Kasey's First Halloween

Here's pics of Kasey's first Halloween. If you can't tell, he's a frog.

"I'm not so sure about this."

Thumb's up.

Kris is a lake, Tif a lily pad, and Kasey, a frog.

Kasey with cousin McKayle.

Kasey with Grandma Zanny.

Kris' brother Brian and his wife Terah. They went as Juno and Bleeker. Terah has a slurpee cup and everything. Sweet!

Baby Kasey: Chapter 1

Warning - This movie is rated PG - BB (Probably Going to be a Baby Bum)
Viewer discretion is advised.

Well here is Kasey's fist few days. We love him to death as will be manifested by our blog I am sure. I think it is a common occurrence for parents to be completely enamored with their own children, at least until they are old enough to cause trouble. I'd like to say he is a cute kid but too many people say he looks like his father. Judge for yourself, enjoy the video. By the way, my favorite part is right after the birth - he hasn't seen anything yet. Dad shades his eyes so he can finally see the world. I love his response when he sees who his father is for the first time...

We can't believe that he is already two weeks old! These last two weeks have kept us busy feeding, changing diapers, and trying to get some sleep. Kasey has been a great baby so far, and we are so happy he's here!

He's Finally Here!

Kasey Randall Jones

Born October 17, 2009 3:02 pm

6 lbs 11 1/2 oz.

19 inches

Kris and Tiffany had a bet. Whoever guessed closer to the actual due date got the privelage of choosing what Kasey came home from the hospital in.

Guess who won?

"MMM that feels nice"

The Fuzzy-Red-Hair Picture

"Kasey, how do you feel about your birthing experience?"

Everything went pretty well at the hospital. Tiffany performed labor with grit and grace. We are super excited to be home with our newest edition. He is getting right into a comfortable schedule of eating, sleeping, and pooping.

Well, no baby update. I(Kris) have tried all sorts of stuff to get Tif's contractions to start, brisk walks, warm baths, spicy foods, interuteral threats, and other things I can't mention here. Still no luck. We are scheduled to speak in church tomorrow. For a minute, I thought the kid was planning a prank by waiting until after we prepared our church talks before coming out. Nothing yet, but we'll see. Perhaps Tiffany will go into labor in the middle of her talk. That too would be funny. Everyone cross your fingers. Beings we have no baby news we will share pictures from some of our sumer adventures, starting with Alaska!

Kris flies a thousand miles to play in the mud.

Geez it's cold!

Glacier up close.

Glacier from a distance.

Our lovely Alaskan abode, our home away from home.

Ranger Jones inspecting some large mammal skat (Kris sniffing bear poop!)

Hanging out above Russian Falls.

Our nation's mascot in all its glory.

A nice river.

This Yogi wanted to our snake our raft gnosh (the bear wanted our lunch).

A nice mountain.

This is Tiffany and I with our Friend Bekah Green before we went river rafting. She was the philanthropic impetus for our wonderful Alaska Adventure (She got us free flights!).

That's all!

Prego-Update

Good news - we are finally feeling settled in our little house - Old Slanty. Yes, that's right. We got a call saying that the first rentors fell through, and they offered us a chance to rent! So, we scrubbed, cleaned, painted, re-did the bathroom floor, replaced the bathroomcounter, scrapped windows, deep-cleaned carpets, replaced outlet covers, wired a new light, and began a battle with the bees (currently living in the crevices of our back door) - and now this 100-year old house is home! It comes complete with it's own yard and the best part - a creepy old attic. We feel like we have so much space, and Kris is only a 15 minute walk from his classes at the U! We feel so blessed to be here. At first, I thought - we are going to have to really sacrifice living in this old place (at first, it seemed so run-down - dirty, poor-paint job, atrocious bathroom, no dishwasher, and no laundry), but now we can honestly say that we love it here! Pictures will be forthcoming.

Other news - in the midst of his battle with the bees, Kris was stung by a ferocious bee and his ear swelled up like an elephant's. Don't worry; after some intensive first aid care from Tiffany, he's okay.

Kris is working hard at grad school, and Tif has been substitute teaching until the baby comes. Only 3 more weeks! Yeah! We are so excited, and ready for the baby to come, but the baby's room isn't! We still have a crib to set up, dresser and rocking chair to buy, etc., but we are getting there! We attended our all day birthing class yesterday, and we've been reading a few baby books, so we are getting educated and ready to go! We can't wait to meet our son!

Below are a few pictures of my engorged prego-belly, proof that sassy and pregnancy don't mix!

We're still here!

I know, it's been a super long time since we've updated our blog, and sorry, no pictures this time. We are in the middle of moving, but pictures will come!

Our summer has just been crazy, filled with trips to Lake Powell and Alaska, my sister Heather's wedding, plus packing, moving, and now apartment hunting in Salt Lake. We said good-bye to Renton, Washington on July 31 (tear, tear). We are going to miss all our friends there! It was such an amazing year. It's hard to leave!

Now we are in Utah, and Kris has just started his grad school orientation this week. Already, they have him working hard with school work! All last week we looked for a place to live. We drove around looking at dozens of options in the Salt Lake valley. (Who would have thought that there were so many places to rent?) We found a few options, and applied for a place within walking distance of campus. Even though the place was 100 years old (Kris affectionallly nicknamed the place "Old Slanty"), we were hoping to get the place. However, we weren't the only ones that applied, and we just found out today that it was rented to someone else. :( We are so sad. Now it's back to our list of places.

I've been growing bigger and rounder by the day, and little Baby Jones is getting stronger. He's kicking and rolling and elbowing all around inside. We're getting so excited to be parents! I'm planning on being a stay-at-home mom, but I'm applying to substitute teach until he comes. We can't wait until he gets here!

As soon as we're settled, we'll pull out the camera and post some pictures of our summer adventures, including a picture or two of my growing belly...maybe. :)

We're having a...Monkey?

Well, techncally it's a boy. Here is the photo update. From the looks of the ultrasound it appears that our son is part monkey, or part dog, judging by the protruding muzzle area of his face. Tiffany contends that he is still developing and the doctor agrees with her, but I'm not buying it. Instead I am preparing for the best and thinking up some new names - like Capuchin and Koko. Besides, I think it would be handy to have such a prodigious proboscis; you could more easily lick the yogurt out of the poorly-designed, pain-in-the-butt, narrow-topped yoplait containers. I love preparing for fatherhood. By the way, it seems like lots of friends are going to have babies soon. I would highly recommend the Fatherhood book by Bill Cosby - best advice I've seen yet. Anyway, enjoy the ultrasound picture.

WE FIND OUT WHAT WE ARE HAVING IN 5 DAYS! YEAH! Yes, on Friday, June the 5th, we willknow the gender of our child. We will definitely keep you posted!

Other news: Kris has officially been accepted to the University of Utah! We will be moving back to Utah in August. Originally, the plan was for Kris to earn a Master's of Construction degree at the University of Washington. Currently, he is just finishing up a construction certificate program as a pre-req for the grad program. But then, looking at the economy (now is not a ripe time for construction work) Kris decided it would be better to receive a degree in paleo-gynecology instead of a Construction Management degree. So, as we looked at our options for school, and compared the cost of living and going to school in Washington vs. Utah, the choice was seemingly obvious. Especially considering we will soon be having a baby (yeah!) we need to save our money, and U of U is much less expensive. Plus, there are two grandmas who are going to be delighted that a new little grandbaby will be nearby. It's my mom's first! So, back to Utah, here we come!

Our plan now is to enjoy the beautiful sunshine and glorious green scenery of a lush Washington summer. i am almost done teaching for the year - the last day officially June 23 - and Kris will be done with his program next week. Our summer plan is still somewhat up in the air - there are a few cosntruction jobs coming up for Kris, maybe summer school teaching for Tif, and perhaps an Alaskan adventure and a Lake Powell trip or two.

Any guesses, girl or boy? 5 MORE DAYS!

Adventures in Pregnancy

Welcome to our life. We have been having a great time with Tiffany's pregnancy process. Thankfully thus far it has been fairly low-impact - not too much sickiness, lots of tiredness, and the occasional emotional moment. Tiffany is starting to show more and more. Soon we will be taking her to the store to find some nice pregnancy moomoos. I hope I can find a blue one with flowers like Homer Simpson wears when he becomes a big fat dynamo. Anywho, we posted a video portraying a snapshot of our pregnant life right now. By way of clarification, the dark scene in the middle is Tiffany eating crackers in the middle of the night. You can see it well on higher definition. It didn't come through very well on the blog. Also, the scene where Tiffany is hiding her tears during Dumbo, that is 100% real - no movie tricks there I swear. I hope you all enjoy.

"It's a Baby!"

Hopefully you all figured out the clues - Knocked-Up, Bun-in-the-Oven, and 9 Months. We are having a baby in October. Many may have already heard. Word has slowly been getting out about our upcoming bundle of joy. I believe my mother started broadcasting shortly after we conceived. We have been enjoying the pregnancy process, Kris probably more so than Tiffany. Tiffany has to take naps and eat constantly, and Kris is responsible for making sure Tiffany's needs are met. We are 17 weeks or so along, and Tiffany is just starting to show. She is going through that tough middle stage where she kind of looks like she let herself go and started making donut runs on the way to school. Sometimes she feels self-conscious about her increasingly fluffy midsection. Other times she worries that she isn't gaining enough weight for how far along she is. I told her it is like growing a mullet. You get to the point where your hair isn't long enough to do anything cool enough, and yet it is long enough that people look at you with that "Boy, you need a haircut" stare. You just have to work through it to the glorious end (speaking of the mullet that is).


In just a few more weeks we will hopefully discover the gender if the baby cooperates during the ultrasound. Don't worry, if we don't get a good view I will keep poking Tiffany's belly until the baby rolls over or something. I am predicting a girl. Tif seems to think it is a boy. Whenever she refers to the baby she says "He." We will see. Currently we are taking name suggestions. I believe Ryan Rhodes suggested Max Power; one of Tiffany's students submitted Cooley McDude - both good options.

Tha'ts all for now.
Stay tuned for the upcoming Pregnancy Video!

Good news clues!

Use the clues to figure out a secret message!

Clue #1

Clue #2






Clue #3

X9

Still confused? Check again next week for the solution!

We have settled down a bit since our big Christmas break. Tiffany stays busy with teaching. Kris works downtown every once in a while and goes to school. We still try to have our weekly adventures. I added a snowboarding picture from the trip to the Canyons we took with Kris' little sister Leisa as well as some other fun videos. One video is a clip of perhaps the largest single pile of sledders ever to grace the slopes of Mountain Dell Golf Course and the other is a clip of the awesome library at the University of Washington.

Christmas / Year End Review

This year has been an adventure for us. We started at our little place in Logan. Tiffany was finishing her first year teaching at South Cache 8th and 9th grade center. Kris graduated in December in Business Administration. He worked intermittently throughout the beginning of the year from Washington to Texas. We both had a wonderful time serving in the Institute Married Student Association at Utah State University.

At the end of the summer we left Logan to stay at Kris’ parents’ house. During the summer Kris continued to work, most of the time in Bellevue, Washington. Sometimes Tiffany tagged along. Working alongside Kris during the summer afforded Tiffany the opportunity to search for and interview for jobs in Washington. While there, we also scouted for places to live.

Near the end of the summer we took a trip to New England. We started off in Palmyra, New York visiting church history sites. Afterward we drove to Boston for some national history and more importantly a Red Sox big league baseball game. The trip was finished touring New York.
In August we moved to Renton, Washington. Tiffany got a job teaching 9th grade honors English and 12 grade core at Kentridge High School. Kris enrolled in the University of Washington Construction Management program en route to a master’s degree. Kris has kept busy working part time, studying for and taking the GRE, and is now looking for a full-time job/internship in his field. We have had wonderful experiences exploring new places like Seattle city, Mt. Rainier, and Whistler, B.C., Canada.

It has been a wonderfully crazy year. Looking back we can see how God has really helped to direct our lives. Reflecting on the year past makes us grateful for our blessings, especially family, friends, and the gospel in our lives. Life is good for us and we hope it is good for you, too. Thank you for your friendship, love, and support. If you would like to visit Washington, we would love to be your gracious hosts.

Sincerely,

Kris and Tiffany Jones
journalofjones.blogspot.com


Mt. Rainer, Washington