The Jackson 5

Welcome Baby Taylor

2011-10-14T13:52:00.000-07:00

Tuesday we welcomed Taylor Nicole into our family. She weighed in at 8 lbs 8 oz and 19 3/4 inches. She is so sweet and perfect and we love her so much. Here are a few pics.

Preschool Graduation

2011-06-06T14:01:00.000-07:00

Anthony loved going to preschool this year and we really had such great kids and moms involved. We got together for a big graduation party. The ceremony included the kids acting out a skit, telling about their favorite bugs (a banana slug), explaining what they want to be when they grow up (a ninja of course), and singing some songs. Next up... kindergarten.

My little explorers!

2011-06-06T13:59:00.001-07:00

A few of my recent favorite things

2011-05-20T17:26:00.001-07:00

I don't know why I've been in a blogging mood the last few days, but I'm sure it will pass, so I'll get it out there while I'm feeling it. I want to use my blog to share things I'm learning and that are useful and/or interesting to me. I'm a late adopter and tend to discover things on their way out, so if you already know about them, sorry to bore you.

http://annies-eats.net/ If you need some new things to cook you should follow this blog. She has great photography and yummy recipes and updates quite often. I've never made anything of hers that I didn't like.
ADELE- if you need some new music to listen to, her new album 21 is great. She has this strong, deep, jazzy type voice that I absolutely love. Try her out.
Dyson vacuums. I know that these have been around for awhile and that they cost at least double every other vacuum out there, but I've gotta say that my new vacuum is the best purchase i've made in years. Is it weird to admit that I get excited to vacuum my house these days? Seriously, if you need a new vacuum just splurge and get it. You'll suck up so much junk that you'll wonder how you survived before you bought it. Right now Costco has a $50 instant rebate and so the vacuum ends up costing $319 which isn't too bad for a $500 vacuum.

That's it for now. Happy weekend!

Thank goodness for sisters

2011-05-20T11:45:00.000-07:00

My sister, little brother, and dad on Easter.

So the Paris trip never could have happened if my awesome sister hadn't volunteered to watch the boys. Anyone that knows my kids knows that this wasn't a light thing to ask of her. She was so awesome and the boys loved being with her. She came out a week early and we had a great time shopping, cooking, and going to the city. We love you aunt Heather! You are going to be a great mom.

PARIS

2011-05-18T16:14:00.001-07:00

So awhile back Michael asked me out of the blue where my dream vacation would be to. I mentioned probably Paris or Tahiti and then we moved onto something else. I didn't know he was actually considering it. As an early anniversary gift and excuse to take off before the baby comes, we splurged and planned a week in Paris. We loved Paris and all that it has to offer. Europe is so unique and so fun. I love the fashion, history, architecture, food, and people. Paris kept us busy for a full 6 days. We loved taking the metro, walking on the cobblestone roads, and exploring the many sites of the city. Neither Michael nor I are that great about taking pictures but here are some we captured between his phone and my camera.

The famous Notre Dame. Super gothic and random because it took almost 300 years to build and so there really isn't a cohesive style. Still pretty amazing though.

Cool street in the Montemartre district

Sacre Coeur cathedral. One of my favorite spots in Paris. Set up on the only hill in the entire city, this church provides a beautiful panorama of Paris. What is more, this church is actually the most tasteful and beautiful cathedral I've been into as opposed to the super gaudy churches that fill most of Italy. I love this spot.

Opera Garnier- the old Parisian opera house.

The scandalous moulin rouge. We didn't watch a show here but we sure got our fill of boobs just from walking by the entrance. Europe certainly does have a different standard of propriety than we do.

Versailles was quite amazing and much bigger than I had anticipated. The palace was super elaborate and ornate as you'd guess, but the gardens were the real jewel of this place. Miles and miles of manicured gardens line this massive estate. Marie Antoinette had quite the setup here (that is until she met the guillotine).

The food wasn't as good as we were expecting, but that is probably because we were tourists. People say the same thing when they return from a trip to Italy, and I just roll my eyes at them, so ignore my tourist snobbery. A lot of the cuisine centers around cheese and wine, neither of which we appreciate. That having been said, the pastries and baguettes were to die for. We did have a couple of great meals, the best of which was the beef beef bourguignon (thanks for the tip Julia Child). I looked everywhere for ratatouille but was unable to find any. Oh well. Everyone sold magnum ice cream bars and bueno candy bars, so I had more than I needed to eat. Yum.

Outside the Louvre. We visited this in the late afternoon and my feet felt like they were big cement blocks, so I didn't enjoy it as much as I should have. It is still worth seeing and quite impressive with more art than I could appreciate in 10 lifetimes.

Stairs leading the to the top of the arc de triumph (234 to be exact). Yes, our legs were burning.

View from the top of the arch.

Arc de triumph

You can't have too many pictures of this place. We rode up the Eiffel Tower by twilight. The view isn't as good at night but the tower itself is remarkable lit up. You can't grasp what am amazing structure it is until you stand underneath it. Apparently this was built for the world's fair in 1889. Originally they had plans to disassemble the tower after the fair. Paris wouldn't be the same if they had. They do a light show for the first 10 minutes of every hour at night. So cool.

My travel companion. Isn't he cute? What a great guy I'm married to.

This is what I'm thinking about today

2011-05-18T16:09:00.000-07:00

Tutus, bows, and pink because you probably guessed it.... WE'RE HAVING A GIRL.

I'm beyond thrilled and shocked. Our little lady should arrive sometime in early October.

p.s.- God if you're reading this, I wouldn't mind dark brown hair just like this.

Ethan

2011-05-16T17:59:00.000-07:00

Where do I begin with Ethan? He is our crazy, aggressive, playful, affectionate little man. He loves wrestling and eating treats, and doesn't leave the house without his batman cape. He is at the great age where he is my little side kick no matter how mundane the task. We have been working on potty training this week and he has been quite a champ. We love him to pieces. Here are some recent snaps of our superhero.

Anthony

2011-05-16T17:35:00.001-07:00

Anthony is up to exciting things these days. He finished his reading lesson book and is officially reading. We made a deal with him earlier this year that if he would do a lesson each day (100 total), he would then be able to play the wii. The motivation was more than enough and he was eager to do the lesson each day. He caught on quickly and is doing really well. He has also loved being in preschool this year and especially likes hanging out with his preschool friend Camry. She is pretty much the only thing he talks about. He is also in a soccer class, which he loves, and and is taking swimming lessons later this summer. He continues to be our super sweet, creative, fun little guy. He will be starting kindergarten this fall. I can't believe how big he is getting. Here are some pics.

Our new place

2010-11-06T14:54:00.000-07:00

Let me tell you, it was not easy finding a good place to live in the bay area. If you want to be semi-close to San Fran and in a family friendly and safe area, you are certainly going to pay. After much searching and thanks to the help of my wonderful mom, we were able to find this cool house. We are at the end of a quiet culdesac in a beautiful part of Walnut Creek. If you are ever in the area you better come and see us.

The boys' room

2010-11-06T14:45:00.001-07:00

We decided that this move would be a good excuse to buy bunk beds and redo the boy's room. We randomly decided on rocket ships and this is what we ended up with.

Happy Halloween

2010-11-06T14:40:00.000-07:00

San Francisco here we come

2010-08-19T15:19:00.000-07:00

So if you haven't heard, we're moving to the bay. Michael got offered an awesome job in downtown SF. We are sad to leave friends and family in Utah, but we're looking forward to an adventure in this beautiful city.

Birthdays

2010-08-19T15:14:00.000-07:00

3 boys, 3 birthdays, 3 weeks, and way too many presents.

Bear Lake

2010-08-19T14:28:00.000-07:00

We took a an awesome vacation with my family to Bear Lake. The highlights were jet skiing, swimming, amazing bbqs, raspberry shakes, smores, foosball and just being with family. My wonderful sister Heather stayed for an extra week and we had a great time being together.

Jackson hole and Yellowstone

2010-07-19T07:00:00.000-07:00

We had a great trip exploring the great outdoors. Here are some of the highlights.

Thanks for the new outfits Grandma Cami

2010-05-05T13:35:00.001-07:00

Do you really have to ask?

2010-05-05T13:30:00.000-07:00

I can't tell you how often people ask me where Ethan gets his hair from. Maybe they think that Michael had curly blonde hair before it turned dark and went bald. Hmmm.

The last few months

2010-02-26T09:48:00.000-08:00

Michael quit his job right before Christmas and he is enjoying doing a little consulting work and getting his business going. We love having him at home more often and eating three meals together a day. He works so hard for our family.

Me- I love being at home with my boys. They keep me really busy but when I get a chance I'm working on writing my grandfather's biography and am also training for another triathlon in April.

Anthony is so much fun. When he isn't dressing up as a knight or super hero he is coloring. We are getting quite the collection of his art on our magnet board.

Ethan is a busy little 18 month old. He follows his brother around and does everything he does. He loves treats, loves yelling "NO" and is full of laughter and affection.

He's getting some curls. I hope they last.
Another one of Ethan's favorite pastimes... attacking the perpetrator as mom vacuums.

Valentines

We had an awesome valentines up in Salt Lake. We dropped the kids off at the babysitter and headed to La Cucina Toscana for a fancy and wonderful dinner (so fancy that they charged us $7.50 for flat water... we now know what that means). We then went to the symphony and stayed the night at the Marriot. We had such a good time. I sure love this guy.

The symphony at Abravanel Hall was so beautiful.

Christmas

We decided to move the week before Christmas so things were a little crazy but we were unpacked in time for the big day. We enjoyed Christmas at home with our little family and then went to Michael's parents for a yummy traditional english dinner with yorkshire pudding.

Anthony hand painted all of his Christmas gifts. It took him 2 1/2 hours but he didn't stop until every corner of the sleighs were painted.

Thanksgiving

We went to my sister-in-laws vacation home in St. George for Thanksgiving. We enjoyed nice weather, tennis, shopping, and a super yummy dinner.

Wrestling Uncle Rick. My boys can't get enough of him.
Dad doing the turkey honor.

Only my mother would get coordinating aprons for the girls. She' the best.

Friends, Family and Disneyland

2009-11-05T16:49:00.000-08:00

In October we headed to So. California for a crazy and fun week. We started by visiting Michael's Grandma in Thousand Oaks. She had never met Ethan and so we were so excited to spend a couple of days with her as well as Michael's aunts.

In this picture we were at the Reagan library and were able to tour Air Force 1. Pretty cool to see how he flew around.

After Thousand Oaks we headed to Santa Monica for a day on the pier.

Next we headed to Disneyland for 2 days with some good friends Mike and Laura. I was worried that the boys would be too young but they were able to go on most of the rides. They had a great time. Anthony's favorite ride was Pirates and Ethan didn't clutch onto us for dear life during It's a small world, so that was probably his. I hadn't been since I was a kid and enjoyed the park way more than I thought I would. We were worn out by the end but really had a great time. Here are some highlights.

Lastly we headed to Bakersfield to visit some good friends. We hadn't been for a couple of years and so it was so good to be back with such good people.

California Trip

2009-09-03T19:08:00.000-07:00

We went out to California last month to see my family. The guys took a rafting/fishing trip down the American River while the girls shopped and spent a couple of days in Tahoe. We had such a fun time. Thanks Mom and Dad.

Walking around some fun fountains while a band played in the background.
Ethan loves his Grandpa.

Me working my brother in tennis.

My parents surprised Anthony with a Spiderman slip-n-slide. He thinks it is the greatest thing ever.

The guys about to leave for the fishing trip.

My childhood friend Laura and her two adorable girls with my mom and I in Tahoe.

We celebrated Ethan's first birthday while we were there. Needless to say he loved his cake.

Happy Birthday Spiderman, I mean Anthony

2009-08-12T15:14:00.001-07:00

We celebrated Anthony's 3rd birthday on Friday. Anthony requested a spiderman party and so we partied it up with pizza, a pinata, bean bag toss, pin the spider on spiderman (thanks Janni), cake and presents. The kids didn't really know what was going on (especially with the pinata) but it was fun watching them try to figure it out. Anthony went crazy when he opened his spiderman costume from Nana and Papa. He hasn't taken it off since. It was a fun day.

Girls Camp

2009-08-12T15:07:00.000-07:00

I had a wonderful week at Girls' Camp. We went to Heber Valley and enjoyed beautiful cabins, lots of pretty hikes, canoing, a challenge course, and an all-around fun time. I missed my boys but it really was a fun week.

Biking

2009-07-14T20:45:00.001-07:00

So we've made a new tradition of taking a family bike ride every Saturday morning. I love it because Michael gets to haul the trailer and so I get a nice relaxing ride up the canyon. We usually ride up to Bridal veil falls. What a pretty spot.

4th of July

2009-07-14T20:33:00.000-07:00

The boys loved watching the hot air balloons take off in Provo.

We then enjoyed a wonderful breakfast at Cracker Barrel. They have the best breakfasts ever.

We then enjoyed a potluck and park time with Michael's family and friends.We finished the day off with an impressive firework show put on by Pleasant Grove.
We had a great 4th.

Partners in crime... and crying

2009-07-14T20:18:00.000-07:00

We love the dollar store

2009-07-14T20:14:00.001-07:00

I wish I could be this happy with $2. I love how something so little can make kids so excited.

What we've been up to lately

2009-06-03T15:46:00.000-07:00

So I've been reprimanded lately for not updating my blog. I figure that I don't have anything too interesting to say and so I don't want to bore you with the details. For all two of you who read this, here are some updates.

Michael has been working so hard. He is enjoying his job and as always has a lot of side projects that keep him really busy. He always makes time for us and we've had a lot of fun biking, swimming, and BBQing. We love him so much.

ME! Most of my spare time lately has been spent planning Girls Camp for my ward. I never knew how much work went into one week. We've got some funs thing planned and so I've mainly just got shopping left (the only part I'm good at). I hope it turns out. I'm also training for a triathlon (okay, that isn't exactly the right word for my occassional excercise urges) . Luckily for you I haven't attached any pictures of me while excercising. I've only got a week and a half left until the big day. Cross your fingers that I don't drowned while swimming in a pool with hundreds of other competative and much more fit people. Yikes. The other love of my life is my new pair of chacos. Please ignore my ugly feet. These sandals rock. They are so comfy and durable. I'd definitely recommend them.

Anthony is my energizer bunny and runs around all day long. He loves wrestling, laughing, talking, painting, coloring, doing puzzles, eating cucumbers (random, I know) and watching movies. We love him to death. Some of his latest sayings...
While jumping into the swimming pool he yelled "Cantaloupe!"
"Mom, Ethan's boobies are getting big like daddy's." (I'm not sure if that is a bigger cut to Michael or me)
"I want a donut with sprinklers on it."

Ethan is at such a fun age. If I got a dollar for each time this kid smiles I'd be rollin'. He is crawlilng around and loving trying new table foods. He is a complete joy.

Easter Picture

2009-04-12T13:42:00.001-07:00

Anyone who has a 2 year-old knows how hard it is to get a decent picture with a somewhat normal expression on their face. After many attempts, I think we got one.

Thanks so much for the Easter outfits Mom!

Not so fun dip

2009-02-23T10:21:00.000-08:00

So I took Anthony to the store and let him pick out a treat. Anthony has a gift to pick out the one treat that I really don't want him to have. It is probably because they put the brightly packaged treats loaded with sugar right at the height of 2 year olds. I usually make him choose again but this time I defied the mother instinct that was screaming "don't even think about it" and let him keep his fun dip treat. As if that wasn't bad enough I showed him how to eat his treat and I went into the back room to fold laundry (once again defying the mother instinct). You can imagine what I found when I came back in. He had quickly eaten the stick and used his fingers as the dippers. Yum. His green hulk-like hands lasted for about a week. The green powder all over my couch actually wiped up quite well. Thank goodness for leather.

6 months old

2009-02-23T10:17:00.001-08:00

Ethan is now 6 months and I am pleased and embarrassed to announce that he is finally sleeping through the night. I should have let him cry it out months ago but I finally decided that a few sleepless nights for us and the neighbors would be worth it. It definitely is.

Party in the city where the heat is on

2009-02-06T06:54:00.000-08:00

Michael's Christmas gift to me was a trip to Florida to see my sister. My mom flew out and spent the week with as well and we lived it up shopping, playing, relaxing, and more playing. If any of you are needing a break from the long winter I'd recommend Florida. It is so beautiful with great parks, beaches, shopping, restaurants, anything you want. Thanks for the awesome trip Heath and Mom.

Shopping at the biggest outlet mall in the country and of course spending way too much $$$.
We took the boys to the Seaquarium in Miami. We had a great time although Anthony was dissapointed to find out that Nemo lives in the Pacific and can't survive in Florida waters. He tried to find him all day. He did see "Crush" "Zazu" and "Lenny" from various movies and so that just about made up for it.
My kid is afraid of Seagulls. You could tell from the way he screamed when they came near that we don't get out much.
Aunt Heather giving Anthony a view of the nurse sharks.
Love that face.
And that.
Can I tell you how good it felt to go outside without having to layer my kids.
Go Gaters!
Posing with Grandma Cami with the beautiful Miami backdrop.
Me and my sister Heather.

This lady rode the dolphins like they were seadoos. So cool.

My kid is seriously fat.

We went to an outdoor market and bought fresh pesto, bread, produce, and of course girl scout cookies.

More beach time.
Anthony was probably the only kid on the entire beach in the water. He couldn't get enough.
Ethan exploring the sand.
And eating it of course.
Making friends.
What a life. Beach, sun, and mom feeding me.

The Miss America pageant just happened to be on while I was there. Growing up we'd have a girl party every year while watching it and so keeping with tradition we ate ice cream and wore tiaras.
Don't tell Michael that his son insisted on wearing one too.
The parks here seriously rock. I've never seen a park with a carousel in the middle of it. Wow.

Ethan getting some good Grandma time in.
Some of the crazy big houses along the beach.

Christmas in California

2009-02-06T06:34:00.000-08:00

Poor kid had a million pictures taken of him in his Santa suit but he just looked so cute.
Michael singing Christmas songs to the family.
Uncle Ryan doing his thing.
My brother Rick and his wife Melissa flew out to spend the holiday in California as well. We loved being with them.
There's quite a view on top of a 6'5 uncle.
Ethan spending time with Grandpa Eric.
My cute husband.
And of course opening presents with dad was all too fun for Anthony and after it was over he wanted to "do it again."

Naptime.
My adorable little Eskimo baby.
Michael gave Anthony a pouch of change yesterday and when I asked him what he was going to spend it on he told me that he was going to put it in the fountain. This is probably why.
Park time.

Santa Claus is coming to town

2008-12-18T13:01:00.000-08:00

We got our first major storm of the year. Anthony thought it was the greatest thing ever. He took off his gloves and hat and of course started eating the snow.

I decided to take Anthony to the mall to see Santa arrive in a helicopter. I had been trying to explain to him that Santa rides a sleigh that his reindeer pull, but for fun he was going to ride in the helicopter that day. After seeing Santa arrive by helicopter at the mall, a few days later we were watching Thomas the train (pretty lame show... I'm not sure why kids like it so much). In the Christmas episode how did Santa arrive? You guessed it, by helicopter. What are we teaching our kids these days?
Waiting for Santa to arrive. I told Anthony to put his arm around his friend Reed and this is what we got.
Santa in his helicopter
Riding the train around the Santa exhibit was certainly the highlight for Anthony.
When Santa asked him what he wanted for Christmas Anthony shouted, "an elephant." Yeah- not sure where that one came from. He never once has talked about elephants.

Much overdue post

2008-12-09T15:32:00.000-08:00

Well, since Christmas is almost here I am too embarrassed to post Halloween pictures and so I'll post some baby blessing pictures along with our Christmas pictures that Michael's sister Meagan shot for us. She did a great job.

We love aunt Headr (Heather)

2008-10-27T13:39:00.000-07:00

... and not just because she gives us lots of candy. My sister came out to visit last month from Florida and we had such a great time. She was a lot of help with the boys and we had so much fun catching up. We can't wait to visit you in January.

We love fall

2008-10-27T13:33:00.001-07:00

I think there is a cookie under those decorations.
Picking out the perfect pumpkin
We even took a hay ride

The apple doesn't fall far from the apple

2008-10-27T13:16:00.001-07:00

Ethan
Anthony
Ethan
Anthony
Ethan
Anthony

So everyone thinks that the boys look alike. What do you think?

Lets hear it for being out of college

2008-10-27T12:51:00.000-07:00

Michael and I are the proud owners of an Acura MDX. No more station wagon with speakers that don't work, bonking kids heads trying to get them into their seats, windows that if you put them down don't go back up, and no crazy rattle that makes people look at us as we drive by. If anyone is looking for a new ride, we'd recommend the MDX. It seats 7 and has every luxury imaginable.

Anthony's "donkey"

2008-10-11T07:53:00.000-07:00

We found this horse costume for Anthony for Halloween. He absolutely loves it and insists he is the donkey from Shrek. Let's hope it survives until Halloween!

Ethan... growing so fast

2008-10-11T07:44:00.001-07:00

Ethan is such a sweet baby. He has the most mellow, easy going temperament. He will be two months old next week! He is smiling and wants to be held constantly. (He doesn't let me get much done.) We love our sweet boy.

Cutest big brother ever!!

2008-09-01T11:48:00.001-07:00

Some of Ethan's first visitors

2008-09-01T11:35:00.000-07:00

Grandma Cami and big brother Anthony

Uncle Rick

Aunt Melissa

Aunt Megan

Great Grandpa and Grandma Thorn

All about ETHAN

2008-09-01T11:19:00.000-07:00

Ethan's here!

2008-08-14T20:15:00.000-07:00

Ethan Robert Jackson was born at 2:03 am on Thursday, August 14, 2008. He weighed 7 lbs. 7 oz. and measured 20 in. Both he and his mother are very healthy and doing fine.

No baby yet

2008-08-12T13:10:00.000-07:00

So as of today I'm 4 days late and not the least bit dilated (ignore the little baby on the right... apparently when you go over your due date this widgit doesn't make negative numbers but starts adding days). My doctor gave me the option of inducing me tomorrow (Wednesday) or Friday but I picked Friday so that I can get some good shopping days in with my mom before Ethan gets here. I know it sounds crazy but we don't get a lot of time to be together so we're going to enjoy some fun girl days before the sleepless nights begin. My appointment for induction is on Friday morning at 6 AM... so it looks like our baby will be born on the 15th. We'll keep you posted.

Anthony's 2nd Birthday

2008-08-12T13:04:00.001-07:00

Anthony loved having his family over for his birthday party. He especially loved his new guitar and insists on playing it with one of daddy's picks.

Omniture Carnival

2008-08-12T12:57:00.000-07:00

Michael's parents on the ferris wheel

The clown made Anthony a balloon bike

Michael's work had an awesome summer party at Thanksgiving point. It was filled with carnival rides, food, a live band, and fireworks.

John Mayer

2008-07-29T12:01:00.001-07:00

For Michael's birthday we went down to Usana and watched John Mayer. It was a great concert.

Anthony 23 months

2008-07-29T11:54:00.001-07:00

Anthony is changing so fast and he thinks he's all grown up. He insists on doing everything himself and his favorite phrase is "my do it." His loves are bikes, dogs, and scooby doo.

Anthony at 22 months

2008-06-26T14:20:00.000-07:00

Out helping dad wash the car
Happy to be in new pajamas and watching his favorite show... scooby doo

Anthony... 21 months

2008-05-21T13:09:00.000-07:00

Hawaii

2008-05-21T13:01:00.001-07:00

Michael and I spent a great week in Hawaii celebrating his graduation.

Michael's graduation

2008-05-21T12:54:00.001-07:00

Michael graduated from BYU as an information systems major and an information technology minor. He recently started working for Omniture in Orem, Utah and is loving his job.

Playtime

2008-04-22T17:56:00.001-07:00

Our trip to California

2008-04-10T19:41:00.000-07:00

Playing at the park

2008-03-11T12:56:00.000-07:00

The snow has finally melted and Anthony is loving being outside.

My little baller

2008-03-10T15:17:00.000-07:00

2008-03-10T15:09:00.000-07:00