Jackson Fam

We had Angie at Simplicity Photography take some family photos earlier this month. I've been going through them trying to decide which ones I want printed. There are over a hundred to choose from and I am having brain overload. I thought I would take a break and put a couple pics in a slideshow, which really isn't a break considering I had to choose photos to put in the slide show. What was I thinking? Happy looking!

Canada, eh!

Dave and I had a fun escape this weekend on a cruise with the Utah Dental Assoc. It was so much fun! We started in Seattle and then went on to Victoria, Canada and then to Nanaimo, Canada.

As we were flying into Seattle we flew right by Mt. Rainier. Dave, as you may or may not know, is a big fan of Mt. Rainier- he's climbed it a couple of times. It was fun to see it so close up from high in the sky. You can't tell from the pic but we were REALLY close to it.

Dave had a dental meeting right after we boarded the ship. I went with a friend, who spent her summer's growing up in Seattle, to see some sights in Seattle before we left port- We checked out this big outdoor market and watched a fish throwing show (which we somehow got suckered into being in the middle of), spotted a few crazy pigs, and had ourselves a good ole time.

Here's Dave standing on the ship right before we left port- We were rather disappointed as we disembarked that there was no confetti to throw and no 'Love Boat' theme wafting through the air. Ahhh, what a shame. There were a couple people who waved to us from an apartment building. Oh yeah...

We spent the first day meeting a bunch of new people. I was so tired after dinner that we just crashed in our room and fell asleep. Boring, I know BUT I am a mother of 3 who was just so happy to be on vacation- Go me!

The next day we woke up in Victoria, Canada. We were up bright and early and off the ship by 8:00. Totem poles are a big thing in this area of Canada- something about being on Indian territory.

We walked around the town and checked things out- caught a bus out to Butchart Gardens. This place was awesome! We had a great time walking around. It's always hard when we go on vacation with just the two of us because we are rarely in pictures together. We had a very nice lady offer to take a picture for us at the gardens. We posed- it was lovely. She hands the camera back to me, we go on our merry way, I check the picture- it's not there. I tell ya, do not hand a digital camera to anyone over the age of 60- there will be no guarantees. I do have a picture of the two of us that I took with my arm outstretched. However, it was much too up and in my face for me to share it with all of you. And so, here is one of each of us- you know, just to prove we were both there and all.

The sun was shining so darn bright it was hard for us to get good pictures. Isn't this supposed to be the land of overcast and dreary? It was such a good weather weekend. We only saw rain once and it lasted for about 20 minutes.

The next day we stopped in Nanaimo. The port was so small that we weren't even able to dock. The ship anchored way out in the water and then we "tendered" in, which means they took us on boats to the dock. It was such a cute dock- all the little boats and everything.

We rented a couple mini vans with some friends and headed to Cathedral Grove, which is an area with huge trees and beautiful forests. Here is Dave sitting in the roots of a fallen tree.

Here we are with some of our dental friends at what was labeled "the biggest tree".

After tree looking, we stopped at a cute little market.

It gets better...

Watch out below! Seriously, there were goats living on the roof. It's one of those things that you definetly have to do a double take. You drive by and then it's like "what the...?"

We had such a happy weekend exlporing the ship, eating, getting spa treatments, dressing up, eating, recreating, meeting new friends, eating, and sleeping. Did I mention eating? Dave even went on stage one night at a show and was a hit. Apparently he has a side job as a lawyer. Any questions, ask Dave. We had a great time! I loved every second of it. Well, except looking at that escargot on my plate... wink, wink!

One Hundred and Five

On Friday Dave and I went out into the garden and picked 105! tomatoes from just 2 plants. It was at that point that I realized I wasn't going to get away with not canning anything this year. I certainly can't eat that many tomatoes by myself before they go rotten, especially considering those plants still have bazillions of tomatoes on them waiting to ripen and throwing them away would be stupid because what's the point of planting and watering something all summer to just toss it at the end. bad bad bad.



We ended up making a large vat of salsa. It took the whole day and at the end (2:30 in the morning) I never ever ever wanted to see another jar of salsa. Ever. When I say "we", that includes Dave, my right hand man. He is the master of fresh salsa you know. Heaven forbid he not be involved. We canned 24 pints and 2 quarts. Happy day!

Peach Pie

Today my sweet mom sent us home with a homemade peach pie. The peaches came straight from her tree. She even carved a cute little flower in the top. The kids were very excited about this little gem grandma gave us!



So I'm thinking all we need to make this dessert complete is some vanilla icecream. I call Dave at work and ask him to pick some up on his way home. Fast Forward- Dave gets home, I look in the bag only to find this:



What? Whaaaaat is this? I look up and there is Dave, giddy as a school girl, tongue hanging out of his mouth. I'm thinking that he has to have some vanilla icecream in the other bag. Nope. After asking him "where in the world is my vanilla icecream?", he replies, (please picture puppy dog excitement here) "this will make the pie extra yummy" Whhhaaat? I do agree that all by itself, Butterfinger icecream is quite the treat. However, peach pie and Butterfinger icecream do not go hand in hand. This is not like peas and carrots here.

I think the Butterfinger icecream is tied to a larger conspiracy being perpetuated by the male species. You know which one I am referring to- the "if I always bring home the wrong item from the store she will quit asking me to run her errands" conspiracy. Well guess what babe, I AM ON TO YOU! Ughhh. I will go dig into a bowl of peach pie with Butterfinger icecream and smile the entire time. I can perpetuate conspiracies with the best of 'em- the "oh honey, you know me better than i know myself and bought for me that which I did not know I needed" conspiracy. I will beat him at his own game. That'll show him.

Moral of the story- if you are coming to our house for peach pie, bring your own vanilla icecream.

Welcome Baby Eliza!

Yesterday I took the kids to meet their new cousin, Eliza Susanne. She was actually born almost 2 weeks ago but with us being sick and all, we opted to wait until we were feeling better to make a visit. She is so stinkin' tiny. She weighed 5 lbs 7 oz when she was born.

Sara was very excited to hold her. Livvy just wanted to poke her eyes out. Ethan and Emma are her big brother and big Sister.

Sara turns 3!

Sara turned 3 on Saturday. Before her birthday, people would ask her how old she was going to be on her birthday. Instead of instantly replying "three", she would look down at her fingers, work them over until she had only three up, show those fingers and look cautiously at me and say something like "two?". How easily a 2, almost 3-year-old can be confused. Yeah, we're working on it. Old habits die hard, right? At least she has the fingers down. Now that she is officially three though, I think she has it figured out.

She had a big 12 dancing princesses birthday party on Sunday. It was a birthday party weekend and she loved every second of it!

This is her in the barbie princess dress we gave her to wear to her party. As soon as she opened it and got it on, she was dancing and singing around the house. Fortunately her lyrics have evolved since the "diahrrea" days. She belted out Cinderella and any other princess words she could think of. What a cutie. Please disregard the red devil eyes, I'm too tired to do any photo shopping tonight...

Birthdays are big events at our house. I usually make a big deal of out everything, decorate like crazy, make a fun cake, sing happy birthday all day, and the list goes on... We did pretty good with Sara's party this year- all except the cake. Being sick myself and dealing with all the mucky from my kids last week, I decided the barbie birthday cake I had conjured up in my mind to create for my little darlin' just wasn't going to happen. Making dinner for a bazillion people was really my limit for this party- So, I did the next best thing- headed over to Sam's Club to purchase a cake with her face plastered on it (not literally, of course). Isn't that what any non-cake-making-guilty-mom would do? She seemed to think it was fabulous. Happy Birthday Princess Sara!

Showing off some of her new gifts. I think this was outfit #3 during her party.

This picture I had to post only because it's too funny not to post! Aunt Nat woke up with a spider bite on her face and found this to be her remedy of choice. Bandaids are apparently the new cover up. Fabulous Nat, just fabulous.

All tuckered out in her new jammies with her new blankie, compliments of gma & gpa.

We love our little Sara so much! She is such a joy. It's fun to watch her learn and grow. She has so many big ideas and a big heart to go along with them. Welcome to being 3 little one, we love you!

For those of you wondering how my week has been going...

Taylor is going to bed with this tonight. Today he told me "Mom, you gave me your all-betters and I gave you my sick. We switched!" Then a few minutes later he decorated my hardwood floor with a gallon of spew. Apparently he's not done being sick. This poor easter bucket- I bet it never saw this coming!

I love my life!

For those of you thinking that Sara might have been spared this little bug- I know this is too much information but it was funny at the moment. She always makes up songs and sings whatever words come to her little mind. The other day she was lovingly serenading her doll to the words "diarrhea, diarrhea, diarrhea." Bless her little heart!

Back to School

Taylor had his first day back to school last Monday. I had to post these pictures because he is such a poser!




This was always my favorite back to school pose...

Welcome Home Daddy!

After 8 days (really 9) of having Dave gone, we were all very excited to welcome him home. The last couple days before he got home Taylor kept asking "Is dad going to be gone all days?" I know, it makes no sense but that is his way of asking if daddy is ever going to come back. We had a good time making him a welcome home banner!

Please excuse the crappy pictures- in my desperation of having no camera but still feeling the need to take pictures, I used the still-shot feature on the videro camera.



Taylor and Sara got a little frusturated with Livvy because she liked to be on the banner at all times.


Notice Sara's markers of choice? Pink, pink, purple, pink, and more purple. Oh, and this last week or so she has added orange to her list of favorites.


Somebody is a little excited! He really did a great job coloring all the letters in! I am very impressed.

The Wind Rivers

For any of you that have not been to the Wind Rivers, it is definately a must do. Here are some pictures of my recent excursion.

This is me backpacking by Steamboat Lake


This is an outlet from Deadman Lake. I learned to fly fish on this trip.

This is my brother Jeff with a fish that he caught. We went to a pretty secluded place so the fish aren't too hard to catch.

All the pictures of me catching fish are on Jeff's camera. I did catch some.

This is a view over looking Alpine Lake, and the continental divide.

Jeff and Dave at Deadman Lake. All said and done we hiked about 40 miles (20 in and 20 out). Very beautiful place. The most scenic alpine forests I have ever seen.

And yes, Natalie was kind and gracious enough to let me go.

Who do you work for?

Last night I was reading my kids the Busy Town book. It's one of those books that I love from my childhood and feel that I must force on my own children in order for them to have happy memories like I have...



Anywho, we were looking at all the different jobs each character is doing. Taylor pointed out the dentist office where a leopard (good guess anyway) was chatting with a beaver/dog thing. Can you tell how good I am at animal identification? I failed that class in college. Right. So we talked for a few minutes about how daddy is a dentist. Blah blah blah. Turning the page there is a line-up of other animals entitled "Everyone is a Worker". There is a mommy cat on that page. I, of course, am the mother cat. Sara will fill you in on all the details. Taylor turns and looks at me for a second with that "hmmmm" look. So I said, "And what does mommy do?" He thinks for a second and then says matter-of-factly, "Mom, you work for kids." I've never thought of it like that but that's EXACTLY what I do. I work for kids. Now that I have been informed that I have an actual job, I think I need a raise. Dave better get the memo.