Thanks to Trevor.....

...my blog is now fixed! I'm still not making any promises that I will update it more often than I have been in the past, but in the meantime, my blog is "going private"--so if you want access to my blog e-mail me at aubryreno@hotmail.com with your e-mail address. The deadline to e-mail me with your address is.....November 1 :)

“Aubry, Never say never.”

On this Mother’s Day, I was reminded of a phrase my mom always used to say. “Aubry, Never say never!”

Growing up, when referring to having my own children I would say things like:
----I will NEVER let my kids have a nasty nose, and on the rare occasion that they may (due only to sickness of course), I will NEVER wipe their buggers with my hand (or their drool for that matter.)
----I will NEVER let my baby taste something off of my finger and then lick it off my finger myself!
----If I decide to breastfeed, I will NEVER do it in public! (restaurant, sacrament meeting, etc)
----I will NEVER let my kids wear their pajamas out of the house.
----I will NEVER name all of my kids starting with the same letter, or the same letters as me and my husband. (Ex: using all “A’s” since my name is Aubry and all “T’s” for Trevor.)

Last but not least I WILL NEVER NAME MY BABY BEFORE THEY ARE ACTUALLY BORN! (Because how do you know what their name is without looking at them?!?! It’s okay to have a few names picked out, but actually naming them….??---NO!)

Well, I am here to admit that I all ready see myself breaking the rules. Before Trevor and I got married we talked about a lot of things, but we obviously NEVER talked about my list of “my kid will never….or I will never” because he has named our baby Alivia and no matter how many times I call her Norah or Lydia or anything else her name IS and WILL BE Alivia so I might as well start calling her that now! He is breaking 2 rules: He has named her before she is here AND her name starts with an “A!” (Funny because the 2 boy’s names that we like start with “T’s!” ) Heaven help me that I will not break anymore of my rules!

One happy husband!

Today Trevor took his last final at ISU.......for this semester anways.......(only 2 more semesters to go!) I'm confident he passed all his classes with flying colors. I know he's excited to be done for a few months! Now next semester is going to be brutal, but we try not to think about it and will just enjoy the break for now!!

He has also been golfing a lot. Like, everyday a lot!! He joined a men's golfing league and needs to put in a certain number of rounds of golf before he can be eligable to play. I know he has just hated having to tell me "well, Aubry- I have to get at least 9 holes in today so I can get my handicap so that I can play"---poor, poor, Trevor!!

Today was my 20 week ultrasound which confirmed that we are in fact having a baby girl like the rest of the Jones' and that everything looks great at this point in time! Hopefully the last 1/2 of my pregnancy goes as well as the 1st half went. Tonight we are going to start assembling the nursery with what decor we have (which is very minimal!) Trevor hasn't let me buy anything yet. He wanted to wait until after this ultrasound so that we were 100% sure that it was a girl (which I was 100% sure she was a girl the 1st time), but I was true to my word and have restrained from buying "girl" things! But now that it's confirmed that she is a girl...............well.........I think you know where I'm going!

5 years ago...

President Monson was attending a viewing of a close friend and shared this story: “Suddenly the smallest child, Kelly, recognized me and took my hand in hers. “Come with me,” she said, and she led me to the casket in which rested the body of her beloved mother. “I’m not crying, Brother Monson, and neither must you. My mommy told me many times about death and life with Heavenly Father. I belong to my mommy and my daddy. We’ll all be together again.” Through tear-moistened eyes, I recognized a beautiful and faith-filled smile. For my young friend, whose tiny hand yet clasped mine, there would never be a hopeless dawn. Sustained by her unfailing testimony, knowing that life continues beyond the grave, she, her father, her brothers, her sisters, and indeed all who share this knowledge of divine truth can declare to the world: “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”

How grateful I am for my testimony that families will be together forever. This is one truth that I have never questioned, never doubted. I find such comfort in knowing that the day will come when I will be reunited with my dad again. I love him so much. I look at my life and think of all the things in the past 5 years that he has not been here to be a part of, but I know he’s very much aware of me and my life and has probably be there more than I know. Elder Paul H. Dunn said, “All of us have parents, friends, or other loved ones who have died. They too exercise faith in our behalf. Do parents stop caring because they die? Does caring stop at the grave? I want you to know that it does not. Life is eternal.” Elder Dunn continues by talking about our unborn children who also are cheering us on from the other side of the veil. I can’t help but think that my dad has already met and formed a great relationship with our baby girl that will be joining us in 5 short months. I wonder what they are doing today when family and friends on Earth morn his loss 5 years later….if only we could take a glimpse into Heaven. I think all sadness would depart!

3 1/2 months later.....

Wow. It’s been a while and I don’t even have an excuse! Christmas was great as it always is. We were able to spend lots of time with family and friends and that’s what makes the holidays so great. I love living so close to both of our families. I would hate to have to take turns spending one year with his family and the next with mine.

I am including one of the few pictures I actually got of Trevor and I during the holidays. We were at Rock Creek looking at the amazing lights. Just a couple days after Christmas Trevor and I took off and went to San Diego to spend New Years. We had such a great time. We went to the San Diego Zoo, spent a day at Balboa Park, went to the San Diego temple, had GREAT seats (10 rows up) at a San Diego Chargers Football game, and ended it by taking a helicopter ride through the Grand Canyon (defiantly recommend doing that sometime you are in Las Vegas!) Trevor and I have been able to do a lot in such the short time we have been married. We have been so blessed.

Of course a long with being able to play comes lots of hard work. We have been doing lots to our house (it seems to be never ending). The latest project was adding cabinets in our kitchen and installing new counter tops. I will post pictures of our kitchen once we get it 100% finished! We (I really should just say Trevor J) also has been spending lots of time in the yard doing some spring clean up! We moved in our house last April and last spring/summer the fixing up the outside wasn’t our priority. Getting the inside live-able was! We made the outside presentable and went as far as killing all the dandy-lions and mowing the lawn but now it’s time to clean up the flowerbeds (get new bark etc) and give the exterior some much needed attention!

Well for some reason I can't get pictures added, so that will have to come later. Hopefully not 3 1/2 months later!

I was looking at some of my families blog’s thinking, “Gosh I wish I could sew. You can make so many cute things with scraps, a sewing machine, and a little creativity.” (which I have none of the above)

Trevor hates spending money, therefore, when his pants get HUGE holes in them, he wants me to repair them rather than buying a new pair. I always take his pants over to my Grandma Harper and she fixes them in no time at all. She makes it look so easy. She tells me she got lots of practice raising 5 boys on a farm. Well one afternoon I called my grandma and said, “I have another pair of Trevor’s pants that need to be patched. His wallet keeps falling out of his back pocket, so I guess it’s time you work your magic!” I headed to my grandma’s house, stopping at my mom’s house on the way to get an old pair of jeans out of the “scrap jeans” box so I could cut a patch. (I figured if grandma did all the work, the least I could do is supply my own patch!) When I got to grandma’s house she said, “You have watched me enough. Why don’t you try this pair on your own. I will be here to help and supervise.” I thought, “Great! I should have paid closer attention all those times before.” Well, grandma and I got visiting and laughing like we always do and she would coax me along the way. Hours later, the pants looked as good as new! I took them home to Trevor SO PLEASED with the way they turned out. You could hardly even tell they had been fixed they looked so good. All I can say is, leave it to Trevor to find the flaw! He began inspecting the jeans, starting at the back pocket where the problem was. He got a smile on his face, raised his eyebrows, and started nodding his head like, “Not to shabby!” He was totally impressed! He then turned the pants around and looked down the pant leg, still nodding his head. I was ticked! He really was impressed! Then he turned the pants around, to inspect the back one more time. Suddenly he burst out laughing. I said, “What the heck are you laughing at?!” He then pointed to the little 2” x 2” square hole that had been cut out of the leg of the pants. WOOPS! We both just rolled on the floor laughing!

Moral of the story: Don’t cut your patch out of the pants you are trying to fix!

Home improvements....

I posted some pictures of our before & midway pictures of our house, but haven't posted any as of late. Trevor has put 100s of hours into fixing it up, and I am so grateful for all his hard work. It's been such a blessing to own a home and we have made many great memories working together to make our house what it is. We still say "someday we will..." (ex: someday we will get new counter tops in the kitchen, someday we will get shutters, someday we will rearrange the kitchen appliances and add more cupboards, and the list goes on and on), but we are happy where we are right now. Trevor, however, deserves a little shout out! To the man who laid the carpet, textured the walls, painted the walls and ceilings, hung all new doors, tiled the bathroom floor and shower, fixed the plumbing, hung all new fixtures, replaced all the heaters, built new cupboard doors, planted the garden, assembled the shed........I LOVE YOU!