Hanging at Anthony and Rachel's House I mean Sabrina and Oliver's house

Recently my brother Anthony and Rachel relocated to Farmington Utah. They have a cute house, decorated amazingly, and in an awesome location. They were kind enough to let the kids and I crash their house while we were in between reunions. (and I mean crash).....when you show up with 5 kids and all their stuff to visit you can't help but make in impression or leave one (hopefully not!) Oliver and Sabrina were so cordial and fun and other than poor Oliver having to think his life was at risk from the evil baby Dr. Cole whose mission was to growl and yell at him all week, things went pretty smoothly.
First order of business: to watch the Sound of Music and eat lots of Chocolate and crap. I was ecstatic when I found out they owned this movie. Its been awhile since I've watched it and was really wanting to show it to the kids. Rachel thought it would be fun....but only if there was a lot of chocolate. A trip to Smiths helped that happen and voila an awesome afternoon!!

We went to a cool castle park that had a creek and areas to explore.....Carter wanted me to make sure that I mentioned that HE found this awesome fort while exploring.
We also visited the Gateway Children's Museum at the Gateway Mall. Do people in Utah realize how many cool things there are to do with children in this state? Las Vegas not so much....they have a different focus all together....anyway this museum was so cool. I was amazed at how well done and clean it was.

Josh loved the make believe house



Hanna of course loved the horse
They had some really fun magnetic shapes for building
And a real helicopter

That is a toy pig on Cole's nose....a very interesting source of entertainment for mother's when reviewing pictures on your camera. We couldn't figure out what the heck was on Cole's face!

Jackson Reunion 2010

Uncle Doug and Jake on the four wheeler, its all Jake wanted to do!

Waiting for turns to shoot off their rockets
They got some serious height



My uncle collects cars. All the brothers love cars. Old ones, new ones, fast ones, fun ones. Its always interesting to see what he's got on his property. I fell in love with this truck. I asked my uncle to think of me if he ever decided to sell it. To which he replied that it was pretty much going to be the stone marking his grave sight. I think that means not to count on it.

My cousin Carla and her husband made this family tree. We were all amazed. It has a leaf for each person descending from Les and Geneva Jackson....(for those of you who don't know I am my grandmother's namesake)
Another beauty....I think I look pretty good in it...maybe I could buy this one?

Rachel and I had an impromptu photo shoot sparked by this beautiful car.



My family who attended
My niece Ashley and her fiance Andrew....only a few weeks until the big day!
A fun picture of my dad and siblings....they are all laughing because they were saying things like: Does my hair look okay, Is there anything in my teeth, and Do these jeans make my butt look fat? Its a crack up when they get together! George Brown is the tall one in the back center.....he is a distant relative who traveled all the way from England to attend the reunion with the financial backing of my very generous father. He has the neatest British accent. My Dad is on the far left.

For entertainment we had lip sinking bands with all the props like brooms, wooden spoons, scarves, and such. Here's Hanna rockin it!!

Idaho memories

Somewhere deep in my childhood memories are these images. Images of this familiar country side, these fields, tractors, and grass lawns bigger than seems possible. I grew up visiting here every summer playing outside from sun up to sun down with cousins, eating yummy food prepared by Aunties, and listening to the grown ups talk. It is where my parents were born, grew up, met, fell in love, and started their family. This is Idaho. It is where my roots are from. It is part of me.

I recently made the journey to Idaho to take my kids to the Jackson Family Reunion. (Jared had to stay home for work). It was really a fun experience to remember my childhood and watch my children enjoy some of the same things I used to. I love my extended family and it was great to catch up with them.




The grass in my uncle's yard = about 50 people's yards in Vegas.


The first night we were there, a huge rainstorm came through. Although it was done and over with in about a half hour, it was really scary at the time. The lightening was right across the street in my uncle's field. At one point the Lightening and Thunder happened instantaneously. I was trying to take pictures and the thunder was so loud and then a giant flash of light. Hanna freaked out and started crying hysterically. I started yelling for my kids to get into the house. Thankfully everyone was SAFE! Afterwards, the skies were angry and I ceased the opportunity to capture some images.

Jake's Birthday Part II

Jake's Birthday celebrations lasted for three days. We went the the lake with friends and opened presents the first day. The next day Harrison and Hunter arrived to celebrate. We had ice-cream cake, went to Toy Story 3, and swam in the pool with our cousins. Then on Saturday we returned to the lake.


This day was a lot of fun, but totally different from the other trip. The wind was blowing and it was soooo choppy. It was difficult to do anything but tube and even that was a bumpy ride without much effort.
We found lots of ways to entertain ourselves like water football diving
Swimming to islands far away for exercise against the incredibly choppy waves- that is Kandra and I she kicked my tail at it

And of course taking pictures (if Kandra and I are involved!)
Some of us even had a nice nap being lulled to sleep by the rocking boat
Harrison is getting sooooo big and handsome.
You can kind of see how choppy it was in this picture....on the way driving out we had to go really slow because it was getting worse and worse. Come back Scullins....we owe you a peacful day on Lake Mead!
We had lots of fun!