Party on the Golf Cart

Yesterday we went over to Mike & Amy's house (Dave's sister) for sushi night.

I love sushi night!  Seriously.  Best thing EVER.

The kids love to go visit Mike because he has a golf cart.  They love Mike and they love Mike's golf cart.

Mike pulled right up to where we were sitting on the front porch.  He had all the kids on the cart so I pulled out my phone to take a picture.

 While the kids were posing for the picture Mike yelled out to them "Give your mom the finger!"  And loving my sometimes sweet, innocent kids, they all gave me the finger.

Adventures in blood and guts

Toward the end of August we went on our ward campout up Provo Canyon.

I had high hopes of sitting in my camp chair by the fire all night and relaxing.

Olivia, however, made other plans for us.

The whole ward had gathered at a rock amphitheater for an evening program.  Olivia was sitting down in front of me.  She was wearing a hoodie and had apparently pulled her arms out of the arm holes and stuffed them down by her side, under the jacket.

Long story short- She jumped up, lost her balance, and without her hands to catch her fall, fell face first onto the edge of a rock step.

{Cue child screaming bloody murder.} 

Did I mention that she did this all while a guy from our ward was standing on stage singing a hymn?  Great timing.  The good news is that we were toward the front and off to the side so most people didn't even notice the screaming 6-year-old with blood streaming down her face.  The fact that it was dark outside also helped camouflage the crisis.

We rushed her away from the amphitheater and to a picnic table to check out the damage.  With flashlights blaring into her eyes, and blood streaming into them, we got a good look at her nose- it was rather apparent that a trip to the Emergency Room was in order.  Our tent was already set up, it was dark and late, so we just left our kids with our friends and took off.

And because I like blood and guts and I figure you should too...

Before we got Olivia to the car she kept telling me, "I don't want to go to the doctor.  I don't want stitches. We can fix it here."  She kept insisting that she was just fine and we could take care of it at camp.  I told her she would thank me later.

Of all my children, Olivia is the only one (surprise, surprise) that has had stitches.  She knew exactly what getting stitches meant and she was NOT looking forward to it.  Bless her heart, this child knows how to find trouble.

Olivia was very brave at the Emergency Room.  She didn't cry once.  She was very nervous of the whole process though.

The nurse who helped her out was an older grandpa-type guy.  He was asking her all the usual questions.  She just stared at him and wouldn't really answer any of his questions until he asked the following question: "Does anyone hurt you at home?"  Suddenly, she was all about answering the question and with a very serious look on her face, started shaking her head up and down adamantly.  So of course me and Dave are like, "WHAT THE HECK?"  I mean really, the possibilities are endless when it comes to what she could answer.  So he proceeds to ask her who hurts her at home.  And her answer, in a very pathetic tone, might I add- "my older brother".  Phew, dodged a bullet there.







































We decided to have her sedated for the stitches.  I figured it would be terrifying for her to have her stitches done right there by her eyes and be wide awake.  The drug of choice to knock her out was Ketamine.  They warned us that this drug can cause hallucinations, etc.  Needless to say,  it provided us with ample entertainment once she was coming out of it.  Her head was flopping all over the place.  The first thing she said to me while waking up was "You have four eyes."  She was seeing pink fire dragons and labeling all the parts of her face.  Brilliant statements such as, "I came from daddy's tummy" were coming out of her mouth.  While buckling her into her booster she was still asking things like "Why are there two of you?"  It was funny.

This is how things looked right after her stitches:

And this, my friends, was the next morning.  It actually looked worse as time progressed because all that red and bruised area turned into a big scab.  Yuck.


























Once again Olivia is keepin' it real for the Jacksons.

A word about braiding

Sara's latest favorite hair-do is a braid across the back of her hair.

While I was doing her hair the other day we had the following conversation:

Sara: "Mom, how old is braiding?"

Me: "Very old Sara. Braiding has been around for a long time."

Sara: "Oh, so it's old like you?"

Me: {pause} "Uh, yeah.  Old like me..."

Apparently I am ancient.

I'm back and better than ever!

I know.  I disappeared.  I am going to try really, really hard to be back, to be present.  Ha!

For our 'Welcome Back' installment of the blog, I offer you my newborn, baby Will.  (For those of you hyperventilating because you think I have reproduced yet again, this is merely what I call my youngest child because there is no one younger than him.  I did not, in fact, give birth to a sixth child).

Anyhoodle, I think he may have caught wind of Olivia's toddler years and realized he hasn't been doing enough to enrich the lunacy going on in my life.  He has been working hard these days to try and catch up with Liv.  However, I'm not sure it is humanly possible to rival that child and her antics.

Back to Will...

Today, for instance, I was cleaning up around the kitchen and thought to myself, "It's awfully quiet."

I know this is not news to any of you that have a few kids yourself, but I get easily distracted.  Therefore, the "it's awfully quiet" thought left my mind about as quickly as it came.  

Moments later I hear a wail coming from Will.  I run up the stairs and there he sits on the top step rubbing his eyes like crazy.  And screaming like crazy.  Like a crazy lunatic.

Turns out the girls left the shampoo down last time they washed their hair and Will found it.  His arms and head were covered in shampoo.  At some point he must have gone to rub his eye and that's when the madness began.  The more he rubbed his ouchy eyes, the more shampoo he got in them.   He was creating quite the froth with all his eye rubbing.

I had to get rid of all the shampoo with water and a wash cloth (which takes FOREVER) and then flush his eyes out with water.  He was not a happy camper, not happy at all.  There was a lot of screaming.  Even after I had flushed his eyes and wrapped him in a towel, he was still screaming.  Mad as a little hornet.  So anyway, here is the little dude after his shampoo encounter.  His right eye was the worst and is quite red.

He is a sweet little guy.

And you should all take note that although I thought about it, I did not grab my camera and take a picture mid-crisis.  My inner voice told me, "Good moms don't take pictures of babies who have soap in their eyes.  They wait until it's gone."  True story.

Ramblings on my life...

It's a new year! Where did the last one go? I don't even know where the last week went.

I've been sick and I have sick kids. It's awesome.

Little baby Will is on his second ear infection.

Spencer's nose has started running but I knew he was sick well before the boogers showed up because he has been an ornery little cuss. Once Spencer is sick, he's sick forever! I hate it. He has immunity problems so he doesn't respond well to antibiotics and his body is SLOW to recover. He was already at the ENT a couple weeks back with an ear ache and they had to suck a bunch of junk out of his ear. That kid just can't catch a break.

Liv spent the day yesterday with a tissue stuffed up her nose. I should have taken a picture. It was pretty funny.

Sara's nose has been running too. She had tumbling this morning and didn't want to go because they spend a lot of time upside down and that would hurt her sick head. I bribed her to go with a toy. Jealous of my mothering skills? I knew it!

And Taylor- he's fine. I don't know how he got away unscathed but I'm sending him to sleep at grandma's house tonight. Cha-ching!

Now that you have had the lack-of-wellness rundown on the Jackson family, I will move onto much more exciting events.

Okay, I lied. Nothing exciting. It's January for crying out loud!

I did take some 6 month pictures of baby Will this week. They turned out pretty good so I will show those to you.

So maybe with it being the new year I will be a better blogger. Yeeeahhhh... Don't hold your breath.

Without further ado, Baby Will...

Dave thinks this is the ugliest bowtie in the world. I defended it by letting him know it was made by my grandma back in the day. It's vintage for crying out loud! It's like my boy is wearing his very own genealogy around his neck. And that, my friends, is awesome.

Step aside ladies. Here comes my newborn Valentine. I love it.

What? You gotta problem with my baby?

Halloween-isms

The average Halloween cemetery is chuck full of headstones. Headstones with all kinds of crazy names on them. If you're a real funny guy, your headstone might be labeled something like "Barry Dalive", "Liza Lott", "Ben Dismembered, May he Rest in Pieces", or my personal favorite "Ima Goner". But quite possibly the most classic headstone of all time- R.I.P. Because hello, everyone dead person should most definitely rest in peace, right?

Wrong.

Tonight my kids whipped up some fancy haunted Halloween pictures.

Taylor brought his over first to show me his creepy cemetery with zombies walking around holding pitchforks dripping in blood. CREEPY! I mean, really creepy. Until you look around and notice all the headstones are labeled CTR! Well now if that doesn't just change things around, making me feel all warm and fuzzy in his haunted cemetery.

So I asked him to tell me about his picture. (This is the point where he explained the whole zombie/pitchfork/blood thing). He didn't mention the headstones so I asked him about those.

Me: So what are those things? (pointing at the headstones)

Taylor: You know, they mark the graves, and say CTR on them.

Me: And by CTR you mean R.I.P., which stands for Rest In Peace???

Taylor: Ooooooh. Yeah... (with a big smile on his face)

Ya learn something new every day, dontcha?

And then Sara showed me her picture. Seems she and Taylor were both visiting the same cemetery. Gotta have a righteous crowd down there at the cemetery come Halloween. Maybe they can hand out Books of Mormon to all those spirits too.

And Livvy, well, she drew a witch.

I surrender

If you know me you might have figured out by now that I have a strong disinterest in owning pets. Every animal on the planet gives me the heebie geebies. I get all itchy and creepy crawly at the thought of just about any animal. I know. I sound like a hater. I'm not. Just an allergic person who dislikes the feel of squishy animal bodies. And also dislikes poop on my lawn. And hair on my clothes. Okay, I am digging myself into a hole and sounding like a hater. I will stop.

Despite my less-than-loving feelings for the pet population, the 4-legged creatures of the earth somehow make their way here. To my house. Not to people who love and embrace animals. Here. To. My. House. Let me remind you once again- I don't touch animals. Just looking at them freaks me out.

Especially our newest orphan.

Friday morning Dave and I had just plopped ourselves down on the couch to watch "The Office" when Taylor came running into the house yelling "Mom! Dad! Come quick! I found a lizard!" So of course we ignored him because that would be ridiculous. Lizards don't just roam around here. This isn't Arizona.

A minute later he was back in the house yelling the same thing so Dave went to check things out.

I waited. And waited. No Dave. Hmmm...

I stepped outside and sure enough people- Dave and the kids were hovering over a lizard.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME? (I seem to be saying this a lot lately)

What is going on here? If this keeps up, I'm going to be in violation of our HOA rules and fined for running a pet shop.

It seems that not one of these animals that I am disinterested in has gotten the memo that I AM NOT INTERESTED. Instead they seem to think the welcome mat in front of my door is speaking directly to them. Why would I say this? Well, need I remind you of the cat incident? That was charming. My next door neighbor who removed that monkey from off my back never hesitates to thank me for donating that kitty to their family, especially after it drops mice and bird guts in her front door way.

Look how brave Dave is...

I was slightly petrified of this thing after Dave caught him so #1- he wasn't allowed in the house and #2- when I took pictures I stood way back and held the camera out, hoping my aim was good and would capture a picture of this bad boy.

And looky looky- Taylor's pet for a day:

Olivia, unlike her mother, is afraid of nothing...

And my newborn Spenny with his saggy diaper was holding it too!

I guess you might be wondering what we did with Taylor's "pet-for-a-day". Let me just say this- our next door neighbors might just move away if we find one more animal.

That said, my kids are in heaven- they can go visit "Spiky" whenever they want.

All things Halloween

I love love love me some Halloween. The decorations, the changing season, the costumes- I could eat it all with a spoon. I love it so much, in fact, that I have roped off next week and entitled it "All things Halloween". Yes, I named a week. And roped it off. And dedicated it to Halloween.

So what do you think of our family picture? I dropped in at the photo editing website Picnik to ghoulify the Jackson family. This was the first one I finished. It is currently looking hauntingly fantastic as wallpaper on my computer screen. I am working on another one to adorn our wall during the month of October. Suhweet.

Takin' care of business

My children, unlike most, like to go to the dentist. It usually means digging through the sticker bucket, visiting daddy, running like wild (yet controlled and totally professional...) banchees through the office, and eventually going out to lunch. A good time if I do say so myself.

Today we were actually at Dave's office on business. A sugar bug had its way with Olivia's tooth and she developed a cavity. Liv knows nothing about how anesthetic is administered so she had nothing to fear. She walked in there like she owned the place, climbed into her chair and they got to work.

Just breathing in some strawberry goodness...

I just had to put this picture in cuz I love Dave's glasses. They are HOT.

Liv did such a good job! She had a hard time keeping her mouth open but seeing as how Dave is a seasoned professional, they managed just fine.

I just love the "I can't feel half of my face" smile.

Top of Utah Marathon

Well, he did it. DAVE RAN A MARATHON! I know. Craziness.

Here's how it all went down...

First things first, we booked a room at the Anniversary Inn in Logan. Marathon=Romance, right? WRONG. The Anniversary Inn just happens to be across the street from the finish line of the race. It's all about the logistics here.

Mike (Dave has a sister named Amy and she is married to Mike) decided on Tuesday that he was going to run this marathon with Dave. No training. Just get out there and run it. HELLO CRAZY PERSON. And yes, he is crazy- in a good way, of course- crazy FUN. They weren't able to book a hotel that late in the game so they ended up parking their suburban out on the curb of the Anniversary Inn.

Here is Dave the morning of the run at a comfortable 4:45 a.m. Yikes! He is taping up his foot. Last weekend we ran the Alta Peruvian 8K Downhill Dash. He dashed rather fast down the canyon, picking up a great time, but he also picked up a very large blister. If he would have run it slower like me, he probably would have been fine. There is price to be paid for being an over-achiever...

Here's Mike and Amy. Amy already has the title of "Marathon Finisher" underneath her belt. And because she has had the experience, she was pretty much in a panic for Mike who just decided to run this race on a whim. Mike's face is saying "4:45 a.m."

Amy came prepared with notes, diagrams, advice & munchies. And that was just for me and her (she & I? I always get confused with the grammar stuff) - the spectators. It was hilarious. I made sure to let her know she was crazy.

Here they are getting ready to go meet the busses. Very dark and cold:

The Top of Utah Marathon starts at Hardware Ranch Elk Refuge in Blacksmith Fork Canyon. The first 14 miles of the race are in the canyon. Amy and I parked ourselves at mile 14 and kept an eye out for our boys as they came out of the canyon. We thought maybe we had missed Dave and weren't paying hardly any attention when he suddenly appeared before us.

Lookin' fine Dave Jackson...

Mike showed up too. Running even. We were worried we would need to be scraping him off the road because he hadn't trained but he put all our worries to rest. Running like a champ! He actually stopped for a second. Amy looked him over, refilled his supplies, and off he went! See the joy on Amy's face.

That was the easy part of the race. The rest wasn't as easy for either of them but they both finished.

FINISHERS!

Here comes Dave to the finish:

Almost there:

Mike headed to the finish:

And done:

Congrats guys! It was amazing!

Interior Design 101

I guess Olivia thinks I need a reminder that she lives here. I know she lives here. It's impossible to forget- #1 because she is part of our family and we love her and #2- because she is always doing things like this:

She glue-sticked a page from her coloring book to the wall.

It has provided entertainment for many. The kids walk by- pull off a piece. My sister-in-law actually came over, pulled up a chair, and started picking at it. It's pretty stuck on there in case you were wondering. I need to spray the whole thing down and scrape it off.

All while I was sitting right there...

I haven't stopped blogging for the lack of things to blog about. It more or less comes down to being spread too thin- too many things to do and not enough time. Unfortunately for me, as I was reminded today, I spend a large portion of my time in damage control mode. Undoing all the doing. Sound familiar? Of course today has been no different. There is no rest for the weary- not even on Sunday!

Today Dave was gone doing his Air Force Reserve thing and I hauled off to church by myself with all the kids half an hour late (minus Spencer who spent the night with Mike and Amy (Amy is Dave's sister. She is trying to confiscate Spencer for life because he is so darn cute.)). I know, we were late- don't judge- the baby had to eat. I just did parenthesis inside of parenthesis. Is that legal?

Anyhoodle, we have 1:00 church and upon arriving home shortly after 4:00 pm I found myself stuck on the couch nursing a baby & juggling phone calls trying to arrange schedules with my peeps to pull off a baby shower. Dave got home and headed upstairs. I followed shortly thereafter to see how his day went and to inform him he needed to hurry and change because we had a dinner appointment.

Minutes later Olivia arrived in our room. She just stood there....

dripping in paint.

For real.

We just stared at her for a second followed by my one question:

Olivia, whyyyyyyyy did you do that?

Her response:

"It wasn't me- it was the paint. Waaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

Yes, she burst into tears.

Do kids do things like burst into tears looking all innocent and pathetic to soften our mood so we don't kill them? I think I am onto something.

At this point it was all I could do not to burst out laughing. I mean, she really just said- "it's not me, it's the paint". Yeah...

Needless to say, she made her way to the bath and I made my way downstairs to assess the damage.

Here is what I found:

Not bad. A paper plate full of paint and a messy table. Pretty mellow for Olivia.

While Sara was helping her get dressed and while Dave was loading kids into the car I took a gander by the half-bath. The light was on and the door was locked. And on the tile right outside the door- PAINT! Greenish bluish paint. More specifically a greenish bluish foot print, size Olivia.

The girls were still upstairs changing.

I unlocked the door to the bathroom.

Not too bad...

I stepped in further:

Typical... (she is always at the bathroom sink "cleaning" and "giving a bath" to things)

I turned and saw this:

Getting worse...

Sigh...

Not too happy about the door handle either...

And that's when I closed the bathroom door...

UGH. ARE YOU KIDDING ME????

In case you are wondering, I didn't fly off the handle and have a melt down. I am so past doing that. I surveyed the scene, laughed to myself, sighed (someone has to clean up this mess, you know), waved Dave in from the car to come see, and grabbed my camera.

I could hear the girls coming down the stairs so I went out to the family room. Sara had changed Livvy into her brand new orange shirt and plopped a flower on her head. She looked darling. Standing there with the camera in my hand, I told her to sit down so I could take her picture. While taking her picture, I asked her about the bathroom.

Me: "Hey Liv, why did you paint the bathroom?"

Liv: "I dinnet do it".

(Seriously, I did nothing to get that pose from her. It was all her, attempting to dig herself out of her hole, adamantly claiming her innocence.)

Me: "Oh really? You didn't do it?"

Liv: {shaking her head} "I dinnet do it".

Well, at least she sticks to her story.

See that pretty new shirt? She came home from dinner and resumed painting with her sister and her cousin. You guessed it- paint all over the shirt before I even realized she was painting!!! I told her she is not allowed to paint with clothes on anymore. I yanked her shirt off and set it to soak in Oxi Clean (love that stuff!).

Here she is taking a break from her painting to pour herself a cup of milk (no one can help her, of course). You may think that posting this picture of this tornado child on the blog is my sweet revenge for her behavior. Problem is, she couldn't care less. In fact, once I show her this, she will think it's hilarious. I tell you what, Liv is the real deal. She is energetic, and disobedient, and mischievous, and loving, and hilarious, and persistent, and annoying, and just so very Olivia. Bless her heart. And mine too.

FYI: It took an entire roll of paper towel and quite a few Lysol wipes to clean off the door- the door that is now stained green and needs to be repainted! Oh how I love my life! ( I really do.)

In other news, aren't these two so cute?