Infertility

Infertility blows. There is no getting around it, it just flat out stinks. You always hear that "everyone has their own issues that they are going through." well ours is one of those that isn't obvious, it's infertility. I have come to learn (at least for me) that the worst part of infertility is the emotional roller-coaster. We never knew what was going to work or if it was going to work, or when it was going to work. When IUI's finally worked for us we were thrilled.....then it didn't anymore. When we finally decided to do in vitro fertilization it was almost like a huge burden was lifted off of me. Obviously it is no guarantee that it will work, but now I feel like we have done/are doing everything in our power to have another child. At least now if it doesn't work we can move on with our lives knowing that. I'm not saying that the pain will be gone, because it surely won't. However; at least the roller-coaster will have ended.

For now we are at the mercy of God/our bodies genetics/doctors....well let's just say we have no control over what will happen. My brother told me a long time ago that the sooner I accepted the inevitability that we have no control the better off I would be. I think accepting that inevitability is something you just have to come to in your own time.

Hopefully in a few short months time we will be sharing good news with everyone. Perhaps it will take longer, or maybe not at all. But at least in the end we will know that we have done all that we could and that is a reassuring feeling.

Humbling

There has been several times in my life I have been humbled. When I was younger and playing football I played the game as if I was the biggest strongest kid on the field (I wasn't but it worked). When I got to high school I still tried to play like that, but the fact that all of the other kids were far more physically talented than I was made me much less of a player than I was when I was younger. It was pretty humbling.

But in the last year or so I feel like I have been 'truly' humbled. Going through all of the infertility stuff that we have the past 6 years or so has been pretty humbling, but that wasn't the half of it. I feel like you are truly humbled when somebody does something for you that you cannot do for yourself. Being supported (financially and emotionally) by family and friends with IVF has not only humbled me, but it has brought me to my knees. When you are truly humbled and not as eloquent as me it is pretty much impossible to show exactly how much gratitude you are feeling. So I will just say, please know that I am more grateful than I know how to express.

I know that one day (hopefully in the distant future) we will all be humbled more than we knew was imaginable. I am grateful for those in this life who have helped me somewhat understand what it means to be humbled. You may have only somewhat prepared me for when that time comes, but you have done more than anyone else has or what I could do for myself.

Relient K lyric of the week - "If home is where the heart is, then my home is where you are."

Badger don't care

If I was sorted into a Hogwarts house I am sure it would be Hufflepuff. Actually pretty much every Jackson in my family would be including my ancestors. We are have a little bit of every house characteristic in us, but above all we value hard work and loyalty. We may not be the brightest bunch (why else would Jacksons live in Fremont Utah for decades unless they were being loyal) but dog gone it if you treat us fair we will be your loyal friend for life. I guess we are a little bit like dogs that way; although I do love the badger as a house crest, because badgers just don't care.

Myself, I have never been one who likes to talk much…..or at all. My father and grandfather are amazing story tellers and at least to some degree enjoy telling stories. Me, not so much. Rather than talking about my feelings I felt I better do something to express them so I figured I would do a little bit more “journal entries”. I hate writing because my penmanship is terrible so I figured that blogging would be the best way for me and my posterity to see what the heck I was thinking while I was in my 30 somethings and trying to figure out this whole being an adult thing.

1st Blog of the Year

Have you ever noticed how blogs come in waves? We realized yesterday that I haven't done a single blog this year. And now I actually have things I can talk about! I'm not sure why the blog loses my interest over time, but it's not like I'm the only one who hasn't blogged in forever!

So starting from the begining of this year (actually end of last year). My wonderful parents decided to take a family vacation to Disneyland and it freakin rocked!
We spent our first night in Vegas at a cheap hotel and got to see the wonders of the Las Vegas Strip. We hadn't been there since our honeymoon so it was pretty fun to see everything.



Once we got to California I discovered that my parents probably got the cheap hotel in Vegas to appreciate how awesome our hotel room in California was. We stayed at the Farfield Marriot right across the street from Disneyland and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a moderately priced hotel near the park. It was really nice because some days we just walked back to our Hotel room for lunch and a little rest since it was so close.
Even with having a lot of little kids walking to the park and back from the hotel was very easy and convienient.

So I must say that my favorite part of Disneyland in December was "The Night Before Christmas" ride. I am a huge fan of the movie so I was pretty much grinning ear to ear while Ali was hiding her face most of the ride.
Actually the best part of Disneyland in December is that it rained everyday! That might sound like a bad thing, but it was awesome! Pretty much every line at the park was only a 20 minute wait or so. And some rides (Splash Mountain) we litteraly walked straight onto the ride. And it was still around 75 degrees.
I think our last trip Disneyland has probably spoiled me for life. I will now be dissapointed when I have to wait over an hour to ride anything.
Rain and all it was an awesome trip that we will remember for a lifetime. HUGE thanks to my Mom and Dad. They are the GREATEST! :)

Christmas Card

I thought that this would make a great Christmas Card picture, what do you think?




No? Well here are a couple of other options. Merry Christmas!

Miss Lady Kiara the Drama Queen Jackson

So since life was starting to get so comfortable and easy we decided we needed to thrown in a wrench somewhere. Shadow was doing great, he responds to all of his commands for the most part and was fully potty trained and we had a great schedule....then we got Miss Lady.
Miss Lady is a purebred Shih Tzu and is just under 8 weks old. Despite her small size Lady is fearless. She regularly jumps Shadow when his back his turned and doesn't quit until he has her pinned to the ground, after he releases her it starts all over again. Shadow has been extremely patient with her.

Just like young children, we have noticed some big differences between our boy and our girl. The biggest one happens to be their dramatics. I have never once heard shadow whine, I could be plucking his nose hairs and he wouldn't cry. Lady on the other hand is a whole new story. Her paws got particularly dirty so I gently held her close to me and got some luke-warm water in my palm and started cleaning her feet. You would have thought I was water-boarding her the way she was whimpering!

Despite her whining Lady has been a whole lot of fun for us. Shadow doesn't really like to cuddle up in bed. He doesn't even like being petted. Lady on the other hand can't get close enough to you, she wants to be constantly held and is great at giving affection.

Oh, and she will be a Broncos fan!

I lost the bet

I bet shadow that he could not touch his nose with his tounge.
I lost....badly.

He also laughed when he heard the name "Scary Papa".....more like "Softy Papa".

He is so lucky he isn't a girl

It would be twice this bad. But you gotta admit that he is pretty dang cute in a shirt.



This is the awesome doggy deck that we built him. Many thanks to Jeff for helping us out! He has a little trouble pushing the dog door open, but he is starting to get it.

Backyard Makeover

So we have been spending a lot of time and money this summer making our backyard a bit more presentable. We are proud of our results so far :)

It started because we got an awesome grill from Jeff and Kim for a graduation present to us. To go along with that Jeff had some old log benches that he used at his restaurant in Green River. So Ali and I sanded and re-stained the benches.
I have always liked fire-pits so Ali let me indulge :)

Since one side of our patio was now full and looking nice we needed to do something to the other side. So we finally bought a cover for our gazebo and bought one of those convert-a-bench's from Costco.

The final result :)

Sir Shadow Eats

Well I don't have goofy/cute kids that I can post on my blog about, but I do have a very funny puppy. I think we have found the brand of puppy chow that Shadow loves.

Bling

It always takes me a while to get used to new jewlery (watches). Looks like Shadow has the same problem.

Sir Shadow The Great Esquire Jackson

Ali and I have always known that we were "impulse buyers". That is not to say that we don't put thought into our purchases but when we find something that we know we both love, we get it. We have been talking about getting a dog since we were engaged. The only problem is that we have had some differing opinions on dogs. For example, what size of dog, can he sleep in the bed, can he jump up on furniture...and so on.

Well when we pulled into the parking lot at Fort Union and saw a sign that said "Lhasa-Poo Puppies" we had to at least go and take a look. Growing up Ali had/has a Lhasa Apso/Poodle mix and even though he is a naughty dog, she absolutely loves him. As it turns out these puppies were also black like her dog. After .0072 seconds of seeing him, we knew that we had to have him. We compromised on our differences and purchased our pooch.

Shadow has been an awesome companion so far, he has had very few accidents and hasn't even made Jon puke yet from a bad smell. Even putting him in the laundry room filled with puppy pads on the ground he hasn't relieved himself until we have gotten home and taken him outside to his designated bathroom area. He has been very playful and is staying in his bed all night. He is also picking up on training pretty quickly. Although it has been a little tough because he is not very interested in any doggie treats that we buy him. His only problem is that the poor little guy has been a bit constipated. We see him squatting and shaking his little butt for 10 minutes with no success. We have given him a little bit of vegetable oil and milk to help soften him up and it seems like he is doing better.

Without further adieu I give you, Sir Shadow The Great Esquire Jackson...

Jon's Tombstone

Jon's tombstone of the future will not read "RIP", it will look like this:

A day in the life of Jon

My day can mostly be described in one word, "Facepalm". What is a facepalm you ask? It's something I think I do much more frequently then most people. Here is a picture of a classic facepalm....

Why do I facepalm more than most people on a given day. Its pretty simple really, I am tech-support.

Here is a list of 5 typical calls that I have recently received. These have not been embellished in any way.

Me > How can I help you?
Caller > I CAN'T LOGON!
Me > What are you trying to logon to?
Caller > ANYTHING!
Me > Is there a specific program you are using (we use hundreds)
Caller > THE WHOLE SYSTEM!
Me > Is it Windows your trying to logon to?
Caller > I DONT KNOW!

Me > How can I help you?
Caller > It is raining on my desk.
Me > Excuse me?
Caller > IT IS RAINING ON MY DESK!
Me > Are you on a laptop outside?
Caller > NO! I am at my desk and water is coming from the ceiling.
Me > Uh, you are going to need to call engineering.
Caller > (Sarcastically) Well you are sure a lot of help!

Me > How can I help you?
Caller > I am not able to change my password?
Me > What error is it giving you?
Caller > Password must not contain word found in the dictionary, but I have a dictionary open right now and I don’t see this word.
Me > Is it possible there is a smaller word within the word you are using?
Caller > No, it is “courtne1”
Me > So the word “court” is in that password
Caller > (pause)…….Smartass


Trying to setup someones home VPN access
Me > What type of internet do you have?
Caller > Internet Explorer.
Me > Oh sorry, I meant what type like your ISP.
Caller > Modem
Me > What type of Modem is it?
Caller > Black
Me > (after a little chuckle) is it plugged into a phone cord or a coaxial cable? Like the kind you plug into your tv.
Caller > Its plugged into the wall

Me > How can I help you?
Caller > My email isn’t working.
Me > Ok what seems to be the problem with it?
Caller > I already said, my email isn’t working!
Me > Ok, so is it not sending email, receiving email, or is it not opening your mail?
Caller > Its not sending email. I really don’t have time for this.
Me > I am here to help you out, Does it say ‘connected’ at the lower right hand of the screen?
Caller > I don’t know, this isn’t my job! It’s yours, so fix it!
Me > That’s what I’m trying to do. I just need some information so I can find out what’s wrong, so I just need you to answer a couple questions.
Caller > No, that’s not what I get paid to do. I am an accountant, I’m not supposed to know how to use a computer!

A Puppy or 6 Years Old?

I have a lot of growing up to do. I realized this the other day when I was sitting in my fort.

I haven't decided what I act like more, a puppy or a 6 year old. I decided to list out ways in which I act like both to decide which I am more like.

Ways I act like a 6 year old:
* My daily lunch consists of Easy Mac and a Snack Pack
* I still sit cross legged, even on my work chair. I then stand up to find that my legs are asleep so I look like Frankenstein when I walk
* I think looking like Frankenstein when I walk is cool
* My favorite food is cereal

Ways I act like a puppy:
* Someone at work was bouncing a ball and I immediately got very excited
* I saw a huge flock (like 113) geese outside and I really wanted to run and chase them
* I once ate dog food
* I forget things that you just barely told me
* Ali says that she is still training me

Well I can't decide which one I act more like, but I do have 2 epic Puppy videos for your enjoyment. 1st one is my new Prozac, I decided if I am ever sad that I will just watch it and I know it will cheer me up. The second is the puppy vs a hair brush, in which the hair brush delivers a knock out blow at the end...

Christmas decorations

So Ali did a great job getting our Christmas decorations up this year. Many of them she made. She would like to thank my mom for having me help her put up ornaments on the tree ever year because I dominate at ornament placing :)

Are you ever sick of hearing this?

kid: "I wanna play rockband!"

parent: "You need to help put up Christmas lights!"

kid: "But I wanna play!"

parent: "You can when you are done helping with the lights!"

For real this is awesome....

Underwear for Christmas

So earlier this week I posted a video about Happy Kids with the "Best_Christmas_Present_Ever!", now here is a video of quite possibly the "worst Christmas present ever." I hope that one day I will have a kid this awesome. Look how excited he is to get new underwear :)

Wii for Christmas

Last year for Christmas we were lucky enough to get a Nintendo Wii, I guess we weren't the only lucky ones.

And seriously, if you aren't strong enough to rip open the wrapping paper when you are 10, you don't deserve the gift. I would revoke this from my child until he built up enough muscle to unwrap it himself.


I seriously think Nintendo should use some of these for a commercial. Some of them are just brilliant reactions.

Watch out Ed Hardy!

It has been a long time since I designed my last t-shirt (Chicks Hate Me). But I think my new designs could give it a run for its money.