tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9686037913081993952024-03-13T12:06:04.509-06:00The Jones FamilyAshley Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10643863833800131375noreply@blogger.comBlogger117125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968603791308199395.post-44761863967158323552016-08-27T16:46:00.000-06:002016-08-27T16:46:14.040-06:00dont close my blogdont close my accountAshley Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10643863833800131375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968603791308199395.post-4006440186937327652015-05-20T23:29:00.000-06:002015-05-21T13:11:35.776-06:00Broken Dreams and Bless YousFrom my point of view a kid doesn't get any cuter than when they are 3 and 4 years old. These cuties can finally express themselves clearly and share all their ideas and perspectives while still having all the silliness and misconceptions of a toddler. All of that bundles into an adorable package.<br />
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Savannah has been spotlighting her endearing thought processes like never before lately. For example:<br />
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1. After taking her shoes off she looked at me with a crinkled up nose and exclaimed "Mom, what is that smell coming from my feet!"<br />
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2. When being told she couldn't have money to buy herself a treat at a restaurant she suggested she buy her own wallet so that she could have some money.<br />
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3. She thinks sneezes are called Bless Yous. I don't ever want to forget her explanation of having 3 bless yous all in a row.<br />
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4. Lastly, she calls nightmares broken dreams. This phrase will never be corrected. I will be incredibly sad the day she stops using it.<br />
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I love that little girl so much. It was the same with Kaden and Jocilyn as well. But of course they have grown past this stage and are wonderful in completely different ways. For now though I am just grateful to have a little time left full of Broken Dreams and Bless Yous.Ashley Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10643863833800131375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968603791308199395.post-12152318339374570042015-01-26T18:30:00.001-07:002015-01-26T20:54:09.352-07:00Savannah<br />
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My goodness I love that girl. Savannah is my wild child. I never know what to expect out of her. She can be sweet and thoughtful, fun and excited, and sometimes completely crazy. Nowadays Savannah is my helper at home. With Kaden and Jocilyn at school all day and Wes being so little she is the girl I get to run errands, chat, and have lunch with. It has been fun having some one-on-one time with her at long last.<br />
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She pretty much likes whatever her big sister likes. Which works out pretty well for Jo when its Savvy's turn to choose the show on tv. When Jocilyn is at school Savannah is my shadow, the moment school's out however Jocilyn has a constant companion. They get along pretty well most of the time. Playing school or "Mom and Kid" as Savannah calls it keeps them happy.<br />
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Watching her and Jo together brings back memories of Monica and I. I really must have driven her crazy! We had a lot of fun together though and its cute watching all that hero worship. I hope they grow into the best of friends.<br />
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Savannah recently had a giant accomplishment by graduating into a booster seat in the car. She was so proud of herself when she finally buckled her seat belt by herself for the first time. I love it when she gets excited. Her whole face lights up and the squeeling commences. Its adorable and luckily happens a lot.</div>
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One of the funniest Savannahisms we've come across is her attitude towards other people. She is by far my loudest child at home. She sings, screams, and runs around like a nut, but bring a new person into the mix and she pretty much becomes mute. I'm not sure her church teachers have ever actually heard her speak. They consider her the perfect child, oh little do they know!<br />
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She has actually improved a huge amount. I signed her up for gymnastics a few months ago and she was so excited, but it required her to speak to her teachers. Ever so slowly she made progress! We also joined a coop preschool with some of the other moms from church. Between those two things she has grown so much socially. She still takes some time to get used to people,but after awhile she'll let me know that she is going to talk to the teacher today. Its pretty cute.<br />
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Savannah has a definite sense of style. She likes to call it her "rock and roll" clothes. I haven't quite figured out what makes a rock and roll outfit, but she is quick to tell me what does and does not qualify. So far it seems the louder the pattern and brighter the colors gets you closer to your goal.<br />
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I love seeing her personality emerge. I really don't know what to expect out of her yet, but it is fun seeing glimpses. So far she is wonderful and I can't imagine her becoming anything else.<br />
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Ashley Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10643863833800131375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968603791308199395.post-39155922881954646232014-09-30T23:09:00.000-06:002015-01-26T18:44:17.051-07:00JocilynMy sweet Jocilyn. Where do I begin?<br />
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Jocilyn is growing up faster than I imagined she would. She just started the 1st grade and even with the added freedom having two children in full day school gives me, I miss her being home. She is a great sister. Most of the time she and Kaden have nothing but fun with each other and she is amazing with her little sister and brother. She has helped me out countless times when the baby needed someone to play with or Savannah needed help brushing her teeth. <br />
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Jocilyn is a great shopping companion. At the grocery store she loves to help me pick the fruit and vegetables. She gives me ideas on what to make for dinner, and is overall a lot of fun to shop with. <br />
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Not to mention her amazing sense of style! Jocilyn loves to mix and match her clothes in different ways and usually has at least 3 clothing changes a day. She's not at all shy about giving her opinion either. Luckily nothing too embarrassing has resulted from her confidence, but I ask her regularly if she likes my outfit or how my hair looks in the back. She almost always gets it right so its kind of fun having another girl's perspective even if the source is 6 years old. <br />
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Socially Jo has a lot of fun. Her best friend lives across the street and the two of them could happily spend every day together if school didn't get in the way. At school Jo has many friends and is loving building those relationships. Everyday she has stories to tell me about what they did at recess or the funny thing someone did. <br />
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Lately Jo has been taking Gymnastics and dance lessons. They are so much fun for her and she's so tiny and limber its hard to not imagine she could be really good at it with some practice. Practice is the tricky part. She is naturally pretty good at a lot of things she's had to learn so far: gymnastics, dance, reading, you name it. So at the onset she is excited and happy to learn anything new. Its when the harder stuff comes along and she has to put in real effort and focus that is a struggle. Still, she is slowly learning how to work hard and why its worth it. Kimball and I are very proud of her. <br />
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She is creative, confident and incredibly sweet. When I see her she just makes me smile. Not long after Jocilyn turned 5 I started to realize she was becoming less and less of a little girl and more of a beautiful young girl. It sounds like an insignificant difference, but trust me, it is there and it matters. Its been equally painful and wonderful to watch this transition, but I guess that's a part of parenting Kimball and I are just learning about with her and Kaden.<br />
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<br />Ashley Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10643863833800131375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968603791308199395.post-91399506377871311752014-07-27T23:57:00.000-06:002014-07-27T23:58:45.096-06:00KadenI'm struggling to decide just how to get caught up on my blog after so much has happened and well, things just keep happening. I'm going to try and write a post about each of the kids to basically sum up how things are going for that particular rugrat. Wish me luck!<br />
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Because of the somewhat transient status our family had for the last few years Kimball and I have had a little extra concern for Kaden and the affects so much moving and uncertainty would have on the little guy. I always worried a little more for him simply because he was older. The boy hasn't started 3rd grade yet and has been enrolled in 6 different elementary schools, one of them twice! He learned early how hard it is to say goodbye to people. I'm happy to say he also learned how fun it is to make friends though! He definitely got nervous every time he had to start at a new school, but he always come home telling me about the fun kids he had met. I'm so thankful Kimball and I seem to have put things in place now before he gets any older. He is finally having the chance to have a best friend for more than just a few months and to not always be the one who leaves. Just before second grade was over his best friend moved away. Kaden was heartbroken. He cried himself to sleep for a few nights and talked about him for weeks. Even now, months later, Kaden talks about what a good buddy he was and how much he misses him. He told me one night that it was harder to watch a friend move away than to be the one to leave. That broke my heart a little too. Kaden is such a good and sweet kid. He feels so much emotion and doesn't always know what to do with it, somewhat explaining his need to tackle his own team mate at baseball practice. Oh yes, he did. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kaden with his best buddy Aidan at his 8th birthday party</td></tr>
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Kimball tells me Kaden reminds him a lot of himself when he was that age. Very sensitive to what is going on around him and just wanting the world to make sense, but not knowing what to do when it doesn't. This actually makes me happy. I would love for Kaden to grow up to be like his dad one day, though hopefully with a few less fist fights and visits to the principal's office if you don't mind.<br />
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Kaden is such an awesome kid! He turned eight at his last birthday. Wow! How did that happen? We celebrated with a Halloween themed birthday party, with costumes, candy, and capture the pumpkin (it was a big hit). Just a couple weeks later Kaden was baptised as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I am so proud of him! I know he is only starting to understand what it means to have faith and believe in Jesus Christ, but he really wants it and is full of questions to help him better understand. It was a little extra special in that we had a lot of family in town for the baptism. Grandma and Grandpa Patterson, Aunt Mo, and Aunt Ranee were all in town for the special day. He probably doesn't appreciate how wonderful it was to have them there, but I sure loved it. It was a great reminder that just because we don't live in Utah any more our family is willing to go the extra mile, or in this case 300 miles to support us in these big moments. <br />
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Kaden played his first season of baseball this year. He absolutely loved it! He improved a lot during the season and was able to get a hit in just about every game. He's going to try flag football in a couple months, but I'd be surprised if baseball doesn't come back on his radar next spring. Not to mention he was the cutest Dodger I've ever seen!<br />
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As you can see Kaden has stayed pretty busy. To top it off he joined Cub Scouts just after turning 8 last year. I knew Kaden would go nuts for Cub Scouts. He loves all the social interaction and fun activities they do. Every Wednesday he begs me to be late picking him up so he can have more time to play basketball or dodgeball with the other boys as they're waiting to be picked up. The cherry on top of cubscouting is of course the pinewood derby and boy did Kaden love that. If any of you Joneses are reading this do yourself a favor and call Warren if you ever need a derby car. After about a 30 minute phone conversation Kaden and Kimball were able to build a slick little car. Kaden's car easily came in first in every race it ran. I wish you could have seen how awesome it was for Kaden. After every race his excitement just kept getting bigger and bigger. I thought his eyes were going to pop out! He was a good sport though. He was asking the other kids all about their cars and did his best not to rub it in. It was a pretty fun night, but boy did we set the bar high for his first pinewood derby! We'll see how next years goes.<br />
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To sum it all up Kaden is just about as good as it gets when it comes to eight year old boys. He's incredibly bright and loves to learn new things about the world and just about anything he can think of to ask about. He is a great big brother who tries hard to reason with his younger sisters when they aren't following the rules and is very patient when he's forced to watch Barbie and My Little Ponies when his sisters get to pick the television show. He loves to help out on fun "building" projects like hanging the tv on the wall and changing out light switches and has been known to make a box or two of Macaroni and Cheese to serve to the family at dinner time. I love this guy with all my heart!<br />
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<!-- Blogger automated replacement: "https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F3.bp.blogspot.com%2F-65wMFzmuBVc%2FU9XcSaWWmuI%2FAAAAAAAABwQ%2F1rJjgnLzbDs%2Fs1600%2F4_6.JPG&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" with "https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-65wMFzmuBVc/U9XcSaWWmuI/AAAAAAAABwQ/1rJjgnLzbDs/s1600/4_6.JPG" -->Ashley Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10643863833800131375noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968603791308199395.post-85763502478642265992014-05-19T22:28:00.000-06:002014-05-19T22:28:13.698-06:00Wes Alexander Jones<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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One year ago the family and I moved to Las Vegas, Nevada. Kimball had been working down here for a few months already, but I stayed in Utah with the kids until things looked a little more certain. No point in uprooting yet again unless the job and everything else were really going to happen, right?<br />
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Kimball was working part time for a law firm while studying to take the Nevada Bar. By February 2013 things looked to be fitting into place so long as Kimball passed the test so we decided it was time to bring the kids down and make Vegas our home. We found a nice house to rent in a great ward. Everyone seemed really happy with everything other than being a little sick with flu , cold and whatever other germs always find their way to our door in winter. Unfortunately for me I couldn't quite shake being sick. Not the sitting by the toilet all day sick, just feeling from sun up to sundown that you wish you could throw up. This was eerily familiar to my first three pregnancies so I decided to take the test and wouldn't you know it I was having a baby!<br />
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This was by far the biggest baby surprise we've had. Kimball and I weren't trying not to have a baby, but hadn't quite decided to throw our hat in the ring yet either, if you know what I mean. We were both a little nervous about all the changes a fourth baby would bring to our family, but at the same time so excited! How do you not love a baby? I was especially happy to know I didn't have the eternal flu bug.<br />
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The day of the ultra sound was also the day Kimball found out if he passed the Bar. It was a very big day full of nerves and excitement. We went in for the ultrasound and saw our beautiful little boy for the first time. He was wonderful! On our drive home Kimball got word that he had passed the Bar. Our lives had completely changed in two amazing ways within just twenty minutes! How can two people cope with so much to be grateful for? We decided on ice cream.<br />
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A couple of weeks later I was informed that the ultrasound had in fact found a small abnormality. In one of the walls of the baby's heart their was a spot. They had me go in for a more detailed ultrasound to make sure everything was okay. I was so nervous. After three healthy babies I had kind of taken for granted the fact that this one would be healthy as well. After the second ultrasound the doctor concluded the babies heart was as strong and perfect as could be, and as for any other complications they were unlikely, but we wouldn't know for certain until after delivery. <br />
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I was so nervous. For weeks I was terrified. All I could do was pray and hope for all to be well. After some time the excitement started to overtake the fear and I felt that at the very least with the Lord's help Kimball and I could handle it.<br />
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On September 12th I started having irregular contractions. I had had a doctor's appointment that day and he said I might have the baby over the weekend! It wasn't until Kimball got home that night that we realized if I had the baby that night he wouldn't have to go in for drill that weekend! And if we timed things well the baby would be born on Friday the 13th! Not only as cool a day as they come, but it was also Kimball's parent's 50th anniversary. The decision was made. Now we just needed the baby to cooperate. That night was filled with salsa, squats, lunges and walking. Ever so slowly my contractions became more regular until at about midnight we were ready to go to the hospital!<br />
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As has become tradition with our children, just because we were ready to be admitted to the hospital did not mean we were ready to deliver a baby. Until after one strong epidural and many hours of waiting the doctor said we were ready. It was a little funny to see him again so soon. He was surprised too, but did an amazing job. The umbilical cord was wrapped around the baby's neck twice, which may have explained why things took so long to progress, but Dr. Romero handled everything perfectly. At 12:51 in the afternoon Wes Alexander Jones was born kicking and screaming. What a relief to see that perfect baby boy. He truly was absolutely perfect.<br />
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It is such a blessing to be a mother. I loved him so long before I saw him, but to see and hold him for the first time is indescribable. <br />
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As for his name Kimball has always liked the name Wes, not Wesley so much, but Wes. I was on the fence until we started thinking about middle names. Wes is our first child not named after someone in our family, not that we didn't have an amazing pool of people to choose from, but at the time Kimball had been reading some books about America's founding fathers one of them being Alexander Hamilton. Each night we would talk for hours about what an amazing man he was. He was intelligent, honest, and compassionate. Not perfect, but he did want to be a good man. It was so sad to us that most of history remembers him for other things, when he was such a key piece in making America great. Wes isn't solely named after Alexander Hamilton, their are many Alexanders through history who have done courageous and amazing things and we liked the idea of our baby carrying that with him. Also it just sounded really good.<br />
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To wrap things up. I love our baby Wes. His big brother and sisters are completely crazy about him. Its adorable to see Savannah sneak up to Wes to give him a hug and a kiss. Jocilyn is his second mother and he loves it. Kaden can't wait to start teaching him all sorts of things, to my horror Kaden's favorite thing is to practice walking with Wes, though he still doesn't crawl. And Kimball just loves him completely. Our lives have been completely turned upside down, but most days it just feels like this is the way the world should be.<br />
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Ashley Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10643863833800131375noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968603791308199395.post-5945839727273480142013-09-17T22:25:00.000-06:002013-09-17T22:25:36.705-06:00Nearly A YearOuch. It breaks my heart a little to see how much time has gone by since my last post. So many things have happened, I hate to think about all the cute moments I've completely forgotten and wont ever be documented. <br />
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I guess dwelling on all that is only so useful so lets move on to the good stuff. Where do I start? <br />
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Probably the first thing you should know is we moved from Maryland and are back in the West. Was this the plan? Absolutely not! I seriously doubt Kimball and I would have moved our family and everything we owned to live in Maryland for less than a year. But as is the tendency when you're working for the military, surprises come up. Some of them are things that are in your control and some of them are not. In the end I'm glad we were there even though it meant a lot of moving stress and worry on Kimball and I, yet another school for Kaden, and having to say goodbye to so many good friends we made while there. I think the experiences we had living in Maryland were bucket-list worthy! I love that we were able to have those adventures as a family. In those few months we made so many memories that Kaden at least will remember and the girls will look at through pictures and hopefully think its neat they were there.<br />
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One of our last big adventures in Maryland was a trip we took to Gettysburg with my parents. Jocilyn was sick that morning so Kimball stayed home with her since he'd already been there during one of his military trainings.<br />
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Gettysburg was a great experience. It was one of those things I couldn't see us not doing while we were back east. We spent most of the time inside at the museum, which was really interesting. Mostly I was trying to keep the kids from being too loud and to explain why the different uniforms, guns, and everything else were interesting, but I think everyone enjoyed the experience. After the museum we drove ourselves on a car tour to some of the different sites where the battle took place. The whole area was beautiful. It is sobering to think about how many people lost their lives there and what it must have looked like so long ago. I'm glad they've been able to turn it into such a peaceful and beautiful place for us to remember now.<br />
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Our official last adventure was back to D.C. where we went to the National Gallery of Art. I know there are a couple of different ones in the National Mall, we went to the one without the modern stuff. We wanted to see DaVinci, Van Gough, Monet and all those guys.<br />
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This was a terrifying and amazing experience! Terrifying because we had the kids and to my surprise these paintings didn't have protection. A couple had a little velvet rope in front, but most had nothing. Try explaining to a five and six year old why they shouldn't smear their hands all over that thousand year old painting. To be honest I don't know how these treasures have lasted as long as they have with so many people (and kids) being around them. The kids were really funny. When we walked through the statue gallery I heard Jo's squeaky little voice say "Kaden look, this guy's naked!" Kaden then burst into laughter and from then on their favorite game in the room is to run around laughing at all the nakedness. Needless to say we really killed the reflective mood they were going for in there.<br />
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On the flip side Kimball and I were completely awestruck when we weren't wrangling our kids. You know that old board game Masterpiece? My knowledge of art doesn't expand much further then what I remember from that game, but it was pretty surreal to walk through all these rooms recognizing my favorites from that game: aka. Little Dancer by Edgar Degas. Sad I know. There was about a month after the museum when I still remembered all my favorites and how they compared to each other that I considered myself informed on the whole deal, but that's gone now. Why didn't I blog about this sooner then I would still feel smart when it came to art!<br />
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As it stands now I can only tell you how cool it was to see these famous artists side by side. I knew I'd love Monet, because how can you not, but Rembrandt really stuck with me. The DaVinci was pretty far off the most beautiful in my uninformed opinion, but I still think it's awesome that I got to see one. The biggest surprise to me was how much I loved Van Gogh. I never really got what made his stuff much better than some of the other great works of art until I saw it for myself. After walking through room after room of famous and gorgeous artwork it was refreshing to walk into Van Gogh's room. He really did things in a completely different way. You've probably heard before that he used a lot more paint then was typical. Guess what! He really did! I sound ridiculous saying it like that, but seeing it in person was very cool for me. This was a room I thought especially could have used to protection, though I'm glad it didn't. I'm a grown adult and seriously had to talk myself out of touching his work. It was so cool.<br />
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I should probably wrap up my career as an art critic now, but if you're going to D.C. anytime soon I highly recommend going to the National Gallery of Art--maybe without kids though.<br />
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That mostly wraps up Maryland for us, minus a few more blue crab nights, afternoons on the beach and Amish market visits. I really miss their blueberry fritters by the way. <br />
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So many more things have happened this year. It was seriously one of the most eventful ever. I promise to write again soon and fill you in on the rest of our news (spoiler: new baby!) Hopefully even add some pictures, but lets take baby steps as we get back into the swing of things.<br />
<br />Ashley Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10643863833800131375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968603791308199395.post-90193740013109326152012-12-04T21:56:00.000-07:002012-12-04T21:56:02.475-07:00A Little JocilynI'm taking a short break from blogging for a bit, but I couldn't let myself forget this cute little Jocilyn moment:<br />
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For Thanksgiving my mom had all the family over for dinner. My Aunt was chatting with Jocilyn and asked her what comes after Thanksgiving (expecting Christmas of course). Jocilyn confidently replied "Black Friday!"<br />
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I'm not sure if I should be happy or sad over the response, but it definitely made me laugh. I guess all the secret planning between me and my cousins wasn't as secret as I thought. <br />
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She knew we were pretty excited over it all, but had a hard time understanding why someone would spend a whole night at the grocery store.Ashley Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10643863833800131375noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968603791308199395.post-29098673367570042712012-09-27T11:03:00.001-06:002012-09-27T13:25:15.398-06:00New York, New YorkOne of our biggest adventures here in Maryland was a trip we took with the kids to New York City. A couple of years ago Kaden heard about the "Big City" on Curious George and he has been obsessed with seeing it in person ever since. <br />
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For day one we drove to Pennsylvania and took the kids to Sesame Place. Think of a small Disneyland with water rides and Elmo. The kids of course had a great time and Jocilyn got to dance with Elmo which was pretty cute.<br />
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But enough of that, lets move on to New York! <br />
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That night we finished the drive to Staten Island and stayed at the Navy Lodge. The next morning we rode the Ferry into Manhattan and began the real adventure. Our first visit was to Ground Zero. It was really beautiful! They built these giant fountains where the twin towers used to stand, with the names of everyone who died on 9/11 engraved around the base. The buildings they are putting up to replace the ones that fell are GINORMOUS and very pretty. I'm sure once they're finished the skyline is going to be amazing.<br />
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From there we rode the subway to the Empire State Building. With three young kids we really needed a stroller, but riding the elevator down to the subway was by far the worst part of the whole day. Eww! Eww! Eww!<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8fA9OLz8gtY/UGSUefQP2WI/AAAAAAAABkM/KetpAveNZdc/s1600/3_4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8fA9OLz8gtY/UGSUefQP2WI/AAAAAAAABkM/KetpAveNZdc/s640/3_4.jpg" width="640" /></a>The Empire State Building was great. There were almost no lines, although the observation deck was pretty crowded. Kimball and I could have stayed up there for a while, but of course the kids were done in about two minutes. One day they will think its cool that they got to be there and see all of that, but not today. At least they better think its cool, I rode a subway elevator so they could be there for goodness sakes!<br />
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After that we had some genuine New York Pizza for lunch. It was so funny to see the kids trying to wrangle these giant slices of pizza. I love those kids!<br />
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By now Savannah was seriously tired of her stroller and pretty much tired in general so we figured we should start to wrap things up starting with a walk to Times Square (no more subways for me unless it was absolutely necessary). Times Square was very loud and crazy and absolutely what I hoped New York would be, but we didn't stay long. <br />
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After one uncomfortable incident with the "Statue of Liberty" we walked our little clan to Grand Central Station. <br />
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We went here for one reason only: Junior's Cheesecake. Kimball and I are not exactly in the know when it comes to New York, but during a job interview a million years ago Kimball stumbled across this little slice of heaven. We bought the largest Cheesecake we could find and high tailed it back to the subway. Yes, getting back to the car in time to put Junior's Cheesecake on ice for the trip home was absolutely worth the health code violations of the subway elevator. Though I am grateful none of us have come down with hepatitis since returning home.<br />
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To sum up it was the adventure of all adventures for our little family. While I don't doubt Kimball and I would have seen and done more on just a couples trip, aka Broadway, I am so glad we took the kids with us. For now Jocilyn's favorite experience was dancing with Elmo the day before, but Kaden was finally able to see the "Big City" and he has the blisters to prove it!<br />
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<br />Ashley Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10643863833800131375noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968603791308199395.post-81738989145041777702012-09-11T12:51:00.000-06:002012-09-11T12:51:49.556-06:00JamestownOne of our adventures was Jamestown, Virginia. We had such a great time and as always it was one of our absolute favorites. We opted to stay overnight rather than take the 3 hour drive twice in one day. The hotel was an absolute hole in the wall because we were trying to save a few bucks. The beds were hopefully clean though and in the end that's all we needed. That afternoon we went to the Yorktown Victory Center. We should have gone to Historic Yorktown, but I read a lot of reviews saying this nearby museum was a lot more interesting for children so we headed there first intending to swing by the real place later if there was time.<br />
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In case anyone plans on taking a visit, skip the Victory Center. It was more of a "Day in the Life" of the 18th century American than anything about the Battle at Yorktown. There were a few games for children which our kids loved, but I don't think any of us were too impressed. Afterwards it was too late to go to Historic Yorktown, but that's alright this trip was mostly for Jamestown so we weren't too bothered. <br />
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The next morning we headed out to Jamestown and were not disappointed. First of all it was absolutely BEAUTIFUL! If I were trying to colonize a new country I would want to stop in Jamestown too, minus the swamp of course. <br />
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They had two museums explaining the history of Jamestown and also the archeological finds there. Then we crossed a giant bridge taking us through the swamp land (no wonder so many early settlers died of disease) and into Jamestown. Nearly all of the above ground structures have disappeared, but you can still see the foundations and they are excavating many of the cellars. The only current above ground structure that dates back to the 1600's is the church tower. I found this amazing! The church itself dates back to the early 1800's and inside it is filled with plaques dedicated to some of the prominent figures that helped the colony succeed.<br />
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They also have a very pretty statue of Pocahontas that I made my kids pose with. I did my fourth grade Great-Brain report on Pocahontas so we go way back, though I was surprised by a few of the details my fourth grade research overlooked: Yes, John Smith claimed Pocahontas saved his life many times, but he got sick and was sent home to England to get better. In his absence the relationship deteriorated with the Native Americans until a British settler kidnapped Pocahontas, who was already married to a brave from her tribe. While being captive she converted to Christianity and married John Rolfe. Apparently the kidnapping worked because after her marriage relationships got better. <br />
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I also have to give a quick shout out to John Smith and John Rolfe as well. By all accounts Smith was even more amazing than Disney makes him out to be. From mercenary, sailor, mutiny leader, captive, trades expert, prominent aristocrat, and explorer he covers just about everything. Apparently historians used to believe his stories were too good to be true and discredited a lot of his adventurous accounts, but as time has gone by everything points to his stories being real. <br />
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As for John Rolfe, not only did he marry Pocahontas, but he was the one who started the tobacco industry in Jamestown, which basically saved the settlement.<br />
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I know you must love it when I go into my history lessons!<br />
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Jamestown was especially cool because some of Kimball's ancestors were among the first settlers to the area. They also helped settle a nearby island dubbed Hogs Island because they used it as a place to let the hogs live until they were needed for dinner.<br />
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Don't laugh! Hogs island was also one of the main reasons Jamestown was settled. The island obscures Jamestown from the Ocean. Preventing any unwanted attention the British might get from the Spanish. But it was mostly a place they kept the pigs.<br />
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On our way out we saw a glass blowing demonstration they do which was really neat. That would be such a neat talent to have, but I don't think I have the patience to spend three years apprenticing the art, nor do I have a big enough oven.<br />
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We loved Jamestown. The kids loved running around and Kimball and I loved the history. It was a win-win!<br />
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<br />Ashley Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10643863833800131375noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968603791308199395.post-12835133368657755642012-08-23T18:59:00.000-06:002012-08-23T18:59:52.168-06:00Happy Birthday Savannah!My baby turned one last month!<br />
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I cannot believe how fast that went by! She is an absolute One-Of-A-Kind! Completely sweet and very fun. She loves to play peek-a-boo and tag with her older brother and sister. Favorite food is probably ice cream (yep, she's a Jones!) and if you have some watch out because she will growl at you until you share.<br />
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So far her favorite tricks are to wave and say hi and bye. And every now and then she'll fold her arms for prayer. She took her first step, but is not really walking yet. She's kind of chicken. She has mastered going up and down stairs though. Quite a relief living in a house with three levels.<br />
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Her curly hair definitely sets her apart from Kaden and Jo. Sometimes she'll just sit there and shake her head smiling because (I think) she likes how her hair feels bouncing all over her head. I love that hair and am trying hard to figure out how to take care of it because I want her to grow up loving it too. <br />
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If bouncy curls weren't enough she also has a cute little dimple that is just wonderful. She is my own personal Shirley Temple!<br />
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Sorry. I'm a mom. I gush.<br />
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For Savy's birthday we had chocolate milk, pigs in blankets, and cupcakes. Of course if you look at the pictures you'll see she wasn't a fan of the cupcakes so we let her have a cookie instead. I think seeing the candle lit in the cupcake freaked her out a little. Oh well, there isn't much a chocolate chip cookie can't make better.<br />
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We had a great time celebrating Savannah. She is so precious to all of us. How could you not love that little girl!<br />
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By the way, don't mind the pink background. I was trying something and it didn't quite work out I think. Oh well, live and learn!<br />
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<br />Ashley Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10643863833800131375noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968603791308199395.post-30093700222802542902012-08-19T19:17:00.001-06:002012-08-19T19:17:54.509-06:00Maryland Blue CrabOne particularly yummy perk to living in Maryland is the Blue Crab! In the few days notice we had before moving out here we had a couple different people tell us to be sure and have some Blue Crab. I am so glad they did! <br />
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We hunted some down (really, once they were in season it wasn't hard to find), watched a few Youtube videos to learn how to eat them, and dug in! Will and Kjirsten came up for the event and I am so glad they did. Everything is more fun with those two around!<br />
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The first crab was a little scary looking, but after you have a few bites of the yummy meat its pretty easy to tear their little legs off for more. Blue Crab is a lot of work, but I'd say its completely worth it...every now and then. By the end of the night we had a few left over crab, but our fingers were just too scratched up to justify eating any more! Hopefully the better we get at tearing the little suckers open the easier it will be on our fingers. I'll have to let you know on that, now that we're all healed up I'm pretty sure we'll go and get some more this weekend!<br />
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Can't wait!Ashley Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10643863833800131375noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968603791308199395.post-71127775931556759482012-08-15T21:32:00.000-06:002012-08-15T21:32:31.088-06:00Ft. McHenryA couple weeks ago we took an adventure to Ft. McHenry. This was one of the whole families favorite adventures!<br />
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Here is your brief history moment of the day: <br />
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Ft. McHenry's shining moment in glory happened during the War of 1812. Britain preferred things pre Revolutionary War so they decided to jump in for round two of American Independence. <br />
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They got off to a strong start retaking the Nations Capitol and saw Baltimore's Harbor as the next key conquest needed to seal the deal. They moved their ground troops near Baltimore, but were pushed back. They determined Ft. McHenry, which is out on a peninsula in the middle of the harbor, would need to be taken so that they could move their navy in to support a second push at Baltimore. However, the British underestimated the Fort's artillery. Because of the damage they knew the Forts close range canons would do to their ships they stayed far out in the harbor where their long range artillery could fire, but the Fort could not fire back. This severely limited the damage their own canons could do. All night the two sides fired at one another neither being able to take the upper hand. As the sun rose Frances Scott Key (who was on a ship trying to negotiate the release of a fellow American prisoner) saw the American flag still flying and realized the British attack on his city had failed. He then wrote a memorable poem describing the event. His poem spread through America quickly and was soon put to music: The Star Spangled Banner.<br />
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Britain realized it could not overtake the Fort and consequently Baltimore so they went home and ended the whole campaign. The lesson we learn from this: Go Big ( and possibly sink your navy) or Go Home (which in the end they opted for). To this day Marylanders have great pride in this victory. Seriously, they do.<br />
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Class is concluded for the day.<br />
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As far as sight seeing went Ft. McHenry is a wonderful place. They have a great museum and video inside. Outside they've kept the Fort so that you can walk through nearly every nook and cranny. Its too bad that the flag pole didn't make it to present day, but still very cool to see our flag waving over the fort and realize that's what Francis Scott Key was looking for when he wrote our anthem.<br />
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The kids had a great time climbing in and over just about everything. Savannah, well she was content to sit in her car seat inside the stroller. I'd say the adventure was a success and definitely recommend a visit to anyone who feels like visiting Kimball and I (wink, wink).Ashley Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10643863833800131375noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968603791308199395.post-69967746814834418482012-08-15T18:49:00.000-06:002012-08-15T18:49:16.410-06:00Happy 31 Kimball!Happy Birthday Kimball!!!!<div>
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Kimball turned 31 this year. I think he's dealing with it much better than I am to be honest. I always enjoyed teasing him about forever being older than me, but I'm starting to realize that him getting older just makes me feel kind of old too. </div>
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Despite my ridiculous insecurities I think he still had a great birthday. The kids worked hard all week painting birthday signs for him and we decorated with balloons, because you know Kimball, he's gotta have balloons. Or is that me? Either way we had balloons.</div>
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We were especially lucky to have Kimball's sister-in-law Kristen, and Kjirsten and Will come to help celebrate. To top it all off they brought a delicious lasagna which just happens to be one of Kimball's favorites! </div>
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Last but not least, ICE CREAM. Because he's really gotta have ice cream.</div>
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I hope Kimball had a great day. I know I don't tell him enough, but he is wonderful!</div>
Ashley Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10643863833800131375noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968603791308199395.post-33234083244468309262012-08-13T19:57:00.000-06:002012-08-13T19:57:05.723-06:00Last Day of Kindergarten!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Seeing as First Grade is about to start up I figured I should probably do a post on Kaden finishing Kindergarten. Here goes. <br />
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(Quick side note: Kaden was way excited to take pictures with his graduation cap on. He even posed himself. Jocilyn just couldn't stay out of the fun, so you'll see some of her too.)<br />
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Kaden had a great year in Kindergarten. The kid is such a trooper; after moving in the middle of the year and having to make new friends and get used to a new school and teacher I had a lot of anxiety about the whole ordeal. Kaden on the other hand was not so worried. He did great! He made friends so fast and fell in love with his new teacher. <br />
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I was surprised to see Kaden caring a little more about his appearance this year. I thought he was still too young for that, but he was always asking me to gel his hair and one very sad day he went to school wearing a white dress shirt because I forgot to wash his uniform shirts. I thought he looked very handsome, and seriously doubt any of the kids would have noticed, but Kaden refused to take his jacket off the whole day because he was worried they would see. I'm telling you he can't be old enough to care already!<br />
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A special shout out to Mrs. Jett, and Junie B. Jones for making Kindergarten such a wonderful year!<br />
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<br />Ashley Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10643863833800131375noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968603791308199395.post-4885204177605535042012-07-27T13:46:00.000-06:002012-07-27T13:46:03.489-06:00Sweet JocilynYesterday Jo and I were chatting and she said completely serious: "Your eyes never ever have hearts in them... (sigh) except when you get married." And l<span style="background-color: white;">ast time we went to Costco they had a movie displaying diamond rings for sale. Jo ran over shouting "Pretty! Pretty! Pretty!" A guy nearby started cracking up saying, "It's genetic!" It just might be. :) </span><div>
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She is such a cute little romantic. Its pretty fun!</div>Ashley Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10643863833800131375noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968603791308199395.post-19798870889975394432012-07-01T22:52:00.004-06:002012-07-01T22:52:57.444-06:00Memorial Day Weekend<br />
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We had a great few days over Memorial Day Weekend. Kimball's sister SaraLyn and the Veech clan came to visit for a few days to watch their son Trevor in the parade in D.C. and of course to visit us. Since they had already seen a lot of the monuments and such on other trips we decided to go to the zoo and melt there for a few hours. This was our second trip to the zoo: The one that showed us all the kinks in our zoo planning. <br />
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It was very hot and crowded, but I think everyone still had a great time together. Besides, it was memorial day weekend, it was going to be hot and crowded no matter where we decided to go. One extra bonus that came with the veech family staying with us was a night of babysitting so the adults could go out together. Thank you! We had such a great time! <br />
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Saturday night my sister Monica and her friend Letti came into town as well. Luckily we live in a bigger place and were able to squish everyone in. I absolutely loved seeing everyone; hopefully they didn't mind the extra squish. <br />
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For Memorial Day everyone went their own way. The Veeches went to get a good spot to watch Trevor in the parade, Mo and Letti toured monuments, and Kimball and I took the kids to Arlington National Cemetery. What an amazing experience! This isn't one of the places people are usually dying to see when they visit D.C., but it is definitely worth a visit. Seeing so many headstones of people who fought for our country is very humbling and inspiring. We visited the Kennedy grave site as well as the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, but by that time the kids were collapsing from the heat and the walk so we didn't actually see the changing of the guard or anything. I know I say this every time, but we'll have to go back in the fall when the crowds and the heat die down a little bit. I'm still so glad we chose to go there though.<br />
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Extra bonus! We accidentally saw the President driving in to give a speech! Technically Kimball was the only one who actually saw him. I was too busy trying to find the record button on my new phone, but I still think it counts for the both of us.<br />
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After the Cemetery Kimball and the kids met up with the Veeches to watch the parade while I saw museums with Mo and Letti. I don't know how Kimball felt about the arrangements, but I had a great day. Letti wore a pedometer the whole time and said they walked nearly 12 miles that day. Ugg. So exhausting, but we had such a great time! Glad I could tag along.<br />
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I've decided my favorite war memorial is for the Korean War. Seeing it at night was a little spooky, but very beautiful. There are 19 statues of Soldiers scattered in a triangle shape. They are positioned so that while you are standing in the monument one of them always has your back. One of the engravings says "Freedom is not Free". A little dark and heavy, but I really liked it.</div>
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We finished the visits off by taking Mo and Letti to the beach. I've decided I love taking the kids to Chesapeake Bay. Turns out military gets in for free so we don't have to worry about the ridiculous admission fee!<br />
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Thanks to everyone for the visit! We had such a great time!<br />
<br />Ashley Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10643863833800131375noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968603791308199395.post-37104759105778442832012-06-04T21:50:00.002-06:002012-06-04T21:50:31.039-06:00All Grown Up<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Just a quick congratulations to Kaden. Not only is he graduating Kindergarten this week, but he just recently lost his front tooth. I love seeing that gaping hole in his smile!<br />
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Most of you probably know that I have a serious addiction to entering contests. I never pay money or anything, but the spam in my email account can attest to the fact that I enter nearly every contest I come across. In case you were wondering: No. I didn't win the hgtv dreamhome this year, but I'm gearing up for the next one! <br />
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You may be asking yourself what this has to do with Mother's Day. Well I'll tell you. I finally won something! I won an overnight stay at a resort, a $200 gift card and two 4 day 3 night getaways to other sister resorts. Can I get a Woot Woot?!<br />
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For Mother's Day we took the kids to Virginia for the overnighter. We had a lot of fun. Kimball and I love to play, but I think this was the first getaway we've been on with just our family for no other reason than to getaway! The resort offered a lot of fun activities, but since these things all cost extra and we were very determined to keep our free night free we spent the whole time at the pool.<br />
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We did have to let a saleswoman show us around for an hour and a half to try and convince us to buy a timeshare, but it was worth the price.<br />
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I had a great Mother's Day! No cooking, no cleaning, and for the most part the kids were happy. When we got home that evening I was even bestowed with gifts the kids had made: Tissue paper flowers and a bead necklace with a J for Jocilyn on it. I love my kiddos! <br />
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A big thanks to Kimball too. He was a great sport changing all diapers and taking care of every crisis before I had to step in. Thanks Babe! I love you!<br />
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<br />Ashley Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10643863833800131375noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968603791308199395.post-19349902247470252322012-06-04T21:22:00.000-06:002012-06-04T21:55:42.422-06:00National Zoo<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Okei-Dokie! Getting closer to present day! Our next adventure in the line up was to the National Zoo. This may have been the kids favorite day so far, but its hard to tell. Kimball and I being the amazing planners that we are decided on a whim to head to the zoo. It was overcast and drizzly with a 60% chance of rain, so we knew it would either be a really terrible decision or we were completely brilliant. Turns out we were brilliant! Who knew?<br />
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The threat of rain frightened away most of the crowds that would normally be there on a Saturday, the animals were incredibly active, and best of all IT DIDN'T RAIN!! This was seriously the best experience at a zoo I can remember.<br />
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I thought the zoo itself was pretty good. I mean seriously...they have panda bears! Who doesn't love panda's? It was especially cool to see all the animals walking around when they usually just sit in a corner. The panda was walking laps and we even caught a wrestling match between of couple of the lions.<br />
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In case you couldn't tell Kaden is hamming it up pretending to be the panda's latest kill. I know he could do it, but its hard to imagine something so cute and cuddly wanting to take your face off.<br />
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You may ask me why on earth I have pictures of peacocks on here when we saw all these other cool animals, but I really think the peacocks stole the show. Two of these guys were having a very serious stand-off while we were walking through the bird exhibit. They were hopping all over the place trying to peck at the other one. They even blocked our path for about five minutes having their little shoot out. Kaden of course thought it was awesome and even took advantage of the close proximity by petting one of the birds. I promise I tried to stop him, but seeing as he still has all appendages it probably worked out for the best.<br />
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We've had one other adventure to the zoo so far and I think Kimball and I have figured out all the tricks for the best way to do it. So should anyone feel like a visit to D.C. and want to see something other than monuments we'd be happy to be your zoo guides. Just not this weekend, Kimball and I need a little brake from the animals as awesome as they are.
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<br />Ashley Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10643863833800131375noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968603791308199395.post-41401627891047395842012-05-27T21:19:00.000-06:002012-05-27T21:20:39.343-06:00Air and Space Museum<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Our next adventure was to the Air and Space Museum in D.C. This was a pretty cool place. Just looking at all the real rockets, airplanes and satellites is pretty amazing. In addition to that they had a whole bunch of children's experiments teaching you about everything from wind flow to far off galaxies.</div>
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Again it was super crowded and I can't wait to come back during the slow season to spend more time looking at everything. We only made it through about 3/4 of the museum before the kids were more than spent and we headed home. I love being able to visit the museums as we please. Knowing we can come back any time to see the last 1/4 of the Air and Space makes it a lot less frustrating and I don't have to go into crazy mommy mode pushing the kids through the whole thing in one shot.</div>
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Kaden was really excited for this adventure. In case you didn't know, for the last couple of years Kaden's career ambition has been to be an astronaut and a guy who talks on the radio. Coming in a close second is to be a janitor. The poor kid hasn't realized cleaning the bathroom isn't fun yet!</div>
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Savannah was a pretty popular exhibit at the Museum as well. Chinese people really like her! We even had two ladies stop us to look and take pictures of her while she was sleeping. They kept trying to ask us questions, but since they only spoke Chinese and we don't it didn't go far. I'm not sure how they expected that conversation to work. I mentioned it to Kimball's brother Alvin who served his mission in Hong Kong and he said its probably because of her curly hair. They don't see that much and she certainly has a lot of it. </div>
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Finally we have our latest family portrait. This is us in front of the thermal-something-or-other camera. I remember us all being on the screen together, but looking at it now I can't find Kimball. He must be a cold blooded vampire or something that doesn't show up on thermal pictures. </div>
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I had to put one solitary photo of Savannah not looking like a frizzy haired grumpy baby. Its been brought to my attention that's what they mostly have been (Monica). Now you have proof. Sometimes, on very rare occasions, my child does not look like a crazed ragmuffin, but rather the sweet beauty she is!Ashley Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10643863833800131375noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968603791308199395.post-88840151215438982932012-05-27T20:38:00.000-06:002012-05-27T20:38:31.477-06:00Hope You Had an "Egg"-celent Birthday Jo!<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I know, I know. The title of this post is extremely clever. Sometimes I amaze myself ;). But Jocilyn did have her fourth birthday on Easter this year. She was so cute. She said she wanted a pink birthday party and that is what she got! Pink butterfly cake, pink tablecloths draped across anything and everything, and pink balloon garlands all over the place.</div>
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Because we hadn't been here long we had a small fun party with our cute little neighbours Audi and Noland on Saturday. Just cupcakes and ice cream followed by an Easter Egg hunt on post. Jocilyn had a great day. </div>
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She is an absolutely adorable girl getting more grown up each time I look at her. Her favorite games are playing house, painting, and playing more house. Favorite color is decidedly pink. Favorite food is peanut butter and jelly. She loves to show me how grown up she is and tries extra hard to do things we're trying to teach Kaden. I absolutely love her and am so grateful to have my little princess! </div>
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Just a small tidbit about Easter. We purposely celebrated Jo's birthday a day early just to try and keep things a little separate. The end result being two days of ridiculous sugar intake. It worked out well for everyone.<br />
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We were of course running late for church that day. You would think 1:30 would give us enough time, so I didn't get many pictures, but imagine the cleanest, most beautiful/handsome, incredibly polite children you can and I'm sure my kids looked something like that. Next year I promise to do better! <br />
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Later that night I did have time to take a picture of this yummy dessert I made. Its a cheesecake recipe I got off pinterest. Can I just say Yum! I've never made cheesecake before but this was a hit for Kimball and I. It was just the right serving size too, filled in a chocolate egg. I think the kids would have preferred ice cream, but they tried hard to pretend. (We've been working on not complaining at dinner. My favorite phrase Kaden has come up with is "its not as good as I expected, but I still like it. Coming from the mouth of Kaden I take that as a five star critique!)<br />
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<br />Ashley Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10643863833800131375noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968603791308199395.post-50239372888217556572012-04-22T20:40:00.001-06:002012-04-22T20:40:27.225-06:00Cherry Blossom Festival<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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For adventure number two we decided to go down to D.C. for the Cherry Tree Festival. When we found out we were moving lots of people told me about the Cherry Tree's in D.C. Apparently its a really famous thing that people from all over the world come to see, though to be honest I had no idea what it was. Don't worry I did my homework. I guess it started in 1912 when the mayor of Tokyo gifted the country with over 3000 Cherry trees as a symbol of their growing friendship. The trees were planted and have been celebrated every year since.<br />
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It really was beautiful! The weather wasn't cooperating, but despite the drizzle/downpour we were still able to see plenty. This was my first trip to D.C. and it was amazing! The trees are mostly planted around the Tidal Basin so we only saw the monuments that circle around it. We started with the Jefferson Monument. This was by far my favorite. Its just so beautiful and powerful I guess. That sounds weird, but it was! This was Kaden's favorite too. I think he mostly liked all the stairs and columns, but I'm still glad we agreed. He was so funny the entire time. Someone gave him a map and from that point on he was The Navigator. (The kid is really into maps.)<br />
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From there we walked to the Roosevelt Monument. This was pretty too, but not nearly as impressive in my opinion. Plus it had a few quotations Kimball and I thought were a little interesting. "Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Worship, Freedom from Want, Freedom from Fear." Freedom from want, and fear...really? But that's a whole other post. <br />
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Last we saw the Martin Luther King Jr. monument. I thought they did a good job on this one. I wish I had taken a picture of the main phrase they used because I liked it, but I can't remember it. Something about hard things coming out of a mountain. I was expecting it to look weird. Kimball and I had heard lots funny things that went wrong in the making of the monument, but either they fixed all of them or they were never really bad to begin with because I didn't notice anything strange.<br />
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After that we started getting rained out and the kids were exhausted so we headed back to the car. I'm looking forward to visiting again when its not so busy. With the festival going on there were way too many people to take our time with anything, or maybe it was the rain. Either way I'm looking forward to bringing all my soon to be visitors back sometime. Hint, hint. Plus, I haven't seen the Lincoln monument yet and that's the one I was most looking forward to! To say it simply, its going to take a long while before we are done with D.C.<br />
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In case any of you want to see the Cherry Trees some year here are my two bits: Either be flexible or don't make your enjoyment require you see the blossoms in full force. I stalked the peak blooming dates for weeks deciding when we should go see them. Our plan was to go just before the peak season began. Hopefully catching a ton of blooms, but before the crowds were bad. The day before we went I rechecked the dates and surprise! They had changed the peak blooming date to be that weekend! It worked out great for us, because we got even more blossoms than expected, but what if we had planned to go during the previous peak days? We might have completely missed them! D.C. has a lot to see, but I think if I had bought plane tickets to see the blossoms only to arrive and see them nearly gone I might be a little sad. My last bit is to expect a lot of people. It was ridiculously crowded. Kimball visited last August and said he had the monuments to himself. I can't wait to go back sometime after tourist season. That's all the preaching I have today so I'll shush myself now.<br />
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Love and miss you all!</div>
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Ashley</div>
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<br />Ashley Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10643863833800131375noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968603791308199395.post-78219059412068715882012-04-10T18:42:00.000-06:002012-04-10T18:42:08.175-06:00Chesapeake BayOur first adventure was to Sandy Point National Park, right on the Bay. <br />
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The high points: <br />
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Beautiful!! The beach has the perfect view of the bridge and it is amazing! I have no idea how long this bridge is, but it seems to go on forever. Kimball and I have seen a few bridges including the Golden Gate, in San Francisco, but we both agree the Chesapeake Bridge takes the cake.<br />
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Quiet. We were the only people there that day so it was kind of cool., I've heard that once the weather warms up though this is by far the most popular beach in the area, so I don't think I can count on peace and quiet next time.<br />
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The low points:<br />
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Freezing!!!! Earlier that week the weather had been unseasonably warm, up in the 80's, so we decided it would be fun to go to the beach that weekend. We really should have checked the weather first. That day the temperature plunged back to the 40's. We weren't expecting to go frolic in the water or anything, but we had hoped to spend a couple hours enjoying the sand and the view. Nope, my poor kids had their winter coats on and were absolutely frozen. We didn't even get Savannah out of the car. This probably had something to do with how deserted the place was. In fact I'm sure it was the only reason, who else is crazy enough to go to the beach when its 45 degrees out!<br />
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The cost. :( Since our visit was so early in the season we only paid $3 for the car, but once things warm up the price jumps to $6 a head. Ouch! I'm trying to find another beach that isn't so pricey, but so far no luck. Don't worry though. I'm very determined, so I'm sure if there's another option I'll find it! Should anyone have some advise for me on this matter I'd love the help.<br />
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Overall, it was still a fun adventure. Kaden asks every weekend if we can go back to the beach, but until the weather gets a little warmer he's just going to have to wait and save up his pennies for the admission!Ashley Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10643863833800131375noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-968603791308199395.post-87201398871999577352012-04-09T19:59:00.000-06:002012-04-09T19:59:50.559-06:00The Move to MarylandAll right. I know I have some explaining to do. Almost no one knew we were moving to Maryland, mostly because until a week before the move Kimball and I weren't sure it was happening either. We knew there was a possibility for a few weeks before, but we were always told someone else had to give the okay until one morning Kimball finally received his orders requiring him to check in the day before. That's not even me trying to make a point, Kimball was seriously a day late the morning he received his orders.<br />
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Kimball called in and explained that since we lived in Utah we would need at least a few days to get out there. They gave him about a week and a half. So that afternoon we bought a bigger car to haul the family across country and I scoured the internet looking for a place to live. It was probably about three days later that we began our 35 hour road trip. <br />
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The trip was actually a lot easier than I expected. Kimball is a marathon driver it turns out. Over the whole trip I only drove for about 3 hours. We listened to audio books the whole way and thanks to our awesome new car the kids were able to watch movies and even play the wii. It cracked Kimball and I up because most times we stopped the kids would complain about us interrupting their game or something. Apparently its a different world now, but at least it helped the trip go by smoothly. Savannah was the only thing dragging down our time on the road. We had to stop at least every four hours during the day to feed her. All in all, she did great too and it was probably the best thing for everyone to get out and stretch.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The kids had a cush ride. Poor Savannah! You can see how things piled up around her.</td></tr>
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The first day we made it just outside of Independence, MO. We woke up the next morning and did a little site seeing. Kimball was born in Independence so we drove through his old neighbourhood and even stopped at the house he was born in. The family who lives there now let him walk through and see the room again. It was a fun little detour. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Independence, MO LDS Temple</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kimball was born right inside those upstairs windows!</td></tr>
</tbody></table>After that we headed on to St. Louis. This was a really cool city to drive through. We didn't stop to save time, but I got to see the arch from the car! Woo-hoo!!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">St. Louis, MO LDS Temple</td></tr>
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By the time we got to Nashville it was dark, but it looked like it was probably a neat place to see. We finally finished day 2 of driving at about 2am in Johnson City, TN. Kimball's brother Warren, sister SaraLyn, not to mention oddles and oddles of fun cousins all live near here. We had so much fun! Kaden is crazy about Warren's boys and had the best time wrestling with them on the trampoline. Jo had fun just having so much attention, and I don't know that Savannah cared either way about the whole thing, but she probably liked being out of the carseat! Two days later we piled ourselves back in the car to finish the last leg of our drive. I'm proud to say that in a 35 hour drive we made it about 34.5 hours without incident. Unfortunately about a half hour away Jocilyn got car sick and threw-up all over herself. When we finally made it to Odenton (our town), we toured two town homes signed the lease on one and kicked the realtor out the door so that we could give Jo a bath. The last 30 minutes were nothing if not eventful, but we did it!<br />
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Now that we're here we're working to make it home. Kimball and I aren't sure how long we'll be in MD, we would like it to be for a while, but with our track record who knows. Kimball loves his job! He's working hard and doing great from what I hear. Kaden is having a great time at school. Jo and I walk him to school every morning while Savannah helps Dad get ready for work. When I pick Kaden up at the end of the day he always has a bunch of friends saying good bye to him which eases my worries a ton. Jo stays home with me and Savannah each day, but I'm working on getting her in preschool and hopefully some dance lessons soon. I'm keeping myself busy just getting unpacked and trying to get things in order. Almost every weekend we've gone out for an adventure somewhere. Maryland has been a fun place so far, so I'm counting on having a lot of family come to visit, hopefully this will help bridge the gap a little.Ashley Joneshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10643863833800131375noreply@blogger.com2