Dear Wal Mart photo lady...

... Next time you want to argue with me, please think before you speak.

If I send pictures to your store to be printed, just do your job and print them. If they have a copyright tag on them, I understand that legally they can not be sold to me with a photographers release. I am happy to provide you with the information that legally you have to have, but don't tell me that if a picture "looks" like it SHOULD be copyrighted and it isn't, that you can't give me the pictures without a release. Which photographer would you like me to go to to GET this release, for the pictures I took with MY OWN CAMERA OUT MY BACK DOOR?

Respectfully,
Kari

P.s. I'll be using CVS from now on.

SNOW

Finally, after weeks of searching, I found some snow pants (that weren't $100000 dollars, and some boots, and got myself outfitted enough to play in the snow. We've had so many snow days the last few weeks, that I was sick of being locked up in the house, so I got my stuff on and went outside for like 3 hours. Attempted to build a snow man, but that didn't work, so I had a snowball fight with connor. I say he lost. That thing I'm sitting on, is my snow pile located in the middle of the road. I've done my time. Summer...please come faster!

Beach party!

Last Saturday night, Ryan and Whit and the boys got tickets to the Jazz vs. 76rs game in Philly. That left Me, Kylie, Macie and Josh home alone. I put my creativeness to work. (Doesn't happen very often...) I had been out in the FREEZING cold all day, and all I've wanted for a LONG time, is a hot tub. SO...I went in the master bathroom SCRUBBED the thing down, and we had a beach party in the big tub. Complete with palm trees, fake grass, and aloha signs. We all put our swim suits on (Well, me and M and J. Kylie had other things to do.) and went for a swim. I let them eat dinner in the "pool" Yea, they thought it was pretty cool. Dont know that I'd do that again, but I did learn that some of the bowls we have do float! In the end, the kids had fun and really thats all that matters, right?

Weirdest Mission EVER!

December 19, 2010. I was going through my normal morning routine. I was getting ready for the day, and my phone rang. I was in the middle of straightening my hair, and my Mom was calling. I thought “Its pretty early where she lives, I wonder who is dead” ….. The conversation went like this:
Kari: “Hello”
Mom: “Robert’s in Lancaster” (notice she didn’t even say hello)
Kari: totally shocked and speechless. I couldn’t believe it. It was totally unreal. “What’s his address?”
Mom...gave me the address
Kari: “THAT’S MY WARD!”
I don’t know how to describe the hundreds of different emotions running through my head. I got off the phone, tears streaming down my face, with the envelope I had written the address on. I knew that transfers were that week, because he had told us that he was getting transferred, and everyone teased me saying he was going to come here, but of course, I didn’t believe it. I got to the bottom of the stairs and Ryan was sitting on the couch, he looked at me like “what the heck is your problem” (I’m not really an emotional person normally…) I showed him the envelope, he looked at the address and laughed. I thought he was going to die. Whitney walked out, and had the same reaction. We all sat on the couch, Whit was flying to Utah later that day, so she arranged to pick up anything my family was sending to him for Christmas. She got right on the phone with the lady in the ward who coordinates the meals for the Elders, and got them scheduled to come to our house Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day. I think it all became real, when he showed up on my porch that night.
Like, I opened the door, and my brother was there. Yes, the one who is supposed to be on a mission, that I am not supposed to see for 2 years. I seriously didn’t know how to comprehend all this. He’s my brother, how do I treat him like my brother, and a missionary at the same time?

I think it all became real, when I walked into church that first Sunday. There were MASSES of people standing outside the chapel. Robert was up there, talking to people, explaining that yes, he was my brother. It was obvious when I saw him in a public setting, that he didn't know how to handle this either. I mean, the white book says that you don't make any physical contact with a girl, or whatever...so I make a point every time I see him to give him a hug (In front of his companion who I don't think has broken a rule in his entire life. ) mostly to watch his companion squirm, hoping that no one sees it, but also because he's my brother and I love him.

I had Elder Garner (His companion) Take this picture the first Sunday that he was in my ward. He has been here for 6 weeks now and just made it through transfers and is staying for another 6 weeks. I have to admit, my appreciation for missionaries has grown a TON. We have the missionaries over a lot, and I have gotten pretty comfortable with them all. They are all just dorks....but sometimes they are pretty hilarious.

Ryan took this picture a couple nights ago when we had them all over for dinner. He took it mostly for his own hilarious satisfaction... All 4 Elders went to the outlets and found 4 of the exact same jackets that they all loved, and bought them. So they all run around in matching jackets. Ryan thinks that's just the funniest thing ever, and it kind of is...but whatever. Back row: L-R Elder Jex, Elder Jones, Elder Garner. Front: Elder Jimmenez, Elder Allsop. Elder Jones was transferred here the day before this was taken, straight out of the MTC. (So he doesn't have a matching coat...) Elder Allsop is HILARIOUS...in a funny way.

Somethings kind of wrong with this picture..........Needles to say, we have made it work, and it has been really cool to see my brother (yes, the kid I used to want to kill as a teenager) spreading the Gospel. He is an amazing missionary, and I am proud to be "Elder Jex's Sister." P.S. I don't think you'll hear his companions ever complain about having him in the same mission as his sister...its come with some pretty awesome benefits for them all.

Discovery!!

I am a happy girl! Guess who's so smart and just found the blogging app? Yup, me!! :) this should speed up the posting process!!

Utah

Just got back from 3 weeks of alllll different kinds of fun.

I flew to Utah to spend 3 weeks at home before my brother left on his mission to Pittsburgh. (Yes, I said Pittsburgh.) We spent the 1st week trying to outfit everyone for family pictures. If you've ever met my family..... After 3 trips to Kohl's, returning 3 different outfits for everyone, we finally had everyone outfitted. After 13 years or so, of that family picture that showed my...13 year old loveliness hanging on the wall.....it was finally retired to under the bed. I was pretty excited about that.

Formal picture

Casual Picture

The second week we went to Lake Powell with my Aunt, Uncle, and Cousin. We got there on Monday and spent the afternoon out on the boat, knee boarding and riding the banana.

On...

Knee boarding

The Third week....we spent getting Robert ready for the MTC. He gave an amazing talk on Sunday, and we dropped him off on Wednesday. I guess the only words are...bittersweet. For sure wouldn't want to do that every day. He'll make a great missionary.

Serving food at the farewell

Friends

Kendra and Kari

Bishop Spafford, Now Elder Jex, President Brandt, Right after Rob had been set apart as a missionary.

Dropped at the Curb at the MTC. It really like is a drive through. We won't talk about it. I've got a bit of attitude where that's all concerned.

Andrew will leave in 18 months, and we'll get to do it all over again. These two won't see each other for 4 years. :(

All 5 of us, happy to be together one more time :) I love my family!

Day 2 in Belize

Day 2.
We woke up early, and went down to the lodge for breakfast. Right after breakfast we were escorted to some fancy busses.

(They looked like the old mash bus)
We got on the bus and were headed to a cave. A real. Live. Cave. Bats, spiders, and fish included. We were going CAVE TUBING!

(Cave Entrance)


I stepped in the river (no, it wasn’t warm) and sat in my tube. And there I went….tubing in a cave for a long time! We got out and hiked up the cave at one point. Saw some cool ancient stuff that had been there for years.

Then we hiked back down and got back in our tubes. We tubed to the very end of the cave. When we got there, our guides had big white sheets and they set lunch up.

Keep in mind the only light that we had were the head lamps we were all wearing. We ate lunch on our cloth, explored some little cave holes, one had a fertility God in it, that you were supposed to burn incense to (I didn’t stick around there long)

(The fertility God incense burner thing is behind us…you can’t really see it because we have our head lights on.)

in another cave hole we found some clay. Real clay. We played with that for a while, then got back in our tube to start our journey back…
Somehow I was one of the first back to the ending spot, so we went cliff jumping. Really it wasn’t that high, but it still felt cool. Felt even cooler when my body hit the bottom of the river. I decided once was good enough for me.