Jackson's 2nd Birthday Party!!

Happy Birthday to Jackson, Happy Birthday to Jackson!
I can't believe my little boy is 2 now!!!

Happy Birthday to Jackson!!

We had a wonderful time last night celebrating Jackson's 2nd birthday!

This was my first attempt at a real birthday cake and I have to say it turned out really cute!

Jackson was so excited the first time he saw the whole thing put together! He totally knew that

it was Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, from his favorite disney show.

I really enjoyed making this cake with the help of my sweet husband!

And Jackson absolutely loved it which is the most important part huh!

This is Jackson's first reaction. He was signing and saying "Candy" because he thought it looked like candy. Then he started talking about Mickey's ears as you can see from his hands! He loved it!

Family Picture time!

Jackson got so many awesome presents from all his family! Thank you everyone!!

I was surprised at how awesome Jackson was at opening presents! Last year he needed a

lot of help to open them and then he would get mad when we tried to take one away to open another present! This year he was a pro at ripping and he did pretty good at not getting upset about switching to another present. Well, except for the baseball bat...he couldn't keep his eyes off of that one and he had to try it out before we could move on! Jackson was also so sweet and polite at saying "Thank you" to everyone! It was so cute!

We gave Jackson a cute little tent with a tunnel. He loves the tunnel! His cousin
Mei Li showed him how to use it and now he just loves it!

After Blowing out the candle we told him to dig in and he sure did!
"I want that Candy part right there!"

House Search Continues...

We have been looking for a house for four weeks now. We have two houses that we really like. Such a huge and difficult decision! Both houses have their own pros and cons. But one of them has less "cons" than the other. It is in a better area, it is bigger and cheaper. The only apprehension is that it would need a little bit of work like new carpet and paint. I just can't wait to be able to decorate my own house for once!! If anyone has any advice for this first time home buyer please share!!!!! As the house search continues!!

Lucky Me!!

Isn't this the sweetest guy you've ever seen?!? He totally posed like that for a whole minute!
I am so lucky to be the mom of my sweet Jackson all the time!

We have a lot of fun together. He especially loves to be outside, as you can tell!

If you have met Jackson you know that he is a very

active boy!! He is always getting

into everything and making messes whenever and

where ever he can! It is a full time

job for me to keep up with him! I hope that my next

kids are more content to stay in

one place for more than two minutes at a time!

If anyone has any tips for getting kids

attention for a longer period

of time, please let me know!

Especially to keep him occupied at church.

I would greatly appreciate it!!!!

Super Why...To The Rescue!!

What a fun Halloween we had! Jackson got pretty good at the whole 'taking candy from willing neighbors' thing! He is just such a cute little boy that no one can resist giving him as much candy as he wants. He would say, "Two? Um, Sure." Then he would take two. The neighbors just got a kick out of him and gave him more. Now we have too much candy! Ha.

Jackson was Super Why for Halloween this year. It is his favorite show on PBS. I made his costume this year, and I don't know if I will be doing that again next year. It took me a long time to make his costume, but it was worth it. He looked so cute! I dressed up like princess pea from the same show for a little while for Jackson and he loved it. We had to explain who he was to lots of people but he loved it! Here's just half of his stash! With his favorite...suckers!

Jackson got his motto down, "Super Why to the Rescue!" and "Trick or Treat" by the end of the night.

Best Phone Call Ever!!!!

We got such exciting news today as we got to the airport to pick up Jared's little brother......

Jared got a phone call and was offered a full-time teaching job in seminary at Viewmont High School!!!

We were surprised by the timing and excited about everything!! What an amazing blessing in our lives!

Congratulations to my sweet husband,

I am so happy for him and proud of all the hard work he has done for our family.

I know it has been hard for him working two jobs, graduating from college, and still being a great

husband and father to Jackson and I.

Today it realy paid off! I also know that his students are getting a lot from him!! :)

I am just feeling so blessed right now!!

I love you Jared!!!!

Football Stud!!

Jared has been watching a lot of football lately. Jackson loves it. When we went to my parents

house the other day he saw Ryan's longboarding helmet and said, "Hey...football hat". Ha ha.

So of course I gave it to him and we went to play football in the backyard!

What a stud huh?!!

A Shower and some Salmon

Our little family up at Causey Reservoir.

Jackson with three of his cousins; Cole, Devin, and Harmony

Hiking up the trail. Jackson on Grandma's back. :)

So I threw a shower for my soon-to-be sister-in-law Taunie. I was a little nervous but it turned out great! She got a variety of gifts to fill her life, and spent time with great friends and family, it was fun! Now I need to start planning for Aubrey's baby shower for next month. :)

On Saturday we made our way up to Causey reservoir for a hike to see the Salmon run. Unfortunately most of the salmon did not get the memo to come!! So we went on a 4.6 mile hike with four kids and only saw like 7-8 fish. Our hypothesis is that the weather is still too hot. Well, hopefully the river will be filled with fish next year when we go.

Silver Lake

The last weekend of August, all the girls of my extended family headed up to the cabin to enjoy a scrapbooking
weekend. It was so much fun! The boys all go on a camping trip. However, Jackson came with me to the cabin.
(Needless to say, I didn't get as much scrapbooking done as everyone else!)
We all had so much fun gabbing, eating great food, and scrapping together.
* * *
So you are probably wondering why I have pictures of Jared on here too...Well,
Nate and Aubrey got home from Hawaii while we were on our various excursions so
they came up to the cabin to spend Saturday night with us. We went on a beautiful walk around
silver lake which is right by the cabin. It was so pretty and peaceful (minus the mosquitos!)

We had to hold onto Jackson to keep him from falling in. Like one boy did while we were there. We were
trying so hard not to laugh! Poor kid.
Then we had to hold onto Jackson's hand to keep him on the path! He does not like to hold hands with
us! But he is getting much better at it!

My sweet boys at the Lake.

Summer Time...

What a fantastic summer we have had!! We got to spend lots of time with our families this summer relaxing and adventuring. We had lots of fun on the boat. Jackson even knee boarded! We went to the zoo a couple times. We had siblings come from Alabama, and California, and some go to Georgia, Hawaii, and China! We however, just enjoyed good ol' Utah. :) Good bye 100 degrees, and hello 80's!!

Proud To Be An American!!

Nearly 5,000 men and women's sacrifices for our country are represented by a flag and yellow ribbon on the "healing field" at Weber County Fairgrounds.
What a sight to see! I was astounded at the sight of these 5,000 flags.
I just wanted to take a moment to say thank you to the troops! I know there is no way that I could possibly tell each one of the men and women serving for our great country how grateful I am for the sacrifice they are giving for all of us. They don't know me and yet they put their lives on hold to make sure that I am free!
* * *
"I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free, and I won't forget the men who died to give that right to me." -Pat Boone
If you would like to read more about the "Healing Field" you can check out the story on KSL:
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=7242092

Fireworks and Salute!

What a whirlwind week this has been! We love the 24th of July

because it is also Jared's Birthday. We spent it up in Idaho for a family reunion.

Very fun! I will put those pictures up on here soon.

We spent Sunday night before the holiday at the WSU fireworks.

Jackson played cards while we were playing a game to pass the time.
Then when the cannon started booming Jackson would say "boom" and
shoot his hands out like this, then he would say "more, more". While there were other
kids around us not too excited about the loud booms, Jackson was loving it!

Here we are waiting for the fireworks to start.
Chelsea, Jackson, Karen (Jared's sweet mom), and Jared.


Then the fireworks finally started after being delayed because it
was raining pretty bad for a while. They were great. Jackson laid down
on Hilary and before we knew it he was already asleep. During the
fireworks!! Like me, Jackson really doesn't just fall asleep anywhere,
so I was very surprised that he fell asleep during the fireworks!
* * * *
On Thursday, after Jared's softball game we made our way over to the
adjacent field where the Salute Our Troops Tribute is taking place.

It was inspiring and humbling to see all these flags of valiant men and women
who have lost their lives to protect ours.
I hope their families know how grateful we are to them
and their service.

Fourth of July Weekend Fun!

We had a great fourth of July weekend!
We went boating in East Canyon all day on the fourth. The weather was
very threatening at first but it turned out to be a perfect boating day!!

We even got a special musical performance by David (Ryan) Archuleta!
With Hilary and Jackson as back-up singers.

Jackson loved hanging out with "He" (Hilary), "Rynan" (Ryan), "Gigi", and "Papa";
holding the flag up; and relaxing on the tube with mom and dad!

After our fun filled day of boating we went to Park City. We ate at
The Pizza & Noodle Company, then watched the fireworks.

Jackson loved them and then fell asleep half way through. He was super tired!

Then we went to my grandparents cabin to spend the night. We had so

much fun together up in the beautiful mountains. Jackson loved the

"Fwing" the most!

Harry Potter Party

Left to Right: Hagrid, Hermoine, Draco Malfoy, Professor Trelawney, Professor Gilderoy Lockhardt, Luna Lovegood, baby Harry Potter, James Potter, and Lily Potter

In anticipation of the 6th Harry Potter movie coming out soon, we had a Harry Potter
marathon! We planned to watch one movie a week, but sped it up at the end before
Nate and Aubrey left for Hawaii. We set a date and time to watch the fifth movie.
Jared sent a text around to everyone to get people to dress up and soon all of us were
in costume!! It was so much fun. I think Jackson liked it the most!!

Jackson especially loved casting spells on people. Uncle Hagrid had the best reations!

Then we watched the movie while eating carmel fondue! Yum!!

18 months!

Wow! It is so crazy to think that Jackson has been in our little family for 18 months already!

What a joy he is in our lives! He is mischievous, sweet, and so smart!

When we went to his doctor's appointment and I talked about his talking she asked, "So how many words would you say Jackson knows, like 20? " "Oh no, way more than that! Probably 200?!" I really don't know how many words he really knows but I am starting to make a list. : ) She said, "Wow, that is fantastic! The average 18 month old only says 6 words." I was so shocked! Jackson says more than six sports!! So we are feeling pretty good about how great he is doing, especially after such a rough start to his little life!

Jackson found his uncle Spencer's guitar and said "gitar". He plays quite well. : )

"Gama G.G." had an awesome "ballyoon" man for him. He loved it!