The Cruise (the beginning)

So I decided to write an epic trilogy about our cruise. Not a tale of dragons and trolls, but of cars and boats. It all began with a man named Clembo Baggins Jackson......



Clembo was a simple man who enjoyed working hard and spending time with his hobbit family. While Clembo was aging in years he came across a brilliant idea to take his family on a cruise. Now this wasn't Clembo's first cruise but he somehow new that this cruise would be different. So he came to his family with the idea. Clembo was thrilled to find out that his family accepted the idea, and thought that it would be a fun journey together. All of the Jackson clan knew that the journey would be long, scary and have treacherous terrain, but all agreed that the trip would be worth the hardships that they might face.


So with determination in their hearts and the grit to take on the journey, the Jackson clan took off into the unknown; caravanning their way west. It was a tight fit getting 13 people in 3 cars but the Jackson clan was determined. Stopping only to sleep and go to some outlet malls (where Jonnyboy and AliJ bought new sweet shoes) the Jackson clan made it to the coast. There they found their new mode of transportation in all its glory. Some of the clan wanted to leave Clembo behind (fearing that he couldn't make the long journey), but determined as he was Clembo walked into the ocean until he couldn't swim anymore and the clan reluctantly threw him a life preserver. So off the clan was to their second destination, a strange land called Sea World...



Sea World was an interesting place. After waiting for an hour to get in the locked gates we were met by strange creatures. We noticed that these animals were everywhere; they were jumping through hoops, eating fish from peoples hands (gross), and there was a gift shop full of stuffed animal versions.
We were happy to report that none of the animals attacked us, although a few of our young ones were sad that they didn't get splashed in the face by them (apparently some kind of greeting from the creature). The clans feet were extremely tired after a full day of exploring Sea World so they left the land to find a Romanian taxi driver who could help them return to their vessel.



Tune in next time for part duex of The Cruise.

Tagged yet again...

Sorry we don't want this to become a tagging blog. It's not that we are that boring, it's just that Jon spends most of his time preparing notes for the NFL Draft and Ali spends most of her time preparing for the cruise. Anyway here is your tag Jer:

Thank you Jer, for making me think of all of my painful High School memories I have tried so hard to forget =)

1.Did you date someone from your school? I dated a lot of people from my school. It was the only high school for 30 miles.
2. Did you win anything in Senior's Who's Who? nope
3. What kind of car did you drive? Junior year I drove my dad’s Jeep and senior year I drove the Capri.
4. It's Friday night...where r u? Hanging out with friends
5. Were you a party animal? No
6. Were you considered a flirt? Yes
7. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? I was in AP calulus and AP literature and composition instead
8. Were you a nerd? Yes, but I was a cool nerd.
9. Did you get suspended/expelled? No
10. Can you sing the fight song? I could probably hum it…
11. Who were your favorite teachers? Mrs. Walker my fourth year Spanish teacher, Mr. Steiss my College Prep biology teacher, and Brother Nix my seminary teacher
12. Where did you sit during lunch? Any open table in the cafeteria
13.What was your school's full name? Green River High School
14. School mascot? The Wolves
15. Did you go to Homecoming and who with? Junior year I went with Brock Argyle and senior year I went by myself and hung out with friends
16. If you could go back and do it again, would you? Heck no. I would almost rather do anything else instead. I hated high school.
17. What do you remember most about graduation? All of my family and friends that came to my house afterwards.
18. Where did you go senior skip day? My boyfriend’s house in McKinnon. This was the only day of high school I ever skipped and I was too scared to even have fun skipping.
19. Were you in any clubs? National Honor Society, Key Club, and Reading with the Pack
20. Have you gained some weight since then? Yeah
21. Who was your Senior prom date? Sam Wilde
22. Are you planning on going to your 10 year reunion? I’m never going to Wyoming again if I can help it.
23. Who was your home room teacher? Good question. Some weird home-economics teacher. I don’t remember her name.
24. Do you still talk to people from school? No, I just look at pictures of their kids on myspace.

Tag

Well since Jim "tagged" me, and I haven't written anything for a while, I figured I would respond to his tag. So I will be hitting random on my ipod and see what the first 10 songs are. I have just under 5,000 songs on my ipod so this truly should be pretty random. Ok here we go.

#1 Yankee Grey - All things considered (yes I dig country every now and then)

#2 REO Speed Wagon - Take It On The Run (REO Speed Wagon RULES!)

#3 Inside Out - 'Cause He's a Snowman (A Capella at its best (sorry Jer))

#4 Yellowcard - Sure Thing Falling (I stopped and listened to this one)

#5 Notorious BIG - Big Poppa (yeah I know, I know, but c'mon I used to be a gangster)

#6 Postal Services - Such Greight Heights (Thank you for this CD Ryan! It's one of my favorites)

#7 The Beatles - Please Please Me (I think I have like 400 Beatles songs on here)

#8 Relient K - Falling out (A new CD that I really like, you can listen to Relient K if you call my phone)

#9 Matt Costa - Oh Dear (I think this song came from Jim, I don't recognize it)

#10 Bare Naked Ladies - Fight the Power (not surprised this popped up with all the BNL on here from Jer)

Here is a pic from this weekend =) Ali and Elizabeth:

Bored?

Judi's post with her random facts link gave me the idea to put up some of my favorite links. I hope you enjoy!

Have you ever wondered what you would look like in a police sketch artist drawing? I made an attempt but I'm not that artistic.
http://flashface.ctapt.de/

Do you remember the Nintendo game Lemmings? I found a version on the internet!
http://www.elizium.nu/scripts/lemmings/

While we are on the topic of games, Ill throw this out there. The title speaks for itself but my favorite are the "Bloons" games:
http://www.addictinggames.com/

I play with this once in a while, Jer might like it, or anyone who likes making music:
http://www.jamstudio.com/Studio/index.htm

This is just a website that shows you what happens when you microwave certain things. My favorite are the Cd's:
http://microwavecam.com/microwavecam/index.htm

Click this to clean your computer screen, it will make you smile:
http://www.linein.org/media/screen_clean.swf

Ever curious how much the mayor makes? What about if someone you know got arrested? (yes there is a Jonathan R Jackson arrested for DUI, and no it was not me)
http://www.utahsright.com/

And last but not least, this website (created by an atheist) depicts the bible stories in lego form:
http://www.thebricktestament.com/

Getting To Know Us, Getting To Know All About Us...

Well we got an email telling us to fill this out and pass it on to everyone so I thought a better idea would be to fill it out and put it on here, Ali's answer is first because she had already filled out the email to everyone, so I just copied it and put it in here =)
1. What time did you get up this morning? 6:45 / 6:45
2. Diamonds or pearls? Diamonds / Diamonds (BLING)
3. Last movie you saw in the theater? Juno / Juno (sorry that a lot of these will be the same)
4. What is your favorite TV show? right now: American Idol. When it's on: Grey's Anatomy / Right now: The Family Guys, All Time: Seinfeld
5. What do you usually have for breakfast? A breakfast drink from Costco / Same
6. What is your middle name? Elta / Ray
7. What food do you dislike? Seafood / Same
8. What is your favorite CD at the moment? Flight of the Conchords / Jack's Mannequin
9. What kind of car do you drive? Toyota Camry, but I don't drive- Jon does / Ali's Camry
10. Favorite sandwich? Grilled ham and swiss from Skool Lunch (without the pickles)/ Chicken Cashew from Skool Lunch
11. What characteristics do you despise? being a 'know it all' / Restless Leg Syndrome
12. Favorite item of clothing? My long sleeved pink striped shirt that only cost $8 :) / My sweaters from Costco
13. If you could go anywhere in the world for a vacation, where would you go? Maine and New York / Rome
14. What color is your bathroom? Ugly white / Pale
15. Favorite brand of clothing? Anything from Kohls / Fossil (does a watch count?)
16. Where would you retire? SLC, but it depends on where my future children live / Murray/Holladay
17. Most memorable birthday? Probably my 16th / 21st birthday watching the fireworks over Pearl Harbor (I taught a discussion right before)
18. Favorite sport to watch? Football / Duh
19. Furthest place you are sending this? Logan / Around the world!!!
20. Who do you expect to send this back to you? maybe Jon / ?
21. Person you expect to send it back first? I don't know... / ?
22. Favorite saying? I don't really have one I guess./ You don't have to want to (also my least favorite)
23. When is your birthday? Feb 27! / July 4th
24. Are you a morning or a night person? I love love love the mornings. Except the going to work part. / I'm like Lionel Richie baby - "all night long"...
25. What is your shoe size? 7 / 9
27. What did you want to be when you were little? A ballerina / A football player and a lawyer (like Steve Young)
28. What are you today? Today I am an HBS and a COB reviewer / Bored
29. What is your favorite candy? Jr mints or reeses pieces / Jr mints and 3 Musketeers
30 Your favorite flower? Anything red / Gerber Daisy
31. What is a day on the calendar you are looking forward to? Next monday- no work / Same
32. What are you listening to right now? Other people taking calls / X96 radio from hell show
33. What was the last thing you ate? peanut butter sandwich / Last night we had Pizza Benders from Italian Village
34. Do you wish on stars? Not really, I'm never up that late / Nope
35. If you were a crayon, what color would you be? Red, of course. Probably a sparkly red. / Hot Pink
36. What is your pet peeve? When the sour cream separates and it looks all watery. Wrinkles in the sheets when I'm making the bed. The film that gets on the inside of my windshield. All of the stuff under my bed (see question 49) :) / No football on TV, dumb people
37. Last person you spoke to on the phone? My mom / SLCC advisor
38. Do you like the person/people you are sending this to? Yes, I wouldn't send it to people I don't like / I don't really like people in general
39. Favorite soft drink? Grape Fanta / Cherry Pepsi, Mountain Dew (pretty much anything thats not diet)
40. Favorite restaurant? Macaroni Grill / Molca Salsa
41. Hair Color? Brown / Brown
42. Favorite day of the year? Christmas morning / NFL Draft day
43. What was your favorite toy as a child? Cement mix to feed to my sisters and Drywall putty and tape to make fake casts. / Micro-machines and Ninja Turtles
44. Summer or winter? Winter / Summer
45. Hugs or kisses? Hugs / Hugs
46. Chocolate or vanilla? Chocolate / Chocolate
47. You want your friends to e-mail you back? If they want to / Don't care
48. When was the last time you cried? a couple weeks ago / I never have (I'm not crying it's just raining, on my face...)
49. What is under your bed? Boxes for moving, a remote control car, Monopoly, all the cords and controller for our heated mattress pad, a drill battery, and a heating pad. As you can tell, we're short on storage space! / Everything she said but the drill batter was moved =)
50. Who is the friend you've had the longest? Phylicia / Mike Poulson
51. What did you do last night? worked out and fell asleep watching deal or no deal. On our way to work Jon tells me how the shows ended that I fell asleep watching =)/ Ate my pizza bender watched American Idol and the end of the dog show
52. Favorite smell? I can't really smell anything / The smell after it rains and the smell right when the swamp cooler is turned on.
53. What are you afraid of? Spiders and things in the water and not being a good mom / Heights and failure in general.
54. How many keys on your key ring? 3 but there should be 4. I'll have to get the spare back... / 5
55. How many years at your current job? 1 / 1.6
56. Favorite day of the week? Saturday / Saturday
57. How many states have you lived in? 2 / Utah & Hawaii
58. Do you make friends easily? Yeah / I think so
59. How many folks will you send this to? 6 / Depends on how many people read my blog

I WANNA ROCK!

So for Jer's birthday we decided that we should all get together and play some Rock Band. and let me tell you, it was a ton of fun. Wyatt started off the night with his very own drum solo. Luckily the song played the exact two notes that Wyatt was banging away at and he actually did a pretty dang good job. I'm pretty sure that any boy given the opportunity would love to bang on a pair of drums. I remember when I was younger I got caught several times pounding away on several different pieces of furniture with a pair of bread knives.

Anyway, as the night went on I got to participate on the drums, bass, guitar, and yes lead singer. I've always wanted to be a lead singer in a rock band and I was very happy to sing some Weezer. Unfortunately my skills on the drums were pretty pathetic.

So I think that it was a lot of fun having the whole family there playing together. Ryan dominated singing Radiohead and Jer surprised everyone with his skills on the drums.

<---I liked this picture because it looks like Elle has a mohawk, which would have been perfect for the occasion.

I wish I would have got more pictures of everyone playing together, but I did get a short 8 second clip of Wyatt busting out his drum solo. I hope you enjoy =)

Anniversary

Can you believe that we have been married for 1 year now? We hear that the first year is the hardest year; I’m not exactly sure what that means. Does that mean that marriage gets miraculously easy after you hit the one year mark? Does it mean that I can now make rude comments without fear of repercussion? Does it mean that marriage is supposed to be some hard arduous task to perform and if you pass the first year you know what to expect? After all Seinfeld did say "I don't know marriage is like a 3 year commitment", we of course plan on a whole lot more than that ;)

Well all I know is that we have had a very fun and exciting year of marriage. Our lives are constantly changing and evolving, but I think if I could go back 5 years and tell myself where I would be 5 years later, I would be pretty happy with how things are going. I have a great wife, a cute apartment, a job that I really enjoy, and everything I need. The only extra thing I have that I wish I didn’t was this belly that has somehow grown from my stomach. Well I guess it’s a good thing we have gym memberships now.

So for our first anniversary we decided to get away for a couple days and we went to the Anniversary Inn in Logan. We chose the Hollywood Theater room, for the main reason that it had a soda dispenser in the room, and a very large TV (yeah what more could you want? I know). We had a great time watching the Bourne movies on the big TV, and watching The Price is Right in the morning from our tub, it was totally sweet. In fact we think this is how we want to set up our own master bedroom when we have a house of our own and aren't poor anymore (soda fountain included of course). All in all it has been a great year, and I look forward to many, many more!