My mom, Jordan, Jackson, and Doug.
Jordan being cute saying cheese some more. Can you tell I love his cheese grin? He loved the dogs we saw walking around. I let him out of his stroller and walked around with him and he kept trying to touch them. When he'd see him he's get really excited and pointed and said something like doggie, doggie, doggie over and over and over again.
Jack helping water the watermelon.
Doug pouring in the soil. We bought 5 bags of it. We were planning on putting packing peanuts at the bottom of the containers to help with drainage and to make it lighter and because we figured they'd be cheaper than the soil. But we couldn't find any at the stores we bought our gardening stuff from. We still bought the same amount of soil as we would have had we bought packing peanuts too. So with the amount of soil that I thought would fill less than half of each of the containers we were able to fill all the containers as much as we needed to. Plus we still have a bag left. But I was planning on having a bag left to add more to the potatoes. I guess cubic feet are bigger than I expected them to be...
Jack spreading the dirt.
Jack watering with our new hose and sprayer that can spray just water or can spray fertilzer and water. It makes it easy to water and feed our plants.
Alli and Jackson. Aren't they cute. They're in front of a cage of lemurs. There were a bunch of them in there and they were jumping around and playing which is always fun to see at the zoo.
There's an aquarium in the zoo too. We didn't stay too long in it because there was a presentation going on and it was really crowded. But the kids did take time to go in the shark's mouth. I think they're so cute posing with their hands on their hips.
I told them to make a scared face and that is what they came up with.
Jack, Allis, and Jordan. Can you tell Jordan is saying cheese? I think they're in front of a cage that had a monkey and an anoa. Alli was telling Jack that the anoa like to eat monkeys. 
Jack, Alli, Jordan watching the baluga whale. We got to the whale just in time to see demonstration. So we saw the whale doing some tricks and talking. He came near us a spit water at the kids next to us. Allison kept getting a little scared when he would come close to us. She kept hiding behind my legs. When Jordan was sitting in his stroller, he saw that a lady standing in front of us had a bag of fishy crackers. He loves fishy crackers. So when he saw them he started grunting and pointing at them. It took me a minute to know what he was pointing at. But once I saw I told him he couldn't have any and he was mad and threw a little tantrum by throwing himself against the back of his stroller seat. It was pretty funny when he did it and I smiled at him and then he smiled and did it again, trying to be funny. He kept wanting the fishies though and pointing and grunting toward them.
Jackson can make his own sandwiches. I've heard many times that if you let children help with the cooking they are more likely to want to eat what they make. It's worked so far. Plus it's so easy because Jack decides he wants it and then he makes it and eats it pretty good.
I went upstairs while the boys were eating. When I came down Jackson was putting my camera back on the counter. I didn't really think about whether or not he had taken pictures with it; I was more concerned about the fact that he had gotten my camera dirty with his peanut butter sandwich hands. But when I came to put my pictures on the computer I found he had taken quite a few. The picture of the cup is one of the many. He loves using my camera. I need to be better though about keeping it out of his reach during meal times.
orange pants, shirt with orange on it, orange sun glasses (although I'll admit I told him to wear the sunglasses so I could take a picture of him). He also likes to drink from an orange straw, sleeps with his orange binkie, and asks if he can wear these orange shorts almost everyday:
He wanted to wear his orange shorts after we got back from the mall on his birthday. Since it was his birthday I told him he could wear them over his jammies. He tried it for a few seconds, but then wanted them off. But he really wants to wear them almost everyday. Yesterday he wore them and a blue and orange striped shirt. I was going to take a picture of that outfit but never did.
We went to a really small zoo that has animals that have been rescued from the wild so that they can be kept safe. We saw some tigers, cougars, wild housecats, deer, and a lot of birds. There were peacocks and chickens running around all over too.
Pretty much anytime I point a camera at Jordan he says cheese and squints his eyes usually too. He's doing it here but won't look at me. Isn't he so cute?
Doug and Jackson with the chickens. Jack liked when uncle Tyler would chase them and try to catch them.
Tyler, Doug, Avery, and Jackson rode on a train outside the zoo. It was a pretty short ride but they loved it.
Avery and Jackson held hands during the ride. They held hands a lot all throughout our trip too. Whenever we were crossing a street or walking across a parking lot they'd hold hands. It was pretty cute.
After the zoo we went back to Tyler and Rose's house and the kids took naps. Jack and Jordan slept for a long time. They were pretty tired since they didn't sleep much in the car on the way to California and woke up before 7 that morning. So they slept very good. After naps we went to a nearby lake. Jack was really excited to go. He loves swimming and putting on his swim suit. I was excited to wear my new swim suit too :) Jordan didn't really like the sand until I put his shoes back on. Then he was happy to sit in it and walk in it.
Jackson and Avery fed the ducks.
Cute Avery.
Jordan sat here for a long time. He liked to find sticks and rocks and throw them in the water. Once he threw a stick and it didn't go very far so he scooted a little more into the water and threw it again and he did this a few times until he finally went a little to far for liking. I think the water just touched his tummy, but it was such cold water he hated it.
Doug putting Jackson down after holding him.
Even though the water was freezing Tyler and Doug went swimming in it. The water was so cold I didn't even want to put my toes in it, but I do really hate cold water. I thought they were crazy though. Tyler did it first then took about 10 or 15 minutes to finally convince Doug to jump in too. Once Doug did it though he didn't want to do it again.
Tyler and Doug after swimming.
Jackson having fun in the water.
The next day we went to the park in the morning. Jack played soccer and was excited to kick the ball into a real net.
Jordan swinging.
Jack also played baseball. We brought a bat and a ball so he also got to hit the ball.
The ride home. The kids did pretty good in the car. Jackson did really good. He was pretty happy the whole time. Jordan cried, but only for a few seconds each time until the last hour or so. He cried a lot more then until we got home.
This is why Jackson was so happy. He watched a movie for about 8 hours. We rented two from Red Box when we stopped at McDonalds for breakfast (we even got them free because we used red box codes which let you rent movies for free) on the way to California. He watched one of them the entire time. He just kept saying he wanted to watch it again. He did the same thing on the way home, but watched Diego instead.
Jackson going down the slide.
This is how Jordan was a majority of the time, especially any time I put him down on a bouncy thing.
Jack posing.
This was the only part Jordan liked. He is crying in the picture though because he couldn't find me for a little bit.
I told Jack to go sit on the dinosaur so I could take his picture on it, but instead he wanted the camera and took a picture of just the dinosaur.
That night after dinner we let Jack blow out candles and eat cake again. Can you see the excitement in his face? He was a little confused about it being is birthday. He kept saying it's my birthday again? And asked if he could blow out the candles again and open presents again.
Jack with his cake and candles with "fire" on them.
Jack blowing out the candles. I remember last year he had a hard time blowing them out. This year he's a pro.
He's so proud.
That night after cake I took the boys to the mall to play on the toys. Jack loves it there. He asks pretty often if he can go play there. Doug had to go to his young men's activity so he couldn't come with us.
It's hard for me to believe that this sweet little baby is now my sweet 3 year old. He has grown up so fast and he'll just continue to do that. I love taking care of him everyday. He's so sweet and helpful. He's such a good big brother. He loves to talk and is very rarely quiet. I love hearing the way his mind thinks when he talks. He really brings so much happiness to my life! 
Me holding Jackson for the first time.
Jackson a few days after he was born, but still in the hospital's NICU since he was born with meconium.
We brought him home one week after he was born. He was so tiny. 
