Thankful

So grateful for these wonderful people in my life. It's been 15 years since I was able to spend Thanksgiving with my parents. It was so perfect(even with sickness!blah!) and laid back and comfortable. Thank you Mom and Dad for traveling, helping me with transitioning 2 bedrooms, spending quality time with the kids and just hanging out and making the start of this holiday season so special. We all miss you already!

Halloween 2011

I am majorly frustrated right now!!! I have about 50 photos that I have spent time that I don't have edited and now these are the only photos that I can pull up! Arggg! Stay tuned for more updates!

Disneyland 2011

True to Jackson form we decided to take a last minute trip... to Disney...and it was magical. About the only thing that I didn't love was the beating my feet took--and still, it was worth it!
I think half of Utah must of been there because every where we went we heard "Go Cougars!". It was so so nice to just spend time together as a family(it had been WAY to long). And of course we made some incredible memories along the way. I know that this is picture overload but it was hard to edit down!

Disney in the Fall--the best!

Excited kiddos waiting for the gates to open!

Finally--Brady and Marinn get the sleepover they have been asking for! And it was nice to have them in their own room!

Dad prepping the kids with the adventures ahead.

The Little Mermaid...one of our favorites!

Brady in the Zephyr...the kids loved this one...Dad not so much!


Brady, Jesse and Marinn...Marinn didn't know what to think at first...thank goodness she warmed up to other characters!

Enjoying King Tritan's Carousel!

Check out our 3d shades!

Minnie in all her Halloween glory!

Getting some Pluto love.

Look at Brady's concentration trying to get Zurg!

Brady testing out doors in Fantasyland

Getting some Daddy snuggles in line.

Classic. Notice who isn't in the picture...yep we learned that certain rides were no bueno for Kim!

My two favorite guys taking in "It's a small world"

Brady taking a breather at Goofy's playhouse.

Meeting the Mouse himself was a highlight!

Brady and I getting ready to take off in Dumbo!

Look at the smile on this girl's face! I was praying that we would actually meet her as it was the only thing Marinn talked about seeing! She was so excited and Tink did not disappoint!

While the boys were off doing the big rides Marinn and I had some good luck in meeting princesses! The following quotes are things she actually said,

"You're on my underwear!"

" Jasmine, no show your bee-boo" Luckily neither one of them knew she was talking about not showing your belly button! Dad really liked that comment!

"You're on my TB(t.v.) right now!"

"You're very bootiful!"

Cute Kiddos!

Strolling back to the car even the fireworks couldn't wake them! I think this pretty much sums up how we all felt" happily exhausted". Mom and Dad are struggling to recover still!

Kindergarten Kid!

There was 2 major emotions flowing this morning: excitement and sadness. I'll let you guess who had which one! Now that it has been over a week, I can write(with some control)about how the day went. Brady was mister cool and I was a hot mess. The whole time waiting for the teacher to come get his class he kept asking me why I was crying and reassuring ME! My goodness just starting the letting go process is painful. They really do only stay little for such a short time! They conclusion is that Brady loves school and looks forward to going every morning! And I have started the "preschool" process with Marinn and it's also been fun getting some alone time with her! We are just now getting settled into a routine and it has been a positive all the way around for our little family!

I'm a Big Kid Now!

One of the HUGE gifts of going home is that Marinn got potty trained!! It was kind of slow starting but once she got it...she took off! Seriously a gift compared to training Brady! We still have occasional accidents but there is definitely no going back now! I must admit seeing her little bum in underpants makes me a little bit sad...but not to to sad! Hooray for Marinn!

Maine Summer Part 2

 Helping Papa put in

                                                                         Phillips Lake

                                           Brady Kayaking by himself...he is still proud of this!

                                            Papa and Brady checking out an eagle's nest

                                                                 Finding hidden blueberries!

                                                               Going for a blueberry hunt

                                                           Papa and Marinny playing "turtles"

                                                                   Mom and Minnie

 Lunch time!

 The hike down from the car

 A victory lollipop on the way back

 Hours occupied :)

 Gettin' some air!

 Uncle Evan coaching the kids on "how it's done" on the trampoline

 Minnie invading Mimi's crossword puzzle time

 A big THANK YOU to Evan, who made this little boy's LIFE playing hours of old-school Nintendo

A Minute-to-Win-it FHE!

Here is the rest of the pictures as promised ,mom! Most of them are from our great kayak adventure to " Mimi's Island". The kiddos will never forget it...just a perfect day! Looking at these pictures again make me homesick!