May there be lots of merry in your Christmas!

I'm short

I've always been short.  No, I take that back.  I was normal in elementary school, even some of junior high.  But as most of my friends continued to grow, I just seemed to...well, stop.  And I've been here ever since.  Which I don't understand because we Amazon women genes in our family.  I have girl cousins who are 6' tall, 5'11'', 5'9''!  They wear it beautifully.  Why didn't I get at least part of the family height?  I have no idea. I'm literally the runt of the litter.

But I've come to terms with my shortness. I embrace it.  I did my part and always dated the short guys with the exception of Aaron. One time I went on a double date with my date being around 5'7'' and the other couple being 6' and 6'5'' respectively.  I have to admit I felt awkward all night.  Like double dating with my parents.

(I do have to admit I think Aaron is the perfect height for me. Even if he does sometimes make fun of my tiny, toddler hands and my child sized shoes.  My head fits perfectly against his chest, I love tippy-toeing to kiss him and how my hand almost disappears into his.   Hmmm...)

Anyway, why am I talking about this?  Well, I found a tailoring tip that all short people need to know.  I wish I had this years ago. I wear jeans just about every day. If I'm not in my yoga pants. I mean, it's Portland.  Pretty cas' up here.  Anyway, since I wear jeans a whole heck of a lot, these past years I've learned to invest in a few nice pairs.  Ones that will last for years, not stretch out every time I wear them and be as flattering on my backside as they can be.  Most of them come extra long. Well extra long for me. I never wanted to pay the $10-$15 it takes them to get professionally hemmed.  So I would just cut, fold and sew myself which never looked great but it worked.

Well, I found a great tip. Of course on Pinterest.

DaciaRay.com had my answer.  I copied this straight from her blog (I hope that wasn't illegal.) so I give her all the credit. 

"I found this fabulously perfect way to hem jeans on the Cavaricci site, which has since been taken down, so here’s the lowdown. This method keeps the original hem in tact and is especially helpful now that all jeans are made to be 34 inches long for mammoth supermodels. Plus, it took less than 30 minutes.
A couple notes: It’s best to do one leg at a time, so as not to have too much undoing to do in case something goes awry. Also, it’s good to know the length that you want each leg to be. Sometimes, one leg will be a bit shorter or longer than the other before you hem.
Step 1: Decide how much length you would like to take off. Divide that number in half. (Hems should fall just below the bottom of your ankle. Also, if you generally wear high heels, or a certain height of heel, you might want your hem a bit longer – it should fall an inch to a half inch above the floor at your heel.)


Step 2: Cuff the jeans. I wanted to take two inches off my hem, so I measured one inch out from the original hem line and pinned. (Do not include the distance from the hem to the end of the jean in your calculations.)


Step 3: Pin around the rest of the cuff, taking care to measure each time you pin.


Mind the seams while you’re pinning. Make sure that the stitching lines up at each seam.


Step 4: It’s time to stitch. You want to place your needle and continue sewing right next to the original hem. Stitch on the right side of the hem, or the side farthest from the bottom of the jean. Sew all the way around the cuff. Be sure you don’t sew through both front and back sides of the jeans (making it so that the foot hole is sewn shut)!


You can either cut the excess off, leaving about a half inch for fraying, or iron the extra material in.


Turn the leg right side out and press the new seam flat, revealing the old hem.

Voila! No more slouchy, unflattering leg."



I've already hemmed two pairs of jeans and am loving it.  Sometimes it's the little things in life.

So all you shorties out there, you're welcome.

Poultry Slam 2012

Disclaimer: All original pictures are crystal clear but the copies I received were very small so when I enlarged them, we lost focus and pictures are blurry. Sorry.

This year we ran off to Prescott for Thanksgiving and a relaxing time away.  I think this was one of the first times I have ever asked my mom what The Plan was for the week she said, "I haven't planned a thing."  What?!  A Jackson vacation with no plans?! 

So, we slept late (those of us with sleeping-in children or hose of us who just let our children run wild until we decided to get up.), we went walking every morning, we played at the park, went fishing at the pond, read in my parents ultra-comfy couches, played games, and ate In & Out.  All at our own leisure. 

Lovely.

Mark and the boys hiked Little Granite mountain and took pictures of the ranch.  My padres' home is the grey-roofed one in the very middle, right below the ginormous castle. Seriously folks, it's a castle.  Isn't it just a beautifu; area?  High dessert of Arizona,.

One of my favorite parts was, of course, the sun. Every day.  Absolutely beautiful.

Gorgeous.

We played at the tee pees.

And the tree houses.

Played ball on the fields.

Had plenty of Papa Time.

Monday night was family home evening by the fire in the backyard. The stars out here are incredible and we had a wonderful lesson on the light of testimony and personal revelation.

Cute boy. (wish it wasn't blurry.)

These girls sure L.O.V.E. their Papa.

Thanksgiving was all it's supposed to be.

Including a children's table.

One little person trying to eat the drumstick.

A yummy baby whom I wanted to nibble her cheeks. But she wouldn't let me near her.  She knew I wwanted to take a bite!

A wonderful and tireless cook who made a meal never to be forgotten.

Yes, Aaron. Never to be forgotten.

Afterwards, relaxation was had by all. Through pool...

An intense game of Boggle... (Where Aaron was not invited to play.  It would have made it all meaningless.  He would have gotten 100 words to my 10.  Every time. See, no fun.)

And a little dancing on a boulder.

We took family pictures and I can't wait to see how they turned out.

 

Lovely mother and daughter. (my baby sister) They found out some AMAZING news that day.  Call and ask her.  You won't be disappointed!

Last but not least, my honey.  My crazy honey. Whom I adore.

Now it's back home to decking our halls, planning the ward Christmas party, tons of online shopping (what's a store any more?) and waiting anxiously for a Williams Christmas in Portland!

Song of the Month

This has been sung yelled every few minutes the past couple of days.   Yep, it's the classic Tobuscas Minecraft song "I Can Swing My Sword."  It really won't mean anything to anyone who doesn't know it, but Jonah is obsessed.  This song is now stuck in my head 24/7, singing it as I wash dishes, in the shower & driving in the car complete with all the errors Jonah throws in.

My favorite parts are the vibrato.  :)  And yes, he sings the ENTIRE thing over and over.

 

*This is dedicated to his cousin Rowan who I've heard is as a big of Minecract fan as our boys.*

 

 

Speaking of brotherly love

Yesterday during the sacrament Jonah and I had out his little temple cards to try and keep him reverent. (Jordan River is his favorite.  Don't know exactly why.,)  He points out Mt. Timpanogas and knows that's where Daddy and I got married.

Jonah then leans over and stage whispers, "I'm going to marry Lucas someday....because he is a good boy."

Lucas had no comment.

Random Conversation

Lucas walks into the kitchen this morning and asks, "Does it still count as my personal prayer if Jonah is listening?"

Me: "Of course.  You can always pray with someone else."

Lucas: "Good. Because I'm gonna have Jonah kneel with me during my morning prayers so he can learn how say them for himself."

The lastest on the little one

Jonah is our little fish these days.  He's been taking swim lessons for about 10 weeks and LOVES it.  He's gone from completely drowning to.... not completely drowning.  I wouldn't exactly call it swimming, but he can hold his breath and kick at the same time.  He has class with two other 3 year old boys so it's a kick to watch.

You can kind of see him swimming out to his teacher.  :)

 

Jonah is kinda a weird kid...

He likes to tell strangers we're going to have a baby girl named Joy.  ("'Not pwetend, but a weal baby.")   ???

For weeks now he'll randomly throughout the day turn to me and say in his dreamy voice, "I like you, Mom."  I like him too.

Whenever we're in the store and someone comes over the loud speaker asking, for example, "So&So come to Sporting Goods," Jonah always yells, "Alright!  We'll be there in a minute! Hold your horses!"

A couple weeks ago I took Jonah out of sacrament meeting sitting him on the couch for time out.  I sat closely next to him to keep him in place and quiet but he kept ordering me to go sit in the chair on the other side of the room.  Quite loudly.  I continued to reject his suggestion.  All of a sudden, he turns on his sweet, angel face and quietly points out the picture of Christ across the room.  "Mom, (batting his eyelashes at me oh-so-tenderly) look at the picture of Jesus.....Jesus loves to help people, doesn't he?  Mom, Jesus wants to help YOU....GO TO JESUS MOM!  GO TO JESUS!"

Oh the cunning of these "innocent" ones. 

The other morning, Lucas, JB and I were playing a game of complete luck (Ants in the Can) and Jonah was having a lot of trouble, whining the entire game. So I helped him with his "ants." He finally got one in and yelled how he won. I told him the classic Lucas line, "Jonah, you need to say to the others "Good game. You played well." (That's a whole other story but it's a phrase muttered a lot around here.) Without missing a beat Jonah yells, "Good game. I played well." Emphasis added by the little man himself.

Yep, that about sums him up.  The world revolves around himself and any deviation will ignite mutiny and melt downs.  We hope this stage passes quickly.

I'll leave you with Jonah's rendition of his favorite songs, "ABC's" in C Major.

There are two kinds of people in this world...

Those who know Minecraft and those who don't.  Our boys know it.  Are obsessed with it.  For those not in the know, it's basically a video game where you build , kind of like Legos on TV, with 8-bit graphics and elevator music.   Lucas started liking it months ago and played it every so often and then once Jonah caught on there was no stopping it.  (On Sunday Jonah came home from church sick. Dead asleep as I dragged him into the house, he awoke just long enough to plead for my phone and his Minecraft fix.  He was back asleep before he got the whole sentence out of his mouth.)

 So basically the two boys are characters from this Minecraft game called Creepers.  They are the bad guys and demolish your houses and stuff.  Lucas won "Best Youth Costume for Boys" at the church party so I couldn't have done that badly.  :)

Here's out Trick-or-Treat troop.  Sarah as Jasmine, Bennett as a ninja, Paxton as Spiderman, Lucas as a Creeper, Jonah as a mini-Creeper, Jackson as a ranger and Johnny (lucas' friend) as I have no idea.

Jonah LOVED his costume last Friday at the ward Halloween party and just minutes earlier loved posing for pictures but apparently he had had enough and would not put it back on for another round of pics.  I forced him.  I worked dang hard on the costume he begged for and I would get a picture of him with his brother, dangit!

Happier times only moments before.

Daddy left to the dirty work once interest wanes.   What a sweet dad.

Hope you had a happy Halloween!

Family of a Thousand Pictures

Now that fall has settled on the Northwest and I've cozied up in our house more, I thought I could catch up on the blog. We loved our summer and took advantage of every last sunny day. My family came out to Portland in August during the two weeks a year you are filled with gratitude you have air conditioning. It was hot.

Man Time consisted of going deep sea fishing. Not sure just how deep it was....

But the fish weren't biting.  Apparently they literally caught just 2 anchovies the whole 4 hours.   If you look re-e-al close you can see the little thing.  That seems par for the course for Jackson Man Time.  They've always seemed to just have that kind of luck.

Luckily they all like each other so it was worth it.

We also went berry picking for late season raspberries.  Again SO HOT we didn't stay out too long.

Cutie Katherine.

We played at the Lake Oswego Beach where the older kids swam and the younger kids wrestled.

Reminds me of all the years when we would wrestle with my dad, play Blinds Man Bluff with the Big Bird hat on his head, and our hours of gymnastics flips.  Good times.

Lots of relaxing.

One day we headed out to the coast.  Notice the Northwest Beach in A.u.g.u.s.t.  Foggy and cold.

But as always, the kids braved the cold, cloudy weather while I stayed bundled up in my coat and blanket snuggling Baby Genevieve to keep me warm.


Until my mom took her out and she too LOVED the cold water.

The kids spent hours out there with hundreds of brown pelicans.

Sweet family from Arizona. Amanda, Geoff, Katherine & Genevieve.

 

 

 

Angelic face of Paxton.  Don't be fooled.  :)  He is quite the daredevil.

Here's the baby who turns me into a cannibal.  Who wouldn't want to nibble on those cherub cheeks?!

Genevieve is the perfect mix of Amanda & Geoff.

Kissy, kissy that sweet face!

We chose The Hottest Day of the Year to go boating.  108 degrees.  It was fine if you were wet and in the water, but if not, it was brutal.

Jonah loved the water!  And loved riding the inner tube with his daddy. Did I get in the water, you ask?  Ha.  Even in 108 degree weather the water was still too cold for me.  I know. It's a sickness.

Doesn't he look so different with no hair?!

Katherine was a speed demon and loved to go fast.


My most favorite part of the vacation was when we were going to drop all the kids off while the adults drove the boat downtown to a restaurant for dinner on the water. BUT, the boat got broke and our plans got canned.


Our last night together we took the MAX downtown for dinner.

We found a yummy place to eat and a fun square that put on some random swing dance concert.

First thing said when we got there. "Sarah. Do not get in that water."

Not five minutes later.  She had a absolute blast.

 

 

 Great times. Great times.  We all get together for Thanksgiving in Prescott this year and hopefully we will not have a Punkin Chunkin' repeat.   Either way, it will all be well documented as always.