Love, Love, Love. All You Need Is Love

We have decided to stay in California. Chez loves his job and is doing so well and we love the weather and the endless possibilities of things to do for fun with our kids. We feel so blessed to have been chosen to move here and grateful for this new chapter in our lives. Count your blessings name them one by one. I have to say after this very rough summer in so many many ways, this song rings true to me. I've failed to count my blessings and have LST negativity in our trials this past summer bring me down. I'm now counting my blessing and thanking my heavenly father for all he has given us including trials for without them I would not learn. I'm so in love with my husband. I've never felt so in love and close to him and its through our past trials I've been able to feel the way I do now. I love my children with all my heart and I'm dedicated to learn patience with them, and teach them through love. Those two angels have me wrapped around their fingers. Its another blessing I have to count for their happiness and health. I truly feel blessed to have such wonderful family and friends who have always been by my side in support and in giving great advice and love. My list of blessings is ever growing and I vow to never lose sight of what's important, never take these blessings for granted, and always express my gratitude for these blessings. We are adjusting well as a family here in California for sure. I'll have more to come later and pictures :).

life as a californian

Well we have lived in California for a month now. It didn't take any time to grow used to it. What's there not to love about here?! I have a never ending list of things to do here and we have had a blast. One of my best friends lives here too and her kids and my kids are very close. It has been so fun. I definitely miss vegas though and all my peeps. I've decides to visit every couple of months though. Some intense things that have happened in California thus far are shaving off the tip of my thumb and getting stitches. Most painful experience of my life no joke. We also experienced 2 earthquakes within 24 hours with the magnitude of 4.5. Luckily earthquakes here are about as common as a cloud in the sky. Apparently so Cal had 70 earthquakes yesterday. I felt maybe one. All of the newer buildings here ate built on special seismic rollers so we are completely safe unless standing next to a shelf with heavy things on it or stuff of that nature. I was in worse earthquakes growing up in Seattle. Chez is enjoying his job. He hates to brag but he's one of the best in his industry. We are constantly reminded of what a blessing this job has been. I'm so proud of chez for all of his hard work and dedication. Before I close this post I just wanted to congratulate all of my family and friends who have babies on the way. Must be that time of year. Definitely a great time in your life to experience motherhood and pregnancy.

Tornado

I feel like the past month has been a whirlwind of events thus my title, Tornado. We knew Chez was offered a job in California but we were not sure when exactly he would be able to start work. Since we had our house all through the summer we thought we would plan 2 weeks of vacation. The first trip was the kids and I to Oregon to meet my parents for a Craig family reunion/50th wedding anniversary celebration for my very fun and cute 80 year old uncle. Then it was to Seattle to see the rest of my family and from Seattle to Utah to meet with Chez and then a drive to Idaho to meet with the Jones Family for the 4th of July. The trips were fun but on our trip to Idaho we received a phone call from our landlord that changed our plans drastically. He basically called to tell us we had less than a week to move out. What?! We knew he had the house on the market in a short sale and we knew there had been multiple offers but we had no idea it was actually closing. He had never updated us. We were frantic. Our landlord gave us an extra week but basically told us we absolutely had to be out on the 17th of July. That gave us two weeks to head home, pack up our entire house, find a new place to live, and move on with our lives. However it was much more difficult than that. Moving is already hard enough but these next details I will explain makes this move far harder than any other we have had (and we have moved a lot). Basically we found out Chez needed to start his job in California immediately when we returned from Idaho. So the day we flew home, the second we walked in the door to our house, Chez hopped in the car and drove down to California leaving all the packing to me. Packing is already hard enough but add into that two very young kids and one who broke his foot in Yellowstone a few days prior and it is a lot harder. In between all the packing and cleaning I made sure to play with the kids and get them out of the house for ice cream and donut runs. My birthday was stuck in the middle somewhere in all of the chaos and I never really did get a proper celebration but mom and dad Jones did sing me happy birthday with brownies and a gift in Idaho plus my parents sent me an incredibly gorgeous boquet of flowers so it wasnt a total bust but I was kind of sad. A week after Chez left I drove down to look at houses with him. We found some beautiful houses but they were either too far from work or already taken so it wasn't a very successful trip. With our time in the Vegas house coming to an end quickly I hurried back to Vegas to finish packing and we decided to just get a very temporary apartment while we got to know the area, made sure this was the right job, and found the best neighborhood and school. All the apartments were either long term leases or taken. However, the last apartment on my list was available for a 3 bedroom townhouse with a month to month lease and happened to be 2 minutes from work. Can't beat that. So once the Uhaul was loaded up, I drove down with the kitties and Kenna and signed a lease on the townhouse. A relief right? Kinda. Obviously with how crazy things had already gone with this move it wouldnt get any easier. We had nobody to help us move and Chez couldnt take any days off of work to move us until his days off so we stayed in the resort in a two bedroom condo that Chez's friend/employee was also staying in with his son and nephew. So Chez, the kids and I shared a King sized bed and everyday after work until his days off we played tourists and went to disneyland and the beach. Luckily we did have a nice resort to stay in. This huge shopping plaza with a parking garage gave us permission to park our extra large uhual out front of the garage in a secured area thank heavens! On Chez's day off we found some great movers and moved a small fraction of our furniture into the townhouse since we are only staying here until September while we figure everything out. So we have a storage in Vegas with a ton of furniture in it and a storage in California with more furniture in it. We finally got our cable hooked up today and I unpacked the few boxes we brought in. This townhouse and apartment complex is really nice though so I am happy. I am still stressed though becuase we have to move AGAIN in a month as well as get Kingston registered in Kindergarten somewhere asap. I need a lot of luck! Luckily it is the summer and school hasnt yet started which makes things a lot easier. I hope all of you are having a good summer :). I have an overload of pictures from all our travels and moving adventures

facebook

Dear friends and family, this may come as a shocker but I broke up with Facebook ;). Too much for me and I needed to add more privacy to my life. But don't worry, I will be updating my family info here on the blog. Life is to be celebrated and rejoiced. Keep calm and carry on and don't let the negative into your lives. For a quick update, the Jones family is off to California. A new adventure awaits. Happy summer everyone!

A Line From Elf

"I'm in love I'm in love and I don't care who knows it!". I have this line stuck in my head today. I think its because I'm truly very deep in love with my husband. We have been through so much and have grown incredibly and I can't help my feelings. Well ironically enough while kenna and I were getting ready for bed, we asked Kingston to bring us the DVD player and a movie. Strangely enough he brought us Elf. Coincidence? Perhaps but I'm of the mindset that things happen based on how you're running your personal universe. Not only was I already giving out positive energy through my loving thoughts but lately I've been trying to take life so easy and light hearted and this movie is definitely funny, light hearted, and loving in its overall message. So there you have it. I'm in love!

gratitude

I have not been the most grateful person the past few years abd ive been stuck in a rut of dwelling on thibgs that are not going right in life rather than the things that are good and positive. Its true that the older you are the wiser you are but i do belueve that comes with accepting your faults and mistakes and learning from them. Ive been reading a really good book my counselor suggested called the power. It has been a huge eye opener. Sometimes the answer to every problem is the most obvious thing. Basically the book teaches you how to love amd ignore the things that are negative. It teachesthat in life you get what you give. If you give love you recieve love. And it teaches the law of attraction. If you dwell on negativity and give out negativity, you will atrract negativity. I cant stress enough how amazing this book is. I love it. Im trying very hard to learn better how to master my oen universe and gave ahappuer life. Im grateful through the love of myself, god, and the love of those who want to teach, i will continue on a path of success. I know there will be bad timea but its how i handle them that matter. Seeing the good in everything and ignoring thr negative things that try and bring me down. Im trying to teach my children this and now teaching them discipline through this love and positivity. I just wanted to share this on my blog today. Im so grateful for my friends and family who love me and bring light into my world and oddly enough i am grateful for thr negative people ive encountered in life because they have taught me that nrgativity will only bring you sadness. I am also grateful for this beautiful world in whifh we live. Everyday i take advantage of the little thibgs such as red rock canyons i can see from my windows in my house and the blue skies i wake up to every morning. I love my comfortable bed and i am grateful i live in america where we can have so many conveniences such as soft brds, pillows, air conditioning in the house, fresh and safe water from the tap, toilets that flush, warm water for showers.....the list is never ending. My hoal is to take a moment each day to appreciate everything good around me. The more wr conce trate on the beauty around us , the less we focus on thr chatter going on in our heads. Often the chatter in my head is my mind replaying arguments or things that went wring that day. All of which are not necessary to think about and only bring about negative feelibgs and thoughts. I meed to learn to get co trol over my brain anf be more grateful. Cheers to a summer coming up full of beautiful sunny days and fun times. I love you all and thank you for sharing my blog with me.

What's New

It has been quite a while since I have posted here. I have been checking all of your blogs though. I love reading about all the fun things you guys do. Life is meant to be enjoyed and at the same time, life happens and we learn to deal with it. The past couple of months have really just been a whirlwind. So much going on. Some good some bad. Since Cabo I will, do my best to update on various things that have happened around here: March was birthday month. So many birthdays in the family. Kingston turned the big 5! The kid had a crazy growth spurt too. We chart his height on the wall in the office and within one month, he grew almost 2 inches. The kid is already so tall. At this rate he will pass me in a year. I don't yet know his growth percentile but I will find out next week. I know to some people the whole percentile stuff is silly but I love to keep track of it. He has always amazed me with his growth since I am only 5'4". Kenna is pretty tall too though so they are getting it from somewhere. His birthday was a star wars themed birthday. I made the cake which was pretty amateur but he absolutely loved it. He and I stayed up until midnight constructing it together. All of his little friends came over and we had papa johns pizza, rainbow cupcakes, and chocolate cake. Chez and I went all out this year and got Kingston his first bike with training wheels, a train table set that fits nicely in the living room, and everything star wars from bedding to pillows and toys. At the end of March, the kids and I went on our biannual trip to Seattle to visit the Craig family (my family). We stayed for 10 days and had a really great time. The weather was mostly dreary but lately I have been making these trips to Seattle really fun. We did something fun everyday. One day we went to this cool place for kids inside the Supermall where they have those bouncy castles. We went there with Kingston and Kennas little cousins. They are all the same age which is really nice. Anotehr day we went to the pacific science center which was the coolest place ever! I loved that day. We also went to the Childrens museum in Seattle which also was pretty amazing. I will for sure be visisting these places again. I took my niece to the Hunger Games movie. She is 12 and had requested to see it. I have never read those book and I had absolutely no idea what I was in for. I was completely shocked and flabbergasted by this movie. I couldn't get it out of my head for days. Oddly enough, I think I actually like it. It was for sure disturbing but I am anxious to see what the next movie will be like. Coming home from Seattle back to the Vegas warmth was so nice. After a while, the rain kinda gets to ya. April so far has been crazy but mostly good. Unfortunately a few days ago our kitty came up missing and I am pretty confident this neighbor did something to him. A lot of evidence to support it and I am deeply saddened. Luckily my kids understand that when people an danimals die, their spirits go to heaven and they become angels that watch over us. I am still really upset about him being gone though. He was our family member who will be greatly missed. This month we decided we needed to take advantage of the amazing vegas spring before hot summer comes. All of us got brand new bikes to ride. I am a little rusty at rididng and I have a super sore bum already but I will get it down (hopefully). I also got the kids a red wagon that has a roof for Easter. I have developed a problem in my back that causes severe pain so I have had to discontinue my kickboxing. I have unfortunately gained about 3 pounds (silly I know) but I like to feel in shape. The wagon so far has been a great workout for me and easy on my back. Pulling the kids around the neighborhood in it has been so great. We love it. Easter was really fun for us. I did a big easter egg hunt for the kids. Tradition when I was a kid was finding the eggs that were filled with knickels, dimes, and quarters. This is the third year in a row where I have done the same for my kids. Both kids have piggy banks and Kingston will actually be able to open his own savings account here very shortly. He/we have been saving for him in his piggy since he was born. The kids also got these cool huge Mickey and Minnie easter baskets filled with books, movies, candy, and a couple small toys including kites. We were able to fly the kites just a couple of days ago and it was a blast. Kenna is like a little pro. It was so cute watching her with her princess kite flying high in the sky. We also had a short visit from our family in town from London. It was very brief but enough to get a good visit in. Coming up we have a trip to the beach and disneyland, house hunting (our landlord is short selling this house), building my catering business more and more (lots of new recipes and baking), and seeing a specialist for my back (I have a bulging disk and curve or dent in my spine beyween my shoulder blades). Cute new things the kids have done: Kenna- she is a little princess. She only wears princess dresses and costumes. She is the sweetest little angel in the entire world and I cannot imagine my life without her. She recently decided to let me start curling her hair in little shirley temple curls. She sits still the entire time which usually takes a good 20 minutes. Just yesterday at swimming lessons kenna learned to back float/swim all by herself. She swam all the way to the wall. These private swimming lessons have most definitely paid off. Kingstin has an acting teacher who was a performer on the Disney Wiggles show. Kenna has taking a major liking to her. She is the sweetest lady in the world. She loves kenna so much. I have decided that her and I need to have playdates because we have we have so much in common. She has started a new class called Princess Dance and Kenna will definitely be in it. She keeps asking, "can we go to my pwincess cwass?" So cute. Love that little angel. Kingston- He is learning so much. I cannot believe he starts kindergarten this year. He has learned how to count to easily 1,000, and also learning to read small words. He loves all of his little preschool classes and other activity classes. He has a big heart and a big imagination. He is so smart and will definitely teach me a lot in life. He and I have recently taken up a hobby. We are slowly building a garden. We have so far, sunflowers, watermelon, and pumpkins. A few days ago we planted flowers, corn, carrots, and tomatoes. I love that he is into this. My mom had a huge garden when I was young and I would love to have somewhat of a garden.He and Kenna are so different but they each bring such a light into our home. He is my little buddy and we have a good bond.

Cabo

What can I say? A week of relaxation. I don't have much time at all to update these days so this will be as quick as possible:

Day 1: Arrive to San Jose Del Cabo and shuttle to the Fiesta Americana. Head to the beach and hang with our friends. A little "alone time", and then beach side dinner hosted by the wonderful employees of the resort and paid for by Wyndham. Early night to SLEEP!

Day 2: Boys golf day and girls talk, laugh, and sit by the pool day. Boys met up with us around 4:30 and then we all went to get ready for "dine around Cabo" where the company divides the guests by alphabetical order and we go to various restaurants in the town. So, we went with the other people in our alphabetical order to a very classy restaurant. The food was perfect. A succulent fish for me with a side of jasmine rice and a pear and yam soup and a fillet of beef for chez with creamy mashed potatoes. Then back to the resort and into bed we went.

Day 3: I forgot to mention, every morning I went to the gym and worked out on the elliptical trainer. What a workout! This day we headed to downtown Cabo on the beach. This is more of a party area. We had fun. Rode wave runners, ate, sunbathed, shopped, and took a glass bottom boat out to the famous rock formations. Once late afternoon came, we went back to the resort, changed into our formal attire, and headed to the awards ceremony. Amazingly delish food. A cheese and ceviche ravioli starter followed by a spinach and pear salad, then a fantastic and tender filet minon and lobster tail with mashed potatoes, and to finish it off, a chocolate and raspberry mousse. After the awards, we headed off to bed.

Day 4: Beach day. We hung out at the beach, walked the beach gathering shells and found a few spots where there were a ton of black crabs. That was cool. We really just relaxed this day then headed to a Valentine's dinner that was ocean side. We were going to go to downtown cabo with everyon else this night but I stepped on glass and had a "minor" surgery right in front of the food buffet and plus Chez was exhausted so we headed to bed.

Day 5: Deep sea fishing day for my husband and our friends. I declined this trip beacause the last time we went, I was very sick. Luckily I missed out on this one because out of the 11 people on the boat, only 4 did not throw up. Instead, I hung out by the beach, slept in, worked out, and did absolutely NOTHING. That was nice. That night we did a beach dinner hosted by RCI which was good and then of course as goes every last night of Presidents Club, there were amazing fireworks over the ocean. Then to bed we went

Day 6: going home day. We started out with a brunch hosted by Wydham, then we hung out at the beach with our friends until we had to head for the airport. We bought all of our souveniers at the airport and away we went. Couldnt wait to see my babies. The reunion was magical.

Now we are home and getting back into our routine until our next mini vaca to not only but yes, Disneyland. Just so everyone knows, my husband works from 7 am to 6-7 pm 5 days a week so these vacations are needed. And of course, he has to practice what he preaches! I am so not complaining. We have Kingston's 5th birthday coming up in a few weeks as well as mine and Chez's 6 year marriage anniversary. March is always a crazy busy month for vacations, birthdays, and anniversary.

Disney Will Never Get Old

Surprising the kids with Disneyland never gets old. This time I went and bought these super cute Disney suitcases for the kids. We are taking them Monday but this time they will have no idea. Somehow these suitcases are going to surprise them but I haven't yet figured out how. Maybe a scavenger hunt while we are driving there and then have Chez hurry and place the suitcases somehwere on one of our stops for the kids to find. That will really get them guessing but they won't know for sure until we pull up to the condo. I don't know ill think of something. I am super excited though. Disney never ever gets old to us and the weather should be in the high 70's. Good fun. After this trip we will be dropping the kids off with grandparents and heading to cabo san Lucas. Our one trip a year without the kids and a glorious one at that. I love that my husbands company has presidents club. Always something to look forward to. Anyway, I will post about how the Disney surprise went and what we decided to do.

Christmas and New Years

It has been a month since I have updated the blog about the family. December is always a fun month with holiday parties, vacations, and fun Christmas activities. We had a great month. This was our first Christmas as a family of 4 by ourselves without being at one or the other's parents house or in Cancun. I was excited to start some traditions. On Christmas eve we had our closest friends come over to eat and play games. I had a big buffet display of yummy finger foods. After they left, we opened our Christmas Eve pj's and headed to bed anxiously awaiting Santa's arrival. The next morning, I was the first to wake up (at 8:30 am). Kenna then woke up at 9 am and we waiting almost an hour and a half for the boys to wake. Finally around 11, we opened presents. The kids got everything they wanted and they had a blast. Funny story: when we were at Disneyland, Santa was there. He asked Kingston what he wanted for Christmas and Kingston just froze (kinda like that scene on A Christmas Story where Ralphie froze when sitting on Santa's lap and could only muster out that he wanted a football but what he really wanted was a red rifle bebe gun). So finally Kingston said, "a car". That is definitly not what he wanted. So santa repled, "what about a bouncy castle". Whoa whoa what! I told Kingston Santa was just joking because there was no way he could fit one on his sleigh. Well, a few days before Chrismtas I was at Target and saw a bouncy castle on clearance for only $99! I hadn't even been looking for one. So on Christmas morning it was a great surprise for the kids when they saw the bouncy castle. Boy if I hadn't seen that castle, Santa would have been in trouble. Not even sure what made that Santa think it would be appropriate to suggest such a lavish item. Anyway, Santa really delivered for me. I had been wanting hair extensions for a while. Between hair color and having babies, my hair is sad these days. These extensions I got made my hair look long and healthy again. I am so happy about them.

On New Years we laid low. I actually took the kids to Target on New Years eve evening. With all the new toys I was going crazy with trying to keep organized. Therefore, I decided to buy a really nice organizing shelf to put in the playroom. I spent that evening putting it together and I felt SO much better to have the plaroom organized again. That night the kids did sparklers and pop its. Kenna went to bed early but the rest of us stayed up. We opened the window and had the Vegas fireworks display going on the tv while we heard them from the window. We all kissed and had flutes of sparkling cider and then went to bed. We are now looking forward to Disneyland in a couple of weeks and then dropping the kids off with grandparents and heading on a romantic week in cabo during valentines day. It is Presidents club through work so we are getting spoiled. Putting us all up in a 5 star resort and treating us like royalty the whole week. I cannot wait! I hope you all had a great holiday