Introducing Brielle Makenzie Jones

I have gotten a little behind on our blog - Surprise! We have a new baby! On April 30, our sweet baby girl, Brielle Makenzie arrived. She was 6 lbs 6 oz and 20 inches long.



Still in the OR right after delivery...



Here's mommy in recovery, so happy to finally meet her little girl...



She is SO loved by everyone in our family. I have lots of great helpers!



Meeting Brad and Kaya for the first time...



And meeting Ashlyn...watch out Brielle!



Life is busy, but I am trying to relax and enjoy this sweet baby.

Brad turns 8!

In February, Brad celebrated his 8th birthday! His big present this year was going to watch BYU play in the MAACO bowl in Las Vegas a few weeks earlier.



He celebrated his actual birthday weekend with his buddy Kevin and had his first sleepover.




This was a special birthday for Brad because he was baptised the following month.



We were lucky to have lots of friends and family come to support him. It was a very special day for us and the spirit was very strong at his baptism. I hope that Brad will remember it always.

Halloween 2009!

I can't believe that Halloween has come and gone already! It seems like we were just enjoying summer! Now school is in full swing and the kids are both doing great in their classes.

A few days before Halloween, we made our traditional trip to the pumpkin patch.







Ashlyn really wanted to pet the chickens and Kaya liked the bunnies.




Kaya was Ariel this year. She was a beautiful mermaid.




Ashlyn was JoJo the Clown and was a hit with everyone.




And Brad would settle for nothing less than a BYU football player. Complete with authentic helmet and jersey. He looked great!




Grandma Kathie and Aunt Tiffany were with us the weekend of Halloween because Brenden and I were leaving for Maui on Monday morning. It was fun to have visitors with us for our Halloween festivities. We made a trip to Monterey in the morning and it was a beautiful day!



That evening, Matt and Corynne joined us for Trick or Treating. The kids got tons of candy as usual and had a great time.




Ashlyn was especially fun to watch since she was really excited about the idea of getting candy. She was very polite at each door and remembered to say Thank You and Happy Halloween. What a cute girl she is!

1st Day of School 2009!

Today was Brad's first day of 2nd grade and Kaya's first day of Kindergarten. Here they are!




And this is Ashlyn after we dropped Kaya off at school. Although, she was consoled by the fact that she can now trash her siblings' rooms while they are gone every day...

We Camped...

So, the Jones family has now been camping. We decided to end the summer with a bang and take the kids on a good old fashioned camping trip. I'll be the first to admit, I'm not much of a camper. I don't like being cold, and I don't like sleeping outside. But we were all good sports and we had a good time. We went with the Harman family which made the trip lots of fun - especially for the kids who loved being with their friends. Here are some of the highlights from our adventure.

Brenden borrowed a tent from a co-worker. I was impressed that he put it up quickly, with no instructions, and it stayed up all night! There were only 2 problems...the tent was on a bit of an incline, and we may have forgotten to clear the rocks underneath. An air mattress would have helped, but we didn't have a pump so it wasn't the most comfortable sleeping arrangement, but we survived.

Ta Da!


A camping trip would be incomplete without roasting hotdogs and marshmellows around the campfire.





After a terrible night sleep, the kids had fun making "deer bobbles" to wear on our hike...





...and then we spent the morning hiking (my favorite activity of the trip). The Harmans took us to the "ruins" of an old estate that was built over a century ago. The kids had a great time climbing around on the rocks and playing with sticks.




And here is a banana slug. We had never seen one before and the kids thought it was cool.



All in all, it was a good time. We might even try it again next summer...