Crazy Kids!

What have we been up to this summer?? Well, here are a few pictures to satisfy your curiosity!

Here is our lil' cowboy cousin posing! Can you guess who he is?

This is one of our crazy family photos taken at Weston's 8th grade graduation and Elise's 12th grade gradution!!

Ok, so one time when Weston was a little bored this summer. . . .


If we've told them once, we've told them twice. . .

NO MORE MONKEYS JUMPING ON THE BED!!!

(Busted!!!)

Hope you are having a fun summer!

(Oh, and if you are a Jones or Hansen kid reading this--update your blog!!

Some of them are 3 months old!!!)

More Summer!

Some bittersweet moments from our summertime.

Jess and Beth with their former stepfather Kevin--

a meeting of forgiveness and healing.

Kevin, Kalin & Kelsen reunited.

Kevin, Kelsen, Jessica, Bethany, Kalin, Kelli

we met for a sad event--Kiersten's funeralin Simi Valley, CA

Sometimes Summer is Fun!

Bryn snugglin' in grama's bed with her big teddy bear and a soda--what could be better?!


Actually snugglin' with Grama! That's what could be better!!

GRANDKIDS ROCK!!!

Summer in Southern Arizona!

A Corny Poem

by Kelli

Summer in Southern Arizona is always hot,

sometimes the clouds come through and then it's not.

We love it when the clouds bring rain,

But then we get muddy streets--what a pain!

I guess the weather never makes us happy,

So why do we live in Arizona? Cause we're all a little daffy!

A Monsoon is A'Brewin'

Grama Higgi gettin' some lovin' from Natty, Leesy and Beth

The Jones family "unposing"

The Jones family "posing"

Can you tell the difference????

Summers are always crazy at our house. Weston just turned 14 and went on a "High Adventure" trip with the teacher's quorum to Roosevelt Lake. He jet skied, water skied, fished and camped for 4 days. Now he thinks he is a pro water sports dude!! (He probably IS better than any of us--but don't tell him that!!) Elise is getting ready to move to Thatcher to start her first year of college! Go Elise!! Natalie is writing a book which she hopes to finish by the end of the summer. Get ready to read! Kelli is catching up on all the things she put off during the school year and poor Craig STILL has to go to work every day. We feel sorry for him but are glad he is willing to do it! June is almost over and that means 1/2 of summer is already gone :-( How does it always go sooo fast??!! Enjoy what's left of yours everybody!!

7 down, 4 to go!!

Vanessa and Nolan Got Married!

April 29, 2010 @ 4:30 pm.

It was a beautiful wedding and a beautiful day!

Vanessa poses with the 5 grandgirls in their special dresses Aunt Rachelle made!

The Whole Gang on the Mesa, Az Temple steps

A New Family Picture

Seven Down, Four To Go!!!

And as an extra sidelight--there are 2 more grandbabies "in the oven" due to arrive before 2010 is out!!!

#5 Granddaughter Arrives March 29

Little Elliotte Joy Hurd made her arrival into this world on Monday March 29th! We are so excited to meet her when the Hurd family comes down for Vanessa's wedding at the end of April. Speaking of the wedding, Nolan Hatch will join our family when he and Vanessa are married on April 29th. 2 additions to our family with 1 month--that's awesome!! We are excited to see all of our family as all the Jones and Hansen kids are expected to come for the wondrous occasion! Even Grama and Grampa Jones are flying in from CA!!
We are dilligently trying to fix up our back yard for the reception but the weeds are trying to take over! Maybe the guests won't notice the weeds with all the sparkly lights and pretty wedding decorations! Our next post will include some family reunion & wedding pictures.
Happy April to everyone!

We Have Grass!

After 2 backbreaking days of hard labor, our backyard finally has grass (no, you can't hide your weed in there!!)! Thursday 2/4 night at 8:30 our sod arrived from the Phoenix valley. We were supposed to get it the week before, but we'd had so much rain that it was too wet to harvest---so we had to wait a week. Craig took off work Friday and Natalie volunteered to skip school so those 2 and Kelli worked on putting the sod down until it was too dark to see anymore. On Saturday, Craig and Kelli finished up the job as all 3 kids had "prior comittments" and couldn't help. It's being watered 3 times a day for a total of 45 minutes and it had BETTER stay GREEN since it is winter grass overplanted on summer grass! WE ARE EXCITED!! The dogs love it too!

It's 2010!!

Happy 2010!!
The week after Christmas we traveled to So. Cali to visit Grandma and Grandpa Jones in Canoga Park. It was a very fun visit especially for Elise who hadn't seen her G & G or her Cali friends in over 6 months. As usual, Grandma Jones had some delicious homemade chicken noodle soup ready for us when we arrived at their house at about 7 pm on Sat. Dec. 26th! YUMMY!
On Sunday we went to church with G & G and Elise connected with a few of her church friends and Natalie and Weston got to meet them. Later that evening we got to visit with Warren and Lynn, Brad, Lindsay and Sam when they came over to have dinner with us.
Monday we took a drive through Topanga Canyon to the ocean. Elise wanted to take some senior pictures in a natural setting, so we brought the camera. It was wonderful to smell the ocean breezes again. I decided that I need a yearly vacation to the ocean/beach to get rejuvinated! Here are some pictures from the beach.






Elise and the beautiful pacific ocean.

Natalie enjoying the sand and surf!

3 Joneseys lovin' life. Who is the tallest now??!!

Kelli wasn't feeling her best, but she enjoyed being at the beach from the car!

On Tuesday we went to California Adventure and spent a whole day there. The first ride we went on was the whitewater rafting one and we all got wet, but Kelli and Elise got the wettest--yuck! It took us all day to totally dry out! Later that night, Natalie and Kelli even rode the Tower of Terror and lived!! (yes, they thought they were gonna die and were surprised when they didn't!!) Weston, Elise and Craig went on the fast roller coaster that shoots the riders out at 5o mph. They said it was "no big deal"! Weston and Elise rode the Maliboomer and came back with green around the gills but they wouldn't admit it!! All in all we had lots of fun and don't need to go back for another 5 years!

Wednesday found us helping G & G get their Christmas decorations down and put away. While we were doing that, Elise and Natalie went with Elise's friends Raul and Jason to "hang." It was a rainy day but they went to a park and hiked a hill to see the view from the top anyway. Both girls came home with muddy shoes and pants and lots of fun stories to tell!

New Years Eve was spent playing card games with Brad, Vicky, and Sam. Elise and Natty went to a dance in Arcadia with some Young Women friends and had a blast. We all stayed up till midnight and then listened to all the gunshots going off in SoCali! We didn't dare venture outside, but enjoyed the "festivities" from grandma and grandpa's warm, cozy home!

Friday, we drove back t AZ to get ready for the groundbreaking of the new St. David chapel and then work and school--the vacation's over!!