Let me just say - I love Christmas! It's not about presents, although
those are nice. It's really about family for me, and not just another day together - we really like
each other!
Christmas eve traditionally has been to have all of Clem's siblings, their children, and their children here. We draw names according to age (it gets harder every year because we are still adding). I think we are up to 87 people. My basement family room gets more crowded every year, and I don't care. I know it sounds crazy, but it is the only time we get to see some of the kids, and I actually enjoy having them. Unlike Thanksgiving, where people come and go, on Christmas eve we have at least hours of family togetherness. Grandpa always gave a short talk on the true meaning of Christmas, and then we started with gifts from youngest to oldest.
This year, since Earl passed away, was a little different. Grandma spoke about Christmas not being about the gifts, and a year they had a very poor Christmas but it was still a good Christmas. Anyway, it was so nice to have everyone here, even if they trickle up the stairs for places to sit. I kept complaining that my camera (that goes with me everywhere by the way), wouldn't take pictures fast enough to get the great faces and poses the little ones gave. Also, people were moving about and frequently got in the way of the picture as the camera finally took it.
Well, that problem has been taken care of. Christmas morning I was given a new SLR digital camera! Hopefully by next Christmas I will know how to use it! It came with 2 DVD's to explain, 2 books, and a "quick guide" that makes absolutely no sense to me. Clem doesn't understand it either, so we are in trouble. I'll have to get my nephew - a professional photographer, to teach us!

I'm including a few pictures from Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning. Enjoy - and I hope every one had a very merry Christmas!

favorite child -I don't think so!

So my son Jon, who works for computer frontline support at IHC was helping a physician at my old office today and asked if the physician knew me. Duh, of course he knows me - however, we are not each other's favorite people, so when he found out Jon was my son, he started asking questions. He only asked questions that the correct answer would have been Jeremiah, but Jon didn't want to embarrass him, so he just said yes to one of the questions. Thus, Jon has decided that Jer is my favorite. Let me just say - for the record - My grandchildren are my favorite! My kids are wonderful, but not near as much fun as the grandkids (since my kids were never this cute). However, also for the record, I love each of my children - not always equally. It depends on my mood, or who I've seen most recently.

Jim - the oldest, has always had a plan, and swayed the family to do things his way. He has lots of fun, and lots of energy, and I could never hope to keep up with all that he likes to do. He has great strengths and patience (you have to have patience when you are the father of Laine "the hurricane"). He deserves Laine, because she is so strong willed (like him) and now he is getting a taste of how we as his parents spent his childhood - more fun to come Jim, just wait! It's a good thing Jim and Marie have Romney to even things out a bit - although he has his moments too. What a sweet child!

Judianne has always been a lady. (code word for master manipulator) She was a girl from the word go - and we honestly wanted to lock her in a closet at the age of 12 because we knew she would be popular with the boys. She had her moments of giving us grief (who didn't?) but in the long run, she has proven to be steady and strong in all things. She is an awesome mother and at times her children remind me of Jer and Judi as children. Wyatt is so quiet, sweet and caring 99% of the time, then he has moments when he loses his temper without warning or, but calms down quickly and is his old sweet self again. Elizabeth is another little lady. (code word for master manipulator) Judi always tried to keep her brothers under control, and would often initiate "school" at home. I think she still holds "school" with her children. They certainly know a lot. Elizabeth can sing the primary songs right along with Wyatt. Not an easy task for a 19 month old. I'm sure she keeps Ryan on his toes too.

Jeremiah is the passionate one, and the one who lets you know how he feels. His talents and love of music have helped him in many ways. I also think he is the ham of the group (although Jonathan has more of that than you would think). Jer has no qualms about sharing his talents, and will vocalize his dissatisfaction with helping with the computer when he has other things to occupy his time. He is right - I couldn't afford him if I had to pay for his time, so I'm grateful that he so willingly helps his computer illiterate mom. He is also the most willing of my children to help out when asked. He will stick with you until a job is completed and doesn't make you feel guilty about it.

Jonathan has always been the funny one. He can be funny without realizing it, and we have all been kept in stitches at one time or another - "I'm the leprechaun" is a favorite memory along with our camping trips with the "ragman".

Jon is the one who is most likely to do something nice without being asked. He will just step up and do a good deed with no expectation of reward.

Jon can almost be defined by sports. He has always been a sports nut and was on winning football teams through little league and High School. While too small to play much he was an important part of the team. He was almost the “Rudy” of the Olympus High team. His coach would use him as an example, telling other team members that if they had Jon’s heart they would be great players. He also added to my own love of sports – as long as Jon was playing, it made it that much better. The years he played baseball were the only years I enjoyed the sport on a regular basis. I’m glad he loved basketball and football.

Ali will have her hands full keeping up with Jon's love of sports, but she seems to handle it well.

So - sorry kids, I don't really have a favorite - if you were to ask me under oath, I couldn't name a favorite. You all have your place, and I'm glad to claim you all! (spouses included)- Mom

Thanksgiving weekend

I joined facebook on a dare from a co-worker. Now I'm getting all kinds of email from old friends! It's really fun, but I'm really bad at facebook. So for now, I'll just keep doing these blogs and if my facebook friends want to see pictures or whatever, I know how to do that here.

My daughter Judi and I went shopping at 4 am on Black Friday. We got lots of bargains and had lots of fun. It has been a long time since we found time to shop together without kids (hers) and even though we had to forgo sleep, it was worth it. I'm adding a picture of the line at Kohls - but I'm still figuring out how my camera works (I've only had it a year or so), so the flash didn't work well.

Then there was tonight - I got hit by a 16 year old who was turning left and didn't wait for me to clear the intersection! My poor car looks terrible, but no major body damage, so that is good. I felt worse for him than for me. At least he has a grandfather who can fix his car. I guess it's a good thing my mom has a car I can use (can you believe it - usually we are the one's loaning out cars, now I have to borrow one!).

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving. I'm really not looking forward to going back to work already - oh well........

The BIG Game!

At our house the BIG game is always a party. Everyone dresses for the team they are cheering for and nobody gets mad or angry (except Jon, when we are all talking and he misses something - thank heavens for DVR). Anyway, even the grand kids get into it - whether they care or not. Attached are a few pictures of our fun. And of Course at the end of the game - the Y flag got turned upside down. You'd think our neighbors are used to this by now - but we still get lots of questions.

seniors

So Clem and I aren't exactly "Seniors" yet, but because Clem is in the Bishopric, we were included in the "Senior" dinner. We took my mom, but Grandma Jackson was too sick to go. The talent show from the youth was almost as good as the food. We had a lot of fun, and I got a lot of great pictures for our next neighborhood newsletter. Besides - it is amazing what you'll do for a free dinner!

Voting Day

So I drove past the place to vote several times last week - so I could vote early. No such luck. I couldn't park within a block and decided it wasn't worth standing in line 2 hours to vote early. Thus, this morning (November 4th) I decided to go to the poll early and vote before work, rather than standing in line after work. When I got there - it was about 6:20 am and they were getting all set up. They had a lot of chairs and another person was there before me, so I sat with him to visit (he is in my stake). The guy that appeared to be in charge decided at 6:45 that he should just open the poll early and let us all get to work - but another person stated quite loudly that it isn't legal to open the polls early (I don't believe it - they've been voting early for 2 weeks now, what's 15 minutes?). Anyway, the girl next to me is a real blogger. She had someone take a picture of all of us waiting there at 6:45 in the morning so she could put it on her blog (maybe I'll look, I think it was Rosanderfam@blogspot.com). Anyway - she saw my camera in my purse ( I always take it with me - you never know when you might need a picture these days). She put me to shame with her - "don't you want to save this for posterity? How can you have a camera and not use it?" So I took a picture of the poll people taking the oath to serve the constitution just as they were all putting their hands down.
I got to work 30 minutes late.
Jer stopped to vote on his way home tonight - about 5 pm. No one was there. He didn't even have to wait in line!
Moral - Just go after work on voting day - forget all this "voting early to avoid the crowds" crap!
Notice the guy in Green shorts. We called him the "cheerleader" He said if he didn't wear shorts he would be entirely soaked in sweat by the end of the day. He also announced that your red "I voted" sticker was good for a free cup of coffee at Star Bucks. I asked if Star Bucks knew that and he just grinned. Someday, you'll all have to go vote before the poll opens and watch them get ready - it was quite entertaining!

The Scarecrow Festival

I've never been to the scarecrow festival. It sounded fun. So I asked dad if he wanted to go and take the kids - he did. We met Jer there (since he works at Thanksgiving point and that is where it was). We had a blast!

Wyatt loved the tall slides, Romney hated them. Jer wasn't too excited about them either because he ended up taking Romney so the lines wouldn't be held up. I think they went on 4 or 5 blow up slides. The Shark was extremely hard to climb to the top of - Romney ended up not going, but the Castle was ok, and the others were too. One of them Jer held Rom on his lap and 'bumped' up and down all the way down the slide.

Clem and the kids stood in line for 30 minutes to get snow cones, only to have the machine break just as they got to the window. The only one really upset was Romney - but he got over it when we found a puppy to play with. Later, we did get the snow cones. All the kids were done halfway through theirs, but Romney wanted to finish his to the bitter end.

We came home tired, but happy - and the kids were hungry and couldn't wait to get happy meals. They ate most of it in the car. This will mostly be pictures - because a picture is worth a thousand words and these are great. Notice dad - he is just full of surprises!

When we were getting everyone into the car, Lizzy showed how she is just like her mom! I turned around to put her in her car seat and she had disappeared! I found her behind the wheel. She had turned on the headlights and would have started it if she could have found a key. - Look Familiar Judi?

The headless horseman greeted us on our way out of the parking lot - the kids were more interested in the horse than him.

There was music everywhere and the kids got into it. I think we may go again next year!

Halloween

Our good friends, The Varner's, are nuts about Halloween. Ann Varner is a Wagstaff, and anyone who knew her mom Evie, knew Evie was nuts about Halloween. Ann decorates her yard to the hilt every year. Then you go in the house and it's all about the holiday! I think she adds to it every year, and her kids are really into it too. I realized tonight that its the middle of October, and I haven't put out one decoration! (sad - I don't really do holliday's anymore).
Jim and Marie brought Laine and Romney. Romney wasn't really into wearing his costume for some reason, but Laine had on a witch costume her granmother had made for her mom when she was the same size as Laine. How great that it had been kept.
Judi was asking me about costumes I had made for them as kids just the other night. I think I gave them all away! Lynne's kids were just behind mine in size and age, and so she probably got most of them. Oh Well ----

Clem got into it with the donut eating contest (but lost). We left before the pinnata.

party people

Everyone knows that dad and I aren't exactly "party people". However, my friend Vergil at work and his wife Kathy are definitely "party people". Vergil has a gorgeous back yard and loves to throw a BBQ every year. Because our staffs have been so mixed up at LDS, IMC, and AVH, he invited all 3 hospital staff's and the physicians who like to come. We had fun. We had most of our fun because we took all 4 grandchildren! I'm so glad I don't have to put 4 carseats in the car very often. and the "are we there yet" started as soon as we left the driveway.
Vergil loves entertainment at these things, and he is usually a big part of it. This year, dad got into the act. Of course he wanted the grandkids in on the act too. What a bunch of loons. Laine thought the whole thing was "lame", but Wyatt kinda liked looking like "scarry pappa".
Lizzy - hid out in the garden (smart girl).
Even the doctors got into the act. The food was great, so was the company.Click on the video to watch my "friends". (notice, I wasn't dancing)-Anne

pictures from fair

Lizzy wanted to go with Wyatt, but she ended up giggling everytime he went by and waved at us! Wyatt loved the "Roller Coaster". He even put his hands up to show how brave he is! Wyatt got to drive a race car!Lizzy and Wyatt rode the Ferris Wheel, He went down the "Big" slide, and the "almost as big" slide by himself! Neither Wyatt or Lizzy understood looking at us through circles so we could make them look like animals. Oh well, we all had fun anyway!

State Fair

We went to the State Fair tonight. Jon, Ali, and Jer were the only kids not otherwise engaged, and we took Wyatt and Elizabeth. I gotta say - Lizzy has no fear! She wanted to do everything, and almost got mad when she couldn't. However, she enjoyed watching Wyatt fly the helicopter with Jon - she giggled and giggled everytime he came around and waved at her.
Dad took Liz and Wyatt on the "big slide" - Liz wanted to go again. Wyatt stated "That was Great!". When asked if he wanted to do it again he gave an emphatic NO! But he did want to go on the Ferris Wheel, and so did Lizzy. Dad was the only one to sit it out. We had great fun! Hopefully Jon and Ali will post some of the fun pictures they took.
We didn't go into one "vendor" building. We just walked around to see the animals and then go on the rides. We figured when Wyatt wanted to sit in the stroller rather than get his picture taken in the "racing car" it was time to go - the little ones were exhausted!
One funny thing - Neither Wyatt or Lizzy likes cotton candy! Guess they should have great teeth!

I read all your comments about dad's blog - so be sure to read mine!

Meanwhile. I've discovered that I seem to have very few functions in life for the moment, and many things I'm not allowed to do!
for instance - I'm allowed to go to work, go to church, go to either grandma's to be sure they are alive and well (or at least alive) and tend grandkids (which I'm not complaining about - they are the highlight of my otherwise dull life)
Apparently I'm not allowed to read. I'm not allowed to be sick. I'm not allowed to make any independent decisions even if I'm trying to take responsibility for something and not bother dad.
Can you tell I've had a bad week?
Your blogs are all so much more fun than mine - Anne

Anne Loves To Read

LISTEN UP!!! There will be consequences for the next person who says to my wife, "You've just got to read this book". There may be serious pain added as part of the consequences for the next person who gives her a book, or several books and says, "You are going to LOVE reading these".

My prediction finally came true. The house was burning. I was down on the floor choking and coughing after calling the fire department. I was screaming for help. When the firefighters arrived they told her to get out of the house NOW. Her response . . . Just let me finish this chapter.
I ended up dying in the fire, but she won't be able to come to my funeral because there is one more book in that #@!*%!@ series that she HAS to read.


This is how bad it is. She read one book while we were in Fremont. It was great. She relaxed, I puttered around, everyone was happy. When we got home she was really tired, so she only stayed up 'til midnight reading the next book. Then she decided she was too sick to go to work, go to the ward party, go to church or anything else, but she finished 2 more books.
Interestingly enough as soon as she finished the books, voilà, she was cured and back to work :)

OK What if I got BYU plates and put RD COUG on it? (this is for my kids) - mom

Red Cougar

Dad bought himself a new "toy". Now he doesn't think I did my homework when I bought my CRV - but I did, he just didn't want to help me. Now it's his turn - he did his homework, but bought the first truck he actually drove! (sorry honey - turn about is fair play).

Hopefully all of you can attempt to visit Grandma Jackson on her birthday (Wednesday August 13). We are having a BBQ in our back yard - actually gran's side yard, and she doesn't care if you stay or not, but she would really love to see everyone! (no gifts, cards are great, hugs are better!)

pioneer heritage

Sometimes you need a kick in the head, or a week in the wind of Wyoming to remember your heritage and all that those that came before you did so that you could live in Zion! We just got back from Pioneer trek where we worked hard, played hard, got lots of sun and mosquitoes, and very little sleep. But it was certainly worth it. It made me think about those who came on the trail, and prepared the ground for the rest of us. I've read many books about the pioneers - especially the Willy and Martin Companies and since My great-grandfather was in the Hunt wagon company that accompanied these handcart companies, I feel truly blessed to be of his heritage. Here he was, blind, unable to speak english, and yet his only thought was to come to Zion and be with the saints. If I can figure out how, I'll post a few pictures of our fun. - mom