Mac and Jessica and the marathon

Here is Ma Jones with some of the girls in our family on the trek.

Here is "Pa Jones" and our family trekking across Rocky Ridge. This was the beginning of the marathon.

Mac and Jessica were married on July 22, 2008. It was a beautiful day and I have been busy ever since, sorry that I have not posted sooner but it has been a marathon and I think I am getting to the end. It started the week of the trek, Ryan and I were Ma and Pa on the trek to Martin's cove and Rocky Ridge which was July 14th through the 17th.

It is always amazing to me to experience a little of what the pioneers went through. We traveled 18 miles in one day and I had developed blisters the 2nd day so it was a bit of a challenge to walk 18 miles with blisters on my feet. But I have so much admiration for the amazing people that our ancestors are and the great sacrifices that they made so we could live in Zion. When we arrived home we were then on to the wedding plans. We had the quilt shower for Jessica and Chelsea on the 19th which was Saturday and we also had a baby shower for Kristi on that day so it was the day of the showers. Rainee drove from Reno on Friday and Melanie flew in on Saturday night. I went to the airport to get her and then drove back to Grandma and Grandpa Shaw's to stay overnight because Mark came home from his mission and his homecoming was on Sunday which by the way was a great day to hear the growth and testimony that he gained while on his mission to Mexico.

Aren't these pictures great! They are so photogenic and such a beautiful couple.

Well after the missionary homecoming we drove to Nate and Rachel's house to celebrate the July birthdays, Happy Birthday Bryce, Jaedon, Layne and Nate!!

We then went home and we all had fun with all of the little boys and of course Olivia, she is a little outnumbered. On Monday we had the wedding social at Jessica's home and it was so nice to see so many people and I really liked being able to visit with everyone. It was very casual and we just had a celebration of their lives. On Tuesday we drove to Salt Lake to the temple and were able to enjoy their beautiful sealing. It was so nice and their were many loved ones their to share it with, I felt a special spirit their and learned some things that I had not known before. After we took pictures, it had been raining but stopped for the pictures, by now the little ones were getting pretty restless and we had Shawnee and Cierra take them to the hotel while we enjoyed the nice dinner at PF Chang's. The food was delicious and it was a beautiful relaxed day. We stayed in Salt Lake that night and then went to ParkCity the next day. We had fun with all of the little boys and they all survived our shopping at the outlets. We drove home on the 24th and enjoyed having Doug come. Oh, I forgot, the Sunday before we left on the Trek Ryan was called to be Bishop so he was a little preoccupied for the last 2 weeks. On Sunday he was sustained and it was great that our family was still able to be here for the condolences. So it has been a marathon and I am glad to kind of be back to normal, I enjoyed the last 2 weeks and loved being with my beautiful family!!

Our Trip to Park City

Jessica and Mac's wedding

The ring

Well it is official the ring is on her finger so she is engaged, even though all of the invitations are out and the wedding is pretty much planned. It took a while for her to get her ring because it was especially made for Jessica. I think the wait was worth it though because it is a very beautiful ring.

The three stones across the middle are set in a rose gold so it makes the diamond look pink. It is really a beautiful ring!

Mac and Jessica are official

Belize

Well if anyone knows how to make the slide show smaller please let me know. I can never seem to get it right. Any how Belize was fantastic. It is a beautiful country. The first pictures are of Ambergris Caye. The beaches are brilliant white and the water is so turquoise. Our accommodations were amazing. There even was a hammock on our front porch of our cabana. Doug went salt water fly fishing in the flats. We were unable to catch some permit but he caught 5 bone fish. I didn't think he did to bad since it really was his first time fly fishing. I just loved sitting around. We also had amazing food wherever we went I really pigged out and when I came home I had gained 7 pounds. It is coming off fast though. The next pictures are of some of the waterfalls we went and saw. The resort we stayed at in Mountain Pine Ridge was 7200 acres with only accommodations for 24 people. So the resort was small but amazing the staff was so amazing down to every last detail. Since they have so much land they have these hikes into the jungle and you can go to these waterfalls and swim at the crystal clear bottom. It was like out of a movie. We also went into Rio Frio Cave which has a river running through this amazing cave. There is another spot where it is called Rio On Pools. There are these natural pools in the river where you can swim. We went to Caracol, the mayan ruins, they were amazing. It was mind blowing to see the ruins and read about the history that they have uncovered especially with our knowledge of the Book of Mormon made it ever more the interesting. It was hard to come home. There are also some of the bugs we saw. There is a picture of a Portuguese Man of War jellyfish it is the bright purple animal. These were in the ocean at the time so they advised to be careful when swimming. I also took pictures of the flowers they were gorgeous to me.

Belize

Photobucket Album

Happy 4th of July

I was on call on the 4th of July so my day started out at the hospital. I decided to document my 4th with some pictures , I had my camera in my bag because I had been to Kace's t-ball game and I forgot to take it out so I actually had my camera with me. We didn't have to work very long in the morning so I was able to spend the afternoon and part of the evening with Caitlin, Isaac and Mary.
These pictures are actually backwards from my day so the first ones you are seeing are of actually July 5th because after we had a barbeque at Mary and Isaac's and after their great firework show I was called in again. This case started at about 10:30 pm and I was actually kind of upset to be called in to do a hernia repair (on call cases are supposed to be emergencies.) Well when we got into the OR and after the patient was asleep I was able to see why we were doing an emergency inguinal hernia repair. I guess he had this hernia for awhile and it had incarcerated. We found out after the incision that it had not only incarcerated the bowel but also part of the bladder so I called a urologist in and he did the bladder repair and the general surgeon did the bowel repair. Needless to say I spent most of my time in the OR the night of the 4th and most of the morning of the 5th.

This picture was actually the appendectomy that we did in the morning.
Mary and Kelsey were dancing to the strobing fireworks. It looked pretty cool with firework lights.
Here is all of us watching the show, Isaac was the firework master.

Happy 4th of July! I am grateful I have my freedom and I am actually glad that I was on call because if I had an emergency on a holiday I would be grateful that there would be someone there to take care of me.