HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Hello!
This is Courtney, I'm hacking my mom's blog! :)
Her birthday is coming up (July 4th) so there are a few things I'd like to say. Julie Jones is, in one word, amazing. Do you know how much patience you need to raise THREE teenagers? Well the answer is more than anyone could have! Yet somehow she achieves it and is more patient with us than we deserve.
Ask any one of my friends and they will tell you how often i brag about how cool my mom is! They all agree with me of course, but i bet it gets annoying. She understands my desire to be with friends, and since she knows that my friends are great and that i won't be in danger with them she lets me go places with them all the time. She makes the brest brownies for them!! (inside joke)
There is NOTHING i don't tell my mom! I trust her more than i trust anyone else. I can tell her about everything going on in my life and what I'm struggling with. She helps me with everything and doesn't judge me.
i use the term best friend pretty loosely but my mom is my BEST best friend!!!
When i was born i wouldn't go to anyone but her... that was very smart of me! ha ha jk dad jk! I'm sure that is the reason we're so close. We have the most amazing mother daughter bond.
She was called into young women's as a leader a while ago and i must say it's the best!!! I've gotten to know her in a whole new way and she's gotten to know me better too. The spiritual experiences we've shared have made us so much closer and it still amazes me when she testifies of the gospel. I feel the spirit so strongly and it makes me want so much more to obey and keep the commandments.

You Let Me Know You Love Me


You let me know you love me
In so many different ways.
You make me feel important
With encouragement and praise.


You're always there when I need you
To comfort and to care.
I know I'm in your thoughts;
Your love follows me everywhere.


Thank you for all you've done
And given so generously.
I love you, my wonderful mother;
You're a heaven-sent blessing to me.


By Joanna Fuchs


MOM:
I love you more than words could ever come close to describing. You have always been there for me and you've helped me through all my trials and hardships.
LOVE,
courts :)

Michele84084 is awesome!

Last night we had a fabulous young women's activity....Yoga Night. Our original yoga instructor couldn't make it, so Michele Lindsey graciously accepted our invitation to come and be our instructor.

She is such an amazing woman. She has never taught a yoga class before, but you would never have know it. She got up there in front of the girls and taught as if she had been doing it for years.

The girls were laughing at first, but she immediately got them settled down, she has such a soft peaceful voice. I don't think I have ever been to an activity where the girls have been so quiet. They got a little giggly towards the end, Courtney mostly, she is not very flexible and the other girls thought it was quite funny.

I have done a little yoga before, but last night I fell in love with it. I don't know if it was because Michele was such an awesome instructor, or because I felt so great after it was over.

Anyway, I highly recommend it to anyone who has not tried. I also nominate Michele to start a neighborhood yoga class! I can't think of anything more enjoyable than doing yoga with all my friends!

Trek

This year for Youth Conference, the Stake Young Men's and Young Women's Presidencies decided to create their own version of the 'Pioneer Trek'.

They bused us up to a place called Cascade Springs (right above the Sundance Resort).
That is where our adventure started...

The first day was a short 5 miles up the canyon on dirt roads. We were lucky enough to have running water, flushable toilets and a picnic table when we reached our campsite. We were not so lucky the following night.

The next day was a grueling 10 miles on much worse roads. Huge rocks and gravel are not the best surface for traveling by handcart.

In my family (the Baileys) we had Amy Despain, Ruth Ann and myself as the Ma's. Tarah, Kendra, Hillary, and Ludmilla (or Lou as we like to call her), were the girls, along with 4 boys from other wards. Since we didn't have a big strong Pa, we were at a disadvantage, but that didn't stop us from keeping up with all of the other families.

By the end of the second day, two girls had to be taken off of the mountain, one boy had to have an IV, and hundreds of blisters had to be covered. Luckily, Bishop Hutchison and his nurse were there; those two worked overtime taking care of those in need.

The third day was a little scary. What took 5 hours to go up, took 30 minutes to come down. The dirt road we went down was very steep and once again covered in rocks. We had to get sticks and place them against the wheels to act as the brakes and then we tied ropes that had sticks tied to the end of them to hold the cart so it wouldn't go crashing down the mountain.

It was the most physically, emotionally and mentally draining experience of my life.

I have never been more impressed with a group of girls. Tarah wasn't feeling well, but you would have never known it -- she didn't complain even once and did everything we asked. Hillary had a blister on every toe. She proudly showed them to us on the second day as Amy cut a piece of moleskin for each one. Despite that, she pushed and pulled just as hard as the rest of us. Kendra was amazing. She would take over pushing for one of the boys and we almost had to run to keep up with the cart. Ludmilla was all over the place, relieving people with a smile on her face, she probably pushed (and talked) more than anyone.

I loved getting to know Amy and Ruth Ann a little better. Amy is so organized, we could never have done it without her. She kept everything as clean as possible. Ruth Ann is the most positive person I have ever met. The last night we were laying in the tent on some very bumpy ground and Amy turned to Ruth Ann and said, "Quick, tell me something positive. Ruth Ann said, "Well, we get to go home tomorrow!"

It was an adventure to say the least and one I won't soon forget!

Summer Games

Sean decided to take his team to the Summer Games again this year. He coaches the U16 girls. The tournament was from June 11-13 in Cedar City. Katie is not on Courtney's team, but she always plays with them when they go on tournaments.

They played their first game Wednesday night. It was an awesome game and the girls played their hearts out, but it ended in a tie.







Much fun was to be had between the games!





Including a pizza party and an ice cream party.





The second game was a heart-breaker, the other team scored in the last 6 minutes, the final score was 1-0. The third game they won 5-1, but it still wasn't enough to get them into the semi-finals.





All in all, we had a really fun time. The girls love soccer, it is so much fun to see all their time and dedication pay off.

Tyler, a Senior?

NO!! I can not accept it! There is no way that I can have a Senior in high school. Yet...it is true.

Here are Tyler's memories of 11th grade, exactly as he wrote them...

School
Work
Sleep
Eat

I told him that I thought grounded should be one of them...he didn't think that was very funny!

7th Grade

Katie had an awesome year in 7th grade! You wouldn't even know how hard it was for her to leave elementary. She was so bummed that there was no recess in Junior High.

It didn't take her long at all to make new friends. Katie is my little social bug, she can make friends with anyone, she is definitely Sean's daughter!


Thanks to Sean's parents, who bought her a camera for Christmas, Katie found a new pastime this year....taking pictures of herself. (I am to blame, I am the one who asked them to get her one). I had to sort through 299 pictures that she took on the last day of school, (90%of which were Katie), to find these...







Here are Katie's favorite memories of 7th grade, exactly as she wrote them...

Walking home
I am Legend
Meeting new people
(Memo - Oscar - Kevin)
District Champions YO!

9th Grade Promotion

9th grade Promotion is a little different than I remember. We had to go and sit in the gymnasium for hours and practice walking across the stage to be handed a certificate - now they have a dance. I can't even begin to tell you how thankful I am for that!

I can't bellieve Courtney is going into High School. It seems like it was only yesterday when she started kindergarten.



Now she is all grown up...





Courtney had a blast at the dance. I was going to take a picture of her and all her friends after it was over, but they were all bawling!

I asked Courtney to write down the most exciting things that she rembers from this year, so here they are in the order she wrote them:

District Champs
Lagoon Day
Promotion
BOYS!!!!
Phone (I have one now that's not a piece of crap!)

You gotta love her!