Bring on Christmas!!

Jaylee's first taste of "real food" Smashed up banannas! YUM! I think the best part about this picture is seeing Chlo off to the side opening her mouth super wide. Thanks for showing Jaylee how to do it Chlo :)

All three girls enjoying Jaylee's first time in her high chair.

A display of our whole family's stockings!

Jaylee loved the Christmas tree!

Carlee hanging up her new ornament,

We moved the tree to a new location for our tree this year. We love it. The girls have had a blast!

Everyone got a new ornament for Christmas this year! Chlo has a Highschool musical locker when you open it it plays "we're all in this together", Carlee got a barbie one who's holding a dog (which is why I think she chose it) Jaylee's is a little recordable frame (which I actually recorded her chatting tonight! SO CUTE!) Dave got the Leg Lamp from Christmas Story. He loves it!

This weekend has been crazy fun! We have a tradition of setting up our tree the day after Thanksgiving. The girls have had a countdown for a few weeks now. Dave was a great sport and helped us! Jaylee also had her first taste of "real food" this weekend too. On Saturday I decided to try out some mushed banannas. She really liked them. I can't believe she's big enough to sit in a highchair. Chlo is loving it! Chloé has been an amazing little "mother". Today she changed 3 diapers of Jaylee's and 2 of them were poopy! Go Chlo! Chlo was actually playing house with her today and said she was Jaylee's mom. Thanks Chlo for being such a great mom!

Happy Thanksgiving

A Little Guitar Hero Action!
Let the Feast Begin!Justin literally "licked the platter clean"!
Grandma taught Chlo how to fold napkins. She LOVED it!
Carlee loves to help Grandma. She was able to set the silverware, cups and little salt and pepper shakers.

I got Jaylee this hat the other night. It looks so cute on her I just had to snap a picture. Funny thing is, she's already in 6-12 month clothes but in 0-3 month hats :)

Yes, it's me. Justin took this picture while we were cooking...

The "Jackman family rock band"

Chlo and her fancy hair-do

Carlee and her fancy hair-do

Yesterday was beyond wonderful for us! We were actually able to sleep in and have a bit of a slow morning. We started off eating toast and as Carlee says "pancake waffles" (German Pancakes). The Macey's day parade was on so we decided to watch. It is truly an amazing thing to see. The girls loved all the balloons and the musical performances. Since they got into the parade I took advantage of them being still and did their hair crazy again. FUN! Then we were off to my mom and dad's. We got there about 12:30 and Dave headed straight downstairs to start playing Guitar Hero World Tour... They ended up playing for about 6+ hours... I'm glad they liked it so much :) I stayed upstairs and helped mom cook. It was loads of fun spending time with her! Dinner was fantastic too - I love having all our traditional family foods such as Dill pickles, honey butter and Zupfa bread. Of coarse the mashed potatoes and turkey were pretty spectacular too :) We all went around the room saying things we were thankful for and they ranged from food to family to siblings to showers to a nice house and so on... We ended up staying over there until about 9 which is all but unheard of for us. None of us wanted to leave - including the girls. Thanks so much mom and dad for inviting us over for such a great day! Love you both tons and tons!

Last night Carlee was up almost all night though because she was itchy... Has anyone ever heard of that being a side effect of fifth disease?? After giving her motron and smothering her in anti-itch cream and saying a little prayer with her she was finally able to go to sleep watching playhouse disney. Poor kid...

Pre-Thanksgiving festivites

This week has already been lots of fun! We were able to have both girls have Thanksgiving parties in their school classes. Carlee was able to take Marshmallows to her class for their feast and Chlo took Paper cups :) Chlo was able to do a kindergarten pilgram and indian performance which was way cute! Chlo was a "bell ringer" and did a great job! On Monday afternoon I ended up taking the girls to the doctor. Carlee has what's called "Fifth Disease" which is a virus that makes you break out in a rash all over your whole body. Poor kid. Chlo had to get a flu shot while we were there too - she did a great job! Her leg had also been bothering her which worried me a bit but after careful examination the doctor concluded it was growing pains. I was very relieved! Before we left I told them they had to "look nice". They took that literally and took out my makeup and applied plenty! You can see blue eye shadow on Carlee and plenty of base on Chlo... Funny kids! :) Today I went with the girls to mom and dad's so we could help a bit in early prep for dinner tomorrow. I took over Dave's Guitar Hero World Tour so we could play tomorrow - it didn't wait until tomorrow... Brian, Justin and Heather already had a go at it and are all really good! Dave was bummed he had to work and miss out on the fun. I'm sure he'll catch up tomorrow though. Mom, Dad, Justin and I tried to go to the temple this afternoon just to find out the temple was closed. Bummer! So we decided to go back to the house, pick up the family and head to Olive Garden. SO FUN! Thanks mom and dad for the great afternoon! I can't wait until tomorrow!

My week in pictures

Yep, we were SO SO SO lucky to be able to go to the Utah game. It was SUPER intense for the first few quarters. We were actually sitting in the biggest BYU section of the stadium. It was fun being there to truly support our team and even better to be there with the bulk of my amazing family (even though they were cheering for the blue team - thanks Dad for being good enough to wear your Utah scarf - nice to see you have a little red in you :))! And yes, red rang true and won 48 to 24. They are also now 6 in the BCS rankings - that should mean a BCS bowl for sure!! Thanks Courtney and Kelsey for watching our kids. We left our kids with babysitters for the first time... Yikes! I'm glad they had 2 such great sitters for their first expeirience. Chlo has actually been begging me and Dave to go out again so they can try the babysitter thing again. Sweet! Anyone up to see the new James Bond movie???

Chlo was being so Cute with Jaylee on Friday morning, she was holding her and singing to her. It was precious - had to snap a shot. It's funny to see how much Jaylee has grown too. What a chunk! :)

Of coarse I had to go see Twilight this weekend! I've had tickets for a while now and have even had a countdown going. The movie was much better than I thought - although it did move a bit slow. As my hoddie states - I am very much on "team Edward"! (Thanks so much to my best buddy Mindy's mother who custom made my amazing hoddie! LOVE IT!!!)

It was way fun being able to go with a bunch of girlfriends and my mom and sister. What a party! Too bad we had to skip out on lunch - but the Utah game was worth it! :)

I just had to shoot a picture of Chlo trying to blow up this balloon. Dave and I were sure she was going to either explode or pass out :)

Yes, I tried another crazy hair style on Carlee. This one was actually easier than the last and I really liked it. Carlee is such a great sport to let me do this for her!

It's really hard to get a good picture of my hand. Yes, that WHOLE line is my insision... Yummy huh? Thank goodness things are getting better - I think I still have a ways to go though before I'm all the way back to normal... I guess I've never been totaly normal so I'm good :)

This week has turned out pretty good. Besides the fact that I've been a one armed mother things have gone pretty smoothly. We've still been able to do quite a few fun things and Dave and I even got a date night! YAHOO!

How many things can you do with one hand?

This week has been quite a challenge for all of us. For about 8 months I've had a strange bump on my right hand right where the tendons for my thumb and pointer meet. Up until a few weeks ago it wasn't bothering me. A few weekends ago it totally flaired up and started to throb! I had to go see an orthopedic surgen who on the spot scheduled me for surgery to remove the "mass". I've never been in surgery before so I was quite nervous about recovery. I think Dave has been just as concerned... What does it mean for him where I can't use my had for at least a few days. Surgery day came and I was scheduled at 3 which of coarse was the last appointment of the day. Needless to say I was beyond dehydrated and starving by 3. The nurse was really cute when she came in to do my IV and said she's hit all IV's on the first try today. Huh, no luck for me... She had to do it twice! I TOTALLY hate IV's and honestly think it's the worst part about having a baby - so to have to do this twice was not so great... to add to it the doctor was quite behind and after we waited about an hour the nurse came in with 2 free movie tickets and appologized we knew we were here for the long hall. They finally took me back about 5:15-5:30 and said it should only be about a half hour. They actually ended up having to put me out under general because it was deeper than they thought and they had to keep the turnicut on. My body seemed to do well with it because I woke up chatting away :) My had has been quite sore but oddly enough more so where the turnicut was... Dave has been a great help but is "momed out". I think he understood everything I did in theory but now that he's having to do it he's seeing there is much more to it. Yes Dave, Jaylee poops more than once a day and Chlo does need a shot for every meal... I can't wait to get back to normal activities but for now I'll enjoy watching Dave attempt the mom thing. Even between mom duties he's had time to play a car racing game with my awesome Brother Nate and even break a drumstick on his guitar hero game. I think he's even been able to get several hours of work done too. Man, he's good... Now if I could just get him to do dishes or laundry :) Thanks to mom and dad for all your help with the girls and to Bristow's for the AMAZING dinner last night. It was so great to have something other than corndogs and cold cereal. Thanks Dave for doing your best to keep up on the mom duties too!

Fun Friends

This week has been so much fun for my girls. We've been able to spend some time with one of Chloé's best friends Hollie. She has been a joy to have and we look forward to lots more time together in the future. She is moving to California this month which is making Chlo so sad. I feel bad for her, but maybe that means she'll have to start an email address so they can stay in touch :) Yesterday was one of Chloé's "favorite days ever". After school I took the girls with me to Carlee's dance class - yes, she still requires that I be there for her to stay and be happy... After we went to grandma's house for a visit. Chlo was so excited to introduce Hollie to my mom! The girls played while I was lucky enough to get my flu shot. The shot wasn't bad at all but I still can't move my arm! :) Becca came over after my shot and we tied bows for a few hours. It's so much fun to spend time with her and she has such fun taste in bow tieing :) Bean spent some time with us too. I honestly can't get enough of him. He's so fun to talk to and makes me laugh. It's so great to have him home again! I tried to get him to tie a bow with me but he wouldn't. He's so good at everything he does and has great hand eye coordination I know he could do it. I think it would just take away too many "manly cells" for him to do it :) My dear, sweet, amazing cousin sent me this cute blog telling how to do cute over the top hair styles. http://hair4myprincess.blogspot.com/ I decided to try one out yesterday. Yes, it's one of the easier ones on the site - but I didn't have all day. After about a half hour of work it actually looked okay. Carlee was super patient and said next time she asks for two ponies this is what she wants. :) I loved adding ribbon to it! Of coarse, that's my thing anyway. Over all it was a great day! Thanks to everyone!

Yet another pie to stick my hands in :)

Yes, I am totally crazy about projects. If I'm not in the middle of one I start one - actually it seems as of late I'm doing multiple projects at a time! With the start of my company Shindyz I've been totally crazy busy making hair bows and flowers. I absolutly LOVE it but it is nice to do something a little different. My amazingly talented friend Dani Jo showed me how to make little girl's tutus. They're SO fun and way cute too. Chloé and Carlee can even make them. The last few days we've put some together. Today we were lucky enough to have one of Chloé's good friends over for the afternoon. We thought it would be fun to make them with her. Each of the girls made a cute red and white tutu with green accents. I think they turned out cute. It's fun for me to see my girls love doing hands on projects like me. My friend made the coment that one day maybe Chlo will be able to take over Shindyz for me :) I hope they continue to love working with their hands!

What a night!!!

Check out Utah's cool uniforms!

Yes, the theater was PACKED for the show :)

We tried to pose like the cute girls in the show... How did we do??

What a fun day out with the girls!

Yesterday had to be one of the craziest days I've had in a LONG time! It started off early by getting Chlo to school. Then after doing dishes and getting ready for the day I got Carlee and Jaylee ready to take Carlee to school. Once Carlee was at school I went to the elementary school to volunteer in Chlo’s class. When school was over Chlo, Jaylee and I went back to the preschool to sit with Carlee through her dance class. After dance class we headed to Artic circle for some lunch then I had an appointment with an orthopedic surgeon about the cyst on my hand. Yep – I’m going in for surgery next Friday… Fun… NOT then we headed up to my mom’s to drop of Jaylee so we could meet Aunt Becca at the theater to see High School Musical 3. It was AWESOME!!! It had to be the best in the series. The music was great and I loved the story line – not to mention the eye candy :). Thanks so much for going with us. I think we're the only gals who liked the movie better than the kids! :) After the movie we went back to get Jaylee. Mom had some pizza for us and we watched a bit of the Utah VS. TCU game. Holy cow! What a nail biter – especially for us Ute fans! Utah decided to do a “Black out” which meant they had all the fans wear black and even the players gave up the red for black uniforms. It looked really slick! Fortunately it worked and Utah was able to pull off a win of 13 to 10. Go Utah! They’re undefeated this season 10 – 0. Huh, it’s so fun to cheer for a winning team :)
What a great day!

Happy Birthday Paige

Paige blowing out her Candles
Chlo taking a wack at the pinyata
Carlee having a turn at the pinyata

Jaylee and Grandma having a bonding moment!

Happy birthday Paige!

On Tuesday, November 4th was my cute Niece's birthday. We were so lucky to be invited to attend the festivities (Thanks Shan!) It was such a cute party too. Shannon and planned for the kids to make and color their own bracelet charms then actually make cute beaded bracelets. Then they played pin the horn on the unicorn! Of coarse Chlo and Carlee were to shy to play. Bummer! Case got it right on almost every time, I think it's because he was peaking though :) Then they had a cute pinyata. The kids had a blast with it. Shannon finally had to put a blanket under it because the kids were wacking her floor with the metal bat. Oops :) Shannon even provided dinner! The pizza was awesome! Thanks Shan! It was such a great night!

Happy Birthday Paige!

Food for thought...

The following is the philosophy of Charles Schulz, the creator of the 'Peanuts' comic strip.

You don't have to actually answer the questions. Just read the questions straight through, and you'll get the point.

1. Name the five wealthiest people in the world.

2. Name the last five Heisman trophy winners.

3. Name the last five winners of the Miss America pageant.

4. Name ten people who have won the Nobel or Pulitzer Prize.5. Name the last half dozen Academy Award winners for best actor and actress.

6. Name the last decade's worth of World Series winners.

How did you do? The point is , none of us remember the headliners of yesterday. These are no second-rate achievers. They are the best in their fields. But the applause dies.. Awards tarnish. Achievements are forgotten. Accolades and certificates are buried with their owners.

Here's another quiz. See how you do on this one:

1. List a few teachers who aided your journey through school.

2. Name three friends who have helped you through a difficult time.

3. Name five people who have taught you something worthwhile.

4. Think of a few people who have made you feel appreciated and special!!

5. Think of five people you enjoy spending time with.

Easier?

The lesson: The people who make a difference in your life are not the ones with the most credentials.. the most money...or the most awards. They simply are the ones who care the most.
'Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It's already tomorrow in Australia!'

''Be Yourself. Everyone Else Is Taken!'

Halloween activities

Carlee and her sweet teacher, Mrs. Harmon. Carlee LOVES her!

Her class loves hearning Mrs. Harmon read them stories

Carlee likes going to dance class, but only if I stay and watch the whole class... Hopefully she'll be getting over that desire soon :) She does a great job though and is one of the best dancers in her class.

Chlo was showing Carlee around her classroom at her class party. It was really cute. Thanks for being a great big sister Chlo!

Making cookies and breadsticks at mom's house - Bean was hillarious! He kept wanting to add ingredients to the cookies - heh, no big deal... We ended up having to start over. We were both bummed we ran out of food coloring :)

Check out the spectacular view from mom and dad's back yard!!! Amazing huh??

Grandma let the girls pick out 3 stories for her to read to them before bed. I think I have the most amazing mother ever! Isn't the chair cute too???

Yes, Carlee was trying on my boots. She actually walks in them better than me!

This is Chlo and her buddy Hadden, yes, it is a boy! Cute costume huh, he makes a great Alfalfa from Little Rascals!

Chlo and Mrs. Ashworth. Chlo's teacher is so great! I love being able to work with her! Chlo really likes her too!

This is me and my good friend Wendy. She looks cute huh??? Great Costume Wendy!

Chlo and her Kindergarten class!

Halloween this year was so fun! We did lots and lots and lots of things this week. I honestly can't believe it's already November... Attached are a few pictures of what we did this weekend. We ended up being able to spend the night at Grandma's new house - which was AWESOME! Dave and I got to watch a movie in the theater for the first time. It was beyond fun to make cookies with Justin and help mom do chili and breadsticks (our family's traditional meal). Nate and Becca came over and we were able to play ping pong and guitar hero too. Becca and I helped with the door after the girls got sick of it. Yep, they decided once again they'd rather answer the door for trick or treaters than actually trick or treat themselves. I guess that works :) It was so great to sit and chat with my SIL! Thanks Becca, you truly are an amazing girl! Thanks SO SO much mom and dad for helping make our Halloween so spectacular!!

Before we headed to mom's house we went to Chlo's class Halloween party. They wanted to start the party at 8:30... yes, that is AM... That may not seem to be a big deal but that meant I had to be showered, dressed and ready to go as well as Carlee and Jaylee and I had to bring supplies for a craft! Crazy enough we made it only about 2 minutes late :) The party was so much fun and her class was so cute all dressed up! Chlo has a new little buddy, his name is Hadden... Yes, that is him in the pink tu-tu. He was dressed up as Alfalfa in Little Rascals. SO CUTE!!!

After the fun party we were able to go with Grandma Marsh to lunch. Thanks Marsh! It was so awesome to spend some time with her. The girls LOVED it!

Overall it was an amazing Halloween, I honestly don't know how Thanksgiving will be able to top this one :)

Happy Halloween everyone!