CD madness

(this picture has nothing to do with the post but Daniel found Ben sleeping like this and it had us cracking up, so he took a picture. And yes, that is a big honking pile of laundry which still has yet to be folded and put away)
One of my favorite things about the holidays is the music. I have quite the collection if I do say so myself. Anyway as Buddy the elf says, "the best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear." We do this by making a little CD of some of our favorite Christmas songs each year to give to our friends. But as I was compiling the songs for this years CD, I realized last years was the BOMB- it totally rocked! Seriously. How can I possibly top it? I can't. This years is good, but there are several "dramatic" feeling songs, which are fabulous if you are in the mood for them. Daniel was not in the mood for them tonight, as he was helping me get them ready to "burn baby burn." So this had me second guessing my selections. But I have come to the conclusion that I am not gonna stress over it. I love the songs on there. Even if Daniel thinks some of them are "never-ending". They are some of my favorites. So there.
Really though- I must say, Daniel is so great! Even though he wasnt in the mood for Christmas CD making, he helped me out. What a guy. Now the trick will be seeing if he will help me deliver the goods.

Giving Thanks

One this wonderful day of Thanksgiving I just thought I would list some of the things I am so thankful for.
1-My Savior, Jesus Christ, his glorious gospel, and my testimony
2-My sweet Daniel and our marriage
3-Kylie, Tyler, James, & Ben
4-My parents and the way the taught, raised, and support me
5-My siblings, their spouses and their children
6-Our friends
7-Our dear prophet
8-Wonderful church leaders, locally and generally
9-My grandparents, who have all passed on, but whom I dearly love
10-My Aunts, Uncles and cousins
11-music
12-my education and the fabulous teachers I have had throughout my life
13-A comfortable home with AC in the dreadful summer
14-Food to eat
15-Clothes to wear
16-Daniels working to allow me to be at home with our kids
17-the scriptures
18-the priesthood
19-color
20-rain
21-sunshine
22-nature- especially flowers
23-The whole Christmas season
24-Good health, and the good health of my husband and children as well
25- prayer
26- vacations
27-tithing
28-the trials I have gone through and the lessons learned
29-Gift of repentance and the miracle of forgiveness
30-Tender mercies
31-Cars that function well
32-Freedom
33-The miracle of life and the blessing of taking part of that miracle
34-My little job and the extra fruits of my labor.
And the list goes on and on. I have been so blessed and I thank my Father in Heaven for these blessings. May you all have a wonderful holiday dear family and friends. We love and appreciate you!!!

Festivous Miracle

This past weekend will go down as a favorite in the Jackson family history. We took off Friday afternoon and drove up to the Polar Express. We miraculously made the train as we got out a little later than planned, and arrived without a minute to spare- but that made it "just like the movie" as the kid has to run to catch the train on the movie and we had to do the same. Once we were all aboard, the wonderful elves danced down the aisles passing out hot chocolate and cookies. Then they read the beloved book. James was bursting with excitement. He kept saying "WOW, WOW, WOW!" about everything, and after every sip of hot chocolate he would nod his head and exclaim, "mmmmm-nummy!" then drink some more. We got to the "north pole" and saw Santa and his elf through the windows, then Santa boarded the train. While we were waiting for him to make his way into out cart, the elves told us we had to "believe" that Santa would come and so all the kids had to close their eyes and whisper "I believe." Then when Santa didn't appear the kids all started chanting "Santa, Santa, Santa" over and over and louder and louder and then HALLELUJAH the jolly old fat man appeared and made his way down the aisle handing out bells from his sleigh. He talked to the kids for a minute and asked Kylie if she liked having "all those brothers." She nodded her head.(I think mostly out of fear that if she said no that he wouldn't give her that prized bell.) After he made his way through and waved goodbye it was time for some Christmas Caroling. We sang and danced all the way back to the train station. Once we left, the boys fell asleep within 5 minutes after getting buckled back in the car. And I am willing to bet they had some pretty sweet dreams.
I have to say, I got a little teary-eyed after this little ride, not cuz I am some bawl-baby, but seeing how excited the kids were and their savoring of every little detail, and the wonder and magicalness of it all, well it was just very sweet and special and I just loved watching the expressions on their faces and the look in their eyes. I love the moments and special times like these. It makes me really thankful that I get to be a mom and be in this particular stage of my kids life, as it is just so magical. What a way to kick off the Holidays- Thanksgiving, Christmas, New-Years here we come!

Teeth, Teeth, Teeth

So my dearest darling Daniel went under the knife today. Well, not knife- more like pliers. I actually dont know what they used, but he got his 4 wisdom teeth pulled. He is now puffy as a chipmunk storing nuts in his mouth. Poor guy. He was a good sport though and even posed for a picture. Lucky for him, he got "put-out" during the procedure, so he remembers nothing.
10 years ago when I got mine yanked out, I was awake the whole time. And I had enormous clamps clamping my jaws open. I had bruises for two weeks following. And mine were all impacted so they went in and busted each tooth then had to dig around to make sure they got every piece. It was pretty traumatic and I still shudder thinking about it.
Toast also lost his first tooth today. He, however, is all smiles. He is strutting around with his chest all puffed out and singing songs of his own making about the tooth fairy, teeth, and storm troopers. Lucky for him he gets to make money off his little extraction, whereas his daddy had to fork over the moolah for his.
Heres to a week of soup, smoothies and smashed potatoes!

Vegas

Daniel and I were ever so fortunate to have a get away this week. Daniels mom selflessly came down and watched the kiddos for us, and we headed off to Vegas for a conference for Daniels work. We were suppose to fly there, but Sunday we had a sand storm, which delayed the flight, making us miss the connecting flight. So Daniel decided we would drive. He made really good time on the way up, but in order to help him stay awake he got himself a caffeinated col-a, and then couldn't sleep once we got in.
He checked in for the conference Monday morning, then we went to get some breakfast at the Wynn Breakfast buffet, as I heard it was a MUST for Vegas. It was really good, but holy moly was it pricey, especially for breakfast.
While Daniel was doing the conference thing, I walked all over the place, and was astounded at the price of things in Vegas. I went into a kids boutique in one of the ritzy stores and almost had a heart attack when I looked at the price tags. I think this trip cost me years off my life not only from shock of prices, but also how freaking smokey that place is. Everywhere I went I was gagging from all the stinking smoke. And then the casino's try to make it smell a little nicer so they perfume the place and the combination of smoke and perfume was almost too much to take. I was excited to get back home and have some "fresh" air once again.
Tuesday night we went to Phantom of the Opera with the others from his office that attended the conference as well. I loved it. And so did Daniel. He was concerned it might be scary "like in the movie." He only jumped out of his seat a few times, so I was proud of him for being so brave. The cast was superb- their voices were magnificent!
I also got to go to part of Daniels conference that night. They had Ben Zander, the Boston Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor, do a session, and it was awesome.
Wednesday night Daniel and I saw Mamma Mia. The performers were all very talented and the dancing and music were so fun. I had to fight the urge to jump out of my seat and dance and sing along.
Thursday night we went to KA. OH MY GOODNESS-- IT WAS TREMENDOUS! Seriously. I was in shock with the stunts they do. The stage they use is out of this world amazing. The martial arts and choreography and costumes and special effects were truly incredible. I still cant get over how cool it was.
We went to the Fountains of Bellagio, went to Danielles and got our favorite "snowy popcorn", we visited our favorite hotel- the Venetian and considered the gondola ride just to take a trip down memory lane-(Daniel officially proposed on the gondolas there, and we spent our honeymoon there too-) but the wait was a bit long so we just reminisced while walking along side the little canal instead. We had such a great time and will forever treasure this trip.
We are forever in Daniels mothers debt. She and the kids got locked out and had quite the adventure getting back in. And since my little Ben still doesnt sleep through the night, she didnt get much sleep. We really appreciate her and the kids had such a great time with her and created lots of great memories too.
I brought my camera with us, but as you cant take it to the performances, I didnt get any good shots. Oh well- I have good shots in my head.
I really missed my kids and was so excited to see them and hold them today. I think they all grew a ton in just a few days. It was so nice to get away, but its so nice to be all together as a family again. Kind of funny how that works.

100 things

This is my 100th post, so I decided to do a hundred things list. Just kidding. I tried that once. But I have been enjoying the stage Ben is in right now oh so much and thought I would jot down 10 things I am really going to miss about the baby stage when my babies are grown.
1- The little sigh babies makes after they sneeze. Oh I love love love it.
2-Snuggling- need I say more?
3-The laugh. Hearing my babies laugh brings me complete joy.
4-The smell after baths. I could sniff them FOREVER.
5-The roly-poly chubs on their legs, and their cute little butts. Only something a baby can pass off as cute.
6-The way they talk. I love the "ba-ba-ba" jibberish.
7-A sleeping baby- I love laying next to my baby and marveling at every precious feature of that face.
8-The way they hold your finger with their little hand, like they never want to let go.
9-The full body stretch when they first wake up.
10- I love when their face lights up instantly when I walk in the room, and they beam at me like I am their favorite person ever.

With that said, I am just gonna add I love being a mother. It brings me a satisfaction and joy like I never knew was possible. Thats not to mean that I dont find it frustrating sometimes. Its hard work, unbelievably hard some days, but truly the most worthwhile thing I am doing. I love these babies I have been blessed with. I honestly dont know how anyone can deny the existence of God after bringing a child into the world. Their spirits radiate with love that can only come from God. And the miraculous birth process anyway should testify that life is God given and so extremely precious. Thats what I feel anyway. -Enough said!

Migration

So Daniel and I are gonna load up our flocks and herds and seeds of every kind and build a boat to take us to some cute little island promised land where we can set up our own government based on our beliefs. We shall work by the sweat of our brow and build up our home and we shall have peace and joy! So long sad sad world. I hope you can survive the next 4 years!

A Favorite Weekend

We headed to Sandy eggo this weekend. Thanks to priceline and craigslist we got a smokin deal on a hotel room, and an even smokiner deal on Legoland tickets! I seriously love a great deal!
So Legoland was fun. We literally walked onto every ride. I really enjoyed people watching and the kids enjoyed all the Lego creations. Saturday night we went swimming at the hotel pool, which was heated but not quite warm enough to keep us from shaking after a few minutes. There was a cool fire-pit next to the pool, so after we were done swimming we sat by the fire to warm up. While sitting there together I thought "this is bliss". Cuz it was. I had my Daniel, holding my Jamesy, and my Kylie and Tyler snuggled on either side of me, while I had my Ben snuggling on my lap. The night was so peaceful and clear and the stars were shining. Not to mention the beautiful palm trees silhouetted against the dark sky. Then Kylie said "this is the best vacation ever. I love our family!" Just like Dash. Then she and Ty started showing us their dance moves, and that got Jamesy movin and grovin as well. I treasure those moments!

We decided to check out Julian as I would love to have a cabin in a mountainous region to escape to on weekends(someday), and we want to scope out areas to get the defining picture in our heads. We decided that Julian is NOT the place for us. My future cabin must have pine trees- and Julian was not pine-treeish. Not to mention the fact I got extremely car sick on the windy road leading to the pie-famous town.
Not a treasured memory, but at least we know where we dont want to go ever again.

We stopped in Viejas as well, and I was SO EXCITED to see that ITS BEGINNING TO LOOK A LOT LIKE CHRISTMAS there. Minus the snow of course. But now that Halloween is history- TIS THE SEASON! HOORAY!!!