The Jones family Christmas Tree....Joy to the World.

"Little sap in here."

Merry Christmas from the Jones clan. We've had a great time leading up to Christmas, with tree hunting and get-togethers, and we look forward to the weeks ahead. Sarah and I will be spending some time at the cabin in the north woods with family and friends over the holidays, as well as some time at home with both our families. We wish the best for you and your family this season as well. God Bless.

Another great week in the duck boat, with Derek and I both bagging our first drake canvasback and our first drake redhead...both beautiful ducks. Then, to top it off, Derek's 9 month old lab (Johnny Walker Blue) performed a double retrieve, bringing them both back to the boat at the same time. Great stuff.

Had a great opportunity to take my father and two cousins hunting this past saturday. Here's a picture from the morning. Word on the street is that the northern ducks are starting to arrive, so stay tuned for next weeks post.

Great trip to North Dakota with Derek "the pack mule" Jones and Merle "the chubby southerner" Stein. Limits of ducks every day, more duck that we could comfortably eat, and great stories to tell. Now its back to working too hard for WI ducks.

Ahh, fall is finally here! I am loving this 60 degree day! Ryan left today for North Dakota with his brother and a friend to duck hunt for the next week. I am hoping that he will come home with lots of ducks. Ryan has been busy with work, but has managed to squeeze in quite a few hunting trips. This cooler fall weather should bring better hunting!

I have been busy at school (what's new!). I have a great bunch of kids this year...so eager to learn. I am coaching 7th and 8th grade girls volleyball again. We have had an up and down season...the girls have improved sooooooooo much from last year, but we still can't pull off many wins. We have won just one game (so far). We have a game Thursday and a tournament next week. The girls really want to win!

We continue to work on the house. Ryan is busy finishing off the basement. It is going to be a great space for us when he is done! We have been painting and fixing the yard. Since hunting started we haven't gone away, but are enjoying time in town with family and friends.

That's all from the Jones family. God's blessings to you!

It's that time of year again, and it was a glorious morning in the duck-boat. Beautiful sunrise, ducks in the air, and time to enjoy stillness and silence. While this morning was not all that successful in terms of ducks in the bag, this beautiful wood duck makes it all worth it. Prompted a great conversation for Derek and I, as we consistently marvel at God's artistry.

On what was supposed to be a trip to Vermont, we recently spent an afternoon at Packer Training Camp (transmission flaw just miles from home). The team is looking solid, outside of the unknowns at running back and tight-end. Watched Favre throw darts into the end-zone for multiple touchdowns, so it should be fun to watch him crack record after record this season. Go Pack!

Happy Aniversary Ryan! It feels just like a day...underwater!
:) :)

What a great weekend! We traveled up to the cabin in Minoqua for relaxation and fun on the lake! We met up with Jerry, Eric, Lindsay, Teresea, Rich and the boys for some summer fun. We managed to get some skiing, tubing, swimming, and a few boat rides (Lucy's first!) in during the weekend. The boys played golf and we met them at a cute little restraunt on Lake Tomahawk for lunch. Then it was back to the cabin for more relaxing. On Saturday night, we set off fireworks and caught up with each other. We had such a great time! Below are just some of the many pictures we took of the weekend, but these are some of my favorites.




A perfect day on the lake!

Camping fun!

This weekend we had the chance to enjoy the beautiful weather by camping in Wild Rose. We were joined by Eric and Lindsay. We had quite an adventure! To start things off, we almost burnt down the campground...not really, but it sure looked that way. We weren't paying attention to the fire and all of a sudden the ground around the fire ring got too hot and a fire started spreading in 360 degrees. We all grabbed water and put out the fire quickly!
We also had a "mini-Olympics" between the Joneses and Eric/Lindsay. We battled it out in tennis, sand volleyball, and frisbee golf. All in all we had a great time with you guys and hope to do it again really soon!

Ahh, the first day of summer vacation! I offically ended school on Friday...but of course have to be there this week to clean up and file things away. I must say that as happy as I am to get a break, come early July I am ready to go back to work.

I thought that I would take some time to update you on our Memorial Day weekend. We met the Volbrecht's and Ryan's mom at LuWiSoMo for the weekend and had a lot of fun! Despite the cool weather and a small amount of rain, we still managed to get some tennis, biking at Hartman Creek, and major relaxing in. We had a great time and are so blessed to have such wonderful friends! We are looking forward to many more camping trips this summer!

Sarah kicking back on our first of many camping trips for summer 2007.

Yikes! Where does the time go???!!! We both feel so bad that we haven't updated our blog for a long time! The spring always comes and goes so fast...can you believe that the end of May is in sight? We are both doing very well. School lasts for about another 2 weeks...plus two field trips...the students are on countdown mode. I am looking for a summer job. Hopefully, I will be servering at a restraunt again. Ryan is still very busy with his job. He is gone this week at a conference in northern Wisconsin. It sounds like he is having a great time! He will be coming home tomorrow, just in time for me to leave for a double bridal shower this weekend.
We have been keeping ourselves busy by visiting family, being outdoors, and camping. Yep, we had our first camping trip last weekend. It was fabulous! We had great weather to bike and play tennis. Just one of many camping trips to come. I don't have any pictures to post...maybe next week. Ryan hasn't put them on the computer yet. :) Lucy is great too. She is still active and just turned three. She is definately a comedian...always making us laugh. I promise that I will post some pictures soon!

Gracie's Second Day Skiing...or making eyes with the camera.