.life happens.

I have not been blogging much, but most of my pictures since leaving Hawaii to the current time have been on Facebook. I will slowly try to get a few of them up on the blog, for fun journaling purposes :) in the meantime we will just start on today :)

A couple of fun pictures taken in Utah during Christmas.

Where have we been? What have we been up to? Currently Seth, Janica and baby Warren are visiting us for a week. It has been so much fun having them here. While Seth has been here, he is helping me learn how to help with the Country Mercantile website/blog. I am going to be taking pictures writing a blog for my fathers store. I have been working there on Friday's and Saturday's getting them ready for the summer when it gets CRAZY BUSY! Working at the store lately has been so much fun and it has just opened my eyes just how cool it is that my dad owns this place, and I realize how lucky my kids are to get to play there :) At the store my dad has a train, a carousel, and a plain ride. He even owns a reindeer. They have a seasonal petting zoo and for special events they have pony rides, bounce houses and optical courses for the summer month. Those are just some of the fun outside things for the kids, so pretty much they are in heaven.


The inside of the store if FULL of Gourmet goodness. Gourmet Chocolates, Gourmet Dressings, Jams and Jellies, Sauces, etc. They have a chocolate factory, all chocolates are handmade inside the store. They have homemade ice cream, fudge, enchiladas, tamales, they have a Deli where they make sandwiches. They have fresh produce, crafts and I think I covered most of it. IT IS AMAZING! That is why I CAN NOT wait to start a blog about it and get to run through each part of the store and how it is all done. It is AMAZING!
AS SOON as I get my camera back, WHICH (cross my fingers) should be within this next week or so, I will be able to get pictures up of the store.


BTW - when I post pictures of me, and I look like 20 pounds heavier, it is all the gourmet chocolate from the store :)


The kids have been having fun and making lots of friends. Two of Kali's best friends are 10, one that is 7 a few that are 5 and a boy and a girl that are in her Primary class who are actually a month apart from her.


The kids are just growing up so fast and learning and saying some of the funniest things! I guess that is why I decided I need to get back into blogging so I won't forget to write some of the things down that they do and say on a daily basis, that are just SO FUNNY!


Aaron is doing really well in school and just got back from Denver, CO where he spent four days in conference for his new job. He is a Marriage, Family and Youth Therapist. He will be visiting families at their home and teaching them the tools needed to help them in their struggles.


Well, hopefully this means I can get back into the rhythm of journaling and getting some of these fun life experiences in writing, and pictures (hopefully soon:).

Crosby Family : Sneak Peak

For the rest of their shoot check out my photo blog :)

Winter Wonderland

So this is our new home. Sadly my camera is not adjusting so well to the cold weather so it is in the shop. In the meantime I will have to use my camera phone.

We are now into our second week in our new home and Aaron is excited about his new classes and teachers. He is starting is internship right away as well.

The kids and I are spending our days having school time, workout time and play time: snowmobiling, sledding and jumping off the roof into the snow.

Sorry I have not been specific in what is going on and EXACTLY where we are. I have had some people ask me what EXACTLY is going on. Well I will only answer that via email, text, phone call or face book messaging since my blog is open to the public and I don't want any of the ax murders or sasquatches that frequent the area to come across my blog and come knocking at my door :)

We have been very blessed. I am so grateful to my Heavenly Father and to my earthly Father for making this move so comfortable for us. I think they both knew it was going to be hard on us. We love Hawaii and our friends who I consider more as family very much and miss them so bad it hurts. Kali talks about her friends daily and when ever she has her phone in hand pretends she is talking to one of them.

Things that I am trying to get use to are, lotion. Melissa I can finally be just like you and use lotion everyday. I never used lotions in Hawaii. The main reason I don't like lotion is it drives me crazy to have lotion on my hands and when I eat like a pear or something I can taste the lotion, or if I pick up my cell phone, I get lotion on it, or touching anything for that matter it feels weird. LOL. Oh well just something I have to get use too. I have to have chap stick taped to my lips and a kleenex taped to my nose. I forgot how well NyQuil works, I don't think I ever used it in Hawaii. And instead of running around barefoot I now ALWAYS have on a pair of socks, which has done wonders for my heels :)

Well there is a quick update of our life right now, and after we get more settled maybe I will do better at blogging and of course it would help A TON when I get my camera back from the doctors :)

Merry Christmas!

Mark Holladay Lee = Awesomeness

Mele Kalikimaka 2009

The year 2009 brought our family some big achievements, happy reunions and sad goodbye's.

It was full of beach days, camping, hiking, pool and sprinkler parties, acai bowls and friends.

We were able to visit the Big Island and Kauai and enjoy our last year on the island of Oahu.

Aaron finished working at Bobby Benson Center and concentrated on his internship as an assistant to the counselors at BYU-Hawaii.  He was able to get some spear fishing in this year and even surfed a day before we left the island.  He played football on a winning semi-pro football team this last summer.  They were untouchable.  It was fun to watch.  He has spent countless hours with Krew and teaching him how to tackle and ram into the wall and into people with his helmet on.  He graduated this last month from Brigham Young University - Hawaii with his bachelors degree in Social Work and we are so proud of him for this accomplishment.  He has been an AMAZING father, husband employee and student.  He has already been accepted into the Masters program in Social Work and is in the advanced standing program.  This next year for him with be more full time work and school and he is excited about it :)

I was able to achieve my her New Years goals of working out, surfing and photography.  Thanks to my husband, and two of my friends (Hillary and Kim) I was able to lift for almost three months straight, four days a week.  This is seriously monumental for me.  With the two kids it has been difficult for me to be able to figure out how to do anything for myself :)  Thanks to Natalia, Crystal and Melissa I was able to surf again this year, which just makes my days, nothing is more relaxing than getting in a good surf session.  And thanks to Aaron and Angie I was able to get my photography business going.  It really is so much fun for me.  I didn't realize how much I love it, until I set down my camera for a few days and when I pick it up again, I get so excited :)

Knowing this was my last year on the island, My friend Larissa and I took a Tahitian dance class and was also able to perform at a recital.  It was an amazing workout and so much fun. 

Even with all of these goals I had for myself this year, my #1 goal is to always be a good mother.  I love my children very much, they bring so much happiness to my life and they teach me so much every day! 

Kali celebrated her third birthday with all of her favorite things, friends, horse back riding and a dolphin encounter.  She has learned to surf this year and is a little fish in the water.  She took swimming lessons, gymnastics and attended Na Kamalei (pre-school).  She had her first hair cut this year and went to her first circus.  She learned how to Tahitian dance and even performed at a recital.  

We celebrated Krew's first birthday "Hawaiian Style."  Lots of food, music, dancing, bounce house and friends!  Krew is a ball full of energy.  He loves football!  He loves to throw a football and tackle, pretty much ANYTHING football gets him excited.  He loves to sing and dance and laugh.  He has the cutest cheese face when he smiles for the camera.  He has grown so much this year and tries to copy and say everything he hears and sees.  He has grown out of his crib and now sleeps in a big boy bed.  Krew loves helicopters, plains, trains, and cars.

We had to pack up our home and all that we have known as a family and move this past week.  It was full of sadness and tears, leaving those behind that have become our family and leaving the island and culture that we have learned to love SO DEARLY.

Even though we have moved to colder climates we have had some AMAZING reunions with Aaron's family (and his daughter Kayla) in California and than with mine in Utah before heading to Washington.

We are excited to see what the future holds for us in Washington and know that with the help of our Father in Heaven we will be guided, blessed and protected where ever we are.

I hope this Christmas Season has brought everyone love and peace.  I hope it has helped us reflect on the Savior and his example and has made us reflect on our own lives so that we can think of ways to improve ourselves so that we can become more like him.

Mele Kalikimaka 

and much 

Aloha from the Jones Family,

Aaron, Shanae, Kayla, Kali and Krew

Aloha Oe

My girlfriend Joy wrote this when she made her first move and I am copying it having many of the same feelings as her. She said it so poetically:) Not something I am so good at. I just changed the locations to fit my own :)

There's no place like home, there's no place

.... like home..... but lately I'm not quite sure where "home" is.

The more I've been thinking it's made me realize that "home" isn't a place to me, it's a feeling. I thought "home" for the past 5 years has been Hawaii..... and now today I fly "home" with the kids to stay with my parents in Washington. Another home. I've come to realize that although walls make a house, a family and love makes a home. That place can be wherever we choose and it doesn't have to be in one single place. It can be in many.


As we go through life we evolve and grow into new people. As these changes take place we take these pieces of our lives, family, friends, and physical houses, to make a "home". That has brought me a lot of comfort in uncertainty these past few months and especially today as I said my good byes, packed up my stuff, and walked out the door of our first house for the last time.... A place where we started as newlyweds and left as a family of four. A place we loved and the first place we called home.


And I add to this HAWAII WILL BE A PLACE I HOLD FOREVER IN MY HEART!