Morgan made me do it...

So my bunco buddy, Morgan has a stinkin' cute blog, and she has called upon me, yes me, (well not me personally) to give out the best cookie recipe EVER.

As many of you will testify, we do have the best CCC recipe, and I'm not afraid to share it.

Choc Chip Cookies

1 Cup Butter Flavored Crisco (Oh yeah!--partially hydrogenateds are your friend in these delicious cookies)
2 eggs
1 Cup Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup White Sugar
1 tsp. vanilla (none of that imitation crap, mind you)
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Salt
2 1/4 Cup Flour (I even sometimes use 1/2 white flour, 1/2 wheat flour and they're still very tasty!)
Lots of MILK Chocolate Chips (I like the Guittard brand the best-and does anyone actually know how you pronouce that?)

Now just mix it all together and put in a 350 degree oven for 9-10 minutes (I take them out as soon as they start to brown a little so that they're soft).

Time for a new post, yes?

Okay, so besides suffering from severe allergies (thanks to our filthy home and lack of a Kirby) here's what's been keeping us busy the last few weeks--since you're all DYING to know...

At the end of April, my parents came out for Ben's graduation. It was quite memorable for 3 reasons:

A) President Monson spoke.

2) It was UVU's first graduating class (Go Wolves!)

AND

D) UVU now holds the record for longest, most boring, most painful graduation ceremony EVER (except for President Monson's 10 minute talk). Even the graduates lost their enthusiasm by hour 3, and little did they know we still had another hour and a half to go.

Because of my final horrible graduation experience, I would like to put this out there for all to know: I will not be attending any more graduations except for my own children's and even that is questionable.

Anyhow, the day before the marathon graduation, we hit the Tulip Festival (kinda pricey but well worth all the free tulips the kids picked)

Here are the B-E-A-U-tiful (name that movie) pictures I took:

I should be a photographer

Strike a pose

View from Our backyard

Hey Weezie!

After a fun-filled visit with my folks, we headed to St. George for a Jackson Family reunion trip. It was mucho fun. Lots of swimming, sunburns, Ranger rides, relaxing, and eating. We also went to Pioneer Park where I was lucky enough to chaperone the kids through "the narrows". They don't call it the narrows for nothin'. Couldn't even fit my camera in my bra to prove I did it. Ha!


Tyler got this shot on his New Blackberry as we emerged from the narrows. And, yes, I am bragging about Tyler's NEW BLACKBERRY! You see, since the Utah Jazz can't win any kind of important competition, the Blackberry is the next best thing in his life now.


The Pioneer Park Tortoise


Nash LOVES the pool!

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In other news, Nash has finally started walking "full-time". He has been playing with the idea of walking for about 2 months now, and today, he decided to make it his job.

He's also starting to say more words we can understand like:
he-yuh (here) as he's handing me something
bye-bah (aka--bye-bye--it's way too easy just to repeat the word, so he throws in a new vowel on the second word just to mix it up)
nite nite (he said this once a few nights ago, but now that he's figured out the semantics of it, he refuses to fall for it again. He may be young, but he's not dumb).

He loves the slides at Aunt Erin's house!

Kirby Phenomenon

The doorbell rang today, and standing there was my nemesis.

A salesman.

I have repeatedly told my kids, DO....NOT....OPEN....THE DOOR. Not because there could be a kidnapper or a boogey man behind it, but because there could be, you guessed it, a salesman.

But, they DO NOT listen. And every time my dear children let one in, I cringe. Because I know I'm about to spend a lot of money I do not have. Like last summer, when I bought a freezer full of meat for $400. WHAT? FROZEN MEAT? Who knew they even sold that door-to-door?

I AM every salesman's DREAM.

So, my salesman today starts off with an amazing attention-grabbing technique. He GIVES me a free household product. Paper towels. WOW!!! I'm thinking, JACKPOT! You probably think the story ends there, but you'd probably be wrong.

After he presents me with the generic wipes, he says, "One minute let me run to my van." As he runs to the van, I return to my motherly duties. Upon my return to the front door, there it is, the KIRBY Vacuum Box.

"Umm", I said with a sigh of relief, "We have a central vac, so I think we're good."

"Have you ever had a demonstration?" Says the guy with a large tatoo of his 2 year-old on his arm. (Classy).

"YES! And, my parents have one, which they love, and I love Kirby's too. But, we can't afford it. We need to put in our yard, first." I thought for sure this would be the end of it...

"Well, my boss just wants me to give you a quick demonstration, " says Maurice while his eyes shift to his boss in the molester van.

"Okay, but I'm not buying," I said firmly.

Deep down, I love the Kirby demos, just because I know I'll have one room with pristine carpet by the time they're done. Well worth the LENGTHY demo, I think.

As the vacuuming begins, I'm slowly getting sucked in. (No pun intended). And, by the end of it, I am ready to chuck the central vac attachemnts and get out my credit card.

My vacuum is like a glorified Dustbuster compared to the Kirby. You should see how many dust/dirt/lint filled circles I have in my trash can right now! It's amazing I don't have allergies, or even worse, diseases. It's a miracle I'm still alive!

I LOVE KIRBY. I NEED A KIRBY.

Well, to make a long story longer, I ended up trying to talk Tyler, Chris and Erin into my Kirby dream. I figured, we can't justify buying a $2,000 vacuum for our home, but we have rental properties and so do Chris and Erin, so why not use the Kirby to clean the carpets when the renters move in-and-out? BRILLIANT! (Plus, I might even use it my house as an added bonus!)

Everyone saw my wisdom in this except Chris.

So, it is with mixed emotions that I report to you, I do not own a Kirby, yet.

Chris, if you're reading this, I'm not very happy with you right now, and neither are our carpets.

I hope you breathe in lots of dust tonight and develop severe allergies.

4/09
I was trying to explain to Trace and Sydney that they were going to have a little Easter party at school and then on Saturday, we would have the big Easter egg hunt. My explanation was a little ambiguous, and here's how the talk went down:
Me: We're making these Easter eggs for school. The other eggs are for the big hunt we're going to have outside in the grass.
Sydney: Hmmmm, that's very interesting. We don't even have grass.

4/09
Sydney is playing with this toy where you make animals...you choose different heads, arms, legs, etc. So she comes downstairs and says,
Mom, these legs won't stay on. That's rude.

Spring Break!

Easter

"Jesus died and came alive again."

This is exactly what Trace and Sydney will say if you drill them for the real meaning of Easter. It is such a simple statement, yet so profound. I am so grateful for the true meaning of Easter, the atonement of Jesus Christ, and what it means to me personally.

"Of all the events of human history, none is so significant as the resurrection of the Son of God."
Gordon B. Hinckley

*******************************************************************************

Now, for the true meaning of festivities. This year's fun mainly took place on Saturday. The hunt, which consisted of tons of candy, toys, and treat-filled plastic eggs scattered all over a vacant lot across from Gina's house, was a success despite the rain and abundance of deer droppings. We made sure no one mistook them for chocolate covered raisins. Tragedy avoided! The kids had a great time "searching" for Easter eggs and I was pretty proud of the loot they earned, even if the candy was a little moist.

As far as a visit from the actual Easter Bunny on Sunday morning, it didn't happen. Let me take you back a moment to Tyler's childhood when his dad (aka Big Steve) shot the Easter Bunny. I'm not sure how many bullets were used, all I know is he's dead. And, somehow this tragic news got out to Trace. Two nights ago when I was putting Trace to bed he said,

Mom, why did Grandpa "take down" the Easter Bunny?

To this, I had no reply. I just told him to talk to Grandpa about it.

Therefore, Easter eve and morning at our house was pretty uneventful as there was no anticipation of cottontail's arrival. I must say, at first I was not on board with taking the E.B. out of our children's lives, but when 11 pm rolled around last night, and I was very tired, I ended up feeling great about it. Instead of the almighty E.B. dropping off presents and MORE candy, the kiddos received new pj's and crayons from....get this....Mom and Dad! And, you know what, WHY NOT take credit for the nice things we do?!?

Don't worry, I'm going to keep the shotgun out of Big Steve's reach when Santa's coming.

The Louvre's Newest Additions...

As the snow/cold weather continues to bless Utah, the Jackson's continue to be stuck inside. This weather is ideal for producing artwork in high volumes though. So, before these beauties find their permanent home, I took the time to scan them first. I'm such a good mom.

Title: Delicious
Artist: Trace
Medium: Crayon & safety scissors

Title: What's in a Name?
Artist: Obvious
Medium: Crayon, again

Title: Extreme Makeover for June
Artist: Sydney
Medium: Crayola!

Title: Ching Chong Chu the Dragon
Artist: Trace
Medium: You know

Title: Giraffe Playing in Polka Dots
Artist: Sydney
Medium: Crayons and "Dot" Paints

Title: Rainy Africa
(Actual Title by Trace)
Artist: Trace
Medium: Pen and Crayola

Are those your skis? Both of them?

Last Friday, my thoughtful hubby invited me to go skiing with Chris and Erin, and offered to babysit the kids. WOW!!! How could I say no? (Plus Erin's brother gave me a free lift ticket-thanks Mark!).

I haven't skied in over 7 years, so I was a little nervous about severely injuring myself. I had visions of taking Trace and Syd to preschool this week with a neck brace on. Plus, I'm not the best skier to ever grace the slopes, so the conditions have to be just right for me:

1. Mild weather (I'm talking 50 degrees plus)
2. Packed/groomed snow OR ice, yes ice. I learned to ski in West Virginia and mainly ice skiing was my forte--anyone else who's ever learned to ski there can back me up.
3. NO powder (this nearly killed me the first time I skied with Tyler 11 years ago).
4. Sunshine--not a must, just a bonus.

Since all of these conditions were met, I found myself at Sundance on Saturday having a great time.

I'm still not the best skier in the world, but at least I still got it. Some 60+ old man came up to me and gave me some "tips" on how to ski better. Chris and Erin were convinced he was picking up on me, I prefer to think he really was concerned with my form...it is hideous.

Now for some pictures from my camera phone:

View from Back Mountain...ahhh breathtaking

My gracious hosts
The third wheel

PS-if you can name that movie quote in my title, I will semi-happily award you with ONE Cadbury Creme Egg, you better hurry before I eat them all.

It's that time of year again. The Cadbury Creme Eggs are back on the shelf.

People either love 'em or hate 'em.I happen to LOVE them!!!

quotes

I've been trying to write down the cute things my kiddos say, here's all I've got from the past 6 months. Geez, I need to do better!

3/9/09
Nash's words:
All week Nash has been saying, "BOO!" "Roar!" and "Hi!"
He's been saying "Hi" for awhile, but boo and roar are new. It's so funny to hear him say it. I'm going to have to get it on video!
He can say mama and dada, just doesn't really like to.

3/6/09
Trace: Mom, today is the strangest day of my life.
Me: Why?
Trace: The Leapster just turns on and then off again.

11/17/08

Sydney's prayer:

Father in Heaven, I'm thankful for my family. Love my mom. Love my dad. Except sometimes my dad is mean. And sometimes my mom is mean and doesn't listen. Name of Jesus Christ Amen.

10/08
Trace: Why do we have wrappers on crayons?
Me: I don't know, that's a good question.
Trace: We need to ask Jesus, maybe he knows.
Me: Great idea!