June 2013 update

Here is a basic of Jackson girlie fashion - never wear matching socks, if possible.

March 2013 update

St. Patrick's Day. Green Eggs & Ham. 'nuff said.

February 2013 update

Evie learned her lesson about the misuse of scissors in January 2013. February 2013 was the month that she learned the hard way about the sharp end of a knife. She wanted to eat an orange for a snack and didn't want to wait for someone to cut it for her, so she pulled a serrated knife out of the knife block and went to work. She ended up cutting more of her finger than the orange. Sara called me home from work and I took Evie to the urgent care center. The nurses strapped her down, and she was very distraught over the whole ordeal. I decided that we needed to capture the moment, so I told Evie to smile. She stopped carrying on long enough for me to snap a picture with my phone. She actually did really well throughout he whole thing.
There were several times in my childhood when my dad took me to the ER to get stitched up. My memory tells me that he always took me out for an ice cream cone after I got stitches. I asked Evie if she wanted to get an ice cream cone, but she opted to go to the grocery store and get a small tub of ice cream that she could share with her sisters.

2013 was the first year that Eden got to participate in the YW basketball league. She was one of the smallest players on the court, but she didn't seem to notice. She was one of the most energetic out there, always going after the ball.

January 2013 update

In January 2013 I needed to take another trip to Columbia. While I was there, I had a friend take a picture of me in front of the house that my Grandpa, V. Rex Jackson, lived in while he was a missionary in Columbia, MO many many years ago.

Evelyn was curious what it would be like to cut her own hair. She didn't get much beyond her bangs. For several weeks she was rocking' the mullet.

December 2012 update

Emmy got to play in her school's strings concert which was held at Barnes & Noble. Lots of Christmas songs.

The official graduation ceremony.

A visit to the Winter Quarters Visitor's Center in December means the annual Gingerbread Display. The girls always enjoy seeing the other parts of the Visitor's Center.

We had such a great time visiting family in Utah. We had a trip to the Church History Museum in SLC. and Eden and Emmy had their first skiing lessons at Alta.

November 2012 update

Dr. Sleight (who retired from NCTA as the dean in December 2012) and I drove out to Scottsbluff, NE. We took a little detour to stop off at Chimney Rock briefly. It was interesting enough, for historical and geological reasons, to have its picture taken.

I successfully defended my PhD dissertation in Nov. of 2012. We (the family and members of Dr. Lubahn's lab) celebrated with dinner at a Chinese restaurant. Either someone gave the restauranteur some bad information, or there was some misunderstanding about the celebration, because the restaurant played Happy Birthday music and brought me a special dessert.

I took Sara out to a Thai restaurant for her birthday. The meal was beautiful and delicious.

While we were at the restaurant, our friends who were watching the girls helped carry out plans that I had previously made to surprise Sara. She loves to entertain guests and loves to have friends over to make homemade doughnuts, especially in the fall.
I bought her a deep fryer, filled it with Krispy Kreme donuts, had out babysitter friends finish up the dough I had started making earlier that day, and arranged for a bunch of friends to be waiting for us when we got back from the restaurant.
The house was dark when we returned from dinner. Sara figured that the girls and the babysitters were in the basement watching a movie. When we opened the front door and walked into the house, the lights in the front room suddenly came on and everyone who was hiding shouted "Surprise!" Sara was speechless. We had such a fun time visiting with friends, making and eating doughnuts, and sharing a great memory.

Eden's school music performance. Band, chorus, and orchestra. All three performed, and Eden had a part in each. Standing room only.

October 2012 update

Here is a little footage from Evie's birthday party. The main item on her wish list for the past year has been a "rainbow unicorn dreamlight pillow pet". When she first announced this to us we told her, "That's nice. We'll add it to your wishlist." She often tells us about things she wants us to buy for her, and usually she forgets about the item and never mentions it again. Not so with the pillow pet. She did not forget, as you can tell from the video when she gets ready to blow out the candles.

And here's the video of her and her sisters just after she opens her birthday present.