Crushing Cars at the Shop

Yesterday I took the boys to see what was going on at the shop.

Grandpa is getting ready to sell the shop so the first thing to go is the rows and rows of cars.

So, we went to check out how they crush cars and the cool machine that does that.

The boys and I were enthralled.  It was pretty neet to see and hear. 

I knew some cars looked like tin cans but I didn't know that they sounded like tin cans getting crushed. 

It's sad to see the shop get sold and know that my boys won't be able to work there when they are teenagers but since Jeromy knows all there is about fixing cars I'm not too worried.

I'm glad Brent will be able to retire (when I say retire I mean work a little less, he'll work till the day he dies) and take it easy.

More info and pictures to come in future posts about the shop so keep checking back...

Vehicles we've owned and loved

Yesterday we sold our Excursion and I'm not sure how I feel about it yet.

I LOVED my excursion!

  It fit all of my family in it comfortably and had enough room in the back area to fit several grocery store trips or both dogs for a ride.

It was LOADED to the max with all the bells and whistles that Excursions come with.

We had just put brand new tires on it, too!

The biggest plus to selling the excursion was getting rid of our payment and debt of it and not having to fill it with gas.  It didn't get the best gas mileage but it was so fun to drive that I personally didn't care too much. 

I LOVED IT!!!!

So, since another vehicle was sold and gone we had to add it to our list of vehicles we've owned.

We also finally sat down and wrote our list on paper.

Here is what we've got...

88 Chev truck- Blue

93 Geo Prism- Teal green

90 Toyota Camry- Burgundy

91 Toyota Camry- White

90 Geo Prism- Gray

94 Toyota truck- Red

98 Toyota Tacoma- Black

00 Chevy Truck- Gray

99 Chevy Truck- Black

94 Ford Taurus- Brown

05 Pontiac Vibe- White

96 Ford Windstar- Red

96 Honda Odyssey- White

94 Ford Truck- White

02 Chevy Tahoe- Black

04 Ford Truck- Black

00 Ford Taurus- Blue

05 Ford Excursion- Gold

Cars we bought but didn't register...

96 Chevy Truck- White

98 Chevy Truck- Green

99 Ford Taurus- Gold

?? Dodge Truck- Red

I'm sure our list will grow in the future since we seem to go through vehicles like candy.

I wonder if we will ever own a car for more than 5 years?

Owell, it is kinda fun to drive different vehicles all the time.

Onto bigger and better things...

Koda turned 5!! My sakes alive!

Happy Birthday to my wonderfully amazing, sweet, huggie lovey, mamma's boy!!!

Koda wanted to get a kids meal from Iceberg in Syracuse for his birthday dinner so away we went.

Nanny bought him a wonderful birthday cake and balloons.

He was thrilled that we were able to sing Happy Birthday to him again.

Thanks Nanny!

To my sweet Koda man,

words can't explain how much I love you and how proud I am of you.

You have grown up into such a big boy and have gained such a neat talent.  You love to draw and are really good at it.  you are such a great big brother to Jaden and Brekyn.

You've come a long waise from the boy you were a year ago, shy and anti social.

You are doing so well in preschool and have lots of friends.  You are very smart and love to help me clean and cook.  You are amazing!

I hope you had a great birthday!  Next year will be a better one.

I love you very much and always will,

Love,

 Mom

Happy Birthday Koda! ( Jackson family party)

I can't believe my Koda is 5 years old!

I can still remember the day I found out we were having him, I was ecstatic!

Since Koda's birthday is before Christmas he wanted this to have Frosty the Snowman cupcakes for the cake.  We even had peppermint ice cream and hot chocolate to go with it.

This years party wasn't as fancy as the years past.

Koda voted for a more expensive toy from mom and dad instead of having decorations and going fancy.

I can tell the Dave Ramsey program is becoming a great example to the boys already.

Thanks for the great gifts Terrence and Holly and Grandma and Grandpa!!

He loves them!

Before it was time to go the boys and Angie had to show Mom and Grandma what idea they came up with.

Justin figured out that if you turn on the treadmill and sit on the front of it and then gently scoot onto it, it will go fast enough to shoot you off toward the end.

This I swear, has to be in the Jackson gene. 

I know for a fact no one in my family has even tried this let alone be daring enough to do it. 

 Believe me... I asked!

I can't believe what ideas these boys can come up with.

I'm pretty sure I have my hands full.

Justin tried the Superman style...

And Koda topped it off with going backwards.

Neither of them got hurt but they still got a talking too from Mom and Dad and Grandpa.

Later that night Jeromy and I still couldn't stop laughing about what they had done.

They thought they were pretty ingenious and were of course having a blast.

I don't know what is worse...

sliding down the stairs in sleeping bags or this?

You tell me.

Syracuse Fun Center

December's preschool field trip was to the Syracuse Fun Center.

The kids got to roll the ball down the lane twice and then we got a tour to see how the bowling lane works behind the scenes.  I thought this was the best part of the field trip because it's something I've never seen before.  I actually learned something new!

This picture is showing the machine sorting the pins and getting them ready for a new game.

Way cool!

My handsome little men

After bowling we got to see how they made the pizzas and got a spoonful of Farr's Ice cream.

Mmm, yummy!

After touring the miniature golf place we got to eat the pizza that they made for us.

Brekyn and Jaden thought their minute golf  looked like something off of scooby doo.

I think I have to agree.  It was dark and a little spooky but still fun.

At the end of the field trip the kids got to play on the trampolines and the bounce houses.

They had so much fun on this field trip!

Thanks Miss Tammy for being the best preschool teacher in the world!!!

Jackson Family Christmas Party

This year the family party was at Brent and Rochele's house. 

We always have a variety of great soups and loads of food and goodies.

The entertainment of the party has always been passing around white elephant gifts.

We usually start with the kids first and it's always a blast watching them get their gift and seeing their face opening it.

Then it's time for the adults white elephant gifts.

there have been some gifts that have been passed around for at least 5 or more years.

Example:  A smuckers jam gift set. (Do Not Eat it if you get it!!!)

Some family members give gag gifts and some give gifts you can use or really eat.

Either way it's always a good time seeing what everyone got.

Another part of our entertainment was the kids throwing the bag of trash at Kael.

It was all fun and games until Caleb started screaming...

Then Brekyn thought it was loud enough he had to cover his ears.

After the trash bag was done and over with Brekyn had to find another way to keep busy.

Standing on his head on a chair.

Oh how I love my dare devil!

After standing on his head wasn't thrilling enough he thought playing horsey with Dustin worked better.

Dustin was the horsey for all the grand kids.

Then Dustin became a wrestling bag.

Poor Dustin!  He was a good sport though and said he had fun.

All in all it was a good time!

Best Buddies

I thought these pictures were just too cute.

Turo loves his daddy so much that he just couldn't resist climbing on his lap and snuggling.

Doesn't that just melt your heart?

This post is just proof that K-9 dogs can be family dogs too.

Turo is the biggest teddy bear and the world's best police dog in my book.

We love you Turo and are so glad you are part of our family.



Temple Lights

Every year we go see the Christmas lights at Temple Square.

Last year we didn't make it so this year it was my goal to go.

We met up with Kael and Holly and their three boys at the Trax Station and rode that downtown.

This was our first time riding so the boys were very excited to ride it.

They call it the "Bullet Train" because it speeds past very fast.

We went on a Tuesday night so it wasn't really busy.

It was neat to ride the front runner and the Trax train.

The boys were so excited just to hang out with each other.

The Salt Lake Temple is my favorite temple.

Although I've had some really spiritual experiences in the D.C. Temple...

Those two would be my favorite so far.

My handsome little men.

Our wonderful little family

Justin and Taggert being silly



Fall Leaves

This year I have a love/hate relationship with fall leaves.

I really do love fall and I love everything about how the trees look so pretty with all the different colored leaves and the crunch of the leaves underneath your feet. 

I think it's so fun to rake the leaves in a big pile and then jump in them.

Well this year since we've been at my mom's I've bagged at least 10 huge bags of leaves. And they aren't the leaves from her front or back trees.  They are the neighbors leaves.

They have about 5 full grown poplar trees and they don't rake their leaves.

They let the wind blow them to everyone elses yard and let them rake them up.

Now don't get me wrong, I used this experience to get some exercise and let the boys help out. 

(They did a pretty good job helping me hold the bags and rake the leaves up.)

The best part was how BIG our pile of leaves were.

The boys had a blast running and jumping through them.

I had a blast watching them and of course I had to take pictures.

So, here are just a few of my favorites...

Finally SOLD!!!

Our house SOLD!!
October 26,2011
For a whopping: $163,500.

We had some great memorize in this house.

Two of our four boys were brought home from the hospital here, we had many birthday parties and gatherings. 

 It was the second house we owned and we made some great friends in the ward and neighborhood here.

We finally finished the 3rd bathroom and got new carpet throughout the house that we were able to enjoy before we moved.

It did take us a very long 8 months to sell our house and we didn't really make profit.

We did get money from escrow but I don't know if you could consider that a profit...

it's greatly appreciated though!

Now onto greater and better things (hopefully) in the future.

Jeromy still hasn't been hired by YOU KNOW WHO, because the government hasn't passed a budget.

So, we are now living in my mom's basement trying to decide what to do.

YOU KNOW WHO is on a hiring freeze and it'll be 2 years this upcoming May that Jeromy has applied.

It'll be a year since those cool, awesome dudes in the cool sunglasses came to interview our family.

What to you do when it's taken so long?

Do you keep your life on hold and hope next year things will change?

Do you buy a really cheap house since the market is great and interest rates are so stinking low and hope you can either sell or rent it out?

We have no clue on what to do right now, so all we can do is look at both options and see what fits best for our family.

A great home teacher told me:

Anything great is worth waiting for, or however the saying goes.

So, till then we are hanging out and waiting till the new year.

Life is an adventure and we are hanging on and enjoying the ride.