To Marriage, Parenthood, and Beyond. . .

Keepin' up with the Jones'...or Joneses...which ever one. :)

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Mom just before treatment and surgery

Bethany and I

Grant and I on Halloween

Grant got this surprise for me and the new baby!

Swell Season concert. Grant, Whitney, and I went!

October flew by!

This month in October and early November has been the most eventful time of our lives!
Grant and I went as a ladybug and a jailhouse convict for Halloween...very fitting considering his upcoming career. :) We had a great time at a party hosted by a fellow teacher at Teague, Bethany. We then, most importantly discovered, that we are having a baby!!! The baby will be 1/2 and inch big and 8 weeks old on Thanksgiving! It is totally unexpected and exciting! Whoa!! Then we found out that Grant really was studying all summer long for the Bar and not just goofing around on the internet :) because he PASSED!!! Whew! So glad to have that off our minds. My mom was scheduled to be in Houston for 6 weeks doing a radiation and chemo treatment but plans changed and she will be doing only chemo every three weeks for a while. I cannot wait for her little body to stop going through all of this insanity. It is a surreal feeling to watch your parent suffer. I'm sure they are ready to stop making a 6 hour drive to Houston too!! ughh. Anthea and Lauren came to visit me last weekend while Grant was at Charles' bachelor party. We spent hours shopping and it was great! On Wednesday, Grant and I got a new car! We're so excited! It is a Mercury Mountaineer. We got it from his Great Aunt. Its the nicest car either of us has ever owned. We did some Christmas shopping this weekend with his family, and Grant, Whitney and I went to go see "Something Swell." It is the best concert I have been to in so long!!!! Thanks for the heads up Whitney! And lastly, our house is officially decorated for Christmas before Thanksgiving. I love Christmas!!! The above pics are all from the various described events. Happy Holidays!

Monday, October 26, 2009

Mom after the hospital washed her hair

Here is mom prepped for surgery

Mom finally gets to go home

Mom was here for 3 and a half weeks. Her brain was operated on and the
lesion was removed successfully. When she comes back on Sunday she
will start radiation and chemotherapy for the lung cancer. We have
loved the family and friends that have come to visit. Please continue
to have this horrible cancer in your prayers.

Sent from my iPhone

Sunday, October 4, 2009

I forgot..Hershey came too!

Mom and dad visit

Houston visit!!!

Mom and dad came on Thursday night and we have had a good time so far.
Friday was a full day at the hospital and this whole week is now
scheduled with appointments. On Friday night we ate at Good Co. BBQ on
the patio. Saturday we celebrated Whitneys 21st bday at Champs while
the A&M game was on. Not such a fan of aggies but I do enjoy seeing
the Jones children and friends. Today we went to church and then to
the Fine Arts Museum to see a new Moon exhibit. We are more cultured
now than when we woke up this morning. :)

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Houston Museum of Art

Saturday, September 26, 2009

Dogs are doing well too!

Garrett and Haley are married!

Garrett and Haley got married at the end of August. It was a beautiful outdoor wedding. The picture above is the chapel they got married in front of. It was a beautiful outdoor wedding...yes, I said outdoor wedding in August. God was most certaintly with this wedding because believe it or not the ceremony had a cool breeze and everyone was able to dance the night away without feeling uncomfortable from the heat. It was a great time to see Grant's family and get to relax and have fun. Garrett and Haley's friends are all very nice and fun to be around too. Whitney debuted her singing career with a wonderful solo at the reception dedicated to the newly married couple. Decorated with literally a trailor of blue, yellow, and white flowers, the wedding was beautiful. My favorite accent, probably because I wish we had them at our wedding, was the adorable Jones Soda bottles on the table with their engagement photos on them. Their photos were very serene and tinted with natural lights. I thought it fit the both of them very well.




Opening of the new Cowboy stadium


This is a catch up on the last six weeks. I started school and Grant started perfecting his Xbox golf game. He is working a few hours a day for a professor, but generally just perfecting his Xbox golf game. :) My next door neighbor teacher at school, Bill, gave us his tickets to go to the opening game of the new Cowboy stadium. We drove directly from work to the stadium, and then home right after the game. It was a loooong day, but so worth it! We had a blast. The screen is GINORMOUS!! Thats Tony Romo on the screen. :)

Bethany, a fellow teacher, and I are the new cheer coaches for our school. We are having a great time working together on this new adventure. Its really fun but very very time consuming. I never thought I would like it as much as I do. We are also sponsoring a trip to Washington D.C. for our school, so we have alot on our plates currently. Our first pep rally is this week, and we have been busy making sure everything is fun and entertaining.

My mom and dad are coming in to town this coming Thursday. Though I wish it were on better circumstances, I am excited to see them. Houston is so far from Wichita Falls!

Thursday, August 6, 2009

Grant is on stage! The 2nd blury one from the left.

Vegas baby!

I'm enjoying a real bed and shower!!! We bought half price tickets to
go see a Penn and Teller (magicians) last night. Out of all the shows
I've seen here this is one of the best. They do magic and comedy. Best
of all they showed the audience how some of the tricks were done.

At the beginning they had everyone go on stage and sign a paper and
look at a box. Since our half price seats were in the balcony, we had
to go downstairs to do this. Realizing how much better this view was
then ours, I asked the seating attendant if we could move down if ppl
didn't show up. So after slipping him a $10, he moved us to the middle
of the front section! Awesome! Good thing bc for the final act of the
show they asked for volunteers and of course Grant got picked! I tried
to sneak a pic but the stage was real bright. Everyone was coming up
to him after the show asking about the trick. Besides that we have
gambled and layed by the pool. Vegas has been a blast so far.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Grand Canyon

Me at one of the 7 wonders of the world!

Grant at the Grand Canyon

Four Corners

Grand cayon, here we come!

Heading to the Grand Canyon we leave the beautiful mountains behind
and journey into the colorless desert. Grant found his wedding ring at
the campsite lost and found! We stopped at the Four Corners to take a
picture. All at once you can stand in Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and
Colorado! I bought some Indian jewelry and then we had lunch where u
could see huge bulls roaming the parking lots...no joke. I suppose
rules are different in Indian Reservations.

Sent from my iPhone

Yesterday we drove to see the cliff dwellings in Mesa Verde. Being as
adventurous as we are we signed up to take the more challenging tour.
We had to climb a 35ft vertical ladder, crawl thru a 12ft cave that
was 18 inches tall, and climb up a 60 ft mountain. We were feeling
prettybrave until we noticed there were several little kids on the
tour so it must not be that bad. Haha I got a lot of funny and cool
pics on my camera. I took one pic of a dwelling on my phone to upload.

Today was "white water rafting."aka going down the river similar to
the tenacity of the Comal in San Marcus, but we were wearing full life
jackets, water socks and in a giant blue raft with a guide. The little
kids tubing next to us probably thought we were crazy lol! This
journey lasted 4 hours. Even though it was less extreme than expected,
it was still a relaxing float and good chance to meet new ppl. Live
music and dinner with a drive thru the mountains ended the night.

Sent from my iPhone

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

Daphne gets tired studying for the Bar just like Grant

Grant's Raising the Bar

This is a site where Grant and I can keep our family and friends updated and give them a chance to comment and keep in touch. I'm not promising that our life is so fantastically interesting that you'll be awake at night awaiting my next day post, but I do promise to keep you updated on our everyday ins and outs.

The most time consuming hurdle for us this summer was most definitely Grant taking the Bar exam. He has been arduously studying since the middle of May. I can never imagine being so diligent with my time like he is. Our loft study area of our town home is covered with stacks of note cards, blue Bar books, and highlighters. Yes, I have agreed to ignore the mess until the test is over. :) Testing can be very tiring and exhausting. As you can see in the following pic where our dog Daphne is taking a nap on a stack of blue Bar books. Grant started the bar yesterday and will finish tomorrow. So far so good!

Grant and I have also been trying to keep in shape this summer. We invested in the workout DVDs called p90x. They are sooooo hard, but its nice to have a shared goal with each other. Grant is perfecting his yoga moves everyday:)

Tomorrow after the dreaded test is over, we head on our first family vacation together! We will be driving to Wichita Falls tomorrow night to drop off our dogs, Nestle and Daphne, with my parents so they can watch them while we're gone. Friday morning we will head to Durango, Colorado and camp for 3 nights. Camping in a tent for 3 days is definitely ruffing it for me! I bought 4 different types of flashlights and packed enough food for a 10 day camping trip. We will go white water rafting one day while we're there. The water is supposed to be freezing. After that we will move on to a B &B at the Grand Canyon for one night, and then to Treasure Island in Las Vegas for 3 nights. We will sum up our road trip adventure at a Golf Resort, where I will try my best to beat Grant in golf, in Tucson, Arizona. Then back home and kiss summer goodbye! Work starts immediately for me, but Grant has a nice vacation until November when he starts with Baker Botts.