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!