Savannah's Medals

Savannah competed in her first tumbling meet January 23. She placed 7th in floor and...1st place on the trampoline!! Yea!! She is officially hooked on tumbling and was totally stoked. She called everyone she knows after the meet and clanked her medals together for them.

Here is a video of her competing on the trampoline...she did a great job, especially for her first meet, and we'll have to post more as she has several more meets this spring. (I apologize for the shaky video--Jessy was watching her, not the camera, since the first maneuver--the dreaded peanut roll--is tough and once you make a mistake, you are no longer scored.)



This video is of the first pass on the tumbling track. It was a roundoff and two back handsprings. The second pass was a running roundoff and four back handsprings, and since it was only her second time doing it, it wasn't perfect, but she did pull it off. She said we can upload a video of that from a different meet when she's more prepared.



We're so proud of her!!

Merry Christmas 2009!

We are slightly belated in our Christmas cards this year ... but, we did manage to put together a slide show of our 2009. Trey has been growing in leaps and bounds ... now 'running', playing with his brothers and sister, and actually started to sign so we can communicate (not to mention this cute little head nod that he does to indicate his agreement for something he wants.) Hunter has started preschool and loves anything Star Wars. He loves his little cousin Mia (who you will see in the photos) and they have good times fighting the bad guys. Collin is still our sports extraordinare and loves soccer, football and baseball. He is playing on an indoor league right now. Oh, and did I mention he loves everything BYU as well (although I did get him to root for Utah against Cal last night :) Savannah turned 8 this year and was baptized. She is on a competition tumbling team and Jessy coached her soccer team. Kelli is holding the fort as Mom with 4 munchkins running around. She is the activity days leader for the ward girls. She also finished her first triathlon this year and did a 5K. Jessy started a new job at a communications defense company in Salt Lake, accomplished his goal of a 100-mile bike ride and started a Fit Butt Fun family fitness club. He also did a week-long fishing trip with the scouts up in the Wind Rivers. We also made a family vacation to Disneyland, Sea World, San Diego Zoo and Universal Studios. On a sad note, Grandma (Dorothy) Jones passed away in November this year and we miss her tons but look forward to seeing her again.

We are all happy and healthy and wishing you a Merry Christmas and prosperous upcoming 2010. Paste the link in your browser and enjoy the show.
http://smilebox.com/playEmail/4d544d324e54517a
4e544a384d5449334
e4463324f54453d0d0a&sb=1

December Update!

We haven't been too good about keeping up the blog. I think Kelli mainly uses facebook and I just haven't been very good about getting things updated since returning back from Australia. I do miss documenting all the little things that happen, and now that we heaps of snow outside I have the only excuse I need not to work out in the yard! I'd like to say that life is settling down a bit, but that would reason for things to go crazy once again.

Since our last post quite a bit has happened. We took the kids down to southern California and did the Disneyland, Sea World, Universal Studios tour. Great times were had by all as we traveled with Kelli's sister Angie and her husband Robert and son Colton. We didn't go to the beach because the kids didn't want to get 'sand in their swimsuits' ... I guess that's what Savannah gets for rolling around in the surf the last few years down under.





The sad news from the past 2 months is that our Grandma Jones past away. Her and Grandpa Jones have been the lifeline of our family and it has been extremely hard to come to terms with the fact that she isn't with us in this life anymore. She always had a way of making people laugh and had a passion for her family. Things happened so fast as she struggled with gout and then a short month or two after being diagnosed with bone cancer she passed away. We all know she is free from her physical pains, but the hole she left in our lives will take a lot of time to heal; and even then something will always be missing. I guess, though, it just goes to show how much we all think of her.



I left my job at ATK over a month ago and started as a program manager at a different defense company local here to Salt Lake. We really like where we live so I don't see us moving any time soon, but the commute of ~50 minutes is a bear and a half. It's ok though - iPOD and talk shows are wonderful things :) Things are crazy at the new job, but it's a good crazy. I really like the people I work with and the technology is pretty darn amazing.

We just had our first big snow storm of the year last night and today. I finally got to break out my new snowblower, and it was a good thing we had it, too. The snow was about a foot and half deep and it was very, very wet. It took a long time with a snowblower and don't even want to think about how long it would have been without. Trey had his first opportunity to frolic the eskimo way and he didn't waste anytime. The kid is so darn stinkin' cute.






We ventured down to Provo for the Utah/BYU game. It was an awesome game, but unfortunately the Utes lost. I was somewhat torn because Collin stayed with his Uncle Chris the night before and met some of the BYU players in Chris' dorm. They said he could come down the locker room if things 'went well'. Since they won Collin got to go down on the field and mingle with the players. He was smiling from ear to ear :)




We also had some good friends over for a Christmas party. A shout out to our Aussie friends -- we introduced our friends to a bona fide Aussie quiz night. It was a good time and another huge benefit of being close to home is spending time with long-lost friends.

I am going to murder

my camera. And bury it. And then nibble on Trey because he is so

d e l i c i o u s
with his two new teeth, dirty knees, slobbery kisses and his newly-cut chicky fluff.
credit to Jenny for the photo as our camera is indisposed.

Pictures that have been missing from the past few posts ...

Summer of Fun!!

We've had plenty of fun this summer … unfortunately it looks like we've turned into once-a-month bloggers so our updates are few and far between. Nonetheless, let me bring you up to speed on what's been going on this past month. As Kelli mentioned, we were getting ready for 4^th of July festivities with the family. My brother and his family (Jacob, Robyn, Anna, Mia, Rya) came up and spent the weekend. We had tons of fun with water fights and the like. We spent the 4^th of July morning down in Kaysville where we watched a parade with the Jones family. The kids thoroughly enjoyed … the candy and free handouts … and it wasn't just laffy taffy either! Don't know what the world is coming to, but they were getting stuffed animals, necklaces … and Hunter even came away with a full-size basketball (granted WNBA, but who is complaining?) Then it was home to our house where we did a BBQ, set off some fireworks of our own and then watched the local fireworks from the backyard. It was a grand time and good opportunity to reflect on our freedoms and how much we have to be grateful for in this country of ours. It doesn't get much better than hamburgers, hot dogs, family and fireworks.

Going back a bit, we also had a party for Collin's soccer team. The local soccer league doesn't give out trophies, so we had the parents pitch in to get them some. After all, you can't have little boys going without trophies. Their faces say just how important it for them.

The kids also went to the Christmas Carol train (waited in line for 3 hours, but apparently it was worth it.) Savannah ran into her little friend from back in Albuquerque (Emma – who now lives in Morgan, about ½ hour away.)

 

We did a camping trip with the Whetstone family up at Monte Christo campground. Awesome area and very nice. The only downer occurred after we got back – we found out a couple weeks later that they are having bear problems around that same campground. Kelli is now determined to not go tent camping --- only if we get some sort of hard-wall trailer!

We also did the 1^st annual Jones family reunion at a campground resort near East Canyon reservoir. Robyn's family hooked us up and we had a good time doing dutch oven dinners, playing miniature golf, shuffleboard, tennis, and swimming. We also sneaked a little fishing and had some fun boating on the reservoir.

I spent a week up at scout camp with the scouts. We hiked them in about 7 miles up into the Wind Rivers. We had 11 boys and 4 leaders and it was a blast. The fishing was awesome (ever seen River Runs Through It – it was just about that.) We caught fish in about every way possible – of course fly fishing was the best.

Savannah can't wait for school to start again – she's very excited for her birthday in less than a week and can't wait to get baptized (which won't happen until October because of scheduling conflicts.) She's also excited to get her ears pierced which Mom said she could do once she turned 8. We'll see how that goes.

Collin plays as much as he can with Carson, his little neighborhood friend. Sports and Wii … 'nuff said. We've spent a couple summer nights at the local minor league ballpark. Pretty nice setting with the temple and mountains sitting just behind the centerfield fence.

Hunter is having a lot of fun just being Hunter. He is my little helper out in the yard pulling weeds, picking up worms to feed the frog and loves to ride in the play jeep and ride his bike. He likes it when Mom is his nursery teacher, but as soon as someone else comes in to teach --- watch out because it's not going to be pretty.

Trey is into everything and starting to teeth. He has skipped the entire mushy baby food phase and moved straight to steak and potatoes. Oh, and did I mention he loves ice cream (can blame Mom on that one.)

Kelli is keeping busy with the kids and teaching her 2 nights at the local community college. She's getting ready for a 5K race the middle of this month. I am busy with work, scouts and the kids. Excited to start coaching Savannah's soccer team this fall (Collin is playing with Carson's team and Carson's dad is going to coach them while I get neighborhood 8-year old girls …) Nathan (my brother) and I did our own triathlon at Pineview reservoir and he beat me by 30 seconds or so … that darn 4-minute lead on the swim was too much! There's also the 100-mile bike ride the beginning of September to look forward to.

So that wraps us up for the month of July. Hope everyone out there is doing well!