Part Dos, Subsection B

I think this is the largest number of photos I've loaded into one post, so get cozy. =)

After the wedding, we headed outside for some pictures. Wouldn't it be cool if that had been a "J" instead of a "C." Oh well. ;)

There were some teenagers hanging out in this little tunnel, and I'm not afraid to admit I was a little nervous to run down and ask them to move for a bit. What can I say, I'm afraid of teenagers! HAHA. What?! Bugga is going to be one some day...agghhh. ;) Just kidding, anyway, they were totally nice little skater kids and just moseyed on. =)

There was a playground near by...

Doesn't her bouquet look vibrant here?

And a slightly different view...

The wind was fierce that afternoon!

We didn't blow away thankfully, so we made the most of it by gathering the Jackson crew for a picture.

The nephews and niece all were taking lots of photos too, so the event was thoroughly covered. ;)

Chris risked it and did the classic cake-smashed-in-the-face of his bride. ;)

The first dance. I think I'm out of order here, oops!

Nichole and her Dad Pat and little Kaylee. =)

Chris and Mom Linda, just a tad emotional. ;)

Jedd cracking me up some more!

I LOVE this photo of Aunt Kim and Uncle Kirk!

Papaw and Jenna share a dance...awwwwww. =)

Playing with a wiffle bat...what?! What do you do during a wedding reception?! ;)

Brothers!

The rings.

And being silly with the rings! =) I wasn't getting what I wanted out of the rings shot, so we just decided to be ridiculous instead.

Awww...aren't Kelvin and Danelle cute?! Yup, 11 years and 3 kids later, still lookin' good you 2!

The award for funniest pic of the night goes to...

I have no idea what Laura, Nichole's Mom, was talking about, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't what it looks like. You follow?! ;)

Chris kept playing with his ring. And he continued to do this all through our Mexican adventure (not sure if he realized it though, hehe).

We headed outside again later. The wind had died down, yay.

While we were outside taking photos, there was never any shortage of honking and waving by the cars driving by, wishing the happy couple well in their own way. =)

Whew...still with me?! Mexico is next! We didn't take near as many photos there. The heat and humidity tempered our desire to lug the camera around, that and our desire to just relax and enjoy ourselves. =)

Part Dos: the Wedding!

This post brought to you by blogspot...loading pictures in record speed this morning (at least in my experience, haha). Notice the spanish reference, I haven't forgotten our trip, I'm just working up to it. ;)

And first there was a wedding. =) The dress...stunning! Oh but wait til you see it on the bride!




This isn't the best photo but I glanced over to see adorable Kaylee oh so gently playing with the dress and I just grabbed and clicked!


I love this funny face! How does Nichole manage to look so beautiful making such a funny face?! I couldn't pull it off, I can tell you that much. ;)

GORGEOUS bride! Check her out!

Okay, so somehow we didn't get any good shots of Nichole walking down the aisle with her Dad. =( J caught this shot of Aunt Danelle talking Kaylee into going down the aisle with cousin Jedd though, so cute! Aunt Danelle to the rescue! =)

This shot came out "foggy"....hmmm. I still like it though.

Yes, there was crying. ;) (You might have to click to make this larger to see the drip coming off Chris's nose.)

I love this! Look at that happy face and you can tell by the back of his head (Friends reference anyone?!) that Chris is smiling and laughing right back.

Then the minister invited Kaylee up...and there were more tears. =) J caught this and I nearly tear up just looking at it, the look on Nichole's face says it all.

And the other angle... Must have been some fancy footwork on J's part. ;)

The happy family!!!

More of the happy family to come. I'm breaking it down into easy to digest portions, hahaha.

We were honored that Chris and Nichole asked us to take some photos at their wedding! Yes we were free...probably a huge deciding factor, hahaha...but we really tried to get some photos that adequately captured their special day and that they would enjoy looking at again. I can't remember the exact number, but there were well over 600 pictures, many of them crappy, to be completely honest. ;) We were so happy to have the opportunity though!

There were lots of things we didn't catch...like we totally didn't get enough shots of Nichole's family, for instance. Ack, live and learn. Though I doubt we're going to be taking pictures at any more weddings anytime soon. ;)

Okay, more to come, I'm chipping away at it! =)

Let's start at the beginning

I can't believe it's been almost 3 weeks now since we hopped a plane and flew to Colorado! I'll mainly let the photos do the talking today (how'd you get so lucky?! It's Monday, that's how. Hehe).

Kaylee and Jedd. Jedd's expressions rarely fail to crack me up! =)


Bugga boy had such a blast with all his cousins, look at that happy face!


One afternoon, Nichole, J, Danelle and I grabbed all the kiddos (Jake, Jenna, Jedd, Kaylee, and the Bug) and headed out for a walk through a canyon near Chris & Nichole's place. J caught this shot of Kaylee and I chuckle every time I see it. I just love it!

More of that beautiful girl!

We stopped the kids on this cute little bridge over a stream. We thought about it later and should have found a way to get Bug (safely!) in the shot, it would have been a pic of all the grandkids that way! I love sweet Jenna's expression here. =)

Toward the end of the walk, the kids were ahead of the adults and we were jokingly trying to get them to turn back around as we needed to head back. Aunt Danelle yelled out that there was a mountain lion...just as an off-leash dog with no owner came around the corner (the owner shortly followed, though for the record, I'm not down with off-leash dogs people!). It was too funny, but maybe you had to be there!

Anyway, why am I telling this story?! Because as we were walking back J instructed us to "say mountain lion" instead of "say cheese" and this is what he got:

Jenna, Jake, and Jedd heading down the path.

I'm so jealous that they have this natural beauty so close to home!!!

Later, we gathered the whole fam and headed down the same paths. Here we were trying to set up a big group shot. Don't ask me what Nichole and Memaw are talking about here, I was busy getting cactus in my booty. ;)
It didn't hurt too bad...and well worth the result. The FIRST family photo with Grady in it! The past ones we tried (in August 2007 and June 2008), Bugga was napping and therefore absent. So YAY, we finally got everybody! =)

Look at these amazing kiddos! Danelle and Kelvin, you have a beautiful family! =) Jenna, Jake, and Jedd.

More of that gorgeous family! Jedd was getting a little sick of all the photos. ;)

And of course, the wonderful family we were all gathered to celebrate. =)

I feel like I should ask for forgiveness for this one. ;) I have no idea what Chris was doing here as we all headed out of the canyon, but I imagine him saying "but Nichole...I've got to gooooo NOW..." =) HAHAHA.

Forgive me Chris! I laugh everytime I see this. So this last one was definitely just to satisfy my own sick sense of humor. ;)

Okay, more to come! I still have to cover the actual wedding and our Mexican adventure. And then I need to catch you all up on the current too...hint, his name is Timon and he is too cute (but aren't they all?!).

I'm still finding sand...

...everywhere. =)

In my hair, under my nails, on our clothes, in our bags, in the washing machine.

I guess that's the sign of a good vacation: it really sticks with you. ;)

We're home from our adventure south of the border. Much more about that later I promise.

We had so much fun (was there ever any doubt?!) and I think I can say with all certainty that my hair is on the mend. Between the humidity and the water there in Mexico, it was by shear force of will that I was even able to pull it into a ponytail each day.

Don't worry, I have more to report than just the condition of my hair while on vacation. ;) Tons of pictures too, I can just feel the impatience welling up inside of me in anticipation of the load times.

Plus, there was a WEDDING! Congratulations to Chris and Nichole and little Kaylee too! This was all in celebration of a very special couple. And their oddly generous offer to take family on their honeymoon. ;)

More on all of it later. I need to cut myself off for now.

In the meantime, off to maker supper. *gasp* The same supper that I carelessly burned my arm making. I'm pretty sure I'll be more careful this time.

ps~Wouldn't you just know that the lovely ladies of A Rotta Love Plus had a new little boy puppy waiting for us to get home and bring him into the Jackson fold for some loving and learning?! Yup, more on that later too (no, he's not here yet, but soon!).

Burn!

Once again, I should be packing. What is my problem?! Whenever I need to pack, I blog. It never does anything for my productivity, my bags don't magically pack themselves while I tap away at the keyboard...yet, I still find myself here. Instead of there. You know there, the place of organization and time efficiency. ;)

Anyway, thought I'd share a little Bugga and a little of me today before we escape to CO and then Mexico (yeah baby!).

If you look real close at the above picture...past the toddler booty...at the dirty basement window, you'll see a little green glow. That is Monkey. =) Or rather, that is Monkey's tag. I'm sure she was in there silently brooding and plotting her ultimate escape. ;)

Below, Libby and Bugga dig in the dirt together. In so many ways, these two were like naughty siblings. If they weren't causing trouble together, they were fighting over some toy or other. ;) Notice, I say was. Libby moves on to her hopefully-forever home today. It will be on a trial basis for right now, foster-to-adopt we call it. Send good thoughts to Libby and the family that has fallen for her and hope that they are the right match for each other!

More digging. Solo digging this time, though I imagine if you could go back in time and pan out from this photo you would find some kind of orneriness taking place by Libby or Paisley, or possibly both. Or J for that matter!

We went to the Arboretum on Sunday. What an awesome place! We will definitely be going back as we're pretty sure we saw but a fraction of what there was to see. That's what we get for trying to blow through naptime (YAWN..."we're just blowing through naptime, aren't we?!" A quote for you Arrested Development fans out there).

Back to the Arboretum, it was like a mix between Buschart Gardens in Victoria, BC and the Arbor Day Farm in Nebraska City. Very cool and so much closer than either of those also very cool places. ;)

Here Momma was slinging a somewhat crabby Bug. He was his pleasant fun-loving self much of the time, but he started to breakdown as we walked through the gardens. It is amazing how popping him in his sling dramatically improves life for all of us. ;)

And finally, as the title suggests, I burned myself this past weekend. =( I was making what has become a staple around here--refried beans with cinnamon and clove (from the How to Eat Supper Cookbook)--when I slipped with the masher and threw boiling bean mixture back onto myself. Do you suppose that's a sign I need to pay more attention to what I'm doing. Ugh. And a painful sign at that. =(

I even blistered. Yuck! And OWWWW. On the bright side, I have counted my blessings time and again over the fact that Grady, Paisley, Libby and J were all out of reach of the hot flying beans. Whew! The cats don't hang in the kitchen while I'm cooking generally, plus let's face it they're fast, so I don't feel like it was luck that kept them out of harm's way.

Okay, must go. Must go NOW! Those bags won't pack themselves, as I've learned time and again. Plus, I have to drop Libby off and take Paisley to class, where she will then board with our trainer while we are gone.

We'll be seeing some of you soon! Muchos updates for the rest of you all later. HEHE.

OH and I feel quite nearly famous today...go check out the BAD RAP blog. ;)

Bugga-Vision

And now I return you to your regularly scheduled programming...


(In case anyone out there might be wondering...yes, that is the magic door behind which we found our dearly departed woodchuck...but no, Grady was not the one who found it.)

The standard joke around here "But you can't crate the kid..." Wait a minute, is it okay if he crates himself???? =)

Shoes, glorious shoes!!! Look, he even has them on the right feet, must be a budding baby genius, yes?! ;) HAHAHA.


Pucker up baby! J captured this, I think it is pretty fun. =)

Bugga lifting himself up while holding on to Papa's fingers. While Paisley peeks from behind (okay, so I couldn't go completely pet-free. What can I say?! They're always around.)

Here you get to see Angry Bug. Mad because his coveted broomstick got stuck in the fence. By his own doing, I might add. Not that it matters to a toddler whose fault it is. ;)

I'm sneaking in a picture of our new toy. We've gone over the deep end people!


It's been storming all day. Evidently that was just the right incentive I needed to blog. Okay, maybe not, but today it was and it happened to be rainy. I love the rain! I don't so much love being stuck inside with a toddler, 2 crazy pooches, and moody cats, but such is life.

In less than a week now we'll be in CO...wooohooo! And then in just over a week, off to sunny Mexico! We have been the great traveling Jacksons this year, very odd for us.

Back to real life and my messy kitchen and my once-again misbehaving dishwasher. Darn lemon of a thing! Must clean up from lunch--mmmm, Fall risotto with pear a fried sage leaves. YUM if I do say so myself. ;)

I think I've salvaged the month of September, but I can't promise I'll see you until mid-October. Well, "see" in a bloggy sense, but you knew that right?! Of course, maybe I'll get a wild hair and post again tomorrow. You just never know. =) At any rate, thanks for tuning in.

This one's for the dogs

I'll keep my rambling to a minimum today. I know, I know, it must be your lucky day! ;)

Our Paisley sweet with her collarmania collar I mentioned some time ago; here is a better shot of it (you might have to click to make it larger to really see it).

And this one just made J and I bust a gut when we first saw it. Maybe you need to click to make it larger. Or maybe you need to know and love her to see just how funny it is...anyway, if you don't giggle, well...bullocks to you (that's right, I went British there for a sec).

See how big MadLibs is getting?! Oh my! =)

And here Missy Pants just looks regal. To me, anyway. ;) Isn't our girl pretty?!

Libby Loo up close and personal. This little lady is beyond spunky, luckily the rest of the time she is usually beyond sweet. ;) Her meet-and-greet got moved to this coming Saturday, so stay tuned for the Libby update.

Also stay tuned for the big Bug update. Or at least pictures...coming soon...I promise!