the inevitable has happened...

We were headed out the door last night. While making my rounds herding kids to the car and locking up, I walked past the office. I had to do a double take because there upon the floor was this:



Hmm... At our house, there is only one head of hair that matches that color and length.



Big surprise, right?

Dave has a bad bad bad habit of not putting things away- scissors included. Grrrr...

Look who is 1 today!

It's official

She's potty trained!

Whew. Seriously. I thought this one was going to put me over the edge. She is doing such a great job. I'm crossing my fingers that there will be no digression. And by digression I mean I am hoping she won't adopt her sister's "slow leak".

Millcreek Canyon

I love the beginning of June for a couple different reasons. 1. Hello Summer! & 2. It is Amy's birthday (Dave's sister) and tradition dictates that we head up Millcreek Canyon to festivate. I love to festivate. Especially when it involves tinfoil dinners, camp fire, s'mores, hiking, and fun people.

Here is the birthday girl with Spencer. He really is having a good time. I promise.



I was a little nervous bringing the kids up the canyon because of the raging river but it turns out it wasn't so raging and there were lots of people to keep an eye out on the little ones.

Porter, Sara, Hali



Speaking of the not so raging river, Nate caught a fish- a BIG fish! We were all so proud and excited and swarmed around him to admire his amazing catch! Way to go Nater!



Oh what a cute boy! Taylor was holding the bait for Nate. Gross. When I was a kid I went fishing with my dad and brothers. I'm sure I caught a few fish in my day but never once did I touch a worm. I wouldn't put my fingers through the gills to hold it up either. I get the creepy shivers just thinking about it! It doesn't stop me from eating the fish though! I love trout.



Cute girls! Nice sunglasses Miss Sara.



Dave just chillin' with Spence.



The kids had fun roasting marshmallows. The are just starting to get to the ages where they can actually do stuff.



Setting out on our little hike



Livvy hiked her little friend Jared all around, holding his hand. She is just so darn cute!



She also thought Boston needed to be carried. She and the dog are practically the same size but she was undetered. Imagine that.

The kids love their cousins!

Livvy and Zoey are just a couple months apart.

Sara worships the ground Hali walks on.

Livvy and her adventurous spirit- she was digging for bugs with her little friend Avery and found a potato bug (aka rolie polie). She loved this little bug to death. Literally.

As always we had a great time! Thanks for the party Mike & Amy!

Fun Run

A few weeks ago we got word that Taylor's elementary school was doing a Fun Run. You better believe that the Jackson Family was up to the challenge! I ordered t-shirts for each of us because everyone who is anyone knows you need a (not so free) t-shirt if you are going to run a race.

Taylor's teacher showed up to do the race. She even brought her dog along. Teacher sightings are always exciting! Here the kids are with their friend River.



Dave has turned into a runner. He is registered for three half-marathons this summer. Here he is with one of his running buddies, Tom. Aren't they just oozing with enthusiasm? Ha!



Dave ran the 5K and I ran/walked the 1 mile with the kids. Taylor had every intention of doing the 5K when he started (mostly because he didn't realize the length of a 5K). I thought Dave was going to help him along. WRONG. My sweet husband was too competitive to run with his son and left him in the dust. Instead, Taylor ran his race with some lovely strangers who were probably wondering where this little boys cruddy parents were. Hi. That's me.

Dave was telling me that as soon as the gun shot sounded to start the race, Taylor started out at a sprint. Only a few yards into the race, the kid was already exhausted. It looks like we need to teach Taylor how to pace himself. Despite his overzealous start, Taylor made it across the finish line for the 1 mile race. Good job bud!



We all got blue ribbons for finishing the race. The girls did a great job running. We walked quite a bit but they definitely put forth some effort. Sara ran the first part of the race and Livvy ran the second part. Livvy got going so fast her little arms and legs were flailing everywhere and she fell onto the pavement. That didn't deter her in the least bit. She dusted herself off and was back in the race!



Doesn't everyone love a camera in their face shortly following a race? Whether he wants to or not, Dave has learned to love the camera because I usually have it in his face. And see that blue ribbon? A real winner.



Everyone got an ice cream treat! That's all the kids needed to make the race a success.



I thought I had asked Dave to take a picture of me with my little racers. This is what we got. Livvy was done cooperating for pictures. Oh well. It's just good to know that I do exist from time to time.



The run was most definitely fun and we hope to do it again next year!

Dance Revue #2

Sara had her 2nd dance revue today. Same costume. Different dance.

I thought it would be fun to mix things up a bit and give her hair a different look than last time since her outfit was the same.

I was in search of some perm rods. In the midst of my phone calling to track some down, I found something even better than perm rods- my favorite hair professional cousin volunteering to help me out with Sara's hair. YES! Okay, so she didn't just help me out, she did the whole thing. I looked on in awe and wonder. Thanks Jennie! You are the best person EVER.

Sara wasn't so pleased with the situation. On one hand, she definitely wanted curly hair. On the other hand, she is petrified of curling irons. Doesn't she look thrilled?

Every single curl on her blessed head was made with a curling iron.

All done and pleased as punch!



Now onto the make-up.



And the poses. This child and her poses. It kills me!



I tweaked this one in photo shop just for the heck of it. Sara dances with her friend Mary and they have a fantastically rowdy time.



Sara's dance performance was fun! One little girl in her group broke down into tears and wouldn't move, confusing all the little girls, so the curtain came down and they started over. They danced to "The Witch Doctor"- it was a very chaotic and very sweet dance. Good job Sara!

I think her hair looked so perty as the day wore on and her curls loosened up a bit! What a little cutie!

St. George

We went to St. George over the weekend. I haven't been in the mood to blog about it, mostly because I haven't wanted to sort through the bazillions of pictures we took. But really, I am getting too behind so I can't put it off any longer.

Our weekend consisted of swimming and hiking. And then some more swimming, topped off with a nice dose of swimming.

A few pictures for your viewing pleasure:

Sara and her diva-like behavior... She was SO into her sunglasses. She got out of the water and arranged her towel on her chair, put on her sunglasses, and then laid there sun bathing. It was funny.

Her little cousin Emma joined in on the fun a few minutes later.

Taylor and Ethan were all about the pool all the time.

Spencer needed time to warm up to the water. My dad was playing with him in the water for a while. He would say "kick Spencer" and Spencer's little legs would start going wild. It was cute.

Livvy was the official pool toy monitor. She was obsessed with this yellow duck that didn't even belong to us. It did, however, belong to my brother's family so we weren't totally freaky letting her play with it. She would play in the water for a while and then get out and wander. Life jacket on. Life jacket off. Life jacket on. Life jacket off. Duck in the water. Duck out of the water. Goggles on. Goggles off. You get the idea. Liv is always all over the place. She did not disappoint on this trip.

We went to Zions and hiked the Emerald Pools.

Sara and Livvy were, as always, hilarious. Here they are getting ready for the hike. Yes, Liv wears her sunglasses upside down.

Liv squealed with joy when we parked our car right next to this giant "birthday hat". How cute is that? We managed to grab a picture of them in the party hat before taking off at the end of the day. I love seeing the world through my kid's eyes. No folks, this isn't your ordinary teepee, it's a party hat. Sweet.

Anyhoo, back to our hike- we hiked all three pools. In the past I think I've only ever hiked to the bottom pool (which is now 'off limits' but still holds some very vivid and happy childhood memories for me, including but not limited to digging large pits and throwing frogs in them. Which, now that I think about it may be a reason it is now fenced off...) so it was fun to take on all three of the Emerald Pools. The kids had a great time splashing & playing in the big pool at the top.

The even built a sand castle. Well, it was more like a slop sloppy pile of sand. I should rephrase my first statement by saying they were attempting to build a sand castle.

It was fun to watch Livvy explore on the hike. She was such a good little hiker. She loved every little detail from the sand, to the water, to every little creature we came across on our way.

After our hike we hung out and had some icecream. But not before we took a picture of this gigantor tree. What a cute group of peeps!

This was our icecream eating view. How can you not just LOVE Zions?



Before we headed home on Monday we stopped and let the kids play at this splash park in downtown St. George. They had a fun time running through the river bed and climbing on all the rocks. Heck, so did I! It was fun.

See. Everyone is having a good time. Just ask Liv. (She doesn't like to be told to sit still)