A few "See Ya Later's"

My bestest friend of 23 years moved last week. My little sis Jen, and her husband Tim packed up their stuff, and drove a few states away to Austin, Texas. Tim got a job with Dell, and they'll be there for at least 2-3 years. Basically, there is a lot I could say, but to avoid another emotional breakdown, I'm just going to say that they'll be missed more than they'll ever know and we can't wait to see them again!!!

The night before they were leaving we had a nice big dinner for them. The whole clan was there, even Grandpa and Nanny - mom even whipped out the china. We called it The Last Supper. We had stuffed pork chops, Jen and Tim's favorite. Then we sat around for hours, laughing, being entertained by children, playing games, and saying a few "see ya later's". They are going to have such a wonderful experience in Texas, I'll be the first to admit that I'm jealous of their adventures to come. 

We love you Aunt Nen and Bumbo and Good Luck!

Moving...again

We moved again. Hopefully we won't again for a few years. We are very grateful that this move was only 15 miles rather than 1500 miles. We rented a U-Haul for a day, packed in as much as we could, and filled up a few other cars to get it all out here to American Fork, back into our home! It's nice to actually live in a place we own :) We moved all of our stuff, but only put it in the garage. We then left to California and while we were gone we had a lot of the house painted. We painted the living room/dining room/kitchen area all painted this really pretty blueish green color. It was a bit bright at first, but once we've put all of our stuff in here we absolutely LOVE it! Then upstairs we painted out bedroom a soft blueish gray color. Before, I'm not sure how many saw it, but the whole upstairs was brown - I'm talking ceiling, walls, doors, trim - all of it was brown. So we finally have a normal house with a WHITE ceiling, doors and trim. It looks amazing. I'm so glad we got it done, it looks like a completely different house. Here are a few pictures of our moving process, I'll post some more once we have all of the final touches completed!

Livy also had her very first day of Joy School! I was invited to join a little group in my ward with three other girls and their sons who are all months apart in age. We do it every Thursday morning from 9 am - 11 am. We each take a week, plan a few activities for the first hour then just let them play the second hour. It's been so great so have a little time without the babe around to get so much done! Livy has loved it so far. Last week they talked about the weather, so all week she'll randomly talk about the rain, the sun, and the wind. Love her. 

Beach Day

We had a great morning at the beach. We met the Perdues and Grows at Dana Point at a beautiful beach. We had to go down a big ole' hill, and they had a nice and slow little elevator to take us and our big strollers down. While we were waiting Livy got to eat a yummy little cupcake that Auntie Mel made. We loved spending time with little baby Callen Perdue, and Lucy too! 

 

Later, Rob & Julie, and Jared & Jen came and met up with us with their kiddos. It was so fun to be surrounded by friends, and lots of family. It was a very hot day on the beach, but with a few umbrellas, and some nice cold ocean water we had a great time. 

We left the beach, grabbed some lunch, and came back to shower, chill and relax until dinner. That's what vacation is all about, have some fun, eat, relax, and eat. We met up for dinner at the Cheesecake Factory - twice in one week I know! It was the best vacation we've had in a while :) As we were walking into the restaurant we asked if Livy and Lucy wanted to hold hands... sure enough, they were both very excited about the idea. It was so cute. They just giggled the entire way. 

 After dinner we came back and talked for hours, ate our cheesecake, and talked a little more. It's so nice to be with friends and family, I love them so so much. I just might have to go to SoCal a few more times this year :)

Newport Beach Jackson Reunion

We flew into Long Beach Tuesday night, and came to the Marriott Coast Villas just in time to eat a homemade dinner with the whole Jackson family (minus Colby). Livy just absolutely loved being surrounded by 8 other kids who love her and wanted to play with her. It was so fun to watch her run around with them and play. Wednesday we spent at Disneyland, and loved every minute. Yesterday we took it nice and easy. We exercised, went to the pool, took naps, and ate a big dinner with everyone. Then we got the opportunity to be apart of Josh receiving the Melchizedek Priesthood. Bob and Sue got special permission from their stake president, so they had each brother take a few minutes to share some thoughts and scriptures they had about being an Elder, serving a mission, and holding that power of the priesthood. It was so special to be there all together as a family for that moment.  

Then today was still pretty chill. We had a slow morning, took some family pictures, went to Avila El Ranchito for lunch. It was awesome authentic Mexican food. We came home, took naps, the men went golfing, we helped with dinner, then we had a Princess birthday party for Ella's 4th birthday. Livy was so obsessed with the princesses everywhere.  

I just had to throw in these crazy pictures of Livy. Her new favorite game is "sleep". She makes mommy go to sleep, then daddy, then grammy, grandpa, and anyone else in the room go to sleep. Then Livy goes to sleep. She shuts her eyes so tight, and it makes me laugh so hard every time. It's the cutest thing ever. In this picture Livy is asleep, and so are Mickey and the gang. 

 Beach day tomorrow with the Grows and Perdues! Yay! 

Disneyland

What a day. A perfect day. Livy had no idea what was coming. She's been so in love with Micky & The Clan the last few weeks, and especially the princesses the last few months. So we knew she would just be in awe, and boy was she ever. My mom got her this cute little Minnie dress to wear, and we got her some ears, which didn't last too long, but were still too cute to resist. We left just after 7:00 am this morning to make sure we were there as soon as they opened. We went with Ryan's entire family (except for Colby), so all 21 of us went around Disneyland together and had a blast. 

Apparently the Jackson men got the green polo and khaki memo.  

Livy has loved playing with her cousins Grace and Viv. They're so careful and gentle with her. They love to take care of her, feed her, and play with her.  

As soon as we walked in to the park Mickey was just feet away! So we jumped in line to snap a photo with Mickey. Livy was star-struck. It was the cutest thing ever. When we walked up to him, she didn't know what to do! She just shyly smiled and stared. It was darling. 

Livy was so excited to see Minnie too! She saw Minnie, pointed to her dress and said, "Two Minnie's!". When it was our turn to see Minnie Livy walked right up to her, then stopped, and cried. It was pretty funny. Needless to say she was pretty excited to see Minnie.

Of course we had to get some yummy Dole-Whip. (Pineapple soft-serve....De-lish!). It was soooooo hot. So we were so grateful for a little snack to cool us off. 

We went on the Jungle Cruise, and Pirates. Then apparently while we were on Pirates there was an earthquake. So most of the rides were closed for a little while to make sure they were still working properly. Then we went on Indiana Jones, Small World - which Livy just sat, stared, and loved all of the little people. We grabbed some lunch, then went on the Buzz ride, which once again, Livy loved finding Buzz and Zerg while Mommy and Daddy shot all of the signs. Finally Livster fell asleep, and slept for a solid hour! It was great. She woke up just in time to see the princesses. It worked out perfectly.  

We absolutely LOVED going to Disneyland with family, and especially loved going as parents to see little Livy's eyes just light right up. She was almost speechless the entire day. There was just so much to take in, and it couldn't have been any better. We left at about 4:00 and went to Cheesecake Factory for dinner. It was a great day, and we can't wait for a few more days here in beautiful Newport Beach.