My Song- His Name is Jesus

 I wrote a Christmas Song a couple years ago, and made a terrible amateur copy to give to grandparents for Christmas. 

Here's my original post about it: https://adventuresofmrandmrsjones.blogspot.com/2016/01/his-name-is-jesus.htmlhttps://adventuresofmrandmrsjones.blogspot.com/2016/01/his-name-is-jesus.html

Well, this year I decided to record it professionally. I got it recorded at Red Earth Recording Studio, and Dave Tate did an amazing job.  I did this for a couple reasons- 1) I have always wanted to record my own song professionally to reach a goal, and 2) I wanted my children to have a good copy of it that would last.  The recording really was meant more for me and my family.  However, around the same time that I recorded and waited for my recording to be finalized, many natural disasters took place (hurricanes, fires, earthquakes, flooding, mudslides, etc).  Since then, even more disasters have taken place, like shootings and terrorists attacks.  As I pondered what I could do to help with these disasters, my song came to mind.  I thought I could attempt to sell the song, and donate the money I make to humanitarian aid.

I don't know if I will make much money off of the song, but I did think, even if I don't make money, I would still like to share the song because music is my favorite way of sharing my Testimony of the Savior, Jesus Christ.  My song is my testimony to my children about baby Jesus, and how he really was born for us, and that we need to follow him now, so we can return to God's presence someday. 

I created a simple Youtube video, with just a picture of my newborn baby boy, so the song could easily be listened to and shared.  I showed Payson, the one in the picture, the video, and asked him who the baby was.  He said baby Jesus.

This may be a Christmas song, but it's only November 3, and Thanksgiving is coming before Christmas, so I am going to take a minute and be grateful! 

I am so grateful for my Savior, and grateful for advancing technology, so that I can share my testimony through my music with anyone who will listen.

I am also grateful for my talents and parents for supporting me in developing those talents.  Music has always been a love of mine ever since I can remember.  My mom had me taking piano lessons at age five, and singing all over town at rest-homes when I was a little (and big) girl.  I really owe her and my dad for helping me to develop my talents and for paying for piano and voice lessons while growing up.

I am also especially  grateful for Heavenly Father for giving me my music ability.  My talents grew because he allowed them to, and I only hope I can give back to him through them.

I cannot talk about being grateful without including my husband, Josh.  He has been so patient and supportive the many times I play the piano or organ for something or I sing at something.  He was especially supportive when I told him I wanted to record my song professionally.  He drove with me to the studio and took the kids hiking in Zion's National Park while I recorded.  He took the kids to Walmart the other day, so I could play the piano at the Temple open house. (See previous post).  I am grateful for his support, and I'm glad he thinks I'm good at singing and playing. Maybe he will buy me a violin someday, so I can learn that instrument, too! ;-)

For some reason, I am filled with the Spirit today, and I don't know if it is sharing my song, or just knowing that God loves us so much, he has given us so much (talents, families, Temples, tender mercies, etc)- including his only begotten son. I am excited for the Holiday season to be on us, and I hope that many will feel the true love of Jesus this year.

I Love to See the Cedar City Temple

A new Temple has been built in Cedar City, UT, which happens to be our Temple District. I had the chance to take my children to the open house- twice!  The open house is where anyone- member of the church or not/ child or adult- can walk through the Temple and see the inside.  It is a great opportunity to go inside the Temple and see what it is like before it is dedicated.  After it is dedicated only those who hold a special Temple Recommend can go in, where they will make covenants with God, and do work for the dead.  If you get the chance to go to a Temple Open house, you should!  Inside the Temple is just as beautiful as the outside.


The first time we went to the open house, Josh was unable to go with us, but I didn't take my kids alone.  My parents, Aaron, and Grandma Bosen came with me.  We went the very first day it was open to the public.  Payson's favorite room was the baptismal font, and Avenly's favorite room was the Celestial room.  In fact, she said, "Ooh, I like this room!" 



If you would like to see pictures of the inside of the Cedar City Temple, you can use this link: http://visuals.standard.net/2017/10/23/inside-the-new-cedar-city-lds-temple/

The next time we went to the Open House, we went on Molly's birthday, and she got to come with us.  Josh was able to come this time, and we brought Spencer, his brother, along, too!!  This time we went in the middle of the day on a Wednesday, and I thought it wouldn't be very crowded, but it was much more busy the second time around than the first,  It was still just as wonderful! :)

Before taking my family to the open house, I had the opportunity to play the piano in the exit tent at the Temple.  I played hymns on a beautiful grand digital piano for 30 minutes.  Josh took the kids to Walmart all by himself!  ha ha- Later her told me that it was hard taking all three kids to the store by himself!  I acted surprised, but I think he could see through it, and now he knows why I don't like to take them all grocery shopping. 

Playing the piano was a neat experience.  Taking my family inside the Temple was a neat experience, but more than anything, I am grateful that Cedar City now has a temple, especially for those who have been travelling to St. George for a long time to attend the Temple.  It will be a great blessing to those around. 

The Temple truly holds a special place in my heart.  I was married and sealed for all time and eternity in the Idaho Falls Temple, and I have had the opportunity to do work for the dead, including standing proxy for other women who have passed on to be sealed to their husbands for eternity.  I know it is the House of the Lord, and I am grateful for the Temple in my life.

Mini Trip to the Grand Canyon- North Rim

We took somewhat of a spontaneous trip to the North Rim of the Grand Canyon this weekend.  We got last minute lodging for Friday night at a cabin in Big Springs about 25 miles from the Grand Canyon. Big Springs was awesome! Our cabin had 4 beds, a little wood burning stove, and electricity.  We were pretty close to the nice bathrooms/showers and "The Big House," which had the kitchen, dining, and living room complete with toys, games, tv/movies, and nice couches. The owner/host was so nice.  He gave some of his milk to our kids for breakfast, he offered to get us an extra space heater, and he was just an overall nice guy.  Plus, the grounds had a fire-pit, where we roasted marsh-mellows, a basketball court, and a cute hanging bench swing.

The North Rim is pretty grand, but if I had to choose a favorite "rim," it would be the South Rim.  That doesn't mean we didn't have a great time.  We kept running into a couple from Michigan that we met the night before at dinner.  That was kind of fun!  

Avenly insisted on wearing her pajamas all day, which is funny because she doesn't usually wear them at all- even for bed.  Silly Girl!  

At the Grand Canyon we did two hikes.  The first hike was busy and popular.  The second hike was easier and less crowded.  Both hikes led to great viewpoints of the Grand Canyon.  Payson's favorite hike was the latter because he wore the hydro-pack.  

Kindergarten!

I have a kindergartner!  Say what?!  I have anticipated having a kid go to school for a long time, but now that it is here, I can't believe how fast it approached.  Payman started Kindergarten on August 24, 2017.  He was so excited and so ready.  We all walked him to school nice and early that day, and he found his name on his table. Avenly didn't want to leave his classroom. She wanted to go to Kindergarten, too.

He has made some friends, started to read, and he even got in trouble for the first time.  It was not a big deal.  Josh went to pick him up, and when Payman saw Josh outside Pay ran out to give Daddy a hug, but his teacher told him to come back because the bell had not rung, yet.  Pay was sad, but we talked to him about how his teacher wants him to be safe, and that's why he needs to wait for the bell to ring before leaving.

Here are a few pictures from his first day:

End of Summer Trip

In May - all five of us went to Canada. In June - Josh and I went to Florida with the baby.  In July - Josh took the two older kids to a camping family reunion (The Bundy), AND we all went up North to Ogden and then Wolfcreek, but  Josh didn't go with us to Wolfcreek.  Now to finish our vacations for the summer,  in August - all five of us went to Eastern California.  Our two bookend trips were our biggest ones with the most driving and all five of us going together.  This last trip was our last one before Payman started Kindergarten, so it is a big possibility our trips might begin to slow down a bit now that he is in school... maybe! :)

Now about our latest trip!  It was a lot of driving, we ran out of my 24 pack of water bottles that Josh made fun of me for bringing, we once again realized we need a bigger vehicle, we had a MAJOR blowout from the baby (details on that later in the blog), we (mostly just me) remembered why I don't like tent camping, and we had a lot of fun.

The point of the trip was to go to Josh's UAMPS conference which is very family friendly, meaning, the whole family gets to go to all the meals, they have a Monday excursion for the whole family, and they have activities for companions and activities for kids on Tuesday.  Plus, our kids were given "goodie bags," with some really cool stuff.  We went last year in Midway, but this year the conference was held at Squaw Valley near Lake Tahoe.  Both Josh and I were glad that Kindergarten started later than the rest of the school because the older grades started the week of the conference. The conference was officially only Sunday night dinner to Wednesday lunch, so Josh took Thursday and Friday off last week to extend our vacation.

Now for the actual adventures! We drove Friday, but stopped at Great Basin National Park for a break in the car, and to see Lehman Caves.  These caves were awesome.  I have seen a lot of caves throughout my adventures, and I think these are my favorite.  The pictures really don't do the caves justice.  If you want to see them, I recommend getting tickets online before hand if you go in the summer.  They were all booked, but we bought our tickets ahead of time.

We stayed the night in Reno, and went to Lake Tahoe the next day.  The beach was at one of the state parks, and to be honest it wasn't the best beach at Lake Tahoe.  It was really dirty sand (look at Avenly's face in the picture), and there wasn't much of a slow dissent to the deeper water, but we still had a good time.

The conference was at the Squaw Valley Resort, and we stayed in one of the condos at the resort.  It was a fun place to have the conference with lots of things to do, but in all honesty, I just enjoyed my time relaxing and eating meals I didn't have to cook.  Josh enjoyed his conference, and the kids had fun, too.  Payson got to go to an Adventure Day camp.  He loved it, and said he got to paint monster rocks, ride the tram up the mountain, go swimming, rock climbing, and his favorite part build space ship legos. 

For the family excursion we took a lake cruise on Lake Tahoe.  It was a little boring for the kids, but I thought there was some really pretty views, and we got to see some pretty big cabin houses right on the lake.

So, here's a funny story for you.  During Payman's adventure camp, the little ladies and I were going to do laundry, but there was not laundry in our unit, so I needed to use the facilities in the building, but they only took quarters.  I didn't have any cash on me because we spent it for the state park on Saturday to go to the lake,  Before doing laundry, we walked Payson to his drop off location, but I forgot the permission slip, so we had to go back to our condo to get it.  Then, we walked him back to drop him off.  Then, we go back to the condo to get a credit card to use at an ATM to get cash.  Then, we leave the condo to get cash, but the machine only gave me a $20 bill.  We went back to the condo to the laundry room to put the $20 bill in the coin machine to break it, but the machine only took $5 bills and $1 bills, so then we had to leave again to try and break the $20 bill.  Meanwhile, Avenly had stolen something from the store that the ATM machine was in, so we had to go back to the store to return the item, which was bug spray of all things. Then, we walked around to try and find a place to break the $20, but nothing was open, yet, so we went back to the condo until lunch time.  During this whole adventure there was a guy working in the lobby of our condo building, and he saw us going back and forth- back and forth.  I am sure he thought we were crazy!  ha ha  Btw, I was finally able to break the $20 bill after lunch by buying frozen yogurt.

The last dinner of the conference was at the top of the mountain, so we got to ride the tram to the top. 

When the conference was over we drove to Yosemite National Park, where we camped for two nights.  I complained to Josh more than I should have.  I was car sick the whole drive to Yosemite, and Zaylee does not sleep very good with me, but I didn't want her to get cold or suffocate, so she slept with me in the tent. 

I almost forgot...on the way to Yosemite, we stopped at Big Tree State Park and saw the Sequoia trees.  This was a welcomed break from the winding roads.  I love Sequoia  trees.

Yosemite was busy, but not as bad as it was the first time we went when we lived in California.  We hiked to the Nevada Falls Bridge viewpoint, which was about 2.5 miles from our car round trip.  It was a moderate/steep hike, with some definite elevation gain, but the kids did great.  After coming off the main steep part at the end of the hike, a lady pointed out that Zaylee had lost her sock. I smiled at the lady, and said, "I'm not going back up there to get it!"  She and everyone else around laughed because it was a pretty tiring hike.  The end result was worth it, and the falls were beautiful!

After the hike and lunch we found a less than ideal spot on the river to play. It wasn't a horrible spot, it just wasn't a sandy beach like we were hoping. Even though it wasn't perfect, we still had fun until Payson lost his flip flop and Avenly decided she didn't need ANY clothes on.

The last stop of the day was at the top.  We all took naps on the drive to the viewpoints, except Josh, who was driving.  I was the only one who woke up for the first view point, so Josh and I attempted to get a selfie together with the mountains behind us.  If you look closely to the picture without us, you can see two water falls. 

We woke the kids up for the last view because it was a little hike.

On our way out of Yosemite National Park after camping one more night, we stopped at a meadow so we could "frolic!"  It's a good thing we did because Zaylee had a massive blowout.  In fact, I even threw the onsie away that she was wearing because the blowout was so bad.  After giving her a sponge bath with wet-wipes we played around in the beautiful meadow. Payman's favorite thing to do was jump over the creek, and Ani-girl just wanted me to swing her around.

Our trip concluded with a stay in a little cabin at Red Meadows near Devil's Postpile.  I don't like camping with a tent, but I don't mind camping in a cabin with electricity, even if it doesn't have a bathroom.  The shower house was nice and clean, and I got to sleep in a bed in the cute little cabin.

We stopped at a earthquake fault line and Devil's Postpile on the way to the cabin.  We also saw a few lakes. I had never seen a fault line before, and it made me think of the Land Before Time.  Devil's Postpile was very neat and unique.  It was formed when hot lava met freezing water.  We met a nice old man during our hike back from Devil's Postpile.  He gave us some floating pumice rocks he found, so the kids threw them in the river to see if they would float, and sure enough, they did.

The trip was another reminder that we need a bigger vehicle! ha ha  The car was packed, and we were so ready to be done driving, but we cherish these special trips we get to take together! :)