Visiting with the Scullins

We spent New Year's Week in Running Springs California visiting with Kandra, Patrick, Harrison and Hunter. Their cozy house nestled in the San Bernardino forest in the Mountains made for the perfect winter get away for we from Las Vegas. They even have a real fireplace that uses real wood....and to top it off weather that allows them to actually need to use it. I was in heaven! We had a real vacation week where we played board games, watched movies, got some sleep and went to the movies. We thoroughly enjoyed ringing in the New Year with the Scullins by eating a yummy meal of Steaks, potatoes, salad, bread and jello, BUT NOT SOUP!! (oh yeah that's only funny if you were actually there!) Thanks for being great hosts we love you guys!
The crew in their sweatshirts purchased by G'pa Jackson made and designed by Patrick: They say Authentic Jackson Family Member established 1965. They are so cute and sooo warm and comfy!!

Here are some of our favorite things we did together:
Playing video games and board games together


Feeding the ducks at Lake Arrowhead
Sledding in the side yard with our cousins


Practicing with Cole and his new found walking skills
The Chocolate Fountain: The infamous Jackson Family Tradition whenever we get together!



Just being silly!

Oh the JOY of Christmas DAY!!

I have often said, I wish we could just bottle up their little JOY on Christmas morning and open it up in 15 years.....these are the good years. When they Believe, squeal in delight, and jump up and down when they open something special. This year was so fun from the opening of the very first present....Josh opened his Santa gift and found the much desired Disney pirate boat which was met with sweet squeals and much jummping up and down! Jared and I couldn't help but get choked up a little! Christmas is perhaps the one day of the year where your love spills out and embraces everything around you. How can it not be the best time of the year!! We love Christmas at our house and enjoyed it this year. We had our traditional breakfast after most of the gifts were opened. Aeble skievers with apple pie, jam, and butter pecan stuffing....drizzled with syrup. We love it! We spent the day in our jammies putting toys together and reading books and napping. It is so much fun. This year we played many rounds of air hockey too!


Santa brought: Carter a Lego Troll Ship, Hanna an Art Easel and canvas, Jake a Star Wars Lego ship, Josh a Disney Mickey Pirate ship, and Cole a Train table to share with his siblings! He also surprised them each with a Zhu Zu pet each. We hadn't heard of these before, but they are all the rage and very hard to find.....that Santa is quite the fella to surprise us!

Carter's Pile
Some of Joshy's treasures (Cole's mixed in)
Smiley Jake
Tender moment
Happy Brothers
Hanna exclaimed "Are You guys serious?! When she opened her gift from Mom and Dad, it came with a clock/ charging station for her room
Jared spoiled me with a floor steamer, more nativity pieces, and a tripod!
Jared got this BYU golf jacket, along with a Blue Ray player, and tickets to see Jerry Seinfeld in Vegas the night after Christmas! I was most excited to give him the tickets even though he already knew because he opened them in the mail....and also he found the Blue Ray player on the door step one day after work (so frustrating!)

Hanna is enamored with Kaya
Sweet baby.....who doesn't love a baby at Christmas? He crawled around through everything and 'enjoyed' everyone's gifts. He got a cute pull along puppy that he loves. He loves to say "woof" right now to anything with four legs and says "H-H-H" when he sees Santa.
Samantha got a new winter outfit
These chairs were a hit. Carter and Jake got them. You can plug D.S.' into the side and the sound comes out speakers
Happy Christmas chaos!
The surprise table that no one noticed hiding under a blanket upstairs in the bonus room as they hurried to run down to see what Santa had brought! After everything was opened, Jared and I had the kids run upstairs....They were all so excited! Cole thought it was a jungle gym so we had to move it away from the sectional!
Carter had his troll ship put together by the evening-- he is an awesome LEGO builder!

Some of the cute memories I don't want to forget: Josh opened up Mr. Freeze and yelled "It's Mr. Freezer!!" Carter pinched himself and then said, "Yep, I'm awake!" Joshy telling Jared later in the day, "Next Christmas I don't need any new toys. I have all I need!" Joshy's favorite phrase right now, "By the way!"

This year was also special for us because we were able to share some money with some friends and family members who were in much need of it. Grandma and Grandpa Jackson also held off on a lot for us for Christmas so they could send big money donations to some family members who really needed it....like my mom's brother Uncle Gary who was recently paralyzed from an accident this fall. These are the most significant JOYS I felt this season and I hope my children have learned how important it is to give not just during Christmas, but always.

Christmas EVE

We enjoyed having the Allreds and Swaseys over on Christmas Eve. We had yummy Beef Brisket, Cheesy potatoes, Broccoli Casserole, Green Salad, Lion House Rolls, Yams, and Pumpkin Pie from Costco. It was great food and company...although we missed Drew deployed far away "Doin Time"! We put on a very cute and amateur performance of the Nativity story with lots of little smiles and giggles! This is one of my favorite traditions. Since we all have the same tradition of opening jammies, on Christmas Eve, we all opened them together. It was hilarious to watch them all rip them open. Josh was soooo excited to finally open a gift. Unfortunately his little 3 year old heart was expecting something other than jammies and he immediately through them across the room, ran and buried his little face into Jared's lap and burst into tears. It was sad and hilarious at the exact same time! Once he realized that he and Jake were matching and that Jake was super excited about having Rudolph, he decided it was okay and find his smile again. Later we let him open up one Bionicle from Carter since he's only 3 after all! Our guests stayed for a bit. The girls sang around the piano with Hanna accompanying and all the little boys ran around crazy while the parents visited about traditions and what preparations still had to happen that night! After everyone left, we put the cookies out, sprinkled the driveway with reindeer food and magic glitter, and all the kids went to bed in the little boys room together...minus Coleman! Hanna read everyone the Night Before Christmas...and then they fell asleep with strict instructions not to leave the room until 7 am! Daddy even put up a road block (the card table) so no one would accidently forget. (Since mom and dad still had to put together a surprise in the bonus room...an air hockey table--we didn't want any insomniac kids to ruin the surprise!)

Hanna's Birthday

Hanna had such a cute birthday this year. I let her plan the whole thing! I can't believe our big girl is already 9! Stop growing girly. For her birthday from her family she got: a new outfit, a new scooter helmet, two american girl stands for her dolls, a treat set for dolls, a horse for her American girl doll, an American girl book about friendship, and some make-up and necklaces from her grandparents. My favorite gift to her was aprons and cooking stuff of her own. I worked really hard on these aprons piecing patterns and staying up late....they turned out exactly how I wanted! (Except for the pockets that didn't quite get done) She was sweetly spoiled and deserves it....we love you princess...you will always be our little princess no matter how many birthdays you have.

Birthday Cupcakes for school that Daddy had to make -(Mommy was sick)
Hanna's Cute friends
We did a "cute sock exchange" instead of gifts this year......all the girls brought a pair of socks wrapped and then got numbers and got to pick a pair out of the pile....sooo fun! They loved it.
Hanna got these cute penguin toesie socks from the exchange
One of the activities was to decorate sugar cookies....Hanna planned the whole party with just a few suggestions from mom. They also watched ELF and played some party games.

Hanna and I tried our hand at fondant this year. It was really fun! It wasn't perfect, but I think it turned out cute. We kept calling it our Dr. Seus cake. It looks like something right out of The Cat in the Hat movie.
Hanna and Aspen....best buddies

Christmas outfits

Hanna's always up for a photo shoot, but not so much my handsome boys!