Bikini Babe

The other night we went out to dinner with some friends while their daughter watched the kids. We came home & Hallie was in bed just talking. We brought her onto our bed to play with her and I noticed her diaper was falling off. I took off her pants and Brian and I just started laughing. Somehow the babysitter had opened the wrong drawer & pulled out a newborn diaper for Hallie to wear. We were laughing so hard, especially as she started posing for us as I took pictures of her. She is so funny!
The back view...
The front view... with it barely holding anything in. :)
Me & my cute girl.

Jackson's Birthday Party

We had Jackson's swimming birthday party a week later this year because of family being in town during his birthday. He had such a good time eating popsicles and swimming with his friends. His friends were all so sweet to come & we such good little guests. They loved swimming and Jackson's favorites were the water balloons and when one of his friends gave him a slip'n'slide which all the kids couldn't wait to go on. It was so nice cooling off in the hot weather.
My sister had filled some water balloons and they looked like little rocks. Brian showed her how to properly fill a water balloon and then of course the kids had to help get Aunt Kaylie wet. :)
Jackson and his friend Riley showing off their muscles. (Jackson's new fascination) He shows off his muscles all the time. Lately when he eats he will say, "Mom! Watch!" I watch as he takes a huge bites while showing me how is muscle in his arm is growing fromt he food he just ate. Funny boy!
I LOVE LOVE LOVE my little man! He is so mcuh fun & always makes me laugh and smile. He still loves to cuddle and comes and hugs me when he first wakes up. He is so sweet and I am so happy to have him in life.

Jackson's Day with Grandma Karen

Grandma Karen started a new tradition this year. After the kids birthday they get to go and spend a day with Grandma. This includes lunch at Chucky Cheese & shopping at Toys'R'Us (places they never go with us) Jackson had so much fun with Grandma & loved his one on one time with her. He picked out a ball of course, a tool set, walkie talkies, and of course Reeses Peanut Butter cups (one for Morgan as well). What would we do with out Grandmas?

Morgan's Cooking Class

A cute girl in our neighborhood was offering a cooking class for the summer for Morgan's age so we signed her up. It was the perfect activity for Morgan! She went Tues, Wed, and Thurs. for 2 weeks and each day learned how to make something new, read a book, & learned about rules in the kitchen while cooking. She LOVES to cook anything now, and is always telling me that she can crack the egg or stir because she is really good at it. :)

The Oquirrah Mountain Temple

Yesterday we had the privelage of being able to go to another temple open house. The Oquirrah Mountain Temple. It was beautiful! My favorite part was sealing room. There were a lot of people there and towards the end of the tour they had a group of us come into the sealing room and closed the door. The room was so quiet and peaceful. A sweet couple talked to all of us about how families can be together forever by being sealed for time & all eternity. They shared their own experience & testimonies with us of the importance of being together forever. I am so grateful I can be with my sweet little family forever. I can't imagine life without them. As we were in the sealing room, I asked Jackson how he felt. I asked him if he felt like it was cold and scary in the room, and he said, "No, it's warm" I explained that it was warm because the Holy Ghost was here because it is Heavenly Father's house and they are happy we are here. It was so neat sitting with him and our little family in the sealing room & feeling of the sweet spirit.

After the tour they have a visitors area where they give you a cookie & water while you look around at all of the pictures & visit with missionaries. I love this picture with the Savior. I can truly feel Him in our lives and as a part of our family.
Here is our family trying to get a good picture outside of the temple. :) Karen (Brian's mom) was so sweet to come with us. We had such a nice time being in the temple with Grandma.
The kids loved the temple. Morgan kept posing with the temple brochure and asking me if she could keep all the pitures. Jackson just doing one of his usual boy poses. Hallie would walk on the stairs and then sit down and say "Cheese" over and over again. The temple was beautiful inside and out & I am so thankful we could go.

Do Not... I repeat... Do Not...

Let your toddler play with a blue marker! Hallie pulled the cap off of the marker so I took it away from her and put it back on the counter. She was so sweet and looked up at me with these sweet blue eyes and said, "Beeze" (Please) so of course I couldn't resist, and obviously my mind was focused on other things and I wanted something to entertain her... so I gave her the marker... thinking she wouldn't open it again... yep...no thinking on my part. I looked over a minute later, and this is what I found. She had pulled off the cap and then decided to eat the tip of the marker. She is crying here because I had just cleaned out the tip of the marker out of her mouth. Cute silly girl. :) I think I'll keep the markers away from her now. ;)

Happy Birthday Jackson!

Jackson just turned 4 this past Friday. I can't believe that 4 years have gone by. He is no longer a baby or toddler, but is turning into a boy. He is such a fun kid, & we love his personality more than anything. He is constantly bringing laughter into our home & is so easy going. He is such a cuddly boy & I love how he likes to cuddle for a little bit in the morning. He loves Curious George & watches it any time he can get. He is really smart & loves to show off his big muscles. We are so happy to have him in our lives. He is such a little sweetheart & brings joy to my life each day. Happy Birthday Jackson!
For the past 3 years (since Jackson could talk) he has ALWAYS asked for a BALL but not just any ball, a BLUE ball! For Christmas, Birthdays, Easter, anything at the store, it is always a blue ball. For the past 3 years we will ask him. "Jackson, What do you want for your birthday?" and it is always a blue ball! So of course he got his blue ball for his birthday. :)
Morgan got an umbrella from Grandma Karen for her birthday and ever since then Jackson has wanted an umbrella. I found this really cute cars one and he was so excited about it.
Morgan and her friend play dress up all the time and Jackson never has anything to wear, so he goes and puts on his Sunday clothes. I tried finding this last year but couldn't find it anywhere. Thank goodness for Walmart. Jackson had it on most of the day and looked so cute running around in it. I loved seeing these beedy little eyes in the spider man costume.
On Jackson's birthday we went to the store and got some groceries and a balloon for each of the kids. Then when Daddy came home Jackson opened presents and then Daddy took him golfing (putting) at the Golf Course and then my family all came over and we went to a fun swimming pool/park and swam for a while. Jackson LOVES the water. At the top of the slide though, the 2nd time Brian and Jackson were going down, the life guard told him that Jackson needed to be almost 4 feet tall in order to ride down the slide. So Brian told him they could go and jump off the diving board. We all went to the big pool and they told Brian that Jackson needed to be able to swim by himself half way across the pool in order to jump in. Needless to say he was very disappointed. We talked up all the other areas though and he soon forgot about the slide and diving board. Jackson's favorite part was the "Silly River" (lazy river) because he could touch the ground and run in it while being chased by me. (Sadly I took my camera to the park with no memory card, so we don't have any fun pictures) We had such a fun time though & it was a great place for kids.
After the pool we came back and had pizza & cake & icecream. Cameron & Rachelle brought Jackson some water guns that he absolutly loves! Somehow that ended up in a big water fight with the older kids (Brian & my sister Kaylie). It was great entertainment. :)