mckinney fire station 5 field trip

Today Jackson had a field trip to the fire station for preschool. It was a lot of fun. I'm hoping he'll find a new obsession with something he saw today, instead of 9-11.

I'm just glad he didn't raise his hand to tell the fire fighters about 9-11. Instead he raised his had and told all the fire fighters that his dad plays basketball and football:)

The kids were able to see where they sleep, eat, watch TV, and park the fire truck, ambulance, gator, and smaller engine.

Dallas Stars were in Mckinney!!!

This morning I took Jackson to see the Dallas Stars Practice. They were practicing in McKinney today. I guess usually they practice in Frisco. We showed up about 30 min. early because I wasn't sure if there would be a crowd. Then the team was running 45 mins. behind schedule. So after 75 mins. of waiting Jackson only watched 20 mins. of practice before he was ready to leave. So now I know to come late and just catch the tail end. There really wasn't too many people at all. And the team signs autographs at the end. We missed that though. I bought Jackson a hockey stick so he could get it signed. Maybe next time.

family primary dance

Our primary presidency has planned a family dance the last few years. We have so much fun dancing with the kids. Don't they look like they're having so much fun.

Isaac didn't want to dance with any of us, but he had a good time.

The Logsdon's Doings

Me - "Jackson, what are you going to do on your mission?"
Jackson - "Play football. Football IS my mission."

Those were Jackson's words last night during our scripture study before bed. We were talking about what missionaries do and after we talked about it, I wanted to make sure he got something out of it. That was his answer. Another successful scripture study.

That's Jackson. If football is on, he goes and gets his football helmet and football and you have to end up playing because he WILL NOT STOP until you do. He is obsessed with whatever sport is on his mind. If baseball is on, he's a baseball player for the night. The same with basketball, hockey (we went to a Dallas Stars game last year and that kick has lasted a year now), golf, and whatever else he sees. He's ALWAYS on the go. He absolutely cannot walk across the room. He will start to walk, then skip, then roll head first, then karate kick whoever is there or not there. He loves contact; he initiates it. It's always him that will go to Isaac and say, "hey Isaac, lets go wrestle." or "hey Isaac, let's go box". Isaac is usually good about not pounding him too bad and just does his famous belly laugh that is extremely contagious when Jackson pounds him.

I wanted to post some more pics of the kids (and my hot wife. seriously, check her out. her weakness is cookies and stuff like that. If she indulges, her butt gets bigger. My weakness is her. When I indulge, just my smile gets bigger. Lucky me.) I posted one of Jackson helping me get a snake off a glue board that got stuck at one of my customer's houses. I brought it home and Jackson helped me get it off while Isaac watched from inside. Jackson loved it and really helped me. We rubbed vegetable oil on it to make the sticky wear off, then we let it loose in a neighbor's yard.

There's a picture of Isaac at soccer. The boys are really doing well in soccer this year. Isaac scored 3 goals last Saturday in his game and Jackson scored 4. We love to watch them play. Makayla started piano this week also and has her 2nd lesson tomorrow. She was so nervous before her first lesson, but afterwards came right home and played something for us. She is really excited to play. We are so proud of her.

The picture of Chauntel is her with her Young Women's Presidency. I think it was at her YW in Excellence night. She came up with the idea of doing a Wizard of Oz theme and her Presidency and Advisors really helped out a lot and she was so happy with how it turned out. I am so proud of her and how hard she works at being the YW president in our ward. She is ALWAYS thinking of the girls in our ward and how the program can help them. It's great for her and our family.

The Logsdons are a blessed bunch. In spite of me, the Lord continues to bless us immeasurably. We see the hand of the Lord in our family daily and feel so fortunate. We talk about the goodness of God and the Gospel plan that centers on our Savior Jesus Christ each day. We look for ways to serve others and try to find joy in a life that can be difficult at times. We believe that God knows us and our needs and have chosen to always trust in Him. It has yet to fail us so far, and know that it never will.

Jackson was a hockey player for Halloween

I have so much fun making Jackson's costumes every year. He always chooses to be something that he's really into. He'll make his decision and never change his mind so I know I can put a lot of effort into his costume and he's not going to change his mind everyday.

I made his jersey out of one of Isaac's old shirts and some ribbon and felt I had around the house. I even had leftover iron on letters from an old project. Then I spray painted his bike helmet and ta da.

GLASSES FOR MAKAYLA

Makayla got glasses yesterday. I had no clue that she needed glasses. But she came home from school having failed the eye screening. She also has been moved to the front of the room so she can see the board, so she got tested Monday and her glasses came in on Saturday. She's so excited to have glasses. I assume the excitement will wear off as she breaks, and loses her glasses. but she looks so cute in them.

This picture is of Makayla after trunk or treat last night.

SHOW AND TELL day?

O.K. here's a quick Jackson (sweet as honey) story. Jackson's preschool does Show and Tell on Fridays. Every MWF as we're getting ready for preschool he'll ask me if today is Chauntel day:) What could be cuter. I smile and laugh every time. I don't think it will ever get old. I'm sure he'll figure it out soon.

Jackson's OBSESSIONS

Jackson has so many OBSESSIONS. It's so amazing to watch his intErests change into new interests (OBSESSIONS) For instance, Jeremy is so good at teaching the kids about history. At every holiday, he likes to teach the kids why we celebrate. Like 4th of July, Christmas of course, Martin Luther King Day, etc.... Well on Sept. 11th Jeremy taught the kids why we remember 9-11 and what happened that day. Now Jackson is obsessed with 9-11. He watches footage on Youtube of the twin towers attacks and takes all his air planes and runs them into things to knock them down. He keeps talking to me about how sad it is and how people died in the air planes and in the towers. It's a little unnerving. He had a air port look out tower that he keep flying all his planes into and wants me to watch over and over as he tries to knock the top off of it.

This is definitly the strangest obsession so far. We thought his hot air balloon and tornado obsessions were funny and a little strange but this takes the cake.




A few days ago I found him reading a book (with his tag reader) to all his sisters webkins and stuffed animals. Isn't this cute?

SoCcEr SeAsOn

I love watching soccer. It's so much more exciting than watching baseball. Jackson and Isaac had their first soccer games of the season. Isaac played one season of soccer a few years ago, when he was 4. So this has been a very new experience for him. His first practice was really rough, but the next two practices and the game today were amazing. He's doing soooo good. Jeremy and I just want the kids to be involved in something that challenges them, makes them feel part of a team, gives them exercise, and confidence. I'm really hoping this will be fun for Isaac. He was so excited after his game, because he SCORED A GOAL, kicked the ball right in a boys face, and kicked the ball at a kids feet and made him do a complete flip in the air. He can't wait for his next game.

The great thing about soccer compared to baseball is all the games are on Saturday, instead of on a school night late at night. He doesn't focus well at night.

I can't even begin to explain the joy Jackson gives us. He is so happy and always ready for anything. He scored THREE goals (the first goal of the game and season), and almost TWO more. He was such a hustler. And so FAST. We're used to him racing Isaac and being so upset that he can't beat Isaac in a race (and of course Isaac won't ever let him win) But with kids his own age, he was so quick!

For those of you who don't know yet, here's a picture of Jackson with his nice, new cast. Here is also a picture of Makayla just because she is so darn cute.
A week ago Saturday, Jackson came into the house crying saying that he hurt his arm. He usually will cry for a bit, then run off to go play again pretty soon. I called Chauntel about 10 minutes after he hurt himself, and he was still crying. When I got home about 20 minutes later, he was wrapped up in his blankie on the couch, still upset about his arm. When I asked him what happened, his lip curled up and his eyes welled with tears as he tried to tell me how he "missed the slide". My heart broke for him as I could still tell he was in a great deal of pain. I still didn't understand how he could "miss the slide" in the backyard, but that's the story. He stayed on the couch, curled up for another 20 minutes when I checked on him again. When I asked him if it hurt, he said it didn't.

*****SIDE STORY*******

Because of all of the surgeries Jackson has had, anytime you ask him if something hurts, he will ALWAYS say no. He is always afraid that if something hurts, another surgery is imminent. Even with his last surgery on his spinal cord, every time the nurses would ask if he was in pain, he would always say no - to which they were always surprised. They would ask 3 or 4 times with the same response, then would finally give him something for pain, because "something has got to be hurting".

SOOOO - when I asked if his arm hurt again later, he said no (with his lip curling again and eyes welling with tears), but this time it was turning purple from his thumb down to his arm. I knew something was probably broken, so . . . off to the ER again. We were just there 2 weeks ago with Isaac with his Concussion episode from Wal Mart - that's another story.
We actually went to the Urgent Care down the street (the same one we've been to several times: stitches, sickness, etc.) and they confirmed the news: Jackson had officially broken his arm. They wrapped it up in a temporary cast and the orthopedic last Tuesday put a permanent cast on it. Jackson picked his current favorite color green and was very brave and took it like a man. During this time also, he is fighting a severe sinus infection that he has had for seemingly months. This round of antibiotics seems to be helping a bit. He sees a Urologist in a few weeks to see why he still can't control his bladder (that we thought his spinal cord surgery was supposed to fix), and his neurosurgeon and pediatrician wants to "go ahead with" more reconstruction surgery on his face.
Jackson is a champion to us. He is completely unaware of trials in his life. They haven't been as bad as others may go through and we have been blessed to bear them all. None of this slows him down. although his cast is on his right arm, he now just uses his left one. Jackson's mission in life is to have fun and make sure all those around him are happy too. Just recently (another blog post sometime) Makayla was very upset over something and Jackson was just smiling and rubbing her back to comfort her. He just wants everyone to be happy. We love him for that. The kids are EXTREMELY sweet on him and he is what brings such joy to our family.
Chauntel and I feel as though the Lord has blessed us so much in our life. Our children bring us such joy and concern. They truly are our greatest source of joy, outside of each other.

computer trouble

I've been having some problems with my computer lately. Maybe a week ago I got an email that had a virus. I didn't even open it. But I guess that doesn't matter. My computer started getting slower and slower, til it was impossible to do anything. Than Jeremy and I started getting calls from all of you wondering if I'd been mugged and was now stuck in the U.K.:) Which I am happy to say, I'm not in England and I have not been mugged. So, Jeremy got on my email at work and noticed all my contacts had been erased. Someone was still emailing people from my account and had also gotten on my face book account and changed my password. So I still can't get on my face book. It's been frozen for suspicious activity. Apparently they would be chatting on face book also. So I've changed my email account and closed my old account. And my face book account is hopefully still frozen so they can't chat to all my friends and family asking for money. What a hassle. What jerks would spend so much time trying to be so rotten? Hopefully everything is fixed. I'll have to make some phone calls to get all my contacts back on my new account.

Thanks for all the calls of concern.

First Day of School

Back to school:) Makayla and Isaac are about to get home from their first day of third grade and second grade! I hope they had a great day. I did! Jackson and I went to the gym, then he had preschool. He goes to preschool from 12 - 2:45 every M-W-F. I'm going to be kid free 9 hours a week! What will I do with myself.
Today I cleaned bathrooms, laundry, and dish. I was even about to run a few quick errands. I'm so giddy.

More pics of the family

Here's some more pictures of Washington and home. Isaac is ripped, Kayla is way high on the swing, and the kids look dang cute in their outfits!

CaMpInG In tHe BaCkYaRd wiTh gRaNdAd

Grandpa sent up the tent in the backyard, so all the grandsons that were here could sleep out back. Isaac won't even try to sleep in the tent and the Twins only lasted till 11, then grandpa came in around 3 or 4. So only Cole, Carter, and Jackson made it through the night.

We also roasted marshmallows and made s'mores. Yummy I love s'mores.

My mom's brother, Uncle Paul, dropped in to visit the other night, while passing through Kennewick with his son Daniel. It's been probably 10 years since I've seen him. It was great to get the chance to visit a little.

Water Slide Park

My sister Rochelle took us all to a water slide park in Hermiston OR. It was fun, mostly because Jackson was allowed to go down in his life vest as long as there was someone at the bottom to catch him. It was great. Most places we've been required the kids to be a certain height and be able to swim. Kendall took the twins down and Jillian took Joseph down. It was fun to see the little one get to go down the slides.

The weather was perfect of course. We've had a lot of fun this last week and a half. Been kept busy so, I think today (our last day here) we're going to keep it simple and relaxed.

I can't believe my summer is almost over. Here I was so scared for the summer to start and now I'm sad to see the kids go back to school. We've had a lot of successes and fun this summer.

Levie Landing

My sister Rochelle took us out on her boat yesterday. The kids had so much fun. Makayla kept saying "this is the best day ever" and Isaac kept saying "this is the best birthday party I've ever been to." We got all my kids to try out the tubes. Makayala cried a bit but now says it was her favorite thing yesterday. I'm glad they each decided to be brave and try it out. There were a few places to go cliff jumping. I was brave enough to jump off the lowest cliff. My nephew cole and my brother in-law jump off the highest clip (crazy) Ryan even did a back flip off of one of them.

Rochelle was such a great host. She bought so much food and worked so hard to make sure everyone had a great time. The weather was perfect and early in the day and late in the day there weren't too many boats out. Middle of the day however, there was too many out.

Natallie (my bestest childhood friend) brought her boat and family out with us also. They totally saved the day by having a grill and coal, because our grill was out of gas.

more zintel canyon pictures

Washington in the Summer!!!

I haven't been home during the summer in 8 years. I can't believe it's been that long. I've been home once in Oct. and once in march or April, but not during the summer. We are having so much fun. The weather has been amazing. We went on a hike through Zentil Canyon. The kids loved it. We all went on the rope swing, jump over and in the streams, tried the wild black berries, played in the dirt, and played under the bridge (overpass)

I love that I'm not dripping in humidity the second I walk outside. I love that it gets cool at night and warm during the day, I love that the shade is cooler than being in the sun, I love that we can be outside during the day and not have to be in a pool. Of course I love Texas, but there are a few things that are amazing about WA. Of course the most amazing part is being with family. The kids are really enjoying cousins and grandpa and grandma. What's better than hanging out with cousin?