Blast From the Past

What more can I say, classic.

A

The Bunny

I am guilty of only exactly what I said I would be guilty of. A blip in the schedule. I was traveling, visiting L, her new munchkie, and Reese of course. L is doing well, and both of the babies are darling.  So, I'm home now and it's Easter. I was thinking about all of our past adventures with the Easter Bunny, which apparently Reese is now calling Bunny Easter. My first remembrances are from Grandma U's house. The "Bunny" visited in their back yard in Iowa City. It is a pretty hazy memory, I could have only been three or four, but I remember the big white garage out back, and the grown-ups sitting on the lawn furniture while we ran around. In NY I remember mom making 10 bajillion white frosting bunnies with pink eyes, and pointy ears for the chocolate Easter egg fundraiser the church did every year, and the Easter baskets she made for us. That darn bunny always hid the baskets first, so we had to find them before we could claim any of the eggs we saw lurking about in the process, but alas. The last one I remember as a kid was when we lived in Tully, in that big house on the cul de sac, with the cow mail box, and the pink door. The Hausers' had come over and Dad decided that the only way to keep the older kids from getting to all the eggs before the younger kids was to make them all hold hands oldest to youngest (about 10 kids total) and they had to hunt thus connected. The Easter bunny is a weird cultural tradition if you ask me. I would look up the origins of the little guy, but I'm too lazy. Maybe one of you can and enlighten us all with a comment about it.

On a more serious note, I went to church today. I couldn't help feeling overwhelmed with a sense of gratitude for the resurrection of our Lord, and Savior, Jesus Christ.  One of my favorite scriptures is Alma 33:11. The prophet Zenos spoke these words as part of his testimony, stating gratitude that he could access a loving Heavenly Father, who, through the perfect sacrifice and resurrection of His son, was able to hear and answer his prayers with justice, forgiveness, and mercy. I know that Easter is more of a celebration of the risen Lord, but I can't help but think about the fact that He was able to break the chains of death, because of the sacrifice he made for each of us in atoning for our sins. Eternal life is ours only because He descended below all things to rise above them again, and be our Savior. God can be a just and forgiving God because of the sacrifice of His son. What this means to me is that not only can I have eternal life, but I can be with my family forever if I choose to. If I keep my covenants, repent, forgive, and continue to learn what God wants me to know about myself and His gospel I can have joy in my relationships with Him and my loved ones, always. I can't think of anything more important, or wonderful.

Happy Easter!

Just Had a Baby? Get Out Of Blogging Free Card!

I. Am. Tired. I think my creative juices are blocked along with a few ducts this week. My sweet baby boy is a week old and is hungry. My other sweet baby girl is two and a half and is wild and crazy, and is in need of any extra energy I have today. Good thing I have my mom, dad and E here taking care of us. I know, I know I am spoiled but I need them and I am so grateful for everything they have done this past week. I will probably be tired next week too so I have given my self a week off and will be calling in a backup for next Thursday. Maybe he will even post on the actual day, Thursday. Sorry for my lameness but frankly I am not sorry cause did I mention before? I. AM. TIRED. I know all the moms can sympathize  and if you are not a mom just feel bad for me anyway, ok?!?

-L

The Origin of Pants

Yo sistas! and friends...and family, but family is friendly. Anyways, I'm Pants, the youngest of the sistas. I promise you my real name is Laura, my mama wouldn't be so cool to me if she named me Pants for real, but it is my most preferred name in the fam. Pants came from a long history of names. The first, Meg, also Meggie, Meggers, and Mega. It was based off of my middle name, Margaret. Meg stuck throughout my whole childhood, until around age 7, when A went to college. She came home on one of her breaks with a new nickname for me, Marge, also Margie and Madge. The story to this name, if I remember correctly was a misunderstanding of my name by one of her roommates. Don't quite know which one, but she thought my actual name was Marge...for some odd reason. So because of this roommate I was forever called Marge/Margie/Madge. Maybe until the age of 14, which then became Margie Pants. I guess adding Pants made the name sound more fun, or maybe they said that to make fun of me, I really don't know. But with the previous pattern of nicknames, it obviously had to change into something else, Pants. I think M started it, or maybe E. I think they might know this story even better than me. But none the less, I'm the one, the only...Pants. I am glad to have gotten this story written down, so maybe I don't have to keep repeating it as often for the rest of my life, but hey, maybe a new one will come along soon, and another soon after that one. So maybe I will have to keep tabs on it until the day I die. Oh, it'd be cool to have all my nicknames on my gravestone, I like that idea. Do you guys? Also, I really only like it when my rents and siblings call me Pants. They say it in this cool kinda twangy way that I really like. Makes me feel cool.

I have a good idea, I'm gonna post the highlights of my day.
Today definitely has some great highlights worth sharing.

Highlight #1: I woke up ten minutes before class, rushed out to my trusty car that I take to school when this inconvenience happens...sometimes a lot, and guess what I found. My car had a beautiful new accessory....wait for it...wait for it...a BEAUTIFUL orange boot on my back left tire. It was awesome, could not have started my day off any better. But hey, it led to a prettty good ending. Which leads us to..

Highlight #2: I went to my FIRST Korean restaurant, with an awesome Korean family from back home who were visiting, and had my FIRST Korean meal. Man oh man was it the most delicious thing. Perfect amount of spice...on most things, which I love lots and lots. So yeah, I will be hitting up Korean House a lot during these next 3 years in the good ole SLC. Yeah, its my city. If you didn't know.

All About M

M here! Welcome to A.M.P.L.E. Ideas!! For my first post I couldn't help but think that there was any better way to start then to begin by telling you a little about myself. I am M, younger sister to E,A, and L, older sister to P. And then there is also our brother, (I don't think we have a letter for him quite yet...) We all grew up in a home full of creativity, there was singing, dancing, acting, running, painting, reading, sewing, laughter and much more. As I went through middle school and high school I fell into the footsteps of my older siblings and was definitely burning a candle at both ends with all the different activities I was involved in. Come senior year I began to get frustrated because all my older siblings had their "thing." E with anything related to art and literature, A with her beautiful singing and acting talents, E with her amazing ability to push her body to new limits through soccer and running, and P was still figuring out high school and hadn't quite found her "thing" yet. As for me, well I was just sort of a mix, until I realized my love for food! I loved going out to eat with my father and seeing his face grow in happiness with a perfectly cooked piece of fish, a tender piece if beef, or a chocolate dessert with just the right amount of bitterness.  I wanted to be able to do that for him. I wanted to be the one that made his face light up at something cooked just the way he liked it. So off to culinary school I went. I picked up and moved across the country to Utah Valley University. A whole new world was opened up to me that I couldn't even fathom. I loved it.  I baked, cooked, served, and ate my heart out! Now after living in Utah for the past four years I have had some wonderful experiences both in and out of the kitchen. In those four years, I increased my knowledge and love of food, gained and lost about 25 pounds, married the love of my life (R), and have found a new love for life and creating!  I hope that my experiences and ideas that I share can help inspire you in your own projects, or in the ones the Jones sisters have to share with you! Until next Tuesday!

Look forward to next week when I share something new for your kitchen table!!

 -M-

Happy Birthday!

Not only is this the potential birthday of our aspiring blog....it is our mother's birthday!! Isn't she a looker?!

Love ya Mommers.

A, M, P, L, & E

Seeking Inspiration

Inspiration is not hard to come by in our day in age.  Fashion, interior design, DIY projects, cooking, literature, achievements of others, etcetera, it can be found in abundance by anyone who seeks it.  One thing that is lacking, however, is the proximity of family.  I don't know about you, but I feel like that sucks the life out of me at times. Life is hard.  Life is demanding.  Life should be fulfilling.  Life should feel exciting.  I feel most complete when I interact with my sisters in real life.  A hole, I didn't even know existed, is usually filled.  Phones, Skype, and email are ways to compensate for this, but I'm excited to embrace the nature of this new outlet.  I believe it is a way to experiment, give an outlet for my creative bursts, and share professional and matronal ideas.  I hope it is a way to fill that hole that I sometimes feel, by allowing me to experience life with my sisters on a different level, while soaking in their tremendous talents and love of life.

A