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.

Christmas 2008

Christmas is truly for kids. It is so easy to buy too much for the little ones. Kierra seemed to be oblivious to anyone else once she opened up her things. She played quite contentedly all morning long. I think everyone had a good time and things seemed to run smoothly

Winter formal

Then we had Caleb go on his first date. It was to the schools winter formal dance. The girl that asked him is a real cute girl.

My mom and my niece came for a short visit. That is always a lot of fun to be with them.

Fun weekend

It started off with a bang. Colten got into a little car accident. He wasn't hurt other than a headache and a sore neck. The car isn't too bad.

I think I'm finally getting into Christmas. It has crept up on me so fast. We usually put the tree up the day after Thanksgiving and get the house decorated, but this year I have been really slow. Finally yesterday the decorations are up and the tree is done. The shopping is all done we just need to wrap things up now.

Beehive Recognition night

Shandraya sure had a lot of fun last night. For mutual it was a Beehive recognition night. It was at Sister Alston's house. She had everything set up so beautiful. It was a night to remember. The girls were asked to wear their prettiest dress and so Shandraya and Stephanie got out some fancy ones from the dress up tub. The girls and moms ate a delicious dinner and then the recognitions were made and then a gift exchange. You can tell by the pictures that all the girls looked beautiful.

My Three Grandkids

While Trevor was here Jeremy and Joanna were gone for a few days so Grandma and Grandpa got to have all three of the grandkids here together. It was so much fun with all of them. Life is great and grandkids are the best.

Bentley wasn't too sure about Tiffany's puppies