12 Steps

Hello. We're the Jacksons, and we are addicts.

We can't help it. We love the high, the rush, and the adrenaline pumping through our veins. The colors, the music, the flames skidding across our vision. The feeling of invincibility that comes from watching others do crazy stunts and impossible tasks.

Did I not mention I was talking about the Olympics? I probably should have...

For as long as I can remember, we have geared up every two years for that magical story known as the Olympics. We were filled with pride when Kerry Strug landed her final vault with a broken leg and the US won gold. We cheered as snowboarding became a recognized sport, cried with Michelle Kwan every time she came up short, and watched in awe as Michael Phelps made history. In 2002, when the games came to our backyard, we made the pilgrimage to Salt Lake City and our love affair with the Olympics was only intensified. My mom and I came up with several crazy ideas that would allow us to go to Vancouver, but unfortunately this is the year that myself and all of my siblings are broke. :( Maybe next time.

But we couldn't just let the massive occasion go unnoticed. So we made our own Olympics. Last weekend, the whole clan gathered together to celebrate the sport. Oh sure it may have been President's day, and Valentine's Day, but these were mere coincidences, passing ships in the night. For us, it was all about those 5 rings.

Totally awesome "Team Canada" mittens

The Jackson figure skating team - 2010

"Believe"

Bonding time.

Ok, we threw a little Valentine's love in there, too.

(most of) The crew.

As always, the games have not been a disappointment! I hope you haven't missed Apollo Ono making history, Bode Miller's fulfillment of unrequitted dreams, Lindsay Von's heroics, Shaun White's epic run, or the US Hockey team upset Canada. Go World!

“Nothing is more exciting and bonding in relationships than creating together” ~Stephen R. Covey

So, you may have noticed a theme here. We are completely in love with "projects." We comb DI for months until we find that perfect something that we want to take home, and turn it into a work of art! We also like doing art projects, sewing projects, organizing projects, you name it. We've been on a roll. Last weekend, we completed our latest and greatest (to date) project.

We found this old chair at DI for $4. When we got married, we purchased chairs for our kitchen table, but they were kind of expensive, so we only got two. About a year later, Landon's little brother came to stay with us for a few days and we decided to buy a folding chair so we could eat dinner at the table. Ever since then, when we've had more than one person over, we end up just sitting on the couch or floor to eat dinner. We don't love doing this with company, but the lack of chairs has made it a necessity. Anyway, when we saw this baby we decided to take it home and correct the problem. We were especially excited that it's all wood. It's a great chair. After I sanded down the whole thing (it took over an hour, my arms were really sore afterwards), it looked like the above photo. I then proceeded to paint the entire thing black with some leftover paint we had. Although our table is regular brown/wood colored, I wanted this chair to be more of a decoration piece that we can just pull over to the table when we need it. And our kitchen is red and black.

It cleaned up nice, eh? But I wasn't done. I really wanted to put a vinyl decal of some sort on it, really dress it up to be something beautiful. Unfortunately, all the designs I liked were upwards of $50. Sheesh. For a $4 DI chair? I don't think so. My wonderful husband helped me create a stencil out of the pattern I fell in love with, and then trace it on, yet again, with leftover paint. He then spent an hour touching it up with black paint to make it perfect. I love being married to an artist! Anyway, this is how it turned out:

And I am in love.

It's so great when something turns out exactly as you pictured it in your head. It looks amazing in our kitchen, like something we might have purchased for $150 at Anthropologie. And it's even better that we made it ourselves! Every time I walk past, I can't help grinning a little. 

Not bad for $4, eh?

One year older

For some reason I was nervous about my birthday this year. I feel like the older you get, the less important the day of your birth becomes. You have more responsibility, other people to take care of, and more/better accomplishments to celebrate than just being born. But I LOVE birthdays. Especially my own. Call me vain, but it's just the way I am. It's my favorite holiday. When else do you legitimately get to have a day that's all about you? 

I needn't have worried, because I was well taken care of. It started out with a fabulous gift to me from ABC. Yes, I mean the television network. They graciously decided to postpone the final season premiere of LOST until my birthday week. Just for me. In honor of the occasion, my sister invited us over for a party.

 

If you watch LOST, you'll appreciate the awesomeness that is this cake. She changed the "23" to a "24," because that's how old I now am. Also, it's a party chip cake inside. What could be better? After dinner, cake, and presents, we settled down and watched 3 solid hours of TV. Always a good time. And the premiere definitely did not disappoint.

The next day, I headed off to work as usual. Landon picked me up at 5:00 on the dot and we set off for an adventure. He first had me open the glove box, which contained a mysterious package - it turned out to be the Sherlock Holmes soundtrack - oh my, was I excited! We listened to it as we drove to Thanksgiving Point, where Landon surprised me by walking up to the front desk and stating "We have a reservation..." It might seem strange, but I have always wanted to go to dinner somewhere that you had to have a reservation. I have mentioned that a few times when we drive past fancy places, and I guess Landon was listening! It was a really fun place.

 

  

 

Also, we were lucky, because the food was oh-so-good, not tiny little fancy food portions of things you would never eat if you knew what they were. :) We sat and talked and ate and had a blast! I felt really special. Then we got back in the car, and Landon had me open the middle console to find yet another gift - $20 to spend on any fabric I wanted at JoAnn's. We drove to the store and Landon patiently waited with me for about 45 minutes while I chose what I wanted to get. Hopefully there will be more projects in my future soon! Then we went home and I was treated to a bubble bath while Landon baked a chocolate cake for me.And then I was FURTHER spoiled with presents!

Our long-anticipated trip to Peru is approaching (hopefully), and Landon got me some luggage to take on our travels so I don't have to use my old soccer bag that is kind of falling apart. He also got me a new coat, The Sandlot on DVD, and the Hannah Montana movie! (don't judge, we all have our guilty pleasures) My parents also gave us a fabulous bench that matches our living room. Thanks to all my wonderful family and friends, I had a fantastic birthday! I love you all!

Can We Build It? Yes We Can!

This is Bob the Builder. His slogan (way before a certain presidential candidate entered the scene, might I add) is "Yes We Can!" I've always thought that was such a great message to bring to kids. That you can do anything if you put your mind to it.

For Christmas, Landon and I received a combined total of 21 books. Yeah, we're THOSE people. I had two bookshelves before we got married that I brought with me. My parents also gave us two particle board bookshelves from the old playroom in their basement. We bought a large bookshelf from IKEA about a year ago. But already we were bursting at the seams, disguising books as decorations in our living room, bedroom and kitchen; stacking them on top of already full shelves in other rooms, stashing them in baskets where possible. But the 21 books we received for Christmas were just not going to fit.

Luckily for us, Landon also received some power tools for Christmas (thanks Mom and Dad)! So, using the good old Bob the Builder mindset, we decided that we would build our own furniture, in the hopes we could find a place for our overabundance of books without breaking the bank.

After Landon drew up a plan we thought could work, his Dad took him to the BYU-Idaho wood shop to cut the wood that we purchased at BMC West for $25. Landon assembled it in our kitchen a few days later with his new drill. As much to our surprise as yours, I am sure, everything fit together perfectly and no one got hurt in the process!

Everything was going so well, we decided to add some embellishments to the sides to make it our own. We designed something we liked on the computer, and punched holes along the outline into some craft tin. We had a ton of fun picking out the designs we were going to use, although our thumbs hurt pretty bad by the time we were done punching the holes.

Landon finished building it, and we tested it out. It worked! We were pretty excited about all of this.

We left it like that for a couple of weeks, because we got busy with life. But a few nights ago, we finally completed the last stages: staining and varnishing! Here is the final result:

 

 

What do you think? Our room definitely looks a lot better. We're pretty proud of our self-sufficiency. There is something so satisfying about building something from scratch, or taking something old and sad and making it beautiful. We just might have caught the DIY bug!