Smile until your face hurts

I borrowed this from a friend (who borrowed it from a friend!). Thanks, Kristi! :)

"As we grow up, we learn that even the one person that wasn't supposed to ever let us down, probably will. You'll have your heart broken and you'll break others' hearts. You'll fight with your best friend or maybe even fall in love with them, and you'll cry because time is flying by. So take too many pictures, laugh too much, forgive freely, and love like you've never been hurt. Life comes with no guarantees, no time outs, no second chances. You just have to live life to the fullest, tell someone what they mean to you and tell someone off, speak out, dance in the pouring rain, hold someones hand, comfort a friend, fall asleep watching the sun come up, stay up late, be a flirt, and smile until your face hurts. Don't be afraid to take chances or fall in love and most of all, live in the moment because every second you spend angry or upset is a second of happiness that you can never get back."
-unknown

P.S. Is anyone having blog issues? I tried to post Christmas pics and when I did it erased all of my blogs I follow and info on the right side of my blog, so I had to delete it. Now it won't let me center my text or change font or anything. :( HELP!

Creeptastic Santa

So I have been trying to take Parker to see Santa for over a week now, and the 'Jolly' Fellow is never there even though the posted times say he will be. However, today was Parker's lucky day! I timed it just right, and the Fat Man was there!

Wow. Oh. Wow.

What a total Creeper! First of all he didn't even bother covering his nasty yellow molestache with the synthetic snow white beard. And you know he probably isn't the real deal if he has his cell phone and SoDuKo game sitting in the chair next to him.

Anyhow, Parker was totally freaked out. I sat him in his lap and he started crying uncontrollably. It was so sad. I MAYBE would have considered getting a 'crying on Santa's lap' picture, but it was the saddest thing I have ever seen, the picture lady was talking to someone else, and (like I said before) Santa was a total nast-o! Everyone I've talked to says he gives them the 'willies.'

Needless to say... If you haven't already taken your child to see St. Nick, PLEASE don't subject them to Creepster McGoo!

26? Really?

Okay, so I don't actually feel any older. Yesterday I turned the big 26! (Thankfully there are no pics to show! Haha!) It's official... I am in the last year of my mid-2os! Thanks to everyone who made it a great day. My favorite thing would have to be Parker playing on my new Wii Fit. I was skiing on it and Parker went and got the box to stand on. He put it right next to me and started leaning left and right to mimic me. It was so cute. :)

October & November... posted in December. Haha!

You didn't really think I would post Halloween pics BEFORE December, did you? Well, it was actually my goal to get them done before Thanksgiving... Haha! Not even. Halloween was okay this year. We had the CUTEST little monkey ever. Unfortunately, 'Lil Man wasn't feeling the best that day, but since I'm a mean mom I dressed him up anyway.

Parker had kind of a rough few days leading up to Halloween. The Saturday before he had to get four stitches in his pinky finger. :( While I was at work he tried to climb into Grandma & Papa's shower and cut his hand on a piece of metal. (They are in the middle of remodeling it.) Matt's mom felt horrible that he got hurt at her house, but I'm pretty sure if it would have happened at mine I would have been freaking out! She is a nurse, so she knew just what to do. She immediately applied pressure, wrapped it, and took him up to her office where the PA that was working stitched him up. They took such good care of him. Parker was so funny the whole week with his stitches. We kept his hand wrapped so they wouldn't get dirty and he LOVED to wave his hand at people to show them his owwie! On Wednesday he tried to grab Daddy's needle nose pliers off of the banister and they fell down and scratched his cheek. We are very glad they didn't poke his eye. On Halloween Grandma took his stitches out, and that in itself was quite an ordeal. He had a little bit of infection in it, and I think that was causing his fever and grumpiness that day. Oh well. He was still so cute! :D

My little monkey. :)
I think the nose was in his way. He pretty much walked around all night lifting it up like this.
Matty and I didn't dress up... I was pretty festive in my skull scarf though, right?

Our pooches weren't lucky enough to dress up this year either, but all the other family dogs are spoiled little brats and had cute costumes. Haha! This is Lucky and Baxter.

For the past few years I have been a hunting widow for the first week of November. This year was no different, so Leslie and I went to visit Mom and Dad in Wyoming. Of course we had to dress up the boys and take them to see GG and G-Papa while we were there!

Stealing GG's candy...

GG, Tucker, G-Papa & Parker.

I cannot even tell you how many hours I spent playing with this farm set growing up. It made me smile to watch him play with it.

While we were there we ate at a gas station called 'RIPS.' I am pretty sure that only in Wyoming can you purchase fuel, groceries, eat lunch, and by a full range of hunting supplies as well as saddles... All at a gas station...
My dad took us to the rifle range in the basement of the rec. center. I didn't even know they had one. I'll level with you... I could use some practice! Now... notice how slutty I am dressed in my extremely low cut skank-o shirt... While I was shooting the .22 a bullet casing somehow fell down my shirt and left a bullet shaped blister on my chest. I did not know that the casings were hot! I think my brother made fun of me by commenting something along the lines of, "Wait... Something violently explodes by fire and it's hot?!? My world is shaken!!!" Shut up, Jerk! My dad pointed out that if I wasn't dressed like such a floosie it wouldn't have happened. Thanks!

My mom had to spoil the boys and buy them cute matching outfits. We took an afternoon that they were in good moods and snapped a few (or couple hundred - give or take) pictures. I am so excited. We have two of the cutest boys ever!

He was pretty proud of himself for standing on this ledge.

Eureka! Both boys looked at the same camera at the same time! This was probably attempt number 87 or so... You wouldn't think it would be hard to get pictures of them together, but it really is. Tucker behaved a little better than Parker. He stayed where we put him... Parker ran around so happy to be exploring new things. It was so fun to have them together for a few days. I can't even imagine what it will be like when these two cuties are 2 & 3...

Since I missed making a Thanksgiving post, I just want to take a minute to say how truly BLESSED we are. We have so much, and give thanks so little. We have financially had a harder year this year, but when I look around and see how much we have and see all of our blessings, it is hard to complain. Although the economy has definitely changed, Matt has kept his job (pay cut and all!) and I have remained fairly busy at work. We have a beautiful family. Our sweet little boy reminds us everyday about the little things that we might otherwise miss without him. His laughter fills our home and reminds us what is important in life. We have a knowledge of life eternal and the blessings that await us after this life. We know our Savior and Redeemer. We know that he loves us and that he died for us. I know that he died for me personally, so that I could have the opportunity to come to this life and return to my Heavenly Father and to be with my family forever. Seriously, with a knowledge like that, how could you NOT be THANKFUL?

I Have a Really Cute Little Sister! :)

My little sister has become quite the social butterfly since my family relocated about a year ago. This year she has stayed busy with multiple school and church activities including cross country and marching band. I decided to go home to visit the fam so I could see her in action during the schools homecoming weekend. The high school that I grew up in didn't have either sport, so I wanted to see her. It was so fun! The whole town comes together for a parade the afternoon of the big football game. It was a pretty good parade, and I have to say that I was VERY impressed that there was not even one political float.

Papa and Parker - waiting for the parade to start.

Ooh! There she is!

I think this picture of Caitlyn is so 'stinkin cute!

This was during the halftime performance. Can you see Caitlyn? She is the girl in the blue pants and silly hat... :D

Parker and Grandpa at the football game. I personally think that October is too late in the year for outdoor night games. It was pretty chilly!

Parker was less than impressed to be at Auntie's cross country meet the next day in Park City. But look how cute those gloves are! He absolutely hated them.... Poor guy!

Caitlyn getting close to the home stretch!

It was also the weekend of General Conference. I had to throw in the picture of GG playing with Parker. He loved it. Also, notice that Rory is sleeping through GC! Jeez! It really is no wonder he is single. Haha! Kidding.

It was a very fun weekend to spend with the family. I wish they lived closer so we could do it more often. Good thing Christmas is just around the corner so we can all be together again.

Uncle Ror and Parker. :) I really worry about the things he plans on teaching my Little Man...

I better lay down the ground rules.

Project: Front Yard!

Once upon a time Matthew and I went on a vacation to SanFran and Lake Tahoe. When we arrived home all our landscaping rocks in the front yard were gone and our front yard was covered in tractor ruts! Matt's father volunteered them to a co-worker, and unbeknownst to me, Matt agreed to give them away. Our front yard was now the ugliest yard in the neighborhood! Unfortunately, it stayed that way for quite sometime. This project began with the rock removal in July, and ended when the last piece of sod was layed in the first week of October. I must say that it turned out quite nice. I LOVE my new front yard... Especially my new flower bed. Hopefully I will take better care of it than in years past. I plan to plant and weed it this coming year. I am so excited!

This was day one of the actual work. I had to run out and snap a few pics before too much digging began... Good thing I did. 10 minutes later the trees were gone, and my barely visible Tiger Lilies (by the white pillar) were in a Rubbermaid box.

Notice my trees in the back of the truck. I really think Matthew starts these projects just so he can rent equipment to destroy things. :)

Do you think it is too late to turn back at this point? Amazingly, to my knowledge, the mailbox was never disturbed!


Now it's taking shape!

Oh yay! That is my new front yard! Oh, how I love it. Oh, how I hope the sod takes and grows in lush and beautiful next year. Oh, how I am excited for Matthew to set up the electric fence around the flower bed so Copper will stop digging... Haha! I will have to post some more pictures of it next summer to show how it's doing, and HOPEFULLY my beautiful flowers!

P.S. My Tiger Lilies dried up and died from sitting in the hot sun for 3 months. :( However... I went to throw them away and noticed there were new starts growing!!! We planted them along the back of the flower bed and (fingers crossed) they will be back next spring.

Papa & Co. were in charge of the CFR 2k9 this year. (That basically meant my mom and us girls.) We had a great reunion. It was so fun. We were all put in charge of different things, but it all pulled together and ran smoothly. One of the best events was Rikki's 'The Price is Right' game. She did an awesome job, and everyone had a blast! I would say the biggest train wreck of the reunion was dinner... Literally! Papa decided we were going to have a smoked pig. With all of you in mind I left out the gruesome pics. Haha! If you really want to see them check out my Facebook page. Just imagine a dead cooked pig wearing a hula skirt, Hawaiian lia, a hat and sunglasses... All on a bright pink sled. Like I said... Gruesome! He was pretty proud of it though, so we all pretended to be impressed. :D Here are a few of my favorite pics from the 'Same time, Same Place!' If my computer wasn't so slow I would have included more.

Parker LOVED his good morning cookies so much that he needed one for each hand. :)

Grandma and Papa... Getting 'Sconed!'

Parker at the sawdust dig. I don't know where this tradition started, but we've held the dig every year for as long as I can remember. He wasn't so impressed with getting his hands dirty.

I know you have all been DYING to see a current picture of the twins, so here is Chief and Copper. And no, they were not tied up the entire time. Matt let the run free quite a bit.

I love my mom. :)

Leslie, Matt and Tucker.

These are my favorite two boys in the whole world!

Parker snuggling with Cheify.

Okay, so I know that Rikki hates this pic, but I had to post it. This was the first year of our annual Carpenter Half Marathon. (I wanted it to be named the Dam Half... It was up by Minks (Meeks? I dunno) Cabin Dam.) I was not planning on running this, so the most training I did was a six mile run... six weeks before the grand event. I was sucked into it due to peep pressure the night before. With no training I set out on the grand adventure... and I FINISHED!!! It was by no means an amazing time, but I told myself I would walk for one minute at each mile marker and that is what I did. We took this picture at the finish line on our way home from the reunion. I am proud to say that Rikki, my mom, myself and Leslie represented for the Jackson clan in the half, and Caitlyn dominated the 5k! Way to go team. (As a side note... Leslie won first place in the half. Beating my by ONLY 43 minutes. HAHA!)