I want a good candidate but I just don't want to listen to the political Haggling, of I'm the best! No, I'm the best". So I found an early sketch of the candidates to post. and as I was looking at it I was thinking that I might be more inclined to take some of them Serious if they were campaigning as cartoon characters. So here is my suggestion. Speed up the news feeds so they all have Chipmunk voices. I might be able to listen to them for more than a minute. I like the news most of the time but even they are campaigning, they are each (network) campaigning for viewers to watch their network, or read their paper. I don't trust half of them. I am reminded of something my father-in-law said to me one time. Believe half of what you see, and none of what you hear. Wise words at this time, I think. But, I still have to follow my heart and the council of our Profits to Be involved and take some civic responsibilities. So, I have decided that it's my responsibility to nominate the most sound character to vote for for the 2008 election "SpongBob Square Pants". He has kind eyes and a quick laugh and the best political mind of any of the candidates to date. So I hope you will all join me in supporting Mr. Square Pants and Mr. Patrick for our next Presidential administration for the United States of America!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! R.J

WE CAN DRIVE!!!!!!!

We both passed our driving test today! yippee! I was so nervous considering I failed the NC one just last year! In my defense I didn't read the book because I thought, I had been driving 10 yrs surly I can pass a test. WRONG! I hate taking test. I get sooooo nervous. Anyway I read the book this time and we studied and then we had to sit through a 3 hr prep class before the test. We were allowed to miss 15. I missed 3 and Josh missed 4, but who's counting, who cares if I did better! :) We are thinking about buying a little car because mine won't be here until Oct. 22 and we will probably need two anyway. You can get them pretty cheap on post at the lemon lot. People leaving to go back to the states sell their cars really cheap. I still haven't been anywhere cool to take new pics but I wanted to post this pic of this car cause I think it is so funny how small they are! I don't know how Mormons make it around here with these small vehicles! lololol even the mini vans are small. Josh makes fun of me because it freaks me out that the sinks and toilets just hang on the walls with no support!!!!! I'm afraid they're gonna come off the wall every time I sit on one!!!!

Hello from this Jones Family

So Natalie, we are excited to hear all about Germany so take pictures and tell us all about it so that we can live vicariously through you all. Things here are going pretty good. An update on us would include the fact that Wynter is a true crawler these days and is pulling herself up to stand by everything. The other day she stood for about 20 minutes by the couch while I was on the treadmill. Derringer is just a laugh a minute, when I pick up from school I usually ask, "how was you day or something?" Well, the other day Sakoya came home from school and he asked, " How was opening your locker?" Where that came from, we don't know. As for Denali, she is loving school and is doing great. I took her to dance the other day and she was the only one so she got all the attention. She was doing backhandsprings on the cheese mat. Saige is loving school and dance but she was mad at me last week when she had to miss activity days in order to go to dance. Saige loves our new dog Jake and spends a whole lot of time playing with him whereas, Denali screams and runs the other way which leads to Jake chasing her and causing more stress for her. Sakoya is adjusting to middle school but her comment after the first day of PE was that it was embrassing (because she had to change her clothes in front of everyone). Jeramy's job continues to go well but one of the other pharmicist's mom just died after 2 months of thinking it would happen any day and then Susan(his least favorite pharmacist) is having some issues so they are all having to pick up extra shifts. Oh well, the overtime money rocks. As for me I continue to be the resident taxi driver and have 4+ carpools I try to kept track of. I guess that is the crazy life of a mom but it's our life (at least that is what Kate says from Jon and Kate plus 8). Things are going well though. I will post some pictures of our craziness as soon as I can figure out how to get my new computer to download them from my camera. Oh, one more thing, Saturday, Jeramy had the day off so I got this great idea to hit Lagoon for a while, dumb me didn't know that it was Associated Foods Day at Lagoon where all the employees and Families got in free. Needless to say 4 hrs later and a bunch of long lines we went home. Thank goodness we used our season passes to get in cuz it would have been real irritating to leave that early. Well, hope all is well for all of you. Love ya, Jeramy, Robyn and family

Doo da da da dooooo

Wow Josh you cant even spell terd its t-e-r-d not t-i-r-d duhh hehehe way to go!! Im way excited that you guys like where you are!! and IM TOTALLY COMING TO GERMANY when i can lol but first i need dinero (money)so i have been job hunting an i applied to maurices (the new one) in burley an im hoping to get that one cuz that would be way cool but if not oh well...school is going im taking a college course called Human Structure and Function an yesterday we dissected fetal pigs it was freaking awesome but smelled horribly like formaldehyde and then on the 23rd we are dissecting sheep brains im excited!! We play burley for the souper bowl this friday and we are going to kick bobcat trash!!! its going to be shhhwwweeeeeeettt!!

Tragic Accident: A free beauty tip for life!

Okay, I needed new mascara and a new eyelash curler, so I bought these items at the end of last week. As I pulled the eyelash curler out of the package, I glanced at the back and it said "Do not curl lashes after mascara is applied." I thought to myself, "Hmmm, I wonder why?" I've used it on and off for the past few days - anyway I'm getting ready for school/work this morning and I'm using my newly acquired eyelash curler AFTER I had already applied my new "Collagen Mascara" and I glanced into the mirror and OH MY GOSH! On my right eye, right in the middle of my eyelid my eyelashes were gone and upon further study by both Mikala and I, we came to the same conclusion, "They had BUSTED off!" - and that folks, is WHY you do not use the eyelash curler after you have mascara on! I'm so sad! I thought about getting 1 fake eyelash; I thought about getting my old ones out of the sink and glueing them back on - but thought about that one guy on Waterworld when he gets that fake eye with the fake eyelashes - not a good look! So, I guess I'll just wait for my own to grow back! Wonder how long that'll be. . .?

I love the picture of you and Josh at the temple, Natalie! Now you are really "STUCK" with him!! (You have my sympathy on his moody days.)(Oh----and also on his cheapskate days, and on his know-it-all days, and on his big bully days. If I left anything out, just give him a big hug and he'll get over it!)(Hopefully!) It is exciting to hear about your apartment!! Make sure and tell us what your neighbors are like when you finally meet them. When will your stuff be there? Are you still eating out or is Josh limiting you both to a loaf of stale bread for the week? Does Josh have a number for the company that is sending his gun out here so we can call them and see when it was shipped? We called the Trading Post this afternoon and it isn't in yet so we think we ought to call and check on it. Dad was real tired last night as it is harvest time and they are short handed down there. One guy has give his 2 week notice ( because he was just going to quit and Max told him, Aaron, that he owed Max a two week notice) but, now he finds different excuses not to come to work. Not too smart since he owes Max around $500 for tires. He's not going to get any of his last paycheck and Max will probably be left holding the bill for those tires. Glad it's not our problem! My computer has been slower than cold tar lately. Yesterday it would hardly do anything! I believe I need more memory. Me and my computer!! I will send this now and check later for a number for the NC gun shipper. Love You!! Mom

sorry I didn't put these on here sooner. I wish we could have came out there to go through the temple but Josh wanted to make sure we did it before our plane trip so if it went down I was stuck with him!!!! That is what he told me for like a week. lololo

We have a house!!!!

Well, after a not so exciting day at the laundry mat, we went to look at the apartment and we loved it!!!! It is a brand new apartment in a new building. It has two bedrooms but it has a big room off the master bath that could be used as an office or craft room. The master bath is awesome. It has two sinks and a glass standing shower and........ r u ready....... a huge wonderful bathtub! I am so excited about that. It has hardwood floors all through the house and granite floors in the bathrooms oh and didn't I mention that the floors are HEATED!!!!!! They're so many windows with these cool blinds and a balcony. It is a great apartment in a cute little village. I can walk right down the block and be at the store and a bakery...yum...we will have two parking spots in the garage and a storage area in the basement that is huge! If you can't tell from all the !!!!!! I am super excited. Oh, and Josh liked it too. :)

Required Reading. . .

As some of you know I recently started a new job. I work at East Minico middle school in a math class, and Rupert Elementary in all-day kindergarten. Yesterday when I got to kindergarten, the lady I work with let me know that there was "required reading" on her computer. I forwarded this on to Wes, and after watching him laugh really hard, and wet himself, he decided we needed to post this on the blog, so enjoy! (I know I forwarded this to some/most of you, but Wes said it deserved a spot on the blog!)............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................... Last weekend I saw something at Larry's Pistol & Pawn Shop that sparked my interest. The occasion was our 15th anniversary and I was looking for a little something extra for my wife Julie. What I came across was a 100,000-volt, pocket/purse-sized taser. The effects of the taser were supposed to be short lived, with no long-term adverse affect on your assailant, allowing her adequate time to retreat to safety....?? WAY TOO COOL! Long story short, I bought the device and brought it home. I loaded two AAA batteries in the darn thing and pushed the button. Nothing! I was disappointed. I learned, however, that if I pushed the button AND pressed it against a metal surface at the same time; I'd get the blue arc of electricity da rting back and forth between the prongs. AWESOME!!! Unfortunately, I have yet to explain to Julie what that burn spot is on the face of her microwave. Okay, so I was home alone with this new toy, thinking to myself that it couldn't be all that bad with only two triple-A batteries, right? There I sat in my recliner, my cat Gracie looking on intently (trusting little soul) while I was reading the directions and thinking that I really needed to try this thing out on a flesh & blood moving target. I must admit I thought about zapping Gracie (for a fraction of a second)and thought better of it. She is such a sweet cat. But, if I was going to give this thing to my wife to protect herself against a mugger, I did want some assurance that it would work as advertised. Am I wrong? So, there I sat in a pair of shorts and a tank top with my reading glasses perched delicately on the bridge of my nose, directions in one hand, and taser in another. The directions said that a one-second burst would shock and disorient your assailant; a two-second burst was supposed to cause muscle spasms and a major loss of bodily control; a three-second burst would purportedly make your assailant flop on the ground like a fish out of water. Any burst longer than three seconds would be wasting the batteries. All the while I'm looking at this lit tle device measuring about 5 inches long, less than 3/4 inch in diameter; pretty cute really and (loaded with two itsy, bitsy triple-A batteries) thinking to myself, 'no possible way!' What happened next is almost beyond description, but I'll do my best...? I'm sitting there alone, Gracie looking on with her head cocked to one side as to say, 'don't do it dipshit,' reasoning that a one second burst from such a tiny little ole thing couldn't hurt all that bad. I decided to give myself a one second burst just for heck of it. I touched the prongs to my naked thigh, pushed the button, and . HOLY MOTHER OF GOD. . .WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION . . . WHAT THE HELL!!! I'm pretty sure Jessie Ventura ran in through the side door, picked me up in the recliner, then body slammed us both on the carpet, over and over and over again. I vaguely recall waking up on my side in the fetal position, with tears in my eyes, body soaking wet, both nipples on fire, testicles nowhere to be found, with my left arm tucked under my body in the oddest position, and tingling in my legs? The cat was making meowing sounds I had never heard before, clinging to a picture frame hanging above the fireplace, obviously in an attempt to avoid getting slammed by my body flopping all over the living room. Note: If you ever feel compelled to 'mug' yourself with a taser, one note of caution: there is no such thing as a one second burst when you z ap yourself! You will not let go of that thing until it is dislodged from your hand by a violent thrashing about on the floor. A three second burst would be considered conservative? IT HURT LIKE HELL!!! A minute or so later (I can't be sure, as time was a relative thing at that point), I collected my wits (what little I had left), sat up and surveyed the landscape. My bent reading glasses were on the mantel of the fireplace. The recliner was upside down and about 8 feet or so from where it originally was. My triceps, right thigh and both nipples were still twitching. My face felt like it had been shot up with Novocain, and my bottom lip weighed 88 lbs. I had no control over the drooling. Apparently I pooped on myself, but was too numb to know for sure and my sense of smell was gone. I saw a faint smoke cloud above my head which I believe came from my hair. I'm still looking for my nuts and I'm offering a significant reward for their safe return!! P. S. My wife loved the gift, and now regularly threatens me with it! 'If you think education is difficult, try being stupid.'

Okay everyone, I'm over here with no car, no job, and no husband for the biggest part of the day. So I am board and want to hear what is going on at home too! Josh and I check the blog like every hour to see if anyone has posted anything so tell us how work, school, anything is going! Love, Natalie

Guten Tag!

Good Afternoon! Well, we have been in Germany 4 days and that is all I know how to say! Everything is going good. We went to housing on Fri and they gave us a certificate to live off post because they can't get us a place to live for at least 6 months. Good news Tyson, there is a bowling alley on post so get your passports! :) We called the bishop the first day we were here and they offered us a ride to church and invited us over for dinner. They are great. They are the Jones' also. She knows a lady who is a realtor and specializes in rentals so she is going to help us find a place! I am really excited about that. It was so nice to eat a home cooked meal. The last few days we have been eating at local restaurants and with the language barrier, we have to point at pictures and I ate lamb the other day without realizing it. It wasn't that bad but I'm not running back there to get it again any time soon! It turned cold yesterday and all I have to wear with my skirts are my sandals so I told Josh we had to go buy me some shoes with closed toes to wear to church and he told me he will put black tape on my sandals and I would be good to go! Church was good. We are in an english-speaking ward, but in a German Stake, and of course today was stake conference! We were lost. We did have headsets and an interpreter but he couldn't keep up with the speakers and I think he was summarizing. Anyway we did meet some of the people that is in our ward. I think the Germans are rude! Josh says I just don't like being the minority! They just bump in to you on the street and don't say anything. It is really expensive over here. The other night Josh and I went out and got pizza and he had a sprite and I had water, but they don't serve tap (free) water they serve water in fancy bottles and they are 3.95 euro each which is like $5. They also bring you carbonated water so you have to tell them flat. Anyway our bill was almost $40. Josh said we couldn't eat the next day! Everything is fancy over here. The hotel's are a little different over here. You have to use the key that unlocks the door to turn on the power in the room. It is really weird. I guess that is how they make sure you don't leave the tv or light on when you leave. Last night Josh went out with some of his school buddies and I didn't want to go so instead of waiting up until he got home I let him take the key with him and then I couldn't fall asleep! Yes I set in the room with no lights or tv! Oh yeah the only american channel we have is CNN so we are all caught up on the news! We really miss everyone! Talk to you soon, love Natalie

I HAVE RETURNED

Yes, I know it has been forever since we posted.

Great that Josh and Natalie got safely to Germany! How exciting!!! Well here it is. All is well at RJ's & Shanna's. Zach got his braces off - whoo-hoo!! Retainer time. Zach started soccer last week, I praciced with him for 5 minutes yesterday, only to remember later that I haven't ran like that for years. Wow am I sore today - getting OLD. Zach has practice again today and a game on Saturday at 11am each week. Shanna has been at her new job for a few weeks now and says she loves it. From the class room to an eight hour sit down job. I say yuk. But she is having fun. I don't get to see very much of her, just like before so I guess thats also a part of this job too. She is starting on her next Masters Degree which will be in Counseling. More of the same I say taking care of (OPK) other peoples kids, yuk. She was telling me about a parent who had called her and complained that her son had too much homework, and she was "not getting the help she needed around the house to clean up".... for her most likley. "He comes home and his nose goes right into his books until bedtime" BLA BLA BLA. She just wants someone to clean up after her. That was a new one for Shanna who tells Zach to get to work on your homework and keep at it 'til its done, and "isn't there more?" I am still night shift as the ICU Nurse Manager. We are in a transition right now of going from three night nurses to having five. This year we have had a higher # of patients and need the help. I have been taking care of patients with crazy stuff going on with them, it's been awesome. Most recently I was called on a (CODE BLUE) which is what they call it when someone is either not breathing or their heart has stopped. I got to see one of our surgeons crack open this guy's chest and do an open heart massage. It was soooooo cool, his heart started to beat again, we sewed him up and sent him out on life flight. I have seen a lot this year. Stuff you don't get to see working as a Medical Surgical Nurse. I have truely been missing out on some cool stuff! Funnies of Nursing get better over the years though. I had a patient family member (daughter) get mad at me for something really stupid. We don't like our paients to have their urinals (a container for Men to pee in) on the bedside tables - just because it is nasty! This patient's daughter wanted us to keep it on his table, to which I replied "no." As she left him for the night she placed the urinal exactly where she wanted it - on his bedside table. As I entered his room some 10-15 minutes later I witnessed this 90yr+ patient taking a big swig from out of his urinal and setting it back onto his bedside table. YUK! I called the daughter and asked her if she had put his urinal on his bedside table? She said in a loud and resentful tone "YES and I want it left there!" I then continued to informed her that I had just caught her father drinking out of it. All I could hear on the other end was "OMG"!! "OMG"!! Then I could hear her start to gag. I simply said "thatss why we don't want the urinal on the bedside table." Sometimes life is just plain funny! Well, gotta go take Zach to soccer practice. Love to all!!! RJ, Shanna and Zach

We Made It!!!!!

Hey Everyone, I just wanted to let you know we made it to Germany this morning. It is really warm here, I expected it to be cool but boy was I wrong. We are staying in a hotel right outside of post for the next 10 days and hopefully we can find a home in that time. Sorry if this blog makes no sence. I haven't slept and it is 12pm here so I don't want to go to sleep cuz I will be up all night!!!! Josh is off with the guy that picked us up at the airport. We have to be at a meeting in the morning at 8am to find out about housing. I will get some pictures on here as soon as I can. love, natalie

Well, I have to say never say never. Congratualtions to Tyson, Carrie and the boys. That is so great. Carrie will finally get her little girl. Tyson will get the girl he never thought was possible. She will have to be a tough little girl to keep up with her brothers. She will probably be one tough tomboy. Life is good. Work is work. The rest of the family went to Idaho Falls for the weekend to attend Janeal's baptism. I thought I would enjoy the peace and quiet. I missed having Derringer or Wynter snugged in next to me. I have such a big bed. It is so quiet that I have to keep my gun beside my bed. I miss the noise. They will be back tonight. Love, Jeramy

First to read, first to hear....

Our three boys and little girl!

Coming around January 14,09

Well, the house is empty, except for a few clothes and our air mattress. I didn't think it would bother me to move but I'm going to really miss our house. I know josh called you all and told you that we are getting sealed Tuesday night but I'm not sure if he told you that we will be leaving for Germany on Wed. We are both so excited! The move went surprisingly smooth. they were in and out in a few hours both days. Keep posting so we can keep us with everyone and we will post as much as we can.