27 Favorite Things {Giveaway}

Whitney from Sippy Cups and Pearls is the winner! Congrats!

{source}

Today I have magic up my sleeves! I have been planning on doing a small kindness project inspired by the one and only Ty Pennington. I saw him do this on The Revolution (sadly, it was cancelled) and told myself, "I'm going to do that!" 

So if you're in New York City today, it might just be your lucky day.

Plus, I wanted to give something to my readers. I'd love to send you a package with 27 of my favorite things!!! Now, if you know me all it's going to at least include some Essie nail polish, Izze soda, some sort of chocolate, a good book and many other lovely things!

So there you have it! The first giveaway for Happy Joyful Day. Enter away, your chances are big since it's still a small blog! Happy Friday!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Embrace the Camera Day-Katelyn's birthday

I can't believe that our Sunshine Girl turned six!

She's so grown up.

Last night for her birthday,

the family gathered to watch her soccer game.

She was thrilled.

With Nana

With Uncle J

Then we went to dinner

where she was able to open up

her princess dresses from

Kevin and me.

They're from the Little Dress Up Shop.
Believe me, she loves it and they'll last her until she grows out of them!

It was sweet.

Kevin and Katelyn when she was four.

Happy Birthday Sweet Katelyn!

The Simple Things-Ellie's Birthday

I love celebrating birthdays.

Especially when it's for one of our nieces or nephews!

It's so cute to watch their innocence

and excitement of turning one year older!

Ellie turned two.

I just caught pictures a few on my camera phone.

But oh so sweet.

While we were singing to her, she sang happy birthday too.
It was adorable!

The cousins are thinking the same thing, "Let's eat cake!"

I'm going to miss every single one of my nieces and nephews.

The sad part of moving so far away.

But hopefully, they'll visit sometime.

Happy happy birthday Ellie Dear!

If I had wish then it would be a happy, happy birthday to you from me!

Embrace the Camera Day

It's Embrace the Camera Day!
Today is special for me because it's my grandmother's 87 53rd birthday!!!
That's right, she's been counting backwards since she was 70. Hasn't aged a day.This woman is always up to something and hardly takes a break.
So today I'm reposting a picture of the two of us in her honor. 

Memere and I at Wolf Creek Tavern August 2010.

This lady is amazing. She raised three boys single-handedly and all of them are very successful. She is a biologist and a nurse. She used to work three jobs to pay for her sons college. She made sure that all three of them graduated and believe me they all did. 
Memere (grandmother in French) retired the day I was born. Since then she has been traveling all over the world and volunteers all the time at the Courthouse in Grants Pass, OR as a Bailiff.  She never takes no for an answer, there's always a way. 
She's the best cook in the family (my daddy learned from the best).You can find her recipe of Salon Pie here.
These are just a few things that I admire about her. I'm such a lucky girl to have someone to look up to. 

Memere with the two of us on our wedding day May 2009. 

A grandmother is a little bit parent, a little bit teacher, and a little bit best friend.
~Author Unknown

For my mother-in-law Sue

Happy birthday! I hope you know how much we love and appreciate you.

I wanted to let you know that we appreciate the sacrifices you have given for all of us. It would not be easy raising nine children. However, we're so happy that our family continues to grow. I can't believe that when I joined the family I was number 28, then came Carson, now Yvette and then Christina's new baby. The Jones are soon to be 31! It's pretty amazing that you can keep up with all of us.

Hope you enjoy your day!

To my brother Nathan

Happy happy birthday!

There are several things that I love about you. First of all, you are my older brother, my partner in crime, one of the three musketeers. I admire the way you are an amazing father and how you are working so hard to give them everything that they need. You inspire me to be a better person everyday and the strength to keep going when I feel I can't continue.

Thank you for being the one to give lots of advice and late night frosty runs. A younger sister couldn't ask for a better brother. We made it, you're 27 with another girl on the way, I'm almost 25 and married. Best wishes to you always! Love you lots.

For Nate's birthday, we kept it simple and fun. A nice family dinner with the exceptions of Mark in the Philippines and Kevin down at a conference for engineering students in Austin.

I actually heard about the dinner last minute. Luckily, we don't live that far yet. I racked my brain about what I could get him. The thought of providing some cash to attend the state fair came into my mind. However, I still wanted to give him something other than cash.

As soon as I got out of class, I was talking with my sweet friend Lexi who just happened to have a buy one get one free coupon for the fair. That came just in time. Thanks Lexi!

I then remembered having heard about a sweet cupcake shop over in Foothill Village, SLC, called the Sweet Tooth Fairy. I LOVE cupcakes and everything that has to do with them. So I had plan. Get out of class, go to the Sweet Tooth Fairy and get

a cupcake for Nate, and hit the ATM for money for his family to go to the fair.

The Sweet Tooth Fairy is such a cute little sweet shoppe. A place that I recommend anyone to head to anytime they want a cupcake for ANY reason.

I smiled when I found that they have a cupcake especially for NieNie. Her flavor is VaNIElla Squared. All proceeds of that particular cupcake go to her family and the Arizona Burn Center.

Nate's cupcake was chocolate peanut butter. He said it was the best cupcake ever!

We also had an ice cream cake from Dairy Queen for him. Either way, you can't go wrong. The funny part though was the candles. The seven happened to break and so we used Scooby Doo instead. Katelyn was thrilled.

Not a bad present. I heard that Nate and Jen did end up going to the fair. Jen's post on Facebook said it all, "Jennifer Soules had fun with the kiddos at the fair. Aiden kept pointing to all the animals and kept asking "Whas dat?", and Katelyn says we need to get a goat. Haha!"

Glad you guys had a great time!

We love you!

Randy's birthday

After I took Randy and Yvette's engagement pictures, we all went out and celebrated!

There's a new Peruvian restaurant in Bountiful out by Office Depot. It was really good and very authentic. We had an appetizer of potatoes covered in a spicy cheese sauce. I ordered pollo con arroz (chicken with rice) and the rice had a really good seasoning.

I think the best part of all was the company. Kevin's cousins Trisha and Michael came too. It completed the party as Trisha can speak Spanish and relates more to Yvette because she is from El Salvador.

There was lots of singing and laughing from all over the restaurant. Sue commented, "It was one of the best nights she's had out long time!