Home for Christmas

We were able to spend Christmas with my parents, my sister and her family in Boise. We enjoyed every moment we were able to spend with them.

Searching for the pickle:

Waiting at the top of the stairs Christmas morning:

Opening presents:

MJ had a great time playing with all of her boy cousins. MJ just fell in love with her cousin Isaac during our time there. She always sought him out and wanted to be close to him no matter what he was doing.

Playing the games on the Ipod Touch - a frequent occurence throughout the break:

Going through Nana and Granddaddy's utensil drawer:

Thanks to Nana, Granddaddy, Tory and her family for such a merry time!

We had yet another exciting gift for us as we arrived back home in Utah, 42 degree temperature inside our home!!! Our heater had gone out while we were gone! We quickly built a fire and cranked up the space heaters. Here is MJ braving the cold inside:

Today......

3 Years ago today...........

Thank you Derrick for 3 wonderful years of marriage.

Giving Thanks

Since the Jackman Parents live in the Dominican Republic and we live in their house we have the opportunity of taking on Thanksgiving ourselves! We call it our "Youthful Thanksgiving" since no parents or "older" adults are there. And boy did we live it up! Not that we didn't miss the Jackmans, but we really had a great time all weekend long!

You have just got to see these two cousins together, they are soo sweet with one another! Well.....sometimes there's a bit of hair pulling......and slapping.

Yep, that's a green olive, the she was the only one at the table that would eat them.

Thanks to Sami, Amanda, Kade and Annie for making Thanksgiving so great this year!

Wipes Anyone?

Yesterday MJ was being her usual self walking around the house, causing all kinds of mischief. At one point she came from her room and brought out a wipe, I didn't think anything of it due to her obsession with wipes and wiping things down. A while later I hear her coming from her room again, this time grunting. She comes out carrying the box of wipes (hence the grunting) and shows me that she is frustrated that the wipes aren't coming out of the top like they should. I fix them and she takes one and walks off to clean more things. Later in her room I found a pile of about 50 wipes in her room! So I picked them up (laughing to myself) and took them out to put them in the wipe box that she had brought out to the Living Room. End of story you ask, no! So that night as I took MJ back to her room to change her for bed I discovered she was stinky, this was after I had gotten her undressed, I thought I could wipe her clean with just her diaper, I tried, nope wasn't happening. I needed the wipes that were out in the Living Room. So what do I do? I couldn't leave her on the changing table, worrying she would fall, I didn't want to put her stinky diaper back on, gross, so I resolved to put her on the ground (naked) for just 2 seconds while I ran and got the wipes. You can only guess what happened next, I came back to the room only to discover MJ playing happily with a box of diapers standing in a puddle of pee. When I asked her what happened she just pointed to her legs (that were covered in pee) and her little puddle and made her little "Ooohh" sound of cute innocence.

Here are a few recent pics:

Carvin' it Up!

MJ didn't really get the concept of taking the "gunk" out of the pumpkin and into the bowl, instead she would take the "gunk" out of the bowl and put it back in the pumpkin!

The "Boxer" is DJ's, the "Sunshine" is MJ's, and the "Laugher" is LJ's.

MJ's First Year Photo Book

Click here to view this photo book larger

Nana and Granddaddy!

We have been blessed to have my parents come and visit us twice this past month. Here are a few of the things that went on while they were here:

Plenty of playing:

MJ's new favorite activity:

She begs to play with Nana's wallet, once she gets it she goes for the money first thing! She then holds on to it and waves it around!

And to end it all, Kneaders french toast:

Thanks Nana and Granddaddy for the visits and good times!

Dancing Queen

Our little MJ is quite the dancer. She even dances when there isn't any music playing. However, I have struggled a bit getting her on tape while she is dancing. Here's a bit of the dancing that I caught yesterday:

Thank you Mrs. Hostess Lady

The other day we went to the Hostess/Wonder Bread Outlet while we were out running our errands. The Hostess lady proceeded to give MJ a chocolate chip cookie that was loaded with chocolate! Then DJ proceeded and placed her in her car seat, alone with the cookie! Lo and behold we got home and she was a mess! Chocolate everywhere!


You can't see her legs in this picture, they were the worst of all! Apparently they had to be used as napkins.

Camping and a bit of Fishing

MJ's face says it all - the fishing stunk! We got skunked!
Camping trip was fun though, a bit adventuresome with a 1 year old, but still fun! :)

Let me win!!

I want to win!!!!!

12 months ago..........

This was her......

And today......

We celebrated MJ's first birthday the day before the Jackmans headed back to the Dominican Republic.

Here is the cake we allowed her to devour.....

And here is the cake I made for the occasion for the rest of us to devour....

Time has gone so fast since she has been in our family. We love her soo much and we can't imagine how life would be without her. A lot more dull for one, for she keeps us all entertained! She is at such a fun stage right now (I think I have said that about all the stages to date!). Her wonderful personality is shining through in all the things she's doing. She loves to listen to music, be in the water, show off, dance, and eat string cheese. We look forward to many more magical memories with our little MJ.

I am putting together a digital scrapbook for her first year. Here are a few of the pages I have put together:

A month with the Jackmans

We had a great time while the Jackman's were here for their month long visit.


Here are a few pics of the fun times we had while they were here:

Can you spot 2 things out of place in the picture?

The boys of the family were able to go on a hiking/fishing trip up to the Wind Rivers in Wyoming.

In the mean time, the girls of the family were at home having just as much fun! We made watches, watched movies, went shopping and ate yummy food.

Thanks to the Jackmans for such a great month!