Our Adventures in Sonoma!

Here are a few shots from our latest trip to Sonoma... A cousin wedding... A 59th Anniversary party for my grandparents...and lots of little cousin fun!

Starts at Cornerstone... an amazingly easy place to take pictures of children!

This was one of my favorite shots of the day!

One of his last shots with both front teeth...my handsome boy!



I LOVE this one! An old rusted fence!



This is a red door in the middle of a field. :) LOVE IT



Uncle Ricky is great with the kids!

 Then... Off to Cousin Natalie's wedding!

Their wedding attire...I liked this candid shot of them.

Their reception outfits! All the little boys cousins got these! So Fun!

I wanted a picture like the prom! ha ha ha So Cute!

Congratulations Natalie and RJ! My boys were so excited for their picture with the princess! :)

Grandpa Don asked him to puff out his chest and then made Matthew feel like it was the coolest thing in the world. :)

I have other pictures, still trapped on my camera... An outdoor fire pit created with bricks and misc scrap wood, where the kids cooked up hot dogs and marshmallows with Pop in the backyard! Maybe one day I'll get them off my camera too! :)

My love...these little love's Dada...

Today, I am thought provoked on the love that my heart is full of for my husband. I'm so incredibly thankful for all that he does for our family. He works SO hard. His work makes him have to travel a lot and I know he gets very tired. Today, the boys and I were driving south on I-5 and Aaron was driving north for work. He and I kept checking in to see where we were and we met up along the way. We only had a few minutes because of his schedule, but the boys' faces LIGHT UP when they see their Dada, and my heart still gets so excited when I see him pull up. Today, Joe wanted to go with Dada. He had to explain to him that it's for work and he couldn't do it that time, but the reason he is gone working so much is because how much he LOVES our family and wants to take care of us. 

I just feel at such peace and joy with my life. It seems like we always have things changing and stretching us, but I'm so thankful for the man I get to stretch and change with. :) He keeps me grounded when my what if's take control, he cuddles me when my tears start to roll, and he makes me feel so secure in his strength and dedication to our family. 

Aaron Jackson... 10/18/03 started forever for us... and I'm still very happily your wife. I'm looking forward to the challenge of finding "our spots" in northern CA together! :) Thank you for blessing my life and making a way for me to be with our little loves all the time! :) I ABSOLUTELY LOVE YOU LIKE CRAZY and I'm excited for all that is to come for us!

Cookin Hot Dogs in the backyard!

Grillin Hot Dogs in the backyard with Pop...followed by Marshmallows. :)

I asked my dad if he was worried about the new umbrellas mom just got on her outside tables. He said, "No, I'm more worried about the neighbor's field." ha ha ha Luckily, nothing burned...except for Matthew's hot dog!

Playing with Great Grandpa Don!

The boys and I have had great visits with their Great Grandparents "Grandpa Don and Cubby GG." Grandma got her name because she has a dog named Cubby and she is "Great Grandma= GG." It started when Joe was little and just never went away.

Our first visit to their house in the Sonoma mountains, we noticed the cat was sneaking up on some prey... We walked within a couple of feet of the cat and it's prey, but they were tucked under a bush so we didn't see what was going on. I let Joe go outside with Cubby GG one more time, when they realized it was a RATTLESNAKE in the bushes!!! My grandpa got a shovel, but it hit in the middle of the body instead of the head. So, my mom held that shovel while grandpa got another one to cut off the snake's head. The whole time, the boys and I were standing back watching as the snake tried to strike at them and the rattles were going crazy! Finally, it was dead... I could breath again!  Later in the week, Cubby GG brought Joe the 9 rattles that were at the end of the tail!

The next day we were going to visit Cubby GG and Grandpa Don, Joe saw a King Snake at OUR house before we left. Ugh! What's with us and snakes? At first, I panicked...but then I realized that one couldn't hurt him beyond a bite. I warned him, "You can follow him, but he can bite you... it wont kill you like the Rattlesnake...but it'll hurt if you get bit."... I walked away and let him follow the snake around the yard! He came in and said, "It is AWESOME that I found a snake on the day we're going to see Grandpa Don, I can tell him I'm a snake hunter!" He was so thrilled!

It makes my heart smile to see my boys enjoying time with their great grandparents! 

My Toothless Friend!

Matthews head knocked out Joe's tooth...the day before a family wedding.... The day of the wedding, Joe changed up the story. He was telling people that Matthew's head hit his hand and he punched out his own front tooth. :) He looks so cute and so big with out that front tooth!

Joe's Kindergarten Graduation!

My big guy is getting TOO BIG! Here are a couple of pictures from when he received his kindergarten diploma!

I loved his eyes... he is so proud!

Just Plain Fun with Joe!

Today, Aaron and I got some real good laughs from things Joe said. There are two little "For Instances" I'd love to share with you!

Aaron was looking through Joe's memory book from Kindergarten with him. There was a picture Joe had drawn of a man, who had a pink dot on each cheek. In my mind, I just assumed it was pink cheeks, but Aaron asked the question, "What are those pink marks?" Joe's answer was the cutest thing ever, and I was so glad Aaron asked! Joe said, "Those are his dumplings." Aaron sat for a minute and then said, "Do you mean Dimples?" Joe smiled and said yes. DUMPLINGS! So stinkin Cute!

Today, we went to visit Frys with Dada. As we were leaving, Joe got to use his quarter to get a treasure out of the machines by the door. He chose to get one of those creatures you put in water and they grow. They were sea creatures and he was so excited to see which one he got. He pulled out the container and said, "I don't know what that is." Somehow, we moved past that moment with out figuring out what he had gotten (because he had another quarter and went to the machine next to it for a glow in the dark alien!) Later in the day, Joe brought the container to us and said, "I figured out what he is!"... "It's a Kermit Crab!" ... Ha ha ha... Kermit Crab! Aaron started to talk in a Kermit the frog voice and we all got a little laugh. We reminded him it is, Hermit crabs! ;)

I LOVE when Joe reminds me of how little he is. Such fun memories and I am SO thankful for this blog that will help me laugh all over again with him when he's older! I love you Joe... You keep me on my toes every single day, but God gave me you and me to you and I'm excited to see how we help each other grow in Him over the years!....Your Mama.

My Proud Moment...

The other day, we had a play date with a friend... Park in the morning and Chick-Fil-A for lunch. I hadn't snuck in very much exercise yet, and I was REALLY trying to hit a personal weight loss goal (which I did today! I was once 265lb...today, I am 199!!!)... Anyway... We left our friends, and I drove my car to the furthest end of an outdoor shopping place. There was industrial area and shopping, and I drove it first to make sure there was a sidewalk the whole way. I parked that car, whipped out that double stroller and away we went! I walked back and forth on that sidewalk for an hour and my boys were awesome! (Their Leapster Explorer games help with that A LOT) When I felt like I had gotten enough walking in, I took them to the pet store where we got to see a lot of different animals. Joe said, "Mama, I'm ready to get a pet now, is it time?" So cute! We can't have pets in this rental house, so he's decided he wants a new house! (What he doesn't know is, we're moving to my parent's property in four months...I KNOW he can talk Grandma and Pop into allowing "a pet")

When we left the pet store, we walked past a Kaiser facility that had great landscaping. I decided to make some fun of it. We pulled the stroller over, I brought out our snack bag, and we had a picnic at Kaiser! When we were done with snacks, the boys enjoyed playing on the rocks and climbing in the tree.

I was proud of myself. My boys were having fun and I had snuck in a workout. There are so many days when I haven't made the day that fun or that healthy, and I get to the end of the day and just feel a bit sad for a wasted opportunity of a day... Not this day... this day, I was awesome! ha ha ha

I'm SO thankful that they are both so entertained by their Leapster Explorers... Those things have allowed me a lot of work out time with out a lot of whining! That, is a beautiful thing!