Keeping up with the Joneses

Number 5 is on the way!

2011-12-22T19:08:00.000-08:00

Yes, Kid #5. We are due at the very end of June 2012. We plan to be surprised at what we get this time. Expect some exciting news in about 6 months.
Merry Christmas everyone!

Fun at home.

2011-11-05T22:33:00.000-07:00

Tonight the kids wanted to go outside to play. It was VERY cold out. They had fun finding the winter hats, gloves, scarves, etc.
Emmalynn dressed Andrew up to go outside.
She found him a cute little hat and scarf, then put on one of Cassidee's sweaters.

Also, notice that she put NOTHING on his frozen little feet!!
Thanks for helping Emmalynn.

We also decided that it was time Andrew had his first haircut.
Andrew was getting quite the little mullet.
He did NOT appreciate Daddy doing the honors.
We got the first haircut out of the way regardless of the tears. Poor little boy.

This was a shot of the kids right before they went Trick-or-Treating in the neighborhood.
We had a witch with her little cat, and two spidermen (with big muscles!!)

We have a really great neighborhood for trick or treating. Way more kids than just the few ones that live here end up asking for candy. This year we counted, kind of.
I started the night with 230 pieces of candy. We ran out by 8 o'clock! I guess the early bird gets the candy around here.

Family Pictures 2011

2011-09-04T09:28:00.000-07:00

We took some family pictures recently. Here are a few of them.
Individual ones are posted on the kids' blogs.
Adam and Andrew.

Emmalynn and Cassidee

All the kids.

Dan and Leesa (married 8 years in June)

The whole Jones Family.
Ahhh.

2 Years as New Mexicans!

2011-09-04T09:17:00.000-07:00

In August we hit our two years in New Mexico mark. We are a couple weeks late getting our yearly by-the-Bloomfield-sign picture.
Our regular sign we've gone to before has road construction next to it so we had to go to one on one of the other roads coming into Bloomfield. This one is a bit bigger!
We really love living here and having the friends that we do.

The Start of a New School Year

2011-08-23T06:40:00.000-07:00

It's always exciting to come to a new school year. I think the teacher in me is excited for school to start. It's a mid year point of reestablishing routines. Goals can be set and new friends made. I love the excitement of the beginning of school.
Here's an updated picture of each of the kids.

Emmalynn is in 2nd grade now and is 7 years old.
She will be taking piano lesson, soccer and 2 different dance classes, ballet/tap and clogging. She will be a busy girl!
And yes, she still has glasses, even though they are not on this picture. Out of her three pairs thus far we are down to one pair left.

Cassidee is in Kindergarten this year. She is having lots of fun with new friends.
She is also taking piano lessons, soccer and one dance class. She will also be busy!

Mr. Adam is in preschool at Ms. Sue's. He totally loves her and preschool.
He wishes he could be doing soccer and dance, but isn't old enough yet. (Thank goodness.)

And last of all, Little Andrew. He has started walking. He loves to bite anything around him...and I mean anything. He's lots of fun to have around, we just need to make sure the bathroom doors are ALWAYS shut!

The Summer Trip - Part 2

2011-07-25T21:40:00.000-07:00

We made it home at last. Six weeks was a long time for the kids and I to be gone. We had lots of fun everywhere we went.
After our awesome week and a half at Jill's house in Nebraska we headed to Utah.
We saw my sister Ronda and her family. My kids had a lot of fun playing with their cousins.
We had a whole week of Jones Family fun.
For Dan's family reunion we...
... did a service project by picking up trash along a walking trail in American Fork, UT.
...had a fabulous BBQ at Dan's brother's house complete with two waterslide-bouncehouses!
...had a mile long hike to a duck pond.
...had a picnic at a splash park.
...had the July birthday celebration at a park followed by a family baseball game.
...went to a play, Cinderella, in which our niece, Brynley, was a mouse. The girls and I also had a "princess tea party" before the play. Thank you Grandmama!
Then we headed to my sister Sally's house for her baby Annalee's baby blessing.
We got to see lots of other friends too.
We are glad to be home and the kids are looking forward to school starting. Adam especially! He gets to go to Miss Sue's preschool this year. He asks me every day when he gets to go.
The one bad part is that we forgot our camera at Sally's house!!! Grrrr. I was so good to not forget it the whole trip, and then I forget it the very last morning! Someday you might get to see some of the pictures!

The summer trip - Part 1

2011-06-30T21:43:00.000-07:00

This summer is flying by. We've not been home for most of it.
I decided to take the kids all over the country this year.
First we headed to ND to see my parents. The little town of Tuttle where I grew up had it's 100th centennial celebration. Good times and great memories of me as a kid there. The kids hung out with cousins Sam, Livia, and Annalee Cook. They got lots of "scooter" rides from Uncle Duane and watched him feed his little calves twice a day. Only sad thing was that it rained a lot of the days we were there. Andrew had his 1st birthday party and we got to see a lot of our extended relatives. We hung out at the farm with Nana and Papa for over two weeks.
Then we came to Nebraska where we are now. All week long the kids have had fun at this day camp they've attended.
Cassee managed to break her arm on our anniversary and Emmee came home with a sunburn today. We'll stay through the 4th of July before we head to Utah to see the Christensons and all the Jones Family.
More later will come on that leg of the trip!

Busy, Busy, Busy

2011-05-30T08:05:00.000-07:00

We've been busy this last month.
Emmee turned 7 years old!

Cassidee turned 5 years old!

Cassee graduated from preschool.

Dan's parents came to visit for 4 days.
We went to some Ancient Indian ruins near our house.

Leesa had her first piano recital with her 13 students. Emmee played in it as well.

Andrew discovered suckers! Yum Yum.

This is just a cute picture of Andrew falling asleep on the floor one day. Poor tired little button.
Notice the blanket in his mouth! I guess it's a substitute pacifier for him. All my kids have been blanket babies!
School is finally out for the summer. (Except for Dan. He's in the middle of his first semester for his master's program.)
We had to ND, NE and UT in one week and we will be gone for 6 weeks! Fun stuff ahead!

Passing the Blame

2011-04-16T08:23:00.000-07:00

The other day there was a book on the floor in the family room. It was a chapter book from a higher shelf the kids really don't mess with. I said to the kids "who took this book off the shelf?"
Emmalynn said, "I didn't, it was probably Cassee."
Cassee said, "No I didn't, it was Adam!"
Adam said, "I didn't, Andrew did."
(Andrew is 10 months old and doesn't walk or stand by himself yet.)
Who do you think is obviously telling the lie? I had a feeling Adam took out the book.
If you're going to pass the blame, you'd better at least pick someone who can actually commit the crime!

Spring Break in Arizona

2011-04-04T15:01:00.000-07:00

This year for Spring Break we went to....
well...actually we were in Chandler most of the time. But yes, we were in Arizona with our friends the Johnstons.
We started off the vacation with a trip to the Mesa Temple.
It was a busy day there. Thanks Russ and Stacey for watching our kids too.

Then we headed off to the Saguaro Lake for a picnic and boat rides.
Waiting at the dock. It took two trips to get us all there.

Picnic time on a little beach.

Emmee and Paige playing in the cold water.

Adam having some fun. (He had previously fallen in the cold water and his shirt was drying on a tree limb.

Andrew and Brandon chillin' on the blanket.

Having fun on the boat.
Russ driving the boat.

The next day we headed to a park for another picnic and a trip to South Mt. (a look out point)

Here's the lookout point over Phoenix.
Paige, Cassidee, Emmalynn, Adam and Kallie.

We had lots of fun. We also had a BBQ at Stacey's parents' house that night.
On the last day we went to the Reniassance Festival. It was super fun. Those pictures will need their own blog.
Thanks for the fun weekend, Johnston Family. (We missed hanging out with Will and Kyle too.)

Dan the College Man

2011-03-04T14:04:00.001-08:00

I know what you're thinking. What? Dan is going back to college?
He is... in a way.
Dan has been wanting to get a Master's degree for about as long as he's finished his bachelor's. Both of his brothers have a masters now and Dan didn't want to be left out. Somehow we've never gotten around to starting.
Dan's company will pay for a master's degree and we thought now would be a perfect time for him to do that. Hooray for Raytheon.
Dan got his application for reimbursement to Raytheon accepted and now he just found out he was accepted into his master's program with Kettering University. Where you say? Yeah, I don't know either. But he can do all of it online so who cares!
The next couple of years are going to be pretty tight on time for Dan! We will be going on family vacations without him I think.
Three cheers for Dan.

Time Flies!

2011-02-16T09:31:00.001-08:00

Wow, the last 3 months just flew by. I tried posting a few times with adding pictures from our new camera, but the pictures were too big and they would never load. I was getting pretty irritated. I finally figured out how to adjust the camera, so hopefully they will work from now on. (I am pretty media retarded!) Posts are just not near as fun unless they have pictures!
We had lots of fun over the holidays. We had a fun week in Utah for Thanksgiving. We stayed home in New Mexico for Christmas and had my parents here for a few weeks.
Our New Years' plans were changed when a snow storm through Arizona prevented us from getting to our friends' house in Gilbert, AZ. We were very disappointed to miss seeing them then. We spent New Years' quietly at home watching movies and playing games. None of the kids actually made it to midnight though.
The kids are growing like weeds and I've been hopping busy with Boy scouts, piano lessons and PTA activities. I'm looking forward to the summer time more now than any year previously!
Soon I hope to get some more pictures and videos of the kids on the blog.

Sloppy Joes

2010-11-11T17:25:00.000-08:00

Tonight we had Sloppy Joes for dinner. The kids were eating along great until I looked over and saw Adam spit a bite out of his mouth onto his plate.
"Why did you do that?" I asked.
He looked at the spat out piece and pointed to the meat. "That meat was poking me."
I checked it out and found no poking pieces. Funny kid. He did finished the rest of it though!

Halloween 2010

2010-11-04T20:01:00.000-07:00

I was way too busy in the month of October with PTA stuff and boy scout stuff that I didn't get to plan and pull off a fabulous Halloween party this year. I love to do parties and this is the second year in a row we've missed a Halloween party:( However, the Halloween season was still fun.
Here's our little kiddos with their Halloween costumes.
Emmee is a witch. Cassee is a ladybug. Adam is a "musclely" spiderman.

And little Andrew got to be a banana. Doesn't he look so tasty!!!

Cassee update again

2010-09-22T08:01:00.001-07:00

She's bouncing off the walls this morning. Actually she was last night too.
She says neither her ears nor her throat hurt anymore. That was a fast recovery. She never took any of the pain medicine they prescribed for her. Thanks for all your prayers, they worked really fast this time!!
By the way, the adnoids are somewhere in the back of your throat somewhere. You can't see them when you open your mouth like you can with tonsils. They are very similar to tonsils too, they serve a small purpose but you can be just fine without them.
Cassee's were very large and pushing on her eustation(?) tubes causing the fluid in her ears to not have a chance to drain. Her ear drums had a lot of pressure behind them and they didn't vibrate hardly at all. They said she was hearing everything like her ears were plugged.
They scrape off the adnoids by going in through the mouth. Then they cauterize to stop the bleeding. Sounds nasty. You end up with a sore throat, although not as sore as if your tonsils were removed.
Cassee seems to feel fine and dandy already. She's a tough kid. Heck, she's had plugged ears for at least the last year of her life and never complained! We are glad it's over. (Until we see the bill!!!)

Cassee update

2010-09-21T09:57:00.000-07:00

Cassee had a minor surgery this morning to remove her adnoids and put tubes in her ears. The doctor said her adnoids were HUGE. No wonder her ears had problems draining.
She did great. She didn't even cry. Her throat will hurt for a few days. Hopefully with better hearing she will improve her speech quickly!

Cowboy Adam

2010-09-17T16:04:00.000-07:00

Look out bad guys, here comes Sheriff Adam!

Don't even think about stealin' those horses dude.

I had to get Adam a cowboy hat and some guns so that he will stop wearing his sister's dresses!!! He likes the guns by the way!

The old and the older.

2010-09-12T13:46:00.000-07:00

We got a new (used) piano Labor Day weekend. It's actually older than our old piano, but new to us.

Here's the old one.
It is an electric piano. It had different sound functions and could change key. It also had recorded songs in the different sounds that my kids have danced to since they were born. We are going to miss it, Emmee especially. It also had a volume control button! Mom and Dad are really going to miss that!!

Here's the new-older real piano.
It's not a fabulous style or brand, but it is a regular piano and we got it for a great price. For all those 11 students I teach, they can now play dynamics easier. The other one was harder to play loud or soft on.
It will do a fine job to fill our house with lovely music.

Garden Produce

2010-08-31T07:41:00.000-07:00

Last night we went out to pick tomatoes and peppers. We ran out of daylight. I hardy made a dent on the tomato plants. They are huge! It's actually hard to find all the tomatoes. I'm almost afraid to go back out there.
The big box has bell peppers and anahiem peppers. The blue bowl is full of jalapenos. We've shared quite a few peppers already this year.
Roma tomatoes are in the yellow bowl and the "mega" bowl from Pampered Chef is full of big boy tomatoes. And my large pot is full of cherry tomatoes. And there are so many still to pick. (We wish we could share with you Stacey!) Salsa time...here we come!

Andrew is 2 months old!

2010-08-14T09:29:00.000-07:00

Here's our big boy. He's now 2 months old.
And then there's a little bit of our crying 2 year old in the background!

ND Petting Zoo

2010-08-06T18:53:00.001-07:00

Just kidding, it's not really a petting zoo, but it's pretty close.
One of my best friends (Lacey) from growing up in Tuttle, ND lives on a farm in the next town over. She has two super cute kids, Kennedy (5) and Britton (2).
They have chickens, ducks, geese, 2 goats, a miniature horse, 4 dogs and lots of cats. (And little frogs from all the rain.)
We headed over one morning to see them all. My sister Sally and her family came with.

Sam and Kennedy were the first brave ones to feed the animals corn.

Here's Adam feeding one of the goats.

Here's Winnie, the little pony. He was a little feisty. Little Livia got her fingers nibbled on.

Good job Emmee.

Cassee is quite afraid of most animals. This is the closest she would get.

Adam found a new friend.

And a new toy!

Best Buds. Isn't it amazing how kids can become best friends in a matter of minutes?

They were aiming for Kennedy's mouth I believe!

Lacey, Britton and Kennedy. Thanks for letting us come to your house and for sharing your animals (and garden produce!).

First Garden In New Mexico

2010-07-24T10:32:00.000-07:00

This year we planted Big Boy, La Roma, and Sweet 100 Cherry tomatoes. We were very surprised to see how well they all have grown! The plant that comes up to my nose is a Big Boy. I have never seen Romas get so big either.

They got a little too big for their cages and in some strong winds a few branches almost broke off. Itried to prop them up with another cage in hopes of saving a few tomatoes.

Here are some Big Chiles that we may try roasting...I never even heard of roasting chiles until we got here to NM. When they are in season people sell roasted chiles all over the place.

Andrew at 1 month old

2010-07-11T18:29:00.000-07:00

Here is our big boy at 1 month old.

Year Supply of TP

2010-07-09T13:26:00.000-07:00

When we moved from Utah on the 6th of Aug. we had A LOT of toilet paper. That's one thing I NEVER want to run out of! It's always hard to tell how long a roll will last (especially when your two year old unrolls half of it into the toilet). I had no idea how long the amount I had would really last.
We opened the last 24 roll pack this week! I'm amazed that I actually had almost a year supply of toilet paper. It will be really close to a full year by the time this whole pack is gone. Amazing huh??
The bad part: I never counted how many we started our year with. I still don't know how much toilet paper we use in a year! I guess you are just always safe when you have a lot around, right? hehe

Sibling Jealousy

2010-07-08T11:38:00.000-07:00

Everyone wonders how your little kids will react to having a new baby. Will they love him? Will they be jealous? Hmmm.
Baby Andrew was a bit cranky and I was feeding him or holding/bouncing him around all morning. Well, jealousy ended up rearing it's ugly head. Was it Adam, my little two year old boy who used to be the baby?? Was it tempermental Cassidee who's happy one minute and crying the next??
No...it was my happy, big helper Emmalynn. These are the comments I heard from her all morning.
"I wish I was that little and you could carry me around all day."
"I wish we didn't have him cause all he does is eat and cry."
"I don't think you should have any more babies...ever again."
"This is the worst day ever."
Yikes, I think we need school to start again, and soon. This kid needs way more attention from ... anyone!

More of Andrew

2010-07-04T20:10:00.000-07:00

Little Andrew is 3 weeks and 2 days old now. Time flies!
He started sleeping through the night most of the time (knock on wood), from 10 or 11 at night to 6 in the morning. Mommy sure is lucky. He is spending more time awake, but when he is he likes to be held, bounced, or walked around. None of this sitting in a chair, or laying on the bed stuff. As Ronda pointed out, he is the fourth kid and if he doesn't make a fuss he might never get attention. Very true.
He's also going to be another binkie boy. He likes to suck on something to pass the time, and it can't be mom all day long!!

Andrew at 1 week old.

2010-06-20T19:14:00.001-07:00

My baby has made it through his first week of life. Amazing since his older sisters always want to be holding him (or man-handling him in my opinion) and his older brother bopping his head constantly and saying "that's baby Andrew". Yes, yes, and his going to be with us forever.
He likes to have something against his little face as he sleeps. Makes me a little nervous actually!
He's a sweet little sleeper...during the day. Mommy has had a few not-so-sleep-filled nights. Hopefully we'll get that straightened out soon.

Also my fabulous mother-in-law, Chris, came to help. She and Sydney, my niece, came the day after he was born and stayed a whole week. They did lots of dishes, cleaning, cooking, and most importantly, entertaining my other children. They did something fun everyday to get them out of the house so I could sleep and/or rest. They were awesome. I couldn't have survived without them. Thanks you two!!
Adam, you little snitcher!

The Peacock

2010-06-17T18:29:00.000-07:00

So, this morning Emmalynn comes running into the house and says that there's a peacock in the backyard. Yeah right, I'm thinking. She's six and obviously confused. And of course as soon as I got out to see it, it "flew" away.
But my thirteen year old niece, Syndey, was also out there and claimed it was a female peacock.
Sure enough about a half hour later Emmalynn comes running in again saying it was back.
I head out with the camera and caught this:
This is in the side yard next to the shed.

It flew to the top of the fence and went to the front yard.
Sydney took these pictures as it headed across our front yard and into the neighbors yard.
Never thought I'd see a peacock in my yard!

4 days old!

2010-06-15T17:54:00.000-07:00

Here's to playing around with the camera.
This was the first picture.
Then, because of the flash in his face, he gave me a frowny face.
Then a big yawn. Living is such hard work you know.
And of course, a little sisterly love.

Baby Andrew's first video!

2010-06-13T12:24:00.000-07:00

Andrew's First Pictures

2010-06-13T11:47:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay. Dan never quite got to it!
Here's a few at delivery:

Here are the hospital visitors:
Dan's mom, Chris, and his oldest niece, Sydney, made it just in time. We checked out about 2 hours later. We're so glad they came to help out!!!

And here's a few close-ups:
Thanks for the new outfit Nana!

Too bad that yawn didn't mean he wanted to sleep AT ALL his first night home!!!!! And yes, even though looking at it now it looks a little like a scream, it actually was a yawn. Mommy had many to match too.

Andrew Perkins Jones is Here!

2010-06-11T20:47:00.000-07:00

Drew (we aren't sure if we will call him that yet...we'll see) was born on June 11, 2010 in Farmington, New Mexico at 4:50 pm. He was 22 inches long and weighed 7 pounds 4 ounces. He is very healthy and Mommy is doing well also. We would have posted pictures tonight if Dan remembered to bring the camera home! He left it with Leesa at the hospital. We will post soon enough.

The Fridge

2010-06-09T12:41:00.000-07:00

Getting the fridge into place was quite the fun.
The island counter top ended up being about 5 inches too wide and completely changed the way in which we were able to get the fridge into its place.
Refrigerators have wheels, but those wheels only move forward and backward. Due to our kitchen dimensions and the obnoxiously large fridge we have, we needed to move it sideways through the kitchen. Enter...the dolly.
The fridge was placed in the dining room for the duration of the remodel.
Watch that ceiling!!

Not much extra space to work with.

Good thing they removed the pantry door. That curve was a little tough.

We only have to retouch the wall in a few places!

And we only ended up with two new scratches on our BRAND NEW FLOOR!

Funny...I never did take a picture of the fridge in its actual final resting place. (You can see the space right behind Dan.)

As soon as the pantry gets painted and stuff on the counters finds its way there, we'll take some final pictures!

Our new kitchen...97% done

2010-06-03T17:26:00.000-07:00

Here's Leesa cooking our first meal in our new kitchen! Noodles and meatballs! We still need to put the fridge in and the toe kicks need to go in but this is pretty much the way it will look. On the far left side of the picture is a "locker" style cabinet against a wall. We love it already. by Dan
(The floor isn't quite as dark as the picture portrays. The lighter strips of color actually match the cabinet color.)

The Appliances!

2010-06-02T20:55:00.000-07:00

***Please ignore the debris all over the countertops. They are covered with tools, random pieces of building materials and a few things that had to be removed from a few cupboards.

Putting the appliances into the kitchen was quite a fiasco!
First the sink attempted to go in, but the cut in the countertop wasn't big enough.
Then the hole for the stovetop was a bit too small as well. The countertop guys had to come back out and recut everything.

The dishwasher was pretty much the only appliance that went in without a problem. Thanks to my Uncle Ray from Portland, OR. (He did all the electrical and plumbing work for us!!)The stove top is bigger than a normal one. It has 5 burners! I'm so excited!!
Then the microwave space wasn't wide enough and the cabinet guy had to come back to shift over two sets of cabinets. He also had to cut out some trim for the wall oven to fit because that didn't fit in either.
The fridge hasn't been put in it's place yet either. If you look closely you can see the floor is about half finished in this picture. The top of the island turned out to be about 5 inches too wide and therefore getting the fridge into it's place is going to be VERY TRICKY because the space around the island to the other counters isn't big enough.Needless to say it's been a crazy last few days of nothing fitting where it needed to fit and everyone involved having to come back to redo something! By the end of the week everything should be in place except the toe kick around the lower cabinets. I'm so glad we are at the tail end of this project. Tomorrow I'll be able to use all the appliances if I so choose!!

Countertops in the Kitchen

2010-05-30T19:35:00.000-07:00

The countertops were finally put in last Friday! It's a little hard to tell, but it's a combination of light tan, tan, browns, and black flecks.
And yes, I ended up painting the door black!
The sink and appliances will go in Tuesday.

School is out! Sleeping in? NOT!!

2010-05-26T08:54:00.000-07:00

I had to rejoice yesterday when I left the school after Emmalynn's little Kindergarten graduation ceremony. With the baby coming in only a few weeks, I'm glad to do less running around and early mornings. Emmee gets on the bus at 7:05 am. I wake her up at 6:30 am.
Last night I was happily telling Dan how excited I was to sleep in the next morning. He was rather jealous himself. (He leaves the house about 5:30 am to get to work by 6.)
Well...things didn't turn out quite so well for me this morning. Adam came running into my room this morning ready for the day and asking for breakfast. I looked at the clock...5:55!! Are you kidding me!! Not only did I not get to sleep in, at all, I was up a half hour earlier than normal!!
Of all days. I hope this doesn't start a new trend with that kid! It's way to light outside at 6 in the morning!
Dan is going to have a good laugh about this tonight!

The Family

2010-05-25T15:18:00.000-07:00

My family has definitely been neglected lately due to the ripped out kitchen. Life has been a little crazy. Here's a little update on each of the kids.

Adam - he's a VERY talkative and nosy two year old. He recently graduated to a toddler bed. Going to bed has been a bit more of a challenge because he now constantly climbs out of his bed. He things it's awesome to talk to Baby Andrew in mommy's tummy, and then talk to the babies in everyone's tummys. He really has no idea what will invade his happy little life in a few short weeks.

Cassidee - she has recently turned 4 and finished preschool for the summer. She'll be going back in the fall and will be able to ride the bus. (She's very excited about that!) She got a hair cut yesterday in another attempt to fix the hair cut she gave herself about 6 months ago. And she recently visited a ear-nose-and-throat doctor, again, to check her hearing problem. It sounds like she will most likely need tubes and/or her adnoids removed this fall. Not fun.

Emmalynn - she is the newest Kindergarten Graduate in our home. She is now 6 and determines a day good or bad according to how much fun she has. Often an hour of work can throw her into a "bad" day very quickly. She is my biggest helper and has no idea how much work she is going to be doing this summer!!

Baby Andrew - he is not yet born, however, his mother wishes he was. He is sitting VERY low on my pelvic area and has made pretty much every sitting/standing/laying position possible very uncomfortable. His due date cannot come fast enough! Thank goodness the school year is now over! (And the kitchen had better be done by the time he does come!)

Kitchen Cabinets

2010-05-21T17:08:00.000-07:00

These are the new cabinets that went in today! They are mostly done. Some finish work needs to happen when the counter top is added and the floor is put in. Everything should be done in about 2 more weeks!!

I need your opinion!

2010-05-18T15:44:00.000-07:00

This is the pantry in the corner of the kitchen. The main color in the kitchen is a tan color, as you can see. We did the pantry walls in a "hot red pepper" color, which we also have on another wall on the living room side. The trim everywhere is black.
The question is - do we paint the pantry door tan, red, or black? All you create home decorators - what would you do??
ps. Cabinets will go on the left and the fridge on the right. FYI

Another Kitchen Update

2010-05-15T16:03:00.001-07:00

Here's the dry wall up around the pantry area.

Then the pantry got framed and a door.
And shelves!

This is over by the front door, but it's the example of the color of paint that was also over by the kitchen. It's a popular New Mexican color, but a little too pinkish for us!
And this is the new paint color.

We are finishing up the kitchen painting this weekend to be ready for the cabinets and counter tops next week. We are also painting the living room area and hallway next week.

Weekend Trip to Utah

2010-05-11T11:49:00.001-07:00

We headed up to Utah last Thursday for a packed in weekend.
On Friday I headed to the Davis Hospital to see Alycia, my best friend from my childhood in ND. She had a baby boy on Thursday. Also pictured is my dad, Alycia's husband, Tyson and daughter Brenna.

Then on Saturday was the baptism of my niece, Kylee Christenson.
Here are my kids and my sister Ronda's kids. (Sally hadn't gotten there yet.)

Sunday had more than on event.
Of course it was Mother's Day. Here is my mother (who flew in from ND on Thursday) and my sisters Ronda and Sally.

Here's my own little family that I'm the mother of!
And my three beautiful children.

Cassee's birthday is very close to Mother's Day every year. My nephew, Sam, has a birthday about 10 days later. Cassidee and Sam are the same age as well. We also celebrated their fourth birthdays while we had everyone there.
And lastly, here's a little shot of Adam eating some cake and wearing one of Cassee's new presents.

The Makeshift Kitchen

2010-05-01T15:40:00.001-07:00

First of all, here is the look of my kitchen lately. The pantry and side wall are framed in. We are just waiting for the electrical and plumbing work to be finished so that the walls can be sheetrocked and painted.
This is what the makeshift kitchen (aka Dining Room) looks like right now.
Here's another angle.
Every corner of the dining room is filled.

We kept the microwave we had used in Utah. Good thing too! It's our main cooking appliance now.

Of course with no sink we've had fun (NOT) washing dishes in the tub. Since I am almost 8 months pregnant...guess who gets to do the dishes in the bathroom!!
Now, doesn't that just look fun!?
This project just cannot get done fast enough for me!!!!
(By the way, that's over a weeks worth of dishes. We are loving paper products lately!)

The Kitchen Remodel Cont.

2010-04-23T09:04:00.000-07:00

This is looking at the kitchen from the living room. The fireplace is all gone. You can see a hole in the ceiling where the chimney went. You can also see a big hole in the floor. The fireplace was VERY HEAVY. A wooden floor wouldn't have supported it, so the base went all the way to the foundation of the house. (It's a one-level house with a crawl space underneath.)
Also, when they removed the cabinets along the wall (the sink was also there) they found some water damage. Mostly just on the sheetrock and the cabinets themselves. Their back bottom sides were very rotten!

Here's the floor again. This is the view from the front door. (The big door opening on the right goes into the dining room and the one on the left goes into the family room.) You can see all the cinder blocks in the hole that were the base of the fireplace.

Here they are working to patch the floor. Many of those cinder blocks stayed there!

Here they are framing up the side wall in the new kitchen design.

Kitchen Remodel Begins!

2010-04-23T08:41:00.000-07:00

Wednesday morning the demolition crew came faster than I expected. Before I knew it half the appliances were gone before I remembered to take the "before" pictures.

This is one side of the kitchen. On the far right is the space where the frig goes.

This is the other side. The counter is already gone, as is the stove top, microwave and oven, which was in the brick part sticking out.
This is the fireplace from the view of the living room. The back side of it created one of the kitchen "walls".

Here's a view from the front door.
The fireplace is very monstrous and takes up a lot of space. We wanted to upgrade the kitchen anyway. We decided to remove the fireplace altogether. Don't worry...we also have a pellet stove in the family room.
For another picture of what the kitchen looked like, check out the blog posted on Aug. 31 of '09 called "The new house in Bloomfield". It's the fifth picture down.

Emmee's 6th birthday

2010-04-23T07:52:00.001-07:00

Emmalynn didn't have the most exciting birthday this year. We were in the midst of clearing out the kitchen for the start of our remodel the next day.

Dan brought her flowers and balloons, which she absolutely loves to get.

She did get her favorite dinner...pizza.
She's not a big cake eater, but she loves lemon bread. Her birthday "cake" then became a birthday lemon bread loaf. And she actually ate it!
It was also the LAST thing baked in our "old" kitchen!! hehehe
Thanks to everyone who sent her gifts and cards and birthday wishes.
For more on her birthday fun check out her blog, The Emmee Rae Show!

Spring Break in Moab

2010-04-22T08:44:00.000-07:00

Here's some pictures of our Spring Break trip to Moab with our old Utah neighbors, the Johnstons. Here's the Johnstons and most of us, the Joneses at one of the Windows Arches.

Here's what the base of the arch looks like.

Here's the Double Arch with Emmalynn, Cassidee and Paige.

This is the Delicate Arch (way in the background). We woke up to rain and snow that morning. The pathways were very gooey as we made our way to the upper lookout.

This is the beginning of the trail to a few different arches. The scenery was awesome.

This is me in front of the Landscape Arch.

This is my friend Stacey. She's one month more pregnant than I. We were troopers to make it on so many hikes!

Cute little father and son hiking.

These rocks fell out of the arch in the picture above. They made a great playground.

This is what our full van looked like most of the trip!
Can you tell the kids are watching a movie?

Easter Fun

2010-04-08T09:43:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of our Easter Fun.

These were taken the week before Easter. They are the Easter "outfits" my kids got this year. Adam is actually wearing a little suit that used to belong to my little brother Andrew. It's a old little suit and the pants were a little big for Adam. And, of course, he couldn't leave a tie on!

Then we dyed eggs on Friday the 2nd.
We didn't even have a major spill, although Adam did feel the need to "stir" the whole time his eggs were in the dye.

This is Easter morning with a little basket hunting. For more pictures of the individual kids check out their own blogs.
Adam's was, of course, found by his sisters first, so they needed to 'help' him!

Even Dan got to find "Mom and Dad's" basket. The Easter Bunny can't forget them, can he?

Here's Cassee starting to check out her basket.

Everyone found one of these bunny masks in their basket. The kids thought they were pretty fun to wear...all day long!

And last but not least, this was the little egg hunt in the back yard. Can't have Easter without that can we? Too bad all our cousins weren't here to do it with us!

We had fun and enjoyed General Conference on Easter Sunday, but it sure wasn't the same without having some family around to spend it with.

"I'm so proud of you."

2010-03-20T08:49:00.000-07:00

It's always funny to hear one of your kids say something the exact same way you say it. (Of course, unless it's a bad word!)
Cassee did such a thing yesterday.
Whenever she does something great or smart I say to her, "I'm so proud of you."
(This kid tends to get more discipline than praise, so it's really important to remember to praise her when I can.)
Yesterday she came to me and said she needed to use the bathroom. I said GO! Adam followed her to the bathroom. She came immediately back and said she couldn't find her little toilet seat that fits over the big one. I told her to look around on the floor. Emmalynn always takes it off and sets it on the floor.
While Adam was in there alone he found the toilet seat and held it up for Cassee to see when she went back in there.
As she took it from him and set it on the toilet she said to him, "Adam, good job! I'm so proud of you!"
I couldn't help but laugh when I heard that because she used the exact same words and tone I use with her. She sounded just like me!

Our little "Princess".

2010-03-12T12:32:00.000-08:00

Adam watches his two big sisters, A LOT. He needs more male role models in his life!

Here he is with the play earrings. He often likes to wear the princess crowns too. When he has to fight with his sisters for their dress-up stuff he says, "I a princess!" I guess he hasn't heard the word "prince" enough!

This was yesterday. I left my make-up case on the bed and he got into the mascara. He knew it went on his eyelashes. He just also touched up his lips too.
And yes, he's wearing a poofy tutu. He loves to dance around in it while singing Cassee's favorite line, "Some day my prince will come."
Since he's only 2 it's still pretty funny. Hopefully he'll be past this by the time he turns five.
Dan's not so happy about his only son wanting to be a "princess"!!

Adam's Early B-day Party

2010-02-23T18:53:00.000-08:00

We had a little early birthday fun for the boy who doesn't actually have a birthDAY this year. (He was born on Leap Day!)
The whole group: Grandmam, Dorothy, Holly, Jack and us.

Here's the fabulous cake Leesa made:

He even managed to blow out the candles!

He was REALLY excited to get the candy off the cake!

Here's the one picture with Mommy!

Fun at the park.

2010-02-18T14:29:00.000-08:00

Here we are at the Salmon Park in Bloomfield.
Grandmama played with the kids.
Here's the slide.

Here's the swings.
Adam, Cassee, Emmalynn, Cousin Jack, and Cousin Holly.

The Results

2010-02-02T19:18:00.000-08:00

The voting has ended and there seems to be a tie. 18 said boy and 18 said girl. That was funny.
Sorry I wasn't home much today to post this earlier.
If you said girl, you were........WRONG!
We are having another boy!!
We have not officialized a name, so you'll have to wait on that one.
I'm not due for another 4 1/2 months, so really all of us have to wait anyway!
Thanks for all your votes. It made our announcement a little more FUN!

Make a Guess!

2010-02-01T16:11:00.000-08:00

Today I found out what the baby's sex is! You all have to make a guess as to what it is before I tell you what it is. Leave your guess as a comment!

Scout camps!

2010-01-29T15:27:00.000-08:00

I am a scout camp widow this weekend. I have a feeling it's going to happen more often than I'd like. This weekend Dan is up in Durango, CO. It's a Klondike camp out where they build snow caves and sleep in them. I hope he survives the night! He hopes he survives too.

Wintertime in New Mexico

2010-01-25T15:08:00.000-08:00

Wintertime in New Mexico: First of all, yes, it does exist. We are amazed too!
Last week we had three storms that came within about a week's time. The last storm dumped the snow on us. School was closed last Thursday and Friday. Dan even had the days off too. Crazy. The roads were icy and the lack of snowplows causes even more problems. We didn't mind at all!
Dan and the kids had a fun time playing in the backyard. Dan piled up a bunch of snow to make a "slide" for the girls. Emmee also made a snowman all by herself, but we didn't get a picture of him.
The girls had gotten snowpants last year for Christmas, which still fit them. Only Cassee had actual snow boots.
Poor Adam, on the other hand had nothing. Here he is wearing a "snowsuit" of sorts meant for a 9 month old baby. It was way to small for him! He's also just wearing his tennis shoes. He hung out in the swing more than in the snow.
It was mid-afternoon when they were outside. The flash on our camera doesn't carry very far, so it looks like dusk is coming on, but it wasn't!

Piano Lessons

2010-01-22T08:44:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I taught my first piano lesson in about 14 years. It was fun to do again. My new student in an almost-10 year old who lives across the street and down a few houses.
I'm excited for this new adventure (and a little extra money on the side), but I don't think I'll be taking on very many students for a few years yet. Too many little kids around me doesn't make for a very productive lesson. Luckily for my first one yesterday Dan was home due to the weather and was able to take the kids outside to play. Thanks, Dan! I wish you'd be home every Thursday afternoon!!!

Christmas family picture

2010-01-14T10:48:00.000-08:00

This is the only family picture we got in all of the Christmas holiday season. Thanks Ronda for taking it.

Happiness

2010-01-09T16:07:00.000-08:00

Hooray the camera is found!
Dan recalls a noise like something dropping when I took my coat from the van when we got home last week. Of course, he didn't go look for the source.
Today he cleaned out the garage and found it on the floor somewhere. He thought maybe it was broken from the fall, but it's okay. It still works!
What a relief. There's nothing worse that having a great Kodak moment with no way to catch it on camera!!

Sadness

2010-01-04T08:58:00.000-08:00

The camera is gone. I think it is at my in-laws somewhere, but new pictures will probably not be posted until sometime in March! Unless... Dan feels like buying me a new camera!!
All the Christmas pictures are there too. Sadness reigns here.
Dan's family - if any of you find our camera (silver) please let us know.

The Old-fashioned Dry Sink

2009-12-24T13:01:00.000-08:00

I'm so excited to announce that the +7 year project has come to an end. A few years before I met Dan a pulled this old piece of furniture out of the little old house that sits in my parents' farm yard. I had a dream to have it refinished someday.
The old house was the first house my grandparents lived in when they were first married. When my dad was born my grandpa upgraded to the house that I grew up in.
Anyway, this piece of furniture was always sitting in the bedroom of that old house and my sisters and I would play with it when we were little. The ceiling in that room started to crumble down about 7-8 years ago, so I moved it out and into my parents' porch.
It was used as a wash stand/dry sink. There was no running water in that house, so I assume my grandparents used it as there would-be bathroom sink. It probably had an old pitcher and basin sitting on it. The rack on the right side would hold towels. And the mirror pivots to accommodate tall vs. shorter people. The mirror has some spots and actually looks really old.

The bottom part was missing a drawer and part of the little door. Dan started working to scrape the old white paint off a few years ago, but progress was slow due to his lack of knowledge and tools.
After moving here we found out that an older gentleman at our church was a retired high school shop teacher. He let Dan bring it to his shop and helped him repair and refinish it.
It looks a bit different from the white paint it had, but after taking the paint off the original wood had a dark stain similar to this.
This picture outside has a better lighting. The camera didn't do it justice, it looks much more awesome in person. Dan worked many hours on this project and finished it in time to give it to me for Christmas. Thanks Dan , I love you. I'm excited to have this piece of family history in my home.

(I have some pictures of what it looked like before the refinish, but I can't find them right now. When I figure out where they are I'll post some before and after pics.)

Emmee's prayer.

2009-12-21T19:55:00.000-08:00

I have to blog about this before I forget.
We just had our nighttime family prayer. Emmalynn said it.
Here's a portion of her prayer.
"Please bless us to be safe on Christmas morning, so that we don't trip as we're running to get our presents."
I was trying so hard not to laugh that I didn't actually hear the rest of her prayer. She's sure asking in advance!

Delicious!

2009-12-05T13:42:00.000-08:00

It's always heart warming when your child enjoys a meal you made.
I rarely get that from my girls, who most often say, "You never make anything I like!"
The other night I made a ham-potato chowder soup. Adam ate it with gusto (and both hands) and after every other bite would say, "Delicious."
I'm not sure where he picked up that word, but it sounded so cute we had to video tape him saying it.

I'm back!

2009-12-03T19:33:00.000-08:00

Okay, it's been forever since I last posted anything, including my kids' blogs. On the 30th of Oct. the kids and I flew to ND to stay with my parents and see all the relatives. I forgot my cord so I couldn't blog on my Mom's computer. Then somehow the week and a half between getting back and leaving again for the Thanksgiving break was filled with unpacking, laundry and extra homework, not to mention that Dan got a new (new to us, it was an old work computer he could buy for $50) computer and I am now figuring out everything on it. I hate the way the old things look completely different on a different computer, grrrr.
In the coming days, I will be backflashing the last month and a half on this blog and the kids' blogs. (If you haven't been to their blogs just look to the right of this post and look at the blog list and click on a blog name that has the name of one of my children!)
Halloween was great, Thanksgiving was wonderful, and we are now decorated for Christmas, and Emmalynn checks out the window, often.., to see if Santa's watching her! I tell her he is... all the time. HEHE. It works very well too.

Cheese Noddles and Bananas

2009-10-24T11:41:00.000-07:00

Today the kids and I were eating lunch. We (except Cassee) had Mac n Cheese, aka by the Riskedahl's Cheese Noodles.
Out of the blue Emmalynn says: Cheese noodles are like bananas.
Me: oh, really.
Emmee: becept (except) they (meaning the noodles) have a hole on the top and a hole on the bottom.
Me: how are they like bananas?
Emmee: well becept they are cheesy.
Me: so, again, how are they like bananas?
Emmee: they are both yellow.
Me: but the noodles are orange.
Pause... Emmee thinking.
Emmee: well there's three things wrong here. (1) they have holes in the top and bottom,
(2) they are cheesy, and (pause)
Me: (thinking: there's a hundred ways cheese noodles are NOT like bananas)
Emmee: (3) you can't peel them.
Me: LOL And so tell me again, how are cheese noodles and bananas alike????

The Mom Club

2009-10-21T11:05:00.000-07:00

I've joined a club!
It's called The Moms of Bloomfield. One of the ladies from PTA invited me.
They meet in the Baptist Church once a month. The kids go one direction and the moms go another direction. They do different things each time. Sometimes it's a craft, skill, or inspirational speaker. Then they have a potluck lunch. It costs $5.00 each time you go (instead of a monthly or yearly due). That covers the kids and crafts, etc.
Throughout the month they also do activities with the kids.
Yesterday we went to the Sutherland Farms. It's a big pumpkin patch with a small corn maze, little pumpkins patch, hay ride, train ride (for kids), snacks, petting zoo, and corn pit.
You're probably thinking, "what's a corn pit?" Exactly what it sounds like. It's bordered with hay bales and is like a giant sand box, but instead of sand it's field corn. It was so cool.

Here's our hay ride.

This is the kiddie train ride. Cassee is in the second car back.

By the front there is a purple cow (next to the Purple Cow Cafe). They actually have teets on the cow filled with water. The kids pretend to milk it. It made me laugh.
For more pictures look at Adam and Cassee's blogs. Emmee was in school and missed out. But I think the whole family will go on Saturday.

The Hammock

2009-10-17T12:47:00.000-07:00

We have some fabulous trees is the back yard for hammocks. There are two willow trees (one actually looks like it is dying) in the middle of the back yard. They have huge trunks. Today Dan put the hammock up between them.

It's a hammock Dan brought back from Brasil.

And since we are still enjoying 70 degree weather, I'm sure we'll be using it a lot more this fall.

Baby Number 4

2009-10-11T15:51:00.000-07:00

Ok everyone, Baby number 4 is in the oven. We weren't sure who to tell first. We couldn't call everyone at the same time. Whoever is the first to read our blog is the first to find out. We are due sometime in the middle of June. Yes, Ronda, I'm only about 5 minutes pregnant! Hopefully all goes well!

The Unpacking Mess

2009-10-02T16:12:00.000-07:00

We got all our stuff on Wednesday. We are surrounded by boxes.
Here is our horrid unpacking mess. Actually it's only a couple of them.
Each picture show a different, separate mess of packing paper. They all happen to be taken in the same spot, the living room.

At 2:29 pm

At 2:49 pm.

At 3:05 pm

At 4:08 pm
All these pictures combined only shows about a fourth (maybe, but probably not even) of the unpacking materials.

From Bloomfield to St. George

2009-09-29T06:33:00.000-07:00

Last weekend we went to St. George, Utah for a little Jones Family get-together.
This is all the Jones grandkids, all 18 of them. They are lined up according to height, not age.
Marcus, Sydney, Mathew, Holly, Benjamin, Brynley, Kaleb, Jack, Emmalynn, Bryant, Lyndsi, Cassidee, Hailey, Chase, Graysen, Chad, Boston, and Adam standing in the corner.

This is the awesome house that belongs to Nate's wife, Leesa, 's parents. If it was big enough for all six couples and their kids, and cousin Annie and her hubby, Rob, you know it was big.

One the way home we stopped at the dam that creates Lake Powell. It was pretty cool. We were on a bridge that goes over the river. The dam on one side, the trickling river on the other.
This is the dam side:
We thought of our friends, the Johnstons, as we looked at Lake Powell. Maybe we'll still get to hang out with you there someday??

This is the river side. I love the red rock cliffs.
Ok, so it's not that trickling. It is after all the mighty Colorado River.

These are just some cool rocks we saw close to the Arizona/New Mexico border.

Our pathway (which was almost soli little two lane highways that wound around cliffs and canyons and desert) from Bloomfield, NM to St. George, UT took us from NM to AZ, into UT and back to AZ, then back into Utah. No wonder it took 7 1/2 hours to get there! But there was some awesome scenery along the way.

We Closed!

2009-09-25T12:36:00.000-07:00

We closed on our house yesterday. It is officially ours now.
I'm not sure if I'm happy... or disappointed. There's no turning back for sure now. We could be here FOREVER!
We are excited to get the rest of our things next Wed. Anyone want to help unpack??
We'll see how everything will fit into this house!!

Tomorrow - The Closing Date

2009-09-23T12:21:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow we are scheduled to close on our house here in New Mexico. We think we have everything set, but we'll probably find out something we are missing when we actually start signing the papers. This will surely clean out our checking account! Next week, hopefully we will get the remainder of our stuff and then we'll really feel at home once again.
We'll let you all know the update on the closing after tomorrow!
Hopefully we'll still have the use of our writing hands after signing the zillion papers it takes.

The Life of a Moving Box...After Moving

2009-09-18T15:52:00.001-07:00

Oh, what to do with all the moving boxes!?

Play in them, what else?
When the Ryan cousins came to visit they had a fabulous idea to decorate and play in the boxes. They each made their own.

My kids have had countless hours playing in the gigantic boxes! But...someday soon those big boxes will have to find a new home. (Like next week when we close on the house and the rest of our stuff gets here and there won't be room for big boxes!)

Yikes!

2009-09-15T15:24:00.001-07:00

It's been a long day.
Little Adam got a fever yesterday and took medicine before going to bed. He woke up at 2:30 in the morning burning up. I was up from 2:30 to 5:30 taking care of him. I slept until 6:15 when all the kids woke up. Emmalynn dressed herself and did her own hair. I didn't really pay attention to what she looked like when she went out the door. This is what I saw when She got home from school.
A patterned purple and maroon skirt and a bright red shirt with a shiny sequined heart.
This is the result of three things.
#1 - I was half dead this morning when she went to school because of Adam's fever.
#2 - All her pants/capris were in the laundry.
#3 - She only has 5 pairs of capris anyway because the tub of her new school clothes I'd been collecting for her got left in the storage unit instead of coming to the new house.
Ooops! Maybe she needs a lesson in fashion. Or just one in matching colors instead!

Bathtime Fun

2009-09-14T19:36:00.000-07:00

The cute pictures of my kids playing with bubbles in the tub have been removed to avoid possible problems with Social Services and Child Pornography Police.
It's a pretty sad world out there when parents get their kids taken away from them for trying to print a picture of their kids playing in the tub.
Jill informed me of such a thing she saw on CNN yesterday.
I wouldn't want to risk having my kids taken away.
But, how in the world are moms now supposed to get the "Bathtime, Bubble Fun" scrapbook pages done??

The Undaunted

2009-09-11T19:11:00.000-07:00

I wasn't aware that Gerald Lund had recently published a new book called The Undaunted. It is the story of the pioneers that came through the Hole-in-the-Rock. They started the settlements in the southeast corner of Utah.
For my birthday my wonderful mother-in-law gave me the book. I loved his other books and was very excited to read this new one as well. (Even though I didn't know it existed before she handed it to me last weekend.)
I happen to be a terrible mom, wife and housekeeper when I'm in the middle of a good book. I can't stop reading to attend to other things. I couldn't finish it fast enough. I started Monday night or Tues. morning (I can't remember, see how bad I am) and finally finished it this morning. It's over 800 pages long, it's massive! (Cassee has watched way too much television these last few days.)
It was fabulous. (Thank you so much for giving it to me, Chris!)
This story has special meaning to Dan's family on the Jones' side. The people in this story are his ancestors from the family tree. One of the leaders, Jens Nielson is a great-great-great (I'm not sure how many, the pedigree chart is in a storage unit) grandfather to Dan's dad. He was an important leader and was a main (real) character in the book. He was also a main (real) character in another book by Gerald Lund, The Fire of the Covenant, the story of the Willie and Martin Handcart Companies that crossed the plains. Also an excellent book.
These pioneers went through so much to do what the Lord asked them to do . They are an inspiration to me. I have grown to love these pioneer ancestors so much as I've learned about their trips and trials. I know that I'm not a direct descendant, however, my children are! I hope that I can teach them to love these ancestors as well.
It's an amazing story. You can look at pictures of the areas and learn more about it at the website: Undaunted-TheNovel.com
Thanks again Chris, I thoroughly loved this book. And I definitely didn't wait for Dan to read it together!

Labor Day Fun

2009-09-08T07:42:00.000-07:00

Chris came for the Labor Day weekend. We had lots of fun with Grandmama.

On Monday morning we headed to the Bloomfield sign for some pictures.

Then we went to a park in Bloomfield next to the river. Bluffs line the south side of the San Juan River. There is a nature trail along the river too.
Cassee's having fun in the sand on the bank.

Then we headed to Dan's workplace to see the building. Good job, Dan!! We are all glad you got a job!!!!!!

NAPI stands for Navajo Agricultural something something. (Irrigation might be in there somewhere too.)

Then we headed to a park in Farmington. After our picnic the kids played in the water area. Fountains shoot water up randomly. They had a blast.
They were all soaking wet for the ride home!! And no one wanted to leave. It was as fun as the pool, yet even better because it was free!!!

Toy organizers

2009-09-03T15:07:00.001-07:00

I've never had any toy organizers in the kids' bedrooms before. I was determined to get some in this new house. I found these at Target and put them together. (Actually Dan did Adam's.) The bins come separately. They have little handles on one side and come in lots of different colors. The shelf can serve two purposes: bookshelf and toy bins.

This one's in the girls' room.

This one's in Adam's room.

The wooden stool

2009-09-03T12:22:00.000-07:00

Did all you Tuttle-ites notice the wooden stool in the picture of the bathroom? Did you all still use yours?? It's perfect to use when I bathe my kids in the tub.
We all had to make a wooden stool like that in shop class in 7th grade. Thanks Mr. Abeldinger. (Did I spell that right??)

The Bathroom, put together

2009-09-02T20:49:00.000-07:00

Here are the finished shots of the bathroom.

Here's the shower curtain.

Here's the rug and the towels.

Here's the sink.

I realize it looks better in person than in the pictures.
I'm not making any more returns, so don't tell me if you don't like it!

The Bathroom Dilemma

2009-09-02T10:25:00.000-07:00

For Dorothy, who spent much time with me examining the bathroom section at Target.
We have an interestingly colored bathroom floor. It has made finding matching bathroom accessories difficult. This is the fourth set of stuff I've gotten. Target might ban me from the store soon. I just can't make up my mind or find anything just right. What's your opinion?

The colors in the floor are a Santa Fe reddish-orange and tan color combination.

Here's the latest shower curtain I've gotten. The stripe of orange and red match pretty good.

Here's the rest of the stuff: the rug, a bathmat, washcloths, and decorative towels.

The new house in Bloomfield!

2009-08-31T16:09:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures of our new house in NM.

This is the front view of the house.

And here's the back view. The middle French doors go into the family room. The garage door on the right goes into Dan's workshop and the patio doors at the far left go into the master bedroom.

This is the living room from the front door. The fireplace is wood burning. The doorway across the room leads to the family room. The door on the left goes to the laundry room, and then to the garages.

This is the family from the corner. On the far right is the stone platform which has a pellet stove. The large doorway on the right leads to the living room. The large doorway on the left leads to the dining room. The kitchen is on the backside of the fireplace.

This is the kitchen. The oven is in the wall, separate from the range. The frig is huge and takes up too much space. At the top of the picture is a skylight.

Sorry I don't know how to rotate the pictures. This is the main bathroom. It also has a skylight. It now has a shower curtain too. The master bath is a 3/4 bath.

This is the extra garage in the back. It's more like a workshop. Around the door on the left there is a work table. The front garage is a typical two car garage. Sorry, no pic.

There are four bedrooms. Two are quite large. The two for the kids are good sized as well. It has more than 2400 square feet. It's on a half acre lot with lots of trees in the back. We are excited to get our hammocks out of the storage unit! It's a very quiet neighborhood on what used to be an apple orchard. Many of the neighbors have original apples trees. Sadly, we do not.

You know you've been working to hard when...

2009-08-30T20:00:00.000-07:00

Friday night is the only night I splurge and watch a movie after the kids are in bed. Saturday nights get too late with 9:00 church. So I started a movie about 8:30ish. Dan says he's going to be soon, he has to go to work at 5:30 the next morning. (note: he's been working 10 1/2 hour days this whole week.) Okay, fine. Go to bed.
The movie ends around 11:30 and I head to bed.
There's a lamp on low left on for me, so I try to be as quiet as possible. Dan wakes up anyway, looks at me and says "good morning." I thought it was an odd thing to say, maybe he's just being sarcastic.
Then he looks at the clock and says out loud, "it's 11:30". Good he sees that it's still nighttime. Right?
I head to the bathroom and realize (too late of course) that I need more toilet paper. I call for Dan (since he's awake anyway) and he gets up and brings me some.
I finish my bathroom nighttime routine and go back to the bedroom. He's kneeling by the bed.
I say, "What are you doing?"
"Praying," he responds.
OK, he must have forgotten to pray earlier, right? I kneel down to pray with him and I say the NIGHTTIME (wording should have been noticed, right?) prayer.
I then get into bed and he heads for the bathroom. After a few minutes I realize the shower is running.
"What is he doing?" I wonder. I go in the bathroom, he's taking a shower.
I ask "Why are you showering now."
"Isn't it morning?" he asks.
How could he still think it was morning?? He had actually said out loud, "it's 11:30."
We both just laughed, it was so funny.
I think being 6 hours early for work is a little excessive.
And, by the way, the next morning he didn't remember getting me the toilet paper either!

The first paycheck

2009-08-29T10:12:00.000-07:00

We were all very excited on Thursday when Dan came home with his first paycheck from Raytheon. I wanted to take a picture of Dan holding it, but he said, "no way, that's too lame." I told him I wanted to post it on our blog, then he offered to take my picture. I said no way as well. So in the end we have no picture of the first paycheck. It's now in the bank. (I actually had to deposit it, he doesn't have the direct deposit set up yet. I haven't done that in forever!) Good times!!

We are the newest New Mexicans!

2009-08-24T11:02:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone
Many of you know we are officially moved to New Mexico! The house we plan to buy is about 3 miles outside of Bloomfield, and about 6 miles from Farmington (not too far from the Four Corners area). We are renting the house before we close on it in Sept.
Dan started his new job 2 weeks ago. This Friday he will get his first paycheck in over 16 months! We are all pretty excited about that one. We just might have to have a celebration dinner eating out! If anyone wants to come join us this Friday we will treat and pay the whole bill!!
Emmalynn started school a week ago too. She's not sure she loves it yet. She really hasn't made any friends. Hopefully she won't take too long to get comfortable there. She gets on the bus at 7:05 and school starts at 7:45! This has taken some adjustment for everyone. She gets out of school at 2:45 and gets home from the bus at 3:21. Some bus ride huh? That's almost as bad as my bus ride as a kid in ND, half hour in the morning and 1 hour after school. Crazy huh!
Cassee is enjoying the extra mommy attention. We read books and play games when Adam is napping. She misses her playmate too and is very excited to see the bus after school.
Adam is a crazy little boy who insists on feeding himself these days (a very messy situation) and can't seem to leave the garden hose alone. He's very busy all day and seems to learn an new word everyday.
I'm getting the hang of being single again. I got too used to having Dan around all the time. Most of our stuff is still in storage, so I'm actually quite bored much of the time.
Except of course when I'm cleaning up water messes, broken bowls and glasses, piles of dirt and crackers everywhere, Adam is a VERY busy boy! Isn't being a mom fun?!!

Dan's New Job

2009-07-08T13:03:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

I have received an offer from Raytheon and we are going to accept it! I still have to choose a specific start date but it will most likely be the 10th or 24th of August.

So, it is official, we are moving to the Farmington, New Mexico area! To all those who wanted to be the first ones to know, hopefully you read our blog because this is the first place it has been posted!

Dan Jones

Emmee Graduated and Casse turned 3!

2009-05-17T21:20:00.000-07:00

The title says it all! Here are some pics for proof:

The New Kitchen...well, new paint.

2009-05-17T20:27:00.000-07:00

Before

After

Emmalynn's Accomplishment

2009-03-21T07:08:00.000-07:00

At Emmalynn's preschool, Kiddie Kollege, they have a "Wall of Fame". When the kids learn to write their names REALLY well, they get to write it on the wall of fame. It's a big accomplishment when you can write your name perfectly, especially when you are four! Emmalynn was struggling to write her "y" just right and sometimes her "a" was backwards. The teachers are strict on her using the lines and making her letters a certain size. She usually made some too small. She has been practicing at home a lot. Yesterday she came home from school with a little certificate (and a treat) that she got to write her name on the wall of fame. She was so excited.
It's an exciting time in our house all around. Cassidee is nearly completely potty trained and Adam is getting close to walking. All we need is to get Dan a job and Leesa to repaint the kitchen and life will be complete. (for a while anyway!!)

Poor Adam

2009-03-02T14:13:00.000-08:00

The birthday boy had a fabulous weekend with lots of attention, cake, frosting and new presents, but Monday morning wasn't so fabulous. At 9:30 in the morning Adam had his 1 year well baby visit to the doctor. The doctor said he had 2 very bad ear infections that we are guessing he's had since about Christmas. (I've just attributed his crankiness to the teething that's been going on.) He also weighed in at 17 lbs. 4 oz. which is exactly what he weighed at his 9 month visit. The doctor wasn't too happy about that either. "Feed him more, feed him more!" says the doctor. "Well," says I, "he's just like Emmalynn!" Then of course, to top it off, he got 5 shots in his poor little legs. It's so tough to be 1.

Great Grandma Riskedahl

2009-02-25T22:05:00.000-08:00

This is a four-generation picture of my kids, myself, my father, and his mother last June. (I really just wanted to try posting a picture!)

Adam almost 1.

2009-02-25T20:39:00.000-08:00

Our sweet little baby Adam is turning one sometime this weekend, not Saturday or Sunday, but somewhere between them. I was hoping he would stay one until his real birthday in 2012, but I don't think he'll do that for me. The past year has definitely gone by way too fast! The weekend will be a blast though. We are celebrating both days with two parties, a family/friend party on Saturday and a ward/neighbor party on Sunday. Hopefully we can survive to tell all about it next Monday.

2009-02-06T12:23:00.000-08:00

I am now starting to figure out this blogging business. I have left it up to Dan for the past 9 months and you've all seen how many times he's written an update! Hopefully things will be better for the Jones family blog and all you people reading it will have something new to read every once in a while. I might even graduate to posting pictures too!!

North Dakota

2008-06-24T06:53:00.000-07:00

We are in North Dakota for Leesa's all school reunion. Tuttle school was recently closed due to lack of students. The school had an auction where they were selling everything in the school. We got to visit with some of her old classmates. While we are here I have been job hunting. No offers yet.

The Job Hunt

2008-06-02T09:59:00.000-07:00

I am on the job hunt! These are exciting times. I am looking for a manufacturing engineering opportunity. I have had a couple of interviews so far and am weighing my options. I have also considered purchasing my own manufacturing business which would be exciting. The next few weeks will be exciting!!

Dan Jones

Our Family

2008-05-15T22:40:00.000-07:00

Meet the family: Dan, Leesa, Emmalynn (4), Cassidee (2), and Adam (2 months)!

The girls love their baby brother!