JOYFUL CHRISTMAS..Jackson's 1st..Part 2

Here's the continuation of our trip to South AR, plus a celebration at my house!

The day after Christmas, we headed to Russell's parent's house to celebrate the holiday!

We opened gifts. They were tickled to get the personalized plate and framed picture of Jackson.

The three of us! Oh, we love our son, Jackson Randolph!

The best Christmas present!

Ricky enjoyed showing Jackson how to take a "selfie." HA!

Jackson loves them!

Jackie cooked a great lunch: chicken spaghetti, garlic bread, and salad.

That night, we had the Lawson Christmas!

BJ and his little girl, Eve. What a sweet little girl!

Mamaw Lawson, Jackson, and Eve.

On the 27th, we went to Russell's grandparent's house.

Love this picture of 4 Price boys!

Papaw playing peek-a-boo with J. So cute.

Jackson enjoyed the ribbon and wrapping paper.

We stayed at KK (my mom) and BA's house and KK was so excited to read this Rudolph book to Jackson. Rudolph's nose lit up while reading the book. Too fun!

KK is so proud of her baby grandboy!

We truly enjoyed our few days in South Arkansas. It was wonderful to see many family members and a few friends. If you have read this blog even for a short time, you know family is everything to me. I cannot say enough how much fun we had!

Fast forward to January 3rd.......

Whew! That was fast! ;)

I call these cookies "New Year's cookies," because I still used a few cookie cutters from the Christmas collection, but it's still Winter, so I used snowflake, snowman, and bell cutters.

My mom's family came to our house this year to celebrate Christmas! Most of the family got to come, so we were tickled about that. We had ham, macaroni special, green beans with almonds, bread, and death by chocolate for dessert. It was our family's Christmas get together, so of course we had more munchies, like crackers and dips, and olive cheese bread. Thanks to the Pioneer Woman for many recipes, yet again! :)

Opening gifts!

My cousin, Parke and his sweet wife, Anna. This is their 1st Christmas as "Mr. and Mrs." :)

My uncle Mike, Aunt Dodie and Jackson!

My Aunt Molly!

Emily and her very tall boyfriend, Cable. They are so adorable together!

Just the 3 of us again! :)

Kathy (Mama) and Molly!

Kelly, Logan, and Lauren!

Lauren and I are two peas in a pod. She is so very special to me! We know how to have fun and be adventurous! It is so fun to watch her play with Jackson.

It was awesome spending time with MANY family members. My heart just bursts with JOY when I see any family member, but my heart almost overflows with JOY when I can celebrate Jesus' birth many times, not only at Christmastime, with my husband, Russell, and our son, Jackson.

Christmas may be over, but let's not ever forget that Jesus, the Messiah, LOVES and ADORES you!

So now, on January 7th, let's try to fly past any Winter blues that may come and think positive. I have really been thinking about how to kinda "revamp" this blog. Obviously still have J's pics, but add more. If you have any ideas, feel free to share. I have ideas, but y'all just share away! Again, have a wonderful 2015!

In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they my see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven. Matthew 5:16

I Cross My Heart: Todd and Dana's Wedding

Saturday, October 18th was a very special day. Todd and Dana said, "I Do." Russell and Todd are best friends and have known each other for so long. He was so honored to be in Todd's wedding.

Jackson was so excited to attend his very 1st wedding! He was so happy during the ceremony that he was squealing! :)

The wedding party rode on a tractor and trailer.

Russell took this picture of Todd before the wedding. He was so excited!

This was such a neat idea. The rings were attached to this piece of wood. So cool.

Father of the Groom. We love Bo!

A rose in memory of Todd's mom, JoAnn. She was definitely looking down on him during this special day.

Dana right after the wedding! So pretty!

Love this picture of such a happy couple.

Beautiful rings on the bouquet.

Kylie is so sweet!

Family pic! It was such a perfect day for an outdoor wedding!

Wrangler shirt and of course the boutonniere. Yes, that's fresh flowers in a shotgun shell. :) That's so Todd! It was right up his alley.

It was SO great to see Tara and her sweet girl, Dixie!

Russell and Tara have known each other since grade school and we went to college together. Love this of us with our babies.

Sisters! Jackie, Phyllis, and Connie. Jackie was such a huge help for the bride and groom. She did a lot of behind the scenes things. :)

Mama helped so much with Jackson.

Jackson's serious face cracks me up. I think I have figured out that when he is around a lot of people, he just observes...a lot! :)

Just a random picture of the bouquet on a tractor.

Some of the wedding party.

Cake! I love the sign above the table. Dana did a great job!

So exciting!

Jackie and Ricky with sweet J.

Tara and Dixie. Little Dixie loved the votive candles!

Friends!

Love this picture!

I took Jackson home a little early, and Russell stayed a bit longer.

Look at that bonfire! We are so happy for Dana and Todd. I have known Todd for as long as I have known Russell-almost ten years! We are so glad Todd found Dana!

But I will sing of your strength, in the morning I will sing of your love, for you are my fortress, my refuge in times of trouble. Psalm 59:16

Jackson's Adventures in South Arkansas

This summer has been so great with our sweet boy. Russell, Jackson and I headed to South Arkansas a couple of weeks ago and we were all so very excited about it.  

Jackson even had a special outfit for the long drive. It was his first long trip, so we tried to be prepared for anything-including dirty diapers on the road. HA! He was looking so cool in his "Off to Grandma's" outfit and matching sunglasses. YAY!

KK was SO tickled and over the moon to see Jackson and give him many kisses and hugs.

Jackson's first "trip" to see the "awesome car." It's really an inside joke that my Daddy told us about a long time ago. I plan to tell him all about it someday.

Before we headed to Magnolia, we stopped to see Phyllis, Russell's aunt, at her work. She was so happy to hold and meet Baby Jackson!

Russell's uncle George and Jackson

Mamaw and Papaw meet our lil prince.

Ricky, Mamaw Price, Papaw Price, Jackson, and Russell. So special!

Mamaw Lawson also met him and was so glad!

So very sweet!

Deer behind Jackie and Ricky's.

Jackson loves Jackie and Ricky!

At Wilson Gardens

This little "collage" is special to me. The top picture was taken in October 2005. Our sweet college friend, Karis, took the picture. Russell and I had been dating six months and the garden was fairly new when we started dating, so it became our favorite place. Russell proposed to me in that same spot in December 2006. Years later, on June 28, 2014, we took a picture with our sweet Jackson Randolph. What blessings abound!

On Sunday, we went to my home church in Camden. Jackson was loved by the sweetest ladies in the nursery, Irene and Alicia.

Here is Irene and Jackson. This is how he looked when we got to the nursery. He was OUT!

Janet was over the moon excited to meet Jackson. She was definitely one of our prayer warriors during the journey to have Jackson and she was just beaming! Janet was also my Sunday school teacher in high school!

Attempt #1 at getting a good "Sunday picture" of lil J. HA!

OH! Here's a cute one! :)

Our family in front of the house I grew up in.

KK and Jackson. I love this!!!

One of my best friends, Haley, met him also! Sweet, sweet!

Friends for 8 years!

Monday, Kelly and Lauren came! We loved taking walks with Jackson, as stroller rides are one of his favorite things. :)

B.A. recently got a side by side Polaris and so he took Lauren and I around the neighborhood in it. It was too fun!

Tuesday, we had a ladies (and Jackson) lunch date!

Mama, me, Emily, and Pat

Kim, Jackson, Kelly, and Lauren.

We had lunch at Catherine's Bistro. I had a cheese quesadilla with queso and salsa. So yummy!

My sweet Aunt Nancy, Katie Lee, and Zoe came to meet Jackson! The girls just loved holding him and taking pictures of him too. Too fun!

I have shared many times my sister's talent. She has many talents-singing, teaching, cooking, etc. But she is downright famous for her sugar cookies. I don't recall her making 4th of July ones before, but this year, she did!

Kelly, Kerrstyn, B.A's granddaughter, and Lauren start to ice the cookies.

Here are just a few cookies we decorated together. It truly is a labor of love to make these things, but so worth it.

After Jackson's bath on my bed. He loved to just lay on the bed and coo to us. It was so fun and precious!

Wednesday, it was time to go home. BA, Mama, and the most precious boy around.

He was kinda sad to leave KK! AWW! :) We had a great visit and Jackson loved his adventures in South Arkansas. He loves all of you! It was so great to see everyone!

This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1 John 4:10