Jackson Famiy Reunion

On Memorial Day weekend we went up Oak City canyon for the Jackson Family Reunion.

It was chilly a lot of the time so we all stuck pretty close to the fire, it's a good thing Shawn got the heater in our trailer going, it kept us nice and toasty at night.

We brought the horses and the guys went on a couple really good rides, and they took the kids around camp on them.

Koda loves horses I'm sure him and Mike will have some really great memories on them.

Hayden has a mule and he thinks he is super cool, this mule really fits his personality.

We had an auction to earn money for the reunion next year. Mike made this wood burning of my great Grandpa and Grandma Jackson and thier house, which used to be where our house is built now.

He is an AMAZING artist!! He can look at a picture of anything and draw it perfect, or he doesn't even need to look at anything he can just draw from his mind. I hope my kids get some of this talent!

The last morning we woke up to snow!! We had a fun time still, and its always nice to see family that you haven't seen in awhile.

Super Dad!!!!

At bedtime before family prayer, Mike usually plays around with the kids sometimes he pretends he's a hunter and the kids are the deer and he finds them and gets them and hauls them to bed and skins them, ( tickles them) then puts them to bed, or he plays hide and seek in the dark, this night we were trying to see if he could lift up the whole at the same time, (except majorly pregnant me). He did it and the kids giggled and now they think he's the toughest guy in the world.

Maddy started tipping backwards and they all went crashing down onto the bed

He can even bench press them, who needs a weight set anyways?!!!

Dakotas Preschool Program

Dakota had Miss Guillette for his preschool teacher this year. He had a lot of fun in her class, and at the end of the year they did a cute little program for all the parents and grandparents. 

Each child came to the microphone and said their name and who their parents are, Dakota sounded so cute saying his, its one of those small things that is really cute to the parents.

They sang a few songs, this song was Chicka Chicka Boom Boom. Dakota's birthday is August 31st and the deadline for school is Sept 1st so he is really young for this class so he is going to go to preschool again next year before he moves into kindergarten, besides that gives me one year with him at home when he's older!

Brielles Dance Competition

At the end of April Brielle had a dance competition in Parowan. She did such a good job! She has really enjoyed doing dance this year.

I LOVE her and her cute little personality!!!!

We got to take Bella with us too, because Britney was in the hospital having Saige.

Hip Hop Routine

Tball

This year is Brielle and Dakotas first year of T-Ball. Mike is the coach and their team is the Raptors.

They have both had a lot of fun playing, and they are pretty good at it. T-Ball is definitely entertaining to watch!

Dakota up to bat

 Brielle up to bat

Easter 2011

For Easter this year we went camping at the sand dunes. The first camping trip of the year is always a lot of fun because we are usually really looking forward to get out after the winter. It was really nice too because we had the sand dunes all to ourselves. For dinner on Friday we had tinfoil dinners. They were really good each family brought a different kind of meat and three different kinds of veggies and then everybody got to make their own custom tinfoil dinner. We had chicken, hamburger, shrimp, and ham, and  whole bunch of different kinds of vegetables. After dinner we roasted giant marshmallows and starbursts. Yum!

We set up a table with a bunch of different kind of egg dying kits and the kids got to color their Easter eggs.

The Easter Bunny even found us in our trailer!!!

Brielle and Dakota with their Easter loot!

The next morning the dads took the kids on a ride while we hid a bunch of Easter eggs, then the kids came back and had an Easter Egg Hunt.

The sand dunes were a lot of fun for the kids, they are the kind of thing that keep the kids in our family entertained all day.

Saturday afternoon we ran home and cleaned up from camping and then went out to Grandpa and Grandma Blads in Kanosh for dinner and another Easter Egg Hunt.

Madison is finding her eggs.

 

After the egg hunt all the kids got on the tramp and dumped out their candy so they could trade with each other. 2011 was a great Easter!!!

Library Cultural Festival and Boys Day Out

On April 16th me and Grandma Jackson took Brielle, Dakota, and Madison to the Library cultural festival in Fillmore. It was the perfect spring day which was surprising because we haven't had very many of those kind of days this spring, it has been really rainy and cold. They had a lot of different food booths so we ate lunch, and after that we took the kids to do the different activities. The thing that kids wanted to do most was get their faces painted. Brielle had them paint a butterfly and Dakota chose a cheetah. 

Super cute kiddos!!!

After the library festival Mike and Jason Despain took the boys fishing up Big Springs in Kanosh Canyon.

Dakota had a blast that is all he talked about for a couple days afterwards. He thought he was pretty cool to go in the mountains looking like a cheetah.

To get to Big Springs you ride a four wheeler up a trail and then you have to hike the rest of the way in, Dakota was really proud of himself for hiking all the way in by himself and not having to have Mike carry him at all. The boys saw some lizards on the way up so they made a lizard trap to try and catch a lizard. They also went fishing in the creek and caught some fish.

Dakota and Nathan and Jacob Despain

Dakota is taking a drink at the head of the spring where the water comes out of the mountain. This day was right up Dakotas alley he loves to do these kinds of things with Mike.

Easter Egg Activities

For Family Home Evening this week we did Ressurection Easter Eggs, I found the idea online at timesand seaseasons.org here is what we did incase anybody else wants to try it:
First number 12 plastic Easter eggs.
Next put the following items into the eggs:
1-leaf - real or plastic ( the more it look like a palm leaf the better
2- piece of cloth with a little perfume on it
3- piece of tortilla or pita shaped to look like flat bread
4- picture of Jesus or a family picture
5- 3 dimes
6- piece of purple cloth or paper
7- cross made of toothpicks
8- a nail
9- piece of paper that says " KING OF THE JEWS"
10- a little bundle (wrapped in cloth or a baggie) of spices (cloves)
11- a round stone
12- leave empty
 Let each child take turns opening the eggs and talk about each item that is in the egg. Here is some ideas of what you can say about each egg and a scripture reference you can look up:
1- When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the people waved branches because that is what people used to do when a king walked by. (Mark 1 8-9)
2-Later, Jesus had a special dinner with his friends. A woman came and poured perfume on his head. This showed that she knew that he was the Christ. (Mark 14:3)
3- The next day, Jesus had another special meal with His friends. We call this the Last Supper. This is when the sacrament began, because Jesus said that people who followed Him should have bread and wine or water to help them remember Him.(Mark 14:22)
4- Jesus went to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray. Here, he suffered for our sins. Because He did this for us, we can repent and live with Him again. (D&C 19:16-19)
5- Judas was supposed to be one of Jesus special helpers, but instead he helped other men arrest Jesus. He did this because the other men paid him money. (three pieces of silver)( Mark 14:10-11)
6- After Jesus was arrested, the soldiers were really mean to Him and made fun of Him. One thing they did was to put a purple robe on Him. Only kings wore purple robes. They didnt realize he really was a king, they were just teasing Him because people thought he was a king.(Mark 15:16-18)
7- Jesus was crucified ( Mark 15:25)
8- When the soldiers put Jesus on the cross, they pounded nails into his hands and feet ( D&C 6:37)
9- Another thing the soldiers did to make fun of Jesus was put a sign on the cross that said KING OF THE JEWS. Again they thought they were making fun of Him. They didnt realize he really was King of the Jews. ( Mark 15:26)
10-  After Jesus died His friends put His body in a tomb. Later, some of the women who followed Him came to the tomb to put spices on His body. That is something they did back then when people died. (Mark 16:1)
11- The tomb had a rock that could roll over the opening to seal it. While the women were walking to the tomb, they wondered how they would get the stone out of the way. (Mark 16: 3-4)
12-  When they got to the tomb they were suprised to see that the stone had already been rolled out of the way and Jesus body was gone. Then an angel came and told them, He is risen, he is not here. (Mark 16:66) This egg is empty because Jesus tomb was empty. Jesus tomb was empty because He was resurrected! You may want to share your testimony of the resurrection at this point.

My kids really enjoyed this activity and it was really on their level. When I did it I made the number 12 egg special, I used a shiny golden egg, and the whole time the kids were opening the eggs Dakota kept saying that he wanted to open the golden egg, when we got down to only a couple of eggs left, it was Dakotas turn to open an egg then it was Brielles, I told Brielle to open the next egg and she said "No its Kodas turn", I said "No he just opened one" Then she said " No its Kodas turn" I caught on to what she was doing. She had counted the eggs and realized that it was going to be her turn to open when it got to the golden egg so she let him take two turns so he would get to open the golden egg! She can be such a sweetheart it almost brought tears to my eyes to see her do such a nice thing for her brother all on her own, I need to be more like her.

Before we did this lesson we had a treat and made string Easter eggs. I remember doing these when I was little and I always had fun doing them.

To make them you make cornstarch glue by combining 1 c. cornstarch and 2 c. water in a saucepan stirring until smooth. Heat the mixture over med heat until thick. Allow to cool to the touch. If you think its to thick you can a little warm water to it to thin it.  After that prepare to get messy! Dip string in the glue and wrap it around the balloon make sure your string has plenty of glue on it.

After your balloon is covered in string let the balloon sit overnight, or longer, until the string on the balloon is dried and hard.

When its dry pop the balloon inside and remove it. You end up with a string Easter Egg! You can fill it with Easter grass and treat or anything you want.