Merry Christmas

We had a wonderful Christmas this year. Our family has been richly blessed and we were all so happy to be home for a snowy Christmas. Here is a clip of Christmas morning for our family.

(As with other video's we have posted, our videos are filmed in widescreen but somehow get compressed from the side when put into our blog. If anyone knows how to address this, let us know.)

Career News

So I was up for shareholder at Prince Yeates & Geldzahler this year. On Thursday, I was voted in as a shareholder of the firm. Needless to say, I am stoked. It is a great firm and I work with great people. Thanks to Kristen and the kids for their patience during many long nights working over the last year or so.

Daniel Jones Cub Scout

So on December 12, 2007, Danny went to his first pack meeting as a new Cub Scout. Danny was so excited.

Here is Danny with some of the kids in his Den laying down the Cub Scout Oath. Good stuff.


That is one good looking Cub Scout. How can we expect the ladies to resist?


Here is Dan receiving his Bobcat award from Pack Leader, next-door neighbor and all-around great guy, Brett Simpson.

We are very proud of Dan. He is growing up to be a wonderful young man.

Danny's Birthday - December 3, 2007

So Danny turned 8 on December 3. We had a little family shin-dig with cake and presents. Kristen also had a friends party a couple of weeks later. We were going to go rock climbing over at Momentum near REI, but when we got there the attendant told Kristen that all of the kid's parent's had to sign waivers in order to climb. Unfortunately, Kristen hadn't gotten these waivers due to a misunderstanding. She asked me if I could quickly draft up a document to allow us to take responsibility for any injuries to the kids instead of the gym (i.e. an indemnity agreement). Of course, talented attorney that I am, I could have easily whipped out an iron clad, bullet proof contract such as this in a matter of moments. However, my pen was out of ink. Oh, and also, I didn't want to be personally/financially responsible for a bunch of 8-year-olds breaking their necks. In any event, here are some more photos of Danny's family birthday party...

Mikey's Unusual Pet

It was "Unusual Pet" Day in Mikey's kindergarten class last week. Mike won the award for "Most Creative Pet". He insisted on his monster having 11 eyes instead of just 9 and 8 feathers instead of just 4. This, combined with the fact that his pet won the Most Creative Pet award has proven to Mikey that more is always better. Anyway, here are some pics.

The creative genius and his creation (Dad helped a little, but added the last five eyes under protest).


Here is a picture of Mikey's little monster with Mom and Dad's little monster.


The kids put on a little song and dance program for the parents at the pet show. As you can see, this was Mikey's favorite part of the day.

Sweet Home Chicago!

So Kristen and I were in Chicago from October 10th through 14th. It was a great trip and we saw a lot of great sites. We haven't been back since returning from our missions 15 years ago so it was great to refresh old memories.

Dan the Man - "Mr. Baseball"

Danny played machine pitch baseball this year and had a blast. His batting average was around .700 and he had a bunch of RBIs. He played shortstop most of the season and got a few outs as well. We are very proud of the Danny.

Here is one of Danny's hits.

And here is another at bat that required a bit more patience on Danny's part.

(Sorry that everything looks so skinny. The video was taken in 16:9 format but has been compressed to 4:3).

Kindergarten Mike

So Mikey had his first day of Kindergarten on Tuesday, September 4.

He was excited, but I think got a little nervous on the first day. He is having a good time and he has a great teacher. There is some punk kid who periodically will hit Mike. The other day Mikey told the kid "My dad said I could sock you if you hit me again." Hopefully that will work. Mikey can throw down when he needs to, just ask Danny.

Here is Mikey looking like he is all business and maybe even a little presidential... "I Like Mike!"

Flaming Gorge

So we went for a family camping/boating trip to Flaming Gorge at the end of August. It had been about 14 years since Kristen and I had been there and it was a first time for the kids (and the dog). It was a great time. I had forgotten how pretty it is up there. Here are a few pictures of the festivities. Many thanks to Grandma and Grandpa and Andrew and Chelsea for use of their cameras (we forgot to bring ours), and to Grandma and Grandpa for all the boat fun.

The two bulls were pretty stoked about going tubing, they couldn't get enough.
I ended up submarining Mikey at one point and he got a face full of lake... again, sorry about that Jub.

Mom and Abby got in on the tubing scene as well. Doesn't Kristen look comfortable? I think the feet belong to Kristen.
Annie had a great time at the lake and finally learned to swim (sorry, no pictures of this). Here she is taking a drink before taking off to harrass people at other campsites.

Dad and the Bean taking it easy and holding up the orange flag in the interest of safety.
Dad did get to waterski a couple of times, though it appears we have no photographic evidence of this. Also, Abby, Danny and Mikey each tried waterskiing and Mom and Dad are very proud that they chose to be so brave. I'm sure we'll get them up next year.

The Jones Family Blog: The Return - This time, its personal!

So we haven't posted anything in a long time. I know that our reading public has been disappointed, but I will not apologize. I think it has been for the best. Things had been getting a little too serious and moving a little to fast between the blog and the public and we really needed a cooling off period to slow things down.

Anyway, we have some catch-up items to post, so the foll0wing entries will do just that.

Daughter of Ace of Cakes

Not to be outdone by her mother, Abby came up with a wonderful cake on her own. Abby did all of the preparation, baking and decorating of this "Breakfast Cake" all by herself. We may want to think about starting a family business in case the lawyer thing starts getting tiresome. Well, here are a couple of pictures for your inspection...

Happy Birthday Mikey!

Well yesterday was Mikey's birthday party (his birthday is actually July 26). We had some folks over for a barbeque, ate some of Kristen's magnificent Star Wars cake and had an all around good time. Mikey got plenty of loot (much of it in the Star Wars vein) and seems to be happy that he is a 6-year-old. Here are some pictures of all of the wholesome family goodness...

Ace of Cakes

It looks like we have discovered yet another talent of our dear Kristen... cake decoration!


Mikey's birthday is today and he wanted a Star Wars theme for his birthday party on Friday. So Kristen came up with a battle scene from her imagination (not any of the movies) and cranked out this great big cake to bring it to life. Needless to say, Mikey is stoked...


Fortunately, Mikey is too young to realize that Mace Windu died before Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader and thus the two could not be fighting (you are correct, I am a knob). What Kristen lacks in Star Wars accuracy, she more than makes up for in artistry.


All of the other kids seem pretty excited about the cake too.

The Downhill Ordeal

So on Friday, July 20, Kristen and I went with our neighbor Matt Stockwell, his son Nate and his friend Parker, on a Snowbird Tram bicycle trip for Nate's birthday (Happy Birthday Nate). We all took our bikes up on the Tram and rode down. Kristen decided to go at the last minute. It was a lot steeper and more difficult than either of us anticipated. The trail was full of loose rocks and scree and we seemed to have a number of near misses.

Kristen's front tire popped about 1/8 the way down as we were descending into Mineral Basin. Fortunately, Matt had a spare and we got back on the trail fairly quickly. We kept descending and it kept getting steeper and more difficult (Kris and I really ground our brake pads down). About 1/3 of the way down, Kristen's front tire popped again and we didn't have a spare, so Kris and I started walking the bikes down, which was an enormous pain because of how steep the trail was. Fortunately, after walking about 1/4 mile, we met a Snowbird employee driving up the trail in a Suburban. We loaded Kristen and her bike in the Suburban and Kristen was able to catch a ride back to the summit and take the Tram back down. On their way back up the mountain, the Snowbird employee told Kristen that if the Suburban started to roll backwards, she should jump out of the truck because there was no way to stop it once it started a backwards descent. I think he was just trying to scare Krissy.

Meanwhile, I continued down with Matt and the kids. We made it down to the entrance to Bass Highway and turned off on the new trail. This about doubled the difficulty. It was mostly narrow single-track that was really rocky and technical. I nearly lost it several times. In retrospect, it was a total blessing that Kristen popped both those tires because I doubt she could have made it through this lower part of the trail uninjured.

In any event, we all made it down one way or another and, other than some scrapes and bruises on your's truly, we are none the worse for wear. Here are some pre-ride pictures, before our innocence was lost...

Primary Pioneer Parade

Our ward Primary had a children's parade in celebratin of Pioneer Day this morning. The kids (and the Dog) got dressed up as Pioneers. Here are the pictures.

Annie dressed up as a cow... Notice the makeshift udders... Apologies to Doug Horton, look what our beautiful Shorthair has been reduced to!


Eliza as a German Pioneer... I am not sure Germans were allowed to join the Church back in the old days.


Here is one of our kids and the neighbor kids ready to go... Dan and Mike are in T-Shirts, but the hats get across the idea...

Ellie in the back of the wagon bossing everyone around (as Germans are known to do)...
Here are the boys posing in front of the covered wagon... a lot of work went into this...

American Fork Steel Days

Missy and Ryan got a bunch of us together to go to Steel Days in American Fork. Basically it was a Ryan Shupe, Peter Breinholt, John Schmidt concert and it was a great time. Thanks to the Osborn's for spearheading the summer fun. Can I get a "Whoo Hooo"?


Michael was rockin' out like a mad man...

Eventually, everyone got in on the act...

Saturday at Snowbird

Well, it was too freakin' hot to do much yard work today so we decided to get ourselves out of the heat and up into the mountains. We went to Snowbird and took the Tram to the top, did some hiking and took the Peruvian lift down. As you can see from the pictures below, it was a beautiful day. What you can't see from the pictures below is that it was 70 degrees up top while the Salt Lake Valley baked in 100 degree heat. Elevation baby.


Ellie and Dad embarking on our Tram journey to the top...





The view from above...



Mom and the Bean taking it all in...









The two Bulls, wondering if there is a way to start a rockslide and get away with it...



Fantastic view of Mineral Basin...









Abby enjoying the cool breezes on the descent down the mountain...







Ellie quietly enjoying the lift ride down... this must have been the quietest she has been while awake in over a month.

Daredevils!

Kristen took the three big kids to the skate park early Saturday morning in the hopes of avoiding the smokers, hooligans, and other misfits known to frequent the facility. Here are some of the pics...


Mikey... layin' the smack down...

Danny... grabin' some air...

Abby... ready to drop in... scooter style.

Bob, today Chris will be playing for.... A NEW CAR!!

We just bought an almost new car for me to drive to and from work. It is a 2006 Nissan Maxima with just under 15,000 miles on it. This one even has air conditioning. Needless to say, I am pleased. We will miss the old Chrysler though... it really was an amazingly trouble-free car (other than the broken air-conditioning).