Cameron's 1st Day of Preschool

Today was Cameron's first day of his second year of preschool.

 He was so excited and so was I.

 We've been counting down the days and minutes.

So, he put on his new Skylanders backpack and headed out the door.

 When we got to Miss Charity's, he walked right in and got to work decorating his picture frame.

He loved every minute of it! 

 I had fun chatting with the other excited mommies and talked about all of the things we could do with our two hours of freedom.

 Happy preschool!  It almost feels like Christmas.

Domesticated

Yep, that's right.  I canned stuff.

 I've never done this before but have had really good intentions.  A few years ago, I bought all the supplies, but when the time came when my garden was going crazy, I was going crazy trying to finish all of my clients photos for Christmas card season.  Well, this time, I decided I wasn't going to let that get in my way.  I might regret it when I have to stay up all night long to edit, but when I open that can of peach jam and spread it all over a nice warm piece of homemade bread, it'll all be worth it.

 Our garden is always overrun with tomatoes, so I did three pints of pizza sauce and 20 pints of pasta sauce.

 And, I just love peaches, so I picked up a box at the fruit stand and made some fresh peach pie, 36 half pints of jam, and one quart of jam (since I ran out of the 1/2 pint jars).

 I can't believe I did it.  With a little advice from my sister and friend, and the owner's manual to the pressure cooker, you, too, can "can!"

Cameron's 1st Day Alone With Mom

Cameron enjoyed his first day of the school year alone with Mom.  A trip to Walmart, an ICEE and donuts for after school.  Lucky boy!

Bryant's 1st Day of 3rd Grade

 This crazy little guy is a 3rd grader!  I can't believe it!

He wasn't super excited to go to school today, but I think he felt a little better when he met his teacher, Ms. Kirkham.  She was great! 

After he found his desk, it was time to get to work.

Here's to one more year!

Hallie's 1st Day of 5th Grade

 Look at my beautiful 5th Grader!

 Holy cow!  She is so grown up!  Where did the time go?!

 Hallie was excited to go to the new building today for her first day of 5th grade.

 She's even more excited to have a locker.

 We met her teacher, Ms. Mendonsa.  She was super nice.

 And just like that-- time for work!

Charlotte's Baby Blessing

July 4th

 This July 4th we went to the West Bountiful Parade with Grandma and Grandpa Jackson, Grandma Julie, Steph and Matt, Tricia, Ryan and the cousins.  The parade was super fun and very low-key.  It was short and sweet and the kids got tons of candy.

 After the parade, we went home for some lunch.

After lunch, we went swimming.

When we got back home, the kids wanted to play in the water still.  So, we put the sprinkler under the tramp, opened up the "cold" tub and let them have some more fun while we relaxed and started dinner.

 During dinner, Becky gave Kevin a special present for FINALLY finding the sprinkler box in their backyard after days and days of digging around looking for it. 

 When it got dark, we started the firework show.

 What a great day!