The Jackman Family

Nap Time

2011-12-28T15:45:00.001-07:00

Alicia wasn't feeling well so she went to bed. Right after that, it was time for William's nap. When I started taking him to bed he said "I want to cuddle with Mommy." I figured that would last for about two minutes and then he would be driving her crazy or come out of bed. I went in there fifteen minutes later to find this:

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Christmas Morning

2011-12-28T11:51:00.001-07:00

We all had a great Christmas! Damon said it was the best Christmas EVER!!! They were very grateful for all of their presents, which made us very happy. William was very cute the way he was excited for everyone's presents!

Holiday Breakfast

2011-12-12T08:56:00.001-07:00

It has been nice as the kids get older they get to be more independent. They love cold cereal because they can make it in the morning by themselves before mom and dad get out of bed. Kylie decided to make things more festive by pouring egg nog into her chocolate cereal!!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Big Helper!

2011-11-30T14:06:00.001-07:00

This was one of those moments you try not to freak out and take a picture so you can laugh about it later!

Little brother Will was helping with "kitty water!" Yes, he scooped the kitty litter into his food and water!

Holiday Season

2011-11-30T13:59:00.001-07:00

What a wonderful Thanksgiving we had, and so much to be grateful for! We went to the Spence's for the big feast along with Grandma Spence, Logan, Camille and baby Sadie. Friday we did it all again with Bob's family then saw The Muppet Movie. My kids keep spontaneously singing "Ma na ma na!"

Here they are just before the ward Turkey bowl!

We said good-bye to our Charlie Brown Christmas Tree and Hello to our fancy new tree!! Yay! It's even pre-lit, and easy to set up! We can NOW think about Christmas! :)

Peeping Tom Cat!

2011-11-21T08:55:00.001-07:00

Our Cat cracks us up all the time. Every morning we eat breakfast to him doing this!

(Love how the flash made his eyes glow!)

Halloween!

2011-11-03T12:06:00.000-06:00

We had such a fun Halloween this year! Our kids were excited to dress up and go to so many activities not just the usual trick-or-treating at neighbors.

We went to Gardner Village for the Witches with the Spence girls & cousins, went to Salsa Ledos with Kate & Joe where Frankenstein kept giving the kids candy (and scared William pretty bad). Bob had his Halloween Concert with the Herriman Orchestra (very fun! Angry Bird were there and many other fun characters!)

We had our ward Trunk-or-Treat which was fun where Bob did a Halloween Smartboard activity and the kids came home with way too much candy; then Damon & Kylie had their school classroom parties where they came home with even MORE candy!! So the night of Trick-or-Treating they went down our street and back and were ready to watch Nightmare Before Christmas! I was totally fine with that. Their friend Darci went with them (you may have heard about Darci... William LOVES Damon's friend Darci!)

Our Cousins and Friends the Turners planned a Masquerade Ball this year too for fun! Our friends Jake & Steph came with us and had a wonderful time. We had Dinner, posed with the skeleton, learned how to waltz and danced till the night came to an end! Very Fun, hope we can do it again next year!

Damon's Baptism

2011-10-10T08:40:00.000-06:00

Damon was baptized this past weekend. It's hard to believe we have an 8 year old making some big decisions in his life. He has been looking forward to this day for a long time. He said that he's watched his older cousins get baptized and now it's HIS turn! We are so blessed to have such supportive, thoughtful and loving family. Thanks everyone it was a wonderful day for Damon!

General Conference

2011-10-05T20:57:00.000-06:00

Bob has decided to make it a tradition that when the kids turn 8 they get to go with him to a session of General Conference. I thought this might bore Damon, but he said he really enjoyed it and he paid closer attention to conference at home after. He was very excited to see the Prophet and really enjoyed that the primary choir was singing. Pretty cool!

His friend Keith and his Dad met them there!

The Big TWO!!!

2011-10-05T20:48:00.000-06:00

Our Baby is now TWO years old!!! He had such a fun time celebrating and sang 'Happy Birthday' along with us! William is one cute boy. He talks so much, and is now saying prayers! Here are some fun photos of his "cake" and one of his favorite birthday presents!

Also he is one big helper for Mom when it's time to go shopping. (It might be because Macey's gives you a cookie if you stop by the bakery!)

AND... he thinks he's a big boy and is now sleeping in the toddler bed! He has actually had no problem sleeping in it and not getting out! Bye-bye crib! :(

We also had to celebrate at our favorite restaurant for both boys birthdays... Tucanos!

Happy Birthday Baby!

Disneyland Trip

2011-10-05T20:37:00.000-06:00

We had such a fun time on our first family trip to Disneyland! We planned the trip with my parents and Autumn's family last year and finally got to go. We got the 5 day passes and enjoyed every minute there. Damon was most excited for the Jedi training where he got to fight Darth Vader (the real one, not just Daddy at his birthday party!). He also really liked seeing Pluto, going on Space Mountain, Matterhorn and the Tower of Terror, which is still giving him nightmares!

Kylie was ecstatic to see the Princesses!!! She would look at them in awe with her mouth wide open! Thunder Mountain was her favorite ride, which kind of surprised us and she also liked Matterhorn.

William's favorite ride was the "get bad guys" ride (Buzz Lightyear). He also liked the "up and down" ride (Rockets) and the "horsey" ride (Carousel).

The whole time we kept hearing from the kids, "Is that the REAL....," "Is this REAL."
Here's some of our fun photos

We stopped at Huntington Beach for an afternoon and had so much fun. The kids and Bob did the boogie board and just enjoyed playing in the sand!

On our way home we stopped to visit Uncle Bob (Who Bob was named after) & Aunt Sharron, and Aunt Reta & Uncle Dave. They all took such good care of us with wonderful meals and comfy place to sleep! We have such a wonderful family!

Flying with Kate

2011-10-02T12:29:00.000-06:00

Damon and Kylie got to take their first plane flight to California with their Aunt Kate who works for JetBlue. (Damon flew as a baby but doesn't remember it) Damon had the great idea since we were going to Disneyland and it worked with Kate's schedule. Kate was able to get the kids in the cockpit next to the pilot before taking off. Damon's favorite part was taking off and landing and Kylie's said her favorite part of flying was being up in the clouds! They were so excited to fly and spend time with their favorite Aunt Kate! You're awesome Kate!

R.I.P. Saturn

2011-10-02T12:18:00.000-06:00

Our poor Saturn died on Sept. 15th almost 10 years in our family with only having 260,000 miles! :) Now that Bob is traveling more with work this would happen now! We'll see how long we can survive on one car, donate the Saturn and if anyone is getting rid of their good gas mileage car... let us know!

Update (Nov. 12, 2011)... Our amazing Brother-in-law Joe (Standing inside our Saturn!) was able to install a used Engine that we found in a wrecking yard, and our car is up and running!!! Just had Safety & Emissions done and it's good!! What a blessing! (way cheaper than buying a new car). Thanks to the wonderful friends who helped us tow our car and transport the old and new engine!! THANK YOU!!!

A few days after the Saturn was up and running the Honda decided to not start... kind of weird, but thought maybe the battery was getting old since we've never replaced it.... nope... REALLY bad corrosion on the battery cables, that amazing Joe fixed it!!! What we would we do with out him?!?!

8 Years Old!!

2011-09-13T16:08:00.000-06:00

Our Damon just turned the BIG 8 Years old!!! Damon wanted a Star Wars birthday party and it was a huge success!

Kids came dressed up as characters and with their weapons to enjoy some Star Wars fun which ended with taking on Darth Vader!

"Yes I love Technology...."

2011-09-10T09:00:00.000-06:00

Silly Kids!!! They Love their Angry Birds, but are trying out the Early Bird ap! William likes this one since the birds actually go the direction he's telling it to!

Grandma Spence

2011-09-10T08:46:00.000-06:00

My Grandma Spence has moved in with my parents and has needed a little extra help. Her home just sold and we get to go over a couple times a week to help make her lunch, play games, and just talk to her. Kylie LOVES playing games with grandma. This day they were playing Memory and Bingo!

Missing Teeth

2011-09-10T08:40:00.000-06:00

Our Baby girl has lost her SECOND tooth!!! She is so excited to finally have it out, and the tooth fairy didn't forget it the first night like she did the first one! (Bad tooth fairy!)

Here's her toothless grin!

Camping Trip

2011-09-10T08:15:00.000-06:00

Damon has been asking us to go camping all summer and we just never planned a trip. So this Labor Day we decided we should go. The last time we went camping was with the Spence's and Damon was a baby. So we figured we should take the family and go one night and see if we could remember how! Funny how something fun can turn into frustration when things don't work out the way you expect. We couldn't find the top tarp of the tent and knew there was a good chance of rain... After Bob ran to the store to get a new tent, and came back with another camp chair, larger cooler, and paper plates we forgot, we found the top tarp underneath the set up tent!!!

William didn't understand that the fire is "hot" even though he can say it and knows what hot is, it was a struggle to keep him from getting too close. We really did have fun and the kids had a great time running around in the trees, playing in the Pineview Resevor, making smores and cooking Hot dogs, but of course we ended the night with some campfire cooked popcorn and 'Despicable Me' on the ipad! Spoiled kids! This technology family can only rough it so much!

Oh, and it didn't rain until we were ready to go, and the tent was still up! We were soaked and the wet tent got shoved in the car and set up in the back yard to dry. Wouldn't you know the kids wanted to sleep in it the next night in the back yard. Yep, and Mommy and Daddy forgot the sprinklers were going off that night!!!

Painted Front Room/Kitchen

2011-09-10T07:50:00.001-06:00

We finally did it!!! The front room and kitchen area have been driving me crazy needing to be painted. The whole house was in it's original cream color EVERYWHERE and now we have painted every room since we've moved in! This was the last area and the most dreaded since the ceiling is 20 feet tall! It took us 2 weeks, but so worth it! I was going to tackle the whole project myself, but after getting about 13 feet up I was too scared... yes I admit it! I called to have someone finish the top half, but Bob just stepped in and did it! He did a great job too! (And he admits he was a little nervous as well!) Here's the kids helping and the before and after shots!

Before:

After:

New Cousin Sadie

2011-09-05T10:40:00.001-06:00

My baby brother Logan and his wife Camille had their first baby last night! Sweet Sadie arrived at 11:40pm weighing 6 lbs 3 oz. She has lots of dark hair, big lips and long feet (her Mom says).
The kids were fighting over holding her! What a fun addition to the Spence fam!
Congrats Logan and Camille!!

Here's the cute Diaper cake I made Camille for her babyshower:

David's video

2011-08-22T12:39:00.001-06:00

This video was created by my Nephew David with my iPad. He is a bit of a film creator, so I gave him my iPad with iMovie on it and told him to make a Video. I gave him only 20 min. I think he came up with something good. It's William's favorite video.

New Cousin

2011-08-14T16:49:00.001-06:00

My brother's wife had their sixth baby. So we were luck to go and see him when he was just a day old. The kids were very excited to hold a brand new small baby.

A day at the park

2011-08-06T17:08:00.001-06:00

The older kids are at the cousins house, so we decided to take William on a bike ride. It was so much fun to spend a little time with just him. We stopped by the river at a section that was covered in moss. It was weird how all of a sudden all these trains of ducks started heading for us. We realized they were all heading over hoping we would feed them. Crazy ducks. William is getting so big! He talks a lot and was climbing the park playground equipment like a monkey. He was so proud he could do it by himself.

Back to School!

2011-08-05T11:53:00.001-06:00

Damon & Kylie were so excited to go to school! Damon started 2nd Grade and Kylie all day Kindergarten. They both LOVE their teachers and come home telling me all about their day. Kylie is excited that there's 3 recesses! :) She also said she wants to be there all the time. (I'm glad, but kind of sad too...)
Damon's telling Kylie what to expect at school!
Lining up!
Some of the perks to still being at home!! Haha guys I got Ice cream!

This is going to be a fun school year this year and Mommy gets to have a little one on one time with William! So fun!

Summer Fun!

2011-08-05T11:44:00.000-06:00

Thanks to year round school for my kids, their summer break was a whole 3 weeks! So here's a couple things we tried to squeeze in before school started!

Splash pad in Alpine....
Driving around doing errands...
Playing in the bouncy balls!
Splash pad with cousins...
Visits to Grandma & Grandpas...
Our Garden....

It's been a fun summer and full of fun adventures!

Good-bye!

2011-08-05T11:22:00.000-06:00

This past few weeks have been kind of sad as we have cleaned out Grandma Spence's home in Tooele. She's been recovering from a fall from about a month and a half ago, and is unable to return to live on her own. Grandma is now living with my parents in Pleasant Grove and has a nice room there along with family nearby to visit all the time.

The house is up for sale and last weekend we had a yard sale in hopes of finding nice homes for her things that the family didn't take.

While the parents were doing the yard sale, the grandkids were inside cleaning! It was fun to hang out with just the siblings and spouses and not be distracted by our kids running around.

Pretty crazy stuff happens when you put us all together for too long! :)
I really enjoy hanging out with the Spence cousins and miss our crazy time as kids. I miss watching Grandpa, Dad and Uncle Ken cheering during BYU Football games! There were a lot of memories of playing at Grandma and Grandpa's while we were there, but the best is having such wonderful family to share those memories with! Love you guys!

Such a cute family! :)

Bike Parade

2011-07-31T17:22:00.001-06:00

We had our annual primary bike parade. The kids had a great time decorating their bikes and socializing with the other kids. Damon insisted on wearing his Spiderman costume to go with his spiderman bike. I had all the kids while Alicia was at her grandmothers cleaning to get the house ready to sell. William did pretty good. After the video I pushed him around the parade route. He loved it and didn't want me to stop! So fun!

Crazy Weather

2011-07-31T17:11:00.001-06:00

We have ad some crazy summer thunderstorms. Large amounts of water pouring down that is reminiscent of Texas. Also large hail. The one day I ran over to Damon's school with an umbrella so he wouldn't get soaked coming home. I got soaked from the knees down and by the time the bell rang and he walled out of the school it all stopped and the sun came out! Also, the water coming down the gutter was so strong it pushed our neighbor's trash can down to in front of our house. Crazy weather!

William's New Trick

2011-07-24T20:25:00.001-06:00

So William learned a new trick. Not sure where he learned it. He started doing this a bit ago and Alicia was laughing as she told me about it. So I had to video it to share. When I videoed it I let William take my phone to show Mommy and found him and Damon showing Alicia the video over and over and laughing so hysterically!! It was so funny!

Bee's Game

2011-07-24T15:22:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we went to the Salt Lake Bee's game with Kate, Joe and cousins. We had so much fun taking Trax up and back, having hot dogs, almost catching a ball (5 balls landed near us!) and watching the fireworks after! So much fun for the holidays!

This is the Place

2011-07-24T15:03:00.000-06:00

We went to This is the Place Monument Friday with the Bradshaw's for some Pioneer adventures. Perfect since Pioneer day was coming up.

The kids enjoyed riding a pony, playing school and learning the Deseret Alphabet, bunking in the "ship" and going on a train ride! We sure enjoyed the Pioneer life for a day!

Happy Birthday 7-Eleven

2011-07-13T00:02:00.000-06:00

Crazy how this is a huge holiday in our family! :) We made sure to go early this year, so we could get our free 7.11 oz slurpee at 7-Eleven. Daddy is in Oregon so he missed out!! Yum...

The Grandsons!

2011-07-12T23:53:00.000-06:00

For the July birthdays on the Spence side we go to Tucano's for lunch, which is one of our favorite restaurants! This year as we finished eating the kids got to play in the little water area just outside. These cousins were having so much fun! They crack me up how much they love playing together and being silly!

St. George Trip

2011-07-12T23:17:00.000-06:00

This past week we went down to St. George with Bob on his work trip. We sure enjoy it there and because of the clouds it wasn't as hot as we were expecting. On the way we had to reminisce about life in Cedar City! Good times!The kids spent EVERY day at the pool that was just outside our room. Damon even fell asleep in one of the rings after we'd been there for almost 5 hours! We did go through two bottles of Sunblock and still got sunburt!

You wouldn't think that in St. George the kids would want to hang out in the hot tub... but MINE did!!!Damon is getting so good at swimming, he was having a blast getting the diving rings and making new friends everyday.
Each day I was trying to teach William how to blow bubbles out his nose, or to plug his nose so he could put his face in the water, but he wouldn't have anything to do with it. THEN Bob, without know I had been trying this, shows me what he's taught William!!! Daddy's always have the magic touch!
Besides Swimming the kids could be found doing this... We don't have the Disney channel at home, and probably for good reason! :)

We also went to two different Splash Parks which the kids loved! But we probably had the most fun hanging out with our friends the Winslows! Each kid had a friend to play with and they are all so similar in their interests and personalities it was fun! This was the night before we left we had a movie night and while the kids were in the master bedroom watching Tangled, Lightening struck our building just two rooms above us and the breaker went off in their room besides lighting the room up! The kids screamed and we were just amazed at the rain/Lightening storm we were having.

Thanks to the lightening hitting above us it was smoldering all night and at 8am we had a knock on our door to get out!! We got to see 6 fire trucks, the water come out of the hydrant into the truck and up to the room just two above us and wonder if all our stuff was going to get wet too.

Notice the kids "saved" their bears and Kylie her swimming suit! :)

Not that often you can say you see a fire and get to see the firemen in action! We had a wonderful time in St. George! Oh... and none of our stuff got wet!

David's back!!

2011-07-12T22:59:00.000-06:00

On June 18th, Bob's nephew Elder David Paul returned from his mission in Mexico. It was so fun to see him with his face all lit up as he saw his family. Bob of course had to record him with his new 3d video camera and it turned out really cool!

Welcome Home Elder Jackman!

Williams little boot

2011-07-12T22:55:00.000-06:00

I realized I posted this on facebook, but not on our blog. A few Sundays ago visiting at Grandma and Grandpa's William landed wrong on his foot (Jumping with Brother and cousin) on the trampoline and sprained it. We thought it was broken and the radiologist at the InstaCare thought it was also broken. So for a week little William wore this cute little boot until the following weeks x-ray showed it actually hadn't broke! Can you believe they make these tiny boots! So cute!

Balloon Festival

2011-07-04T08:46:00.001-06:00

Our annual balloon festival was fun even if the over cast didn't allow the balloons off the ground.
The new balloon was Darth Vader!!! Yeah, my boys were excited!

Murray Concert

2011-07-04T08:33:00.001-06:00

We went to the Murray orchestra concert Saturday night with our good friends the Bradshaws. It was a wonderful concert and William was actually very interested even sitting next to friends.
The best part was the 'Flash Mob' choir that stood up in the audience during the Battle Hymn of the Republic and sang. Damon turned to me and asked why people were singing! :)
Steph did a great job and it was just a fun evening!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Garden Growing

2011-06-29T16:59:00.001-06:00

Alicia has been doing a lot of good work in the garden. I am so glad to have such a talented wife. I didn't grow up in a house with an amazing garden. At my house, we considered it a success if the grass was green. Alicia has planted a number of garden vegetables and they are growing quite well. This year we have the new addition of some strawberry plants. And I was happy to see that there was one red strawberry on the plant! Damon was excited too, and was very eager to pick it and eat it. He said it was really good. He had to share with William. I guess William didn't like it and spit it out. Damon said he quickly grabbed it and ate it.

Mission Reunion

2011-06-21T20:02:00.001-06:00

A couple weeks ago we had my 10 year Baltic Mission reunion and it was so much fun! It was great to see the missionaries I had served with and what great things they've done since the mission. Two are professors at Universities! Many of the sisters are doing the same things I'm doing, being a stay-at-home Mom. So it was just fun to catch up and enjoy each other's company. President and Sister Lund look so good and seem in even better health than on the mission! This picture is just the Russian speaking missionaries, the Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian missionaries were also there!

Fathers Day

2011-06-19T17:36:00.001-06:00

A wonderful fathers day. Alicia did some great things for me. We also did a video call with my Dad on the iPad. The kids loved seeing Grandpa on the iPad. In fact I was talking to him and then gave it to Damon and William freaked out because he wanted to keep talking to Grandpa. It was fun.

New Baby Friend

2011-06-09T17:53:00.001-06:00

Our friends had a new baby and Damon was so excited to monopolize the time holding the baby. I think he got more time holding him than Alicia.

Will's beautiful Artwork!

2011-04-21T00:59:00.000-06:00

William has started coloring so well lately... only he chose the wrong thing to draw on! Good thing it was only pencil! :)

Figuring things out!

2011-04-07T08:21:00.000-06:00

William dumped out all the clothes of the laundry basket, and then took it in his room and figured out how to open the door. He was very proud of himself. I must say this will definatly increase his freedom. He is still too short to probably do it on his own, but I'm sure that he will figure out a way soon!

April Fools!!!

2011-04-02T18:27:00.000-06:00

I'm not a big fan of April Fools, but this year we had a blast with the Bradshaws over. Stephanie had the fun idea of having dessert for dinner and dinner for dessert!!!

So we had cupcakes and bunt cake for dinner...

(Also gave Jake a Cherry coke instead of a Pepsi)

And for dessert, Baked potatoes with Sour cream on top...
Actually.... it wasn't cupcakes & bunt cake, but Meat loaf with mashed potatoes on top, and instead of baked potato it was ice cream rolled in coco powder & whipping cream on top! YUMMY!!!!

Such a fun time!! Happy April Fools!!!

Charlene Visit

2011-04-02T18:20:00.000-06:00

My cute cousin Charlene from Oregon came to visit us during her Spring Break. She stayed with my parents, but she got to spend one day with us doing "Salt Lake" things!

We tried to visit Kennecott Mine but it was closed...

We tried to feed the ducks at Gardener Village, but apparently they weren't hungry! Then got a speeding ticket on the way to downtown Salt Lake to see Temple Square...
Then ended our time eating at In-n & Out Burger! At least that part turned out! Charlene said she had fun even if what I planned didn't go as planned! :)

We had a great time getting to know Charlene better and hope she remembers the fun times here in Utah! ;)

Recital

2011-04-02T18:16:00.000-06:00

The kids had a recital with Bob's trumpet & trombone students. Damon is doing so well on his trumpet and Kylie on her recorder!

Kid's Books

2011-03-08T19:14:00.000-07:00

While Alicia was at band practice, the kids wanted to write books. So we used the SMART Notebook software to write a couple of books. The kids got to choose their content and I helped them but had them do as much as possible. If you click the links below it will open the story in the web version of the software. Click on the speaker icon to hear them reading it. Click on the blue arrow to go to the next page.

Kylie's Book: My Animals

Damon's Book: My Scorpion Story

Happy Valentines Day!

2011-02-15T16:22:00.000-07:00

Hope you all had a wonderful Valentine's Days!

We enjoyed some pink heart pancakes, heart shaped strawberries and fun Valentines all day!

Love is in the air! :)

Happy 5th Birthday Kylie!!

2011-02-15T16:14:00.000-07:00

My baby girl turned 5 this past week! She's growing up so fast! Kylie had a friend Sugar cookie birthday party which was a lot of fun!
Happy Birthday Kylie!

Kylie giving Thomas a big hug for his present!

William enjoying some cookies!

Adventures & Projects!

2011-02-15T16:06:00.000-07:00

This year we've already done a few adventures and Mommy has finished some projects she's been wanting to finish.
We went to the Zoo, Classic Skating (without Dad, so that was really an adventure. We loved it and skated for 2 hours!)

Some projects I've been wanting to do now that I got a Sewing machine for Christmas, is make the kids hooded towels and little aprons for Kylie's birthday party.

NINE Years!

2011-02-15T15:54:00.000-07:00

Wow the time seems to fly when you're having fun! ;) This past January Bob and I celebrated our ninth year of marriage! Has it really been that long? We have been through some tough times, fun times and all of our experiences have really strengthened our marriage.
Love you babe! Happy Anniversary!

My boys!

2011-01-08T16:45:00.000-07:00

They sure make their Daddy proud! :) (They're actually wearing the same clothes, only William is 3 months younger than Damon.)

Bed Time

2011-01-08T16:42:00.000-07:00

Bob doesn't like to admit that the cat has claimed him as his "Favorite!" Unknowingly Bob is caught cuddling with the cat at random bed/nap times! :) Hehehe

New Windows

2011-01-08T16:37:00.000-07:00

We got new windows for the house and it was amazing to watch the guys take out the windows and replace them so fast. 15 windows replaced in 4 hours! They look great and the house feels warmer and quieter. We were recommended Window World and would definitely recommend them too!

Mormon.org

2011-01-07T23:29:00.000-07:00

Very Merry Christmas

2010-12-28T20:06:00.000-07:00

This was a very fun Christmas! It was especially fun since Damon could hardly fall asleep with excitement. Damon is so funny, he always insists that we leave Carrots for Santa's reindeer (he's always thinking!)
It was so fun to have the kids light up with each gift. Damon was so excited to get his double light-saber he's been wanting for two years now (Mom was hoping he'd loose interest... not so). Kylie's big gift was a big girl Princess bike, which the weather was nice enough to ride it! So much for a white Christmas.
Our family favorite breakfast food is Crepes and here William is trying to help daddy!

Both sides of the family were very generous in the many gifts that we all received.
This was truly a very Merry Christmas! Thanks to everyone and hope everyone had a festive Holiday!

Christmas Eve at Spence's

2010-12-24T20:09:00.001-07:00

At Alicia's family's house they have the tradition of playing out the nativity with all he grandkids. This is the video from that.

YouTube Video

Damon also played a fun holiday song included below.

YouTube Video

They also got some fun toys from Autumn and Doug and Braxton. Damon and Kylie love their gifts, not something I would have thought they would have liked.

YouTube Video

Damon's Basketball

2010-12-22T20:02:00.001-07:00

Damon has really taken a liking to playing basketball. He kept asking us to let him play on a team. We haven't done that yet, but I did take him to the church to play. The young men were nice enough to let him play and even make sure he got the ball some. I decided to video tape and you can see why he likes it so much.

YouTube Video

Merry Christmas Everyone!

2010-12-20T15:40:00.000-07:00

This is what it's like at our house at Christmas time.... wait, at Easter, Halloween, and Thanksgiving too. We LOVE Eggnog here! William is definitely one of the family.
Christmas is such a wonderful and magical time of year! I love how our home smells of cinnamon, sweets and Christmas music playing in the house. The Christmas tree all lite up and Christmas decorations spread throughout the house (thanks to the kids and cat!)
This time of year it does seem as others are more kind and happier. May each of you reading this have a wonderful holiday. We are so blessed to remember our Saviors birth and what his life means for each of us. May you have a wonderful Christmas and know that we love you!
Love,
The Jackman's

Bye Bye Organ

2010-12-20T15:36:00.000-07:00

It is done!! The unused, slightly damaged Organ of Grandma Jackmans left our home today. It was a bitter sweet moment. Sure it's insainly heavy, and took up a little room, but it was a nice Organ and one that was very special to dear Grandma Jackman. I was unable to hear Grandma play the piano or Organ since joining the family, but I've heard from many people about what a wonderful player she was. We are happy that her Organ is going to be repaired and used in a loving family!

Snowman

2010-11-21T17:47:00.001-07:00

The kids LOVE playing in the snow and couldn't wait to get home from church to play in it. William wanted to play too, but we don't have his snowsuit yet. The kids rushed in to tell us they made a GIRL snowman.... oh really? What does that mean? It has hair! :)

Home improvements

2010-11-21T16:46:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to do some improvements to our home and one thing I thought I'd start with is the front door! I decided this would be a mommy/daughter activity and took Kylie to Lowes to help me pick out the right color. Kylie decided the color 'Milk Chocolate' would be best, which I agreed and we went to work!
Here's our before & after shots.
Bob teased that the kids would want to eat our door if it was colored chocolate, and apparently while Kylie and I were painting the door she tasted it to see if it DID taste like Chocolate. "It doesn't" she told her brother! :)

Southern Utah Fun

2010-11-21T16:22:00.000-07:00

We tagged along with Bob on another trip to Southern Utah. This time we got to stay in the Presidential Suite which is bigger than our house! The kids really liked having their own room and hot tub off the balcony! We have been very spoiled this last week and were glad we got to share it with our dear friends the Winslows.

Happy Halloween!!

2010-11-06T13:03:00.000-06:00

We tease that we have a house of monkeys, but for Halloween we let our Monkeys out! :)
Damon was a gorilla, Kylie a Frog and William a Monkey. When the kids knocked on the doors and yelled "Trick-or-Treat" William would yell his version out!
The weather was nice and sprinkled just a little. This year Mommy got to take the two older ones out while Daddy stayed home and let William have at his candy!!

St. George Trip

2010-11-06T13:01:00.000-06:00

Thanks to Daddys job we have traveled a little with him on his work trips. Since Damon was off track of school for almost 4 weeks we decided to head South with him to Blanding and then St. George.
The kids enjoyed hiking to Wilson's Arch, playing at parks and swimming during the warm days (while it snowed at home!).

ABC Date

2010-11-05T21:25:00.001-06:00

So, we were looking for fun date ideas and I came across this ABC Date. You and your date go around a photograph yourselves with things staring with A and B etc. So here it is. It was really fun.

Fall Break

2010-10-19T14:02:00.000-06:00

We had a fun trip up to Bear Lake with the Spences for Fall Break. We stopped at the Treehouse Museum, Rode the fun Suri Bikes, played at the park, and the kids favorite, Swim at the pool!!

Damon's new glasses

2010-10-13T15:21:00.001-06:00

Damon came home with a note the other day. He didn't pass his vision test at school. I blame that on Alicia. So we took him to the eye doctor and got his new glasses today!! We also got them for free at Target!!

Star Wars Concert

2010-10-09T21:47:00.001-06:00

I took Damon to a Star Wars Concert put on by the West Valley Symphony.

Before intermission Darth Vader came out and killed the conductor and took over.

At intermission we got to some more fun people.

Sterling Poulsen was also here.

Damon was too shy at the end to get his picture taken with Darth Vader and C3PO. And there was a Ewok as well.

Natural History Museum

2010-10-05T01:48:00.000-06:00

Yesterday we went to the Natural History Museum with our friends the Bradshaws. While we were there we got to see them working one of the newest dinosaurs found in Southern Utah, named the Utahceratiops! Very neat to watch!

Also we got to see where Jake's new office is there on the Campus of the U!(There's actually 6 monitors on his desk!)

William Walking and Damon's new toy

2010-10-03T20:13:00.001-06:00

William has been learning to walk this week. He is starting to get good and more confident. Here is a video of him today.

YouTube Video

Also, for Damon's birthday he got a cool marble thing. I finally put it together this weekend. It is really cool and Damon completely loves it and is mesmerized by it.

YouTube Video

Porters came for Conference

2010-10-03T16:55:00.001-06:00

Nathan and Kimberly Porter got some tickets for conference, so they came and stayed with us. It was way fun to see them. The kids had a good time playing with their cousins. Here is a castle they built and then destroyed!

YouTube Video

Them they got the musical instruments out and played a song.

YouTube Video

Goodbye Gizmo

2010-10-03T09:14:00.001-06:00

Gizmo is going down on Monday. The kids got to say good-bye after conference.

Fund Run

2010-10-01T18:20:00.001-06:00

So Damon had his fund run yesterday. Thank you to all of you who donated to his school. Here are some pictures and videos.

YouTube Video

And Kylie had fun and won this cartoon fishing license.

Baby's 1!!

2010-09-30T08:12:00.001-06:00

My little William turned one yesterday!! Has it really been a year since we were welcoming him into our family? He's hitting some fun milestones right now. He's taking steps, trying to talk, getting out of his high chair, and yesterday was so cute trying to blow out his birthday candles.

Fun without Mommy

2010-09-25T22:07:00.001-06:00

Mom went to go to general conference women's edition, so we had some fun while she was gone. Damon and Kylie thought it would be fun to get into the high chair. We made brownies and they even took some chocolate chips and put them in the shape of a heart for mommy. When Alicia came home we went downstairs to watch something and found that something had tried to take over my trumpet case. Here are the pictures:

Lots of fun. I don't see why it is such a big deal for other guys to have the wife gone. I don't see it as babysitting as much as I see it as unrestricted playtime. We don't have to worry about mom telling us we can't do something!! Love you Alicia!!!

Silly Kids

2010-09-23T11:35:00.000-06:00

Apparently I've already posted some silly photos of our kids, but I've got more to share! I went to check on the boys one night and found this:

We like to tease our little man that he's a little "Old" man with his walker. Bob said we should get him some tennis balls to put on his walker! :)

Now that Damon's in school all day these two like to be creative together!

Birthday Fun

2010-09-19T19:18:00.001-06:00

We had the Spence's over to celebrate Damon and William's birthdays. We got some good pictures.

He really liked the Yogurt Graduates that Autumn got him.

The monkey costume that Logan and Camille got him will look really good at Halloween, especially with the gorilla costume that Damon got.

It didn't turn, but this is the singing. I like how Kylie hugs Damon at the end.
YouTube Video

Damon got some good presents.

And he showed off his reading skills.

YouTube Video

Jake and Stephanie visit

2010-09-18T23:09:00.001-06:00

Jake and Stephanie came over today to hang out for a bit. We got some good pictures.

Here is Cassie and William going for a walk together.

Here is Alicia with a cute hat.

Stephanie and Jake.

Damon and the kids played with the Nerf dart guns with the laser sight.

Here is Sammy.

And Kylie sad because she doesn't want to eat her cantaloupe.

We also watched "Get Smart." It was a fun evening. Oh, and I made some amazing Chinese food. Really it was great!!

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Time with cousins

2010-08-28T22:05:00.000-06:00

We had some family pictures taken and so the cousins had some time to play. Here are some pictures of playing afterward.

YouTube Video

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First Day of 1st Grade

2010-08-21T00:13:00.000-06:00

Our Damon started 1st grade this week! He has been looking forward to this all summer. He even lost his two front teeth for the occasion! :)
Here's also a picture of little brother saying "good-bye!"

The Destoryer

2010-08-20T22:20:00.000-06:00

The Destroyer (as Alicia calls him) has been at it again. This time William figured out that you can get all the toilet paper off the roll by hitting it. He's so funny. After I took this I put all that toilet paper back up on the roll only to find that he had done it again and taken all the TP to our bedroom to put in a pile with all the books that he took off the shelf as well. He's one funny kid!!!

He also crawls around with a hammer all the time!

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County Fair

2010-08-16T21:41:00.000-06:00

Jake and Stephanie came down and suggested we go to the county fair, so we did. I was really disappointed because I didn't see a single mullet the whole time! We did have a lot of fun with the things there. William got to play with some of the animals at the petting zoo.

They didn't like the turtle too much. Damon also got to do this cool jumping thing. He was way excited when we told him he could do it.

YouTube Video

And Kylie and Sammy got to go on a little roller coaster. Kylie did really well at first, but then got nervous after a while.

YouTube Video

And William was just exited to play with a balloon.

YouTube Video

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Missing teeth

2010-08-15T21:21:00.001-06:00

Damon's mouth got bumped yesterday and his front two teeth were loose this morning. He wanted them to come out and so he wiggled them all day. Then this evening, he wanted me to pull them out. So i pulled them out after he could wiggle completely sideways.

He said he now looks 6. I guess this was good timing to start first grade. He lost his bottom two teeth at the beginning of kindergarten.

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Spence Grandkids

2010-07-30T18:01:00.001-06:00

We got together, us Spence Girls and had our kids photographed as a gift for Grandma Deana's birthday. Here's just a few of the fun photos.

Our Damon

Our Cute Kylie

Our little William

Braxon & Bailey

Gavin & Kyson

All the Babies!

New Train

2010-07-24T19:59:00.000-06:00

Grandma Deana found this cool train at a yard sale. Damon and Kylie loved taking turns riding it. It is battery powered and even makes whistle sounds.

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Damon Beekeeper

2010-07-24T12:34:00.001-06:00

Damon got to be a beekeeper. We went to Chris and Noni's house and they have bees. Damon was very interested so they let him suit up and look at the bees.

Lunch Time

2010-07-21T10:15:00.001-06:00

William is LOVING to feed himself without help! He takes about 3 baths a day since he's usually covered by the time he's done. So much for the bib! :)

Silly kids

2010-07-21T10:08:00.000-06:00

Our Kylie is quite the photographer right now. She's not in much photos unless it's upclose and up her nose! :) So here's a couple of her fun photos.

Cousin Time!

2010-07-12T22:11:00.000-06:00

We got together with the Spence side of the family to celebrate my birthday at IHOP and afterwards took this photo of the grandbabies! William can't wait to play with little Kyson! The kids sure love to get together with their cousins! I also had a wonderful birthday! Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes!

Tile Projects

2010-07-12T21:52:00.000-06:00

We finally did our tile projects that we have wanted to do years ago. In fact we've had the tile, backer-boards and all the tools needed sitting in our storage room for almost 5 years now! (I'm glad for the extra space now!) Bob took a week vacation to do this project and he worked SO hard on this and ran into so many problems along the way, but my husband has turned into quite the handy-man! He repaired the ice-maker in the freezer, rewired our new Oven, put in an outlet for the microwave and do the electrical and water lines new for the dishwasher. He's so talented! All the hard work has been so worth it and quite the relationship building experience too! We thought it would take us 3 days to do this... ha... it took us 7!!!! Huge thanks to my parents for taking the kids a couple days really saved us and wonderful tools from friends that made the work a little easier!
Here's our before and after shots!

Super Heros

2010-06-25T13:51:00.000-06:00

The kids were playing and decided they wanted to be superheros. I can't believe how well Kylie fit into that outfit.

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Williams ice cream

2010-06-25T12:30:00.000-06:00

My baby likes ice cream.

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Baby Boys!

2010-06-23T10:38:00.000-06:00

After dressing William yesterday I thought he looked a lot like Damon did as a baby! So funny!

Father's Day!

2010-06-23T10:35:00.001-06:00

We sure love our Daddy!! He is one great guy! Bob is a wonderful husband and father who spends good quality time with us as much as he can.
Happy Father's day!

Yard Work

2010-06-23T10:31:00.001-06:00

Gotta love yard work! :) When we finally turned on the sprinklers this summer and found one of our pipes shaddered! Thanks for telling us Best Vinyl company! Bob did a great job fixing it and now the sprinklers are working great!

William is getting big

2010-06-05T08:43:00.000-06:00

So William has been getting so big lately. He thinks he is big. He wants to crawl and walk and ride bikes with the big kids. Here is a picture of him trying to ride a bike, and some videos of playing at the park and him first starting to crawl.

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Damon's Book

2010-05-26T19:24:00.000-06:00

Damon has written an interactive book. You can see his book and click the speaker icon to hear him reading it. He made it using the Smart Notebook software. There is a web version so you can look at it. Here is how you are going to do it:

First go to SMART Notebook Express express.smarttech.com

In the web application, click File, then Open URL. A small window will open up. Type or right click & copy link address in the following URL: www.jackmanfamily.net/damonsbook.notebook

I hope you enjoy this book! Damon did 95% of the work. I just helped him to put the audio on the pages (He recorded it all himself after I showed him how) and I made the arrow for next page, but then he pasted it on each page himself. He's quite proud of his work.

FHE Family History

2010-05-17T19:20:00.001-06:00

We had Grandma and Grandpa over for Fanily Home Evening. We talked about family history and wrote in journals. Grandma and Grandpa told stories about when they were kids.

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