First Summer Break with Jackson of 2013

To say we were so excited for Jackson to come for weeks of the summer, would be an understatement.  My kind father-in-law and Brady set up Jackson's bed the second our apartment was open to us before we got married.  I tried to get his room ready first so Jackson would be settled with all of his things in the right place, similar to his set up in San Clemente.  He loves loves loves his bunk bed so much so I tried to make sure it looked like it did there.

He loved it and loves our new place.  

I took him to Disneyland to start off our time together since our passes won't be working soon.

the apple I packed got his loose tooth almost ready to come out

finally putting this lunchbox to use from my bridal shower! ha! Jackson loved it.

I love this boy of mine and how filled of life & adventure he is.

The moment we got home, Brady was home and we told him Jackson's tooth was about to come out.  Jackson wanted to try the whole floss and door slamming technique... and wasn't scared at all!  

I love all the trust in this picture

His tooth flew so far it got lost in our carpet for 25 minutes.  

When we found it, we put it under his pillow.

Jackson is a huge fan of San Clemente and a huge fan of my parents.  Since they helped me raise Jackson, he loves them like they are his parents.  We had to visit his BFF and my parents and we set up a slip and slide for the day.

Watermelon with Gabe

After a fun day at the pool and beach, this guy slept for 12 hours like this.  Every night I go into his room and check that he is breathing.  It's something I have done since he was born... obviously SIDS isn't a threat anymore but the mama bear that's full of protection comes out; baby or not.  I always kiss his soft cheeks and tell him how loved he is.  

Our good friends, the Randalls came over to see us at our new place.  We live so close to the cutest ma and pa places to eat so we walked to them for lunch and dessert with our kids.  

The kids were enamored with the train that comes through every 10 or so minutes.

We love living so close to them.

Jackson loves to play soccer with Brady since he taught him how to play soccer, and fun tricks.  So we took out the ball and goals -- and found some local park kids that wanted to play.  They played for hours while I sat to watch.  

We drove over to Arizona for our Open House in Mesa.  Jackson LOVES Arizona.

 He even loves to drive there.

taking care of Nelly

Swimming

The Open House was beautiful.  It was so fun to see our Arizona friends and meet people 

Brady grew up with.  Bahama Bucks catered the dessert which was a huge hit.  I think we each had three to four.

Church with Jack tying Kip's shoe laces together. 

Jackson is a big fan of dressing up when we are at the Nielsen's house.  They use to have a playroom full of toys and dress up clothes so Jackson gets his uncle Kip into it, and then they play hard.

It was a quick weekend in Arizona but we had such a great time.  The sunset leaving was gorgeous, we had to remember it.

June 24, 2013 (still with Jackson)

We had our twins come over and play for the day!  We love visitors.  My friend Jessica who I grew up with got emotional coming over and seeing my new life.  She has known me the longest of all my friends so she has seen me in some rough situations and for her to see me with the greatest guy in this happy life, she lost it which had me loose it.  We love it when we have time to see each other.

Jess' first time to the famous Rose Bowl

Our week continued....

More pool time

Then Jackson and I made dinner and since we don't have a table yet, we made do.

and then made homemade ice cream to top it all off

more pool... jackson knows what's up

we did yoga by the pool too. I love this little yogi

We explored old town Pasadena

and of course did more swimming

looked for more clothes for Jackers

then, we hopped on a plane to Arizona, where we picked up a car and 

met our Utah family there to drive them back from the airport.

It was family reunion time!  The Nielsen side in Sedona, AZ.

Brady went golfing with his guy cousins and brothers

we took family pictures there with one of the funniest photographers that I 

think she never left the 80's with how she posed us.  We were cracking up.

we spent most of our time as a family in the pool, and Jackson loved all the attention to have his  step-dad and uncles all throw him in the air, over and 

over

and over

you get it

we had a family night of videos from the past and then cartoons with the kids

we jumped off the cliffs of slide rock. the water was nasty but we had a good time.

we didn't let jackson jump off here as much as he wanted to.

Right before leaving, we spent the afternoon drawing Africa with Jackson.  It was so nice.

He had a fun hangover, and went down fast.  I think all of this swimming and excitement finally hit this energizer.

This is our last picture of our fun weeks of the beginning of summer together.  It was such a great time together.  I love this little boy and am so happy to have this new life with him-- so glad we have our wonderful Brady with us.  He makes the world so much sweeter.