Sneak Preview

Without revealing pictures of the bride until she's had a chance to do so...here are some pictures from our FABULOUS weekend wedding trip!!We were so blessed to not have a single drop of rain on the special day!The first, of very few, smiles we saw from big D all morning, came at the luncheon...One of my favorite things about the day, was getting to spend some time with my little brother before he leaves for Korea, in ONE MONTH!!Dallen's favorite part was getting the dance floor to himself and his new best buddies!!



And finally, during clean up, Dallen requested I take his picture on every rock in the backyard with his new best friends. Why couldn't he smile like this for the professional camera all day?!?! Sorry Aubrey.
The wedding was absolutely fantastic, and I can't wait to reveal more pictures soon!! Congratulations Mr. & Mrs. Laidlaw :)

Spring Break

Most everyone around us has been spending this week taking a break from school to celebrate the arrival of spring in the valley. We on the other hand are taking a break from celebrating spring to go to California for the wedding we've all been waiting for. So here's to enjoying the 20 degree cooler weather and hoping for NO spring rain!!

"If Ye Love Me"

My testimony of my Heavenly Father and Savior, Jesus Christ has increased an hundred fold since becoming a Mother. I daily learn lessons that I never understood until I had a child of my own. I understand now, more than ever, and less than I will later, the love that our Heavenly family has for me. I also understand that the commandment to "multiply and replenish the earth" is as much, if not more, for the benefit of the parents, to learn and to grow.Tonight, Dallen was crying about getting in trouble for not being obedient. After a minute or two he said to me over and over through his tears, "I love you Mommy, I love you". I caught myself as I started to say "If you love me..." and stopped myself before finishing with "...you would obey me". Instead I said "I love you too" and sat back, heartbroken, and in awe as I reflected on discovering the true meaning of the scripture found in John 14:15 that reads "If ye love me, keep my commandments".Dallen, you are an incredibly independent little man, who insists on doing things your own way with so much attitude!! Sometimes it seems like an impossible feat to try to teach you. But if in the end I teach you half of what you have taught me, I feel that I will have been a sucessful Mother. I hope that someday you will understand HOW much I truly love you and love our Father in Heaven. Thank you for teaching me in ways I never thought possible and loving me despite my need to still learn SO much. I love you baby boy!!

I Love it When...

I love it when you sing along to your lullabys at night.

I love it when you stroke my hair when you are tired or sad.

I love it when you insist on cuddling so close our foreheads have to be touching to fall asleep.

I really love it when you pause from playing with your friends to help me hold on to special memories:Because you are such a cute little model.Because there is no greater subject of my pictures.Because I always want to remember you this way.I love it when you let me love you and when you love me too!!

I've said it before...

And I will say it again, I have the best friends in the world!!

Just look at all the fun things we have been doing together:Hanging at the zoo.
The LONGEST game of bowling ever, with 5 boys under 5!!
Climbing in trees at the park :)

And that was just the kiddos, you better believe we have our own fun too:My BEST friends :)
CJ's birthday dinner, so fun!! (picture collage stolen from Shayla's blog ;)

These are the kind of days I hope to always remember. I love all of my friends and are so glad we have SO much fun together ALL the time!!

Don't know about you but...

...we are enjoying our shorts and t-shirts weather over here :)

A Really Good Reason

I have been trying to avoid going private on this blog for a while now, but it has become necessary for one really good reason...the cute little man pictured above. On Thursday morning last week, a really talented hacker broke into Mark's iPhone and stole ALL of his information. In an effort to protect ourselves and our sweet little family we have made some changes to our privacy online. I am hoping that this is merely a trial run and we will someday feel safe again sharing our wonderfully blessed lives with the world but until then, we are doing all we can to protect our little man however we can. Thanks for understanding and hope you still visit us often :)

HACKED

In this awful world we live in today, we are victims of identity theft!! Someone has hacked all of Marks accounts and even has all of his information. Please ignore any spam mail you may receive regarding our well being. We are fine, with the exception of all the extra stress and worry this brings!! Thank you for caring about us, but we are OK. This is your last chance to add your email address to the list, we go PRIVATE tonight. Thanks.

Mark, Jacki and Dallen :)

"There Comes a Time

in every rightly constructed boy's life when he has a raging desire to go somewhere and dig for hidden treasure." -Mark Twain

Fun with Friends

I seriously LOVE my friends in Arizona!! I don't know how we got so lucky to find such amazing friends. We are always out and about doing fun things with our boys. Among those fun things, the other day we went miniature golfing. These little buddies had so much fun!! It was kinda hectic and rather chaotic for the Mommies, but overall it was a blast :)

We have also been having lots of fun taking the kiddos to the movies. They are MOSTLY well behaved and Dallen always has to have his "popcorn and smoothie" to keep him busy.If only I could share my mental pictures of all the fun we've been having!! I just love to go out and play and see my little boy have a good time :)

Arizona Winters

We have lived in Arizona for almost 3 years now and the winter weather continues to baffle me. It is hard to believe that a few months from now, we will be enduring triple digit heat. As for now though, we are enjoying our perfect outdoor weather.
One morning early in February we woke up to what we thought would be a cold and rainy day. Turns out by lunch time it was the perfect day to enjoy a bike ride at the park with friends.Dallen looks terrified but he kinda loved taking these little cars down the hill :)
On a Friday morning we came home from a Mommy/Dallen breakfast date, to our sprinkler overflow turning our sidewalk into our own personal ice skating rink. Dallen loved sliding around and didn't even get hurt when he slipped and fell, which was a lot! It was adorable, he kept saying "what the heck?" We don't see much ice here in AZ.Last weekend we drove a short 2 hours North to Flagstaff to play with the McMullins and their snow!! Dallen had so much fun sledding for the first time :)He had fun with Daddy...He had fun with Mommy...But he had the most fun with his best little buddy Caden (Dallen has no idea that Caden is twice his age)...Together they built a little snowman...And played in the mud, looking for rocks:All together we had SO much fun in the snow for the day and then drove home to our beautiful 60 degree winter weather.



I am starting to love Arizona, but it's much easier to say that in the winter!!

Privacy Please

I never thought I would want to take this blog private but recently some things have caused me to reconsider. So, before I do I just wanted to get the opinion of the readers. Will you still visit if I enable the privacy settings? Let me know if you still want to follow along by emailing me at jackilynn@gmail.com :) Thanks!!

Dallen Lately...

{Wrapped like a monkey}
My favorite view of Dallen by far is fresh out of the tub, smelling sweet with wet eye lashes :) Dallen has been sitting on the potty each night for a few minutes before baths, just to get used to the feeling, and last week he actually went pee-pee in the toilet. He was so happy and I was SO proud!! He loved getting his big boy potty sticker :)
{Main Street in Mesa}
Dallen is HI-larious and no one makes him laugh harder, than himself!! He is such a little copy cat. He loves to do what everyone else is doing, not always a good thing ;)
{Dallen is ALL-BOY}
Playing outside on a gorgeous January day. He loves to run around and play like a little boy. There are a few things that Dallen does that just look so boy, like when he puts his hands in his pockets and when he runs. Also, Dallen just learned how to give a "thumbs up" and he thinks it is the coolest thing in the world!! Such a boy.
{Fly like an eagle}
Dallen has been missing kids club so bad since they did away with it while Santa was in town. He was so happy to get his (free) weekly carousel ride back and so was I :)
{Around the house...}
Because I wouldn't let him out in public with that hair!! Dallen has earned the new nickname "crazy hair" around the house because without gallons of goop, it stands straight on top of his head :)
{Sleeping babe}
In the time Dallen spent being sick, and sleeping in Mommy and Daddy's bed at night, we quickly learned that Dallen, TALKS in his sleep. He talks about all things from hamburgers to not knowing if he is upstairs or down. It is hilarious and he has no idea he's doing it :) And a note about the picture above, Dallen has finally given up the binky, YAY!!!
{Lunch at, IKEA?!?}
Dallen loves to go to the store with Mommy. Every day he asks if we can go to "the store". We spent almost 2 hours at Ikea last week and didn't even buy anything but lunch, he's just like his Momma, loves to shop :)
{Dallen, surprisingly reverent at church}
Dallen has become my little singer, just what I always hoped for!! In this picture he's singing, during the hymns with his Book of Mormon, "Nephi, Nephi" :) At night he sings along with me to I am a Child of God and his favorite request Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. He comes home from nursery on Sundays singing Hokey Pokey,I'm a Little Teapot, Book of Mormon Stories and many more!!
{"Take my picture Mom"}
Dallen has so much attitude for a 2 year old. One of my favorites lately is when he really doesn't want to do something he firmly presses his pointer finger into the palm of his other hand three times as he says "EVER, EVER, EVER!!" Hahaha, he's lucky it's too adorable to get him in trouble!
{Freestone Park}
Dallen is saying such grown up things that surprise me at every turn. He responds to questions like "I have no idea Mom" or he'll say to me "you look like/do that sometimes". My favorite is that he's started saying "let's do that Wednesday" or "I did that yesterday" or "I did that Friday" when he really has no clue what it really means :) I just love all the time I am getting to spend with this sweet little love of my life!!