This is the horse and wagon ride. It was cool but they gave us all blankets to cover up.

Andrew and I outside the Carthage Jail. It is very well kept up. The missionary that took us through was excellent.

This is the chains in the Carthage jail. It was in the room next to where Joseph Smith was killed.

This was after the tree. He got the works but all is fine. He didn't sleep well in the hospital so he had to sleep as we watched conference.

Post for Kristyn

What everyone is thinking:

Jack: My master plan is beginning to work! Soon they will all be under my control.

Grant: See no evil

Allie: I'm a big mouth frog

Hailey: I wonder what's for snack time

Wendy: This turns Pete on

Joy: Ah... nothing like a good chin massage

Wesley: (singing opera at the moment)

Mackay: I hate opera

Jenny: I love a good chin massage too

Paul: I wish I was a "Wiggle"

Kristyn: I am a Jackson and PROUD of it!

Thacker: I told you I do NOT like to smile (except for my mommy's camera)

Peter: Wait, wasn't this the serious picture?!

Sam: I hope I don't break through the drywall with my SuperSam muscles

Jason: I wonder what's for snack time

Luke: Hmmm, collar feels dry... how odd

Chris: Just the facts ma'm

What do you think of the new blog layout? I was thinking of doing a black center and then have white writing on top. Do you think that would be too depressing and dark? If you have any ideas let me know.

Also can someone else please post here, it's making me uneasy having two posts (now three) in a row from me.

And another of him smiling...

For some reason he thought whenever I threw something in the tub it was the funniest thing in the world. I love how easily entertained they are!

He DOES have teeth!

Miss Molly made a comment on the Payne's blog about how much she missed Thacker's smiles recently. Okay, that's not really what she said, but I'm pretty sure that's what she meant. Soooo, to give in her to her request, if I must, here are a few of the ones we have on our computer.

What's another year

Gosh, does time fly!

I recently organised all my pictures that were not in an album yet.
Needless to say I found tons of pictures from my days in Utah (and my visit back to Utah and Arizona). I just couldnt believe how long ago that was.
I found pictures of basketballgames, a day in the park pretending to be cheerleaders, Mexico (bad case of montezumás revenge!), the white pick up truck...
And then there are all the seniors at Spanish Fork High that are adding me as a friend on facebook. It's a cliche, but it feels like yesterday.
But then again, so much has happened since 1997 (really, over ten years ago? ur kidding me, right?). I'm glad I get this chance to keep you updated and read about your lives, 'cause years seem to fly! As the title on this blogs suggests, before you know it another year has passed and all I had sent was a Christmas email.

So what had been happening in my life?
I still work at the same place that even Victor went to visit when he was in Amsterdam.
It's a great but stressfull job as a television producer for our local network. Actually, I recently got promoted to Senior producer! Visit the website (okay it's dutch): http://www.at5.nl/
I guess I've been working there for over 6 years now, but everytime I think it's time to leave, they give me new and interesting responsibilities.
Good thing about the job is that I also met my boyfriend there! He's a cameraman. We had a rocky start, but things are great now. Last month I moved in with him. He had the best house in the center of Amsterdam, so that was an easy choice.
Together we love to travel. We went to Thailand last spring and visited Portugal in october. Our next trip is probably going to be Greece.
My job keeps me so busy I don't have a lot of hobbies right now, but when I have some freetime I swim, do yoga and, all time favorite, "entertain" friends whith my cooking. Which means I love to cook, but if they actually enjoy my creations remains a mystery!
For right now I'll add some pictures, 'cause I don't want this post to be so long that yoy resnet reading it. But, I'll be back soon!
Thank you guys so much for letting me add to this blog! I think about you guys so much still! The memories I have from that year are so awesome! And of course I hope you are all dong very well. I see you had quite a number of extentions in the family, great!
Love always, Mirjam

Feeding a monkey in a Thailand temple

Having a Picknick near the beach in Portugal (and yes this is Lodewijk, my man!)

At a friends wedding

With my girls in Prague

And another friends wedding

The "eyes" have it

Most of you know (or remember) that I used to work for photographers and in the beginning I would develop photos. Jason takes pictures "raw" which means you get to/have to process them before you save them in the jpeg format. So it has brought back some fun (and some funny/disasterous) memories of those days. As you look at the photos you can see how you can make the day a little more sunny or gray, black & white, sepia, etc. I don't know if you have noticed that looking at the photos. It is part of the fun. Anyway all of that to tell you that although the photos are processed and sometimes enhanced- take a look at Jenny's eyes! Those are her eyes regardless of what we did to the photo! Go ahead and click on it and take a good look- amazing! (Jason says he is embarrased because it is not more focused but it is a new camera- learning curve here folks).

Ooooh how cute those baby boys!

Kiddie Kandids in B&W

Hey there gang. Here are a few of el kiddos in B&W. They are just as cute in color, I was just playing with B&W today. You can see the full image by clicking on the image. You can save the full size image by right clicking on the photo and "save as." I tried to upload these in age order, oh well. We sure had a great time! More to come...

Tombstone pics

For those of you who have read Paul's and mine blog, you'll know we went to Tombstone on Sat. It was a great time. Okay, truth be told, my time there was awful. I saw it for a whole 20 minutes, nineteen of which I spent either vomiting or thinking of vomiting. And that doesn't include the times I threw up at the mission or on the way to the mission (poor Sam had to wake up to a nice little gift from me splattered across his car window).
.
After walking like 4 blocks at Tombstone, I decided to go back to the car, and then spent hours asleep there. I'm so glad we drove 2.5 hours so I could sleep in the car. No, I'm just kidding. I had no idea I would be that sick, and we got to see the cool mission (again read our blog if you don't know what I'm talking about, and you should feel guilty at this point), and spend more time with Peggy (who also threw up once that day - what happened to us?), and Pete and Wendy. Okay, Paul got to spend time with them. But that's really good too. And then the reenactment of the huge showdown gunfight they had, and which I came out of the car and my long slumber for, I spent outside with a crying baby.
.
Jenny and Chris told me I was a really good faker all day yesterday. Maybe so guys, but apparently I like to complain the next day a lot too. :)
.
So here are the rest of the photos from our trip.
.
Everyone else who came, post your pics if you can. Paul and I wanted to see what you guys have!



The below shots were all at the Mission

ask and ye shall recieve...

Around Valentine's Day I blogged about the beautiful Brittle Bush that grew in my yard. If you read the comments you would have seen my cheeky comment about wanting a Coach bag to blow into my yard. Well... don't you just love it! I discovered garage sales on Craigslist and outlined a fun morning of hunting. After getting wood blinds for my bedroom for a steal I happened upon this garage sale with a Coach bag for $3. One of the handles was broken, (which I fixed with Gorilla Glue) and as far as I can tell its legitimate. Regardless, a great diaper bag for $3 can't be beat. And I think I passed Mom & Dad leaving one of the garage sales! "Did you find anything good?"

With Special Thanks to Molly

Allie has totally been into Peter Pan ever since Molly's show. Lately she has pretended to be Wendy (before it was Tinker Bell). She even has a blue night gown that she calls her "Wendy night gown" and how convenient that she has two little brothers to be Michael and John. Jason is still and always will have to be Captain Hook (too bad because sometimes he wants to be Peter Pan). Anyway, tonight we had the missionaries over for dinner. Allie was telling them how she goes to Primary now etc. We were talking about our children and their ages. Jason asked Allie in jest who her favorite little brother was. She replied "John".

Please, sir, I want some more...

Has anyone seen this child's parents? We found him on our doorstep with a runny nose, swollen eyes, dirty diaper and clearly in need of some parental attention. However, his hair did appear to have been gelled into a "faux-hawk." (Some serious lack of priorities there, if you ask me.) If anyone has seen this child's clearly neglectful care-givers, please, please notify Child Protective Services immediately.

Okay, my wife just informed me our own children often look like they were found on the back of a milk carton... So, this one's not so bad.