Disneyworld-Spring break

Our trip over Spring break to Disney World was good but not one of those trips that I could say “I’ve got to back there again” I think one time will do it for me. We did have a lot of fun and saw a lot of new things, and experienced the waits of our lives. It all started out great. The plane ride was uneventful, luggage claim went without a hitch. We went to get our reserved car at Budget and they only had three people working and the computers were down so everything had to be manually done. Needless to say we waited for 1 ½ hours to finally get our car. Stopped by the local Wal-Mart to pick up a few groceries and then headed to our resort. It was suppose to take 12-15 minutes from the store but none of the streets near Disney World have street names on them. All they have are the Disney attraction exit signs. So we drove around for another hour and a half until we finally found the resort. It was 3:30 in the morning.
Epcot center was really huge. We tasted many different foods from different countries represented. The Moroccan food was really good. The best thing we saw there was when the space shuttle went off and you could look up and see it and the two parts separating. Everyone just went quiet and stopped. It was awesome.
The fireworks were pretty good also.
I think the best thing at Animal Kingdom was the tree of life. It was cool to see all of the many animals that were carved into that huge tree.
The bird show is real similar to the one in San Diego. As far as the animals go I think that San Diego Wild Animal Park is better, but they don’t have the fun rides, parades, and the many shops that Animal Kingdom has so it’s kind of a toss up.
The main attraction at Disneyworld is Magic Kingdom. It is set up really close like Disneyland. All of us voted that Disneyland is better. Everything but the castle.
The castle was really pretty especially at night. The lights on it change color every few minutes, and the fireworks display was the best I have ever seen in my life.
On Friday of that week we went to a place called Gatorland. It was interesting to see the many different types and sizes of alligators. They had a guy wrestle one and then you could pay a little money and kids could sit on the gator (they had his mouth taped shut).

They also had some snakes there that the boys liked looking at. They had a lot of pathways to go out and see the different alligators. You could feed them a hot dog and watch them go after it. One of the funniest parts is on one of the shows they called a lady out of the audience and had her close her eyes and hold out her hand and they put a big tarantula in her hand. Kind of a fun place to visit for a few hours.
After that we went on down to Boggy Creek and took an airboat ride on the everglades and saw two alligators.
While we were waiting for our ride Shandraya hopped on the one in the office (good thing it was dead)On Saturday after we checked out we had some time to kill so we drove over to the Orlando Temple. It is really beautiful. The parking lot was full and we saw many people going inside. Wish that we could have joined them but that wouldn’t have been fair to the kids for two hours with nothing to do.
All in all it was a very nice week, the resort was great, with spacious rooms, water slides, lazy river,
and the company was great, all of the many sites we saw were a once in a lifetime event. I hope that Colten, Caleb and Shandraya had as much fun or more than Doug and I had.

Off to Disneyland we went. Higher Ground Dance Company that Shandraya goes too had workshops with the staff at Disneyland on Thursday the 25th and a group performance on the 26th in California Adventure. So Tiffany, Shandraya and I drove out to Anaheim on Wednesday. Shandraya learned a lot in her workshop and had fun performing. We all had fun riding on rides and taking pictures with some of the characters.




We rode on the Nemo ride for the first time. It was real interesting.

Star Wars is always a favorite.

Splash Mountain it seems like we only remember the big splash so I took a few pictures during the ride to remember other parts of that ride.



My mom, aunt and sister came up from San Diego on Friday to see Shandraya’s performance and hang out with us.



Shandraya loves having Kelsey LeSueur as her dance little sister.

Friday afternoon Shandraya’s best friend from here in Mesa had gone to Disneyland and she met up with her and then she went on down to San Diego with us.

It was fun to spend a couple of days with my mom and family. My sister helped me (basically did it all) make Tiffany’s baby crib blanket. We all went and got the fabric and then she just kept saying she would show us the different steps for the quilt and before we left she had the whole top done. She is just amazing. She loves to quilt and I try but don’t do so good.

Crash Two

I guess Caleb didn't want Colten to get all of the attention with his little car crash a couple of months ago so he had to do his own little crash on another car. Not to bad just enough to scare him a little hopefully.

Las Vegas

As a young girl traveling from San Diego to Utah every summer to visit grandparents our family went through Las Vegas but we never stopped longer than to gas up the car, go potty and be on our way. This past Valentine’s weekend Doug and I went for a couple of days. Now I know why my parents never stayed long. It is truly sin city. The building codes aren’t the same as we have here in Arizona that I take for granted. The cigarette smell and smoke in all of the casino’s is horrible. We did see a few sights and wish that we had more time to see a few more but time was short. The strip isn’t really that big for all they cram into it. As a young girl I didn’t remember anything like it was this past weekend. There are so many buildings that represent other places around the world such as New York, New York sky line view,the Eiffel tower,


and the statue of Liberty.

We visited the M & M store.

They don’t make the candy at this place they just sale everything with M & M’s on it. Everything was really expensive in that store. You can buy every color of M & M’s there for only $11.99 a pound out of these big tubes that lined the wall on the 2nd floor.


It seemed like every casino went on forever once you got inside. All of the many different stores, and attractions were a little overwhelming sometimes. My favorite that we were able to go into was the Bellagio. We watched the fountains a number of times on Saturday night. It was so impressive how they have the water move and dance to the music.


Inside of the Bellagio there is a botanicle garden that was really neat also. They change the plants five times a year for the different seasons. They had gorgeous orchids


and plants growing in Panda Bear shapes.



Down the hallway from that was a chocolate factory. Everything they made was edible but to pretty to eat.



They had a cool looking chocolate fountain against one wall was encased in glass.

I would have liked to go to a show or two and visit a few other places like the Gondola ride at the Venetian, and visit the Ethel M. Chocolate Factory. Maybe we will have another chance to go there and spend a couple more days next time. All in all it was a fun filled two days.

Las Vegas

Inside of the Bellagio there is a biotanicle garden that was really neat also. They change the plants five times a year for the different seasons. They had gorgeous orchids and plants growing in Panda Bear shapes.


Down the hallway from that was a chocolate factory. Everything they made was edible but to pretty to eat.
They had a cool looking chocolate fountain against one was incased in glass.
. I would have liked to go to a show or two and visit a few other places like the Gondola ride at the Venetian, and visit the Ethel M. Chocolate Factory. Maybe we will have another chance to go there and spend a couple more days next time. All in all it was a fun filled two days.

That top picture was supposed to be a cute video of Bentley. I guess I will have to experiment a little.

Surprise

Sunday I basically did very little. I have been fighting a cold now for about 10 days. So after church I layed around and watched the football game then went to bed. I had a wonderful surprise around 8:45. My grandson Bentley and daughter in law Brandi paid me a surprise visit. They flew in to do some things with her family and I didn't know that they were coming. It is always so good to see them. Bentley was his usual cute self.

Dancing girls

Saturday evening was fun for me. I got to go to Mesa High's showcase dance show. Their were a lot of really entertaining numbers to watch. I couldn't take any pictures of the actual dances but got a picture of both of our dancing girls afterwards. Tiffany was in two numbers as was Shandraya. They both do great and have a lot of fun dancing.

30th Anniversary day

Saturday was a fun day just spending basically all day together. We don't get to do that very often with all of the kids comings and goings. We went to a quilt fair. I think Doug did this all for me. He is such a good sport. Then we went shopping again for me. I had a great day!

Baby Boy

I wasn't going to say anything about Drew and Tiffany's exciting news but decided to anyway. I was going to let them share that with everyone but some people might not be able to view her blog so I decided to spread the great news. Their baby is due the first week in June and we are so excited!

Well not much is really happening here at our house. Same old stuff. I owe, I owe so off to work I go is what Doug says.
Everyone watch out because Caleb got his license last week. Yes, now I don't have to load up the daycare kids to pick him up from school and take him to work.
The only other thing is Jeremy and Caleb went Javelina hunting last Saturday and Monday (no school) but they came home without on both days.

The parties over

When almost everyone had gone home Keegan tuckered out. We thought he would be going for a long time after all the cotton candy he ate, but was sound asleep by 8:45. Sweet dreams sweetie.

Jones Family Potluck

This year's potluck was a success. We had a crowd of 43 people. We missed quite a few people but maybe next year won't be as busy for so many. Hopefully we can top 70 next year. Everyone needs to mark your calendars now for the last Saturday in December. We all enjoyed the bounce castle and eating cotton candy along with the tons of food and enjoyable company. We had Drew's family join us this year and hope that they can continue along with us each year for our traditional get together.

We want everyone to know how thankful we are for each member of our family and our friends. We have all been so blessed with a rich abundance in health and happiness throughout this past year. The knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ is so important in our lives. We want to wish each and everyone of you a Very Merry Christmas and an enjoyable and prosperous New Year.

Keegan got some new Lego's, Tiffany and Drew got the Bosch she was wanting and Shandraya got her bike. All of the rest of us got the things they were wanting also.