A Month of Winter Fun

Our family has been busy over the last month preparing for Christmas. It seems every weekend there is something to do or somewhere to go. While the ladies shopped on Black Friday (and every weekend afterward), Father Dearest had to set up Christmas decorations and keep kids busy at the same time. But I'm not complaining....
We went to the Phoenix Zoo with our neighbors to view the lights and enjoy some rides. The kids really enjoyed it....
We went to McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park in Scottsdale to ride the train and see Santa Claus. Danny, Sherrie and the kids came with us...
Oh yeah.....apparently we've adopted another *&@# cat. Joshua has named her sprinkles. Guess who feeds her?

Fond Memories of a Golden Anniversary

Last evening, Cheryl, the kids and I attended a 50th Anniversary celebration for Joe and Karen Sipe (Cheryl's Uncle Joe). It was very nice as such celebrations go. A nice slideshow of their time together; speeches by the children and grandchildren; watching the happy couple cut a beautiful cake made by Karen's sister, Judy (Judy made our wedding cake). I couldn't help thinking back several years to the Grand Shindig we hosted for Mom and Dad. The nice trip to Williams; followed by a scenic tour on a steam train and guided tour of beautiful scenery of the Grand Canyon. I looked at photos that I took of that illustrious and memorable weekend. Here are a few great shots for your enjoyment, with commentary to boot.

  This is a nice shot of the Canyon in all its splendor. You might ask, "Tom, why didn't you shoot any family in here?" Well, at the time, Michael was confronting the bus driver, red-in-the-face and yelling incoherently at the man. At the time, the scenery looked much better. I am proud of the fact that Michael could use so many colorful four-letter words in one breath.


I liked this shot. Amazing how nature can create such formations of rock. What was happening here? Dad approached Michael and the bus driver. Michael slapped Dad's hand, clearly signaling that Dad could enter the ring. For the next 5 minutes as fellow tourists watched in horror or disgust, Dad continued the vociferous vocal assault. Now, mind you, Dad has a deep voice and alarming facial expressions when angry. This more than makes up for the disparity in size between the bus driver and Father. A modern day David and Goliath if you will.

It took my Father and Brothers about 30 minutes before the other passengers became convinced we were a dysfunctional family; oh well, that's their loss. Michael soon rejoined the vocal conflict in full support of his patriarch, who's white hair contrasted nicely with the scarlet face and scalp. Bobby threw in a few words as well, just to show his spirit of comradery in this monumental War of Words.

Now that was an Anniversary Gala to remember...

Addresses

Hi guys! Would you mind posting addresses either here or on Moran forum? I don't have Joe - Christopher - Eric and Alana or Nicole...

Our Family Blog

Eric is getting rid of his blog and we have our family blog up now with pictures and updates.... ericandalanajones.com

Meet our future son. William Eric Jones

In Loving Memory of Clare Ann Jones

Clare Ann Jones passed away in Phoenix, AZ at the age of 78 on November 5, 2009 in the company of her family and loved ones. Clare Ann Myers was born in Schenectady, NY on April 28, 1931 to Arthur T. and Elizabeth A. Myers. She grew up in Carbondale, PA with her parents and six siblings. She graduated from St. Rose High School in 1948, and within three years, graduated from St Joseph’s Hospital School of Nursing. After receiving her certificate as a Registered Nurse, Clare and sister Betty volunteered to go to Indianapolis at the height of the polio outbreak of 1952. She and Betty cared for polio patients that required treatment with iron lungs. After some persuasion by her brother, Clare and Betty joined the Air Force as nurses in 1953.

Clare met Robert Harold Jones in November 1953, while stationed at Donaldson Air Force Base in Greenville SC. Through the duration of their enlistment, Clare and Robert fell in love. On August 22, 1956, after resigning from the Air Force, Clare Ann and Robert were wed at St Rose of Lima Church in Carbondale, PA. The newlywed couple moved to Seattle, WA where Clare received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Nursing in June 1959 from Seattle University.

Between 1959 and 1964, Clare and Robert served as foster parents, caring for a number of infants and toddlers. The young couple adopted Richard and Susan in 1964 after caring for them as foster children for several years. Between 1963 and 1972, they were blessed with the births of seven children.

The Jones Family moved to Phoenix, AZ in 1974, where Clare and Robert have remained to this day. Clare was active in her church, St. Augustine’s, for many years in the Ministry of the Sick and also in the choir.

Clare was proud of her family and was most happy when they were all together. She touched people everywhere with her kind smile and gracious manner.

For over 25 years, Clare devoted her time in the research of her family history. To date, she has accumulated an extensive collection of genealogical and archival materials relating to her immediate and extended family. The result has been the compilation of three complete works on the Moran, Myers and Whittington Families.










She is preceded in death by her parents, siblings-Mary, Leo, Joseph, and Gerard, and two children-Susan and John. She is survived by her brother Arthur Myers, sisters Elizabeth Hernquist and Sister St. Gerard Myers (Catherine); as well as her husband Robert, sons Richard (Patrese), Joseph, Robert (Nikki), William (Vicki), Thomas (Cheryl), Michael (Julie), and daughter Mary (Mark). Her family has blessed her with 9 grandchildren, 6 great-grand children and numerous nieces and nephews.

A funeral mass will be held Wednesday, November 11 at 10:00 AM at St, Augustine’s Church (3630 N 71st Avenue, Phx.). Clare Ann Jones will be laid to rest on Friday, November 13 at 10:00AM at the National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona.

New house in Goodyear

Our house buying is doing well, a little easier since we have never owned a house before. We close tomorrow at 10:30 AM and have been promised keys after signing. We will be using the rest of the day to move as much as we can. Ill post some pictures of our house tomorrow.

New House in Idaho

So our closing date has been pushed back to October 30th, but there doesn't appear to be any other problems. It turns out we had to resolve the issue with the existing mortgate in Colorado Springs, either by renting or by selling it. We finally had an offer on the house there in the Springs and accepted it. The closing date on the house in Colorado Springs is on the 29th. We were severely underbid and have to come to the closing table with an obscene amount of money, but at least we're out from under it and can continue with the closing process here in Idaho. Mary suggested I post some pics of our new house. Here they are.

From the Corn Fields of Nebraska

Well, Auburn Nebraska, let me tell you about the place.......the end. Did you catch that??! Anyway, while I am waiting on my sattelite dish to come in, Monday, 9/21, I managed to find a KENO bar here in town. Tucked nicely away behind a restaurant. I find my way to the bar, ask for a menu, and politely ask the bartender," Will the game be on Television tonight?" She innocently responded, "Game, what game?" I enthusiastically replied "MONDAY Night Footbal!!". Wel, we finally found the channel, I ordered a meal, had a few beers, spent $10 on KENO, didn't win anything, went home at halftime. Not much of a MNF atmosphere here in town.

This week was frustrating, I had to make all the calls, and actions to get my quals on the national register for RP techs, but it got done. Start Nightshift tonight, 9/26/09. I have Wednesday night scheduled off, but after 10/1 have the option of working straight through if I desire. Will see how I feel come day off time.

Anyway, Corol seems to be doing well. We talk twice a day. She is also on Nightshift, so she calls me in the morning, and I will call her in the afternoon. Hopefully she is getting her "space" thing worked out. I was doing my pre-planning for my Jan-May work schedule, and decided that the potentials of work through the end of March will cause me to park/store my trailer for the winter (Clinton, Ill Jan-Feb and Toledo, OH Feb thru March). Then, I plan on working AR and MS through May.

Anyway, I have tenants in my house through Thanksgiving, early into Dec. So, I will probably spend a couple days in Hot Springs, AR before I head home, or in Vicksburg, MS (whereever I decide to store my trailer).

My prayers are for Mom today!! Love you, Mama!!!

All for now

Love, Joe

Family Pictures

We had our first baby appointment today. Click on the first picture to see our little one inch baby. I highlighted the features in the second picture so you could see it better. Kinda looks like a monkey (doctor says it looks like its dad, lol). We listened to the heart beat and Alana had some blood drawn for testing. Baby and Mom are healthy.

Updates from Idaho

Vicki and Daniel came out to visit this weekend. They will be flying back to Colorado in just a few hours from now. Vicki and I had our house search narrowed down to several houses (out of several dozen) and we were bound and determined to find out future house on her visit up here. It is much cheaper to buy a house on developed property than it would be to build on our ten acres.

Well, we did it. We found the perfect house. It is only a few miles from our property here in Athol, and actually still in the Athol city limits. It is an immaculate four bedroom, 2 bath house on ten forested park-like acres. We have a huge 30X50 insulated shop, and quite a bit of our acreage is already partitioned off into fenced horse pasture. We don't know anything about horses ourselves, but might look into boarding horses for others to make some money. We will be having a house inspection tomorrow afternoon to ensure there is nothing serious going on with the house that we can't see.

We offered 215,000 for the property and they accepted the offer. Closing date is on October 19. Vicki will be having the Navy pack up our stuff in Colorado on October 28, 29 and 30th. Her final day in Colorado is just before Thanksgiving: I believe 11/24.

Daniel had a good time out here. We spent a few hours at "Triple Play" yesterday, where he and I had a laser gun battle, climbed some rock mountains, and he got to waste several dollars on video games. He got to shoot a BB gun for the first time, and Papa even broke out the .22 rifle and his .45 revolver. Daniel shot both of those, and the revolver scared the living crap out of him. Hopefully he won't be so enamored of handguns anymore.

So now its back to work for Billy. Supposedly Sears is completely revamping the way they will be routing us, and I won't be working quite so many 12-13 hour days. Supposedly I will be working mostly 8-10 hour days. That will indeed be a very welcome change.

Bobby and Nikki, you should look at this link http://www.wacanid.org It is a 300 mile bike ride through Washington, Canada and Idaho. You can start anywhere you like on the loop, and ride as far as you like each day. It would be an awesome way for you to experience the Northwest. It's in October each year, and we have an RV (hint hint) so you wouldn't have to stay in hotels each night and you'd have ready access to rest and bathrooms and a family to follow you around. It looks quite awesome and seems like it would be right up your alley.

For everbody else, it's gorgeous up here. Tom and Cheryl, there is a huge amusement park up here called Silverwood, and lots of riding trails, lakes, hiking and such. There are at least three or four lakes just within half a mile of us here. You would all love it up here and it's a good getaway during the summer months of Phoenix.

Well, that's the latest news from the chilly North. Lots of love to all.
Billy and Vicki

Back to the Drawing Board

While I truly appreciate Eric's hard work and participation with the look of the blog, it just seems that in the end, the original look was best. I've added everything I had before and look forward to Eric and Michael adding any other fancy little buttons and gadgets that will make this blog better. You'll notice that I've added two picture gadgets at the top. I figure instead of wasting time uploading photos onto a URL site and then linking to them (like photobucket, etc.), I can just replace these on a regular basis from my cpu or Keene. I also went into every post and added a suitable category. They are listed as well for easy searching....

As you are all aware, posting is a rather difficult task for all of us. Cheryl and I have our hands full, as do all of you. I'll do my utmost to post something on a weekly basis. Perhaps if all of you can do so, we can get at least four to five posts every month.

Perhaps Billy can update us on his adventures in Idaho (strike the banjos, Bobby Joe!), or Mary and Mark can offer us tales from the Wild West (blow on that bottle, Dilbert!). Joe can tell us how life is in the deep South (Suuuuuuuueeeeeyyyyyyyyyyy, Jeb!!!). Bobby can write how the family is doing in sunny San Fran (Uhhh....groovy man, that's righteous). Finally Tom and Cheryl and  Mom and Dad can carry on about our droll lives in the big city (which is too normal for a song people).

And finally, lest we forget or if we have forgotten, Happy 21st Birthday to Eric Jones and a belated congratulations to both Eric and his lovely wife on their upcoming addition to the family (suckas, your lives are over). 

Kumo 9/30/92 - 7/19/09

Our beloved Kumo passed away today. His poor heart couldn’t take it anymore and he died peacefully in Nikki’s arms on the way to the vet. He was 16 years 9 months old. Nikki is devastated and Gabriella and Annabella took it pretty hard. The boys were a real joy in our lives. They left a void which, in time will be filled with happy memories of our loving, loyal, cuddly fluff balls. Rest in Peace Kumo.

New Layout

If you didn't notice, our layout has changed again. This was toms suggestion, sorry it took so long to get it up.

Lets start tweaking now, Tom and anyone else, tell me what to change.

Happy Fathers Day

For those of us who must toil and suffer for our children and wives, let me toast you. As the famous philosopher Homer Simpson once said, "Fatherhood isn't easy like Motherhood."

The Prodigal Son

Good evening to all (or whatever time of day it is). I apologize for the very long delay. I'm sure Dad is shaking his head right now, confident that he was correct in wondering if this blog would turn out like all the other ideas. I appreciate Eric's passion and fortitude in maintaining this blog. Granted, he ignored all my pleas and requests, but interestingly, his template choice was also my original choice. However, the download was corrupted, or just faulty; I couldn't get it to work. That's when I settled on the parchment template. My biggest complaint about the parchment template was the size of the font headings on my gadgets (archives, authorial, other links). So I would like to poll the family as to what they prefer. Over the past few days, I've been searching for my ultimate template, but to no avail. I'm looking for a template in the form of a book, considering the title of the blog is Family Chronicle. I have found one that is fairly close, and may upload it for you all to peruse. Anyway, for those who do read this blog regularly (total 6 perhaps?) what would you prefer? Please enter your preference as a comment to this post. At the end of the week, we can take action, or take no action.....

What does Mom Mean?

Mom has suggested that I post this Dennis the Menace cartoon to the blog. I don't know why she suggested it. Do any of you know what she is thinking? Surely this isn't an attempt to besmirch my image!

What is my job,,,

Hey I posted some pictures of the equipment I work on for those who want to see what my Job in the Air Force is. http://ericbjones.blogspot.com/2009/06/what-is-om.html

Comments

Sorry to anyone that tried to write a comment to anything...there was a setting that made those not work...but it works now. Just click on the comments link below a post to view all comments and write one.

New Phone Number

Me and my gorgeous wife have a new home phone number. It is (623)748-4355. If you think we might be at home, I would call this number, it rings the loudest and in several rooms. Also, if there is a chance that we are home but you are not sure, try it anyways; After 10 seconds of no answer it will forward to my phone...then to Alana's if I do not answer.

picture

I got the pictures to work better by using embedded script, however they are all small now... :( if it gets any bigger it goes outside the box.

slide show

I put up the slide show that tom sugested of family pictures. Blogger does it with picasa web albumbs. You can upload photos to the album for the slideshow by email. just send an email with the pictures attached to : jonesfamilychronicle.upload@picasaweb.com the uploading works, however so far I have not seen that the slideshow likes to recognize that there are new photos to be viewed. Tom, let me know what you are thinking of the new template, and then help me get all of the links and stuff back up.... i forgot to write them down, :(

Julie's in the Movies

You can check out Julie in the 'Maneater' mini-series on Lifetime starting Saturday evening at 9pm PST and finishing up on Sunday. You can already see her in a few scenes at Lifetime videos. Find the "Movie Extras (6)" and scroll to the sixth one titled, "Anatomy of a Scene". Here's some clips: Here, Julie so naturally expresses terror that she may be injured in a fight, and that it's all a close-up vs. wide angle with background. Let's hope the director is only going between two cameras with this scene. If so, we got a freeze frame for our living room baby!

If you are not liking this, stop me...ill keep tweeking for now. But like I said ive got it backed up so we can put up the old template again.

Tom. Uhh... I didn't read your last post before I started :( . However I did back up the old layout and template. So I can make it go back to how it was.

I wanted to find a template that was still parchment, but was more intricate, so that the entire blog would not just be one scrolling column. If you like this template, it gives us a lot more control. And once I have added back all of your controls and tools, I think it will look very nice and sophisticated.

Oh, and I was just kidding about the poor blogging... : ) , and I don't want to admin, just change the looks of it is all.

Bubbles

Natalie playing with bubbles. Isn't she precious?