3 Years Old!

Happy Birthday! Jackson turned 3 years old in January. I can't believe I have a 3 year old! He is such a boy and definately keeps me busy! We had a pretty low key party for him. We invited over a few friends and some family and had cake and icecream. The next day, we planned on going swimming up at Green Canyon then Big Jud's for lunch afterwards. Well, we attempted to go to Green Canyon, but the weather was so horrible that we didn't make it. The wind was blowing so bad that it was making huge snow drifts on the road, along with the already icy road. So we turned around and just went to Big Jud's. Even though it wasn't completely successful, I still think he had a good time.

Here are a few pictures of my baby boy.

3 days old

3 years old

Christmas

Whoa. It's been a while since I've updated anything! So my goal is to catch up, and hopefully stay caught up!

On Christmas Eve, we went bowling, one of our newer traditions. It's something that I've started looking forward to the last couple years. This year we invited Forrest's cousin Tyrel, his wife Lindsay and their daughter Madison to come along with us. I think it makes it more fun when you have others play with you. But as always, we had a blast, Jackson especially!

This year we just stayed home for Christmas. It's nice to have our own little family Christmas together, and then be able to get together with the rest of your family afterwards. The day started out when Jackson woke up. (No early risers here! At least not yet!) We were able to go at our own pace, which with Jackson, is slow surprisingly! He likes to pick a present, and take off one piece of paper at a time. Just taking his sweet ol' time! It's nice not to feel rushed! I think he enjoyed every minute of it, because I know I did! Poor kid got a TON of clothes, but also got Buzz & Woody from Santa. He got quite a few new books, coloring books, shoes, and a few toys. Forrest got a new pair of work boots, and a game he'd been wanting for the Wii, along with a few other odds and ends. And I got a bunch of books I've been wanting (woohoo!) and some soaps from Bath & Body Works....I love that stuff!

After the presents were opened, we munched on some Monkey Bread while we waited for our omlets to cook. Then we played it pretty low key and helped Jackson open his new toys to play with.

Later in the evening, we had some family come over for Christmas dinner. Forrest's parents, Audrey, Mandy, Todd, Kadee, Rylan and Todd's sister Monica came and we all enjoyed a delicious dinner of ham, mashed potatoes, rolls, salad, and all the other big feast fixins! We then proceded to exchange gifts, and I think we even finished the night by playing some Hand & Foot!
Overall, it was a very enjoyable Christmas!

Alas...

It's happened. The 3 words that you never want to hear from your child's mouth, "I hate you!". I figured it would probably come eventually, but not this soon. Of course, I don't think he really understood what he was saying. I can think of 2 kids it may have come from, or of course he may have heard it from Nursery.

After taking a time out, he came out to say sorry (smiling, and just as happy as could be), then I asked him if he knew what he said. "I hate you," he said. I told him it meant he didn't love me. He then replied, "But I love you mom!". So that made it better. He now knows that those are mean words and it's not nice to say them.

Here's to hoping I never hear them again...(yeah, right!)

Another update

Thanksgiving has now come and gone and we are well on our way to Christmas!

For Thanksgiving, we were able to go down to Utah and have it with Forrest's family and my dad. I was looking forward to taking pictures this Thanksgiving day (since in years past I've been bad at it) but I ended up leaving my camera in the office with the sleeping babies, so I didn't get any! Ooops! We had Thanksgiving dinner at the Forrest's parents house, then we went to my Grandma's later that evening for pie! That was the best apple pie I have ever had! I was also able to see my Aunt and Uncle who I haven't seen in, I believe, 2 years! So it was nice.

Friday, we did participate in some Black Friday shopping. It was Jennifer, Mandy, Forrest and I. We started at 6:30 am and hit Walmart, Target, Smiths' Marketplace, then K-Mart. Overall we didn't do too bad I think. We were able to get Jackson's Toy Story pj's at Walmart for Christmas Eve, a pair of snowpants for him for $8 at K-Mart, as well as a carpet-type car mat for him for Christmas. And I know that Jennifer and Mandy also got some big items they were hoping to get. Certain things we were hoping to get were gone, which I guess is what we get for not going out when they opened at like 5:00 am! So it wasn't a complete bust.

Overall it was a pretty good Thanksgiving.

Now onto Christmas. Jackson is getting really excited about Santa Clause! It's been a great way to get him to behave as well, or at least try to! He helped me put up the Christmas tree and decorate it. He also loves to wear his "Santa's helper" hat. He keeps wondering when he'll get to open presents, but he's being very patient!

I've been trying to explain to him what Christmas is all about, how we are celebrating Jesus' birth. When I showed him my little nativity set and explained who all the people were, I got to Mary and Joseph. After saying Joseph, he questioned, "Joseph Smith?" Lol, gave me a good chuckle, but at least now I know he's paying attention in Nursery! It's so much fun to see him get excited with all the Christmas festivities. And now I'm looking forward to the look on his face Christmas morning!

Halloween and Montana

It's about time for an update! This is the 4th time I've tried to update in the last month but have given up due things going wacky, so hopefully it'll work this time!

Halloween has come and gone. Jackson was so excited for it! He was a lion this year, and we got his costume at Old Navy. I love how they are so fluffy and warm!

This year Forrest decided to use our little 4-wheeler trailer to tote us around with. We went over to Mandy's neighborhood this year. We had us, Mandy, Todd, Kadee, Rylan, Todd's sister Jodi and her 3 kids, and yes, we all piled onto the 4-wheeler and trailer at one point!

Jackson made quite the haul this year...a whopping 8 pounds of candy! However, we did hit 2 trunk-or-treats before doing the actual trick-or treating. It was kind of funny becuase the older kids were tired and done before the younger ones were! But all in all it was a success and Jackson had a blast!

So tired after all the festivities!

For work, Forrest has been hauling grain to different places. For a while, he was having to hual a few loads up to Fairfield, Montana. We were lucky enough to go on a trip with him. You'd think having an 8 hour truck ride, sleeping in the truck, then having close to 10 hours of driving the next day would not be a lot of fun with a 2 1/2 year old and having to make potty stops, but it wasn't too bad! He was pretty stoked to be going on a trip in a 'semi-truck' with daddy. Of course we had lots of snacks and his portable DVD player with us which helped a ton! But he did great!

Frightmares & Pumpkins

We went to Lagoon for Frightmares a couple weeks ago. We went 2 years ago, but Jackson was too little to really go on any of the rides. This year we were excited to be able to watch him go on the rides. We weren't sure how the day was going to go since he had thrown up that morning. The very first ride we went on was Puff, so we could go with him. While on it, I asked him if it was fun. His answer, "Yeah." Not much thrill in his voice and no real smiles! Then we started putting him on rides by himself, and after a few, I think he started warming up, because then we could actually see him smiling! He did really good for being a little bit sick! When we asked, he told us his 2 favorite rides were Tilt-O-Whirl, and the new Jumping Dragon one. It was a lot of fun.

Today we carved our pumpkins. We showed Jackson how to seperate the seeds into one bowl, and the pumpkin "snot" (lol!) into the other. He was a little hesitant at first, then he dove right in! When it came time to carve them, I asked Jackson what he wanted, and he told me...He wanted triangle eyes, a pig nose, and vampire teeth. So I did my best to accomodate his request! All 4 of our pumpkins were home grown in our garden. I was quite impressed how well they came up (since last year they didn't turn out at all).

And now we are waiting on Halloween to come. We bought his costume about 2 weeks ago, and he has been itchy to go Trick-or-Treating ever since, so it will be quite a relief when the day finally gets here!

And a couple random pictures...

Potty Trained!

Yes! Jackson is officially potty trained! Okay, so it's been close to 4 weeks, but I'm still stoked about it! It only took us 5 days to get it completely down. And since, he hasn't had any accidents during the day, and only 2 accidents in the mornings, I believe. I had bought extra sheets and pads preparing for the night time accidents, but while training him, he didn't have any. Overall I'd say it was fairly easy, but we did have one hard day, which ended up being the last day he had an accident. I'm glad the process is over. I still catch myself occasionally thinking I need to change his diaper, then I think, "Wait! No more diapers!".

So that is our latest good news. We are going to be going to Lagoon's Frightmares Saturday, so hopefully after that I'll have some fun new pictures to share.