Jackson Abram Logsdon

Jackson's favorite things in the world (besides his Dad) are hot air balloons. I don't remember exactly when it became his favorite, but he has always just loved airplanes and hot air balloons. When Grandma and Grandpa Schultz were in town in July we went to the hot air balloon festival in Celina, and a few weeks ago there was one in Plano. Chauntel got up really early and took just him out to see the balloons. HE LOVED IT!!! He also got that great blow up hot air balloon that he plays with all around the house. He talks all the time about the hot air balloon "bestibal".
I will have to say that there are very few things that will warm your heart quicker than a smile from my youngest son. He is naturally sweet. You can't help but be happy around him because he is so happy all the time. He loves to laugh and smile. It's so amazing how he can touch each of us. Him and Kayla sleep together at night "so he can protect her". Jackson loves to wrestle or karate Isaac, and it's amazing to me how good Isaac is about not totally destroying him. Isaac thinks it's great how fearless Jackson is. I've taught him how to "wrap up" on a tackle and he goes at Isaac 100%. Jackson will come up to me about 2 times a day and ask me to go to the front room so he can "box me up". I love it. Him and Mom have a special relationship now that the kids are back in school and they are home together alot. I love to hear from him how their day was when I get in from work everyday.
This morning in Seminary, I was teaching 2 Nephi 2 and the scripture about how " . . . and men are that they might have joy" came along. As I was preparing, my thought immediately was "what brings me joy?" The first thing that came to mind was the moment when I come in the back door at the end of the day and get my greeting from my little guy and hear about his potty adventures for the day. He's not old enough yet like the others to realize that I'm really not that cool of a guy and not worth the effort to say hi and give hugs. But I seek all of them out everyday and ask them how their day was because, as I was thinking in my lesson last night, my family truly is what brings me joy. I am happiest when we are doing things together (except fishing on Saturday. That was terrible - that's another story. I learned that kids under the age of 8 require a 1 to 1 parent/kid ratio when fishing. I was out numbered and quickly defeated. We were playing on the slides at that park within 30 minutes. And then it was fun)
With all that he has gone through already in his young life, it has far from soured him on life. Till we lay him down at night, he is still trying his best to "play bowling", or shoot hoops, or wrestle whoever is closest. It's Isaac's sense of accomplishment in spelling a new word for me - Makayla's pure excitement when doing division "clicked" to her - and Jackson's run around the bases after Isaac's baseball games with a slide into home that make being a Dad such a rewarding thing. What a great baby-maker Chauntel turned out to be. I knew she had the hips for it!

sweet pork!!

This recipe is for my family to try. I got the recipe for my friend Jessica Trinadad. I lost hers and than googled one that's similar. I love it. We put the sweet pork in a tortilla, but it can also go on a taco salad.

1 Jar pace salsa blended (I've also used 1 can red enchilada sauce and 1 can green chilies)
1 3/4 cup brown sugar
3 cans cherry dr. pepper (most people use cherry coke or just coke, but I like dp)
1/2 tsp garlic
all blended together in a blender

Cook pork tenderloin in crock pot over night in water and one chopped onion. The next day, drain the water and blend up the salsa, brown sugar, garlic,and dp. Put it in the crock pot for the rest of the day. Whenever the pork is tender enough, use two forks to shred it.

This is why I don't blog recipes and tutorial. I'm not good at directions, writing them or following them:)

new living room sort of

I finally sold my couches and bought some need and used stuff. I plan on lighting up the curtain because every things so dark brown.

run tre run

Yesterday, we weren't able to go to Tre's game because it was an hour and a half away:( But while we were eating dinner we got an text from someone in the ward, who was at the game. It said "you just missed two 80 yard touchdown's from Tre." What!!! So Tre had an excellent game last night and we totally missed it:( I told him he'd have to do it again at his next home game. He said "O.K." So Mom, Dad, Grandma, Grandpa, and Aunt's should call and congratulate him or just leave a post. Both would even work. Now I'm going to go figure out how to check his grades on line. Hopefully there's some more good news.

Co Op

Jackson is in a Preschool Co-op this year. He had his first day on TH. It was so cute. He's been talking about going to high school. I keep telling him, it's preschool, but I guess that's not cool enough. I bought him a little back pack lunch box but he wants the back pack and he wants to carry a lunch box.
He's been wearing underwear for four days with only one accident. I'm totally excited to be done with diapers (for a while anyways:) I wasn't really sure he'd ever be willing to try.

I had so much fun

had so much fun making most of makayla's b-day gifts. i made her a barbie house, a scripture bag, and decorated a cute little tee. she just thinks i don't like spending money. really i just love creating stuff. she also got new scriptures and a pink mp3 player. she wanted a ds but we're not ready for video games in our home.

Our 1st baptism!!

Makayla got baptized on Saturday. What a special moment to have my oldest get baptized. I'm so proud of her. I wasn't sure she would go through with it. She was pretty nervous and didn't want to go to the church. Audrey Carter was there with her and helped her stay calm and have a good time. Thank you Audrey:)

mom, there's a policemen in our house!!!!

Tonight, Isaac went missing. He actually goes missing a lot and it's been something we're trying to correct. Usually he's at one of three friends' homes in the neighborhood. But tonight around 6 when we're eating we were starting to wonder when he was going to come waltzing in again. I realized it was a lot later in the evening than usual. When Jeremy got home, he went to all of his friends' homes (about 7 or 8 different homes) and to the park to find him but he wasn't anywhere. Our neighbor came over to help look for him. And me and the kids look through the whole house again to make sure he hadn't fallen asleep in one of the closets. Jeremy eventually called the cops and I called every member of the ward I could think of,over to help comb the neighborhood together. At around 8:15 we had two cops, and about 10 friends over and at around 8:30 Isaac came driving up to the house with a friend from school and the kids dad (who I've never in my life meet) Come to find out he's been over there for about three hours playing games and eating dinner with them. There was a pretty good size thunder, lighting, and rain storm the whole evening, so he didn't want to walk home. And I guess they didn't want to drive him home and Isaac is totally daft when it comes to learning our # so, there you have it. One very scary night for the logsdon family well everyone except for Isaac. It sounds like he had a great evening. I didn't know if I should love him or beat him to death. With two cops hanging around I opted to love and lecture. He will never leave this house again. Makayla, bless her sensitive little soul, can not handle stuff like that and Tre totally searched the area and park (in the rain, I might add) and Jackson was clueless, he was excited about the police being in our home. I'm a pretty calm and collective person (when it comes to the big stuff, and a total nut when it's the super small stuff), so I didn't start crying or getting excited until people started showing up to help.

Thank you to everyone who showed up to help.