Lewis and Clark Caverns

On Wednesday, we took a trip to Lewis and Clark Caverns State Park. It is about 2 hours away from Great Falls. Here we are approaching the park.





View from the trail up to the cave entrance.



Looking back on the trails. The upper trail goes to the cave entrance. The lower takes you back to the parking lot from the exit of the cave.



An assortment of cave features.







There was a lot of ducking and squeezing through tight areas.







At this point we were a mile above sea level, yet 200 feet below the cave entrance, to give you an idea of altitude.








A bright beautiful sky after spending an hour and a half in a dark cave.

Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

After we got back from Ohio, we decided to rearrange our house and make it look more grown-up. The first thing we did was switch computer desks. Justin has two monitors now and needed more space.



My new work station.



This back room is now a computer room/game room.

We turned the front room into an actual living room. My parents gave us a tv stand they bought to stage their Ohio house for sale. Everything looks much nicer in the front room, with the huge window and the tall ceilings.



We left the bookshelves in the front room as well, just moved to a different wall. The cats still have their area in the front room.



We just need to hang up pictures so the walls don't look as white. Justin has had 2 days off since we've been home so we haven't gotten around to the finishing touches yet.


Some other little things: we got a new trash can, that looks nicer sitting out.



A hanging shoe rack so our closet is more organized.



We did some small things outside as well. The tree in between our house and the neighbors: we put the stone border around it and redid the mulch.



We also got some flower pots and solar lights for the front of the house.





There is more "spring" cleaning and organizing to be done. However, Justin's schedule has been really busy and will be extremely busy for the next month so I'm not sure when everything will get done. Oh well, such is life in the Air Force when his career field is undermanned.

Weddings, Graduations, and Family, Oh My!

The whole reason we went to Ohio was for Justin's sister's graduation. It just so happened that the timing worked out and Justin got to be best man in his lifelong friend Eric's wedding.

Eric and Paula's wedding was at a Catholic church literally 3 minutes from Justin's parents' house.







Justin and his mom at the reception.



Justin and Jessica.




Best man and the newlyweds.



Justin and his dad.



The wedding was a lot of fun.

After relaxing on Sunday and hanging out with family at the house, and running errands on Monday, we went to the Reds game Monday night. The new stadium is pretty awesome. It sits right on the Ohio river and they shoot off fireworks every time the Reds hit a home run. We were lucky enough to see 2 homers. Jared even got a foul ball.



Justin and his ridiculous arm sleeve tattoo thing.




We had great seats and the Reds won (not that I care about baseball but seeing the home team win is exciting.)


Tuesday was Jessica's high school graduation! Before the evening ceremony, we gave her our present which included a bunch of random things for her dorm room next year.



Half-dressed, hah.



The graduate!



All of us Joneses (Jared, Jamie, Jessica, Mark, Justin, Stacy).



The grandparents.



Mark's sister Cara and her son Michael.



Jamie's sister Carla.



Jamie's brother Charlie.



Jamie's sister Theressa, her daughters Hailey and Kendall, and her husband Harry, with his sons Alex and Tommy.




After taking a break from Cincinnati and heading over to Zanesville to see my parents and grandma for a day (it would have been slightly longer but a storm took out my grandma's air conditioning, sadly) we headed back for Jessica's (and cousin Bryan's) graduation party. Before the party, we went up to Mount St. Joseph's, which is where Jess with be attending college in the fall. It's a small school so she showed us around the whole campus.






Mt. St. Joe's is a really nice school and Jessica is going to have a fantastic 7 years there (her major requires extensive study).

Jessica and Bryan's graduation party was an excellent family get together. Since it is unknown when everyone will be in the same location again, Theressa's friend came to take family pictures. Here are a few of the photos she took.


Stacy, Justin, Jessica, and Jared.



The grandkids (and one great-grand baby) from Jamie's side of the family.
Across the back row: Stacy, Justin, Bryan, Tommy and Alex.
Middle row: Jared, Megan holding Damien, Jessica.
Front row: Kendall, Hailey, and Tyler.



The grandkids on Mark's side of the family.
Adam, Jared, Justin, Noah, Stacy, Zander, Jessica, Michael, Sydney and then Mama and Papa so Sydney wouldn't cry.


Jones/Dravlands


We had a great time visiting family and sharing in the special occasions of graduation and Eric and Paula's wedding. It was a long drive but it was more than worth it to see everyone :)