L-O-V-E

One of my favorite scriptures... 

John 13:34-35
"A new commandment I give unto you, That ye ^alove one another; as I have loved you, that ye also ^blove one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have ^alove one to another."

Here are some ways that I am going to apply this scripture...

Be more observant to those around me.

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf "In the end, the number of prayers we say may contribute to our happiness, but the number of prayers we answer may be of even greater importance. Let us open our eyes and see the heavy hearts, notice the loneliness and despair; let us feel the silent prayers of others around us, and let us be an instrument in the hands of the Lord to answer those prayers”


This quote really stood out to me because how many times am I sitting next to somebody and do not open my mouth to talk to them. Who knows all of the opportunities I miss out on to either make a new friend, learn something new, or brighten somebody's day. I am going to make a special effort to be more outgoing and take advantage of the many opportunities I have to meet new people and help those around me. You never know the difference you can make in somebody's life or the difference they can make in yours.

Be a better missionary.

John 21:15-17 Jesus said, "Lovest thou me? And [Peter] said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things; thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus saith unto him, ^aFeed my ^bsheep." 


I can't think of a better way to show our love for people than to teach people of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Everybody should get the chance to know that they have a Heavenly Father and Savior who loves them and wants the best for them.  

The Jones side of my family:

We took this picture over the Thanksgiving break at the St. George temple... definitely one of my favorite temples! Thanksgiving was a lot of fun and we had a grand ol' time hanging out with family and friends in Cedar City, UT!

Institute Winter Ball 

-Chris Lewis and I-

12/4/2009

On 12/12/09 I crocheted my first beanie!! :) 

Yeah, I know you are probably thinking... "Oh my goodness! She can crochet?! That is the coolest, most trendy/ hip-happenin' thing ever!" haha... something like that at least. This is Chris, Danny, and myself breaking down the stereotype that only old grandmas crochet. :) We had a little crocheting get together and Chris taught us how to make beanies! You have to admit, that kind of event doesn't happen everyday! Honestly, I think they are the only guys I know that can crochet... and more power to them! I think that's awesome. Overall we had a fun time with this project and are planning to learn something new at our next crocheting "party"! If anybody would be interested in learning, let me know! 

Finished product:

Christmas is coming, the goose is getting fat!

(Random song I learned when I was in elementary school. lol. Does anybody really eat geese for Christmas? That's just weird! It's all about turkey and ham.)

My AMAZING roommate, Jeevan, and I trying to get into the Christmas spirit! :)

[This semester has been awesome with her! We are a friend/ roommate match made in heaven! We share everything from chores, food, random stories, youtube videos, music, boy drama, and much more! Somehow we can start with some small talk and end up talking late into the night about ANYTHING and EVERYTHING! haha. We have some very entertaining conversations, to say the least. I am grateful for the amazingly smart, kind, and beautiful girl she is!]

Aaron and I

Thanksgiving is on it's way!

I am thankful for...

• My family for loving me and always being there for me.
• Aaron Brown being a part of my life and for his service, patience, and love.
• My friends for caring about me.
• The opportunity I have to go to school, even though it's not my favorite thing in the world. lol
• Four parents that support and encourage me.
• Eight siblings that I look up to and admire... no matter the age or household they live in.
• The gospel and the role it plays in my life.
• The temple and the opportunity I have to perform baptisms for the dead.
• Home teachers that visit me, teach me, and eat my cookies. 
• My awesome guy friends who are serving missions.
• Acquaintances that know/ remember my name and say hi at school or wherever it may be. 
• Strong, simple, and sincere testimonies.
• People that smile.
• Old and new friends.
• Institute.
• Inclusive people and those that help me to be a better person.
• The baby rhino (my car).
• My experiences and the things that I have learned from them.

Missionaries: So long, farewell!

Lately it seems like my friends have been leaving left and right to go serve their missions for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It's pretty crazy to think they are all out serving in different parts of the world including Argentina, Honduras, England, Hungary, and the United States. It will be fun to see everybody when they get back and witness how much they have changed and matured. Here's some of my guy friends that are currently serving their missions...

Jeremy Taylor- Argentina - reported to MTC 11/4/09

Spencer Brooksby- Australia- reported to MTC 10/21/09

Daniel Risenhoover- Argentina- reported to MTC 10/14/09

Stuart Thomasson- Argentina

Joey Gamez- New Jersey

Brandon Zeigler- Australia

Nick Garrison- Tennessee

David Goss- Texas

Halloween!!

Aaron and I dressed up as Jack and Jill :)

Party at the Ganems! 

Elise, Noelle, and Jenn

Jill, Mario, Luigi, Lady bug, and Nurse!

Legally Blonde Musical!

Legally Blonde Musical:

Sooo Good!

It's such a fun and happy play! I knew all of the songs and was singing along with everything in my head the whole time! haha. Definitely one of my favorites!

Favorite Musicals:

1. Wicked

2. Lion King

3. Legally Blonde

4. Les Miserables

(That is in order of the actual performance and entertainment, it would be a different order for how much I like the songs alone.)

Our beautiful masterpiece before the play.

This is Lex, myself, and Noelle at Legally Blonde! :)

Great song

Last week during a forum that was held by the LDS institute, the choir sang a song that really stood out to me. It sounded so familiar but I don't recall ever hearing it before. The only words I could remember afterwards was, take time to be holy. That small part of the song has been going through my mind all week, so I finally looked it up today. I have already listened to it many times and I LOVE it!

Check it out...

Here are the lyrics:

1. 
   
   
   Take Time To Be Holy
   Take time to be holy, speak oft with thy Lord;
   
   
   
   Abide in Him always, and feed on His Word.
   Make friends of God’s children, help those who are weak,
   Forgetting in nothing His blessing to seek.
2. 
   
   
   Take time to be holy, the world rushes on;
   
   
   
   Spend much time in secret, with Jesus alone.
   By looking to Jesus, like Him thou shalt be;
   Thy friends in thy conduct His likeness shall see.
3. 
   
   
   Take time to be holy, let Him be thy Guide;
   
   
   
   And run not before Him, whatever betide.
   In joy or in sorrow, still follow the Lord,
   And, looking to Jesus, still trust in His Word.
4. 
   
   
   Take time to be holy, be calm in thy soul,
   
   
   
   Each thought and each motive beneath His control.
   Thus led by His Spirit to fountains of love,
   Thou soon shalt be fitted for service above.
5. There are so many truths in this song. My favorite part, "Take time to be holy, the world rushes on; Spend much time in secret, with Jesus alone. By looking to Jesus, like Him thou shalt be; Thy friends in thy conduct His likeness shall see." Whenever I get caught in the "rush" of school or become worried about my future, I know I just need to step back and put things in perspective. In doing so, I remind myself that my main goal is to become like our Savior and faithfully endure through this life so I can return to Him. Just thinking about that brings peace and comfort that all of those minor details in life that I tend to worry about, will all work out in the end. Something that also really stands out in that phrase is how it says to "spend much time in secret, with Jesus alone." The word secret, in this instance, seems to have a very intimate meaning. What a blessing and great opportunity we have to be able to have such a close relationship with our Savior!
6. Those are a few of my thoughts. :) I just really like this song and it gets me all happy and excited whenever I hear it! My hope is that it might have the same effect on you, so that's why I'm sharing it! ENJOY!

My new home

I am officially all moved in to my apartment! The only thing missing is ME. Until I find a car, which will hopefully be happening very soon, I am stuck at home. Once school starts I don't really have a choice but to be in Tempe and ride the bus (if I don't get a car). haha. I really hope it doesn't come to that.

Here is my new room to the left! It's kinda messy because this is the first day I was moving in, so don't mind the boxes and stuff. I would like to thank my family and friends that helped me out in any way with moving. I would especially like to make a HUGE THANKS to Aaron!

He helped me every bit of the way and I couldn't have done it without him. Thanks for being so

willing to help me out and serve! You are the best! :) This is us after sweating in the heat for hours loading and unloading my things. haha

Overall I like the apartment! There were a few things that made the move-in a bit a bit less exciting... like glass on the carpet, sunflower seeds along the baseboards, broken cabinets, dirty showers, very slow flushing toilet, missing door stops, and stuff like that. lol. Not quite "move-in ready" but oh well, it's all good and some of it's taken care of now. Well that's my update for now! Bye!

25 Things about me...

1. I LOVE looking at wedding and engagement pictures!!!! I think being a wedding photograhper would be an amazing job!
2. I like the idea of working out more than actually doing it.
3. I really like days where I don’t have anything I need to do and I can do the random things that I don’t normally get around to doing… like reading and writing in my journal.
4. I have naturally curly hair, in case you haven’t noticed. lol
5. I like smiling! Especially at people that I don’t know very well, or at all. I think it is fun to see their reactions.
6. I like learning about people so I tend to ask a lot of questions at times.
7. I have CRAZY sisters and we always have a BLAST together! They are also my best friends. 8. I like playing tennis and since I haven’t been able to find many people that play at ASU, I have resorted to the next best thing, PING PONG!
9. I think small towns are adorable! (I like the cute, old fashioned houses the most)
10. Family history is very interesting to me.
11. I like purses.
12. For the most part, I extremely dislike shopping.
13. I like taking pictures and normally always have my camera with me.
14. I enjoy writing things in my planner.
15. I have 8 siblings.
16. I like receiving and writing letters.
17. I collect quotes and I keep them in my awesome quote box.
18. I am half Italian.
19. I like doing weird things like dressing up crazy and making up fun dances.
20. Taco Bell and In-N-Out are my favorite fast food places.
21. I tend to have a good memory for things that are not school related.
22. I like playing board games, card games, and any other random group game.
23. I’ll admit I am a competitive person. I like winning but I am not a sore loser.
24. 2 of my favorite scriptures: John 13:34 and Isaiah 49:15-16
25. I like going on the mountains and spending time with family. (Away from cell phones, computers, and TV.)

Summer is winding down.

-Music Video

Here is a music video of my friends (Riki, Hunter, and Jeremy) and I. We had a lot of fun making this and are very proud of it! haha. (I love making up dances and doing weird things like this) Those type of memories last forever! Enjoy! :)

Dancin' Fools

-Portraits

I've been trying to take more pictures lately... so consequently my sister's have had to be my models. Here are some of the pictures I took. Both were pretty impromptu so they aren't the best, but they turned out ok.

ANNA

LEXI

Summer's winding down...
The things I have been doing to polish off my summer:

packing, playing tennis, scrapbooking, playing ping pong, dancing, taking pictures, somtimes working, babysitting a lot, looking for a car, hanging out with friends, and moving into my apartment. That about sums it up!

Last weekend Lex and I went down to Sedona to meet up with my dad and Alex! We hung out over there for the weekend and went to different views, made some awesome bracelets, and shopped. It was a lot of fun to spend some time with them before school started. :)

The 3 amigas/hermanas!

Girls Night!

I am blessed to have such great friends! :) It's sad leaving everyone during the school year, but at the same time it's excitng to have the opportunity to make new friends at ASU.

I'm basically all moved into my apartment! Overall, I really like it. When we first moved in the place was pretty dirty and there are still things that are kinda messed up that need fixed. That made the move a little annoying. Besides that, I'm excited to be living with my friend Jeevan in our apartment! :)

ASU/TEMPE, HERE I COME!!

Confused

To change my major or not to change my major...

that is the question.

-BUSINESS OR NURSING-

This is the question that has been haunting my mind for about the past month.

I have a list of pros and cons and although the list favors nursing, I still am having a hard time committing to going with that decision. So many questions come up... for example the big ones:

What if I'm not smart enough?

What if I don't get into the nursing program?

So right now I am signed up for BIO 201 and I'm kinda hoping that class will help me determine if i I'm cut out for it or not. I'm also hoping I can get into another nursing class for this coming semester to help me decide. I'm not a huge fan of making these life changing decisions!

Sisters forever!

Together through it all.

Tomorrow is Lexi's 17th b-day!! Lex if you read this, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! We have spent basically our ENTIRE lives together! Before I left for college we had only parted for a maximum of a couple weeks at a time. CRAZY! We have done so much together and have SO MANY fun memories over the years. For the most part, we get a long really well and I am glad to call her one of my best friends. She is a very kind and loving person who gets along with just about anybody. I want her to know how much I love her and that I will always be there for her! Lucky for her we are stuck together FOORRREEEVVVEEERRR... Muahahaha! Here are some pictures of Lex and I as we grew up together over the years! Enjoy! And no making fun...

First year together...

Lex: 2 years old. Jenn: 4 years old

Look at our cute, matching pj's!

Lex: 5 yrs old, Jenn: 7 yrs old

Christmas!

Skip a few years...

Middle school dance

(skipping past the scary days)

• Christmas 2007- Mine and Lexi's "band" went carroling around to neighbors, friends, and church member's houses playing the flute and guitar. People sure got a kick out of that! Good times...

Jones doubles team= DOMINATION!!

2007

^year 2008- 2nd in region! We stay hydrated! lol

The Mesa Temple!

We like to do random fun things... like dressing weird, taking pictures, and making dance videos! They are always memorable experiences!

Alexis Jones: Thanks for being a great friend and sister! I love you! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!