transition to a new blog

since facebook..I've allowed my blog posting to slip into the 'outer darkness zone' of never getting to it. But A few things have happened to our family since my last post in May of 2012 and the biggest is our Son & his lovely wife had the most adorable little boy, our FIRST grandbaby!!! adding so much joy to our family. BUT they have decided to keep all pictures of their son OFF facebook for privacy issues. To be perfectly honest I've had a REALLY hard time with this, but the compromise to their wishes and still wanting to share & show my WHOLE family is to update my personal blog. But with all the changes the email I had connected to this blog has been corrupted so I now have a new email which is attached to a new profile (still the same ol' me though). SO I will post that NEW blog site as soon as I get it up and running. There is a lot of info that needs to be updated, deleted & LOTS of pictures to post. It's interesting how much things can change in 2 years time. Wait till you see!

I should update this thing more often!  It's been another year...so much to write about, & I'll do that in detail in another post, but for today,... I'll just say GOOD MORNING, I'm UP & moving (slowly all be it, but moving just the same). I accidently broke my middle right toe yesterday morning while carrying a heavy load of wet clothes to hang on the drying racks in the living room by the wood stove and couldn't see where I was going well enough to avoid all the boxes, luggage & stuff piled there. I know I hit something hard cuz I went down hard, grabbed my toe and held in all the 'black words that wanted to surface from the pain'. I managed NOT to dump the wet laundry out of the basket and got up muttering loudly and then proceeded to continue my chores. I hung up all the laundry, then got dressed to exercise...did a 50 minute cardio workout from Rockin' Body, with Shaun T (w/BeachBody.com) (*noticed my toe really hurt when I put pressure on it in certain moves and tried to modify somewhat through out the workout). Then took a hot shower and as I was drying off looked down to see a HUGE purple/blueish swollen toe,...dang it! So I had my daughter wrap it for me and put back on my shoes and continued through out my days chores,...stopping every so often to put my foot up when I could.
I don't handle pain well at all, & some would call me a whimp...How I ever managed to birth 5 children is beyond me! So needless to say 2 ibprofin's to help with the inflamation didn't even come close to covering the pain tolerance, but helped with the constant throbbing thru part of the day's chores. By late evening I was GRUMPY at best and not very pleasant. I also had to help my daughter Wendy with an online purchase that went south. She'd never used her credit card to purchase anything that needed to be shipped here, so by accident gave the physical BANK address (that was on the back of the credit card) to the company instead of our BILLING address, which caused a glitch in the order to not process. 3 phone calls later & we THOUGHT it was all fixed. She checked her email at the end of the day expecting to see a proof of purchase and tracking info...and it said it was pending upon further information needed. UGH!!!! &*!@X)$%+)S!!!! (*those are loud mutterings under my breath for how I felt about this LONG unproductive process) SOOOOOOOO today we'll call again and get this thing straightened out so she can ether finalize the purchase of her NEW computer for college OR cancel the order all together and look for a better company with better customer service! Needless to say, with my pain tolerance for my broken toe, my tone to the folks over the phone was SHORT & impatient,..and it didn't help that NO ONE SPOKE very good English, PLUS on the last phone call they had some sort of 'emergency alarm' beeping loudly in the background making it near impossible to understand each other. SO FRUSTRATING!
I am hoping today holds MUCH better attitude & promise for things getting DONE!
I am dressed to workout, have my toe wrapped tightly, wearing tight socks & shoes to support & protect it,...I will choose a workout I can modify  and still burn off some calories ( I CAN'T AFFORD to sluff off just when I got back to my first real consistent week of workouts again...if the momentum is broken, I'll loose the steam to keep at it)
TODAY: I WILL GET THROUGH IT!!!!

getting caught up

It's been over a year since I last posted something, wow...But since then I have faced many of my personal fears, 2 of which were: Running in the 10K Homer Spit Race this past summer, continuing my exercise programs to stay healthy & NOT grow old or be sick, & relearning to swim *still in process. As well as tackling the dreaded OFFICE disorganization & mess with many of my projects that have somehow become stumbling blocks due to my own procrastination and taking on too many things all at once. My new years resolution LAST year was: to get ORGANIZED! hm...let me see...I see huge progress in my office but its not completed yet. I've moved things OUT of my working areas for scrapbooking, crafting, painting/artwork so now when I want to do a project I have the space to sit down and do it, but FORCE myself to put everything back where it belongs after so there are no more NEW piles of things to 'put away later'. I still have several LARGE piles & boxes I've strategicly place in the doorway and entrance to my living room area so it FACES me daily and creates a 'in your face, take care of soon before I drive you crazy' feeling. So far I've dwindled the piles down...one at a time (& yet there are still more to go through & organize). Through out this process I found projects I started & ment to finish, but didn't find the time. Now I have a section of 'projects to do' & have set a goal to complete them all by the end of next year..one project a month. As for the rest of the house,..ITS SMALL...so de-junking is a never ending process as my children and myself included seem to bring in more than there is room for. I've visited the local Salvation Army to donate many bags of usable items over the mast few months which feels really good. The trick is to not continue to let my 'stuff or things' get out of control over the space i have to use it & keep it in.My walking buddy Pat Evarts & I often talk about how to gain controll over our lives and help encourage one another to better managing our time & our talents. We both are so busy, but it helps when we remind each other...
..."just take it one pile at a time, one project at a time".
SO........as I face the up coming holiday seasons with many changes happening in my house hold I am determined to do it with OUT panic or becoming overwhelmed with too many projects I can not accomplish.I started with this process with a cute little notebook where i'm writting down all my ideas & projects to keep them straight with supplies/ ingredients/how many need to be made & time frames to get them done in. I don't like my own handwriting so this isn't easy for me as I cringe at the imperfect look of my scribbling, but I'm trying to follow through with a lifetime of advice to WRITE IT DOWN and check it as I go to stay on top of things.
The changes happening the Jones family household is as follows:
Our oldest daughter Jessica, who has been nannying for a family down the street (3 adorable native children: Jack age 19 months, Ava age 3 & Kyra age 4) will be moving with the Levit family(Jody & Barry) down to Whidbey Island, Washington at the end of the month. They will drive down the Alcan highway, catch a Ferry in Bremerton and continue down to their new home. Jessica signed a contract till Spring so she's going with them. I will miss her terribly!!! She is over at the house with and with out the kids at least 2-4 times a week and it will seem so quiet with out her around. I love her energetic attitude, which is always so very contagious & even when she's down we all rally around her and HANG OUT as Jones & get lifted just being together, even if its nothing other than us all reading books snuggled on the couch together. The other big change happening is Krystal my next daughter is moving down to Salem, Oregon to live with Rob's sister Sharla & Marty Havran to find a job, work/save & have a different life experience before she turns 21 in April and goes on her mission. Jessica & her have both talked about submitting papers in the spring (although Jess isn't committed yet, as continuing at B.Y.U. is still in her future plans but everything depends on the earned funds to pay for it). BOTH Jessica & Krystal have paid out of pocket for the education they've achieved so far and will being heading into their next faze of life OUT of DEBT!
PLUS....Rob & I will be going to Hawaii for 2 weeks just after both of them leave. We've been planing this trip for 2 years now and are really excited to go. The other trips to Hawaii we've gone on have only been for 7-10days...this time we'll be gone for 2 full weeks! My only concern is leaving Wendy (who is 18 & recently graduated from Highschool, but actively involved in FFA as a state officer *which includes a fair amount of traveling) & Brittany (who is 16, a junior in highschool & gets bored so easily).Two weeks is a long time to be away, especially after the older sisters have left. For the holidays Krystal will remain with Sharla & Hav, & Jessica will try to get over to join them there in Salem, Oregon, so Christmas will be celebrated with only 2 of our 5 children at home....how strange & so very different. I've already been planing the special care packages I'll send to each, but that wont take the place of them not being WITH us during the traditional celebrations.
Change is good, it's apart of life...I don't want to remain stagnant...but its never easy and this time I'm feeling it inside...a slow ache of missing my kids even before they've gone. THANK GOODNESS for modern technology so we can Webcam and visit/chat online so we can keep in touch and reconnect. Family is everything and I love mine with all my heart!

Getting out of my comfort Zone!

I give advice to people that in order to grow you sometimes have to get out of your comfort zone and do new things. Yesterday I did that in a round about way... I went Dip Net fishing on the Kenai River with Rob, Fred & Carol Kaatz. I haven't been on a boat in a very VERY long time for a good reason,...I get sick easily! The whole idea of being in an environment that mimics the way I felt while being pregnant is the LAST thing I would go do for fun. But Rob was going fishing with Fred, and Fred suggested that the 'wivess come along' to spend time with them, and according to Fred...Carol wanted to go . So I didnt' want to seem like a wimp, & I'm not one to back down from a challenge. Fred just talked the idea into a invitation before I could explain my self out of it.
SO I DID IT! Got up early (grumpy since I didn't have my morning quiet time to wake up, or workout and shower)...was a bit snippy when I couldn't find my hat that I knew I'd need to cover my head/ears with. Rob said I kind of through a tantrum & wasn't very sociable. OH WELL~! (I appolagized to Fred later for being grumpy but said he had come 30 minutes too early and hence saw/heard the real unprepared for company CJ!)
We drove to Kenai..(1 & 1/2 hours away)to the river.Stopping by a store briefly prior to pick up a new net.At the dock, I took possition in the middle of the boat and concentrated on NOT feeling queasy with the movement of the boat on the water. Then after we got out a ways I was moved to the front where I took charge of one of the dip nets. With a 6 foot handle and a 5 foot circular net it was fairy heavy and difficult to manuver with the river drag. Rob was driving the boat and Fred was handling the other dip net, while Carol was in the back. I struggled with the net and didn't catch anything..and Fred managed to get 4! He was really excited untill ...by complete accident the "D" ring detatched and he lost the new net down the river.
We'd been out for 4 hours and decided we needed to eat. So we pulled the boat out, took it to Rob's Dad's place not too far from the river and parked it there. We droce into town and found alittle Chinese restaurant and ate,...but after discussing our plite,..we decided we spent enough effort to drive all the way to Kenai and rearange schedules that we shouldn't waste the opportunity & decided to go buy another two new nets and TRY our luck at more fish.
The weather had been cloudy but not rainy, so the afternoon seemed to spread the clouds out so that the sun shown and warmed things up a bit...but the WIND was still out and I was NOT warm at all. With the new nets ..we began to catch more fish quickly and by the end of the day we had 36 salmon totall between the two couples to share. When the water was calm I had no problem but every time a boat wold zipped by us.. the WAKE would create huge waves that surged my queasiness back to the surface... I felt sick more often than not,but struggled to just look up at the horizon and breathe the crisp air and focus on stuff that WASN'T moving! With the two nets on each side we balanced out the drag, but as soon as one net caught a fish and was brought up the other would drag the boat into a circle..so the other net would need to be brought up as well. Fred did most of the catching, switching off with Rob. I did however catch about 8 and once had two in the net at the same time. But standing there manuvering the heavy net & pole was exhuasting to say the least and at the last pass through the channel to catch ONE more fish..we found our selves acccidently caught up on a sand bar. Rob & Fred jumped out into the shallow water, pushing us back into the main part of the river again. But in the process Rob accidently tripped over the net handles and fell, getting wet up to his hips in the muddy silt. We were all tired and glad to call it a night as we headed to the dock/ramp by 9pm. Then of course we drove the 1 & 1/2 hours home. My headach from day 4 of my monthly cycle and sleep deprivation after taking care of Wendy from being sick with the flu for a week had taken its tole on me,..so I simply crawl into the shower to clean up and then into bed..with the floor seeming to still sway to & fro! Oddly I woke up with the same sensation..but not as strong. I hope it doesn't last long! Rob, Fred & Carol fillet the fish and put them on ice in coolers to tend to by this evening, after Rob, Fred & Jessica took another trip up to catch more fish. (they returned home with 8 more..not alot, but every FISH COUNTS when your hungry in the winter time!)

SO I went DIP NET FISHING on the Kenai River, didn't throw up and came home with another adventure under my belt. I'm sore, tired and exhausted even a day later. Who know FISHING could be such a workout!

Mother's Day card using Carolee Jones's graphics

Ok I know this is a bit self promoting but heck it's my blog right?
So I made a cute Mother's Day card using my new "Modern Mom" graphics from PcCrafter.com (plus one image from "Cluckin kitchen"). The basic victorian envelope is in the creatable set and I just added some of the images and typed in addresses to mail out using Wendy Medium font. The hard part was deciding which graphics to use since they were all so stinkin cute! Plus how do you use ONE image to show all the things a MOM does? My mom did it all and I am finding I am following in her footsteps to do the same,...us SUPER CHICS have to remind each other how much we apprecate the examples of those that have gone befor and made such big shoes to fill. I hope I'm measuring up to the potential of what my Mom was and is and what I can be.

Basic Bread Recipe by Carolee Jones

Preheat oven to 370 degrees
*Mix together and let rise 15 minutes or until yeast is fully bloomed
1 cup of warm water
1/2 cup of olive oil
1/2 cup of honey
2 Tablespoons of Yeast
*In a glass measuring container or bowl heat milk in microwave for 1 1/2 minutes
2 cups of milk (you can substitute water if desired)
*slowly add milk to yeast
*add one cup at a time
approximately 6-9 cups of flour
(* I grind 2-3 cups of wheat into flour then add remaining white flour)
1 1/2 teaspoons of salt (add this after the 6th cup of flour)
*Remove dough from mixing bowl - it should be still slightly sticky.
*Kneed just enough flour into the dough to make it elastic.
*Place dough into a large greased bowl & cover & let rise till doubled!
My house is hot so it doesn't take more than 30 minutes, but the more wheat you have in the recipe the longer it takes to rise.
*Punch dough down from sides into middle, dump dough onto counter and divide with knife into 4 equal parts, place in bread pans & cover to let sit and rise.
Bake @375 for about 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
*if using a convection oven Bake for only 15 minutes.
***optional***I like to throw in 1 cup of wheat germ, 1/2 cup of ground flax seeds, & 1/2 cup of zoom hot cereal uncooked. This just gives it extra texture and crunch.
***for my crescent rolls*** follow recipe but use only white flour. After mixing dough divide into two equal parts and roll out into 18" circle. Brush olive oil over surface and using a pizza cutter cut from the outside in making long triangles. Then Roll each from the outside inward and place on a greased baking dish. *I've used a pizza circle pan, and placing rolls like a big floret design, or same placement in pie tins.Let rise till big and puffy & Bake @375 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.
ENJOY!

Happy Oven card

I craft & make projects all the time, but always forget to take pictures to show so ..here's one you might like using a recent NEW design from ME (*Carolee Jones) with ART GONE WILD
http://www.agwstamps.com
and using Michelle Cutts new CLEVER CUTTS small inset box Template. The supplies used are:

• AGW Happy Oven set
• AGW What's Cookin' set
• Acrylic block
• The Clever Cutts Small Inset Box Template
• Scoring tool, .5mm pencil and craft cutting knife (all available as part of the Clever Cutts Starter Kit)
• Straight edge
• 1/8" or 1/16" foam tape
• Adhesive
• Card stock: White to stamp images onto, Paperbag Tan Brown for card base & coverage of oven insert on the inside of the card, Baby blue for saying above stove and inside oven backing behind cookie sheets, Dark Brown to frame saying, Red Plaid pattern paper for front
• 6" Red see through 1/4th" wide ribbon
• Coloring pencils/ markers (* I used COPIC alcohol based markers cuz they leave no streaks when blending)
• Inkssentials blending tool
• Tim Holtz Distressed vintage photo ink from Ranger
• Inkssentials non-stick craft sheet (*great to blend the ink and not waste or ruin counter work surface)

I've included some links conected to ART GONE WILD's website to where you can purchase the Happy Oven, What's Cookin' sets along with the Clever Cutts starter Kit that has the foam matt & cutting/scoring tools needed. The blending tool, craft sheet, & distressed ink I purchased at Stampers Anonymous:
http://www.stampersanonymous.com/acc-index.html
I shared this card project with some of my family on a recent trip to Utah a few months back. It recieved great reviews and we all had fun making it! GOOD TOOLS make all the difference in a great project!

INTOXICATING!

YUM! I love the smell of home made freshly baked bread! Brings back fond memories of when I was about 3 years old. Living in the quads at BYU with my folks. I would be down in the courtyard playing on the playground and I would hear my mom call me home, and the closer I got to the apartment & the higher I climbed the stairs the stronger the scent of the freshly baked bread would be, to the point I was trying to run up the stairs to get to it. Then my mom would bring to me a THICK slice of her bread still warm, with melting honey & butter spread over it. I'd sit on cool cement landing outside the apartment door and take a DEEP breath IN... almost becoming dizzy with the overwhelming YUMMINESS that steamed into my nose as the heat licked my cheeks. Then the taste...as I took that first bit,... soft and warm, while the honey & butter dripped down my fingers and tiny hands. AHhhhhh such a GREAT childhood memory!
And today, I STILL LOVE,love, love that first slice and to ooh and ahh over the smell, the texture and the taste of HOME MADE BREAD!
The recipe comes from my mother in law, Vivian Jones and even though I make bread all the time, I've never ventured to make WHEAT BREAD, as it was always too tough and dense. I got another recipe from my girl friend Alicia and the two recipes were very similar. So with the added element of using a convection oven and freshly grinding my own wheat into flour I attempted to try and risk my mother in laws infamous reputation for the best bread maker in the world ( that came from ROB...who I've heard that from for years!!!) No disrespect Mom..but I think with the right tools and the freshest ingredients with YOUR recipe ANYONE can make AWESOME BREAD, and yes compete..just a little bit with your reputation for being the ONE & ONLY to make the worlds BEST BREAD!
(*this rates right up there with my love for creme' brulee' YUUMMMYYY!!!!)

SNOW snow & more SNOW!

SNOW, SNOW go away, come again some other day...
preferable NEXT YEAR!
yes yes yes I know I live in ALASKA, and we should expect snow.
But we've had a snow/wind storm blow through the Kenai Peninsula & especially here in Homer for the past week or so that has dumped so much snow, it seems way out of the ordinary. Here are some pictures around our house and across the street. It's only March 10th & from the weather forecasts we should bunker down and ride it out, it isn't stopping any time soon.
On a good note, my Son Bobby & his new wife Kylie are flying up from Logan, Utah this weekend to Anchorage where we'll drive up from Homer (only a 5 hour drive) to pick them up and drive them back down here for a OPEN HOUSE (next Friday evening @ 7pm) to celebrate their wedding back in January. Bobby is really excited to show off his stomping grounds to Kylie and when I told him of all the new snow he was tickled WHITE! Yesterday there were a few avalanches on the main road near the pass to Anchorage that blocked all vehicles, but have since been cleared. The marina/boat dock was even closed due to the bad snow burns and accidents blocking the passage way to get out to the spit, so Rob got to stay home and be on stand by. Seminary has been canceled for 2 days, School was canceled yesterday and Church was canceled Sunday.Everyone is trying to dig them selves out of the contant dumping of new snow and the wind that keeps moving it and piling it up in places that make it hard to go and do much at all.
However..as i sit here listening to the hum of the big snow plows down the street it is a comfort to know the city is trying to clear the roads at least in town. I sent Rob & Krystal out to the grocery store yesterday for a few essentials since I was baking bread and needed a few things. When they returned they both vowed unless we were dying they were NOT going out in that stuff again! Apparently the roads were a mess and tons of people out in it who didn't know what they were doing.
SO ENJOY the snow pictures. I'm headed back to the kitchen to make myself a hot cup of herbal tea to go with a slice of pumpkin bread(with cream cheese frosting) one of Krystal's friends, Jed, who helped bake with us yesterday, shared a favorite family recipe with us and WOW,..it has officially been added to ours as well, YUM~!

YES YOU CAN LIVE BY BREAD ALONE...well almost

February 2nd, 2010:
My parents gave us a wheat grinder for Christmas, and we were so excited to start using it. I made several batches of bread successfully but only by babysitting our old oven to the temperature that kept fluctuating and made for a long sit to wait and watch and keep changing the controls to keep the temperature consistent enough to bake my goodies. Then one day just before I was ready to put the puffy raised bread in the oven, I opened the door to black smoke. I turned it off tried to scrap off whatever was causing the smoke on the bottom and then tried to turn it back on,..NOTHING, nauda,...just beeping sounds and no heat at all. My oven had officially DIED! I called a neighbor and borrowed her oven to bake that batch and then came home and frantically spent hours doing research to what was available and how much and what features. It was all very frusterating as we are so limited up here in Alaska for appliances and most things are ordered with a 6-8 week wait. THAT WAS NOT AN OPTION for me. I looked for a freestanding electric, glass top, white, convection oven of 30" width. However, our emergency fund was only $400, and an average oven with the features I wanted was at the bottom price level of $1000.00- up to $2500.00. Plus the liklihood of any store having what I needed IN STOCK and available with in a week or so was next to impossible.I did however email the store in Kenai where we had purchased the dead oven from and got a response of what they had and didnt have and how much. Guess what, they had something I could use and it was ON SALE! The reason was because it had been dropped and dented a bit, mostly cosmetic but considering what every one else had to offer it seemed the only deal. I still had no idea how we were going to come up with the money ($750 +240 *5 year warrenty=$990). THEN MY DAD called who had a strong feeling we were in need and he happened to have some funds available after the final signing and closing of their house selling in Washington. He called my mom, to talk with her first and she had been having the same strong feelings, so when he called he had NO IDEA ..he was a literal answer to a prayer, only moments before. I talked to Rob, told him of my parents offer, then had him double check what I had researched, get a hold of the store and asked permission if they'd stay open an hour past closing time, so he could drive up the 1 1/2 hours drive to Kenai and pick it up. This was on Saturday late afternoon, and if this wouldn't work out, we would have had to wait another whole week since Rob coudn't get the time off from his work in time to go get it durring thier store hours. So with in a few hours of my Dad's call and a few other calls to the store in Kenai, Rob drove up and picked up a new stove for us! He stopped in to see his Dad & Mina and didn't get home till almost 10pm. After church on Sunday two friends stopped by and helped move it into the kitchen, where Rob had to take off the power chord to the old one and attach it to the new one. (*did you know that you have to by the chords SEPERATLY??? thats so silly, glad there was nothing wrong with the old one). By that evening I had ground some fresh wheat into flour, with our new wheat grinder (ABSOLUTLY LOVE IT!) and made two batches of bread already. The only problem was..I had gotten use to the old oven NOT working that I almost burnt it.The new oven WORKS..it's HOT and stays at the same temp you set it at and the convection setting realy does cut the time in almost half!

I'm including some pictures of our NEW wheat grinder and of a GOOD batch of mini bread loafs, Lasagna (*we had for dinner tonight) and some Cinamon rolls I made that turned out great!
THANK YOU!
THANK YOU!
THANK YOU!
MOM & DAD!
You are generous beyond words and always seem to be the ones to deliver answers to our families prayers. I feel indebted to you ....for so much!

The NEW YEAR ...& a trip to UTAH for Bobby's Wedding!

The first of this year has been no less that a whirlwind of events as per usual with the Jones household! We started off the year with a FAMILY trip to UTAH to attend Bobby & Kylie's wedding January 5th, 2010! We left Homer, Alaska & drove all the way up to Anchorage (5 hour trip) then flew to Salt Lake City, Utah (6 hour flight) . LONG trip!!! Bobby & Kylie met us at the airport and took us to the Binghams where we visited with Kylie's family. Jessica took the bus up to somewhere close and Kylie & Bobby picked her up and brought her to where we were and we had a mini reunion! First time all of us were together like that in a long time. WAS GOOD to see all my children together again.
We then went over to the Scherzinger's where we met up with Julie who graciously allowed us to stay with them for the week. Her house was like a catalog and I felt like we were staying at the ritz! The wedding was that evening at the Quirrh Mountain temple. We arrived in time to take some quick before pictures of the family in front of the temple and then proceded inside for the ceremony. The ceremony was beautiful and the only glitch was when it came time to exchange the rings.. Bobby couldn't find the wedding band, just the engagement ring. He had accidently dropped it out of his pocket in the other room. Kylie was so cute as he poked and poked both his pockets in a feeble attempt to find it and she just shook her head and sighed. He put on her finger what he had and after the guests were congratulating them..one of the patrons at the temple came hurridly into the room holding up the missing ring. It had fallen on the floor and due to it's newness was found easily as it sparkled on the floor. SO GLAD it was found, and what a cute story to add to their wedding day adventures to tell as they get older.Afterwards the Binghams ward provided a very simple and YUMMY breakfast dinner at their ward building for all the wedding guests. It was a perfect way to end a long, busy and beautiful day.
The rest of the week was spent traveling back n forth between Provo where Jessica was living and going to school. Then back n forth between the Scherzingers in Jordan where we were staying and the Binghams in Kearns (where Kylie's family lived, then on up to Kaysville where Rebecca lived(Rob's adopted sister)and Rob's mom Vivian & Ray & Sharla (Rob's brother & sister) were also staying...Rob made the equivilant of 4 round trip drives from Homer to Anchorage durring the one week we were in Utah in that blue rented Suburban driving back n forth to all the family and get togethers! The Scherzinger's family was delightful and gracious to allow us the whole bottom half of their home. They had food and games and made us feel so welcome. Bobby surely made lifelong friends with them on his mission while he served in this area and we will deffinatly stay in touch! We also took time to go shopping at the University Mall and let the girls see the book store on the BYU campus and all the handsome eye candy(boys) along the way. Wendy & Brittany got their ears pierced andRob's sister's son Christopher joined us and helped man the video cam to document the whole procedure! We drove up to Rebecca's place and played Wii , snacked and enjoyed being with Rob's side of the family in the Berrett's new house. Every night we were up late and up early each morning, trying to fit all the family and events we could into our ONE week in Utah.The reception was on Friday evening and the Binghams did a lovely job decorating the chapel. Stephen, Kylie's dad had his 4th round of Chemo treatment and arrived back in time to catch his breath and be there for the reception. He looked a bit under the weather but we are glad he was with us and doing as well as could be expected. He will have one more chemo treatment and then see how well the cancer is contained, if not then its onto bone marrow transplate surgery. We are praying its contained and he'll be well enough to join us up in Alaska for the Open house for Bobby & Kylie in May.
The morning after the recpetion we joined Bobby & Kylie at the Binghams where they opened their wedding gifts and we oooowwed and aaaahed! Then we drove up together to Kaysville where Rebecca had a BIRTHDAY party for Vivian and the family that was there. The kids played more Wii and the rest of us eat and visited. Then we headed up to Logan where the NEWLY WEDS appartment was and helped unload all the gifts to their cute little basement appartment under an old farm house up on a hill. It was dark when we passed through Logan but from what we could see it was very quaint! We then went to Chili's for dinner then back to the Scherzingers to sleep one last night. The last day we went Temple Square with Bobby & Kylie and viewed the Christous statue inside the visitor's center. It had been 23 years since I had been there and was neat to have all my 5 children & new daughter in law with me & Rob there together. We took TONS of pictures but here are a few to see our crazy-g0-nuts FAMILY trip to UTAH for Bobby & Kylie's wedding. WHAT A WEEK!

2009 Jones Family Christmas Tree WITH a picture

ok.. I feel silly now..got all the way through the long process of uploading and accidently in my excitement closed the box and the site and LOST the pic..... UGH!!!!!
*sigh... taking a DEEP breathe and counting to 10...1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10...OK lets try this again.

pics of the tree & ornaments

its been a while since i posted.. can you tell! Somehow I did something wrong on the first post and the pictures didn't load up, then posted a second time with pictures only /no text and somehow they got lost too. I'll post ONE more time and see if 'three time's a charm'....

2009 Jones Family Christmas Tree

I did it... I allowed someone to HELP me or rather DO it (Decorate the tree) for me this year! Rob unstrung the 1200 lights, found the dead ones, and restrung the old n new so that Krystal could start the decorating process. We have lots of fun ornaments and they all have meaning and the girls usually like to help reminiscing over who's was who's and why. But this year everyone was too busy and too tired. We all went to bed before that job got taken care of...but in the morning we awoke to a 'Santa helper' who decorated the tree all by herself and put around the base, all the wrapped presents she had helped buy. (if it wasn't for Krystal's generosity & kindness it would have looked sparse under there for sure!)With Bobby & Kylie's wedding in January and most of the $$ going to the tickets to get there, Santa's pockets were almost empty this year. So here is a picture of our tree...

ok... I'll just be brief!
I'm in the middle of making 108 Christmas cards, with various parts n pieces, this year using some of my own artwork. My daughters have helped and it's been fun. I started out thinking I only needed 75, then I updated my list..and it went up to 108!!!
I'm also in the middle of several Christmas projects...helping the girls MAKE things for each other.
I'm also OF COURSE,..in the middle of wedding things. Working on 300 "Hugs&Kisses from the NEW Mr. & Mrs." tags,...with pictures and flowers and brads..and some inking. Only half way through those. Then there are the 150 THANK YOU double sided Post Cards for Bobby & Kylie,..they are mostly designed..I just need to resize and add the new P.O. Box they just got last week.
My old printer DIED on my right before I had to leave for Washington/Idaho and so while i was outside.. I contacted my good techno goo-roo and asked him to do some research and shopping for me, since my parents computer internet connection is slower than molasses, and with his help ordered it online and it arrived shortly after I got home. I LOVE MY NEW wide format Workforce 1100 EPSON printer. It's so quiet and efficient and the quality is ..WOW! I've already put it through several BIG projects and its doing great!
I'm also keeping up with the holiday baking and trying to make something every other day if possible. The house smells great, but isn't quiet clean... that is something I'll always have to work on. I spent a few hours in there this afternoon to get it ready to bake some more..but I still have some other projects to do before its bedtime.. the baking might just have to wait till tomorrow after church.
Right now Krystal & Rob are attempting to take off the old 1200 lights and see what works and what doesn't... then restring the good ones on. I"m doing fairly good at NOT stressing...with allowing them to do that job that usualy is MINE!... But I can feel silver hairs popping up on my head as we speak.. I may have to just go in the back room and chill!
OK.. better get my rear in gear and not sit too long.. everytime I do.. I tend to fall asleep.

It's better late than never...right?

November 23rd, 2009
WOW... talk about procrastination, I have it BAD!
HOW did I let my life get so busy that I completely forgot to update my family blog! ugh...oh well, guess it's never too late to start today and catch up. SO for a new beginning, I'll simple post some text and say A LOT has happened since last year about this time and there's no flippin' way to type it all or share it all. You'll just have to wait till the family news letter comes out with the Christmas Card that will be sent in a few weeks. Which in itself will be different this year as Rob is composing it,...and he was only here half of the time. I gave him the assignment to write the family news letter because I'm trying a new thing called "DELAGATING responsibilities"... of my many holiday activities so that I'm not so stressed out this year. With so much happening by the first part of the year...starting with a trip for ALL of us Jones's to Utah for Bobby & Kylie's wedding. Plus with Rob home every night (with his new job @ Petro Marine Services), he has had a better view of the crazy harmonal up and downs that this Jonesville adventure ride takes every day. Some days...it's "UP, UP & AWAY "and other days its ..."aaaaaaggghhh slip, sliding away... where is the break peddle"! And the schedule is constantly changing so even if you THINK you have it all planed out, its NOT! Somethings bound to come up and make you bend over backwards to fit into another tight corner of last mintue to do's!
SO with that said you know there is going to be alot of interesting things to hear about.

some NEW pics of our Elder Bobby Jones on Christmas

Christmas time also brought us the infamous call home from
our Missionary,
Elder Bobby Jones. We were all excited to hear from him and listen to his voice (wow he sounds so much like is dad!), and then the very next day Sister Julie Scherzinger, bless her heart, emailed me pictures taken of him and his companion, Elder Nielson ( from Alberta, Canada), and their family where they spend Christmas day at. You'll see in the pictures that her son Bradly and Elder Jones get along like two peas in a pod. THANKS Julie for adding to our holiday JOY with those pictures you sent to us and for being Bobby's saragate family and doing it so well! BIG HUGS!
(*ps... I should add to this post that Elder Jones officially turned the "BIG 21" on the 18th of December, I can't believe he's that old already...I'm sure I'll be shocked enough when he comes home in just a few months by his transformation in size and spirit. HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY TO YOU SON!)

JESSICA is an Official CNA now~! (thats a Certified Nursing Assistant)

Drum roll please...... tada tada tada... Anouncing the graduation of Jessica Jones in her quest to become a CNA which will help her earn some moolah to pay for college!
She actually graduated a few weeks back and is now officially working at the South Peninsual Hospital here in Homer 3 times a week in Long Term Care. It's only part time but a great start to her future! Here are some fun pictures of her graduation party and her at home after her first day of work.
We are SO PROUD OF YOU JESSY!

THE FLU hit our house over the Holidays

First off, all us girls went to see the new TWILIGHT movie and had a great time! The movie theater is close enough we all walked there and back. Then after wards Jessica, Krystal & Wendy drove out to the Haas's house for a slumber party, ...sadly to say Jessica wasn't there long when the flu bug hit her hard. Poor thing was throwing up all night long! Wendy drank from the same soda and popcorn so she was a bit queezy....so after they returned home late the next day, Jessica tried to recover and just when Wendy thought she had skipped it altogether it got her too. In fact I took her to get her Birthday 1 hour Swedish Massage and after wards to Two Sister's Bakery for a treat, she had one bite and one sip and said she felt sick. I brought her home and sure enough...she had the flu too. So we just laid low and skipped the cake, party, pictures and festivities while she threw up and slept. She did open her gifts that evening and we all sang the monkey song to her.
"Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
You look like a monkey
...and you smell like one too!"
It was funny cuz all of us looked bad and felt horrible,...we laughed and called it a day. So Wendy made her cake a few days later and Jessica took the picture of it and Wendy who was still recovering from the flu bug (hence the half smile).
HAPPY BELATED Birthday WENDY!!!!! Let's hope NEXT year is MUCH MUCH better! (*on a good note she absolutely LOVED the massage and wants to do it again real soon!)
Also I forgot to mention, I normally don't allow myself time off to just sit and read books. I normally multitask in order to keep up and feel productive and since I'm not a fast reader and it takes A LOT to keep my interest to struggle through a book and sit that long, I only do it about once or twice a year. After seeing the TWILIGHT movie, I decided I was going to read the 4 books in the series. I had NO IDEA they were so long. Over 600 to 700 pages on some of them. So during all the flu bug ickies at our house... I crawled into bed and read and read and read and got up to pee and eat briefly and back to bed to read and read and read some more. I got very little sleep but finally finished all four books with in a three day period. I LOVED the books!!! Can't wait to see how they create the next three movies to cover the story line. The movie condensed parts and moved some sequencing around, but over all did a good job at portraying the charactures in the story. I'd see it again if it were playing here. It's one we'll definitly buy for our collection for sure!
Then a last note about what me and the girls did to celebrate 2008! Since no one was feeling up to a big party and I was done baking goodies for big parties and church/community events, I decided to treat us ALL to a 1 hour swedish massage at the Homer Day Spa on New Years Eve day. I sent Jessica & Krystal to get theirs first adn they came back glowing with rave reviews to do it again! Then Wendy & Brittany and I went to our session. The two younger girls were in a room together and I had the yurt. I LOVE the smells of the essential oils and the feel of my skin afterwards. Being warm and letting my muscles get the attention they need to relax and rejuvinate is uterly amazing! We tipped big and decided we'd start a tradition and do it again next year! If your interested check out their website. The summer months are booked months in advance since they are a hot spot for tourists that come to enjoy Homer, Alaska, but the winter months...they have LOTS of openings and the pretty view from the bluff is amazing as well.
http://www.homerspa.com/
HAPPY NEW YEARS everyone!

Merry Christmas...

December started off on 'fast forward' to celebrate the holiday season early when Rob called from the slope to let us know he would be coming home for the holidays...SORT OF... but only for a week and then he would have to return back to work for three more weeks after that to finish out some 'end of the year contract jobs' for the company. So we moved up all our holiday festivities & celebrations and prepared to cram them all in the one week he could be home.
Tree & house decorated, (60=cards/family photo/family newsletter-printed, folded & stuff, shopping done, presents wrapped & labeled, holiday songs sung, Santa came, presents opened, massive amounts of goodies baked, eaten, and shared, girls happy with getting & giving, and most of the mess cleaned up. So that 'one week home for rob' has come and gone (we will miss him the rest of the year!), and I sent him back to the slope this morning, needless to say I'm just a little bit tired!
The girls still have one more week of school ,holiday concerts, another church potluck & a few dinner invitations and Christmas parties to attend to, an orthodontist appointment in Soldotna and helping me stay on top of the laundry, dishes and more holiday baking still yet to be done...so the festivities aren't completely over with, and the word "BUSY" still applies to the Jones household name for the month of December.
Next comes the other big project I do every year...the family calendar. It was put on hold while Rob was home and I will dive back into it as well as two other artwork deadlines this and next week. So I might find time to post again before the end of the year..but if not... here's wishing you and yours a very MERRY CHRISTMAS & a HAPPY NEW YEAR from the frozen chosen Jones clan up in the great white north of Homer, Alaska!