Jackson Family Reunion

I love my Jackson family and the Jackson family reunion is always one of the most fun things about the summer. This year was no different and it was another fun filled reunion. Kylee and I made a girls day out of it and were only able to go up for Saturday, but it was worth the 4 hours spent in the car.

Our Family Tree CAKE! That's right, it's a cake. Isn't it awesome?!?

Carla and Trevor made this amazing cake with a tier for each Jackson sibling and had the names of ALL their kids, grand kids, and great-grand kids on their tier. My grandma's was tied for most with 67 total. That's a big family!!! And...that's just one tier. There were 7 others.

Carla and Trevor with their creation. They are so talented.

Kylee (like always) was so shy and wouldn't play with anyone without me right there with her...until she saw these ADORABLE tractor toys Uncle Doug had. They were so cute and she loved riding them around and was soon making new friends in her distant cousins.

Kylee took this picture of Gregg.

He's so cute.

Like his cute wife Lacey! I love her.

The Erma Jackson Hebdon Family

Not a very good turn out for us. Only 15 of 67. :(

We usually have the best attendance, but not this year.

The Doug Jackson Family

The Bonnie Jackson Moses Family

The Todd Jackson Family
(Aimee and her family came all the way from France)

The Shirl Jackson Family
(Uncle George in the back came all the way from England)

The Dennis Jackson Family.

(Winners of best attendance)

My cute grandma and her cute brothers and sister.
The Jackson Family.

There was lots of great food (of course) and lots of big fun.
We played "Minute to Win It" and had a Lip Sync contest.

These kids put on a great show singing some song from High School Musical that I hadn't heard before. They were so cute.

My camera was acting incredibly weird and I think the settings on it got fouled up or something so I missed out on a lot more awesome pictures, but it was a great time. I am thankful to belong to such a fun family. I love them all very much.

Cooking with Grandma

I am so blessed to have my mom be able to watch my kids for me. Being a working mom is hard enough, but knowing they are with someone who loves them as much as I do is a real comfort. I'll admit I get sad sometimes that I miss out on the fun things they get to do with Grandma, but I am SO grateful that they get to do them and am so thankful for my mom and all her sacrifices for me and my kids.

My mom was in charge of making a ton of cinnamon rolls for Father's day gifts in her ward and she let Kylee help her. Kylee LOVES to cook and is always a great help in the kitchen. I'm glad she is learning so many wonderful talents from my mom. Maybe someday she can teach them to me. :)

Waiting patiently to help.

(I remember wearing that apron when I was a little girl too.)

Spreading the cinnamon and sugar around.

She's not afraid to get her hands dirty.

Making memories while making cinnamon rolls.

I'm excited for Kylee to start cooking our meals at home for us. I'm thinking my mom will have her trained by the time she is 5. :)

Nothing...But A Good Time

HA! Now this song is going to be stuck in your head all day.

YOU'RE WELCOME! :)

I'm just wishing I was at a hockey game. That is what I always think of when I hear this song.

Tonight I realized my kids and I really don't need nothing, but a good time....and maybe some REALLY cute matching swim suits.

Aren't these so cute!

And guess how much the they all cost me???

$20 for all of them (mine is 2 pieces so it was $10 instead of $5)

I am not brave enough to post a picture of me in my swimsuit but you get the idea.
Here Kylee and Cannon are showing off the backs of their suits. They are both a little big but I'm sure after we wash them and by the end of summer they won't be anymore.

Seriously my kids are so cute!!!

We had so much fun trying on our new swimsuits and dancing around. We don't need nothing, and it's almost always a good time, and it don't get better than this.

Musical Beds

My kids have always been pretty good sleepers. Even when they were babies they were both sleeping through the night really early on. I've always taken for granted how wonderful a blessing that really is. I actually miss having babies in cribs, because you lay them down and that is where they stay until you go and take them out.

When Cannon transitioned to his toddler bed it was no big deal and he did great. Now that he is getting older he has realized that Kylee doesn't usually sleep in her bed and he has started to play musical beds, just like Kylee does. I do try every night to have them both go to sleep in their own beds, and pretty much every night they do. But by the time I go to bed and check on them one last time, I usually find them somewhere other than their bed and in some kind of funny position.

This one is one of my favorites.

And this one is just plain sweet.
(Yes...Cannon is wearing pink monkey pajama's. What can I say...)

We have had a hard time adjusting to the long summer days and going to bed hasn't been nearly as easy as it used to be. Actually, it's not going to bed that's the problem...it's staying there. And I don't mind so much the cuddling and having company in bed with me...but 3 and 2 year olds are CRAZY sleepers and man would it be nice to actually sleep all night once in awhile. :)

Hair Cuts

So Kylee's hair was getting to the point (again) where it was getting really long. I love her long, beautiful hair, but hate fighting her every night and morning to get it combed. I kept using the "if you don't let me comb it we have to cut it all off" threat and she would respond with "cut it off then mom." The last time we cut it, I just did it myself, and did an ok job. Luckily her hair is curly so hides the imperfections well. Since Cannon needed a hair cut too I decided we would go to a salon instead this time. Kylee was really excited to get her hair cut in the salon for the first time.

Here are the before pictures:

Cannon was in a mood and this was the best he'd do for me.

Here are the during pictures:

And the after pictures:

Oh this girl!!!

They are cute no matter what, but it's nice to have nice hair cuts for the summer.

Home

I highly recommend taking a trip to Portland but especially the Oregon Coast. It is seriously so gorgeous and fun. I will cherish the memories we made forever. My kids might not ever remember much of it, but I will never forget it. They were so very good and made me very proud and thankful for them. It could have been a lot more work, and stress, if they weren't so good. I've said it before and I know I'll say it again, I have the best dang kids and I am so thankful for them.

Here we are at the Portland airport waiting to board our plane.
They had some fun things for the kids to play on.

And my kids loved watching the planes land and take off.

I was worried about how Cannon would be on the plane this time around because it was late at night and he was getting very tired.

The sweet little guy fell asleep just after we took off and slept almost the whole way home. A big THANK YOU for my sweet friend who picked us up from the airport and another big THANK YOU to Tonya and Daniel for helping us have such a great vacation. She blogged about it too and you can see even more pics and her take on the week here.

Now it's back to reality and work and getting ready for fall semester. I just finished registering and it's going to be another hard semester. Only 3 more to go though and I'll be DONE! :) I think a trip to the coast should be my reward after every semester is finished...especially if I can get another 3.96. :) That will help motivate me.

Portland Rose Garden

Our last stop before the airport was the Portland Rose garden. I had actually been here before but loved it just as much this time as I did last time. Cannon and Kylee both thought it was a really neat place. Again there are a ton of pictures, but I had a hard time choosing which ones to post because I love them all so much. I won't bore you with any more narration...the pictures pretty much speak for themselves. Although you can't see the smell of the garden in the pics. It smelt SO GOOD!!!

The kids enjoyed the smells too.