See my 2011 Blogs:

http://jeri10-2011blogs.blogspot.com/

Amy's North Pole Santa Party

Here are the photos from yesterday's Santa Party (50 kids plus their parents!).  Amy outdid herself. Santa was there, the kids got to "build a bear," there were two of Santa's helpers making balloon characters for the kids, a photo station, her kitchen was Santa's Candy Shop, and the backyard was a winter wonderland.

And Kyle and Amy were Elves!

Candy Cane Lane Party

I hosted a "release" party for Jennifer's song, Candy Cane Lane which was recorded and released by Point of Grace (who won a Dove Award for their Christmas album with this song on it). The photos above are from that party.

North Pole Patrol

Here is a video from their release party last night (tunes can be downloaded at itunes.com, Amazon.com and cdbaby.com)

Merry Christmas from the North Pole Patrol

Jennifer's Christmas CD

Taryn Brainard, Emily Shackelton, & Jennifer Zuffinetti

 Jennifer put together a trio called "North Pole Patrol"
to sing her Christmas music. Listen to it here:

Ainsley's Christmas Photo

Happy Thanksgiving

"A grateful heart, then, comes through expressing gratitude to our Heavenly Father for His blessings and to those around us for all that they bring into our lives. This requires conscious effort—at least until we have truly learned and cultivated an attitude of gratitude. Often we feel grateful and intend to express our thanks but forget to do so or just don’t get around to it. Someone has said that “feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it."
--Thomas S. Monson

"Gratitude is a state of appreciation, an act of thanksgiving, which causes us to be humble because we recognize an act of kindness, service, or caring from someone else which lifts us and strengthens us."
--Robert D. Hales

Gratitude

"Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it."       

~William Arthur Ward

Happy Birthday Ainsley!

Ainsley is one year old today!

Thanksgiving

We had our Thanksgiving early because nobody was going to be in town over Thanksgiving.

Happy Halloween!

 The Jones family in the Church parking lot
for "Trunk or Treating" on Oct. 30th

They went as Max, Sulley, Beauty, and the Beast to Trick or Treat at Disneyland and their costumes were so good that they got to ride on a float in the parade!

We had fun at the olympics

Check out our routine (be patient...can take a full minute to download)

Personalize funny videos and birthday eCards at JibJab!

Do Something for Someone Today

 If you don't have the time and/or the money to participate in organized charities, but still want to do "something:"  for "someone,"  go to this website (You'll be glad you did )

http://youngmothersservingothers.blogspot.com/

Kenny Chesney's River House

Kenny Chesney sold his river house to Scott Hendricks after the Nashville floods. Jennifer is good friends with Scott and he invited us over to see the house after the floods subsided and things were back in shape again. Here is what The house looked like before the flood (and again now, after the flood):

Here is the video of what Nashville, and Kenny's house, looked like during the flood:

Their boat dock was washed away and found in a tree...27 miles down stream!

It is our 40th Wedding Anniversary today!

We just got back from our anniversary cruise to Alaska. Alan hates to travel, but he couldn't say no to this. I told him he had a choice between a cruise or a big party (and he hates parties more than he hates to travel). It was a ten-day cruise and he never got off the ship!  (to each his own).  I had a great time - I love to cruise.

Now we're planning on getting a divorce, for religious reasons.  He thinks he's God, and I don't!

(Just kidding).  Here we are off to a nice quiet, romantic anniversary dinner...

Prince Poppycock

For those of you who missed it, here is Prince Poppycock's audition for America's got Talent:

Time Management

"We have to live thoughtfully, to be discriminating as to everything that takes our time.  We must in some measure eliminate the insignificant, the inconsequential, and not let our lives be broken into little pieces that get lost along the way.  We need to live so that we can see a pattern, a plan, a purpose, and make every motion, every moment more meaningful."    Richard L. Evans

You Can't Judge a Book...

A new post by my daughter, Jennifer Zuffinetti...Enjoy 
Download her music for FREE at:
http://www.fizzkicks.com/zuffinetti/

The Evolution of Dance

to date, over 150 MILLION people have viewed this video!

Jackie Evancho

The next international opera STAR (she's only ten years old - and no, she's NOT lip syncing)

Download Jennifer's Songs for FREE!

http://www.fizzkicks.com/zuffinetti/

Just download them to your desktop, double click on the icon and it opens right up (I burn mine to itunes)

She writes all kinds of music and you can find a whole list of songs in each of her favorite genres: Country, Jazz, Acoustic, and Christmas.

You can listen to 32 of her songs on her Facebook page

Happy Birthday Lincoln!

Lincoln celebrated his 4th birthday by having a "Super Heroes" party.  Everyone came as their favoritesuper hero.  He had a hard time choosing who he wanted to be because he loves them all.

Mommy did a great job (as usual) planning every detail.  She even had a cartoon artist draw a four page cartoon story featuring Lincoln.

Dream Shoes

Top = Shoes for Jennifer
Middle = Shoes for Amy
If the Lamborghinies were 2" shorter, I'd totally wear them.  They are "Smokin'"

A Real Man

A real man is a woman's best friend. He will never stand her up and never let her down.. He will reassure her when she feels insecure and comfort her after a bad day.

He will inspire her to do things she never thought she could do; to live without fear and forget regret. He will enable her to express her deepest emotions and give in to her most intimate desires. He will make sure she always feels as though she's the most beautiful woman in the room and will enable her to be the most confident, sexy, seductive, and invincible!!!!

No wait... sorry... I'm thinking of wine.
 
Never mind.

We the People

What the Tea Party rallies are really about

Morality

We all know that a frog won't jump into boiling water and stay there.  He would immediately jump out.  He knows the boiling water would kill him. BUT, if you put a frog in cold water and slowly increased the temperature, the frog wouldn't realize when it was getting too hot and he would die before even knowing that he was in trouble.

I've used this analogy many times for a number of different situations.  However, the one I use it most for is to illustrate how we have to keep our morals.  If a guy tried to have sex with you on the first date, you'd be appalled.  But if you kissed on the first date, made out on the second date, got all feely touchy on the third date, then having sex starts seeming like a good idea.

The same goes for alcohol and drugs - even lying, cheating, and stealing. Don't go there.  Rationalizing your little baby steps is a slippery slope to ending up in boiling water.

Just say NO!

Happiness

"Where was it ever promised us that life on this earth can ever be easy, free from conflict and uncertainty, devoid of anguish and wonder and pain? Those who seek the folly of endless happiness -- who fear moods, who shun solitude, who do not know the dignity of occasional depression - - can find bliss easy enough in tranquilizing pills or in senility.

The purpose of life is not to be happy. the purpose of life is to matter, to be productive, to have it make some difference that you lived at all. Happiness, in the ancient, noble sense, means self-fulfillment -- and it is given to those who use the fullest of whatever talents God or fate bestowed upon them. Happiness lies in stretching the resources of the mind and heart to the farthest boundaries of which we are capable."

Leo Rasten took these words right out of my mouth.

Nashville Dry Cleaners

I got this from my daughter who lives in Nashville:

Check out Sunday store hours!!!! Only in Nashville!

Moroccan Party

My friend Sue hit the 60 mark so we sent her over the hill in style.  We all dressed for the occasion and took a limo (a stretch white Hummer) to the Marrakesh Restaurant in La Jolla.  I promise you, it was a night to remember.

Happy Birthday Sue!

Happy 6th Anniversary Amy & Kyle!

Happy Birthday Kyle!

Kyle and Amy on vacation

Character Counts

Don't just pick ONE...They are ALL important!

Ability will enable a man to get to the top, but character is the only thing that will keep him there.

November Election

Take a look at this and remember to vote in November  

U.S. House and Senate have voted themselves $4,700 and $5,300 raises. 1.     They voted  NOT to give you a S.S. Cost of living raise in 2010 and 2011. 2.     Your Medicare premiums will go up $285.60 for the 2-years and you will not get the 3% COLA: $660/yr. Your total 2-yr loss and cost is -$1,600 or -$3,200 for husband and wife. 3.     Over 2-yrs they each get $10,000 They will have a raise and better benefits. Why care about you? You never did anything about it in the past. Do you really think that Nancy, Harry, Chris, Charlie, Barnie, et al, care about you?  SEND THE MESSAGE--  You're FIRED. IN 2010 YOU WILL HAVE A CHANCE TO GET RID OF THE SITTING CONGRESS:  Up to 1/3 OF THE SENATE, AND 100% OF THE HOUSE. MAKE SURE YOU'RE STILL MAD IN NOVEMBER 2010 AND REMIND THEIR REPLACEMENTS NOT TO MESS UP. Maybe it's time for a new amendment........ Amendment 28 "Congress shall make no law that applies to the citizens of the United States that does not apply equally to the Senators or Representatives, and Congress shall make no law that applies to the Senators or Representatives that does not apply equally to the citizens of the United States."

Our Top WEDDING tips:

June is just around the corner and brides-to-be are busy planning their weddings.  Here are our top wedding tips:

1. Make your wedding day personal. Have it reflect your personality.

2. Remember, this is just the wedding and reception - don't get carried away and stress yourself out. It is the "marriage" that is the most important thing. Keep your focus on the marriage - not the celebrations.

3. Make every effort to keep within your budget. Don't start out your marriage in debt. Marriage is all about compromise - start practicing that ideal when planning your celebrations.

4. Ladies, contrary to popular belief, your wedding day is NOT all about you. It is also your fiance's big day. Is there anything he'd like to incorporate into the plans? Did you bother to ask?

You can find our website at asimpleldswedding.com We've posted all of the overflow material from our book on the website to supplement the book. The book is available at the BYU Bookstore in Provo. (You don't have to buy the book - or be a "Mormon" - to use the website.)  We wish you a happy wedding, a happy marriage, and a happy life together.

 Jeri-Lynn Johnson & Amy Jones

Happy Birthday Amy!

Volcano shuts down flights across Northern Europe

A volcano eruption in Iceland has totally shut down 313 airports from Ireland to Bulgaria (including Stockholm, Oslo, Paris,London, and Frankfurt.  17,000 flights were canceled the first day, and over the last four days, 63,000 flights were canceled.  Mother nature has been showing us humans who is in control.  The last few years have been wrought with devastating hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, wild fires, record snowstorms, record heat waves, and now this.  We can't say we haven't been warned.

I don't let it change how I live my life...except for the fact that I've been reassessing my food storage and emergency preparedness plans.  I'd rather be prepared than be sorry.