Zoo Outing w/Grammy & Papa

I'm still playing catch up. My sister Stacy & I decided it was time to make a trip to the zoo with Grammy & Papa. They brought my brother's daughter Eva since they just had a new baby and couldn't come. We had a great time. Here are the pics. Our crew walking around the zoo. Alex wanted Papa to pick him up so they could look at everything together. Here's Papa showing the boys the baboons.The kids were so excited to show Grammy & Papa all the different animals.Here's Grammy & Jameson having a little chat with this monkey.All the kiddos "riding horses" together.Alex, Jameson & Eva. My boys sure love little Eva girl.Alex Papa even got in on the horse riding fun with the boys. Here they are "racing".Pretty soon Alex was sick of sitting in the stroller, so he insisted on pushing the empty stroller for the last half of the time we were at the zoo.It made it especially fun to have Grammy & Papa on this zoo trip. Here they are playing "1-2-3 swing" with Jameson like they did with us when we were kids.Here are all the kiddos with Grammy & Papa & the Komodo Dragon statue. (Trevor, Jameson, Alex, Isaac, & Eva w/Grammy & Papa)Thank you so much for coming and making it such a fun trip.

Happy Valentines Day

I've never been a fan of Valentines Day. To be perfectly honest I've always hated it, but as the boys get older they get so excited about these little holidays. Jameson was having a Valentines party at preschool and that got him so excited about it. When I went to drop him off for school his cousin came running up telling him all the things they had planned for their Daddy for Valentines Day. Realizing we weren't even going to acknowledge the holiday I thought he might be sad so I ran home & cut some hearts out of computer paper and then let the boys color them. We picked up Jameson from preschool & headed over to Daddy's office. We snuck into his office & taped the hearts up all over his desk & computer. The boys thought it was such a fun surprise. They were so excited for Daddy to come in & catch them. It worked out perfect. Daddy walked into his office for lunch just as we finished putting the hearts up. It was really fun for everyone. Here are the boys with our surprise. They don't really look happy, but I promise they were.

Saga of the Poor Pooch

The day my brother and his family left to go back home our poor little pooch had surgery to repair his broken leg. He now is equipped with some very expensive hardware including one metal plate, 9 screws and some wire. They are very hopeful that his leg will now heal. He was still so loopy from the anesthesia when I went to pick him up. He kept trying hard to stay awake, but he just couldn't keep his eyes open. He couldn't even hold his head up. It was so sad and pathetic and a little bit cute. Here are a couple of pics I snapped of him. The first one was when we first got in the car to take him home after surgery & the second is how he was asleep when we got home. He was sufficiently drugged for the next couple of days, but soon he was back to his hyper little self again. He seems to be much more comfortable that he was when we were trying the cast approach. He just got his stitches out a few days ago &, although he is still in the cone of shame for one more week to be sure his incision heals before he starts licking it to death, he seems to be healing well and doing so much better. Now the hard part is trying to keep him from jumping around for the next couple of months cause he is one crazy puppy.

Grammy & Papa's FHE about Africa

The last night we were all together before my bro Ryan and his fam went back to UT was Mon night so my parents decided to do an FHE about Africa and show us all the things they brought home with them. It was so cool to hear about the different ways of life, traditions and cultures. We started out with Grammy teaching everyone I Am a Child of God in French. We are so proud of her for her accomplishment in the language. She has really worked hard and it has paid off as she is now completely fluent in French.Then Papa showed us on a map all the places they lived and the places they traveled to while they were there. Then they showed us everything they brought home & explained each one.They explained about the cultures they came from & how they used them.They taught us about the people. How they look & act & dress in the different areas.Some even got to try on some of their things. Here's Sydney trying on a hat that was made for my mom by one of their great friend Monga's wife (from Lubumbashi DRC).Here's Shelby (9) trying out carrying a basket on her head like the Africans. They carry everything on their heads even as children.Linsey gave it a try too.Then Papa explained about the famous Burundian drums/drummers. He showed us what they call the parts of the drum & the rhythm they useHe even showed us how they sometimes put them on their head and play them that way.

Then they gave us each a beautiful nativity from Burundi & a handmade wooden mortar & pestle they brought home from us. They also gave each of the adult girls a copper bracelet from DRC. I was SO excited & I LOVE every one of them. After that we had treats and they put on a video they got about Burundi so we could see what it really looked like, and what a performance it is when the drummers play. It was an awesome night and a perfect way to end our family reunion week together.

Hangin Out w/the Whole Fam

I don't think anyone could be happier to have their Grammy & Papa home than my boys. These boys have sat on Grammy & Papa's laps every moment they can. (Of course they aren't the only ones, so the grandkids are all learning about sharing Grammy & Papa). There's been lots of time to just sit and snuggle up between all the running and playing we've been doing in the first week since they've been home. We've showed them our favorite movies & we've spent hours & hours & hours playing Just Dance 2 on the Wii. Here are some pictures of one of the nights playing Just Dance 2 at our house. It was fun for everyone to both dance & watch. No one was too cool (teenagers), too pregnant (Jenna was 9 mo pregnant), or too old (parents & Grammy & Papa).

Tatum (5), Rachael (16), and Finn (5)

Michael (12), Ethan (12), and Tyler (11)Shelby (9), Riley (6), and Eva (2)Michael (12), Chandler (11), & Tyler (11)Calvin (8), Chandler (11)We even got Scott & Jenna dancing to try and dance that baby out. It didn't work, but I think they still had fun.

Jameson Family Jumpstreet Chaos

Wow! I can't believe I've almost gone a whole month without posting. We've been really busy having way too much fun with our family since Grammy & Papa got home. It's gonna be a busy but great next 5 months having fun together before they head back to be Mission President of the DRC Kinshasa Mission July 1st. Let the catch up begin.

While everyone was together we decided to do a few things to have some fun together. One day we all went to Jumpstreet. It was crazy and lots of fun for everyone old & young. It's hard to get good pictures at Jumpstreet cause everyone is running & bouncing around like crazy, but here are some of the best ones from our adventure.

Chandler, Dylan, Derek, & Isaac on the "Alligator slide"

Harley & SunnyThe older cousins had lots of fun playing some dodge ball.The "big boys" aka the Daddys had just as much fun as the younger kids. They had lots of fun trying to squeeze through the blow up slides. Here's Derek & Eric.RyanKlintEven Papa joined in. It was probably a lot funnier to watch in person, but man we love that our guys and brothers all get along so well.The oldest of the cousins Sydney & Rachael standing in triumph of the Alligator slide after the went on it even though it's really for kids 7 & under.Youngest to oldest everyone had a great time together. Here we are playing ring around the rosey with youngest (Eva) & oldest (Papa) and a few in between.It was such a fun outing. Thanks Grammy & Papa for taking us.

Welcome Home

Grammy & Papa came home from their mission in Africa (the DRC/Burundi) last night. We are SO HAPPY to have them home, but let me start at the beginning. On Thurs. Jan 13th we got an email from my parents saying they wanted to Skype with us that night. We didn't think a whole lot of it at the time. I had a meeting that night and I got home really late so I sent them a message to say it was late & we'd talk to them the next day. Just then they called us. They said they were calling for a specific reason. It was because they were coming home a month early from their mission. YAY!!! We were so excited! Then we asked why. They told us it was because they had just received a call to be a mission president. Whoa! They said they were going to begin that calling the end of June so they were coming home a month early so they could have as much time as possible to be with family & prepare for the next 2 or 3 year mission. We are very excited for them, but are a little sad to have so little time with them throughout this period. We now the Lord knows what he's doing & Mom & Dad will do a great job. So that brings us to the present. We won't know where they're going til probably early March, but we're SO excited to have them home. Here are the pics of the night of the big arrival.

We spent the afternoon making posters. Here are my boys with their poster. They were so proud of it.Here's our whole fam with our poster WAITING! Their flight was almost an hour late so it was killing us and we sat waiting at the airport for a long time. (Not easy when you have 32 people, 20 of them children waiting in an airport SUPER excited) We were just happy their flight wasn't cancelled like so many others had been that day, and that they had miracles that got them on that flight from Dallas.Alex LOVED his poster (that was bigger than him) and carried it around showing it to anyone who would look at it.While waiting the kids found a window where they watched planes land. Every time they saw a plane they said they were sure Grammy & Papa's plane was here. It was so cute. Of course after a while Jameson decided the planes were "transformers" which started a whole new game for them. Whatever it took to keep them entertained.Here's our crowd with signs & all.After more waiting......They FINALLY ARRIVED!!!!!!There were LOTS of hugs for everyone. We were so happy they were actually here.Alex couldn't wait to give Grammy his poster.After hugs had gone all around and we headed back to Grammy & Papa's to hang out a little. The grand kids had all learned "To Bring the World His Truth" and sang it for Grammy & Papa. It was adorable. It's so fun to have ALL of our family together & we'll enjoy it while it lasts! Let the crazy Jameson partying commence!