Just a quick little ad for my sister....

She makes ADORABLE hair things (and now jewelry) for her girls!!! They are the cutest things!! If you are looking for some fun Christmas ideas, or just cute hair things for your girls, you have to check out her blog. It isn't set up to do PayPal yet, but if you are interested in ordering you could talk to me!!!!

allgirldesigns.blogspot.com

Cute

Today I took pictures for the Phillips family! What a cute family!

Amber...These are two that I thought were pretty darn cute. Keep in mind they are un-edited :-)

More to come later!!!

Oh yeah...

I forgot to update about Jeff's school situation...

For now he is taking online pre-req classes for the MISM program. We are hoping to get into BYU or ASU. He will take the GMAT soon (December-ish) and the send in all of his applications. Applications aren't even due until like March, so it will be awhile before we find out where we are headed. For now we are staying in Texas until baby boy comes in April (or MAYBE March... :-) is that hopeful thinking? haha! Mckenna was 2 weeks early!) We will put our house back up for sale after the Holidays and if it sells we will most likely just rent here for a couple months!

In the mean time think good thoughts for Jeff!! We are hoping he gets a GREAT score on the GMAT :-)


Also, if I haven't talked to you in a long time- I am really sorry! I have been busy, but also just plain ol' pregnant (I know most of you understand that-ha!) I will call you one day...but until then sorry.....

Long Awaited Post....

I know it has been FOREVER since my last post. I have been very out of the blogging world- kind of on purpose and kind of because I have been BUSY! So here is a little update on the Jones Fam...

#1- Last Wednesday we found out we are having a baby BOY... I wasn't sure if I was ready for BLUE instead of PINK, but I am really excited now!

#2- Mckenna is growing up so much. She talks all the time and has even learned to say BROTHER which sounds more like "Blotha" (she even sticks her tongue out at the end-adorable!)

#3- Mckenna LOVES to be outside. Whenever we go to leave she runs to the front step and sits down. She doesn't want to get in her car seat she just wants to sit on the front porch!

#4- Mckenna is really good at throwing fits, but is CUTER than ever!!!!

#5- We put our Christmas tree up a whole week ago... YAY, I love Christmas!!!!! The bottom half is undecorated since Mckenna keeps pulling the ornaments down and playing with them, but it is still beautiful!

#6- I was in charge of our ward Fall Festival. It was a crazy time and I am glad it is over. Next up...CHRISTMAS PARTY! December 12th is coming WAY too fast. I am not quite ready it to come!!!

#7- We have been playing lots and lots with cousin Jax and best buds Chandler and Ryan. We went to the San Antonio zoo for the first time a couple weeks ago and LOVED IT. Mckenna's favorites were the MONKEYS! She thought they were so fun!


#8- We are excited for Thanksgiving--- Marty and Heidi are coming! YAY! I can't wait for cranberry salad. It is a Jones tradition that I have fallen in LOVE with! Much better than the traditional cranberry goo...

#9- A little pregnancy product review... I got a BeBand to help hold my pre-pregnancy pants (that used to be a little to big...and are still too big) up! They are supposed to help hold up pre-pregnancy pants once you go the unbuttoning trick (and hide the fact that they are unbuttoned..haha) and other helpful things through out pregnancy-woohoo! I absolutely love the thing!! Belts were getting too annoying :-). I think every pregnancy woman should get one! On this topic the other day at Gap I got 3 maternity dress, 5 maternity tops, a shirt for Mckenna and 3 books all for $50!! Woohoo! Usually maternity stuff is so expensive, so I was EXCITED!!

#10- I have been loving TLC's baby shows... A Baby Story and Birth Day... I guess there is something about being pregnant! I can't wait to have a little baby again- well I guess I can wait because it will be hard to have two, but it is EXCITING!!!

#11- Our lives aren't very exciting right now! Jeff goes to school and I play with Mckenna.... What a fun life :-)

Now For picture overload....

Mckenna eating breakfast with Ms. Bear
We carved pumpkins. Mckenna thought the pumpkin guts were YUCKY!

Halloween Zebra! And this proves she LOVES sitting on our front porch!
Zebra Girl!
Happy Halloween
Jaxon and Mckenna- cute zoo animals!
We frosted sugar cookies and Mckenna looked liked this the entire time....yum!

QUESTION...

If you are family who got an e-mail from us to check out our new news then go to the next post!!!

So, lots of my blog friends having been going private lately. I haven't for several reasons, but one big reason is that like everyone else I occasionally stumble across a name on someone else's blog of a friend I once knew...I love to read (at least one) to see how people are doing. I think we all call this "blog stalking". I am totally a fan :-) My kind husband helped me make our blog unsearchable (so that you can't type our names into google and up pops our blog...if you are still not private I HIGHLY suggest turning that off!!!), and I feel pretty safe. I haven't seen random pictures of my baby anywhere or ever had weird people leave comments. My question to ya'll (Jeff accidently said this the other day when we were talking and he said "WE HAVE TO MOVE TODAY..." haha gotta love Texas!!!) is why did you make your blogs private? Have I just not heard any horror stories??? I really would like to know so that I can make the best decision for my family (and blog...) THANKS!!!

Do You Get It????.....

Jeff Has Been Busy

With his church calling...
Being a great dad and husband...
Helping out around the house...
Giving our yard some much needed attention...
Finishing some online classes...
BUT...
He is NOT busy with.... LAW SCHOOL......

That's right, no more law school for Jeff. After a year of HATING law school, a year of doing MBA prereqs and DREADING going BACK to law school, and then a lot of worrying about telling me (and our families) that he didn't want to go back to law school- we decided we should look into changing schools and career options. Better late than never, right? For a week we thought of all kinds of career options and considered the schooling that it would take to get to those careers. State Department, Optometry, IT, Orthodontics, Physicians Assistant, FBI agent, and the list goes on. We have finally decided on a path that we both feel GREAT about... getting a MISM degree (Masters in Information Systems Managment- basically information systems through a business school) with an eventual career in something like consulting! It feels really good to have finally made a decision and to have an end goal. Our first choice of schools would be BYU (because they have a great program and really high employment rates out of the program...yay!), but we are considering all sorts of schools. So, for now..... we are getting our house ready to sale! We don't really know when we will move right now, but we want to be out of our house and we will just rent in the area until we are ready to move from San Antonio. We just started this week. We went to Round Rock (just North of Austin) to hit up Ikea for a couple decorations and doors for our bookshelves. We have been de-cluttering rooms and taking down family pictures. It seems really weird, but I look forward to a new adventure for our family!!!

FOR NOW, if you know of anyone who is looking to buy a house in San Antonio point them our direction :-). If you have seen our house you know it is so cute, right? Haha!!!! And, if you ever want to come scrub floors, wipe down baseboards, plant flowers, pack up closets or paint--- COME OUR WAY :-)!!!! Company is always appreciated!

We will keep you updated.........

Just Another Day.... So We Thought....

Yesterday our family had a TERRIFIC day. We didn't do anything special, it was just a normal day! Let me back track a little, I have been seeing a Pulmonologist since I got pregnant with Mckenna (for asthma). The doctor is GREAT. He is super friendly and young. He has a cute little family (we saw them at Hobby Lobby once) and is very personable. Well, we had to switch insurance companies and my asthma is now considered a pre-existing condition- making it something they won't cover. I needed new prescriptions, so we decided it was worth it to just pay for an office visit.

SO, yesterday I went in to see him. During the course of the appointment I mentioned something about our insurance not covering my asthma any more. He finished checking my lungs and heart and then said "Well, I won't charge you for any of your appointments. You can always come see me and it won't cost you anything!" I was stunned. What is a person supposed to say to that. Who really has a doctor that just tells them they don't have to pay anything for their appointments. He said that they (him and his wife) were once poor students too and that he understands the situation. This couldn't have come at a better time for us! What a blessing!!!!


We were so happy leaving that office, but we had a couple errands to run. We had to return something to Babies R Us. We got out of the car and a lady stops us. She said "Are you going into Babies R Us". We answered and then she gave us a 15% off coupon that she didn't use and told us it expired today! We weren't planning on purchasing anything, but we were able to get 15% off of something we had originally purchase at full price (and will return the full priced one later!)



It was a normal day made GREAT by some very kind people! It was a good reminder that we receive great blessings when we are doing what is right!!!!!!!

June and July

The summer has gone by incredibly fast! I can't believe it is already August!!! We have been keeping ourselves very busy!!!
In the end of June Jeff and I went to see "Wicked". It was AWESOME! I loved every second of it!!!
We left Mckenna with our niece Ashley for the night. It was a wonderful date!

Mckenna loves watching the rain. We opened the door one morning and let her watch for a long time! Mckenna also had a UTI during June. She had to get a catheter twice to check for infection and then had to have a kidney ultrasound and VCUG. She was diagnosed with urinary reflux. Hopefully she will out grow the problem, but until then she has to be on antibiotics every day. This helps keep infection out of her bladder, which helps keep infection out of her kidneys!

My cousin Erin came to visit in San Antonio. It was SOO much fun. We ate down at the Riverwalk at my very favorite San Antonio restraunt- Casa Rio!

We played LOTS and LOTS and LOTS with the Phillips! Mckenna and Chandler are so cute together. The are the VERY best of buds!
We went to the lake with Aunt Jana and Uncle Chad (plus their kiddos!)
We saw the midnight showing of "Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince" with our niece Ashley. She dressed up as Hermionne Granger! Isn't she ADORABLE??? She even had people come up to her and ask if they could take their picture with her!!!

Had a family reunion.

Mckenna turned ONE!!!!

I drove to Houston for my cousins bridal shower. It was so fun! I got to stay for her bridal pictures as well! She is going to be a gorgeous bride! The only pictures I have of this she is wearing her wedding dress and I promised that I would not let her fiance seem them- so no pictures on here :-)


Now, we are in Utah :-) We got to spend lots and lots of time with family. I will be here for awhile, but it has been fun!!!!

Tooooo cute!

Mckenna is SUCH a happy baby. She loves to play with StUfFeD animals, baby DOLLS and bOOks! She eats lots of RAViOLi, stRing chEEsE, cHicKen, pretZels and ChEEtoS. She loves to play in the bath tub or to go SwImmIng. She has SiX teeth and was diagnosed with Vesicoureteral Reflux (reflux in the urinary tract) two weeks ago. She is TALL and sKinnY. She has been on TWentY-ThRee flights, including a LONG flight to PArIs! She is the SWEETest girl I could ever ask for! We LoVe having Mckenna and look forward to many more years with her!!!!

Family Fiesta 2009

In honor of my in-laws getting home from their mission in Spain the grandkids voted to name our family reunion

Family Fiesta 2009

We all headed to Denver at the end of June.

We hiked.......
Picnic-ed...

Jax and Jana
Grant

Ate Lady Bugs.....
(OH wait, that was only Mckenna)
You can't see the hundreds of lady bugs that were crawling around, but after lunch Mckenna was sitting on the ground trying to pick up all of the lady bugs. I thought "Lady bugs are harmless...She will be fine!" and continued chatting with my nieces and nephews. Next thing I knew Mckenna had picked up several lady bugs, watched them crawl on her hand and decided it would be a GREAT idea to EAT it... YUM! It crawled on her tongue and then I pulled it out. Poor bug! YUCK!

Mckenna ate her first sucker....


Rested...
Benjamin, snoozin on the rocks

Tyler and Luke

Tyler

Heidi and baby Jeremy

Played TONS and TONS...
Luke

Mckenna and Jennifer

Jaxon

Grant, Jonathan and Benjamin

Did a Pinata....(Guess who broke it????)
NOT Tori
NOT Me


YESSSS....Grandma Jones...broke the pinata!!!!


Went to Elitch Gardens (an amusement park)...
Jonathan, Carole, Elisabeth

Celebrated the 4th...

Danced the Hannah Montana "HoeDown ThrowDown"...

Went to a candy factory...


Visited the BIG BLUE Bear... (for Grant's birthday)

HAD A GREAT TIME................


Thank you Jacobs' family for hosting all of us and for the rest of the family for making is a week to remember!!!! We love you all!!!!!!

MCKENNA TURNS ONE

Mckenna turned

ONE
Yes, Mckenna is a girl :-) This was the best picture of her eating cake!

She had a WoNdErFuL birthday and we are so happy that we could celebrate with
FAMILY and FRIENDS.

Here are some pictures from the CELEBRATIONS!
The TABLE: Pink, Green and Blue WITH Confetti cupcakes

She LOVED opening up her presents. This is her snuggling her new teddy bear (from cousin, Jaci) and kitty cat (from mommy and daddy)
Both times we sung this is what she did.
Kind of a blurry picture, but Mckenna and Kyle loved pounding the piano together!


A BIG THANKS TO EVERYONE FOR ALL THE LOVE, TOYS and FUN!!!!!!

A friend for Mckenna

We were staying at Jana and Chad's when Mckenna decided to wake up from about 12am until 3am. She wouldn't eat, snuggle, or sleep so we finally turned the light on and let her play. She got out her cousin Ashley's large Care Bear stuffed animals with which she talked, played , and snuggled for about an hour. She finally fell asleep when we put a couple in the pack-and-play and let her play with them in there. The next day we took her to Target to pick out a friendly stuffed creature and she was in heaven. In fact, she wanted them all! The second we put one in the cart her eyes were on the rest on the shelf. Check out the video.

P.S. Notice the most awesome shopping carts ever at the new Super Target by our house.

Jeff

Update...

I talked to the doctors office today AND Mckenna officially has a UTI! She will also have to have those other test done :-( Which means at least one more catheter. We hope she doesn't have reflux, but are glad that her doctors are checking (just in case...)

In other news--- We are just enjoying life. Our garden is in full swing. I canned tons of tomatoes the other day (like 10 pints) and have made homemade salsa a couple of times, YUMMY! Next Wednesday we get to go to WICKED and I am SO excited. My cousin is also coming over from Houston next week AND then the next week is our Jones "Family Fiesta" in Denver (YAY!). We love staying busy :-). We have been LOVING our summer! Mckenna is CRAZY about swimming and water in general. We have been swimming at home, at Aunt Jana's, in the lake and of course at Sea World! If anyone ever wants to join us LET US KNOW!!! Also, Mckenna turns one in like 2 1/2 weeks! Crazy, huh???? We are excited to celebrate her first birthday, but I am most excited to see her eat her cake and to play with her new toys with her :-)!! Speaking of birthdays, does anyone have cute first birthday party ideas? I am not going "all out", but would love to have a cute party idea! LET ME KNOW!!! Well, that is it for now!!!

Oh yeah, the picture above is one I took last summer (right before we had Mckenna) when the Jones family (minus Grandma and Grandpa Jones) were here in San Antonio. This was MOST of the cousins (we are missing 3 that were there) and since then we have added THREE more cousins- with another GIRL on the way (Congrats, Donny and Carole!)!! What a big, fun family!!!

Poor Baby

On Sunday Mckenna was running a high fever (like 104-105). This is the third time in like a month that she has spiked a high fever, so we decided it was time to take her in to the doctor. On Monday we took her in and the doctor said "She looks great!". Of course with a dose of Tylenol there was no fever and screaming, but she also didn't have red ears or throat. The doctor decide to check her urine to see if she had a UTI.

How do you get a urine sample from an 11 month of girl???? Good question. First you stick (literally sticky...) a bag around her little girly parts and hope that it catches enough urine when she pees. If you don't get enough from the first try (after we waited like 40 minutes, of course) THEN they put a catheter in- poor, poor baby!!!

So, that was what Mckenna got to put up with for about 1 and 1/2 hours! She got the sticky bag, finally peed, and then it wasn't enough to send out to the lab. However, there was enough for them to tell that she had lots of white blood cells in her urine which usually means a bladder infection. The nurses came in a while later to do the catheter. I felt so terrible for Mckenna! Catheters hurt! The nurses got her all cleaned up and got the tube in. Once the tube was in, though, Mckenna decided to pee on her own---around the tube of course! SO the two nurses, Mckenna and I got covered in Kenna Pee! YUCK! Luckily the nurse caught most of it in the cup :-) She was given a shot of antibiotics, a prescription for one to continue at home and we are still waiting to hear back from the doctor about that labs. They wanted to confirm it was a bladder infection. If it is then Mckenna has to go in for some more testing in a couple of weeks. When kids this young get bladder infections they want to make sure they don't have urinary reflux. In the mean time we have a fussy little baby. Thankfully we have great drugs like Motrin and Tylenol to give her!!!! But she screams whenever we change a diaper now. The catheter traumatized her, ha! No fun!

Oh and p.s........ she is getting two more teeth in at the same time :-(....POOR BABY!

ALL BETTER!

"That's the wrong......

....YOUR" -Jeff

I know, I know I put the wrong "YOU'RE" on our new blog header. It will be fixed SOON! :-)

Thank Hun for keeping my grammar in check, love you!

Baby Ryan

I took some pictures of our friends little boy the other day! This is just a little preview. Isn't he cute?