The Jackson Five

2011-11-04T09:59:00.000-07:00

Just Livin The Dream!

Two weeks ago at Brooklyn's game I was talking to a friend. She said that when people ask her how's life? Or how's it going? She just says back to them "I'm just livin the dream... " I thought about that phrase and decided that I myself am "Just livin the dream!" I guess I didn't realize what my life would be like at age 41 but I must say its pretty good! Although I rarely have time for myself, hardly blog, I am constantly sleep deprived and haven't scrap booked in about a year! My life is full and I am grateful for my many blessings!!! So lately this is what my livin the dream life has been like:

Brooklyn has joined a new select soccer team and has enjoyed her new coach, teammates and the challenge.

We went to several Union High School football games. Morgan performed at three of them and Brinley and Maddie both performed during the half time show in conjunction with Morgans Dance Team.

Over Labor Day weekend Jon & I found in scoring deal on a car. We flew to Phoneix Arizona to purchase the car. We also were able to see my parents and my sister Monique and her family at my Aunt and Uncle's 50th wedding anniversary party. It was fun to see so many cousins and their families that I haven't seen in almost 10 years. We then took the next two days to drive this lovey automobile home!!
We got a third car for Morgan to use when she gets her license! It has been soo fun to drive around! So fun that I got a speeding ticket in it on the way to Brooklyn's soccer game! I rarely drive my suburban anymore! Only to church and one of my carpools! All the kids and their friends want to always ride in "Lady". That's her name! It gets great gas mileage and its much easier to park!

The biggest thing that I have been doing in my life lately is YW! On September 25 I was called to be YW president in my ward. In order for me to be YW president Jon had to be released as a counselor in our Bishopric. He has been serving in big callings and serving somehow with the Youth in our church for over 13 years!!! It has been a big change for all of us. I now have to go to meetings instead of him all the time! My mind in constantly thinking about the YW in our ward or planning some activity in my head! I have had 2-3 hour presidency meetings each week since I have been called and I have already had to put on our YW in Excellence program! It's non stop busy until February. We have a YW overnight retreat, combined Christmas dinner, priest/laurel activity, New Beginnings, and much more! It is very busy but so fun and rewarding!

It's been a crazy fall and will be even more busy with the holidays approaching! Yikes and I have to host Thanksgiving!! I keep telling myself "Just Livin the Dream!!"

2011-09-15T12:39:00.000-07:00

New Year!
So I have been the lamest blogger in the world lately!! I didn't blog anything about the majority of last school year! It was kind of an adjustment for me last year with a high schooler, all my kids in school, my baby in kindergarten and early morning seminary! I'm pleased to say that I feel like I'm back to normal and this year has been off to a fairly smooth start! I won't be back tracking into last school year, but I may post some of our summer activities just for my own personal journaling! So hopefully more will be coming soon! Our school started on August 31 this year. It seems to be getting earlier each year. Here are some pictures of the kids on their first day! Morgan and her friend Mandy both Sophomores at Union High School.
Mason is a big eighth grader at Pacific Middle School:
Brooklyn is in the Fifth Grade: (blurry picture!)
Brinley is in Third Grade:
And Maddie is in First Grade:
They all had a great day at school and were pretty excited to go back. We have some excellent teachers this year! I think some of the best at Harmony!!! Brooklyn's birthday was the second day of school, September 1! Her birthday always falls on a holiday, or right around when school starts! So pretty much its craziness. She got breakfast in bed..
And then she went about her normal day. School, safety patrol, soccer and then bday dinner with friends.
She kept on asking me what are we going to do fun for my birthday? Sadly that's all we did.. It wasn't a year to have a party and with school just starting it was very busy. We did take her out to dinner a couple days before her birthday. She had some of our good friends' the Dustins come over for a yummy dinner of ribs, potatoes, corn on the cob, and salad. And then she wanted red velvet cake! Thank you Costco for having an awesome cake!!
We played a game, opened presents and then had to get to bed at a normal time! It was a low-key but fun birthday for Brooklyn!!!

Brooklyn at Eleven!!!
Brooklyn continues to be my most easy going child and most of the time, my easiest child!! She is very independent and helpful. I trust her more than I do Mason to bbsit the little girls. She loves to play with them still and does a great job at making them dinner while we are out on a date. She is smart and does well in school. She is determined and dedicated to school, soccer, and completing her activity days' goals. This summer her and her friend Cassisdy fully planned a kids camp for kids the ages of 4-7. They planned all the activities, food, and prizes. The only thing Christy and I had to do was to provide the location of kids camp and help out a little with crowd control. They both ended up making about $75 dollars each!! This year she has begun to wear more jewelry and has started to get into her clothes. She is definitely a pre-teen! But she loves to play outside, play with the boys, and kicks butt at Black Ops! We love her dearly and we are so glad she is such a well adjusted middle child!!!

2011-05-30T14:06:00.000-07:00

Caribbean Cruise

We had a great time taking our family on a cruise for spring break this year. We went to the Western Caribbean with some of our Jackson relatives. We had been looking so forward to this trip!! The kids had been counting down the days since they received this as their main Christmas present in December! We left Saturday April 2 and flew the red eye flight to Tampa Florida. My kids are finally at the age that they can pretty much entertain themselves. The flights were a breeze and once we got to Tampa we immediately boarded our boat. The kids were bursting with excitement. They thought the boat was huge, the rooms were cool, and their first visit to the lunch buffet was amazing. We quickly hooked up with our cousins (in-laws) and began to get settled. We set sail early that evening and traveled to Key West, Florida. We arrived in Key West early afternoon on Monday April 4. While in Key West we went to the beach, swam, walked around town, and enjoyed the beautiful sunshine! We also ate Key Lime Pie at a local restaurant. We were told it was a must if you visit Key West. It did not disappoint!! The next day we were at sea the entire day. We just relaxed the entire day. We swam in the boats pool, slept in, played ping pong, and ate the whole day. By day two the kids were very comfortable with their surroundings and would visit the bufffet frequently and always get the ice cream. The big kids spent a lot of time in what was called the Loft. That's where all the teenagers hung out and they also had their own tanning deck.The kids also loved spending time with their cousins. Every night they would hang out together until the late hours and then visit the midnight buffet. A couple of the nights they all slept in one cabin!! That's seven bodies in one little room! They were also thrilled to know that they could order room service 24 hours a day!!!! So they would just do it because it was fun, not really because they were hungry!!!That evening was our first formal night. Everyone loved getting dressed up and going to dinner, except for maybe Mason! It was a very fancy dinner and we all loved it! Jon took several pictures of the little girls while I was getting ready!
The three musketeers!!At Dinner:Family Picture after dinner:The next day we were in Ocho Rios, Jamaica. We first went on a small tour of the island. It was so warm and beautiful. The natives were constantly trying to sell something to us. Our taxi was even stopped by this man who swallowed fire!!We then went to a local beach where we played in the water with some of the locals, Brinley got her hair braided, and we just enjoyed the warm and sunny weather!!After the beach we went to Margaritaville. There we swam in their pool and went down the big water slide. The kids loved that slide! We did some last minute shopping before heading back to our ship. We got stopped by several locals that wanted to sell us stuff. We were late getting back to our boat and we got in trouble!!! That night at dinner Morgan and her cousin tried escargot! They were both nervous but ended up liking it!!!!The next day we were in Grand Cayman! The beaches and water there were the most amazing of the entire trip! Unfortunately this was the one day that I didn't remember to bring my camera!!! UGH! Temple and I took the little kids to the beach. We played there the entire afternoon. I sand was white and soft and the water was the most beautiful aqua blue!! Jon and his brother to the older kids to Stingray City. They were able to swim with some stingrays and take pictures with them! (I don't have any of those pictures yet) It was so warm that day that we all kind of got a little too much sun! Every night when we would come back from dinner or a show we would have a towel animal in our room! The girls' loved seeing what creation there and the chocolates. Brinley was soooo excited when there was a monkey! For some reason she loves monkeys and thinks that someday she will get a real one for a pet!?!?Our final stop was in Cozumel, Mexico. This was probably the funniest day ever! We went on an excursion where we got to ride dune buggies all over the island! We first went snorkeling! We saw some pretty fish and even Brinley and Maddie snorkeled for part of the time. We then drove along the beautiful coast for several miles. I kept on saying this is so awesome! Morgan was taking several photos of the scenery. It was amazing!We then had a yummy lunch and went to the beach to swim. It was so fun in to swim in the water, play in the sand and relax!!!Our last day on our cruise was spent "at Sea". We were traveling back to Florida. We took advantage of every last minute of relaxation and sun! We just swam, laid in the sun and ate lots of ice cream! That evening was our last fancy dinner. The dinner staff put on a show with singing, music and dancing. It was a fun way to end the evening and cruise!Our family after dinner that last evening!We had such a great time on this cruise! My kids loved every minute of it and still talk about it weekly! They want to go on another one next year! We'll see about that! We loved going with our cousins and creating some great memories!We got back to Florida on a Sunday but we didn't fly back home until Monday evening since the tickets were much cheaper on a Monday. It was great to spend almost two more days in beautiful sunny weather! When we got home at 1 am we were exhausted. It was worth it though for a great vacation!!!

2011-03-15T13:31:00.000-07:00

Mason's Basketball!

Mason just finished his season of Basketball through his school Pacific and also for a club team the Jayhawks. He loves this sport! He is either playing Bball, watching Bball, or keeping up on his Fantasy Bball team! I don't think there is a day that goes by that he doesn't talk about some team. His favorite NBA player is still LeBron James and he has taken a liking to Jimmer this season. Mason was chosen to play on his schools' team. Only 11 seventh graders made the team out of 40. Pacific finished their season with only one loss! He had some great games. His best was when he scored 19 points in the first half of the game against Cascade. At the team banquet he received an award for Most Inspirational Player! There were only four awards speciality awards given out and he received one of them. He is loving March Maddness and of course staying up to date on his NBA teams. He is always trying to convince at least one sister of his to come and play with him and lately it's been Brinley! Next week he will be trying out for another team. It's only for seventh and eighth graders that will be going to Union High School. The team is called the Titans!! Great Job Mas and Good Luck!!

2011-03-10T15:14:00.000-08:00

Braces Off!!

On Wednesday March 9. Morgan got her braces removed!! It was a happy day! I am forbidden to show her before pictures which were taken exactly four years ago!! Yes! It's been a long haul. She had her braces on for a year and then taken off for a year and put back on for two more years! They were really bad but look absolutely beautiful now!! We are all so happy with the finished product! Thanks soooo much to Dr. Moses and his fabulous staff for everything!!
This is the before picture on Wednesday and a picture of Dr. Moses removing the braces!
Here's the after picture on Wednesday!
And then a picture of her yesterday before seminary. She got a cute new outfit for this day!!!
Well we only have four more children to go!!! And I'm pretty sure they are all going to need Ortho treatment!! Good thing we have dental insurance now!!!

2011-02-22T13:19:00.000-08:00

Brinley's Gymnastics!

A couple weeks ago Brinley had her first Gymnastics meet. We were all anxious to go to her meet and see her perform her routines. Even Temple and the twins came to cheer her on!! (Temple a former gymnast herself) Brinley was a little nervous but mostly excited. She competed in four different events. The first was the beam
Then vault, bars , and floor!
She did the best on floor and vault. She scored a 9.4 on vault which earned her a second place medal and a 9.1 on floor which she got third.
She loved the whole experience and was anxious for the next one. She has been practicing with this team since last summer. They spend over ten hours a week together and Brinley has made some good friends. Her and Hailey have really hit it off. They are constantly together and have recently been telling their teammates that they are twins. I'm glad that she has made some good friends and is learning discipline from this experience. She loves to go to to gym and is constantly doing a flip, cartwheel, leap, back handspring or turn in our home. We can't get her to sit still!! It will be interesting to see what will happen in the future with her gymnastics. I'm not sure if I'm in this for the long haul, but... we'll see.

2011-01-25T13:52:00.000-08:00

Brinley's Birthday!

I have been a blogging slacker lately!! Since the holiday season is well over I won't be blogging about that I guess!! Instead I will move onto January and the birthday's this month! This year was a non birthday party year. Brinley did have a great birthday though!! She specifically asked for Swedish Pancakes, Bacon, and an Orange Julius for her birthday breakfast!! Jon put a few special touches on her plate also!

It was weird only having the three girls home for this breakfast since the big kids had already left the house by 6:15 AM. She loved the breakfast but couldn't eat it all. She then opened a few presents and headed off to school. Since we knew that on her actually bday we would all be going in different directions we decided to out the day before to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner. My kids' seem to really enjoy it here and love the ice cream at the end of the meal!

After school on her birthday I came and picked up Brinley and her friend Kennedy. Brinley wanted to go to Build-A-Bear and bring Kennedy with her. The girls loved the store and each picked out their favorite stuffed animal, which neither of them were bears... Kennedy chose a kitty cake and named her Daisy, while Brinley chose a monkey and named him George. They both thought it was the best present EVER!!! And that was pretty much all we did for her birthday. It was kind of boring but she seemed to have a great day! That evening we ate her favorite meal, Chicken and Broccoli but we didn't even all eat together since we were all going in different directions that night. My birthday was on the 21 of January. That day I took the kids out of school and we went to the Great Wolf Lodge. We had a free day pass there from last year when we visited and the power went out. It was so much fun for the kids. I actually kind of enjoyed myself also even though it was my bday. It wasn't crowded AT All and they were able to ride all the slides several times. Morgan, Mandy(morg's friend), and Mason rode the Tornado 26 times!! We stayed all the way up until closing and then drove home. By the time we all headed to bed it was after midnight. We finally had our birthday cake on Sunday two days after my birthday and almost a week after Brinley's.LAME I know! So for lunch before we went to church we had my peanut butter and chocolate birthday cake that Jon just whipped up! It was Yummo!!

Facts about Brinley at age Eight:

She is still our "little" Brinley. She can wear all of Maddie's clothes but some are too short. She is in a six pants and tops. We all just are amazed by her strong little body that has become even more defined since starting gymnastics. Morgan and I marvel at her six pack stomach!! Right now she is obsessed with stuffed animals. She received a pillow pet for Christmas and just got her new George. So her and Maddie both have several animals/dolls all lined up on their beds each day. Her and Maddie are becoming the best/worst of friends. They love to sleep in the same bed together (even though they share a room they want to be closer). Although at times they begin to punch each other and we have to separate them. Brinley has lost four teeth this past year and pulled everyone of them out herself. She will probably be right up there with Morgan with having the worst teeth (as far as ortho is concerned). She is a very hard worker at school. She has received three awards this year from her teacher praising her for her perseverance, effort, and responsibility. Her love for gymnastics has grown tremendously this past year. In June of last year she moved up to the team level of gymnastics. She began at that time practicing nine hours a week. Once school started she practices three days a week for three and a half hours each day! That's 10 1/2 a week! I was a little concerned at the beginning of the school year how she would be able to manage everything. But she is doing fabulous! She finds the time to still do all her homework, reading, and now just recently started Activity Days! There is never a time of the day that she is not either doing a cartwheel, back handspring, handstand, or her routines. She is quite talented and both Jon and I wonder where this will take her. She has her first meet in two weeks. Brinley is a sweet girl but also one of my feistiest children. Just like she came into this world with fire and passion, that's exactly how she is now! We are so excited that she will be baptised soon and are so proud of all her accomplishments! We just love our Brinley!!

2010-12-21T23:26:00.001-08:00

December Chaos!

This month has literally been crazy! It wasn't until this week that we have done anything fun relating towards the holidays! My month has been filled with laundry and dirty rooms

Christmas decorations everywhere!Unfinished projects like installing crown molding in our bedroom/bathroom..And a dirty garage and a house that is constantly needed to be cleaned!!

But now that we are on Christmas Break and Morgan's Driver's Ed class is officially over!! WOOHOO!! we have been doing some fun things!

Maddie's Christmas Party in her Kindergarten class..

We ran into Santa at a house in our neighborhood, cool!! We didn't even have to go that far. Brinley loved it, and Maddie STILL unsure of him!

About three weeks ago Brooklyn asks me "mom do you believe in Santa Claus?" Of course I tell her yes, and then she starts to ask a few questions. A few days later my VT companion tells me that Brooklyn tells her daughter (they are friends) that SC is really your parents. As I approached Brooklyn she tells me that she didn't say that and she does believe a little bit in Santa! I know she knows but won't say it!! Another one bits the DUST! SAD!! I'm not ready for this!

We got all dressed up for church last Sunday. Both Morgan and I sang in the choir and the primary kids' sang the week before.

I love these dresses I got for the little girls'. I almost took them back but decided to add the red sash and got the red sparkly shoes (not pictured) to match. They looked so cute and got many compliments on the dresses.For Family Night we went to Portland to see some lights on Peacock Lane. If you live on this famous street you have to have some kind of Christmas light display. I can't believe we have lived here for 14 years and this was our first time there. It was fun and free.

We hope to do a few more things before and then after Christmas! Morg and Mas both commented today that they can't believe it's almost here and then it's over just like that!! I remember feeling like that as a kid and still feel that way! Happy Holidays!

2010-11-29T12:50:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving Break!
We had a relaxing and fun break. Let me tell you it was hard to get back into the swing of things yesterday!! Maddie missed school because she was supposedly sick and we ALL slept in this morning, so Morgan missed seminary! Hopefully by Friday we'll all be back to normal. I just wanted to highlight a few of our activities the past few days..

Maddie at her Kindergarten Thanksgiving Feast:

Our Turkey's that were cooked on the Tragger Grill, YUM!!!
Partaking of our fabulous meal:

Continuing on with our tradition (as of last Thanksgiving) buying the 25 cent mustaches after seeing a movie...
Eating leftovers at Grandmas the day after Thanksgiving, hanging out with cousins, and squeezing into the linen closet that they used to hide in ten years ago... Sad how fast time goes. All five of these girls squeezed into the closet just to reminisce about the good old times!
Last Saturday we went with several families in our ward to go cut down a Christmas tree in the National Forest. This year there was so much snow!!! We loved it! We had a huge snowball fight, made snow angels, and got our tree. It was great, it even snowed while we were there. We were all soaking wet and tired when we got home.

Now I am surrounded by Christmas boxes, laundry, and a dirty house. Yikes!!! I got my work cut out for me this week. Hope everyone had a great and blessed holiday!!

2010-11-10T05:26:00.000-08:00

Drivers Permit!

It's official!! We now have another driver in the house, well almost. Morgan got her drivers permit last Friday! Yikes!!! We have been driving only twice so far but it's definitely an experience. She did fine, it's me that was nervous. One hour done, only 49 more hours of practice to go! Washington State has some strict guidelines in order to get your license by the age of 16. She has to take drivers ed. She actually has to show proof of being in a drivers ed class just to get her permit. And then she has to have 50 hours of practice and have her permit for 6 months before she can get her license. Once she's 16 and passes the test she can only drive with immediate family members in her car, no friends, for 6 more months! Heck when I got my license I did none of that! Not even Drivers Ed! It will be a fun year!

2010-11-04T13:40:00.000-07:00

Halloween!

I was so LAME at Halloween this year!!! We didn't get ANY pumpkins let alone carve any!! Actually none of my kids' even asked about pumpkins or carving except for Morgan! I didn't take too much time on my costumes, and I almost forgot to buy CANDY!!! I guess since we did it "Big" last year I kind of wanted it be low key this year. I think having it on Sunday also effected my lack of enthusiasm! We did dress up for our ward party/trick or treating but that was IT! No other parties or festivities except for that. We went trick or treating around our neighborhood with other ward families on Saturday night. I took the girls around with the Youngs, Dustins, and the Zundels. Maddie was a cat:

Brinley was Fancy Nancy:Brooklyn and her friend Elizabeth were Vampires:Mason went trick or treating with some of his friends' dressed as a BYU Fan. They had fun, it was nice weather (no rain) and loved their trading session. That's it! See what I said about LAME...Oh well there will be year's like this sometime. And the kids still had fun, heck the only thing they care about is the candy anyway!

2010-10-30T22:32:00.001-07:00

Morgan turns 15!!!

Last weekend on October 30 Morgan turned 15! I can't believe that she is already that old! As I slowly woke up that morning of her birthday I remembered vividly the day I had her. As I was reminiscing I just started to bawl in bed! How did my sweet first born child go from this:

to this!!

I have been having a hard time adjusting this fall! So many changes with all the kids being at school all day, high school and all the demands that brings, seminary, and the fact that my kids' are gr owning up way too fast. So as I laid their crying that morning of her birthday all these emotions came flooding out. Jon was wondering what kind of bad dream I had, had??? But I quickly had to suck it up and get up to fix her birthday breakfast. We woke her up and gave her breakfast in bed and gave her our presents. She then was off to dance team for the majority of the day. She had practice for three hours, then a short break, and a team retreat from 4-10 pm. So I barely saw her the entire day!! A week earlier she had a birthday party with some of her friends. We took all of them to a corn maze. They loved it even though it was wet and muddy. We headed back to our house for a scary movie "The Ring", games, and to eat chocolate fondue. Many of those kids were SCARED of that movie and were hiding under blankets and pillows!I think everyone including Morgan had a great time!

We are so blessed to have Morgan in our family! She is a very hard working and dedicated young women! She's striving to do her best in everything she does; school work, dance, and living the gospel. She has never missed seminary yet this year, she makes sure she's reading her scriptures daily, and is keeping up on her Personal Progress. Just yesterday she says to me "Mom, you need to make me practice my piano every day, OK?" What kids says that?? She is extremely busy this year and we are very proud of her and how she is handling it. We have had some rough late nights, I'm not going to lie but she is doing great in school. I'm glad that we have such a good relationship. We love to shop and talk together frequently. I'm very happy to have her as our first child and I think she is setting a great example for her younger siblings! As I was crying that morning of her birthday I thought to myself, "What am I going to be like on her wedding day??" A wreck!!

2010-10-27T06:31:00.000-07:00

Conference

Several months ago Jon decided that he wanted to try and take Mason to his first Priesthood session in Utah at the Conference Center. He scored some tickets and also asked his dad if he would want to join them. I tried to convince him to fly but they decided to drive Larry's car and make it a fun road trip. Mason missed school on Friday and they left Vancouver about 8:00 am.

That evening they stayed in Boise, ID which is just over half way to Salt Lake. Mas was excited to stay in a hotel, go swimming and out to dinner! The next day they finished their drive with not much time to spare. Jon had forgotten his tie so they had to make a quick purchase and get some lunch before they headed off to the Conference Center.

They had a great time attending the Priesthood Session here. Jon said it was huge and couldn't see very well but they loved the experience.I love these pictures with the Salt Lake City Temple in the background! After Priesthood the three of them headed to Ogden to spent the night at his Aunt Linda's house. They had a great time visiting, eating and laughing together. Sunday morning early they left her house to head home. They had been in Utah for less than 24 hours. They only made a few stops for lunch and gas.But they drove all the way home that day and were at our house by 7:30 pm. I was amazed that they made it so fast. It was a whirlwind of a trip for them but all three of them had a fabulous time.

2010-10-11T12:41:00.000-07:00

Brooklyn's Birthday!

I know that it has been like six weeks since her birthday but I must did document this occasion! Brooklyn decided to have a combined party with one of her good friends' Elizabeth Zundel. They are only 12 days apart in age and have most of the same friends. Since Karen and I are friends we came up with the idea to combine the parties. We had an outdoor movie party on August 21,2010. We first fed all the girls a barbecue dinner. They enjoyed playing outside together, playing our Just Dance Wii game, and eating! Karen made this amazing cake/cupcake display of a movie ticket and popcorn cupcakes!

This was a hit with everyone and the birthday girls' enjoyed blowing out the candles together. All the girls then got their goody bags filled up and ready for the movie outside! We had a wide variety of movie candy and of course popcorn!! They loved snuggling up with blankets and watching a good show!

I think everyone had a great time and were very full of junk by the end of the evening!!

Here are all their friends! Cambree Morgan, Cassidy Dustin, Lilly Grismore, Rachel Zundel, Brooklyn, Elizabeth, Callie Mills, Brinley Jackson, Emily Young, Lauren Kartchner, Sage McKague, Faith Skinner, and McKenna Sork.

Some Facts about Brooklyn at age 10 (I'm mostly doing this for my own journaling purposes)

She is very independent and a go-getter. I rarely have to ask her more than once to do a job. She is a big helper and is already babysitting occasionally for short periods of time. She loves to read and do math. She is very on-top of her studies and diligent with them. She loves to give the FHE lessons. She plans them from scratch, makes assignments, and delivers them with ease. She loves to play soccer and the piano. She won't quit at something until she has mastered it! She enjoys her friends and everyone seems to love Brooklyn! She likes to play ball with Mason but also enjoys playing Barbies, Pollies, or School with the little girls'. When we were watching our neighbor boy he had a messy diaper. I wasn't at home and I told her that I would change it when I got home in about 10 minutes. She told me "no mom I can change a diaper." And she did it all by herself for her very first time. She still loves the color Blue and really doesn't like the color Pink. She has been very responsible with her dog Charlie and she adores him! She also loves another birthday present that she received, getting her ears pierced. She love to shop for new earrings and wear Morgan's old ones. She is such a joy to have in our family. We love the spirit she brings to our home and cherish her deeply!

2010-09-20T13:31:00.000-07:00

Seminary!

We are officially into our school schedule since Seminary started last week! Let me tell you it has been a little rough! I've always done fine getting up early since I myself had early morning seminary as a youth, and I had a paper route before my seminary days! But something about not having to be up early EVERY day has thrown me for a loop this week. Morgan's alarm now goes off at 5:00 AM

Sadly she only got up two of the days by herself, the other three I had to wake her up because she turned off her alarm! I even told her to set TWO alarms and she turned both of them off! She'll get better! This is what I look like in the early AM. I feel about as bad as I look here!

I then make her breakfast, help her with her lunch and anything else she needs. I get up with her on MWF and Jon on T TH. The best part of this whole Seminary thing is that I DON'T have to drive her! For the past few months I had been talking to some of our dear friends' daughter, Alyssa. She lives in the neighborhood and drives right by the house on the way to the church. She agreed to pick up Morgan every day which is FABULOUS! It has been working out great! She picks her up at 6:10 am and then they get the Bishop's son Jarin and head to the church!

Even though it's early and hard sometimes she is really liking seminary. She enjoys her teacher and class. I am proud of her for making the effort every morning to go. I know that it's the right way for her to start out her High School Day! Since we'll probably always have early morning seminary here and I don't see us moving in the future I figured out I have several more years of this! Twelve to be exact with no breaks! Twelve years from now Maddie will be a senior in High School and we'll still be going strong with Seminary!!!

2010-09-13T06:34:00.001-07:00

First Days!

Our First Day of school was before Labor Day AGAIN this year! AARG! It ended up being completely crazy since it also fell on Brooklyn's Birthday! I now have three different schools that my kids' are attending, High School, Middle School, and Elementary! The first day went pretty smooth, we did though have some nerves, tears, and luckily some smiles!

Maddie went to school the next day. The school has a SMART START program for the Kinders that helps them adjust to going to school all day long. So only about 8 kids were there each day and then they all started together the next week. All three of these little girlie's walk together to school. I couldn't believe how big that backpack looked on Maddie. I walked with the girls' on Maddie's first day. I was already feeling so emotional about this day. As I went into her classroom she was doing great! Me not so much!!! I was there with the other parents taking pictures, getting them settled, and shedding a tear or two! I was having a hard time holding it together and Maddie saw me crying. She said "Mom you're not suppose to cry!" As I left the school to walk home I just wanted to bawl! I walked home with some friends' , went for a run, and went out to lunch at my Fav Panera Bread! Maddie ended up doing great on her first day and I was so excited to see her after school. She is adjusting surprisingly very well. With this all day Kindergarten that our school is doing this year for the first time I was worried! She has been very responsible about her backpack, helping pack her lunch and showing me her take home folder each day.

Morgan started Seminary this morning! She was very excited for her teacher, to study the D&C and her class! Last week when she was into her first week of High School we already had some late nights, tears, and help from Dad with homework! I thought to my self, YIKES, and we haven't even started Seminary!

Jon has called me a couple times asking me "What are you doing today with all your FREE TIME?" And when it comes down to it, it's not a lot of Free Time! I tell him "Hey I earned it!" With the whirlwind of getting them out the door and the "Marathon" (as my dear friend put it) after they get home from school, I need that Free Time!:) Jon and I have also discussed this past few days about this time in our life! High School, having all the kids' in school, seminary, boys, and much more! We can't believe we are here but we are loving the stages that the kids' are in and cherishing the memories we are making!!

2010-09-08T06:46:00.000-07:00

End of Summer Activities!

Before our Summer came to an abrupt end we tried to squeeze in some last minute fun! The last weekend in August we went to a Cabin in Mossyrock WA with some friends.For years' we all camped together over the Labor Day Weekend. With kids' becoming involved in HS activities and our school district starting school earlier we haven't been camping that weekend together for about four years. This summer we found only one weekend that worked for everyone! So instead of camping we went to an awesome cabin! We watched movies, ate yummy food, played lots of games

the kids' went swimming in a nearby lake, but it was way too cold for the adults,had daily card games of Nurtz, Scum, and SolitaireRead books, took naps, explored in the woods behind the cabinand pretty much just played for three days!The day before school started I let the girls' invite a friend over to have a Back to School Fashion Show. They loved it! They each brought several of their new school clothes to model and then they strutted down my stairs with the music blaring as I video taped them! Mason was so out of here when we did the Show!!!We have also been very busy adjusting to our Puppie Charlie!We had to change some things in the back yard since he is strictly an OUTDOOR DOG ONLY!!! I know some of you might think that is crazy! (I only say that since just today two girls' at the gym couldn't believe that he has never come inside the house!) We have also set a schedule for the kids' to follow with walking him, playing with him, and most importantly picking up after him! Since they all BEGGED for this puppie they have surprisingly been following through with all of this! He is a good puppie and we are all loving him. I think the biggest surprise is how much Jon and I both like him. Jon bought him a new doghouse off Craigslist last week since it started to rain and he was worried about him. And Morgan commented to me that I talk to him like he's a baby! We'll see how this all goes! He still has never been to the dog park, he is still learning how to be good while we walk him, he chewed up a sprinkler head, and he started to jump up on my patio table. Oh, I think I'll have a few more stories as time goes on so wish us luck!

2010-08-30T21:54:00.000-07:00

Family Ties!

This summer all my family came here to Washington for a family reunion. I was very excited to have them all visit since we don't' get that many visitors! The first week my sister Monique and her three kids were the only ones here. We did many fun things daily working around my normal schedule. We went to a movie, played at the park, and had lunch at one of our favorites Top Burger.
But mostly the kids' just loved playing with each other especially just in our backyard! There were many hours spent in the pool
making obstacle courses, jumping on the trampoline, and sliding on it with bubbles! My kids love to take dish soap and put it on the tramp. They then run and slide all over the place.
Addie loved those bubbles!
There was even a really nice day that we ventured out to Cottowood Beach. They all had a great time and didn't want to leave.

Morgan babysat all the kids so Monique and I could go shopping. We had so much fun at Washington Square Mall shopping and eating at the Cheesecake Factory. We then headed to downtown Portland for a play. It was a gorgeous evening!
The second week of August everyone else came to visit. Monique's husband and my parents with Teresa's kids came on Saturday. Mason and Parker instantly started playing basketball and they had dunk contests daily!
I was really nervous before and during their visit about the weather!!! We had a very wet spring and slow start to our summer but I thought by the second week of August it should be good, right??? Well the second week of August of this year was not so good and I was frustrated! On Monday we had planned to drive to Mt. St. Helen's. We still did go there and learned many cool facts but saw NOTHING since it was so cloudy!!! We still smiled for a picture but we were all freezing!Tuesday I had planned a boating day. But that day I think the high was 71 degrees. So no wakeboaring, tubing, or swimming that day. Instead we went to a movie, the boys played basketball at the church while the girls shopped and the little girls' played Little House on the Prairie! That evening my sister Teresa, my brother Steve and his girlfriend Christina all flew into town. My house was now very full. Every bed was taken and the bonus room floor was filled! Wednesday morning we all packed up three cars and headed for the Oregon Coast. We stopped at Voodoo Doughnuts in downtown Portland first. This was our first time to this very famous Doughnut shop and we've lived here for almost 14 years! It has been featured on the Food Network and was even a stop once on the Amazing Race! After waiting in line for almost an hour in an "interesting" part of town we all indulged in our doughnuts!

We got to Newport and the beach house early evening. We have stayed at this house before and loved it. It's big enough for our large group and backs right up to the ocean. The weather as it usually is was cloudy and the water was cold!! Some brave souls, the kids' and Uncle Allen would run to the water, jump in

and then come back up the stairs to the hot tub! That was not me since we figured out that the temperature was only 52!
The second day we went to some tide pools.

The kids mostly loved exploring for any sea life. They found starfish, miniature crabs, and a dead seal. And the boys just being boys!
We just loved relaxing and visiting with each other. Since the weather was chilly we played lots of games and the kids did some crafts. On Friday we had to pack up and leave by noon. This day started out sunny and we didn't want to leave. We played at the beach right up until noon and headed North towards Tillamook. We took a tour of the Cheese Factory, ate our samples and had some of the best ice cream ever!!!

By the time we got back to our house it was about 7 pm. The kids played in the pool again and had a water balloon fight. The girls' decided to do something else with those water balloons!

That evening we just unpacked our beach stuff and did several loads of laundry. Almost everyone was leaving the next morning so Monique and my parents were repacking all their stuff. We were all pretty exhausted but the adults decided to go out one last time together for a late dinner. The next morning we helped get everyone out the door. Jon flew to San Francisco at 6 am, Monique and Allen left at 7 am and my parents, Teresa and her kids' left at 8 am. We were so sad to see them all go just like that!Steve and Christina stayed one more day. They loved going to Downtown Portland to the Saturday Market, shopping at the Pearl District and dancing at a great Salsa Club that evening. Off course the day everyone left the weather was warm and sunny! I guess that's what you get when you're in the Pacific Northwest! But we all had a wonderful time together and made some great memories!

2010-08-20T06:30:00.000-07:00

Our Best Surprise Yet!

Jon and I kept this secret under wraps for about six weeks! No one knew about this Birthday Surprise except for those that were involved. Not even my other kids, parents or our bestest friends!!! Jon and I both said to ourselves as we were driving home "Are we Crazy???" And we said "Probably!" In just a few days I will be finally sending ALL my children off to school for the first time and now I have a new puppy in the house! Wish me LUCK!!!

His name is Charlie, Brooklyn witnessed his birth and named him! More details to come!

2010-08-17T22:14:00.000-07:00

Birthday Bummer!

For months Madelyn has been counting down the days until her birthday! She was so excited because her cousins were going to be in town and she was going to be able to have a party with them. Well the evening before her birthday she fell asleep on the couch for about 30 minutes. When she woke up one side of her face was a little swollen. We welcomed our cousins late that evening and by then it had progressively gotten worse! She woke up a few times during the night and by morning it was even more swollen. Maddie was not that excited for her birthday and didn't eat much of anything at breakfast! Here's a picture of her at breakfast. We decided to call the Doctor and take her in to be examined. Her Doctor determined that it was some kind of skin infection. We thought that it might be an insect bite that she was having an allergic reaction to, but never saw any type of marks on the skin. Her day was pretty miserable. She didn't really want to do much, she took a three hour nap, she had to go to the Doctor on her bday, and she had to take "icky" medicine. The doctor said that it could get a little bit wore before it gets better, and by the evening this is what it looked like.

I felt so bad for her because she looked awful!!! I had to tell the kids' to quit starring at her and making comments about her face because she was becoming sad! We still had her birthday party with the cousins and my in-laws. She didn't have that much fun at her own party because she was uncomfortable! Everyone else enjoyed dinner, the ice cream sundaes, swimming in the pool, and the party bags!
She was a trooper and tried to have a good time. I think her favorite part of the whole day was when Brooklyn gave her, her gift. Brooklyn was so excited because she bought it all with her OWN money. (Gotta love the $1 spot at Target!)

Before the evening was over Jon and his dad gave Maddie a blessing that she would be healed! I am so blessed to have the priesthood in our home and grateful that my husband is a worthy priesthood holder. Maddie got better fast and just two days later she looked SOOOOO much better! (Sorry about the tongue, she was showing me her ice cream from Top Burger!)Even though it was a Bummer Birthday, we'll never forget her eventful FIFTH Birthday!

2010-07-30T22:14:00.000-07:00

Camp, Camp, Camp!

The past couple of weeks we have ALL been involved in Camps. Two weeks ago all my kiddos were involved in some type of Camp. I thought that was smart to have them all go the same week, but forgot that I'm only one person and I can't take five kids to different places all at the same time! It was crazy that week! Jon was in Argentina so he was no help but luckily I had friends' that also were doing the Camps so we could carpool! I had to write down where and when each kid was coming and going because my brain couldn't remember it ALL! So each day I wrote myself a list, here was Tuesday's.

1. Take Mason to BBall camp at 8:30 am

2. Have B & B ready for Girls Scout camp picked at 8:45 am

3. Take Maddie & Elise to Camp at Allie Connells @10 am

4. Take Morgan to the Dentist by 10:40 am

5. Pick up Brinley from GS camp to goto gymnastics by 12

6. Pick up Mas @ BBall camp 12:30 pm

7. Pick up carpool at Girl Scout camp at 3 pm

8. Pick up Gymnastics girls at 3:30 pm

Literally I was in my car the entire day! That week was exhausting! Morgan went to Dance camp with her new High School team Wednesday July 14-17. She had a great time and worked hard! They went to Portland State and spent the night in the dorms. She danced all day long and practiced into the wee hours of the night! Each day dancers' were awarded ribbons for their accomplishments. She was thrilled to earn four ribbons!

Margene and I went to see all the dancers perform their routines at the end of the week. It was fun to see all that they had accomplished in just three days!

For the past month I have been working on Beads for Girls Camp for our Stake. Any free time I had (which is not much during the summer) I would be doing BEADS! The past two weeks I have been cramming to finish them since I knew that we would be camping at Billy Chinook the week before Girls Camp. So while Jon was in Argentina I would stay up until 1 or 2 AM working on those Beads!!!

I had them all over my house but especially in the Den. It was crazy but I 'm glad to say that I'm all done with Beads and the girls loved them! Last Saturday Jon and I both worked on either Beads or Scout Camp the ENTIRE DAY! Jon was in charge of all the food for Scout Camp this year. He spent about 7 hours last weekend shopping for food, prepping the food and organizing the FOOD! This is what my garage looked like the night before they left, minus three huge coolers!Let me tell you, those boys ate WELL and raved about Bro. Jackson's cooking! One of them kept on telling Jon, " Brother Jackson, you should open a restaurant!" Tuesday Morning at 4 am I sent Mason and Jon off to Scout Camp:and Morgan off to Girls Camp that afternoon! Everyone returns tomorrow! We are excited to see them and hear all about their fabulous week! Another year of CAMP is over, Sad! And now we only have one more month of Summer Vacation!

2010-07-27T22:11:00.000-07:00

Third Year @ Billy!

We have been camping every summer at least once for the past twelve years! This summer WAS going to be the first year that we wouldn't be able to go camping. In years past we have always camped with friends'. This summer with everyone's schedules being so crazy we were having a hard time coordinating camping! Jon and I finally decided to just book something so we could take the family camping. So just three short weeks ago we reserved our campsite. For nine years we traveled up North to camp. We have very fond memories of camping at Anderson Island. But since we purchased a boat we wanted to do some camping that would involve boating and sunshine. There were many camping trips that were cold and rainy. Now our trips are hot and sunny! For three years now we have traveled South to Lake Billy Chinook, where the sun shines on the OTHER side of Mt. Hood. Sadly this being our first camping trip with just OUR family I got no pictures of us! Actually I got hardly any pictures of anything! Jon did take about 20 pictures of these dragonflies on a log that was floating nearby our swimming spot!

Each morning we would go on the lake early to Wake board. Everyone tried and succeeded. Brooklyn even got up for a short time. Morg, Mas, Cousin Emily and I all got in and out of the wake. Mas I think was secretively competing with Morgan because she got in and out of the wake first! We would eat our lunch at our favorite waterfall. The kids would swim, jump off rocks, and explore the waterfall. Jon and I would relax, enjoy the sunshine, and swim with Maddie!

The rest of the afternoon was spent tubing. Jon's a crazy driver and we all loved his tube rides except for Mason, a little too crazy for him! He ended up hanging with Maddie and taking a snooze together!The kids' wanted to play at the beach before dinner. They decided to have a Cake Boss contest! Both of the days' the teams came up with an idea and Jon and I were the judges. They had a great time and they were both creative. I'm so glad that we found the time to camp this summer! We squoze it in between Jon's two trips (His trip to Argentina and Scout Camp) We had a wonderful time creating memories with our Children!

2010-07-27T21:27:00.000-07:00

Lindsey's Pictures!

A few months ago I asked a friend in the ward to take some pictures of Mason playing basketball. We finally got around to it about 2 weeks ago! I am SO pleased how they turned out! Lindsey is very talented and came up with some great ideas about how to shoot Mason! I'm going to print several of them up to put in his room!

This last picture is how Mas felt about LeBron leaving Cleveland. He was sad and mad. He decided a couple days' later that he still likes him and maybe will now be a Heat Fan??? What about all that Cleveland stuff in his room though?

2010-07-16T23:24:00.000-07:00

Future Dentist???

Brooklyn has now lost a total of Nine Teeth and she has pulled Seven, (7) of them out herself! This evening she pulled number 9 out with no problem. No fear or tears from this girl when it comes to that, she should think about Dentistry!!

2010-07-11T00:43:00.000-07:00

Lazy Days of Summer (NOT!)

Aren't summer days suppose to be less stressful, no schedules, and relaxing??? We are just over three weeks into our summer vacation and I'm feeling none of that!!! We have been very busy and constantly on the go since school got out. On our last day of school, June 15, I took the kids' out to lunch with our friends' the Zundels and the Phelons. This year we tried Sweet Tomatoes!

Two days later we took Grandma Baldwin to the airport to say our goodbyes. She had been visiting for ten days and attending some end of the school year functions with the kids'. She also watched them while I took a quick trip to Vegas with Jon.

That same evening I let Morgan and Mason invite some friends' over for an "End of The School Year Party". The house was filled with 25 teenagers eating, playing bball, jumping on the trampoline, playing the Wii, dancing, laughing, and having a great time. I was exhausted and the kitchen was thrashed but everyone seemed to have fun! On June 18 & 19 Maddie and Brooklyn had their Dance Recital. They performed in the show Aladdin with the Evergreen Dance Academy.
Brooklyn's Jazz class were Tigers and Maddie's Creative Dance/Tap class were Red Parrots. They both did fabulous but they were tired since the show lasted almost 3 hours! I had to wake up Jon a few times (heee).
After the Friday evening performance we came home late to find some of our friends' the Dustins forking our front lawn. We caught them in the act!!! They were trying to rub it in that their "Beloved Lakers" won the NBA Championship!!!

On Saturday Morgan left to go with the Dustins to Lake Shasta in California. She was with them on an awesome house boat for five days! She wake boarded, tubed, and jumped off the top of the house boat like 75 times!!! We all missed her especially Maddie, she kept on asking me when she would be coming home!!!

While Morgan was vacationing we were staying busy at camps. Brooklyn and Brinley did Soccer Camp while Mason did a Basketball Camp. They were both held at Union High School. It was fun for all of them and kept them busy that first week of summer. While they were at their camps I took these beautiful berries

and made them into the most delicious jam! A week later I picked raspberries and made four more batches of freezer jam. We Looooove homemade jam! It's like dessert to us!

About a month ago our cousin's dog had puppies. Jon took the three oldest over to his brother Justin's house to see the puppies the first day. While he was there Saddie had two more puppies. My kids' have been freaking out over these puppies! They constantly want to see them, hold them, and of course want one!!! Brooklyn's favorite puppy is Charly!

She was there when he was born and she named him! She is trying to so hard to convince me that she should have him for her birthday (which is in six weeks) Both Jon and I keep telling her NO, but they sure are cute!

Thursday June 24-Saturday June 26 Morgan and Mason participated in Youth Conference. Jon and I were also involved because we were chaperons. Our Stake along with 6 other stakes in the area participated in a Dance Festival. Our youth have been preparing for this event for six months. Many of the kids' and adults were getting burned out on Dance Festival but in the end the event was AMAZING!!! Everything came together and the youth thoroughly enjoyed their experience. Over the two and a half days there were dress rehearsals, games, socializing, guest speakers, and three great performances! That was the best part of it, the performances! Some people even went to all of them because it was so wonderful. These performances brought people to tears and in the end to their feet! There were over 2000 youth ages 12- 18 dancing on the field.

Morgan participated in the Swing Dance with all the 14-15 year old boys and girls! This is the dance that Jon and I helped teach in our Stake. She also danced in a specialty dance, the Rhumba, with her friend Austin Sork. This entailed extra practices on several Saturdays. Her and Austin also would practice with other friends at our house to make it look just perfect! They did so great! They were right in the very front because they were so good:)! As she walked down the 30 yard line it brought tears to my eyes to see her, I thought she looked so beautiful!Mason age group, the Deacons, did a dance to The Eye of the Tiger. All those boys looked so tough but cute and they danced!They also performed in two big group numbers with all 2000 youth the Do, Re, Mi number and the popular More Dance that all the kids loooved to perform and still do!!!Morgan and Mason also had a great time socializing with many friends' and cousins!At the very end when all the youth came onto the field and sang How Firm of Foundation everyone had to have felt the Spirit! It was a great experience for all that were involved!

So that if how our Summer started and it's only going to continue to be this busy! We are looking forward to Girl Scout Camps, Dance Camp, Scout Camp, Girls Camp, Family Reunion, Camping, Activity Day Camp, High Adventure, Two Birthdays, and lots of swimming!!!

2010-07-04T15:51:00.001-07:00

Happy Fourth!

Here are some my 4th of July Favorites from this weekend!!!

Morgan's cupcake creation!

Brinley in her hat that we got at Old Navy for $3!

The girls' getting ready to watch the fireworks!

Kids' doing sparklers!

My Red, White, and Blue Flower Display!

Big, Loud, and maybe Illegal Fireworks???

Cute girls' and boys' playing games!

Tie-Dye Dresses!

Jalynn's Flag Cake (YUM!!!)

And good times with the Cousins!!

2010-06-14T22:21:00.000-07:00

the End of an Era...

Last Tuesday Maddie finished her last day of preschool...which also means that my 11 year run of being a preschool mom is over!!! All five of my children have gone to Children's World of Music and now they are all done!

So there it is, over forever!!! Maddie is my last baby and she just grew up over night!!! Now I will be a mother of only school age children. No more babies, no more playgroups, no more babysitting trades, gone just like that! I thought I had at least one more year of having her at home with me and then our school district decided to all day Kindergarten! I think I'm one of only a few parents that isn't happy about that! I know I am crazy busy with my five kids but I can't believe that I'm at this stage in my life!

I am sure that I will adjust and enjoy my "alone time". But as Brinley said to me the other day "Mom who are you going to eat lunch with?" This preschool stage of my life was so normal and I've been in it for eleven years, and now it's just done, just like that. It's very surreal!
I have been feeling sad about this for two months and now it is finally here! The past month Maddie and I have been doing some fun things knowing that our time together was coming to an end! We've been out to lunch a few times, we painted together
we've gone on bike rides, and baked a giant cupcake!
I need to do that more often!!! Instead of worrying about the dishes, laundry and cleaning bathrooms. I need to make more memories with my children instead of blogging, texting or face booking. I need to play with them more, hug them more and tell them I love them more! Because in just a blink of an eye I will be crying again as I post about them leaving home!!!

2010-06-01T13:48:00.000-07:00

Ribbons, & Trophies, & More, Oh My!!!

As our school year is nearing the end the activities seem to be a "plenty." I wanted to share an accomplishment of each of my children that have occurred in the past two weeks!

Maddie participated in her preschool play "The Wizard of Oz", last week as one of the Munchkins.

Mason's basketball team the Jayhawks won the entire Oregon Prep Tournament for sixth graders! He was ecstatic to receive this trophy!
He played two games on Saturday and then the rest of his team played two games on Sunday. When he received an email with pictures of his teammates and their trophies Sunday evening he was bummed that he didn't get a trophy!!!(he doesn't play on Sunday). The next day at school his buddy from the team brought him HIS trophy and he was thrilled! I thought by this age that he wouldn't care so much but that trophy is as good as a Christmas present!

Morgan tried out for the High School Dance Team and made it!!!

She was stressed that week of try-outs, but she pulled through in the end and did great! I kept asking her all week if I could come and watch her try-out, or if I could come and watch during the week. She quickly would tell me "NO" even though I think she kind of wanted me to come. That's not what they do in High School I guess! Sad! She is excited about making the team and looks forward to Dance Camp this summer! Go Union! (her hands are making the "U" sign for Union)

Brinley got a medal for gymnastics. She moved from Pre-Team to Team last week. They had a pizza party where she received the necklace. She was most excited about that! We'll see how this team things goes! It's a big commitment 8-9 hours a week!

Brooklyn participated in her elementary school track meet last week.

She was very excited for this meet! These kids (3rd, 4th, 5th graders) practice once a week for 5 weeks and then have a big track meet with three other schools in the area. During the practices she would tell us how she did and that she usually was at the head of the pack! Let me tell you she "Rocked and Rolled"!!! She got two first place ribbons in the 100 meter and the 200 meter! Jon came home that night and put together this video clip of her running so we could send it to my parents! Proud Daddy!

2010-05-21T20:38:00.000-07:00

Here, There, & Everywhere!

Jon got home today from a eight day business trip. He went Here, There, & Everywhere! His work took him first to Los Angeles, CA to Washington D.C., to New York City, NY, to New Haven, CT, to Chicago, IL, and finally back home! And he is glad to be here!!! While he was gone I felt like I was doing the same by going Here, There, & Everywhere! Sometimes I feel like I'm in my car more than I'm at my house!!!

Last Saturday I took Morgan to and from Dance Festival practice and home from the stake dance. Mason had two basketball games, and the girls were at their cousins birthday party! During the week Morgan had dance team tryouts (for High School) four days after school, plus Dance Team at her current school, and dance class on Wednesday. Mason had track everyday after school plus a track meet. Brooklyn had track and then I had to take her carpool to Jazz Dance. Brinley started her team at gymnastics and went 5 hours to gym this week. I took Maddie's preschool carpool twice this week and also had to drive to her Ballet class today! I also had Dentist appointments for the three little girls (no cavities, YEAH!), piano lessons, and volunteering at the school! We did miss out on the National Junior Honor Society Ceremony for Mason and we skipped Dance Festival practice this week!!! I'm glad that I'm not a single parent! Jon said, "You didn't miss me, you just miss everything I do for you!" My answer to that is yes I do miss having you around to help out, BUT we all missed our Jonny Boy and we're very glad to have him home!!!

2010-05-10T13:06:00.000-07:00

Run Like A Mother!

Six months ago I signed up to run in a half marathon called the "Hippie Chick Half." I started getting serious about my training after the holidays. I would run 4-5 days a week and I felt ready! I was excited and nervous all at the same time on Saturday getting ready for the race. This race was an "All Women's" Race that is held annually and always the day before Mother's Day. When I received a package in the mail from My Mother the day before the race I was thrilled with the contents! My mom gave me this shirt that read "Run Like A Mother!"I was proud to wear that shirt during the race and felt the energy that was around me as I ran. No matter if you were the leader of the pack running very fast or towards the end walking we were all there for the same purpose to celebrate WOMEN: Daughters, Mothers and Grandmothers! I had a great time with some other women from my ward. This was us before the race and we didn't feel too pretty for a picture after the race!

I was slightly disappointed in my outcome. For me some days are good running days and some days are NOT! Unfortunately race day was a NOT day! But I did finish and I did better than my last Half. I did it in 2:05:06 which was about 5 minutes off my goal. Hey there's always next time right???

Even though I didn't make my 2 hour goal I feel blessed to have a strong and healthy body! Now that I am in my forties I need to be grateful for small things like that! I am also so happy to be a mother to my five fabulous children and that I was able to "Run Like Their Mother" this past Mother's Day Weekend! Hope everyone had a great Mother's Day!

2010-04-27T13:09:00.000-07:00

Make Me Smile!

On this very wet and rainy day here in Washington I am trying to find something that makes me smile!!! I decided to post these pictures that I had taken of the kids' last fall. Jennifer Short is a very talented photographer and is one of my sister-in-laws friend and neighbor. She has taken several pictures of my nieces and nephews that I love. I decided to have her take these pictures and I loved how they turned out! It was so hard to decide which ones to buy!!! Jennifer is very talented, sweet and does amazing work! Check out her web site @ camasphotography.com. These picture definitely make me smile on this gloomy day!

2010-04-13T16:08:00.000-07:00

Spring Break @ Disneyland!!!

(Warning: long post feel free to skim and/or just look @pics, remember this is my journal also:)

It has taken me one week for me to recover from our trip to Disney! Last week was spent doing endless loads of laundry, cleaning, being sore from teaching again, VT, grocery shopping, catching up on all my TV, driving to gymnastics, soccer, basketball, dance, track, and just getting back into our routine! And now I am finally ready to blog about our fun trip! We left on Saturday morning March 27 at 7AM. We drove, drove and drove all the way to Fresno, CA with a few stops along the way! The kids were great in the car. Brinley and Maddie took over the back bench. They played with each other the entire way there and home. It was a complete disaster back there but they were happy! The three big kids took the middle bench and controlled the DVD player! Thank goodness for electronics! Someone always had some movie, game, or music playing! Jon drove the whole way there and back except for about 2 hours and I kept everyone stocked with snacks, drinks, and candy! Jon and I usually like to listen to a book but we forgot to get a new one before leaving. We instead played games on his Iphone like "Price is Right" and "1 to 100"

That game saved us when we got really tired! On Sunday March 28 we had only a short drive to the LA area. We made it to our hotel by 2:00 PM to get checked in. We walked over to the Disney area and made it to Downtown Disney (it has several stores and restaurants that anyone can visit without going into the park) The kids wanted to shop at the HUGE Disney Store. As Temple and I were in the store with the kids, Jon and Jeff sat towards the front of the store to relax and NOT SHOP! As they were people watching one of our best friends and his family from Michigan walked by! The guys quickly retrieved us from the store and we were all so shocked to see them! We spent the next several hours visiting, eating dinner, and laughing together! It was so great to see them again!

Every morning when we were at Disney we woke up early! We wanted to make it to the park before it got too crowded! The first day we were there right when the park opened at 8 AM to hit the rides. We went on Pirates of Caribbean, Haunted Mansion, Splash Mountain (my favorite ride @ Disney!) and Pooh Bear all within the first hour!
We headed to the famous It's a Small World, then Buzz Lightyear, and King Arthur's Carousel. While heading to lunch both Maddie and Mark fell asleep. I had to get a picture of it since it was the first day and only four hours at Disney.

After lunch we saw Minnie Mouse. Brinley wanted to see many of the characters to get their autograph and picture. Maddie wanted to get their autographs but was scared of some of them. And Brooklyn wanted ME to get her book signed while she went off with everyone else to the rides!

We went on a few more rides including Autopia:which is Jon's favorite ride before heading back to the hotel to swim and order pizza. The first thing that Jon said when the alarm went off on Tuesday at 5:30 AM was "This feels a little like the movie Ground Hogs Day!" I responded by saying "Oh honey this is only Day #2, we got four more days of this!" The next few days were pretty cool for CA. It was only 48 degrees when we left for the park that morning! I was glad we all had hoodies and that I also had on a jacket! We hit many of the rides again at Disneyland like Matterhorn, Space Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, and Splash Mountain! This was what the kids did to pass the time as they waited in line:They got really good by the end of our trip. Everyone went on Splash Mountain this time even Mark and Maddie!
Jon and I then took Brinley and Maddie to Fantasy Land while the big kids went with Jeff to other rides. We rode the Casey Jr. Circus Train, Tea Cups, Carousel, and Dumbo.

Everyone was getting hungry so we bought the kids a snack. They loved their Mickey Mouse ice cream treats!

And Jon and I watched in amazement as Brooklyn devoured her Carmel apple!

We left Disney and headed over to California Adventure. Jon had the idea of taking a picture of me in front of the letters that spell N, I, C. (right in front of CA Adventure are big letters that spell California). We went inside the park to hit the rides. The big kids went on Grizzly River Run and Muholland Madnes while I took Maddie on Jumpin' Jellyfish and the Carousel again! Everyone that was tall enough tried the Maliboomer. I was shocked that Brooklyn was so willing to go and that Mason refused!

Many of the big kids went on this ride 5 times in a row since there was no line! I went twice which was enough for me and Mason eventually went three times the next day! We then went on California Screamin which was a favorite amongst many of the older kids! Brinley was about 3 inches too short and was bummed that she couldn't go! I was glad because I can't imagine my little girl who still wears size 5 pants being whipped upside down! After many rides that took my stomach and every one's to new heights I was ready to be done for the day. We enjoyed a yummy dinner at Cheesecake Factory. We then let these three girls head back to the park by themselves, YIKES for two more hours! We kept tabs on them through their phones and went to go pick them up at 11 pm.
One Wednesday morning we went to Disneyland early and I headed straight for the Disney Princess Fantasy Faire. This is where you can meet the Disney Princesses. I stood in line with Maddie while Jon took the other girls' on Matterhorn. It took us about an hour total to wait in line and then see them (which is good because the wait can be up to 2.5 hours!) You have no idea who you are going to meet, they change constantly and we could only meet three Princesses at a time. We saw Cinderella, Princess Aurora, and Snow White.
Madelyn was very excited to meet them but bummed that her favorite's Ariel and Belle weren't there. This was the closest she got to Ariel,only a picture of her! That was one thing she had been asking for daily, to see the Princesses, I was so excited for her, we also got it on video! We spent time wandering around the princess store and getting smashed pennies of our favorite princesses!
At Mickey's Toon Town we went into Mickey, Minnie, and Donald's Houses and rode on the Go Go Coaster (it's a short roller coaster for toddlers). I timed how long it was and the entire ride only took 40 seconds! We hooked up with the rest of our group there and wanted to go back to CA Adventure for lunch and rides. We decided to go on Hollywood Tower of Terror first! Everyone in my family was tall enough to go even Maddie. She told us that she wanted to go but as we waited in line I was feeling nervous for her since she had NO IDEA what the ride was like! I told Jon we are such bad parents for making her go on this ride!!! Here she is waiting in line just happy as can be!And then here we all are just minutes before entering the dreaded elevator!

Everyone loved this ride, except for her. She was a trooper and actually went on it twice! We then went on several kiddie rides in "Bug's Land" and always love the 3D movie "It's Tough to Be a Bug" Some of us went back to the hotel for a late dinner while Temple stayed with the bigger kids for more Tower of Terror and the Electrical Parade! By day #4 we wanted to do some of the rides over again that we loved like Indiana Jones, Thunder Mountain RR, and the Jungle Cruise.We also finally waited in line to autographs from Goofy, Pluto, and of course Mickey Mouse!Jon took Brinley and Maddie back to the hotel to rest so we could stay up late for the fireworks show! I stayed with the olders to just go, go, go on as many rides possible. I'm so glad we decided to watch the fireworks show! It's an amazing firework display to music with the Disney Castle in the background. It was cold but worth the wait and the crowds! I stayed late with Morgan, Paige, and Brinley while everyone else went to bed. It was fun to be there at night because it's not busy! We went on Splash Mountain, Thunder Mountain, and Matterhorn! Day #5 came and we (the adults) were pooped!!! We pressed on and straight to CA Adventure. We went to the Toy Story Ride which is new and super fun! The line gets really long so we literally ran to that ride and were able to ride it twice! We also finally made it onto Soarin' Over California (one of mine and Jon's favs)

It's a very popular ride where you are suspended in the air right in front of a huge IMAX screen. You feel like you are flying over many sights in California! We then kind of scattered and did our own thing. Jon, Temple, and I took the three littlest kids to the Aladdin show while Jeff took everyone else to Animation Academy. We then kind of scattered and everyone one did there own thing like more Screamin, Tower of Terror, Monsters Inc, Jellyfish, Bug's Land, Grizzly River Run and a picture in front that ride!

We went back to the hotel for one final evening, dinner, and packing. After that was done Temple took Morgan, Brooklyn, and her big kids to the park for one more late night. They were able to hit six more rides (Splash 3x, Tower 2x, and Indiana) and got home after midnight! Saturday April 3 was our last day at the parks. This was our sixth day and we were ALL ready to be done. We met up with our friends' the Dustins just for a few hours. They were only going to be there for one day so we hustled from ride to ride with them. We got in the park by 7 AM that day so we were able to get many rides in before the crowds came. Our last ride of the day and the whole trip was "It's a Small World". What a great ride to end our Magical trip with!!! We all picked out one last treat while Jon went to check out of our hotel and then we hit the road! It took us two days to drive home which seemed so much longer than the trip there. We were very anxious to sleep in our own beds on Sunday evening. We had such a great time and created so many fun memories that we'll cherish for years to come! All my kids' especially Mason wishes we were still at Disneyland. Just last night he said "Mom, I love Disneyland because I feel so free and don't have to worry about anything, like homework!" For now, I am SO done with Disney but will want to go back someday again!

2010-03-22T15:41:00.001-07:00

Disney Surprise!

Only two short weeks ago we decided to take the kids' to Disneyland for Spring Break! We had been tossing the idea around but officially decided and booked the trip. Jon's brother Jeff also thought about doing Disney for Spring Break so we said hey let's go together! We thought it would be fun to surprise the kids with the trip. Jon wanted to wait until the day before we left but I said "I need their help to get ready!" So instead we told them last night, only six days before leaving. My sister-in-law's idea was to have the kids go on a geocashing hunt. After our Sunday dinner together we went on our geocashing excursion in the green belt behind Jeff's house. All the kids, Temple and I followed Paige as she read the directions from the Iphone.

We then came to the location of the metal box. As the kids looked inside it they brushed over the little card that was on the top which told about the trip.

McKenna finally looked at the card again which read "Hey Jackson Kids, You are going to Disneyland for Spring Break!" Even when she was reading it out loud none of them realized what she was saying until the very end and then it was pure excitement!They all kept on jumping up and down, screaming, hugging, and saying "I can't believe we are going to Disneyland!" It was so fun surprising them! They then skipped, ran, and danced all the way home singing "It's a Small World!"

So I'm leaving in just five days from now...

We'll drive for 16 plus hours to get to Southern Cali...

We will be hopping back and forth between Disneyland and California Adventure for six days...

We have ten kids ranging from 3 years old to 14 years old and four adults...

We'll have to brave the Spring Break crowds....

And then we will drive 16 plus hours home on Easter Sunday...

So we can take all these kids to the "Happiest Place on Earth!"

2010-03-14T22:12:00.000-07:00

Sunny Memories!

Since the past few days have been very rainy and cold I decided to finally post pictures from our vacation to Cancun last fall. I think I got so busy with the holidays, other posts, and just life in general that I actually forgot to document this fabulous trip!

We went to the Mayan Ruins in Chichen Itza

Enjoyed our morning breakfast with this right outside our door!Had homemade Pina Coladas compliments of Jon.

Played in the ocean daily, we even swam in it the first night we got there and got in trouble for being in the water after dark!

Loved Happy Hour at the pool/beach with free chips & salsa and half price drinks!Loved our daily excursions of snorkeling, zip lining through the jungles, and the under ground river at Rio Secreto!

We would stop at these local convenient stores almost daily for our Coke Light (their version of Diet Coke)

The boys wanted to take a picture of them swimming with the dolphins for our friends' the Zundels since they swam with real dolphins while in Cancun!

We had chips & salsa daily!

Our hair always looked gross!

Wore only half the clothes I brought because

I wore my bathing suit all day long every day!

I had Dark Midnight Milky Way Bars every night.

And said daily, "I would come back in a MINUTE!"

It was some good Sunny Memories! (Cancun October 17-24, 2009)

2010-03-07T22:04:00.000-08:00

Great Wolf Lodge!

Last week we went to a huge indoor water park called the Great Wolf Lodge. It's located about an hour and a half north in Grand Mound, WA. We went with the other Jackson families for a fun couple of days. It was kind of difficult to find a time that all 21 of us could go, but it was worth the effort. With none of the cousins going to the same schools everyone had a so much fun being together!

The GWL is all about kids! The games, story times, arcade, and of course the main attraction the water park! All the kids no matter what age had fun here. Each of the kids would just go off with a cousin or sibling, the only thing we required was to make sure you had a buddy!

Jon and I took turns going on some of the slides with the big kids and hanging out with the little ones.Brinley was bummed that she wasn't tall enough to go on the Tornado, but even Brooklyn (my most scared child) loved that slide! The second day started off great and we were in the water park by 9:30 am. About 30 minutes later the power went out in the entire hotel/water park. We had to quickly exit the park and wait until the power was restored. At first many people stayed by the entrance of the water park but as time passed we soon realized that it was going to be longer than expected. The staff at GWL was great and wanted us to be happy. They passed out food, drinks, coloring pages and chocolates. While we waited the kids played cards.
They sang songs while Jorden played the Ukulele.And the men spent time looking at their Iphones! Shocker!After about two hours of waiting the power returned and we were able to go back to the water park. We played hard for five more hours and then we all were tired and wanted to take a nap, just like Maddie did!We changed, ate dinner, and then hit the road! A great time was had by all and we can't wait to return again to the GWL. We received free day passes in the mail two days ago to compensate us for when the power went off! The kids can't wait to return!

2010-03-02T15:22:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Dr. Seuss from Thing One:

And from Thing TwoAnd from Thing Three!!!I sure do love all those THINGS!!! Thanks Zundel girls' for loaning out your shirts for Thing #2 and #3!

Rachel Zundel, Kennedy Lake, Brinley Jackson

2010-02-19T22:15:00.000-08:00

Romantic Weekend?

Last weekend being Valentines weekend some people have great holiday festivities! This year instead of flowers, chocolates, and cards we replaced it with snow camping, A dance competition, and the Olympics! The kids had both Friday and Monday off of school for the President's Day Holiday. Mason and Jon went camping on Friday with the YM in our ward. They went to Mt. Hood and dug snow caves to sleep in. Mason had a blast and Jon said it was a miserable night's sleep! While they were camping Morgan turned our Family Room into a dance studio pushing ALL the furniture back so she could practice the routines with five other girls. That evening I turned on the Olympics to watch the Opening Ceremonies and I have been hooked ever since! I have been watching it every night and not getting to bed until 12 or 1 AM! My body is feeling tired this week but I'm having so much fun!

The entire day Saturday was dedicated to Morgan's Dance Competition! I went early to help with hair and didn't leave until 5 PM. (Thanks Karen for watching the little girls' all day!) Morgan's Dance Team at Pacific Middle School did great! They placed first in Lyrical and second in Hip Hop!

They did an amazing job on both dances but the Lyrical routine is my favorite!!! I tried to load the video on here but it didn't work! Bummer! She has loooooved being on this Dance Team and especially this year being the one of the Captains and an eighth grader! She has many good friends on the team with her this year and they all have so much fun at the competitions!
This Saturday is her last competition and the most challenging! We will be sad when it's all over! That evening we planned on going to Avatar with some friends for a date night. Plans quickly changed when the movie that has been in Theaters for almost TWO months was SOLD OUT! We were all disappointed, so instead we went to eat shakes and onion rings at a great 50's diner, Stardust Diner! Valentines Day was uneventful!!! Between church, Jon's visits, and a Baptism we were booked. We had a quick dinner of red jello, salad, and heart shaped pizza! This is the only pic I took the whole day!
That evening we watched the NBA All Star Game and then more Olympics! Very Romantic!!:) Monday was Jon's Birthday. We made him breakfast in bed, I took him to lunch at his fav Tai Food Restaurant, and his mom made him his favorite cake!
His 42nd Birthday is one to remember! When he was leaning over the stove to fix our microwave his shirt got caught on fire from our gas burner. Morgan screamed "Dad you're on FIRE!" He calmly extinguished the flame and later told the kids "My quick ninja reflexes still work at 42!":)

We are having another busy weekend! Jon's at a planning retreat for the night, a BIG dance competition tomorrow, basketball practice, bball game, and a Huge Stake Dance with 7 Stakes! Just another relaxing weekend!

2010-02-18T14:37:00.000-08:00

New Do!

Brinley has been begging me for months to get her haircut like Cassidy Dustin! I have been dragging my feet because I really liked her long hair! Amy said what do you want to do? I finally said I don't care cut it how she wants it and it eventually will grow back! So she put her hair in this ponytail and cut it off!

She now has this cute hair! She loves it and was so excited to show everyone her "new do" last night!I think it looks so cute and she is excited to donate the pony tail! Thanks Amy!

2010-02-08T12:50:00.000-08:00

Visitors!

Last week I had three extra kids for five days while my friend Karen was on a cruise with her husband! She watched my children last fall while Jon and I were in Cancun, so it was payback time! They are great girls and some of my kids' bestest friends!That was good and bad because some nights they were having a little TOO much fun! Two of the nights they slept with their friends and two of the nights they were separated! On the friend nights unfortunately they went to bed late (Sorry Karen) because they were either talking under the covers, playing DS (Brinley finally gave her DS to me because it was too tempting!) reading books, or looking at Morgan's earrings! I had great plans on doing fun things with the girls each day/evening but I did nothing!!! We didn't even have FHE! Yikes! But this is what I did:.....

Read H & M books every night

Helped R, B, E, B with homework daily

Made sure we kept on track with the BOM reading

Read with Brinley and Rae everyday for 20 minutes

Did 15 loads of laundry

Tucked the girls into bed every night with songs and back tickling

Gave 10 baths

Braided 5 heads of hair

Made 24 + lunches over the course of four days

Entertained the kiddos since we had a half day on Wednesday

Drove to Basketball practice and Ballet

Had an extra Bball practice, choir concert and dance festival hence I hired a Babysitter

Plus endless cleaning, teaching, refereeing, blogging, and late night TV watching!

I was pooped by the time Friday came! That is when I visited Sonic for a big 44 oz to reward myself for a Job Well Done! I also decided that five kids is a Breeze and I never want to have three sets of twins! We'll have another visitor this week, Avery Dustin, while her parents are in Arizona. Just call our house the Party House! Never a dull moment here at the Jackson's!

2010-01-28T13:29:00.000-08:00

Birthday Surprises X3!

One week ago was my 40th birthday! It was a nice and relaxing day. I had breakfast in bed, a one hour massage, and lunch at one of my favorite restaurants with my favorite person, Jon! During the afternoon and evening several friends/family either stopped by or called to wish me well on this big birthday. After putting the kiddos to bed Jon was resting on our bed telling me that he was tired! He said is there anything good to watch on TV tonight? I said no but he told me turn it on so he wouldn't fall asleep. When I opened up our Armoire there sat a new TV for our room!

This was his first birthday surprise! I was so excited since we love to watch our favorite shows in bed late at night after everyone is asleep! Jon somehow snuck in the big TV box, removed the old/heavy TV by himself, and set up the new one when I was in the house! I stayed up late watching my new TV! The next day started like the others. After my morning workout and a few errands Jon called to ask what I was doing. I told him and he said that he was going to come home for lunch. Ten minutes later there was a knock at the door and when I opened it up my little Sister from NM was singing Happy Birthday to me!!! (Surprise #2) I was shocked and overcome with emotion. I immediately started to cry. I had been asking both her and Jon if Jon was secretly flying her up for my Birthday! They both denied it! And they were not lying because SHE planned this surprise and paid for her ticket! She said that she's been planning this for a year and has had her ticket for months! That afternoon we got pedicures together:We made homemade pizza & bread sticks and watched a chick flick in the evening! We had a packed Saturday the next day. We first went to the gym and Monique took one of my classes and then we went straight to Mason's BBall game. The rest of the afternoon we spent together shopping and eating lunch at Panera Bread (a favorite for both of us!) It was so fun to be together talking, laughing and just doing anything together! We got home just in time for dinner that Jon had made. We then rushed out the door to go to a movie (What I thought) Jon had told me that he locked his keys in his truck at work (he had to goto work on Saturday) and we needed to pick up his car there. Little did I know that he had planned a party for me and invited several of our friends! He set up a drive in movie. This was the screen, a large piece of white paper taped to the outside of the building.
As we turned into the parking lot there were 25 cars and they were all honking! His truck was set up in front with a movie being projected onto this screen. He had a FM Modulator so all you had to do was turn your car radio to a certain station and the audio was there. Everyone came out of their cars to wish me a Happy 40th Birthday!I was truly surprised! He worked so hard and long on this party! I had a great time! Many of my/our dearest friends' were there to make it a Special Night for me! Jon had all my favorite treats for the movie. Popcorn (of course), Reese's PB Cups, Hot Tamales, Hot Chocolate, and Carrot Cupcakes!
We then went back to our cars to watch a movie that he had made of my life! He got several pictures from my mom and then my sister scanned all of them in. Jon then took these pictures and several others and put them to music and made a movie of my life. It was so funny and sweet! I was in tears by the end! (I tried to upload the movie here but it didn't work!) I am so thankful to Jon for making this a night I will never forget!

On Sunday we went to church, relaxed, ate, and Monique and I even did a little crafting! Our weekend quickly ended and I had to say goodbye to my Best Friend early Monday morning!

We were both sad but had a fabulous time together! Thank you so, so, so much for making my 40th birthday special!

There were many others that gave me fun birthday gifts but here are some of my favorites! Jon gave me this popcorn machine! I LOVE IT!!!
It actually is still sitting on my counter and we just keep making popcorn! The girls' love it also and don't want us to put it away!
A friend of mine from the gym Lori made this darling hat! It says Fab Forty! She also made me a charm necklace with my initial, the number 40, and the word dream! She's way creative! We have been dancing all week to my MJ Thriller CD that Christy gave me!
Morgan, and Brooklyn made me this darling Happy Birthday Banner last week when I was at gymnastics with Brinley. They had it hung up when we got home to surprise me on my birthday!Thanks to everyone who made my birthday very special and one to remember! Hey I guess turning 40 is not that bad, and you know what they say "40 is the new 30"!!!

2010-01-21T20:42:00.000-08:00

Birthday Favs at Forty!

As I have been contemplating my birthday post I have wondered what I should say! This being a new year, new decade, and forty years old I have decided to not be sad about this new age but instead I am going to "embrace it!" Last year a dear friend gave me this awesome gift filled with lotions, lip balm, and creams. It's titled Birthday Girl. On each of the items inside it has written on the bottles different philosophies. I am going to share with you the philosophy it has on the outside package!

Birthday Girl philosophy: be grateful to have been given one more day, let alone one more year. remember to dance in your nightgown, sing in the shower, ride a bike, and fly a kite. give those you love big kisses, huge hugs, and the words "i love you" often and always. nurture your body rather than starve your soul with fad dieting. spend time with the old and the weary to better appreciate your life. on your birthday, call your mother and father wherever they are to thank them for all that they have done for you, even if you think they haven't done enough. watch the move "life is beautiful" at least once a year. remember that you are not guaranteed tomorrow and that today s as good as it gets. thank god for every"thing" every "day", every moment!

I decided that I want to live this philosophy especially this "Big Birthday" year. I also wanted to share some of my favorites at this stage of my life! So this is my list of "Favs At Forty"!!! (In no particular order!)

1. Pajamas

2. Denver Broncos

3. The Jackson Five

4. Book of Mormon

5. Cleaning

6. Boating

7. Shopping

8. Mason's Bball Games

9. Bathrobes

10. Food

11. Friends

12. Brinley's Smile

13. Vacationing

14. Diet Dr. Pepper

15. Disneyland

16. Hosting Parties

17. Scrapbooking

18. Siblings/Parents

19. Teaching Aerobics

20. Going to Movies

21. BYU Cougars

22. Exercising

23. Colorado Mountains

24. Crafting

25. Hot Chocolate

26. Dancing

27. Extended Family

28. Slippers

29. Skiing

30. Caribbean Water

31. Popcorn

32. Roller Coasters

33. Little girls in Tutus

34. Morgan Dancing

35. LDS Church

36. Camping

37. Decorating

38. Playing Games

39. Fall

and

40. JON!

2010-01-19T23:16:00.000-08:00

Sling Shot!

Brinley celebrated her 7th birthday yesterday, January 18! She was lucky that this year it fell on a holiday, thus no school! It worked out fabulous because we were able to have her friend party the same day! Brinley's cousin Cater (whose bday was only three days earlier, Jan 15) told his mom, "How come Brinley's bday is on a holiday and doesn't have to go to school?" We started the day with a Jackson bday fav, breakfast cooked by Dad!

She was very specific on her Breakfast: bacon, Orange Julius, toast, and an omelet with sausage, cheese, avocado, and cottage cheese. It turned out rather large and she only ate a third of it! She then opened her family gifts and played all morning! Brinley wanted to have a gymnastics party at the gym where she takes classes. The party was very affordable and I didn't have to do anything! The girls' had cake, ice cream and presents in the party room in the beginning!We then headed out into the Gym for the remaining hour to play!!! They all had a blast. I was trying to run around and get as many photos as possible. Each of the kids took turns jumping on trampolines, flipping into the foam pit, swinging on barstwisting on the trapeze, twirling in the triple swing

playing in the obstacle course, walking on the beams, and the rope zip line!

The best part was when Brinley was harnessed into the Sling Shot! It was crazy! Helen(the coach) pulled her back as far as the elastic bands would allow

and then she would just let her go and Brinley would go flying through the airShe was up high and I was a little nervous and I think she was also, but after one time she didn't want to stop, she loved it! A girl after my own heart! No fear!!!It was such a fun place for a party! I think they all had a great time! This is all of Brinley's friends and Helen the coach! Naomi Brown, Brinley, Coach Helen, Kennedy Cannon, Kennedy Lake, Sydney Morgan, and Jessica Bruning. Mason, Brooklyn and Maddie also came to the party but were having too much fun to be in the picture!

The rest of her day was spent playing with her new presents from her friends, going out to dinner at Sweet Tomatoes with the family, and a rousing game of Candy Land to end the evening! As I tucked her in last night, I snuggled with her and told her about the day when she was born. It was so fun and I love that she is still little enough to hold in my arms! We love you Brinley and hope you had a Happy Birthday!

At age Seven (this is mostly for my journaling purposes)

Brinley is my very spirited child! She can be quite dramatic at times! She always has a smile on her face and can light up the room with it. All day long school has been an adjustment. She gets tired and if she doesn't get enough sleep at night she can be grouchy! She's my diddle daddler. She constantly needs reminding in the morning to get her lunch made, make her bed, and to get dressed. Her and Maddie share a room and love it! They usually play very well together! Morgan, Mason, and Brooklyn all want to dance and flip her around because she is so flexible! Morgan especially loves to play gymnastics with her and always wants to know what she did in class that day. She played soccer in the fall but loves her gymnastics class! She has lost only two teeth and asks me constantly if she needs braces. She's still very small for her age and probably weighs under 40 pounds (I don't exactly know b/c I have no scale). Her and Madelyn share almost all their clothes except for pants. She is developing some good muscles since she started doing gymnastics two hours a week. Morgan said just last week, "I can't believe her muscles, it's not fair!" She is always showing Jon her "Rocks covered with Skin (her biceps)." She told Jon six months ago that his muscles looked like Rocks covered with Skin, so that's a big joke around the house now! Her two best buddies are Rachel Zundel and Kennedy Lake. She also loves to be with her sisters and is still Mason's Honey! Brinley likes to ride her bike, jump on the tramp, play Pollies, Strawberry Shortcake and with her new DS. Her favorite foods are still strawberries, kiwi, broccoli, salad, and Sun Chips! She's one of my best eaters and will always try anything! We just love our little Brinley Jean Jackson and can't believe that she is already Seven!

2010-01-11T16:24:00.000-08:00

"A" Team!
Last Friday morning I went to Pacific Middle School Honor Roll Assembly. There were several students at the sixth grader assembly. But at the eighth grader assembly the number of students decreased significantly. I am very proud of both Mason and Morgan who BOTH earned 4.0 for their first trimester. They are both on the A Team! There were several 6th grader's that earned this recognition, but there were probably only 20 8th graders that earned 4.0's and Morgan was one of them! Way to go!!! Keep up the great work!

2010-01-11T13:29:00.000-08:00

Christmas Break Week #2

Week number two of Christmas was fun even though everyone missed gma and gpa Baldwin. We had a SURPRISE little snowstorm roll through on Tuesday afternoon and evening! The kids were thrilled! Maddie was a little confused, she kept on saying "But it was suppose to snow on Christmas Day, Mom?" We played all evening in our yard. It stopped for a couple of hours and then started up again at 10 pm. I got Jon out of bed to come and play with the big kids. We all had a great time throwing snowballs at each other (this was Base for the kids, the back of Jon's truck)
and trying to make a snowman! By the morning it was melting and becoming slush. It's a good thing we played in it until midnight! The next day Temple and I took the crew Ice Skating. They loved it, but it was a little crowded and a little too hard for Maddie and Mark. Everyone skated while Temple and I tried to keep the little ones happy!

Thursday we had planned on taking everyone up to Mt. Hood to sled. We decided to go to a place called Little John. The weather was a little snowy getting up there which meant that it took us over two hours until we arrived. There we No One else there which was great! It was raining and the snow was VERY wet! We all went down several times! Jon said I even caught some serious air once! We made snow angels, tried to make a snow fort, and had a big snowball fight. We all got completely soaked and cold fast! We tried to warm up in the warming hutbut the kids' were done! We were there MAYBE an hour and a half!
We loaded everyone up after completely taking all the wet clothes off and headed back down the mountain! We were in the car for over four hours and sledding for less than two! Crazy! The things we do for our kids! The next day was New Years Day. I spent the entire day and evening taking Christmas down! It seemed to take forever this year and I was anxious to get it all done! We did however take a break from that and go to a fun Rose bowl party. Too bad the outcome was not what we wanted but it was still a great way to welcome in the New Year!

2010-01-03T22:18:00.000-08:00

Christmas Break Week 1!

Since my parents and little Brother were in town for Christmas we wanted to pack as many fun activities into the week they were here. The day that my brother came into town we made our traditional Ravioli .Brinley was one of the biggest helpers!
It turned out so yummy we gobbled it up and even had some extras to freeze. Another family tradition is putting together the Christmas Carol puzzle. The kids and I did the puzzle earlier in the month but we pulled it out again for Uncle Steve. We all worked on it but mostly Steve. We almost finished it the day we pulled it out but we got too tired and finished it the next day.

Christmas Eve Day we did last minute grocery shopping, we made Christmas Cookies:
Enjoyed Holiday Music on the piano: (Steve and my mom both are amazing pianists)And the kids just ran around being silly and excited for Christmas Eve!
We went to my in-laws for Christmas Eve Dinner and Festivities! We had our traditional Prime Rib Dinner with MANY Fix ins! Mason decided he wanted to sit at the big kid table, he actually was the only boy!

We enjoyed the family Lip Sync Videos and new PJ's from Grandma Jackson!

Maddie didn't quite make it though, she crashed on my Mom's lap!
Once we got back to our house the kids quickly went to bed, they were all so excited to sleep together by the tree in the Bonus Room!
We then went to work! Jon put together a couple of presents and I had a lot of wrapping to do! I love to stay up late on Christmas Eve to wrap and watch A Christmas Story! It's my own tradition because Jon usually falls asleep!
By the time I cleaned up everything, had some Santa Cookies, and prepared Breakfast for the next day it was 3 AM! I think that is the latest I've ever stayed up on Christmas Eve! So when the kids came in at 5:30 AM I thought I was going to DIE! They woke up g'ma, g'pa, and uncle Steve and anxiously waited at the stairs!
We had a wonderful morning opening presents, stockings, and eating! This is what the presents looked like before:
And this is what the room looked like after all the presents were opened! The room was a wreck!We played the rest of the day with all of our presents! The kids' all had their favorites! Maddie with her new make-up
Brooklyn loved her bike and helmet that Santa gave her!
Brinley got a DS from Santa! Her cousin Toby also got one and they loved playing them together!Morgan got two new coats and some clothes!

She was a little jealous of Mason's new I-Touch, but I told her that she can take her coats back and get one also. Mason was thrilled with Santa's gift! Yikes, what was Santa thinking??? Both of my boys(Jon and Mas) now have those I-things!!!
Jon got two of these camping chairs with covers! Great for the NW!
I think the girls' like it more than him though, they played with those chairs for hours! My favorite gift was these water bottles:
I am always loosing my water bottles so Jon gave me 5 new ones! One for everyday of the week! After our Christmas dinner all the guys went to the Blazer/Nuggets basketball game! They all had a great time! (Even though my Dad and Bro were cheering for Denver) The Blazers came back in the 4th quarter to beat the Nuggets. Mason was excited when he caught the floating envelope that was dropped by the blimp! What a fun Christmas present! Thank you Zundels for the tickets!
The girls' stayed home and just played with our new toys, and watched Christmas movies in our new pajamas and robes!
The next two days while my family was here we went to another movie, played lots of games, had a Mexican fiesta and just enjoyed being together! My girls' especially loved it when Uncle Steve would flip them and play hide & seek. Brinley's favorite was when she would walk on the ceiling with help from Uncle Steve!
We loved having my family here for the Christmas Holiday and can't believe it's already over! We were all so sad to see them all go on Monday (Dec.28) morning. All of my kids' said the entire day we miss Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Steve! We will cherish all the fun memories we made during Christmas 2009!!!

2010-01-01T15:07:00.001-08:00

Wishing You A:

We had a really low key New Year's Eve until about 1 AM when all of these kids' showed up at our house for the after dance Party!

Jon was busy making SCONES! (He looks tired!)

Then the kids ATE!And ATE!And ATE Scones until they felt sick!!! We kicked them all out at 2:15 AM and finally hit the sack at THREE! Have a very Happy New Year's Day!

2009-12-24T10:49:00.000-08:00

BYU Birthday!

Mason turned twelve on Tuesday. He had a very fun filled and exciting day! He started off with breakfast in bed.

His breakfast consisted of Swedish pancakes, hash browns, and TWELVE pieces of bacon!
He actually only had a few bites of his breakfast in his bed and then he came downstairs to eat with the rest of the family and open his presents before Jon headed off to work! We then all admired his Shrine of pictures that I made for him! He then watched the movie Dark Knight that was one of his gifts.
Shortly after that movie he went to see Avatar with Luke & Drake Mulder with my Dad, while I took the girls' to see Princess and the Frog!
He thought the movie was a little weird, but my Brother said that it's awesome in 3D.

After his movies he played a little hoop, his favorite past time!
And more hoop with the Mulder boys when they came over. He got a small BBall hoop for his room. Jon thought that that present was for little boys, but he has loved it already!!!
That evening we had a big BYU Party for the Las Vegas Bowl. I got this picture of Mas and all his sisters that just love him before the guests arrived! We invited all of our die hard BYU Fan Friends! It was so much fun but a little crazy with 48 people here! Mason was able to spend some of his birthday with both of his grandparents (Jon's parents came to the party) We had homemade pizza, tons of Traeger barbequed meats, and lots of sweets! I don't think I sat down once the entire night! I think everyone had fun and enjoyed a great game! Once the game was over we pulled out the BYU cake that Jon made (it was white with a big blue Y but this pic makes it look pink).Some of the kids' gathered around to sing to the Bday boy!
After all the guests went home, Mason relaxed and played his new PSP game that he got as a gift. He told me he had a great day and his favorite part of the day was the BYU Party! What a great son he is and I'm so sad that he is growing up too fast! Happy Birthday Mas!

2009-12-21T21:01:00.001-08:00

Crazy Week!

Our week has been filled with many activities! On Sunday and Monday we made all of our friend & neighbor gifts and delivered them all. The Carmel corn was a hit and I ended up keeping one of these popcorn bowls for myself!
Tuesday we attended Maddie's Christmas program at her school and loved every minute of it! She's getting so big and has really blossomed this year in school!Thursday Morgan and Brooklyn finished our gingerbread house that was started on Family Night! Morgan is very pleased with how it turned out!

Friday was Crazy Hair day and parties at school:That same day Maddie had a dance performance in her class with treats at the end.Morgan also had a dance performance that evening which was fabulous! I loved her dances, especially the final number of the entire evening! It was a beautiful lyrical piece danced to Amy Grant's "Breath of Heaven"She is really going to miss her instructor Victoria when she leaves in January to attend BYU Hawaii!And just last night Brooklyn and Morgan had a wonderful piano recital. This is the girls with my dear friend Christy who is also their fabulous teacher!(This is the only pic I got and look at Morgan!)All the music was amazing and helped us all get into the Christmas Mood!

What a fun but crazy week it has been!

2009-12-17T14:07:00.001-08:00

A New Season!

About a month ago a new season of Sports started in our family. Mason started his Basketball season with Hot Shots. This is his third year in a row of only playing Basketball and second year with Jon (DAD) being his coach. He LOVES Basketball! He has been playing BBall with some of the same boys for five years! This picture is of Luke, Mason, and Drake Mulder the night they got their Jerseys from Jon:

The Cavaliers are off to a great start and have a record of 4-0! During the summer Brooklyn would frequently shoot around with Mason in the backyard. She decided that she wanted to try Basketball! She also hears Mason talk about Bball and watch it constantly. She has become a fan also of Mason's favorites, the Portland Trailblazers and LeBron James' Cleveland Cavaliers. When Brother Zundel called to invite Jon and Brooklyn to a game she was thrilled!!!Brooklyn has been practicing for three weeks now and will have her first game in January!

Both Brooklyn and Brinley were sad to see their Soccer Season come to an End! Brinley played for her first time with her two BFF's Kennedy and Rachel. Their team "the LadyBirds" were so fun to watch! Brinley was so hilarious!!! She would just run around in the shadow or Kennedy and Rachel with a huge SMILE on her face. There were a few times that she got the ball and even scored some goals!
Karen took this awesome picture of the team after one muddy Saturday game!

Brinley had a great time, loved the snacks, and the end of season party. She definitely wants to play again next year! Brooklyn has played with the "Heartbreakers" for three seasons. She has loved playing soccer and has improved dramatically! I think Brooklyn is going to be our sports girl! She loves her team and hopes that Coach Richie will come back for another season next Fall.

2009-12-11T22:28:00.000-08:00

Dancer Team Tryouts!

Morgan tried out today for dance team at her middle school, Pacific Middle School! Every day after school this week they have had dance clinics to prepare them for tonight's tryouts. She was thrilled to make it again for her third year! Her dancing and performance has improved so much these past two years. Two years ago when she tried out the first time when she was in sixth grade she seemed so young, little, and scared! This time she performed with confidence, sass, and maturity! I am so proud and excited for her! We are both ecstatic that so many of her friends' made the team. Her good friend Catherine made it for the first time! She is new to Pacific this year. Her and Morgan quickly became friends' when Morgan met her in Math and saw her CTR ring!:)

There are also four other girls' from our ward that made the team! I'm soooo excited that they all made it and can't wait to travel to competitions and see so many familiar faces!!! A big congrats to the sixth graders: Emily, Hailey, and Avery. Emily Perkins was on the team last year, and then Morgan is the Veteran! Congratulations to them all, It will be a great season!

2009-12-03T00:00:00.000-08:00

Stockings, Trees, & Banners Oh My!

About a month ago I saw an idea on a blog to make stockings out of old sweaters. They were so cute that I got a brilliant idea of making stockings for the family! I didn't have as many old sweaters as I initially thought so I quickly went to Goodwill and Spanky's (consignment store). I was so excited at what I found at such great deals! I copied a target stocking I saw and went to town sewing sweaters. I don't like to sew AT ALL but I figured I could manage a straight stitch! I then hit JoAnns for all my embelishments, trim, jingle bells, and lace! This is what my craft room/den looked like for much of the month, A MESS!

But I just loved how they all turned out except for one that I'm still working on! The girls' even fought over who would get certain socks! I told them that I decide and that these stockings for this year are only for decoration! The green and red sweater was an old sweater of mine that I've had for years from Old Navy. Jon couldn't believe that I was cutting it up! I told him that it shrunk in the wash. I like it SO much better as a stocking! The green stripped one was the first one I made and I think it is definitely one of my favs! The polka dot stocking used to be a darling sweater dress of Maddie's. Any of my gymboree friends recognize that line? Well the dress got a hole in it so hey look what a cute stocking it made! This one is definitely Madelyn's. She has let us all know that! Since I had this whole funky stocking/color scheme going on I started looking for some new ornaments! I was surprised to find out that many stores had several ornaments in these colors! This tree is going to be a work in progress. I did find some glitter words at the target dollar spot and many fun glitter balls! The kids had fun decorating it tonight and Morgan is just thrilled that "her dream has come true!" They get to have a tree in the Bonus room. She is so excited to have everyone sleep by the tree on Christmas Eve!

My last project for this season was a Christmas Banner! I got together with my friend Amy the past two days to create our banners together. Amy is a crafting genius! We had fun together and turned my kitchen table into a craft store. We had glue, paper, ribbon, crate paper, zots, glue guns, fiber, and LOTS of GLITTER! Amy loves glitter and has quite a selection!

After two days of this craziness I just finished this banner and hung it above my kitchen table. It is big so I had to take three pictures. It says "Twas the Night"

I think I've had my craft fix for at least a couple weeks! Tomorrow is going to be cleaning day but now I'm off to bed!!!

2009-11-30T07:00:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving Recap!

We had a fun and busy holiday weekend as I'm sure most everyone else did. Thanksgiving dinner was almost a bust since the turkey wasn't cooked in time for dinner!

We cooked the turkey in this roaster and it took two hours longer than usual! I was stressed and embarrassed that it wasn't finished! So on Thanksgiving day we had NO TURKEY! We ate all the fixings and ham. We still got sufficiently stuffed!

After dinner we went to the movies. One of the cousins used a quarter to get a fake mustache out of a toy dispenser. All the kids wanted one after they saw Jefferson with the mustache on. They all looked hilarious!

Maddie did not want a mustache but wanted her pic taken!

Friday morning was dedicated to Black Friday shopping! Morgan and I got up at 4:30 a.m. we hit several stores and we were done by 8:30! We then took Maddie to her ballet performance at the Festival of the Trees! They did a dance to Jingle Bells! It was very cute! (Thanks Tiff for the pic I stole from your blog:)

That evening all the family came back over to eat the Turkey that we didn't have on Thanksgiving Day. We STILL had plenty of sides, pie, and a FRESH batch of Temple's Rolls! Yum!!! On Saturday we went to get our tree with several other friends' from our ward. I have fake tree, but wanted to get a second tree that was real! We hiked around a national forest to hunt down the perfect tree. We finally found one that was perfect and Jon cut it down with his chain saw!We then had chili, rolls, and hot chocolate! It was a fun day! We even found a little snow that the kids were thrilled to play in!
The rest of the weekend was spent cleaning and decorating for CHRISTMAS! It was a fun filled weekend!

2009-11-26T11:14:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving Table

I'm the host this year again for Thanksgiving. I actually wanted to since I spluged and bought new dishes this year at Target. I'm very happy how my table turned out! This is where the adults will sit:

This darling banner is hung above the adult table! Thanks Amy for letting me borrow it! The big girls' have their own table and will sit in the front room.

The middle six children will sit at another rectangular table and the four littiest ones will sit at the bar. They will each get their own turkey hat, paper plate, and plastic silverware! YES!
I assigned a lot of the dinner out to the in-laws, I guess I can do that since I am the host. Right??? I now must go shower, vacuum, and stop watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade so I will be ready when all my guests arrive. Happy Thanksgiving!!!

2009-11-21T11:07:00.000-08:00

Girls Nights!

This past week has been a whirlwind of activities, most of them being fun for me!!! Last weekend I went to a cabin with eleven other ladies in my ward to stamp cards. I have no pictures to show for this fun weekend because I was either too busy crafting or eating!!! It was a great time and now I have lots of darling cards to give away for the holidays! Thursday evening Morgan and I were able to go to an early showing of: New Moon! It was so fun! There were a bunch of moms and many screaming teenage girls. The whole theater screamed when Jacob came on the screen for the first time! We saw it the day before at an "invite only" screening at 6 pm. I had several friends that went to the midnight showing and got to bed at 3 AM!!! Morgan and I both wore our new necklaces that my friend Julie made, Morgan's said I love Jacob! Last night I took Morgan to the "So You Think You Can Dance" show for her birthday!It was amazing! Those dancers are soooooooooo good!!! We loved every minute. Morgan had a great time with her cousins Paige and McKenna.

Temple, Karen, Erica, and I also loved the show! We kept on sharing the binoculars to get a closer view of some of our favorites!
After the show we tried to get into the Meet and Greet party with the cast but we were rejected! We just drove home and stopped at McDonalds for a dipped cone. It was another fun evening with the girls. Tonight I am going out with my husband though and very excited to spend an evening with him!

2009-11-07T15:07:00.000-08:00

This Is It!

On Thursday evening I went with a few friends to see the Michael Jackson movie "This is It"

It was awesome! I have loved Michael Jackson since I was a teenager. For my fourteenth birthday I got the Thriller Album.

I was so excited for this present that I kept the album cover on our mantel for a month! I listened to the record constantly, loved to watch the music video, and desperately tried to learn all the dance moves! I was a true fan! It's hard to believe but I now have a fourteen year old in my house! Last Friday, October 30, Morgan turned fourteen! She's not crazy about any music groups or singers. Although for the past year she has been a HUGE Jacob fan:

And just recently since this season of "So You Think You Can Dance" started she thinks Nathan is fabulous!

How does time pass so quickly and our kids grow up so fast! I remember taking her to get her first year picture taken!And now she is my beautiful teenager!She is a great daughter, sister, and friend! She's VERY dedicated and a VERY hard worker. She will say to us "I need study for my Science Test" We'll say when is it? And her response will be "Oh next week." She is determined to get a 4.0! She makes lists for herself about what she needs to get done in a day or weekend. The list includes everything, piano practicing, personal progress, homework, and dance practice. Morgan loves to organize things, decorate her room, and go shopping. She says she wants to be an Interior Designer when she grows up! She also is a great babysitter and still loves to play with her three little sisters! Morgan is a big help around the house! I can give her an assignment, she will get it done and she often will do chores without me asking!

For her birthday we had a yummy bday breakfast and presents before she went to school! After school I took her and her friend Katherine to get pedicures and ice cream!

For dinner that day we had Wendy's since Jon was out of town. (We had her birthday dinner and cake/ice cream on Sunday with Dad) The next morning the Mia Maids came to kidnap Morgan and take her to Breakfast! She was VERY surprised and had a great time with her new leaders!I made her favorite dinner on Sunday to have with Jon and Grandma/Grandpa. Margene made this beautiful cake but instead of using Coco she accidentally used cinnamon! The frosting had a very strong cinnamon flavor so we had to put the majority of it down the disposal!
We still had candles, ice cream, and a Little cake! I feel so blessed to have Morgan and look forward to many more of her birthdays!

2009-11-02T16:06:00.000-08:00

The Grinch!

Exactly one year ago Brinley decided that she wanted to be Cindy Lou Who for Halloween. Since Maddie was obsessed with the "Grinch that Stole Christmas" movie last Christmas we all watched it several times! I decided to have all of us be Grinch characters for Halloween. I had to do some convincing though! Jon WAS going to be the grinch but sadly had to be out of town. Mason stepped in to be the grinch. Actually I told him that I would pay him $20 if he would dress up. Once M & B heard that everyone was on board with the Grinch idea! The girls and I had fun putting together the costumes, getting ready, and taking pictures. My mother in-law made Brinley's darling outfit and I scored some of the other's at Goodwill. I asked my friend Amy if she would take some pics of us. She did an awesome job and I love them! Mason as the Grinch:

Brinley as Cindy Lou Who:

Maddie as Max, the Grinch's Dog:Brooklyn as a Whoville teenager:I was Betty Lou Who, Cindy's Mom:Morgan was also a Whoville teenager:

It was a fun night! The kids already know what they want to be next year, and it's not a group theme!

2009-10-27T22:59:00.000-07:00

Halloween Week!

Since I was out of town last week; this week I am scrambling to finish up costumes, carve pumkins, and do some fun activities with the kids. Luckily Amber took the kids to the pumpkin patch while we were in Mexico, so I now have pumpkins! Last night we had an impromptu Halloween Dinner/FHE! The girls and I made Mummy Hot Dogs:

They were very helpful, the hot dogs turned out so cute, and everyone had fun!
I then attempted to carve some pumpkins. I told the kids to find some patterns on the computer and they chose some HARD ones! Since Jon left for CA earlier that day it was all ME! I ususally help clean the pumpkins and he does all the carving! Brinley wanted to help of course:
Pretty much it was a sticky mess!

But worth it when I see how excited they are to see their pumpkins all lit up!

I attempted to carve LeBron James' face on Mason's pumpkin. I think it turned out OK for an amature. I just loved Mason's comments, "Wow Mom that looks really hard to do!" and "Mom you're good at that!" They think Dad can do everything, but I must say I think I pulled my weight last night! I only finished two out of five last night. I heard from Morgan and Brooklyn all day today, " When are we going to finish the pumpkins, Is mine next??? Morgan wants the "So You Think You Can Dance" Logo and dancer on hers??? Yah Right!

Here are some pictures of some new Decor that I got this year!

The green/purple spiders I purchased from JoAnn's and filled them with candy eyeballs:

My mom made me this "Spooky" Halloween banner last year! I love it hanging above my kitchen table!I snatched up this advent calender at TJ Maxx early September. It reminded me of PB KidsI found this cute purple metal Spooky sign at an Antique Store! Love it with my sparkly pumpkins from last year!Hopefully everyone is having as much fun as we are this week! Don't eat too much candy because there is much more to come this weekend!

2009-10-12T21:51:00.000-07:00

A Little Teaser!

Grandma Jackson finished Brinley's Costume so we went to pick it up today! I'm so excited for Halloween!!! Can you guess what she is going to be? I even rented the movie today to get us all excited for our big night! Many more pictures to come!

2009-10-08T20:40:00.000-07:00

Nic's Nursery!

Just call me a "Daycare Provider" this week! Today was the first day of watching my nephew Mark while the rest of his family is on a cruise in the Eastern Caribbean. I also had A. J. Moses who is a little boy that I have been watching since the beginning of the school year. When my friend Karen called the other day to ask if I could watch Hannah, I said "Sure, what's one more kid!"

The morning started out smoothly! I put on a kid favorite "Dora the Explorer"

They were watching it happily while I got dressed, made beds, did some laundry, and snuck in last nights' episode of So You Think You Can Dance. Little did I know that Mark and A.J. found a game in Mason's room and had a great time throwing it all over!

I decided it was then time for lunch. I lined them all up at the bar and feed them chicken nuggets, Ritz, and candy corn. YUM!

We headed to the park to give us a change of scenery! As we drove there Mark and A.J. were fighting over who was going to be Batman for Halloween. It's hard to explain to two three year-olds that you both can be Batman! We had the park all to ourselves but all of them wanted ME to push them on the swings. By this time of the day I was exhausted and all I wanted to do was sit. Instead I embraced the moment, pushed them on the swings and took them on a little nature walk to look for treasures.

After dropping off Hannah we picked up Morgan, headed to the Orthodontist, and just barely made it to Sonic for Happy Hour.

As I sit here now typing this I am feeling very tired! I woke up this morning at 4:30 a.m. when Jon took his brother to the airport and I never took a nap. Imagine that!!! Tomorrow is a new day, but everyone will be home from school for Columbus Day. Yeah! I think I'm going to need a break, maybe Cancun :)!!!

2009-09-30T13:26:00.000-07:00

My Favorite Store!

One of my favorite store has got to be Target! I like it so much I go there weekly and sometimes two or three times! They have such great finds!I love finding knock offs here that are similar in look but so much less in price!!! I have found many things that are similar to Pottery Barn, American Girl Doll, Ann Taylor Loft, and even Nike! The other day I went to there to use my 10% off coupon and here are some of my finds!

I have been eyeing these fall dinner plates and accessories so I finally broke down and got them.

My sister said that the ruffle shirt is in this season so I purchased this one: I am not sure what I am going to wear with it or if I'll even keep it but I thought it was cute!

Target has some great shoes that are very affordable! I love these flats!

The dollar spot in the front of the store is the best! I have done many fun things with the "finds" I get from this section. The other day I bought every single one of these turkey headbands! Fifteen to be exact. I love them and they totally look like something out of PB Kids for only $1! I think I might have to host Thanksgiving this year!:)

Target's snack bar is also a great deal. I frequently get the kids the popcorn special!

It includes the yummiest popcorn and a fountain drink for me for only $1.50! Everything about this store is great! I actually am heading there right now for my second visit this week!!

2009-09-14T14:52:00.000-07:00

Weekend of Treats!

This weekend was full of TREATS! It started with the best root beer float I've ever had! It was in a small pitcher and had whip cream on top! I was in heaven.

All weekend was full of sunshine. It was ninety plus both Friday and Saturday. It is definitely a TREAT to have warm, sunny days in the NW. We first went to two soccer games and had so much fun watching Brinley play her first game ever. Another TREAT!
We spent the rest of the afternoon at the Columbia River, swimming and playing in the sand. (We were going to take the boat out but the wait to launch it was over an hour, we just went to Cottonwood Beach instead) On the way home we stopped at Top Burger for another TREAT. I think they have the best soft serve in town, plus they are make their cones big and they are cheap! That evening after stake conference another treat was consumed at Cold Stone. This TREAT was called Peanut Butter Passion and it definitely didn't disappoint.
Sunday was our stake conference. It was a TREAT to hear our prophet speak to us via satellite from SLC.
Our evening TREAT was Keri Sork's famous Apple Bars. When she asked me what she should bring for dinner I requested these bars because they are Jon's Favorites. My late evening TREAT was piece of this yummy blackberry cream pie that Stacey made for me.
You are saying to yourself "That's a lot of TREATS for one Weekend!" and yes it was! I will be hitting it hard at the gym this week because they were all worth it!!!

2009-09-09T14:12:00.000-07:00

School Time!

We are officially in the swing of things with school now being is session for a week. Last week was crazy getting adjusted to our new schedule and then to have a holiday??? Some of the school districts only started today a whole week after we did. The first day went well with a new middle schooler and a first grader. I got teary eyed only once when my only boy Mason and now a sixth grader left for school.

Mason was nervous as he left but quickly decided that he liked Middle School! This is Morgan and her friend Mina on the first day of school. They are both eighth graders! I can't believe this is her last year of Middle School!Since our house is close to the school kids stop by here in the morning to meet up with each other and walk to school.Here is a picture of some of them on the first day. Some days it is more and some days less. Pretty much my house is like grand central station in the mornings!! After getting these kids off to school I have about one more hour to get B & B out the door. Brinley was excited to be a big first grader in Mrs. McKee's Class.

Brooklyn was excited to be in third grade because she and our neighbor Brandon are in charge of the walking group and she gets to use a planner this year!As they were leaving for their first day of school I was feeling sad and guilty that I was not taking them. Jon was with the girls because I had to teach my class. We always start school the day after Labor Day so I don't usually have this problem. I told my class that morning you know I must love you guys because I am here and not at school with my kids. Jon did a great job taking them to school and taking several pictures that I asked him to take. This one is my favorite!

After school they ate their apple cookies that Maddie and I made:And then later that evening Morgan's Beehive Advisor dropped off these DARLING!!! Apple treats.They were the yummiest brownies dipped in red chocolate with a pretzel stem and a little green runt leaf. I had to take a picture because they have got to be the CUTEST first day of school treat I have ever seen! Way to go Kendall!

Maddie really missed Brinley the first few days of school. She would ask me at least ten times a day, "Is it time for us to pick up Brinley?" This picture is of her hugging Brinley before she left for school on day two.Madelyn started school yesterday at Children's World of Music. This is her second year and she is in the Butterfly Class with Miss Michelle. She was very excited to go and not nearly as shy this year as she was last year. She jumped out of the car and was ready to go in by herself. I insisted on coming in with her to make sure she knew where to go and take a picture of her with her friends in Big Room.

We are off to another great year!

2009-09-01T23:09:00.000-07:00

First & Last!

The past three weeks we have experienced many FIRSTS!

I hiked to the top of Multnomah Falls with all the kids! This was the very FIRST time even I made the hike. I carried Maddie most of the way and my calfs were feelin it the next day!
We all biked to Sonic for the FIRST time during "Happy Hour". Little Brinley's legs got tired but she made it there and back with only a few tears!

The three little girls' and I picked Blueberries for the FIRST time! So fun and fast picking!I took all the kids today to Big Al's to go bowling for the FIRST time for Brooklyn's Birthday! Mason was also there but he wanted to play arcades. Happy Birthday Brooklyn!!!
I french braided Maddie's hair for the very FIRST time, she loved them and wants them daily!Morgan got her eyebrows waxed for the FIRST time. Here she is smiling but the day it happened her face was priceless! I wish I had a camera!!! She was hilarious!!! Amy Morgan and I got a good laugh that day! I told her you think that hurt wait until you have Babies! I took the kids to Cottonwood Beach on the Columbia River a few days ago. Unfortunately, it was the FIRST time all summer and the LAST!
Jon and I took Mason and six of his friends on our FIRST "All Boy" boat ride! Spencer Corno, Luke Fraley, Brett Barinaga, Michael Cordes, Luke & Drake Mulder joined Mason for a fun evening of wake boarding and tubing. Jon gave all of them tube rides to remember!! We left all the girls at home except for me "Flag Girl"!

Sadly to say we have also experienced some LASTS!

We had our LAST FHE treat outside last night on our patio table. Jon got me this awesome table, chairs, and bench for Mother's Day! It's suppose to seat ten, but we've had many little girls on the long bench! We have loved having it this summer. There have been many dinners, lunches, popsicle breaks, and late night talks with friends around the table this summer!
Saturday was the kids' Last Happy Hour visit! But not my last Happy Hour, those last all year long!!

We had our LAST sleepover two nights ago! The kids have had fun this summer sleeping in each other's room, on the floor, in the bonus room, under beds, and on couches. They have been going to bed late, sleeping in, and the naps that occurred this summer can be counted on my ONE hand!
And finally today was our LAST day of swimming in our pool. Morgan and Mason bought this pool with their own money at the MapleCrest Garage Sale at the beginning of the summer. They thought it was a great deal at $40! Little did they know that Mom/Dad paid for the water and all the chemicals needed to keep that water clear! This has been a great past time for the kids and MANY of their friends! We have had Paige & Mckenna, Luke & Drake, Chad Richards, Kennedy, Camdyn, & Griffin, Avery & Cass, Hannah, Rachel, & Elizabeth, Houston & Tyler, Ellie & Austin, Elsie, Sage, Ethan, & Jarin, Shaylee, Kenyon & Brandon, Mckenna Sork, and Emily & Meagan Young to name a few!!! They played many games but I thought this one was hysterical, they called it "Kids Choice Wipeout Game"!Jon and I have even gotten in a few times to cool off during some of our super hot days! The one week it was 90 degrees and above for 10 straight days this summer I got in several times and we even all swam together as a family for our FHE activity!

The last few weeks of summer have been so fun and packed with last minute activites! Four of the five start school tomorrow, actually in about eight hours so I'm off to bed!

2009-08-24T22:09:00.000-07:00

Was It Worth It?

Jon and I spent many hours getting ready for our camping trip. We shopped for food, did laundry, packed our bags, loaded the coolers, prepared the boat, and threw in the tent. The work only continued once we arrived with all the set up, food preparation, and clean up. One morning Mason said "how come we aren't ready to go on the boat? The Young's are already out on the lake?" I reminded him that we had seven children to get ready(Paige and McKenna) and the Young's only had two!!! Each day when we came back to camp we were exhausted after a long day in the water and sun! This is a tired Jon! After a long day of driving the kids in the boat. When we arrived home late Saturday afternoon the work only continued. We unloaded all the camping gear/boat. Washed the boat and car, vacuumed them both, emptied and cleaned the coolers, and did endless loads of laundry (probably 10 loads and I only just finished it today!) So I say to myself and Jon Was it all Worth IT? And then we look at our pictures and say...YES
Maddie with her boyfriend Brody!

Caden and Mason showing off their Muscles!

Paige, Morgan, and McKenna lovin tubing, they also all got up on the wake board!

Brinley being our flag girl!

Brooklyn, Cassidy, Brinley, and Maddie playing at the park!

I went Wake Surfing for the first time and LOVED it!

Mason made a fire every morning while Jon and I were still in our sleeping bags!

The big kids loved to jump off this rock and swim around in this cove we found!

Creating many fun memories with all our dear friends at Billy Chinook!

2009-08-14T21:46:00.002-07:00

Pinkalicious Party!

Two weeks ago my baby (Maddie) turned four! She has been so excited to wear that shirt and wore it the entire day! On her actual birthday August 1 we took advantage of a fabulous Saturday in the NW and went boating on the Columbia River. Maddie loved tubing, swimming, and eating!

She had so much fun that she crashed on the front seat of the boat in the late afternoon!
After a fun day on the river we barbecued pizza on the grill, ate ice cream Sundaes, swam in our pool, and danced the night away with her sisters and the Zundel girls! On August 3 she had her first "Friend" birthday party. She invited four little girls to her Pinkalicious Party.

We first had lunch that consisted of only pink foods!

They had Pink Jello, Pink Strawberry Applesauce, Pink Marsh mellows, Pretzels dipped in Pink Chocolate, Pink Cream Cheese & Bagels, Pink Candy, and Pink Lemonade!!! The girls loved all the pink foods but I must say the pretzels were a HIT!After lunch the girls made crowns, necklaces, colored, and of course read the book Pinkalicious!!

We finished with presents, ice cream and the famous Pinkalicious cupcakes!
I made this cute cupcake t-shirt for Madelyn to wear for the party.

After making it I thought, that wasn't that hard I think I will make all the girls their own t-shirt! (I should not have left it til the night before to finish that project though!!!) I'm so happy how they turned out!!! They all looked just perfectly Pinkalicious together! It was such a fun party to have with these little girls!!! (from L to R, Elise Kelley, Hannah Zundel, Madelyn the birthday girl, Kylie Cannon, and Shaylee Phelon.

Facts about Maddie at age Four!

She loves to be called Maddie and not Madelyn. Sometimes she won't answer me if I call her by Madelyn. Some of her other nicknames are Matt, Baby Dolla, Honey, and Sweetie. She is a fairly good eater and a great snacker! Her favorite dinner is Chicken & Broccoli and Sweet & Sour Chicken (Tamara Larkin's recipe!) She is notorious for eating little at Breakfast and Lunch then saying she's hungry like 10 minutes later! Loves Chocolate Milk, water with NO ICE, and sneaks drinks of mommy's pop frequently. She has to have purple fluffy pillow and blanket at bed time or there is a meltdown. She's a pack rat and has things stashed in purses, backpacks, and underneath her bed constantly. She has been known to change her clothes at least 5 times a day, and during preschool she would change the second she would come home from school into something SHE wanted to wear and not what I wanted her to wear that day!(Isn't she too young to be so opinionated about her wardrobe???) She loves to play pollies with her sisters and will play for hours in the Bonus Room. She also loves to dress up her Bitty Baby, color, play with play dough and would paint daily if I would let her! She's definitely the baby of the family and pretty much gets her way because of that. This past year she has been more talkative, friendly, and has grown up a ton! She weighs 35 pounds, wears size 4/5 clothes and now shares clothes with Brinley. She loves her "Buddy" Daddy and is still a mama's girl. She's constantly giving hugs, giggling and is a sweet little girl! What would we do without our Maddie???

2009-07-24T21:20:00.000-07:00

Back Home!!

We are thrilled to back home in our own beds after being gone for sixteen days, putting over 2700 miles on the Burban, traveling through six states twice, drinking way too much Diet Coke, eating desserts every day sometimes TWO, and having so, so much fun!!! This summer we went to Colorado for almost two weeks while Jon headed off to Boston for work. Here's a recap of our some of out activities!

The first two days we just DROVE! Brinley kept on asking "Are we in Colorado?" I had to tell her no we still have to go through Oregon, Idaho, Utah, Wyoming, and then we'll be in beautiful Colorado! We arrived Monday evening to anxious cousins who had been waiting for two hours on the front lawn. My sister recently moved to Albuquerque, NM and is now only six, yes SIX hours from my parents house. This is the closest any of the siblings have been to my parents since we all moved out! She's thrilled to be so close and I'm jealous!!! The first few days we were there we just swam at my mom's friend Robyn's pool! I figured out that we actually were swimming almost 70% of our whole trip. I kept telling the kids enjoy the sun, pools, and water parks because we don't have many outdoor pool and NO waterparks here! We went to Robyn's pool six times and every time they loved it! Morgan was awesome at entertaining the little girls while Monique and I relaxed. This floaty toy became Maddie's favorite especially since it was a FROG!

On Friday we were all loaded in the car to head up into the beautiful Colorado Rockies for an authentic steam engine train ride. We were all excited to go and then Brinley barfed in the car. We quickly exited the highway and headed home. Instead we went swimming at Robyn's then we all went to Chick-Fil-A dressed up like Cows for Cow Appreciation Day!

My dad dressed up like a farmer and led his little cows into the restaurant with his rope. The manager loved it and took a picture of us to send to their corporate offices. We all received a free meal of our choice off their menu for dressing up! Saturday was spent shopping at the downtown Littleton shops, lunch at Panera Bread (only the girls went on this outing and Mason let me know that he too wanted to go out to lunch with only me!), more swimming, pedicure with Monique, movie, and Wii games in the evening. I brought my Father's Day present with me to give to my dad. I got him a puzzle of Times Square in New York City. Brooklyn says to my dad "Grandpa my mom was so excited to get you this puzzle for father's day because you went to NY last summer! We got it at the Maplecrest Garage Sale for only 50 cents!" Yikes, I wasn't going to tell him that because it looked brand new!

The big kids loved putting it together plus many more that Grandma fished out of the game closet. Every day the kids would spent endless hours on the trampoline. Morgan loves Grandma's trampoline because it's "So much more Bouncy than ours!" All the kids became friends with my parents neighbor's little girl Beth. She's an only child and would watch the kids daily as they jumped and jumped. Her mom let her come over and play, but only twice! This picture is the three little girls talking to Beth Sunday afternoon.

Monday morning we were up early to go to Chemotherapy with Mom. Monique and I both went and sat with her during her fifth session of Chemo.

I guess I was expecting something different like images I have seen in the movies or on television of Chemotherapy. She was hooked up to an IV in her favorite chair along with many others. We chatted, read magazines, and I wrote in my journal. The whole process was about three hours. Mom is doing well although some days are better than others. While we were there she had lots of energy the first week and then a few days after Chemo she was very tired. She has been a real trooper through this cancer stuff! We cried together and here we are smiling together because we are glad to be with her finally for at least one treatment. Brinley lost her first tooth while we were in Colorado. She's just like her big sis Brooklyn, pulling it out herself! She was so excited to get her five dollar bill. Brinley, Carter, Mckenna, and Maddie all woke up at 4 o'clock in the morning to talk about the Tooth Fairies surprise!

It was a hot and sunny day when we went to Pirates Cove! It's a smaller water park only 10 minutes from my parents house!

The entire day was spent swimming, floating on the Lazy River, playing in their huge sand box and going downs the water slides. Maddie LOVED this little kid water slide and probably went on it almost fifty times! I just watched her go on it over, and over, and over again!

Monique and I were pretty tired from a long day in the sun and water! We took a small nap at 10 pm, had another Diet Coke, packed our candy and headed off to the theater for the midnight showing of Harry Potter. We were there again with hundreds of teenagers! It was so worth it even though we didn't get home until 3:30 AM! Once Uncle Al arrived in CO we decided to take the kids fishing. Mason and Brooklyn were both surprised at how much fun they had catching a fish!

The kids all took a turn fishing, throwing out the line, catching a fish, and scooping it in the net! Monique and I were both so glad that Al was there to help! Everyone had a great time and thought that this was one of their favorite days!

We did many more fun things like shopped, ate dinner at Costa Vida, more swimming, outdoor movie, miniature golf, and the sprinkler park. Most of these pictures are on Monique's Fancy Smancy new camera! She took 600 pictures on her new rapid fire camera (I have no idea what the name is) I took about 30! So I will definitely need to get some copies from her! Tears were shed when packed the car and started our trek home on Sunday morning. We drove back through boring Wyoming and stopped in Ogden,UT to spend the night at Aunt Linda's house. It was fun to catch up with Linda, Russ, and Jon's cousins. The next day we met some of our best BYU friend's the Lopezes at Cherry Hill in Kaysville, UT. It was so fun to catch up, reminisce, and swim with them. We were all thrilled to have another fun vacation day this time with Dad! After Cherry Hill we went to Amy's parent's house for a barbeque and swimming in their pool until 10:30 pm!

We were exhausted when we finally made it back to Linda's at midnight! After a long thirteen hour drive, five movies, a book on the IPod, many more Diet Cokes, and lots of snacking to help keep us awake we made it Back Home! What a fun vacation for all of us!

2009-06-29T07:26:00.000-07:00

Pioneer Trek!

Twenty four years ago next month when I was fifteen years old I was able to experience a Pioneer Trek with my Stake in Colorado.

I remember loving the entire experience! The trekking, the lack of food, killing the turkey that we ate for dinner, our solo time, and the testimony meeting. I have often talked about this Trek with my family and husband. When our Stake decided to invite all the youth 12 and up for our Trek I was thrilled for Morgan! Since she was still busy with school she didn't get that excited for Trek! But when she got her dress from grandma (Thanks Margene for making it!) she couldn't wait to wear it!

Last Wednesday morning all the youth in our Stake were dropped off at the church. There we 400 kids all dressed like pioneers!The next day Jon and I were asked to come to the Trek and help with the Hoe Down! We were both very excited. I was anxious to see Morgan and talk to her about her experience. After a three hour drive we arrived at the site. We saw lots of tents, handcarts, and hundreds of tired pioneers! Day two was a HARD day of trekking. Everyone I spoke to told us that. When we finally found Morgan she was also tired and dirty. I was a little nervous about how the kids would respond to a Hoe Down considering that they were exhausted! Not everyone participated but many of the kids had a great time doing some fun line dances!

Even I had a great time dancing with all those young kids!

I was glad that I was able to experience a small portion of Trek with Morgan! Here we are with all the Jackson Pioneers!Morgan came home on Saturday and could not stop talking about her experience. At church yesterday she said that many of the beehives including herself want to go on another Trek! She loved it! I'm so grateful to those who spent countless hours to make this such a wonderful experience for our Youth! It was a HUGE success!

2009-06-18T15:01:00.000-07:00

Fabulous Fifth Grade!

Mason's Fabulous Fifth Grade year is now officially finished! He is now done with Harmony and is moving onto Middle School. This morning he told me that he didn't want fifth grade to end! I asked him why he liked fifth grade so much and he told me that he loved his teacher:

He thinks Mrs. Tendler is the best 5th grade teacher in the whole wide world. We were both very excited when he got her since she is a fellow BYU alumni! She helped Mason in so many area's this year, especially reading! She challenged her class to set a goal for the number of reading minutes they wanted to accomplish each trimester. Her goal for them was 3000 minutes each trimester, Mason's goal was much higher. Yesterday during the class awards presentation he received the award in his class for reading the most minutes of the entire class all year!!! He read 14,308 pages in fifth grade! I attribute this new found love of reading to his fabulous fifth grade teacher! Mrs. Tendler would give out a homework hero award weekly to the students that completed/turned in their homework on time. Mason had a homework hero award every single week and got a certificate yesterday with only four other students for achieving this!

This picture is of him with some of his homework hero awards that I saved throughout the year. Mrs. Tendler had such a great relationship with her class. A final note she wrote to Mason said "You are a wonderful young man with many great qualities. Keep in touch and I want to hear when you get your Eagle Scout award, go to BYU, serve a mission, get married in the temple, and play in the NBA!" How awesome is she!!!

Mason also said he will miss his great classmates and friends!

In this picture three of the boys have been with him at Harmony since Kindergarten! His BFF Drake Mulder started out with him in Miss Thompson's Kindergarten class!

And finally he told me that he will miss going to Recess!

I took this picture of him and Drake today on the swings, which is rare because he usually was on the bball court. Mason told me that he wanted to do everything on the playground for one last time! I told him enjoy this last Recess because you are now growing up! Mason's had some great memories as a Harmony Husky! He has had some amazing teachers and great friends that have helped create these memories that will last forever!

2009-06-16T22:19:00.000-07:00

Preschool Program!

Just a few short months ago, ten to be exact, I dropped my baby off at preschool! As I left that first day I was in tears!!! I couldn't believe that she was actually old enough to go to school. Every time I would drop her off I loved seeing her with her big backpack and I finally got a decent picture of her!

Last Thursday was her end of the year program. This was only the second program that she participated in all year since we were out of town at Christmas time. We were all very excited and anxious to see how she would do with a large audience! B, B, and Mas were on the front row cheering her on! She sang:

She did actions as she sang:

And she even got some microphone time:

We're proud of her since she barely would talk to her teachers at the beginning of the year! She grew to really love school, her teachers, and her friends! She had two great teachers Miss Michelle:

And Miss Keli:She successfully completed the Honey Bee Class and will only have one more year of Preschool until she goes to Kindergarten!?! Crazy!!!

2009-06-09T14:11:00.000-07:00

End of the Year CRAZINESS!

The end of the school year has approached once again and so has the CRAZINESS that comes with it! Over the past month I have attended many extra events with my children!

Morgan finished up her second season with the Pacific Middle School Dance Team. She had a fun pajama party banquet and awards night with the team, parents, and coaches.

Here Morgan is with her dance team coach Sarah Daley. We adore her and are excited for next year!

Mason participated in track again for his third year at Harmony. He was hesitant about competing this year. Both Jon and I encouraged him and told him that it's OK if you don't place first. (This was part of his discouragement last year!) We were all very excited to attend the meet since it was a beautiful day. The girls and I arrived on time and met Jon at the Stadium along with many friends from our neighborhood and ward! We cheered Mason on as Harmony placed third in the Tug-of-War. This would be the last event I saw him compete in!!! I was CRUSHED when I had to leave at 6 pm to go and teach my class! They told us that the entire meet would only last until 6 pm. I should have known that all fifth grade events would be last and that the relay is ALWAYS last! But no! I missed him place FIRST in the 100 meter dash!

I started to cry when I saw this picture! He had a great time and took third place in the Relay and Hurdles!

Last week I went Bowling with Brooklyn on the Second Grade Field Trip. I think this is the best field trip of them all! I had so much fun with Brooklyn and her friends! They each got to bowl two games. It's a good thing there were bumpers on the lanes because there was some crazy bowling going on!

Brooklyn, Lauren, Jackson, and Christian had a great time together.

I have now been on Four Kindergarten field trips to the Oregon Zoo! They have all been fun but this year the weather was amazing! Last week I took the bumpy bus ride to the Zoo (I rode in the last seat on the bus!) When we got there the teachers gave us free reign on the Zoo and we just took off! It was so fun and EASY since it was just me, Brinley and her BFF since she was born Kennedy Lake!

(Kennedy and Brinley often talk about how they have been friends since they were born! Stacey and I tell them that because I was there videoing the birth of Kenna and Brinley was also there because she was in my tummy!) We were able to see the entire zoo since my group was so small, eat lunch when we wanted and enjoy a sunny day together!

There are other things I did not include in this crazy month like three music performances, Pride Night, Honor Roll Assembly, Art Show Recognition and Hawaiian Day! I had to write a daily list for the next 10 days because it includes many more activities like pre-school graduation program, End of the year Carnival, three field days, Marimba Concert, Fifth Grade Graduation and Move-Up day! Whew! I will be excited for Summer Vacation! Right?

2009-06-01T14:16:00.000-07:00

My Cavalier!

For the past couple years Mason has loved LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers! He has the poster of him and a sign that I bought last summer at the NBA Store while I was in New York City hanging in his room!

Mason also has LeBron's Jersey, t-shirt and a Cleveland Cavaliers hoodie also purchased at the NBA store! (I think I spent the most money at this store last summer even more here than at the American Girl Store! It was an awesome store!!!)

I just recently got him this Cleveland Cav's pillow case to add ANOTHER pillow to his bed!

Mason just recently finished up his Basketball Season. He has been playing straight since November! After being extremely disappointed with his coach last fall, Jon decided to step up and coach his team. Jon and I contacted several of Mason's friends and previous teammates. We put together a Rockin team and the Cavaliers had a great season (that was their name! Imagine that??) I was very proud of Jon and his coaching abilities! This was his first time and he did great!

I think both the team and Jon learned a lot this season! The girls, myself, grandma, grandpa, and all the parents loved to go to his games on Friday night! We watched him dribble:

Pass the ball:Drive in for Layups:

Shoot Fouls:

And score many, many baskets!

Sadly both the Cleavland Cavaliers season is over and so is Mason's season! We are proud of him and his accomplishments and are looking forward to another great year next fall! (Pictures compliments of Jalynn Jackson Hansen! Thanks Linny I love them all!)

2009-05-26T15:00:00.000-07:00

Cannon Beach!
Last Friday I took my kids to the Beach for the Day! We had a long weekend for Memorial Day and decided to make the short drive to the Oregon Coast! I was trying to remember how long it has been since we have been to the coast and I think it's been four or five years!!! That's a shame! We had a great time flying kites, feeding seagulls, running in the water and playing constantly in the Sand! My friend Julie Tong took these great shots of the kiddos! My family was in heaven and wants to go back soon!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

2009-05-19T12:45:00.000-07:00

Converse Family!

Over the past two years my children have developed a love for the Converse shoe. Brooklyn and Morgan have each had several pairs that they have either grown out of or worn through them! A few facts about these shoes are as follows:

They were first produced in 1917 as the "All-Star," Converse's attempt to capture the basketball shoe market. They were not particularly popular until basketball player Chuck Taylor adopted them as his preferred shoe. He was impressed with the design so he became the shoe's leading salesman. After proposing a few changes to the shoe, the shoe got its current name and Chuck Taylor's signature on its ankle patch. Although classic black is the most popular, Chuck Taylor was himself known to prefer unbleached white high-tops (known in his day as simply "white").

Jon has been urging the kids to get the shoes since he faithfully wore them when he was younger! He finally convinced Mason last fall and purchased him a pair in black. Two weeks ago Jon and I picked out some hi-top pink Chucks for B and B! They love them and Brinley wore them everyday for an entire week!

Morgan just recently purchased her new green Converse. Luckily I was there to help her expedite the selection process! She was having a hard time choosing since there were SO many cute choices! I think this is just the beginning of many more pairs to come because even Maddie wants her own pair now! Good thing Jon likes them since he will be financing all these Chucks!

2009-05-10T15:36:00.000-07:00

Mother's Day!

I love Mother's Day for many reasons! It especially helps me reflect upon why I love being a Mother! Sometimes we need to hear a talk like I did today in Sacrament meeting from a couple that are now grandparents and have raised all their children. A quote from Brother Gibsons talk was "I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less!" I needed to hear that during this busy season in my life and treasure these moments with my children. Here are some of my rewards of being a mother.

I love to see my children SMILE!

I'm happy and sad to see them GROW!

I'm excited for them when they LEARN and DEVELOP TALENTS!

(Brooklyn played the piano in the Harmony Talent Show, Way to Go Brooklyn!)

It makes me happy when they have FUN TOGETHER!

I am thrilled when I see them EXCEL!

And I feel very blessed to have five healthy children!

I hope everyone had a Happy Mother's Day!

2009-04-28T21:42:00.000-07:00

Today Was A GOOD Day!

I don't know if it's because I got up early to work out hence:
I was able to accomplish a lot this morning OR
Watching Maddie walk with her big backpack as she came home from preschool and then showing me her craft from school OR
Realizing that my little Brinley will not be having lunch with Maddie and I next year hence: Cherishing our lunches together OR
Having my sister tell me about one of her Activity Day Girls that has been receiving Chemo for four years and now has to have surgery hence:
Making me SO grateful for my healthy kids OR
Watching the Portland Trailblazer game with my favorite son!

All these things made it a GOOD day today!