Poor Poor Blog

November 15, 2009

Dear Blog,

Sorry that I have left you alone for so long. I promise to be back in the next couple days to upload a ton of pictures and write some good stories of the life we have been living. It has been so busy, I am not sure where I will start. Hope you still love me.

Jess

Car Ride

July 5, 2009

Yep that's it. Just a car ride that turned into a fun little day trip to Corona Del Mar Beach. After church got out, Garrett mentioned he didn't have any work he had to do, so he offered to take me out. Since I could not think of anything I had to do, we ended up at the beach. There was perfect weather, a great ride, A TON OF PEOPLE,(the day after the holiday), good lunch and my wonderful hubby who all made it happen. Oh how I love the simple things in life.

Corona Del Mar with a billion people.

Just 2 people out of a billion

Good Luck Keepin' Up With Us~ The Joneses

4th of July!

July 4, 2009

Wooo wooo. My favorite holiday of them all! For starters it happened to fall on a Saturday this year, which just gave it that extra PARTY feeling! We got up early and headed out to the Parade. Parking was not bad this year, we must have gotten there early enough to not have to suffer the long waiting to get a spot. Since I am alittle 4th of July crazy I decided to get 4th of July shirts for my parents and Garrett this year. My sister joined in on the fun and we had matching hats. Yep, we are totally that lame and we love every sweet moment of it. My mother in law would be telling me how corny I am, thats ok, I know I am and I stand proud!

The parade started with 150 flaged motorcyles which I have to say was pretty awesome. Some of them carried flags representing our military also, which was really nice to see. There was something powerful about the loudness of 150 harleys coming down the boulvard waving there flags high with pride and excitement. The parade was fun and most of floats threw alot of candy that day.

The rest of the day was filled with family, friends, food, fun and most of all relaxation. It was a really great 4th of July and it definetely proved yet again why the 4 of July is my favorite holiday.


Here is Mom & Dad eating breakfast at the parade.


Garrett & I, anxoiusly waiting for the parade to start!


My sister Jennifer & I enjoying the perfect weather.


My mom had beads thrown at her, hopefully she didn't do anything to get those beads!

Good Luck Keepin Up With Us~ The Joneses

OPERATION FLAG!

July 2, 2009
Mission: Line the street in flags.
Objective: Don't get caught.
Status: Completed

I get a lot of crazy ideas, most of which my husband tells me are insane and I decide to not to do anything about. However, I finally had an idea that Garrett was totally behind. Mostly, I think he liked it because it had a Mission and Objective to it. I felt like we were living in a neighborhood that was boring. No one ever puts up any decorations or flags or lights or anything. We can usually get a few houses to put up Christmas lights and that is about it. I decided a while ago that my favorite Holiday was the 4th of July! I love it. I love Red, White and Blue. I love the Parades and Family and picnics. I love BBQ's, Potato Salad, Chips and Dip and ice cold Drinks! Since the street that we lived on has absolutely no pizazz for Independence Day, I wanted to line the entire street in flags! I wasn't exactly sure how my lame neighborhood would like it, but I was determined to spread the JOY of INDEPENDENCE DAY!

Somehow in the master minding of this plan I pulled together some troops, my wonderful operation specialist and husband G-Man and my mission organizer and sister Jenn.

It was 10:30 pm on July 2, 2009 and we geared up to complete OPERATION FLAG! My sister got us 120 FLAGS! We had to unwrap them and put them in my backpack so we had easy access to them. We had flash lights, screwdrivers to make holes in the ground and of course hats to hide our identity. It took us until about 11:30pm to have completely lined the street in flags. Most homes had about 3 flags in their yard. It looked awesome and the street finally had some UNITY and PRIDE and quite some PIZAZZ as well. It was an awesome night, something that I am considering doing every year! Each year, more flags, more people and more PRIDE!

Garrett is ready to take action in this picture!

Me, geared up with the backpack full of 120 flags!

110 Flags later, here we are!

Good Luck Keeping Up With Us- The Joneses

AT ATTENTION! - A day at the Military Museum

June 27, 2009

Ok.. at ease. This was fun stuff! Garrett and I were on our way to The San Gabriel Mission when we saw a museum filled with military tanks, trucks, cars, and helicopters. Being that I am museum junky (something most people do not actually know about me), I told Garrett to turn the car around! It looked like fun to check out all the military tanks. My husband, of course, did not argue with me and turned the car around in no time.

We saw some really old tanks from world war I and world war II. Also, a Huey helicopter, mortars, 20 mm guns, and anti-aircraft weapons.

The day was really awesome and we had a great time wandering around looking at all the interesting military machinery. I had the honor of being Garrett's tour guide, because they gave us a book filled with information on each item (everything was numbered). I learned alot about tanks, trucks, and being tough! I even wore a Kevlar world war II helmet and bullet belt!

In all seriousness, the helmet alone was really heavy and I felt like a total wimp. The machinery that the military uses is complicated and pretty intimidating by itself. I have a whole new respect for the men and women who fight for my freedom everyday.

Good Luck Keeping Up With Us- The Joneses

Brace FACE!

June 22, 2009

Good Grief.

I did it. I actually got braces put on. I have been holding off on this blog for too long. I think I was hoping that I could somehow get them taken off and pretend it never happened before I would write this. I was wrong. I am stuck with them and I am just going to have to love every painful, embarrassing, and stressful moment with them for the next 23 months. I have already had them for 1 month and the time has actually gone by pretty fast.

I need a total of 2 years or 24 months. Seems like it is going to be forever that I have these darn things. I will have them for two Christmas's, two Birthdays.... ewww two of everything. On top of that, I was told I had to have 3 teeth pulled. One is out and I have an appointment for the other 2 in a couple weeks. I'm not even going to get into how much fun it was to have a tooth pulled. I'm sure everyone knows what a true joy it is to experience that.

So. I'm stuck with the braces. I constantly feel them in my mouth. I think I should have bought some stock in the company that makes the wax I use a boat load of. I really look forward to the end of this, even if it is 23 months away.

P.S. People thought I looked young before the braces. Just when I thought I wouldn't get carded for a drink... HA... carded again! Looks like it might be an interesting, slightly entertaining, tremendously slow and definitely comical two years.

Me, right after I got the braces put on. Wearing no make-up~ oops!

Good Luck Keeping Up With Us- The Joneses

The Huntington Library & Museum

June 20, 2009

It was Saturday at 10:00am when we left for the museum. It was beautiful in Diamond Bar that morning. The sun was shining and it seemed like the perfect day to go out. Pasadena had a different plan, it was cold and sprinkling when we got there. We didn't mind, except that I would have liked my hair to stay dry. I know, your thinking "Typical Girl." You take 30 minutes to dry your hair and then we'll talk. Anywho, we started in The Library Exhibition Hall which housed many old documents and books. We moved on to American Art, European Art, and the History of Science. We also walked through Henry Huntington's home and saw the famous Pinkie and The Blue Boy paintings. They were pretty amazing and much larger than I anticipated.

This is a Gutenberg Bible from 1455. It was one of the fist printed Bibles. This is one of only 48 Gutenberg bibles that exist.This is "The Proficience and Advancement of Learning in 1605" by Francis Bacon.Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, 1410. It was beautiful, with its illuminated illustrations.

Hands down, this was my favorite painting from the day. Thomas Benton 1923. Benton believed that American Artists should represent the life, stories and people they know. The painting represented dignity and looking firmly ahead in life.

Good Luck Keepin' Up With Us~ The Joneses