One Day at a Time

CHRISTMAS LETTER

November was a quiet month for us. I didn't have any photoshoots and we didn't really travel anywhere exciting. We have had really nice weather, so we got to go on a few walks. I'm on a league volleyball team and we are just about to finish that up with a tournament this Saturday. I was pleasantly surprised at the turnout. I was thinking it would be more of an open gym and we might get enough people to play a game, but we have 6 full teams and we play 2 games a week and have t-shirts and everything. It's been a blast, and I have finally started meeting the locals. This month we also finally traded in our Borrego for a Truck and we celebrated my 26th birthday.


Kamille is as sassy as every. She says some of the funniest things and I just have to laugh and go with it. Last month we went to visit Grandma Jackson at her new job in Williston. The boss came out to meet the girls and he picked up Lillian. Kamille marched right up to him and yelled, "Are you CRAZY?!" We all laughed so hard and I don't know where she picked that phrase up. Just the other day she started using "Amazing" a lot. I don't think she quite understands how to use it yet, Example: "Mom I just pooped in your toilet and it was amazing!" .....oh child
Lillian is walking all over the place and eating everything she can get her hands on. She likes to pull Kamille's hair and take her toys. She also like to wander during church meetings and sit with different people. She is the sweetest little girl and loves her daddy so much. She wants to talk to him every time he calls but so does Kamille, so it turns into a big fight.
Devin and I did awesome during November on eating better and working out. I lost 11 pounds and 6 inches! We also had a carb-less Thanksgiving and I didn't even crave the potatoes, rolls...etc. We are continuing to eat better and hoping that we cans stick with it.


I hope everyone has a great December!
Love, Kaylynn Jackson

My husband bought me an instant pot for my birthday this month and I have been using everyday! I love making beef stew but I hate letting it simmer for hours on the stove top. I also love beef barley soup but I have never made barley ever! I searched for a few recipes and couldn't find one for the instant pot (maybe you've had better luck). So I decided to venture out and try my own recipe! It was AMAZING! Homemade beef barley stew in less than a hour, start to finish! The meat was so tender and the barley wasn't mush too! (I used the Lux Mini...but I would suggest a larger one because it was over the fill line)

So here is my recipe!

Ingredients:
1.5 lbs stew meat
1 Tbs Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
1 C Pearl Barley
6 C Chicken Broth (2 C and 4 C later)
Baby Carrots
Celery
1/2 Onion
Minced Garlic
1/4 C Ketchup
1 Tbs Worcestershire

Directions:
Saute the meat in the oil on the Saute setting. Season with salt and pepper. Rinse your barley and add it to the meat. Put in 2 Cups of chicken broth (or water and bullion). Set it on Pressure Cook for 25 min. When the timer goes off quick release. Add the rest of the ingredients and set to Pressure Cook for 4 more minutes. Quick Release and TA-DA! All done! :)

I was doing so good this year....then I got really busy with photoshoots, then I just forgot about September.

In September, the biggest thing we did was go to the Oregon Coast for the Scott and Julie Lloyd family Reunion. My sister and I were in charge this year. We got a beach house in Rockaway. We planned the food, family pictures, and a day in New Port. It was so much fun seeing everyone and catching up.



The drive was pretty long and because of wildfires near Portland, we had to go the long way home through Boise. On our way home just after dark we hit a broken semi tire with our Avenger. We got a litte dent in the front and got a small hole in our tire. It also tore the plastic underneath out. It was way scary! Usually tires are broken up and it's not too bad when you hit one...but this one was a whole tire tread! We made it to Nampa, to my aunt and uncles and then got the tire fixed in the morning.

October has been full of photoshoots! Pretty much every night. It's been fun getting to know new people and a lot of time Devin and the girls come with me for the drive. This month we got to watch General Conference and a few weeks later my mom came over for a few days to help can and freeze 80 lbs of chicken. Our canned chicken turned out amazing and I can't wait until Zaycon comes again in the spring. I also finally got to use my new pressure cooker! Lastly, Halloween! Kamille was Elsa and Lillian was Olaf. They had so much fun trick or treating and going to the Holy-ween in Stanley. 


Lillian is almost 10 months now. She is almost walking. Yesterday she stood up and took two steps to the couch. She likes to hold on to everything and go anywhere. She doesn't eat much baby food anymore. Now that she has 4 teeth (2 more about to break through) she is eating everything we eat. She loves to say Dada and I have only heard her say Mom a few times. She's our happy little girl and I love how much she loves her sister.

Kamille turned 3 on October 9th. She had a fun party with family and a few friends. My mom and I made a Barbie cake and had a delicious lunch! She got lots of presents and goodies. She loves to sing and dance and take care of Lillian. I always find her trying to feed her or change her diapers. She likes to pick out her own clothes and if I show her something she doesn't like she says, "Ahhh that hurts my eyes!" and she won't wear it. She knows all her colors, shapes, and can count to 10. She knows 3 letters (A B and C). She loves to go to Nursery on Sundays and I am looking forward to her starting Sunbeams in January. If I could use one word to describe her...it would be SASSY! Yesterday I told her to pick up her shoes. She looked at me and said, "ummm they are BOOTS!" And she does that horrible sigh and disgusted look when I ask her to help me pick up her toys. (I thought they do that when they are teenagers...not 3!) We love her so much :)

Devin is always working hard to provide for us. I'm so blessed to have him. The girls always get so excited on his days off when he can stay home and play with them. Today when he left for work, Kamille went to her little kitchen and said she was going to make dinner so Daddy would come home. (Because every time I make dinner he walks through the door) He's halfway through his class he's taking online and then he has one more class to get his Associates.

I have two more weeks of pictures and then I'm done for the season. It's getting pretty cold out already, but I hate turning people away. This year has been so busy with pictures. I love it! I have met some incredible families. Sometimes I get overloaded with processing (like now...after this I have 21 discs to finish and get out!) After photography season is over, I can catch up on my scrapbook and get a few sewing projects finished. I also have a few projects around the house I need to finish.

My weight-loss journey: yeah... I don't want to talk about it, but I will.  We took a little break (like 2 month break) we thought we could just watch what we eat and workout when we can, but that doesn't really work. I am someone who tracks inches, pounds, water, food intake and work-outs, otherwise I won't do it! so today is Nov 1st and we have started again, and that's okay :) It's better to start again and again and again as long as you never give up.

God be with you,
Kaylynn Jackson 

This month was a crazy one! It started off with a trip to central Idaho for the Earl Reunion and Jason's homecoming. It was so nice to have almost everyone there at the airport. Justin also surprised everyone and flew in on the same flight as Jason. That weekend was way fun and extremely hot. Kamille and Lillian loved swimming in the river and playing with their cousins.

All of us together after two years! Just missing a few in-laws

Kamille sandwich...stuck between Joey and Emmy

Our other adventure was a trip to southeast Idaho for Carlene's wedding. We loaded up the camper and got to enjoy a few days with family. We were lucky enough that Devin's cousin's wedding was the day before Carlene's, so we got to attend that one too.

Together Forever!

In between our trips, I have been so busy with photography. I have had shoots every night available and am booked all the way into October. I love meeting new families and I get excited when I get repeat families. Must mean I'm doing something right!




Kamille is almost 3! She is excited for her birthday and tells me often that she needs a blue birthday cake and barbies. She loves her sister and is always telling her what to do. I hear all day "Lilly, don't touch!" She is always taking things from her and picking her up and dropping her places.

Trying on boots!

Lillian is crawling so fast and pulling herself into standing position with the help of anything she can find. She likes to pull Kamille's hair out, which is terrible! She also wants to eat human food, but still doesn't have any teeth. She can down baby food and can hold her bottle all herself (which is so nice for Mom). She said her first word...da da... and says it all the time. She loves her daddy. We finally finished sleep training and she is sleeping almost soundlessly in her crib (woot woot!)

They always need the car-cart when we go to cashwise

He won't let me take a picture of him...unless I'm in it too!

And for me.... I'm just running around all the time! I feel like this summer has been all about unpack bags, wash laundry, pack bags and go! And if it's not that, it's chase kids around all day, make some editable food and then out the door for a photo-shoot. For my weight-loss journey: I've kind of slacked off. When we travel, I seem to do good for the first few days, and then it seems pizza and fast food is placed in front of my face! I always said, "If you eat pizza fast enough, it's considered cardio...right?" After our trip to southeastern Idaho I was so scared to step on the scale I almost convinced myself to throw the scale in the garbage and tell my husband someone crazy broke in and just stole that...but then that would make me crazy lol! After a few days of encouragement I finally decided to see where I was at.... down .4 lbs!!!! I call that a miracle. :) The past few days I have been sick with food poisoning so I'm sure I'm back on track with numbers (just trying to look at the positive as I head to the bathroom once more!).

Finally got my hair cut and colored! I LOVE IT!

I'm in the process of packing bags right now as I type this....and we have ONE MORE TRIP...maybe...hopefully. I never know. We are off to Rockaway Beach, Oregon for another reunion. This time my sister and I are in charge and we planned a few fun days in a beach house on the coast! I'm way excited but not looking forward to the 42 hour drive round trip! Wish us luck.

God be with you,
Kaylynn Jackson

I feel like summer has finally started and I actually have things to do. I'm swamped with photo-shoots (which is AWESOME!) and my little family gets to travel all over.

For the 4th of July, we went to Williston the night before and hung out with Devin's family. We had a good breakfast and then headed to Stanley for the parade. We caught the last half and then headed up to Bowbells for a family BBQ at our house. It was great food and good company. When everyone left, Devin and I snuggled in and watched the fireworks that go off in our town.



Next up we decided to go on a two night camping trip with our camper that we got last year. We didn't want to go anywhere too busy and I was just looking for some relaxing family time. We got up to White Earth Dam around 9 pm and set up camp. The mosquitoes were so bad, even after we sprayed tons of bug repellent, that we decided going to bed seemed nice. As we shut the camper door, we realized that it was also filled with mosquitoes. So Devin and I went to work with some newspaper and tried killing as many as we could. We turned out the lights and then I heard the rain start to fall. I remember looking at the weather report and it didn't say anything about rain. So I opened the door to find that it wasn't rain drops hitting our camper it was MOSQUITOES!!!! They started rushing in the door and I could only stand there screaming, swinging my arms at them. Devin finally got the door shut and then we went back to killing them. It was quite the workout.
In the morning I made pancakes, eggs, and bacon in on the camper stove because we forgot the propane for our stove outside. Devin had to run to a meeting for work that day, so it was just me and the girls for a few hours. I was thinking that the lake would be great for swimming and a good cool down. Kamille and I went to investigate and found that it was full of green algae, it also didn't smell so good. There went swimming :( This day was the hottest and we didn't have shade. We tried playing a board game inside, but everyone was just sweating and getting angry. So we jumped in the car and went for an air conditioned ride. It was fantastic! We ended up driving to Ray and getting a shaved ice at a friend's shack.
When we got back to camp we started on making dinner. We planned dutch oven potatoes, marinated chicken, and salad. Let just say we learned that we forgot a lot of things and strong wind and small bbq grills don't mix. I sat by a fire using a hot dog stick with a chicken breast stuck on it...I felt like a caveman. The blackberry peach cobbler did turn out amazing though and s'mores are always a great idea. We thought about packing up and going home that night, but stuck it out one more night. Overall it was a nice learning experience. I think next time we will find somewhere with hook-ups and use our AC for sure!


The last exciting adventure we went on was a road-trip to Omaha, NE to see my brother and his wife. Justin is there selling pest control for the summer between semesters of school. We looked ahead and saw that the rest of the summer is so busy, this was the only time we could go to Omaha. We packed our bags and drove to Jamestown, then drove the rest of the way in the morning. The next day we went to the Zoo and got to see a lot of exhibits. Omaha zoo is HUGE, but we got rained out. That evening Devin and I took the girls and went on a tour of the Winter Quarters pioneer visitor center and temple grounds. It was so fun teaching Kamille about the pioneers and it was nice to get out and see things with Devin.


Next month we have Jason's homecoming (I'm way excited to see him again)!!! Even if it is for a month and then he's off to college. He is such a great missionary :) Then later in the month, Devin's little sister Carlene is getting married in Idaho Falls and we are way excited for her. We are going to be decked out in cute dresses and I'm excited to see some friends from Southern Idaho. Lastly we have a family reunion in Oregon! It's going to be so much fun. BUSY BUSY BUSY!



Updates on us: Kamille is growing so fast! She is sassy, bossy, and so full of fun. She loves her sister and likes to carry her places. Now that she is strong enough to move her and lift her, I'm always having to be right there. She is picking up tons of phrases and likes to tell me to "check the mail" or to "Calm down". She likes to call Lillian "Lilly Bug" and it's so cute. Lillian is almost 7 months and she is so close to crawling. She is happy when you hold her or when she is watching Moana. She smiles at everyone and will go to them but when she can't see mom or dad she gets the saddest (but cutest) face. She watches her sister all the time and loves it when she plays with her. I think Lillian is looking forward to eating human food. She isn't always satisfied with baby food and just wants to chew on something. Hopefully her teeth cut through soon.


Devin is doing great! He is such a hard worker and is a great father. He is doing fantastic with his weight loss journey and today he hit 45 pounds down since last year! His clothes aren't fitting anymore and it's really not fair because he sneaks hamburgers and gas station food. I'm still so proud of him. I'm on my second week of my DUO thrive challenge and it's been so much fun. I'm down about 6 lbs and 6 inches.  I need to work on my exercise routines more but the eating healthier is going pretty good.

God be with you,
Kaylynn Jackson

This year is half over! It's insane how fast time goes. This month was a lot of fun! :) The biggest two things I got to do was go to Youth Conference with our ward youth and three family reunions in two days.

Youth Conference was way fun. I love being a Young Women's leader and this was a great opportunity to get to know the girls. They like to listen to my weird life stories and jam out to music. I drove the "Party Bus" and we just had a great time all around.

For our first family vacation this year, Devin and I drove to Boise, then to Blackfoot, then to Ririe, then Ashton, and Lastly 14 hours home! We totaled over 2400 miles this trip. We got to eat at Tucanos one night with my parents. The last time we were here was the night before our wedding. The food is way good...but VERY expensive. We attended the Wilcock Reunion at Settlers Park in Boise. Here we played games, and I got to see a lot of aunts and uncles.



 That night we drove to Blackfoot and stayed with Devin's grandparents. It was nice to see them and Kamille loves them so much.

 In the morning we went to the Great Lloyd Reunion a few miles away and could only stay for 2 and a half hours. But we got to at least see and hug my Grandpa and a few of the aunts and uncles.



We then hurried to Ririe and spent a few hours at the Hawkes Reunion. We painted birdhouses and chatted with lots of people.


The last two nights we stayed in Ashton and just enjoyed our remaining vacation.





We spent a little time at the mall in Idaho Falls and in that short amount of time, Lillian had a blow out on me and Kamille had an accident in Gymboree. It's crazy how time has changed from walking though the mall with friends looking at clothes and shoes with not a care in the world -to a mom trying to keep her toddler close, smelling like poo, and wiping pee off store floors. I could go a few weeks without leaving the house.

On our 14 hour drive home we got 4 hours into our trip when we got a not so nice reminder that we forgot to give Kamille her her motion sickness medication.... (SO MUCH VOMIT!!!) She was so sad and embarrassed but I just felt like a terrible mom forgetting the medication that morning. After a short pit stop and getting it cleaned up as possible, we continued on home.

In the remaining summer we have two more family reunions and one wedding. So hopefully we get better at the whole travelling thing. :)

Lillian is 6 months on the 7th of July. She is getting huge and I'm afraid we are going to have to move her to 9 month clothes already. She likes to eat everything! Baby food, suck on watermelon, ice cream and we let her taste everything! She got her first hair cut this month too. I just trimmed the long hair to match her hair coming in. It's coming in blond and thick! She doesn't like tummy time but I think she will be crawling soon. She can sit up for a few minutes before she just falls over.
She loves her sister so much and watches her every move.

Kamille is doing great! She is a singing machine and never stops. She loves Lillian and jumping on her is her favorite. Even when I tell her to be soft, she just wants her to play all the time. Kamille is wearing panties full time and has one or two accidents a week. She is now able to go to the bathroom all herself, so that's nice. When she is in there she has to talk about everything out loud (example: I'm peeing, I'm pooping, Don't forget to wipe, Flush the toilet, Wash our hands) She says these phrases in her singing voice. She eats ALL THE TIME. Most mornings I wake up with a little face right above mine saying, "I'm hungry, I need eggs, I need pancakes, I need cheese, I need apple sauce...etc" She goes on and on until I get up and get her a plate of food. I love that she likes to eat fruit and veggies! She is such a good eater.
Devin and I are doing good. Devin has been busy with work and I've been trying my hardest to be the best mother and wife. I have also been doing lots of pictures and having fun with that. This last month was a tough one with our weight-loss journey, we have been eating just fine but working out less and less. So we are starting up again. Everyday is a new day  :) Yesterday I went jogging and it felt great!

God be with you,
Kaylynn Jackson