a few quotes...

from the book "Small and Simple Things" by: Marjorie Hinckley

The trick is to enjoy life.  Don't wish away your days, waiting for better ones ahead.

Be kind.  Everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.

and few others quotes in the book by others:

No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.  

Aesop, The Lion and the Mouse

What do we live for, if it is not to make life less difficult for each other?

George Elliot

On that note, THANK YOU Melissa for taking care of my laundry!

While I was out in the pouring rain trying to hold garbage in one hand and the laundry card and drier sheets in the other, all in one motion I was throwing my garbage in the dumpster and sort of slipped, half my garbage made it in, the other half did not and my laundry card had disappeared.  After cleaning up my garbage and looking intently for my laundry card that still had like $15.00 on it, there was no hope.  I could not find it.  I ran upstairs and crabbed another card and more money to put on it.  I felt like I should go look one more time for the card just to make sure I just hadn't over looked it.  Was it in the garbage, no.  Sure enough it was right on top face down.

Sweet!

On my way to the laundry room, I walk in and Melissa is standing there just finishing up.  She had put all of my clothes in the drier and paid to dry them for me.  She even pulled out all of Aaron's shirts that EVERYONE in E house knows have to hang dry.

I am pretty sure my mouth just dropped open.  

MELISSA YOU ARE SO AMAZING!  THANK YOU THANK YOU!

worst case scenario

We have been going through Kali's room and getting things cleaned out and trying to figure out what to sell right now and what to keep until we leave.  While we were doing this, Kali said several times, "Worst case scenario, we could just buy another one in Washington."

Kali loves to carry her baby with her everywhere we go.  She is such a good mommy!

I believe if you are curious what you sound like to your child or how you parent, just watch how your child interacts with her toy baby.  It is quit comical :)

Kali put on this wig the other day and said, "Look mom, I am a Jonas Brother!"

today I love...

these lighting photos taken by a friend whom I miss so much, Noelle.

and this quote:

“I don't want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails. I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp. I want to be there with grass stains on my shoes from mowing Sister Schenk's lawn. I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbor's children. I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed some one's garden. I want to be there with children's sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder. I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived."  ~Marjorie Hinckley

I found on Stephanie's blog, thank you Stephanie for the reminder.

and finally, this post found on Susan's blog, entitled:

ONLY IN HAWAII

After living in Hawaii for a few months, we've discovered a few things that make Hawaii unlike any other place.

Only in Hawaii...

Does the town's only grocery store not sell frozen carrots. Or Hawaiian punch.

Can you see a XXL string bikini in use on a regular basis.

Does the hospital have an outdoor waiting room.

Do you welcome the geckos inside because they eat all of the other bugs.

Can it be pouring rain while the sky above is still mostly clear and sunny.

Will you see people drinking hot chocolate and wearing jackets & scarves on the beach because it has gotten down to 60 degrees that night.

Can you pick out a tourist by what car they are driving.

Can you look at the 10 Day weather forecast and see the exact same prediction for every day.

Can you experience what we call "Aloha Drivers" who will slam on their brakes in the middle of the one-laned Kam Hwy, causing the 15 cars trailing them to screech to a stop and/or swerve onto the shoulder... just to let a single car turn onto the highway from a side street.

Can you buy a gallon of milk for over $7.

Can you take the wrong highway 3 times in a row and still have a way to get home.

Can you take your rotting food to the ward farm to feed the wild pig that someone caught, only to hear rumors of an upcoming ward luau featuring ground-cooked Kalua Pork as the main dish.

Can you get splashed by a few drops of a wave while driving in your car. 

Can you experience "vog," a type of smog that clouds the skies when the trade winds blow the volcano smoke over from the big island. 

Do all of the trees have marks in the trunk from people climbing them to get to the coconuts.

Does the grocery story become the most popular destination in town as soon as the sun sets.

Can you go to a Chevron with 6 gas pumps and have to wait in a line because 4 of the pumps have been out of order for months and nobody cares to fix them.

Do chickens actually cross the road (I always wondered where those jokes came from...).

Can you spend $8 washing a single load of laundry.

Can you whale-watch from your kitchen window.

Can you watch the hole on Kam Hwy get to be a foot deep before anybody fixes it - and when it does get fixed, you realize that someone just filled it in with dirt and it all washes away with the next storm.

Do you get to experience creativity at its finest through store names such as "Foodland" and "The Hair Cut Store."

Do you feel like you are driving uncomfortably fast as soon as your speedometer passes 40 mph.

Should you rewash your clean dishes right before use because you never know what just ran over them in the cabinet.

Thanks girls for all of these wonderful, inspiring posts :)

Howard Newborn

This little man was so easy to photograph, flashing smiles and just chillin.

HE IS ADORABLE!

Congratulations Howards!!

To view more of his photos visit

shanaejonesphotography.

"We need to get our energy out"

That is what Kali says when she wants to play outside.  Mom, I need to get my energy out.  A lot of times in the evenings this is where they get their energy out. :)

babies, babies, babies

CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!

to

My sister Janica and her husband Seth,

they are having a little boy in November.

My brother Brandon and his wife Veronica,

they are having a little boy in December.

and to Aaron's brother Zach and his wife Rachel,

they are having a little girl in November.

WE ARE EXCITED FOR ALL OF YOU AND CAN'T WAIT TO MEET ALL OF THE LITTLE ONES IN JANUARY!

Never a dull moment...

when Cori is around :)

I was going through some old pictures and came across these from Janica and Seth's wedding.

I MISS YOU CORIANN!!!!

This is how it is done.

I finally found out how Krew was climbing out of his crib.  He is so cleaver :)

I knew he had been working on it for a while now since I would find him almost on a daily basis with a foot or leg stuck between the bars.

And when he is not climbing out of his crib he is dumping out bags of food everywhere.

I can't leave this boy alone for a second.

A Song to Grandma

Kali told me she wanted to sing a song for Grandma, 

so here is Kali with her debut song entitled:

A Song to Grandma

Lyrics

I love to be with my family they are always happy,

but when not when I do bad things oh they love me,

truly does my family go to church with me they are always happy.

I always get my friends cuz I always play,

not if I be cranky then I have to take a nap. 

Not if I say to another thing the temple. 

The temple is special of Jesus Christ on it,

but Jesus Christ is special you can’t ever take a lot of thanks,

a lot of friends in of my friends I sometimes they be nice,

oh as I say oh they be nice to my family they don’t say their bad,

I’ll tell them whatever they say to my parents,

because I am the big girl that I tell my friends to not  say my family is rude,

because that makes Jesus sad. 

Oh cuz my family is my family oh cuz I like my family.

Krew at 16 months

My little man is growing like crazy and is full of energy.  Some updates on this guy.  

He loves to point to and say head, noes and eyes.  

He is an amazing eater, which is new for me, Kali struggles in that department.  

He loves to jump and spin until he is dizzy.  

He tries to say what ever we say, he loves to play monster and peek-a-boo.  Monster is a game where I am the monster and I chase him around the house. (in case you didn't know :)  

This little man just learned to crawl out of his crib and it has been a challenge to get him to take a nap or go to bed at night, he just crawls out and plays :)  The cutest thing though is when he wakes up, instead of crying he just crawls out and knocks on the door until I get him.  

I LOVE IT!!!!

Moore Family Newborn : sneak peek

This beautiful little girl was so precious.  

She knows her mom and dad's voice and loves to be held.  I have learned that newborns do not like to be photographed when they are hungry.  

Hence the picture you will see on my photo blog.  Many of your hearts will probably drop to see such a sad picture, but I was informed that some people think it is cute :)

Shanae Jones Photography 

(this easy link is for all of you who think it is to much work to move your mouse over to the right and click on that link:)

2 weeks dry

Kali finally earned her trip to Chuck E. Cheese's.  I think the night wetting is a thing of the past. (knock on wood).

The kids enjoyed pizza and salad.

Kali my bird eater ate a couple pieces and left the crust, Krew on the other hand is my garbage disposal and finished off all the pizza and Kali's crust.

The kids favorite ride.  

They got lucky and shared it with a local girl who kept feeding the machine tokens, sooo twenty rides later...

They were done and we played a few games to win a few tokens :)

It was a great time had by all.

oh, and one more things, Kali loved Chuch E. the second time around, the first time she got a little nervous and her body shakes when she gets scared.  She still gave him a high five.

Krew on the other hand did not want anything to do with him and griped my shirt REALLY tight:)  So funny!

Allred Family Newborn

Today was such a fun day for me, I got to photograph in the Allred studio.  

Ok, it is just their beautiful home, but I felt like I was in a studio.

I feel like I have finally had a creative break through.

I have had this guitar reflections idea in my head for awhile and I thought the Allred's would be the perfect family to try it with,

 seeing how they own quite a few guitars :)

The rest are up to view at

shanaejonesphotography

Swimming Lessons

Kali had done to Gunstock awhile back to swim with the instructors still in training and ever since than she has told me she wanted to take lessons.  I have been teaching Kali as much as I can or as much as she will let me, since I am a certified instructor, however, I felt like maybe she would progress a little faster with someone else and with older kids to push her.  Well the first two days she did AWESOME!  They split the class into two groups the upper and lower group.  She made it skill wise into the older group with the 5 and 6 year olds!  I was so proud of her :)  Sadly enough by the third lesson, she decided she was over swimming lessons and she wanted me to get in the pool with her, which as we all know, totally defeats the purpose of these lessons :(  Well, it is a continual fight and it makes me realize maybe she is a little to young and not ready to do lessons with out me with her.  She is a little attached to me still.  I was considering putting her in pre-school and now I am second guessing myself.  Well, there is another week left of lessons and hopefully we can just finish them out with out to much of a fuss.

Here is her routine.  She showers off.

uses the restroom

then practices her skills

and on a good day, she is happy about it all :)