Tyler's most Favorite Gift

What boy doesn't love a Remote Control Car? Tyler went crazy with this bug, running it up the stairs.
Look who got in the way of the car, notice Chase running for cover. The remote control car was on his heels and he was going to escape the wrath of the BUG, Ryan barely got out of the way in time.

Rock Band

The gift of the year....Rock Band. Everyone has spent the week testing their skills. It has been voted that I NOT sing. I don't understand, I did get most enthusiastic when I did sing, just because no one could stay on the beat.

Brittany rocking out.....

Finally Logan and I got a moment on the guitar and drums. Such deep concentration on my part.

I still don't understand why they won't let me sing.....

What a Wonderful Christmas

Christmas didn't start as early as I had suspected it would, apparently the boys were told that Santa would not come if they got out of bed, and with no windows in their room they had no idea what time it was.

How I love seeing piles of wrapped presents under the tree....The kids say that it's a Jackson tradition, but really it was a way to disguise the the lack of presents when the kids were little and has continued from there.

Still lacking in the photography abilities, I must say this picture of the boy's stockings is sweet.

Tyler taking it all in while awaiting the Aunts and Uncles...geeze...don't they know kids are waiting to see what Santa brought them?

Chase loved his car from his stocking, not so interested in clothing boxes. Thank goodness mom is.
The boys and their toys.....

Tyler and Chase love the cars, tractors and army guys.

From the cousins...Truck Garage, so cool.

Yes, even Logan thought this was cool, even though I've tried to talk April out of it for years...here it is, The Christmas Story lamp. Just expect pink bunny suits for your kids next year.

Everyone checking out their gifts...

Jill got her Sewing Machine....YEAH!

Brett and his GPS...He can't wait to find his way around Houston.

And for those whose pictures didn't make it here...please forgive my photography skills, the pictures just didn't turn out. Sorry Sorry Sorry.

Gingerbread House

What fun is it to make a gingerbread house by yourself? I eagerly awaited the arrival of some grandkids so we could bake and eat candy. The evening before Christmas Eve, we began the process of making the gingerbread, using the recipe and tips off of Ruth's blog, Tyler, Chase and I started measuring and mixing. I of course messed up the very first ingredient and ended up needing to double the recipe to offset my goof. And that meant we needed to add lots and lots of flour to the mix. The boys love measuring and pouring the ingredients into the bowl. I had a few moments where I wasn't sure where we were at in the process, expecially the flour. So we just kept adding until it looked like it was solid and we were able to roll out the dough.

We had quite the time and ended the night in a flour fight, started totally by Chase... For more details and pictures you will need to go to Kate's blog, who was ready with the camera to capture it all.

Of course we had enough to make gingerbread men also. They were mighty tasty treats.

Merry Christmas to Me

One of the things that attracted me to our house was this storage room. For the past three years it's been just that, but in my mind, it's has always been meant to be "Jackson's Market". Knowing Britt and Brett were short on cash this year, I suggested to them in lieu of buying us something, to build for me these storage racks and shelves.

I absolutely LOVE IT!!!! Now I can see what I still need and want not to mention I can now find those items that have been tucked away in the back of the cupboard.

Love you Brett and Britt for this wonderful wonderful gift. And Lots of love and thanks to Logan for paying for the wood and design. I can just stand in this room for hours, if you can't find me, check at the Market.

It's Beginning to Look alot like Christmas

Christmas is almost upon us and with the beginning arrivals of our family, I've been busy placing the final touches on Christmas decorations.

I love the outdoor lights. I remember when I was young we would drive around and see the neighborhood Christmas lights, I loved the ones where each bush was a different color.

Having an abundance of "fake" trees, I love to decorate each of them differently. This one is in the kitchen/family room, where all the other decorations are whimsical and just as bright.

At the top of the stairs you are greeted with the Candy Cane tree.



Now I avoid the idea and terms "Going Green", being politically correct drives me insane... but this year our main Christmas tree is a Holly Bush, which we will plant in the yard afterwards. This idea also comes from my childhood and a need for shrubbery and trees in our yard, not to mention a fence.

The final touch...the fireplace mantel. We can't wait for Eric and Jill and Ryan and Kate's families to arrive. Brittany and Brett arrived last night after a long and slow moving train ride and just in time as the snow and rain has set in again for another few days.

Kevin and April, we miss you, and I'm glad to hear you're feeling a bit guilty about dishing us, but we certainly understand how hard it is to travel with three little ones...oh, wait, didn't April do that by herself just a few months ago? Hmmmmm.....well, we hope to see you here in two years.

Thanksgiving Weekend

The day before we left for Utah for Thanksgiving, 5 large trucks pulled in next door. They carried the framing, walls and trusses for the house next door and nothing has happened since. How long will it take them to build this house? We were beginning to think that the owners had lost the home, but I guess we were wrong.

We arrived on Thanksgiving Day at Shellie's and immediately toured Maggie's home. Yes, you can stand up in it.

The tour was followed by a little tennisball game. (they used a tennis ball in lieu of a baseball)


Dinner is Served. Shellie is a wonderful hostess, all the details were attended to and the dinner was delicious. For those who have not have the previlage to see Shellie's home, you are missing out, and yes, those walls are lime green. You have to see her house to see how beautifully it all goes together.

Snap shots of dinner.

Of course my favorite VIP Treatment -

After dinner and a nap, Shellie opened her store for Brittany and I, where we were given the VIP treatment including the next day sale prices...plus another discount.

Four and Twenty Sailors - European childrens clothing and Women clothing.

Friday instead of shopping, we went to the matinee, the guys and Krista saw the new James Bond movie and the rest of us girls saw Twilight. Surprise, Surprise, even mom had read the first three books before the fourth book was published. Maggie wasn't sure about Edward, she informed me during the movie he was "Creepy".

Saturday started with lunch at Cafe Rio then we headed across the street to the bowling alley. I thought I was getting half way decent, but at this bowling alley, literally every turn I had at least one gutter ball. I can only bowl with the grandkids from here on out.

Dad trying to find the perfect ball.

Snap shot of us bowling, yes, even mom and dad bowled.

Britt went after Krista after she correctly predicted a gutterball.

It was a fun weekend, we had an enjoyable time with everyone.

It's Over...YEAH!

I managed to make it in to the courthouse on the light rail yesterday, it wasn't too bad going in. As I approached the courthouse, both entrances had a line of people out to the sidewalk, it looked like the security line at the airport. People were removing their bags and putting them through the scanner, placing keys, cell phones, jewelry in the bowl. The only difference was that we didn't have to remove our coats and shoes, which helped the line to go somewhat faster than the security lines at the airport.

So the courts work on Mormon time also. It was 9 am when I was approaching the courthouse and it was 9:20 when the court clerk brought us into the courtroom to take off where we left off the day before.

What a slow process it is in selecting a jury, after taking three 5 and 10 minute recesses and dismissing half of those in the jury box and selecting another 10 people and dismissing most of them, they were finally left with their 12 jurors and 2 alternates and I never had to be in that jury box. My name was in the middle of the pack and I believe if they had dismissed one more person, I would have been next. I was silently pleading for the attorneys to be done dismissing people.

For those that end up in a jury pool in the future, I noticed anyone who asked questions, had any objections or hesitations were dismissed. The last gal dismissed just broke down when they started to question her, she was recently robbed at gun point and it was an armed robbery case. I looked up the defendant on-line last night, and it looks like it is his first felony, he's 20, now he has a charge against him for having illegal drugs in jail, he doesn't appear to be the smartest chap. So sad.

Now for the ride home...so scary, I left about 12:30, the next stop was at the downtown mall and these two boys sit right in front to me, the seats are facing each other and one is just laughing and rolling around. My thoughts were what drugs is he on or whom did he just rob and should I get off on the next stop? The next stop looked worse than the previous one. Oh my gosh...then I start looking around and see other young men riding the rail, and they seem to know other guys on the train, but none of them are sitting together, they're scattered throughout the train car, you feel surrounded. Now really, should I get off on the next stop? But each stop in the downtown area looked unsafe. I stayed on and as the train moved out from the downtown area, it started to thin out, by the time it reached Fair Oaks I was not longer the only white person on the train. Anyway, I am home safe and sound, and I'm not sure I'd take the light rail again, not by myself anyways. I did leave all my credit cards at home in case I was robbed. :) Come on, I was in a jury pool for armed robbery, why wouldn't I think that way? Done for a long time I hope. Knock on Wood.

What???

Okay, like a week after Logan had gone in for Jury Duty, (which bytheway he was dismissed from at the end of the day), I received notice...Dang it, it's the beginning of the Christmas Holiday and someone thinks I'm available for jury duty? So I went in today, praying and a hoping that since I was in the last group called I too would be dismissed at the end of the day. NOPE, not my luck. At 3:30 I was in the pool for jury selection and of course by the time we were all seated and given instruction it's now 4 pm. Yes, you guessed it, I get to go back tomorrow.

One question that the judge did not address....DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY PARANOIAS ABOUT DRIVING INTO THE CITY? Nope he didn't ask. Tomorrow I will venture in on the local transit train. Yea for me. :(

I don't even get time to Blog about Thanksgiving, that'll have to wait till this weekend.

Boys Bowling and Balls

A new favorite...Bowling. Last Saturday night we took the boys bowling. It's always fun to watch the kids bowl. We started out with the bowling shoot and Chase did get a couple of strikes using it. But it wasn't long before the boys enjoyed the freedom of throwing the ball.

And I soon found that with the pictures I had taken at the Aerospace Museum that morning, it wasn't long before my camera's card was full. I felt I spent most of my time looking for the bad pictures to delete off the camera card so I could get some pictures of the boys bowling. (Hint for Christmas...another disk).

And as I had my head buried in my camera, I looked up in time to see Ty put the ball in the gutter, notice the gutter guards were up, so the ball slowly moved along the top of the gutter and we watched the ball come to a stop mid way down the lane.

So Ty got another ball...notice the gutter ball.

If I wasn't up at the lane when it was my turn, Chase wouldn't hesitate to grab a ball and bowl my turn. Chase loved this game....He is so adorable, I love that he would kneel and watch the ball roll down the lane.

Airplanes and Video Games

Saturday we spent the day with the boys (big and small). Starting off with a trip to McClellan's Areospace Museum, where the boys were able to look at the planes and go inside a couple of them.

This plane was the favorite with the cockpit open the boys had tons of fun sitting behind the steering wheel, pushing levels and switches.

The morning ended up in the flight simulator room where the boys were able to fly a plane, just like grandpa does at home.

Media Circus

This afternoon upon returning from the post office I passed the church and found this...

I drove around and found other areas also painted, then upon arriving home found similar tags on the street in front of our house. Anyway, what was suppose to be an effort to find someone who could clean this ended up in a media circus, with Logan in front of the camera.

http://www.kcra.com/news/17934538/detail.html

http://cbs13.com/local/Vandals.Strike.Orangevale.2.859342.html


http://www.kfbk.com/cc-common/news/sections/newsarticle.html?feed=172730&article=4550178 - Talk Radio News Link

Is it a good thing they messed up his name?

Historical Election Day

This is a Historical Election...Words that I heard often yesterday as I was privileged to work at the call center for the Sacramento County elections office. It was a 14 hour day for us, beginning at 6:15 am till the polls closed at 8 pm.

The calls ranged from, "where's my polling place" to using Google Maps to guide a lady to her polling place, which was just behind her house to threats because I personally would not let them vote, though they had been to their polling site and told the same thing I told them and what my supervisor told them...ah well, lesson learn....if it's important to you, make sure your ducks are in a row before the deadline approaches, and to make sure your paperwork is filled out completely and properly. Most of the callers were understanding and polite when they understood they were not registered to vote, many had moved and were not in the proper precinct and just needed to know their proper polling site.

It was a Historical Election and one I was able to play a small minute part.

Class on How to Apply Make-up

Last Tuesday night our Young Women had a class on how to apply make-up....These are the best of the best, a special thank you to Ruth who has a degree in cool stuff like this. LOL, the girls think she is way cool, and had fun letting her make them up.


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