Jackson Family Lifestyles

Halloween 2010

2010-11-02T21:44:00.000-07:00

My boys had a fun Halloween this year. Jake was Ferb from the disney show Phineas and Ferb. I think he just wanted to paint his hair green. Zach was Peter Pan and Alex and Ryan were Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. Alex and Ryan had a program at Pre-school and they were so cute. They sang so sweet and did a great job. Then we had a family party on Halloween. They did a carnival and then we had hot dogs. Cousin Keli did a great job organizing and the kids had a blast. We also had our trunk or treat for the ward so the boys got to see all of their friends in their costumes. Needless to say by the end of the night we ended up with way too much candy but the boys were so excited. We now ration the candy so I don't have to pick boys off the ceiling. The last picture is of Jeff trying to get into Halloween, as much as he is able. He is so cute. Jeff so hates Halloween. He was trying.

Wyoming trip

2010-11-02T21:33:00.000-07:00

Jeff took Jake and Zach to the Utah - Wyoming game for the last time that Utah will play there. It ended up being such a gorgeous day. After so many of these games being played in the freezing cold it was nice for them to play in such great weather. They had such a good time. Age went and they meet her friends Andi and Michelle there so they ended up having a party. We won by tons and then after the game Uncle Todd had talked to a friend and got them passes to go on the field and in the locker room after the game. One of the following pictures shows the boys with Shaky Smithson after the game. They got arm bands from the players and then the quarterback and backup quarterback gave Jake and Zach the towels they used during the game. What a memory.

Flag Football 2010

2010-11-02T21:08:00.000-07:00

Jake played his first year of flag football this year and did a great job. We gotta work on the killer instinct but at this age I think it is alright to be a bit softer. He played on the defensive line and he just kept getting better. He got several sacks during the season. We were so proud. If he decides to play again next year, which I think he will, I think he will just continue to do so much better. What a fun year. They went undefeated but then lost in the super bowl. They were sad but we were so proud of them. Next year, watch out for the Titans.

Utah beats UNLV

2010-09-13T21:22:00.000-07:00

We had a great weekend. We went up to Salt Lake on Friday night and went out to eat with Jeff's sister Adrienne and her friend Michelle. We ate at the yummy Cheesecake factory and spent way too much money but it was so good. Then we stayed at the U of U Marriott hotel because the game was on Saturday afternoon. Well I wish we had our camera because it is the hotel where the team stays the night before games and when we got up for breakfast it was like Christmas morning. The kids were going crazy seeing all the players everywhere. They had eaten and they had team meetings just outside of where we ate. The boys kept staring and pointing. We had a little manners lesson on pointing but they sure did have fun. Then we went to the local farmers market in Salt Lake. It is a great market. Tons of good food, samples and fun.

Ryan showing his U. And the boys being very patriotic. So cute.

Such love between brothers.

Ryan just woke up from napping under the seats and Alex slept most of the first half of the game. Amazing they can sleep with so much noise.

The gangs all here. We have so much fun all together.

Then we made our way to the game. We had so much fun. Wonderful weather. We anxiously sat for the shade to hit us and it was like heaven once it got to you. Adrienne got some good pictures at the game. She is my expert photographer. It made it an even better that we won. Go Utes.

Catching up

2010-09-09T21:52:00.000-07:00

I have been told that I need to get going again and that people actually look at my blog. I have been very lazy..... well I don't think so but other people do..... and I need to get back on track and update our lives. I am going to do a quick update and then I will promise to try and keep up on things better. My goal will be once a week but I think that might be wishful thinking. Well here it goes. I will hit some of the highlights and of course I don't have time or room for everything but I will fill you in on most the good stuff.
Jake got baptized at the end of March. It was an exciting day. My parents came out from Indiana and of course Jeff's family was there. That always is a big crowd. Jake did awesome and we were so proud of him. Jeff about drowned him, I think he was more nervous than Jake but all went well. We went to disney on ice as a family for Jake's birthday. That is always fun. They loved it.

Zach had his first friend birthday party back in March and he picked to go to Build a Bear. They had a great time and Zach loved being the center of attention. He got his very on bear and then a special birthday bear that all the kids got to sign. It was a great day for him.

Jake got picked from the second grade to be in the school talent show. He was so excited. They only picked 3 kids from the whole 2nd grade and he was one of them. He did a dance to the Hoedown Throwdown by Miley Cyrus. We were so proud. He practiced and had an amazing performance. He can't wait until next year. He said he has to do it again.

Jeff had his big elk hunt last September and I think I posted about that but just in case I will update on that too. He had a fun time. His buddy helped him out and guided him on and even though the hunt time was almost over he hit a big one and you would have thought he hit the million dollar jackpot. He worked so hard for it that I am sure to him it was. Well now he is a permanent fixture in the family he now hangs on the wall above the stairs. He looks over us, literally, but we are getting used to him.

Alex and Ryan had their 3rd birthday in June. We were leaving for Indiana so we had a party for them before we left. I saw on a blog a cute idea for a cake so I decided it fit the boys perfect. I attempted the cake and they turned out pretty good. As you see from the picture, it was just perfect for them. If you can't tell, they are monkeys. They had a great birthday. We arrived in Indiana they day of their birthday, so they got to have another party there with my family. It was a great celebration.

We spent 3 weeks in Indiana again this summer. We had a great time staying with my brother and his family. They were kind to share their new home with my crazy family. The twins christened their home and wrote all over the walls with crayon. Needless to say, I spent a bit of time scrubing walls. All clean though. Hope I didn't miss any spots. My kids loved playing all day and sometimes all night. We had a wonderful time. We did so many fun things while we were there but the most fun probably was everyone going to Kings Island. My sister and brothers family weren't able to go, but everyone else did and we had a great time. Here are a few pix of that trip.

Jake had his first day camp this summer for cub scouts. He loved it. I was glad I got to go with him and watch him experience new things. He was nervous at first with some of the things but he ended up having a great time.

School started of course in August and Jake is now in 3rd grade, Zach is in 1st grade and Alex and Ryan started preschool. It is so fun to see them all go off to school with their backpacks on ready for the day. They are all doing great and really enjoying school. So proud of my boys.

Utah games have also begun again. We love going as a family and sitting with the other members of Jeff's family that go. We have a great time. Even better that we started the season with a win over 15th ranked Pittsburgh. Great win and we are looking forward to a great season.

I am ending with two random pictures that kind of show you what our summer was like. You might ask yourself, what goes on in that crazy Jackson house, well this answers it. Please don't draw any crazy conclusions or think bad of us. Just remember I have a house full of crazy boys and crazy things happen in the name of fun.

Family Pictures December 2009

2010-01-07T15:03:00.001-08:00

It has been a long time since my last post. So many things have happened. Just to update on a few, Christmas has obviously come and gone and we had a great holidays. We enjoyed the time off school and relaxed and did some much needed dejunking of the house. Jake lost one of his front teeth right before family pictures and also now has glasses. Zach is still loving kindergarten and is doing well. The twins are out of their cribs and into big boy beds. They have a hard time at naptime but enjoy each others company. We had family pictures taken a few weeks before Christmas. We (meaning me) thought it would be cute to do them outside but of course the day they were scheduled for, it was freezing outside and starting to snow. We went ahead with the pictures. They turned out pretty good. I wanted to share some of them.

Tribute to good ole worf

2009-11-04T23:22:00.000-08:00

It all started when Jeff always wanted a dog and his mom always told him, when you grow up and get your own place you can do whatever you want. Well don't ever challenge Jeff with that because that is exactly what he did. He got himself a chocolate Labrador 12 years ago. He named the dog Worf, for Jeff's love of Star Trek(scary I know). When we got married 9 years ago, I became an instant stepmom but he was such a good dog, I didn't mind. When we started having children we were worried the kids would be scared of Worf but luckily our first two boys just absolutely loved him. He was the most gentle and kind dog you could ever see. He would let the kids lay by him, pull his tail (gently of course) and just play all around him. I really couldn't believe how good Worf was with kids. Well when the twins got big enough to care, they were a bit nervous about Worf. Alex was beginning to warm up to him but Ryan was very nervous around him. By now Worf was getting very old. He had bad arthritis, he was beginning to bark all the time at nothing, and he was deaf. We weren't sure if the barking was pain or something else and the vet said there was no way of knowing. We were getting concerned about putting Worf through another cold Utah winter. After much sadness and thought we decided it was time to let go. We are very sad but we know it was the right thing to do for Worf. He was an amazing pet and I know it won't be the same around here without him. These are some older pix of Worf. Oh the memories.

Farewell to Chief Whitney

2009-11-04T21:24:00.000-08:00

There was a sad loss in Springville last week. Fire Chief, Phil Whitney passed away last Wednesday unexpectedly. Jeff was very shocked by it as was everyone else. He was a good man. Jeff really enjoyed working with him on the fire department. He will always be remembered as a man of service, and honor. He was a big jokester too. Not everyone saw that side of him, but Jeff sure has some great stories, and memories. His funeral was an amazing site to see. A true military and fireman's tradional funeral. The procession of fire trucks that came to honor him was 2 miles long. They had a flag archway for the trucks to pass under, thanks to Spanish Fork Dept. ladder trucks. During the cemetary service they had many traditional elements. They had a gun salute, TAPS was played beautifully and they had an amazing bagpiper. They had a lifelight helicopter fly over. There was the flag folding from the top of the casket and the presenting of the fireman's helmet to the family. The most touching parts were the mist scene. This is when 3 fireman in full gear head into the water mist as one goes by himself to signify the loss. Then they had the last page for the chief. All the pagers went off and that was very emotional. He will truly be missed. The following are some pictures of the viewing at the fire station on Sunday night and then the others are of the funeral this past Monday.

Halloween

2009-11-04T20:35:00.000-08:00

I am a little behind but we had a great Halloween. We had a weeks worth of activities so the boys got a lot of use out of their costumes. The family trick or treat night was on Monday. We met at the shop and passed out candy to all the kids. It is nice to do it this way because the kids get to see all the cousins costumes. Sometimes Halloween gets so crazy and we don't get around to everyone so it works great to do it this way with the family. Then we had school activities on Wednesday with Zach and Jake. Zach had a program and Jake had the annual school costume parade. Alex and Ryan had their little school party on Thursday. Halloween was spent in Salt Lake because the Utes were playing Wyoming. It was so much fun. The school had an activity planned where the kids could wear their costumes to the game and trick or treat there. They had tents set up and all the other Utah teams passed out candy to the kids. I think the boys had a lot of fun. Then we won the game so it was a perfect ending to a fun day. Now, on to the costumes. Jake really wanted to be Mario from Mario Brothers. I thought about it for a while and figured I could come up with something. I had the red hat and Jake had the red shirt. I sewed the M patch on the hat and then found some cheap material and made the overalls. We added a mustache andgloves, then voila.........Mario. I must say, he really looked good.

Then Zach wanted to be a vampire so bad. I found a costume at Walmart and he just loved it. I couldn't get him to wear the vampire teeth or put any makeup on so he was just a nice, cute little vampire. He is right in the middle of the picture with some of the kids from his class.

The twins obviously don't really care. For one party they wore a chicken costume and a Pablo(Backyardigans) costume. These were Zachs from a while ago. For the game they were Utah football players.

They really were cute and they had fun. What a great Halloween. Can't wait until next year. I wonder what they will want to be. Hopefully something easy.

Jeff's Big hunt

2009-09-29T21:25:00.000-07:00

Well he finally did it. Jeff drew out for the big elk bull hunt this year. He has been getting ready for it for a long time and has been up hunting since last Wednesday. Finally this morning about noon he got his big prize. They came up on the elk and they called him in. He approached quickly and Jeff was able to shoot him from about 13 yards away. It took off up the mountain but they found him in the meadow. He was a 6x7 and scored a 310. Big enough to make Jeff happy. It took about 5 1/2 hours to cut him apart and haul him out in pieces, besides the head of course which will be mounted and put on the wall for all to stare at. Come see us and our new addition to the family in about a year. Here are some of the wonderful pictures.

First Utes game

2009-09-07T10:17:00.001-07:00

We had our first Utah game last week. We still sit with the family and we have so much fun. There is about 20 of us that have season tickets together. The twins were so small last year we weren't sure how they would do this year having to sit and stay in one place for so long but they did really good. They were so interested in everything going on around them. Alex kept pointing down to the field. He was very intrigued by the game going on. It was a great game and we had a blast. Also, we won so that doesn't hurt either. Hopefully we will have a great season. Here are some pictures from the game. I didn't have any of Zach. He really doesn't like his picture to be taken very much. He was there though. Just no record of it. Maybe next time.

Zach growing up

2009-09-07T10:10:00.000-07:00

Zach started kindergarten a little over a week ago. He is loving it and not nervous at all. He is already learning sight words and starting to sound things out to read. He is great at Math, hopefully he gets those skills from me. He was excited to go. Jeff was going to walk with Zach and Jake on that first day but Jake said he would get him there so Jeff just stayed home. They want to be so independent. Happy he is getting so big. This is our annual picture outside the front door. I can't believe how big he is getting.

Whew

2009-08-24T23:20:00.000-07:00

Finally I am caught up with all of the happenings in our lives. Of course there are several other things going on but who needs to know everything right? I am happy to be updated ...... at least for today.

Last one I promise

2009-08-24T23:02:00.001-07:00

We had a family firemans party the other day. It was a blast. It was a very warm day and fireman and a hot day require the same thing to make it a better day. Water and lots of it. We got together and had a barBQ then had a few pools set up for the small kids. Then they used the fire pool and set it up as a pool for the bigger kids to swim in. After lunch they broke out the trucks and hoses. It was so much fun. Jake got to use the hose for a few minutes. They had the cannon going on top of the truck. I couldn't believe all the water. Everyone had such a blast and I can't wait to do it again.

Rhino trip up Camelsback

2009-08-24T22:25:00.000-07:00

Jeff and his sister Adrienne took Jake and Zach a few weeks ago on an early morning trip up Camelsback. It is the mountain above Springville. They left around 5a.m. They stopped to get doughnuts and milk, their favorite breakfast, and headed up to see the sunrise. Jeff took his scope so the boys could look for familiar things while they were up there. They saw our house, Jake's school, and they called Jeff's mom and dad and had them come in the backyard and wave to them. They thought that was so cool. Here are a few pictures of their fun morning.

Returning home

2009-08-24T21:53:00.000-07:00

After the trip was over the fun didn't stop. We continued our trips to Seven Peaks water park. The boys love going there and honestly it is nice to go somewhere and have fun with them. We also have a tradition to go the the outdoor movie every Monday night. They mostly show kids movies in the park. We all go and the kids play in the adjacent field while all the adults sit and watch the movie the kids are supposed to watch. We have fun and it has been such nice weather that we have loved it all. The twins have been getting more silly. They make me laugh everyday. Jake and Zach do a pretty good job of keeping things interesting too. My life is crazy. Here is a good example of the twins and there silliness. Those are their blankets wrapped around their heads.

We also made a trip to the Dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving Point. We had never been there before and my girlfriends all wanted to go and take the kids so we headed out one morning. There was lots of things to see and the boys loved looking at all the dinosaur stuff. They had a digging place and they were a mess but they really enjoyed themselves.

We made it to the cabin a few weeks ago. It was our first time this summer being able to go. We had fairly good weather. It was really cool and we had a few rain storms but of course we had fun anyway. The kids played outside at little rock and found a dead squirrel. Zach thought maybe it was just sleeping but when Jake noticed all the flies he figured that maybe it was dead. Age, Jeff's sister, got brave and took a shovel and removed the carcus. Nasty. We took tons of rides on the Rhino and saw lots of deer. The kids love that part about the cabin. The picture is of Alex and Ryan leaving for a ride. They just walked around with their helmets on. They were so cute. They couldn't wait for their turn on the Rhino.

I took this video of Ryan pretending to talk on the cell phone. He got a hold of one of Age's little bags and walked around talking on the phone. I don't know why I recorded sideways. You think I would remember by now not to do that but I guess not. It was so cute though I decided to post it anyway. He was saying something but who knows what. Don't get a kink in your neck.
Jake also started school. We took our annual picture in front of the door and I can hardly believe how tall he has gotten. He has just grown up like crazy. He is in 2nd grade now. He loves his teacher and from what I hear she is one of the best. We will meet her at back to school night tomorrow night. Zach started Kindergarten on Wednesday. We had his assessment and his teacher says he is so smart. She said he had great number sense. Yay!!! I would like to give the credit to my genes but I think it is because he is always trying to mooch money and keep track of how much he has and how much he can spend. I will post a picture of his first day on Thursday (hopefully).We also had a great big fire up the canyon last week. Jeff went up and worked on it for a few hours but then Forest Service took over. I couldn't believe how much smoke there was. The airplanes and helicopters got on the scene fast so it wasn't too out of control. This is a view from our backyard. Crazy stuff.

A few more from Indiana

2009-08-24T21:38:00.000-07:00

We went to the Lawrence County 4H fair while we were home too. The kids and Jeff of course always love it because they get good carni food and there is always tons of games to play and rides to get on. Dustin and Kristi, Hein and Stephanie and kids, Alida and Aaron, and Jenna all came with us and we walked the circle. Here is a picture of Jake and Zach on the boat ride and the next is a video of Ryan and me on the giant slide. Normally I would never post anything with me in it ( I look pretty raggedy) but Ryan was so cute on the slide I had to include it.

I also got some great pictures of my grandparents with the twins. The boys just love meemo and grandpa. Grandpa because he gives them lots of chocolate and meemo because she just loves on them and is so sweet. I loved the pictures. They are treasured. Grandpa is usually pretty sensitive about not having his teeth in but I think he is pretty secure in his manlihood that he wouldn't totally kill me for putting this picture of him in the post.

Alida's baby shower

2009-08-24T21:24:00.000-07:00

We had a baby shower for my little sister while I was home. I was so excited to be able to be there for it. We had a lot of fun and played some great. We had great food and she got some wonderful and amazing gifts. One of the games we played was Diaper Surprise!! Candy bars were melted in the diaper and people had to figure out what it was. The best part of the game was watching everyone peek and sniff in the diaper. Also we played pin the baby on the belly and I had to post the picture of the poster we made for the game. My sister in law, Bethany and I got to laughing when we made the poster. We just knew Alida would appreciate it. Of course you can see from the picture that it wasn't very accurate to real life but it sure was funny. The people in the diaper pictures are my cousin Kristi. My mothers cousin, Mary Joe. Then the next is my sister Ilana, next my mother, and last my cute grandmother.

Life never ends.....I am enjoying the ride though

2009-08-24T21:12:00.000-07:00

So many things have been going on since we returned from Indiana in late July. There were a few other fun things we did in Indiana that I never blogged about and tons of things since. I hope this post doesn't get too long and boring but I didn't want to leave out any of the fun, so here it goes. While in Indiana we made a trip to the Childrens Museum in Indianapolis. The kids love it there because there are so many interactive things to do. They really had a great time. These pictures are of one of the play areas. We could hardly get them out of there. The other pictures are from some of the exhibits. They really had a great time.

4th of July

2009-07-08T08:58:00.001-07:00

Well our 4th of July is the big reason for the trip home every year. We had such nice weather building up to the 4th. We thought is was going to be so nice to have cool weather and we wouldn't sweat to death playing wiffle ball. Well just because every day was nice doesn't mean it is going to stay that way. On the 4th it just poured all day. I couldn't believe it. We hoped it would let up but no can do. We didn't let it ruin our day though. We went to the parade anyway. Lucky enough we knew someone living along the parade route so we sat on their front porch. It kept us dry which we were grateful for. Then we made our way to my cousin Kristi and Dustin's house for the festivities. We ate lots and lots of food and visited with family for a while still hoping it would stop raining. We have an annual wiffle ball tournament that we were not going to miss. Since it didn't stop raining we decided the game must go on, and it sure did. I opted out this year because I really needed to keep an eye on the twins. It gave me an excuse to stay dry. Jeff, Jake and Zach all played however. Jeff and Jake got on the same team and Zach got on a team with my brother Terry. Zach lasted about a half and inning before he got too wet and tired to continue. He curled up in a ball on the lawn chair and fell asleep for a few hours. He did get a few good innings in though. It was his first year getting to play and he was so happy to get to. In the picture of Zach hitting, Jake is playing catcher.

The games continued on most of the day. Jeff and Jake's team got into the final game for the championship. Jeff got really into the game and when it came down to the wire he sacrificed his body for the team. He made Superman slides into home plate on one play and then the same dive into 1st base on another play. His slide into home was very graceful but the one into first base didn't go as well. Both of them resulted in a very big muddy mess as seen in the picture. The other picture is of him trying to hit a home run. He didn't get it on this hit but he did get one later on in the day.

The babies had a lot of fun playing in the rain. They got pretty cold so after a while I had to change their clothes and keep them inside. There was a lot of mud puddles to play in so they really enjoyed themselves.

I got a short video of the games as they were being played so the viewing audience could get an idea of how crazy the rain was that day. We had a great time but are really hoping that we can actually come to Indiana and have a 4th of July without any crazy weather. Here's hopin'.

Playing in Indiana

2009-07-08T08:03:00.000-07:00

We have been having a lot of fun with family in Indiana. We will be here for another week. Jeff left a few days ago to go back to work but will fly back to Indiana and drive home with us. The kids are missing him already, which of course he loves. I wanted to post a few of the fun things we have been doing. We have had a chance to go swimming twice. The weather has been pretty good but definitely not for swimming. I guess there is a trade off. We have also been playing a lot of Wii with my nieces and nephews. There have been many heated tournaments with some fun memories happening. My favorite was watching Jeff do the Dance Dance Revolution. The man has rythmn as you will see.

Like I said before we have gone swimming and the kids have loved having so many kids to play with. The water has been really cold but they of course will have fun anyway. Here are some pictures of us swimming. The first is of Ryan. Doesn't he look like he is having fun. The babies kept climbing up the life guard chair. We caught them in the act. Luckily, my brother Terry is assistant manager at the pool so we didn't get into too much trouble. The next two are of Alex and Zach. Jake spent most of his time going off the diving board and down the slide so we didn't get any pictures of him.

Jeff got to go to an Amish barn raising. He said it was just like out of a movie. They drove up to the house and all the horse and buggies were everywhere. They started working and Jeff said he was amazed at how they worked together. We went back later and they were almost done. I couldn't believe it. Definitely a cool experience we were fortunate enough to see. Dad is really good friends with the Amish in Orleans so they welcomed us and let us watch. They normally don't like pictures taken but from far away it was alright. We got some good pictures.

We have had many long days and short nights. The twins and boys have held up well but one of the days we were returning home Ryan gave out right in the middle of playing. I had to add this picture in because I couldn't believe he fell asleep with the toy in his mouth and it stayed there.

"The Twins" 2nd birthday

2009-06-25T14:59:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Alex and Ryan's birthday this past Sunday. They turn 2 on June 26th but we are leaving for Indiana that day so we celebrated early. Of course they don't really understand but they loved having everyone over for a party and of course the presents didn't hurt either. They got a couple of cute outfits and a few toys and the best was the cheetos. They wanted those right away. I decided this year not to spend all the money on a store bought cake so I used a cake idea from a magazine I got about a year ago. I have never really been a baker or decorator but I must say it turned out really well. I was pretty proud of myself. If you can't tell it is a dragon. The boys loved it and that is all that matters right? Alex once again did not enjoy people singing to him. He doesn't like attention drawn to himself. Ryan really didn't know what to think about it but at least he didn't cry. Enjoy the video.

New Editions to the family

2009-06-25T08:52:00.000-07:00

A month or so ago Jeff convinced me we needed a new edition to the family. No not another child, I'm not totally crazy, but a UTV for the "family" to play with. We purchased a used Yamaha Rhino from a guy in St. George. He has taken the boys out a few times in the canyon and they love it. We got them all their own helmets and it is just like heaven for them. Ryan and Alex love to play in it . Jeff plans to use it this fall on his big hunt. He drew out for a big Bull Elk and so hopefully the Rhino will come in handy when he has to haul that big thing out of the canyon. Here are some pictures of the babies playing on it. I must admit when Jeff brought it home it was bigger than I expected. It is like a small Jeep. I like that though. With the seats and seatbelts, it just seems safer to me.

We also bought a little swimming pool for the backyard. Small and cheap but the kids don't know any better. To them it is water to play in. We filled it up the other day and the kids played for a couple of hours. I was amazed how Alex loved wearing the goggles. They had so much fun together.

Baseball and Kickball

2009-06-24T21:53:00.000-07:00

We have been spending many nights in June at the ball fields. Jake is playing coach pitch baseball and Zach is playing kickball. It has kept us very busy. Jake loves hitting the ball but when it comes to fielding, it is a whole new ballgame. We caught him one game upset because they have too many boys on the team so a few had to sit out the fielding part. When he found out he didn't get to sit out he was upset. That's our Jake. He does have fun though. He has met a few new friends and gotten really good at batting. We are working at not being afraid of the ball when catching but it is definitely a long process. Here are a few pictures of one of his games. The first is him batting. The next is after fielding the ball he got so excited and was caught in a great jump. Then the next is of him playing catcher. This is his favorite position because he doesn't have to move much. The last two pictures are of getting ready and then getting a kid out. He was so excited. We will miss his last two games because of vacation. He is sad but ready for the trip.

Zach has really enjoyed kickball. I am actually coaching his team and we have been having so much fun. All the boys are 5 and let me tell you, controlling 8 boys all 5 years old can get a bit crazy. They have learned so well though. They have running the bases down really well. I am the most proud of the fact they don't all run for the ball and kill eachother just to get it. The weather has been great but the last few games it has finally gotten fairly warm. When the heat hit it got a bit harder to keep them focused. Most of the game was reminding the boys to stay on their feet and don't lay down on the field. Imagine 8 boys all laying down and standing on their heads because they are soooooooo exhausted. It is really fun and I am so happy I got a chance to do it. I think Zach has liked having me coach. Here are a few pictures of his game. The first is him standing in line getting ready to kick. As you can tell he is really focused. He is telling his dad he is a loser. How impressive. The next is of Zach getting ready to pitch the ball. The next two are of him kicking the ball and running his bases. The last one is him trying to concentrate while playing in the field but not doing a very good job of it. At least he was trying I guess.

Art City Days

2009-06-23T13:33:00.001-07:00

I am very behind on my blogging. My list of things I need to write about is getting longer so I figured I better get started. We are leaving for Indiana in a few days so I am going to try to post a little bit each day before we leave. I hopefully will get caught up before we go. Of course then I will have more to post but I can't worry about that yet. Too many things to do and not enough time to do it in. On to the updates. We had Art City Days in Springville a few weeks ago. The week is filled with fun activities but the best part of the week is the firemans breakfast and parade on Saturday morning. This year, Jeff's grandparents were the grand marshalls of the parade so instead of riding in a cool convertible, we went big and all the great grandkids rode with them on the fire truck. It was so much fun. All the kids loved it and Ed and Beth did a great job. It was perfect weather. Jeff "worked" at the firemans breakfast. As you can see from the pictures you will understand why I put quote marks around the word worked. Here are some great pictures of the breakfast, ride and then watching the rest of the parade.

Zach's big Day

2009-05-22T13:26:00.000-07:00

We have been fighting an infected toe for a few weeks now. Zach has been fighting as we have been trying to fix. It all came down to a doctors visit. Zach went ballistic at the thought of someone touching his toe so we had to book an O.R. and knock him out. Well over 5 hours later and lots of money, as you can imagine, a 15 minute surgery is over and Zach is on the mend. I wanted to post a few pictures and a hilarious video of him awaiting his fate. Before the surgery they gave him a tylenol mixture with another drug to calm him down so taking him to the O.R. wouldn't be too tramatic. When the medicine kicked in, well lets just say, he was calm. Jeff and I couldn't stop laughing. I am glad he was out of it or he would have been really mad at me. It was just so funny. He really did a good job though and we are glad he is on the mend.

Vegas and B-day

2009-05-13T20:59:00.000-07:00

Well it has been over a month since my last post so I figured I better get busy. So much has been going on. First, I went to Vegas baby!!! Girlfriends only. We figured between the seven of us there were 7 husbands and 22 kids left behind. I can't speak for all in the group but I was so happy to have a break and just hang with the gals. We had a blast. We went to St. George first, stayed the night in Julie's condo timeshare. It was fun just to hang out by the pool and have breakfast together without worry about our kids trashing the place. I must say I really enjoyed that part, eating without kids. Then we moved on to Vegas. The highlight of the trip was Phantom at the Venician, but I also really enjoyed our time we spent hunting for Tiffany's in Caesars Palace and then trying to figure out how to get back out again. Right Sara? Just kidding. Really the whole trip was great. Not a dull moment. We went shopping (lots actually), rode the New York, New York roller coaster(gettin too old for that anymore), had frozen hot chocolate at Serendipity3 (loved that) and we even got in a stop at the temple for some temple work. Oh and did I say we ate, ate, ate. We really did it all. Loved every minute of it. Here is a picture of the gals outside of Cheesecake Factory, you know it is all about the good food when you are on a trip with the girls.The next is outside of New York New York and the last is the Phantom sign outside of the Phantom theater. I got some pictures of inside the theater but they were a bit blurry. Probably because we weren't supposed to take pictures inside and I did anyway. I did get yelled at by the usher. She gently reminded me pictures inside the theater were not allowed.

I also had a wonderful birthday. Many wonderful wishes from family and friends. Jeff and the boys got up early and made breakfast so we could actually all sit down and have breakfast together on a school day. That was amazing all by itself. But I also got some beautiful flowers. It was a wonderful morning. The rest of the day didn't go too bad either. Not too bad to be a year older when you have wonderful people around you that make you happy and try to keep me young. I have a great life. Love you all.

The Great Brain

2009-04-09T14:33:00.000-07:00

Jake has a program at his school they call The Great Brain. The kids research a topic they are interested in and become an "expert". Then they do a presentation to their class on the subject. Jake's great brain this year was on Fire trucks. He got so excited when he decided on the subject. He asked Jeff if he would bring a truck to school and of course Jeff said yes. We studied his topic. We looked up things on the internet. We looked at a fire truck book and then Jeff took him down to the station one night and talked to him about all the trucks. He had so much fun, at least I think he did. Today was his presentation. He did such a good job. I am so proud of him. He was the first kid in his class to present and the teacher said she was glad it was Jake because he would set a good example for the other kids. He could show them how to do it the right way. The video isn't too long so I decided to post the presentation. After he got done, the kids asked questions and then the class came out and looked at the fire truck with Jeff. The kids thought that was so cool. They got to look inside and that was fun for them. After it was over his teacher took a picture of Jake. He got a button with his picture on it and a certificate.After we got home I noticed Ryan walking around the house wearing my shoes. I thought it was so funny so I took a picture. I can't believe he was able to walk with such big shoes on his feet. I loved it. He thought it was so funny. Of course I had to include a picture of Alex too. He is getting so talkative. Still not making any sense but talking like crazy. Hopefully anytime now he will start talking actual words. All he says now is Mamma, more than I would like, and sometimes Dada, Jeff would like this said a bit more.

Babies are getting bigger

2009-03-19T13:37:00.001-07:00

The babies have been getting so big. We cut their hair and that made them look older. Just the other day they were concerned that Jake was laying on the floor. It was cute to watch them. They kept looking at Jake to figure out what he was doing. Then when they figured out he was just playing they both jumped on him. It was cute.

Last March birthday

2009-03-19T13:29:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Jake's birthday last week. He got a bit sick the day before his birthday which made me a bit nervous but he ended up being alright. He had a little friend party on Saturday. They had pizza, played some games and did a treasure hunt. They had a lot of fun. I made him a giant cupcake for his party and the kids loved it.

Then we had the family party on Sunday. He loves having his cousins over. We had a Utah cake for him for that party. Jeff's dad decorated it for us and did a great job. Jeff bought some trick candles for the cake but they didn't turn out so well. We lit them three times to try and get them to restart after blowing them out, but it never worked. Oh well, such is life. I think he had a great birthday. It is crazy to think he is 7. He is getting so tall. It makes me feel old.

March Birthdays

2009-03-04T15:08:00.001-08:00

Well we have now had 2 of the 3 March birthdays in our family. Jeff's was on the 1st and Zach's was yesterday on the 3rd. I think Jeff had a pretty good birthday. We went out as a family for dinner to McGraths fish house. It was perfect for the boys because they sold boiled and peel shrimp by the pound. Jake and Zach were in heaven. It seems crazy that for such picky eaters they would love that. Well anyway, they brought out this crazy fish hat and made Jeff wear it while we sang. The boys loved it.

Along with Jeff's birthday, he has been asking for an iPod touch for weeks as his birthday present. Well of course I had to make him understand that spending $300.00 for a game that he really would never have time to enjoy was just crazy. He continued to work on me and I continued to tell him no way. Well when it came right down too it, I couldn't say no so I gave in but in my own way. It was quite a surprise for him when he didn't get his iPod touch but I gave him the next best thing.

I think he loved the cake as much as he would have loved the real thing. This was my first experience with cake fondant. Age and I made it and we had so much fun. We kept laughing just at the thought of his reaction at getting this instead of the real thing. Oh well such is life. Someone in this family has to be realistic. I have always done good at that.

Zach had his birthday yesterday and it was so sad. About 1:00 in the afternoon he started complaining that his stomach hurt and he wasn't feeling well. He does this sometimes when he doesn't want to be bothered. Well I ignored it and by 4:00 he was throwing up and had a fever. I couldn't believe it. What a way to spend your birthday. We had a party planned with family and I thought about cancelling it but I figured he could make it. Well, needless to say, it was the fastest party we ever had. He opened his presents, not interested at all in what they were. By the end Jake was opening the presents because Zach didn't want to anymore. After singing to him, he went and laid on the couch with his throw up bowl and stayed there the rest of the time. All of the rest of us enjoyed the cake and ice cream. I saved Zach a piece. Hopefully he will feel better before it dries out. Today he was supposed to celebrate his birthday at Pre-school but he was too sick to go. Jeff took him over so he could at least drop his cupcakes off but he wouldn't even go in so Jeff had to take them in for him. Hopefully he will feel better enough to go Friday. The teacher said they would celebrate it then. We are all crossing our fingers it doesn't go on like Alex's did.

Alex's new treatments

2009-03-04T15:01:00.000-08:00

Well we have had an interesting month. Alex has been sick and we just couldn't seem to get him better. He had a fever, no activity and for a 20 month old that is crazy. He threw up all the time and then just recently starting having trouble with his breathing. After 3 trips to the doctor we finally started him on breathing treatment. At first they didn't seem to help much but then after a few days of three times a day treatments, he started improving. I must say he did really well for having this mask strapped to his face. I was very impressed. He did much better at that then taking his medicine. That was a nightmare. He is now pretty much better, but we are the proud owners of a home nebulizer for future cases. How exciting is that.

Mother Goose Day

2009-02-20T12:33:00.001-08:00

Jake's teacher Mrs. Beesley does a Mother Goose day every year. Each kid is assigned a nursery rhyme and they dress like a character from the ryhme. They do a little parade to a few other rooms in the building and the office and then go back to the classroom and do a little presentation. They stand up and the kids try to guess the rhyme and then they recite it for the class. Jake had Hey diddle diddle and had a hard time deciding what he was going to be. We finally decided on an easy one and he was the dish and the spoon. He decorated his plate with the other characters from the rhyme. He did so good. We are so proud.
The above picture is Jake letting the kids guess his rhyme. The other is his whole class with the teacher. The principal wanted a class picture. The last picture is Jake with his best friend Joely. She is a cute girl and they play so nicely together. She was Mary Mary Quite Contrary.

The last is a video of Jake reciting his rhyme. He is getting to be such a big guy.

New addition to the family

2009-02-20T12:30:00.001-08:00

No, its not what you think. I am not totally crazy. We had our mudroom redone and are very excited how it turned out. It keeps everything so organized and out of the way. The babies like to crawl on the bench and sit in their little cubbies. It is cute. It gives us plenty of room.

Valentines

2009-02-20T12:26:00.000-08:00

We had a great valentines day. The kids had fun activities at school and we decorated cookies together. We had a blast. The boys are getting better at decorating.

Tag- I so don't want to be it.

2009-02-05T22:41:00.000-08:00

Well I will be the first to admit that the blog tag game doesn't sit well with me. Usually I barely have enough time to put on the family stuff let alone answering a tag. In this case however I have been tagged by Jeff's cousin Scott and I promised I would do my best to answer it, (even though it goes against all I believe in.) Just kidding really. Well here it goes. I have been asked to say my top 5 addictions.

1. My Boys of course. Jeff would like to think he is number one all by himself but really they all go together. I love my sweet little family. Anyone that can drive you to drink( soda of course) in one minute then make you so happy the next must be a keeper. No seriously, they are all the lights of my life and I can't imagine life without them. I am truly blessed.

2. Straightening my house. Now if you notice I didn't say cleaning my house. I really stink at that concept. But I am a master at straightening so everything looks clean and organized. It tends to drive me crazy keeping up with it but I have issues and maybe one day I will get over them.

3. Bit O Honeys. I know that might sound crazy but I just love them. We bought a big bin last week at the Stouffers outlet and I eat them like they are going to go rotten in a week. I just can't help myself. They call to me. So yummy!!!

4. Momma Mia. I got this DVD for Christmas from my in laws and I just love it. The boys watch it with me and we sing to all the songs. We always play the sing along version. Jake is getting quite good with the words. Can you picture us. I hope I am not causing permanent damage to my boys by letting them watch it with me.

5. the 80's channel on my XM Satellite radio in the van. Need I say more. It doesn't get much better than that. What a way to spend my time in the van.

Well Scott, I hope this satisfies my end of the tag. I wouldn't normally tag anyone else and put them through the torture but I have decided I am going to anyway. I will tag, my brother Terry (or Bethany of course), My brother in law Aaron (yes I know you are busy with school but whatever). My cousin Joanna,(because she always puts such cute comments on my blog). By the way so do you Laurel, but I know how busy you are so I won't offiicially put you on my tag list. (But you can do it if you want.) My sister Kaya because she hasn't updated her blog forever and I want to make sure she is still alive. I guess that will be it. Thanks for listening.

Another fun family night

2009-02-04T12:10:00.001-08:00

It all started when Jake came home with a free ticket for the circus that was comin to town. We weren't really sure we wanted to go because it was one of those "when good animals go bad" type circus. You know what I mean, elephants going crazy and trampling people, bears chewing up their trainers, you get the picture. Well, we finally decided it would be a family time activity so we headed for the circus. It was in Orem at the the school there so we didn't have far to go which was nice. We arrived early, Jeff doesn't do late he gets too nervous. They had rides set up for the kids. Innocent pony rides, which is what we thought the kids would pick. But of course not. They picked the elephant ride. Jeff could picture it. Our children on the back of an elephant, just as it decides it hates giving rides and wants to kill all in its sights. But Jeff put aside his fears and let them get on anyway. They had a blast and got off all in one piece.

We didn't let the babies on, we aren't totally crazy. The circus actually ended up being pretty good. It was a tad long so the babies got a bit stir crazy but they did alright too. The boys really love this stuff and we had a great night watching them get so excited and nervous about all the nutty people and their crazy performances. We were happy we went. The babies favorite part was the nachos and churros. Can you blame them? I think the older boys loved the food too but they really got into the show. And as you can tell from the following picture, I am not sure if Jeff really had a favorite part other than the end.

Jake's Artwork

2009-02-04T12:00:00.000-08:00

Jake wanted me scan some of his artwork and then put it on the blog. I am not really sure why because normally he is kind of shy about letting people see the things he has drawn. I guess he must be coming out of his shell. He love to draw and makes me pictures all the time. I have no idea what they are pictures of but enjoy.

Sugar Bowl Go Utes! 13-0 Undefeated

2009-01-06T15:14:00.000-08:00

Well, while the boys and I stayed behind to celebrate New Years Eve without Dad, Jeff was off to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl. It would have been fun for all of us to go but it would have been a bit too expensive so we sent Jeff off with his sister Adrienne and a friend Michelle to party it up. Like I said they flew out on a Charter plane on New Years Eve. It was nice going this way because they didn't have to worry about connections or luggage getting lost. They spent New Years Eve at a Crimson Club party and then some time on Bourbon Street. Jeff said that by 11:30 things were getting a bit schetchy so they ended up back in the hotel room to ring in the new year. I didn't ask for details, I figured it was best for me not to know them. There was another crimson club party on the 1st and then a tailgate party before the big game. Between the parties and all the places Jeff's dad told them to go eat, I think Jeff was ready to die from overeating. They ate some interesting things and just had a blast taking in the sites of New Orleans. They took a tour the day before the game. It took them to some sites. Old cemetaries, buildings and some places where Katrina hit hard. Jeff said it was so sad to see how devestating it was and what a mess things still are down there. Then of course there was the game. They had great seats. They were 1st row right behind the goal post. They were so excited about that. To show how nervous Jeff was he didn't eat or drink anything at the game and for Jeff that is big. He is always up for a diet soda and a pretzel. But of course after an amazing and hard hitting game, Utah prevailed and beat the Crimson Tide of Alabama 31-17. No one predicted them to win let alone dominate the game. They were never behind and Jeff loved every minute of it. They flew back early the next day and we spent most of the rest of that day rewatching the game. Here are some pictures of his fun experiences.

This first picture is outside the dome before the game. The next is Jeff with Bubbles. She is a superfan who dances with the band at the end of the 3rd quarter of every Utah game.

This picture is of Jeff with this crazy guy that was at all the parties. As you can see he used the Mr. Incredibles suit and made Mr. Utah. The next is of Jeff on Bourbon street. I made sure and picked on with nothing bad in the background.

This is Jeff outside the bus they used to transport back and forth from things going on.

Jeff got this taco hat for the boys at the Taco Bell stand just outside the game. The next picture is Jeff getting his shoes shined. There was this guy on the street who would trick you into coming over to him and then once you got there he would spray this crap all over your shoes and then tell you he would shine them for you. Of course you have to say yes or you spend the day with this junk on your shoes. The best part is Jeff had sketchers on which of course are not shoes that you shine but oh well, such is life.

This is at one of the pregame parties. From Left to right Adrienne(Jeff's sister), Kyle Whittingham (Utah's head coach), Jeff, Michelle(friend of the family)

This picture is after Utah won. And the last one is a view from Jeff's seat at the game. This was during warm ups before the game.

Christmas 2008

2009-01-06T14:57:00.000-08:00

I know I am a bit behind but I needed to get an update going. Christmas was so much fun. The boys loved their gifts from everyone. Jake's favorite was his Nintendo DS and several games. Zach got his own version of a DS for his age, with several games. The babies got a few things but ended up loving the pringles and M&M's the most. Go figure. We had a great holiday. Christmas Eve started at our home with Santa coming on the fire truck. Jake and Zach loved it but Alex and Ryan were not too happy. They didn't really like the idea of him being in our house. The rest of the evening we went over at Jeff's parents and then Christmas morning at our own home. The break from school was nice and we had tons of snow so Jeff took the older boys tubing on the Saturday after Christmas. They have a nice tube run up Hobble Creek canyon. They really had a great time. Here are some pictures of the craziness of Christmas.

Utah Gymnastics Red Rocks preview

2008-12-20T13:43:00.001-08:00

The boys still enjoy going to Utah gynmastics so we went to their exhibition a week ago. There wasn't many people there so we spread out and the kids had a blast. The best part of the night was Swoop (the utah mascot)coming over to see the kids. Jake and Zach were so excited. They love it everytime they get to see him. The babies on the other hand, you never know how they are going to react. We have had some great pictures taken with him and the babies, but this was not going to be one of those great pictures. As you see in the picture, they were not happy at all to see this giant red tail hawk trying to hold them. Needless to say, they didn't get a picture that day. That is Ryan screaming in the picture. Alex was too you just can't see him.

Babies first Haircut

2008-12-20T13:32:00.001-08:00

Well I couldn't take it anymore. When your twins look like Doc Brown from Back to the future it is time to fix things. They also have been mistaken as the cutest girl twins and someone else also told Jeff's sister Adrienne(while holding Alex) I quote "you have the cutest little girl. She looks just like you." They still had such cute curls but they were a bit out of control so Jeff's cousin Becky came over and we set up shop in the shower. The boys did great. They didn't cry much. I think they were more confused on what the heck was going on. We got them in and out so fast we didn't give them much time to get mad. There haircuts are so cute. They look so different. Alex more than Ryan I think because Alex's hair had gotten so long. But they are still adorable but they look like boys now. Here are a few pictures of the experience.

Jake's Powwow at school

2008-12-20T13:20:00.000-08:00

I forgot to post from Jake's powwow at school. It was so cute. They had worked on it during November and performed right before Thanksgiving. It had all the first grade classes and each class had their own class dance and then they did a few all together. He worked so hard on his little outfit and props. We were so proud.

This first picture is of him getting ready to do his class dance. The girls did it first and then the boys repeated. Here is a video of him doing the dance and then the second video is of the Bear Dance that all the classes did together.

Thanksgiving

2008-12-01T13:35:00.001-08:00

We had a great Thanksgiving. Of course the time off school was great but just being able to relax and play with the kids was great. The kids got a little bored not being in school. They had a fun break though. The day before Thanksgiving the kids helped me make some turkey cupcakes. We had a ton of fun but they got bored quickly. Zach lasted about 15 minutes and Jake lasted almost until we were finished. They turned out pretty good if I do say so myself.

Thanksgiving Day was at our house. All of the Jacksons came. After lunch we went bowling and then returned to our house for snacking and dinner with the left overs. It was a great day. Then on Friday was shopped and then Jake and Zach went with Val and Age to help decorate up at Ed and Beth's.

They still have a huge tree and need help. I was told that the boys helped tons but I am sure it took a bit longer with their help. They loved being able to help though. Zach had a break down when he couldn't get the ornament to stay on the tree but after calming him down he continued to help. My crazy Zach. The break was great and we are now looking forward to the 2 weeks off at Christmas and whether we will be home for the holidays or off to a bowl game. We will keep you posted. Love to all.

Bowling with the BCS version 2 (12-0 Baby)

2008-11-24T16:48:00.000-08:00

Well after an exciting Saturday night we are now the 12-0 Utah Utes!!!! Yea Baby!!! We had so much fun at the game. We were so excited about the win and we are looking forward to what BCS bowl game we get invited to. We are all hoping for the Fiesta Bowl so we all can go and visit family in Phoenix. If they get invited to the Sugar or Orange bowl then Jeff will be traveling with his sister. It is a bit much for all of us to fly so we will be cheering from home if that happens. Lets hope the Tostitos people love us. We went down for the Fiest Bowl in 2004 and had a blast. We would love to do it all over again. Below are some great pictures from the game. We definitely met some interesting people.

My favorite picture is this first one. They met this crazy guy dressed up like Jesus carrying this sign. How random and crazy to do this for a football game. He was the life of the party though.
This second picture is after the game with 2 of the starting offensive line guys. #72 Caleb Schlauderaff and #65 Dustin Hensel. Jake got to wear one of the guys helmets. They were so nice.

These next two pictures are right after the win and the crowd rushed the field. It was crazy.

This last one is actually during the game. We were ahead so you can see how happy we were.

At least Age and I look happy. The boys were trying to act cool for the picture.

Utah beats TCU 10-0 Baby

2008-11-08T17:35:00.001-08:00

Well we enjoyed a very cold and wet football game the other night. Utah played TCU. It was going to be the last big game before facing BYU in 2 weeks. It was a nerve racking game. We were behind the entire game. After 2 missed field goal attempts by TCU the score was still 10-6 for TCU with a little over 2 minutes left in the game. Our offense came back on the field and managed to pull it together to drive down the field and get a touchdown with 45 seconds left in the game. It was now 13-10. We held them off and time ended with a Utah interception to end the game. It went crazy in the stadium and we are now 2 games away from getting a BCS bowl game. Jeff took the two older boys on the field after the game. They got some pictures with a few of the players. The first picture is with Sean Smith a starting cornerback and the second is with Matt Asiata, the starting runningback. The boys loved it. We would love to spend the new year in Arizona. Fiesta Bowl would be great. We had such a fun time last time we went. Case family get ready for a party. Hopefully we will be seeing you all soon.

New family pictures and Halloween

2008-11-08T17:13:00.000-08:00

We had family pictures done about a month in a half ago at JCPenneys. It went really well. We didn't end up getting any pictures of all the boys together. Ryan quit on us and we had to be done. The pictures ended up so cute. We were so proud of the boys. Also Halloween was great. The babies did a great job and really enjoyed it this year. They carried their own buckets and walked with me at the trunk or treat for our ward. All four boys were so cute and they really raked in the candy. They (meaning Jeff) will be eating off of it for weeks. Jake was Darth Vader, Zach was Spiderman, Ryan was Eeyore, and Alex was Dumbo. This is a picture of all the boys at Ed and Beth's house. They are always our last stop on the Halloween route.

Boys hunting trip

2008-10-28T21:38:00.000-07:00

Well Jeff has had a hunting trip planned for a while now with his cousins and brother. They decided they would take their oldest boys and go to the cabin and make a weekend of it. Well the fun began on Friday night they went to the cabin and really roughed it. They played guitar hero and messed around until late into the night. Then Jeff thought they would get up early and go spot a little. This lasted about an hour. As you can probably guess, Jeff hasn't been hunting for a few years, he might need to ease into it a bit more. After that Jeff, Jake, Scott, Peyton, Todd, and Bradyn met us in Salt Lake for the Utah football game. We won and had a really good time with everyone there. They headed back up and played Saturday night until late into the night again. Sunday they got up and had an early/late (depends on who you talk to) breakfast. They headed out for some huntin time. At one point they witnessed an accident with about a dozen deer and a small silver car. You can probably guess who won. The car was pretty torn up but so were some of the deer. Jeff said it looked like bowling pins when they got hit. Sad huh. They had some great stories to tell with this experience. Lastly, the boys really wanted to see the guns (if you know me yes I was about to throw up when I saw the picture, I don't do guns!!).

They reassured me they unloaded them and put safetys on so it was completely safe but the boys loved looking like the big boys. And I must say it is a cute picture of boys who can't wait to be men. Scary.

Halloween Activities

2008-10-28T21:23:00.000-07:00

We have had fun preparing for Halloween. The boys love it. Most of our activities cause a huge mess but I am working on not worrying about the mess and just having fun. My boys love it and I love seeing them happy and having so much fun. We made and decorated halloween cookies a couple of weeks ago. Jillian, Aunt Shelli, Amelia and her boys Cayson and Parker all came over and we had so much fun. We rolled out the dough and cut all the cookies. Then after baking and cooling we broke out the frosting and sprinkles. It was everywhere but we just laughed and had a really good time. The best was that Shelli brought these cute candies to put on top and my boys went crazy with them. Some of the cookies you would have thought add a little cookie with that frosting and candy. That was the best part though. The best cookies were the loaded ones. After cleaning up all the frosting and sprinkles we sat back and viewed the beauty of the Halloween cookies.

We also carved pumpkins tonight and that was even better. I have decided that some of my mess anxieties have rubbed off on Zach. He wouldn't put his hand in the pumpkin and clean out the guts. He kept screaming not to touch him with our gross hands. We are working on that. Finally we got him to stick his hand in the bowl of goop and he realized it wasn't too bad. We had some stencils this year so the kids enjoyed making their design. Jeff and I helped with the cutting, it was still a bit tough for the boys to do but they had fun lighting them up and seeing what they looked like outside. What a fun holiday.

Alex's new love

2008-10-28T21:02:00.000-07:00

Well we have a boy now that seems to love dressing up in things. It all started with getting ready for Halloween. Alex seemed to just love to put on the costumes. He would just laugh at himself. Then Jake got a new helmet and pads for bicycling and Alex couldn't stop playing with them. So we just figured, put them on him and he would hate it. Then he would leave them alone. Well it backfired and he ended up with the whole get up on for the whole evening. He even ate dinner with everything on. I couldn't stop laughing so I took some pictures. Hope you enjoy.

Alex has also gotten pretty good at watching his brothers. He has now learned how to throw his own fits. He is getting pretty good but as you can see he is also beginning to see that the fits don't work. He gives up pretty fast so lets hope for the future.

One more thing.....

2008-10-05T15:07:00.000-07:00

Jeff is mad that I haven't posted the babies walking good yet. They are so good at it now and he is so proud. I love it too but now they are just getting into everything faster so I am not totally sure I love it yet.

We are also still enjoying the Utah football games. They played Oregon St. last week and they were coming off a win against #1 USC so we were excited for the game. It was a great game and we won 31-28. We had so much fun. The babies do so good at the games and we got some fun pictures. Alex has the headband on. Man he really needs a haircut but I can't bring myself to cut the cute curls. Ryan is our drinker. He is a tiny bit addicted to the straw. Whenever he sees a cup with a straw in it he just knows it is something he wants. Do we have any hope for the future?

Trip to Colorado

2008-10-05T14:11:00.000-07:00

The next day after the circus we took a trip to Grand Junction Colorado. Jeff had a conference for the tire company they are teamed with. Riley and his family went also and we had a lot of fun. We arrived on Thursday evening and the hotel was really nice. Big rooms but only one king bed. The hotel obviously didn't plan well. It worked out, they had a large chair and ottoman in the room and Jake thought that would be the coolest bed so he got to sleep there. We had cribs for the babies and Zach just slept with us. Friday, the guys had meetings all day so Stephanie and I took the kids to the dinosaur museum just a few miles down the road. They had a great time and there were tons of fun things they did there.

We also went swimming and then had a dinner on Friday night. We watched the fireworks from the local air show and then went up to the room to watch a late night movie. It was a long but very fun day. Then on Saturday we went to the air show. They had tons of stunt planes and jets to watch but the best part of the show was the Blue Angels from their base in Florida came and did a show for over an hour. It was amazing to watch. I got some great footage but there was so many cool things that I didn't catch on film. We loved it. The boys got to see all these planes they had there. You could get into some of them and the boys felt so cool. Zach was so worried everytime I tried to have in get into a plane. He kept saying he didn't want to get in because he was afraid they were going to take off and he didn't want to go up in it. We went through it everytime he started to get into one.

As you can see in the picture of Zach, the show got so loud. We really enjoyed watching the Blue Angels do all their tricks. It was amazing. I put a few clips below so you could see just a few of the crazy things they do.

I know this is alot of video clips but I couldn't decide which ones I liked better so I had to put all of these on. The Blue Angels also were staying at the same hotel as we were so we saw them all weekend. We had some pictures taken with them but I didn't have my camera with me so Stephanie took them with her camera. When she emails it to me I will post it. The kids loved it so much. We then returned on Sunday to unpacking (the absolute worst part of a vacation). The kids are ready for another trip.

Circus

2008-10-05T12:53:00.000-07:00

We got to go the Ringling Bros. Circus a couple of weeks ago. The kids had so much fun. It is very interesting to watch. Jeff ended up spending the last 45 minutes of the circus with the babies outside the show. They just couldn't last anymore. It was getting loud and they were done for sure. What a good dad. Here are some pictures of the hightlights.

The first picture is of the elephants dancing. The next is of all my boys anxiously waiting for the show to start. The next is Ryan and me taking a picture of ourselves. The next is a picture of the Ball of Death. At least that is what I called it. They had 7 motorcyclist in that thing driving around in circles. Doesn't give much room for error. I sat and wondered to myself, how do you practice for something like that. The last picture is of the acrobatics portion of the show. The whole thing was really good. As Jake said over and over, I couldn't take my eyes off the stage.

Utes Season Begins

2008-09-08T16:12:00.000-07:00

Well the season is officially begun and we are having fun already. We began with Fanfest and the kids loved it. They got to get signatures and pictures of Utah teams. They also got to go on the field and do tons of fun activites. It was so hot that day but we had tons of fun.

After Fanfest we went and spent the night at the cabin in Strawberry. Jeff needed to mess with the television a bit so we met Ed and Beth up there and got all of that taken care of. We had a lot of fun while we were up there. The babies turned into little birds. Whenever Ed would have a plate of watermelon, the babies would turn up and eat most of his plate. They had watermelon radar. Also we had a cake for Beth's 80th birthday. I think the most fun part for the boys was setting up the chipmunk trap and using leftover pancakes to catch em a chipmunk. That thing went nuts in the trap and Jake was nervous about setting it loose. He thought for sure it was going to come and get him.

And then Jeff, Adrienne, and Jake got to go to the Michigan/Utah game at the BIG HOUSE in Ann Arbor Michigan. They had so much fun. The stadium was huge and there was gold and blue everywhere. There was a small strip of red at the top of the stadium. There was a tailgate party before the game and they got a chance to cheer and get all pumped up for the game. Like that would really be hard. Utah won and the weekend couldn't have been any better. Then they got to spend a day with my family in Indiana. Jake loved seeing his cousins and I think a bit too much information was shared during the visit. From what I understand since I wasn't there they felt more free to talk about me and also some pretty interesting topics from what I hear. The interesting topics weren't about me but lets just say my nephew Michael figured out a few things that he wished he never knew. It was a good visit and a great game.

More Excitement

2008-08-30T11:29:00.000-07:00

Jake has had some exciting things happen lately. School started a week ago and he is already having good things happen at school. His teacher has a special award called the super bee. It is given to a student that is behaving, treating others kindly and doing his work. He gets to bring the super bee home for the night. He was so excited and of course we were too and so proud. We think he is one of our super bees.

Jake also had soccer start. This year he is in the U-8 league which means they are supposed to know mostly what they are doing and the field is 3 times bigger than last years field. Jeff's cousin Stacy is coaching them and doing a great job. She has some challenges ahead but they have only had time for one practice so I think the best is yet to come. He got tired fast, having to run so much but he got to play goalie in the second quarter and he did good. We hope he keeps having fun with it.

Also our other big news is we finally have some babies interested in walking a bit. They are getting better everyday. They tend to walk better and more often when I have the camera put away but we managed to get a few steps that Alex took on camera the other day. Usually when the camera comes out, the babies head right for it and forget everything else that is going on. Having a bit of footage is a rare treat. I am exciting about the walking but a bit nervous. They already get into everything, can you imagine how bad it can get.

Jeff and Jake are in Michigan this weekend for the big football game so we will post pictures of that when they get back.

It is that time of year again.....

2008-08-26T21:29:00.000-07:00

when life gets a bit crazier and alot more interesting. With the beginning of school, life brings on another new set of challenges. Things are going good and our routine is beginning to get into full swing. My mother in law is still my saint and watches the babies and Zach(2days a week because of preschool) while I work for 3 hours in the morning. I still have the wonderful chance to teach part time and I enjoy every minute of it. It definitely doesn't get any easier but just more adventurous every year. Jake is now in 1st grade and loving it. I think he likes being at school a full day but Zach is definitely having brother withdraws. Jake has lots of new kids in this class but he is meeting new people and learning tons. His teacher seems really nice and she loves teaching, which helps. He is so smart and works hard at his reading. I can't believe how he improves everyday. Zach is in Pre-school for 3 days a week this year. He goes to Mrs. Julie's Take Flight school. She is wonderful and does tons of fun things with the kids but they also are learning so much it is crazy. He came home the first day and said my teacher is so,so,so, so, so, so nice. I hope I got the right amount of so's in there. I am happy that he is having fun. Here are pictures from right before leaving for the first day.

We also went to the Utah Utes Fan fest last Saturday. The kids loved it. Basically they open the stadium and have all the different sports teams come and set up booths. You can get autographs and pictures and then they have tons of things you can play with. For example the ski team had a snow pile made and the kids could take tobagon rides down the hill. The golf team had greens set up so you could hit the golf ball. They had those blow up things to jump on and much much more. It was so hot but it really was fun. My sister in law was my personal photographer but we didn't get the pictures downloaded before she went home so I will post some good pictures next time. Then we went to the cabin for the night and that was nice. The boys love the cabin. We haven't been able to go much this year but hopefully next year we can go more. It is always nice to relax and enjoy the cool weather. Also Zach had his first soccer game tonight. We are so proud. It is his first time being in organized city league sports and I was quite impressed. He is quite an aggressive little thing. I don't know if that is good or bad. I had to leave half way through the game to go to Jake's back to school night, (our first child activity conflict how scary) but Jeff got some great pictures and videos.

Jake has his first soccer game on Thursday. He is in the upper league now so we are anxious to see how he does. We will post pictures of him next time also. We are still loving life and can't wait to see what comes next.

Musicians and Much more

2008-08-15T09:01:00.000-07:00

We have had a ton of fun activities since we got back from vacation but we definitely are ready for school to start. Shortly after coming back from our vacation we decided to go bowling as a family activity. We had a great time and the boys loved it. Jake got very excited and Zach couldn't believe it when he actually knocked down pins. We had a blast.

We also passed the time by having family over and playing guitar hero on the side of the house. We borrowed Jeff's dad's projector, inspired by my brothers parties in Indiana, and played until late in the night. We probably drove the neighborhood crazy but we had fun. Hopefully we will get to do this again before winter comes.

It has been a hot summer which makes it hard to convince the kids to go outside and play but there has been some nice days and the babies have finally decided that grass is alright. It took a while to convince them but now they love it.

We also have some new musicians in our home. The twins have discovered the recorder and love to listen to themselves play it. They giggle and get such a kick out of it. Of course we all sit around and listen to them so I am sure they love the attention they get from doing it. They are really starting to get their personalities. It is very exciting.

Zach also got our wonderful laughing machine(Alex) going the other night again. It was so funny how much he was giggling. Alex has been sick lately so it was nice to see him have a little life in him, even if it was only for a few minutes.

And lastly, we have been trying to get the older boys back on the schedule of going to bed earlier to prepare for the beginning of school. Well the attempt has been in vain but the best part about the struggle is seeing them in the morning and how tired they must be. They definitely can sleep through anything as witnessed in the following picture.

Trip to Indiana

2008-07-16T11:17:00.001-07:00

Well we made our annual trip to Indiana to see my family. We had the best time. We did tons of things but stayed pretty close to home which was so nice. We drove out with my brother and his family. They had been out for Stephanie's family reunion and headed home the same time we were going. It was a nice drive, better than I thought it would be. We traded kids back and forth and I think they had a good time. We took 3 days, first day to Nebraska, second day to St. Louis, then the third day to Bedford. We stopped the second day in St. Louis to go to the zoo. The kids loved it. It is a very nice zoo. Then we tried to go to Pointers Pizza, home of the 8 lb. pizza but it didn't work out so we headed to Bedford. Pictures of the drive are below.The day after we got there was the 4th of July. We went to the parade, the kids really loaded up on treats. Then we spent the day at my cousin Kristi's house. Her and Dustin are so wonderful to have it at their house every year. We eat tons and tons and then have a huge wiffle ball tournament. We had enough people this year to have 5 teams and a double elimination tournament. What a blast. It was rainy which made it even crazier. The mud added an extra element to the party. Let's just say, it got really interesting. Jeff scored the first home run of the day. The tourney always gets a bit heated, as you can see in the following video.

The boys had a great time. Zach got adventurous with Adam and had a mud bath. It is crazy to think people pay for that stuff. Below are a few pictures and videos from the day. We love going. At the end of the day we had fireworks and I wish I would have taken pictures of all the kids doing the sparklers. You would have thought it was world war 3 with all the smoke. You couldn't even see 5 feet in front of you. It was nuts. The babies hated the fireworks so I moved to the garage so they would stop crying. Maybe next year. Another fun activity we did was Dustin and Kristi reserved a pontoon boat and we spent the day on the lake. The babies were too little so my mom stayed with them. I wish they could have gone but it was just too much. Our other boys had an absolute blast. We were initially told not to go under the road cosway because the water level was too high but us being rebels, yea right, decided we would try it anyway. We inched our way up to the overpass. My brother Hein stood on the top deck of the boat to make sure it cleared. We made it but lets just say we made it by the skin of our teeth. When we docked on the other side, we had tons of stuff to do. There was a slide off the back of the boat, jet skis and the water tube off the back of the Matlocks boat. We barbequed on the boat and really didn't want the day to end. I felt bad, Jeff left about half way through the day because my mom wasn't feeling good so he left to watch the babies. Next year, hopefully we can do it again and the babies can come. Below are some great videos and pictures of the day.

Here is a video that I love. There was this group of geese swimming around trying to get scraps of food so Jake thought it would be a good idea to go swim with them. Just watch.

The next video is of Jake on the tube behind the boat with his cousin Katelynn and Ali's friend Merideth. He had so much fun. I couldn't believe how brave he was. He went much faster than I did and kept yelling for Dustin to go faster. I was so proud of him. He has gotten so daring all of the sudden. I am not sure I like it yet.

This next video is of me, my sister in law Stephanie and my nephew Sam. Stephanie and I wanted to go about the same pace but come to find out, going slower actually made it bouncer than if we would have gone faster. We had fun while it lasted but we were ready to be done. Maybe I will get braver another time.
We had a few other videos of my brothers. They did some crazy rides. The biggest crash of the day was my brother Terry and my niece Katelynn. They got going pretty good and Katelynn slid sideways and flipped and then because Terry was side heavy he caused the tube to flip and he went right over the top of Katelynn. She got slammed but managed to survive with only bitting a chunck out of inside her mouth. You could see teeth marks and all. It was quite gross. She was a real trooper. I wish I would have got that ride on video but I missed it. My brothers got going pretty good too. They had some wild rides usually resulting in Hein flying off and Terry hanging on to save himself. It really was a blast. This last video is of Zach finally getting brave and going in the water by himself. He would only go in if someone took him. He also finally took a jet ski ride with me, I was so proud. Jake also took a jet ski ride with me. It was great.

The last few days we went to the Lawrence county 4-H fair and went to a park in Bloomington. At the fair Jeff, Hein, and Katelynn tried to get hypnotized and that was funny. They all tried so hard but couldn't do it. Katelynn had a kid laying all over her and he was out. I am not sure how much Hein liked that but what do ya do. The boys also rode a ride that I couldn't believe they got on. I think they wondered the same thing once it started. Then at the park in Bloomington, the kids had a blast. They had this slide type set up next to a creek and the kids could slide down it into the water. They had a ball. We put the babies on the swings and as you can see in the pictures, Alex had a blast but Ryan's stomach didn't handle it so well. Here are some pictures.

Milestones

2008-06-26T08:03:00.000-07:00

Well I finally got a picture of Jeff for his blog debut. He ran the Nestle 5K with his sister and cousin for Art City Days. He felt really good and enjoyed himself. They were all a little disappointed when no one won a door prize, this race is well known for great prizes, but they had fun anyway. The second picture is from the Nestle website. They took picture at the raceand Jeff found this one on the site. They are famous. The last picture is of Alex on the fire truck. He fell asleep half way through the parade. I couldn't believe it, with all the noise that he fell asleep so easily. Well he had fun while it lasted.

We also have my brother Hein and his family visiting for a few days. It has been so fun having them. My kids love having instant playmates for the day. Well they have been playing some guitar hero and you wouldn't think that is a full contact sport but I guess I thought wrong. Zach recieved battle wounds when he got caught with the end of the guitar in his eye. Nice Shiner.

Today is also the babies first birthday. We had the party last night and had a blast. We had almost everyone from Jeff's family there, and then my brothers family. It was about 55 people. We had a BBQ and then cake and opened presents. It was tons of fun and we were so happy to have everyone come and be apart of their special day. Here are some special pictures of the day and a few videos. They loved the cake eating by the way.

The present opening was a clostrophobics nightmare. All the kids had to be a part of it which made it interesting. The babies weren't too interested until they got their gerber graduate snacks and the bouncy balls. They seemed to be the biggest hits. Thanks to everyone. It was a great night the babies loved it.

So many things to do, so little time to do them

2008-06-20T09:20:00.000-07:00

We just finished up with Art City Days last week and oh what fun that was. We had a great week, full of excitement. We had the Fun-A-Rama for the older boys. At the park, they set up those blow up slides and mazes. They also had a magic show and a train ride. The big hit of the day was hair painting and tattoos. The kids had so much fun. Don't they look great in green.

Then later on in the week they had the firemans breakfast. Jake went to work with Dad and we were so proud. He got to write down how many breakfast orders there were and then give it to the cashier. He did a great job.

Jeff enjoyed cooking with his cousin Riley. They always have fun. Jeff is lookin good. Then we had the parade and we all got to load up on the top of the fire truck. Jeff couldn't come because he was finishing up with breakfast so Adrienne, Jeff's sister helped me with the kids so the babies could go. They all loved it. Alex even fell asleep half way through, sirens screaming and all. They loved waving and looking at everything. Half of the truck was full of my kids and the cousins. When you see the picture the whole side of the truck is family and there were even more in the front. We had a blast.

We were at the beginning of the parade so we made it back around to finish watching it. It was so much fun. The kids made it out with pockets full of candy and tons of flyers and coupons. Good boys. And now lastly, the babies first birthday is coming up and the local paper puts announcements in for you so I wanted you all to see the cute picture we took for the paper. It turned out really good. Also one other side note, we might have a future star in Ryan. He already plays the recorder and loves it. He always laughs at himself after he makes it play music. I will put a video on later.

T-ball and Sunday visit at Grandparents

2008-06-11T10:42:00.000-07:00

We are loving the summer. We have gone to 7 peaks water park twice now and we are having a blast. The first time I took just the 2 older boys and they didn't require a whole lot of attention from me. Jake went with his cousin Addie and they went everywhere together checking in about every 10-15 minutes. Zach just played in the kids pool and it isn't very deep so I just kept my eye on him and he did great. So I figured I would try the next visit with the twins. Wow what an adventure. Actually it wasn't bad at all. I just felt like a pack mule. My huge stroller, cooler, towel bag, baby floaties for two, and 4 kids. I am sure people thought, This lady must be crazy!!!! The babies did good. They just sat in the water by me and played with little water toys. They didn't move too far away and the bigger boys really helped me out carrying everything. We really did have fun. Also it helps when you have friends there. They helped out to which made my life easier. I think I will take them again, just not everytime. Also like I said before Jake started T-ball and is doing great. He is learning more every game. Zach and I sit on the side and he asks tons of questions about what the boys are doing so I am sure he is learning all about the game too. Here are some pictures from his practice and first game.

Also another thing we do as a family is go to the grandparents every Sunday night for a visit and time for the kids to play with cousins. Last Sunday was a picture fest because Jeff's dad bought a new camera. It is nice and takes amazing pictures. There are some cute ones of the babies, Zach, and others. Enjoy, I did.

More pictures

Gotten behind again

2008-06-05T09:31:00.000-07:00

Once again I have gotten behind on posting. I will try not to jam pack too much into this but so much has been going on (hence the reason for being bad on posting). I will start with Jake's kindergarten graduation. It was so cute. He did a great job and everyone came to watch. He found out he has Mrs. Beesley next year for 1st grade. We hear she is great. He will be starting fresh because there are none of his friends from his old class in this new class. We are excited for him to meet new kids and do something different. Here are a few clips of his wonderful program.

we are so proud of him. He did great in Kindergarten. We can't wait to see what next year brings. Then shortly before school was out we had our annual trip to the cabin for Memorial Day. We go every year to do work to get the cabin ready for the summer. We went on Friday night before Memorial Day. The kids were so excited, they love it up there. The cabin is at Strawberry on the Soldier creek side. Well Saturday was the work day and we spent about 10 hours gathering, cutting and burning branches of about 50 trees that had been cut down the fall before. Wow what a job that turned into. It wasn't the most fun day of my life but it needed to be done and we were glad to help out. Then Sunday more of the family came up and we had a fun day together but by Sunday night we had entered hell. Just about everyone got sick. We are not sure what happened but all the kids and most of the adults had it coming from both ends to put it politely. It was miserable. Most of the night was spent cleaning up and keeping things as under control as possible. We are talking about 25 people all sick at the same time in very tight quarters. What a way to end the weekend. We ended up leaving early on Monday with plastic bags in each of the kids hands in case in came up on the way home. One kid used it on the way home. Before everyone got sick we did have a great time. Here is a video of Ryan playing on his cousin Brynlee's car.
Then shortly after that trip we had an exciting thing happen at our house. Jake was breaking off a loose string from his shirt with his teeth and he lost his first tooth. He just about died. He couldn't believe it. We didn't even know it was loose but it just popped right out. Zach didn't want to sleep in the same room with Jake that night because he was a little nervous the tooth fairy was coming. We convinced him she was tiny and nothing to worry about. Jake loved getting his reward in the morning. He is ready for the next one to fall out. And now summer has begun. We got a slip and slide for the boys and we tried it out the other day. The water was freezing so Jake was really the only one that loved it. Zach is a little more sensitive and as you can see in the following videos he had a harder time enjoying it. Also, a little disclosure, the film is PG because the boys were so anxious and mom was too lazy to go get their swimsuits that they just did it in their underwear so be prepared.
T-ball for Jake also just started and his first game was last Tuesday. Bobb got some good pictures of his so as soon as I get him to send them to me, I will post those. Love you all and hope all is well.

Oh the places you'll go

2008-05-16T20:25:00.000-07:00

We had Zach's preschool graduation last night and he did such a great job. We are sad to see the Preschool teacher decide it was her last year. Jake had her for 2 years in preschool and Zach has been in her class for 1 year. She is great and we will miss her. She always does a great job. For their program they sang some songs and each kid had a small part to recite. Zach worked on his and had his memorized. He said "we learned about the days of the week and the alphabet." He ususally is pretty shy, as you can see he ate his shirt most of the time, but we were glad to see him having fun. We were so proud. Here are some clips of the big show. There were some other cute kids in Zach's class as you can see. It was a cute show. We hope he has as much fun next year at the new preschool as he did this year.

I also wanted to post a few more pictures from my sisters wedding reception. These are pictures I took with my phone. My cute grandpa and grandma are so adorable so I really wanted them to have a moment to shine. They are great and we are so happy they were able to come. We love them. This is also a picture of the fun we had decorating Alida's car. We used Oreo cookies and it was a blast. It took them until the next morning to find a place to wash it all off. Too bad it rained all night and made absolute mush all over the place. Good on the windshield wipers.

Time just rushes by!

2008-05-02T22:23:00.000-07:00

I can hardly believe it has been over a month since my last post. Is is laziness, forgetfulness, or just plan busyness? I don't know if busyness is the correct spelling but who really cares right? I did have a request from my cute cousin Jo to get posting so I am listening to her advice, and getting a new post done. A lot has happened since my last post so I hope I don't make things too jumbled or boring and long. My husband has also been hasseling my to get this done so hopefully I will make him pround. Maybe he will let me spend a bit more of that wonderful stimulus tax rebate money we just got, ain't life grand. I never thought kids would pay off but I guess in the long run $300 dollars a kid really doesn't go too far. But who is really in it for the money? My kids are definitely worth a million times that to me. Well lets start with my wonderful little sister who got married on April 18th. Thanks Katelynn for sharing your birthday. My sister Alida has waited for the best and next to Jeff, and a few other great guys I know, Aaron is right up there. I am so happy for her. She had her wedding over my spring break so I could be there and I wouldn't have missed it for the world. I just wish my cute family could have been there with me.

My sister will kill me for posting the picture on the bench but I would have to say it is one of my favorites. It sure does look like Aaron is in pain but I promise he just doesn't do well without his sunglasses. Don't they look so happy. We actually woke up the morning of the wedding to an earthquake. What a way to start a new life together. You could take it as a sign, but good thing the happy couple isn't superstitious at all. Now I know I spelled that word wrong. The reception was a blast. I really wish my family could have been there with me. That is the only way it could have been better. Attached is a video of the craziness and some pictures of our fun night. I did have a ton of fun videos I took on my phone to send to Jeff but I haven't figured out how to send them to my email yet. If I ever figure it out I will put them on. Logan, you better hope I never figure it out. People will see the real crazy Logan and all the dancing you did.

I really think everyone had an absolute blast. I was so happy to be there and share in her wonderful day. We will be going back out to Indiana over the fourth of July so it will be good to see everyone again. My kids are anxious to see "THE COUSINS".

Now on to my wonderful family. I am still trying to get Jeff to show off his new body, but it hasn't worked yet. I think I am just going to have to sneek up on him. I will keep you posted on the progress. We had the boys birthdays back in March. I can't remember if I talked about those yet or not in another post. Jake had his party at Jumpin Jacks. It was his first friend party. We had so much fun. He has decided there will be no cheerleading this year. It is kind of sad for me because I know he loves that stuff but he is trying so hard to be all boy now. Oh well, I guess it is a good thing. We are going to the Zoo with his kindergarten class next week and he can't wait. I will post pictures of the experience next week. Or whenever I get the next chance.

On to Zach. We had Zach's party at home. Not old enough for the friend party yet. We had the family and I think it was just as good. Definitely cheaper. Zach is looking forward to his preschool graduation in a couple of weeks. Wow he is getting so big. He loves to play with his little brothers. And sleep. I realized after I attached the picture, I forgot to rotate the picture before putting it on. I hope none of you get a sore neck from looking at the sideways picture.

Now on to the "BROTHERS" as Jeff calls them. Alex has 4 teeth. And they are as cute as ever. He still laughs all the time and is really trying to get his big body to crawl correctly. I don't think his little arms can support him, but he is trying. Ryan is starting to crawl correctly and even pull himself up next to the couch. However no teeth yet. Each baby has his own achievements. All of which we are proud of. They are everywhere now and so we keep most doors shut and gates up. They are still adorable and getting bigger and stronger every day.

Nothing Profound

2008-04-01T15:29:00.000-07:00

I wish I had something profound to write like my friend Mr. Laurel Christensen (she will understand the Mr. part). She always writes the most interesting and amazing things. But I am really just not too profound of a person. My life is pretty simple and I hate to admit it but so are most of my thoughts. So because my life is my children then I will write yet another update on my wonderful boys. I will start with Jeff. I wish I had a great picture to post of him but he will not allow it. He has been in a biggest loser contest and it ends this Friday. He has done very well and we are hoping he wins the title on the individual competition. He is at about 55 lbs of weight lose and still doing amazing. Eventually I am sure he will allow me to do a big reveal but just not yet. I am so proud of him. Jake and Zach are still crazy. Here are a couple of pictures of them waiting to ride the Trax Train in Salt Lake, after the last gymnastics meet. They had a blast with Aunt Age. They continue to get cuter every day and coming up with the craziest things to do and say. They are both looking forward to summer and seeing cousins in Indiana. Here is a great video of Zach doing his "thang". Both boys are such entertainers.

Alex and Ryan are still growing and trying to keep healthy. Alex has been sick the last few days and has just been miserable. We are hoping he gets over it quickly and that also Ryan keeps from getting it. Ryan is starting to get up on his hands and knees. He really wants to crawl but just hasn't gotten it figured out yet. Alex can commando crawl like no other. He has a few more pounds to move around but doing good with it. Here are a few current pictures of them.

Pictures I tried to post the other day

2008-03-13T21:04:00.000-07:00

Here are the pictures I tried to post the other night from the gymnastics meet. I think they will work now.

News Flash

2008-03-13T20:54:00.000-07:00

We made the big times now. Jake, Zach, and I made the Springville paper. How exciting. We attended Jake's school breakfast last week and the principal took a picture of us as we purchased our food. Jake and Zach felt so special. I loved it. I think Jeff was proud, he kept calling and reminding me to look in the paper as soon as it came. Also I found an old picture of Zach that I wanted to post. It really makes me look like a bad mother but I promise I am working on it. It is just really hard to remember to brush the kids teeth everyday. Let's hope his adult teeth look a bit better. We are crossing our fingers. We are also gearing up for Jake's first friend party with kids from school. He can't wait. We will post pictures of the celebration next week. Keep watching for it. Love You all.

in limbo

2008-03-09T21:37:00.000-07:00

Well we are anxiously waiting for Jakes birthday to arrive. He is getting excited and can hardly wait. It will be his first friend party. We have been passing the time by figuring out ways to make the babies laugh. It has become Jake and Zach's mission to see who can make the babies laugh the hardest. Most of the time they can get Alex to bust up but Ryan usually just looks at them and wonders what the sakes are you guys acting so crazy for. Evidence of this is in the following video clip from the other night.
If you noticed in the video Ryan in the background with the puzzled looked on his face is priceless. We also enjoyed a fun evening at the Utah gymnastics meet. The kids love to go. The Utes won of course but Zach was a little disappointed when they failed to play the song "Hey Baby". It has become very much a rital for him. Without it, it just didn't seem the same for him. The kids really love going and it is great family time. Well I have been trying to upload some pictures of the kids at gymnastics but the server has issues so I will just add them tomorrow in another post. Love you all.

Fixed

2008-03-02T11:28:00.001-08:00

I have changed my settings so you don't have to be registered to post to my blog. Please feel free to leave me a message and you shouldn't have to log in or be a member. Hope to hear from all of you.

Birthdays Birthdays everywhere

2008-03-01T22:08:00.000-08:00

Well we began our birthday celebrations for March. We went to Chuck E. Cheese for Zach/Jeff birthdays. Boy was it the time of our lives. Jeff doesn't want to admit he really wanted to go but I could see it in his eyes as the tickets came pouring out of each game. The boys loved it but Zach is still a bit nervous at the idea of Chuck E. being too close. He kept one eye on the extra large mouse at all times at the fear he would get too close. After, we went to Target and the boys used some of their birthday money (Thanks Meemo) and bought Playstation 2 High School musical Sing It game. Between Jeff's birthday present of Guitar Hero and now the boys jumping on the video game band wagon, we have spent a few too many hours glued to the big screen playing and singing together. I have to admit I stink at Guitar hero but I love to sing along with all the hard rock 80's. Oh it brings back memories from high school. How sad is that. I will keep you posted on the other celebrations that are happening for us in March. Too many to put into one post.

Also I wanted to post a few updated pictures of the babies. These are cute ones so I wanted everyone to see how cute my little guys are getting. I can't believe how big they are getting. They are 8 months now. Crazy!!!!

Wonderful weekend

2008-02-23T17:50:00.000-08:00

I had a wonderful weekend with the girls. My friends and I try to take mom away time and we went to Salt Lake for the night. On Saturday morning we did inititories at the Temple and loved the time together. The following picture is the only one appropriate to post. Jeff took the boys with his sister to the Utah gymnastics meet so they had a fun time, even without me. I will attach a few other more current pictures of the boys and wish me luck on trying to make this blog exciting for you all to read. I will get back with you all in a couple of days.

My first Blog, lets hope it works

2008-02-21T21:37:00.000-08:00

I thought I would try this blog thing. I don't know how successful I will be at it. My husband will probably compare it to the time I bought tons of Scrapbooking stuff for a wonderful book for my almost 6 year old and as of now I have 5-6 pages done and still working on it. Maybe since this doesn't require a ton of hands on work, I might be more diligent. This first post will be short but I will figure this out and hopefully make it more exciting for you all to read. Here's to ya.