Kyler Michael Jacobson, Born May 30, 2008

Jason & Mary's third son and our fourth grandson.

Blackhawk Tyson

Jason, Mary, Tyson & Ryder joined us in Swan Valley on Sunday afternoon, the day before Memorial Day, for dinner with Grandma Gayle. Vice President Cheney was in town (as he is frequently) to fish on the river. While he was fishing Jason and Mary and the boys were allowed to get in the Blackhawk helicopters. As you can tell, Tyson thought it was awfully cool!

Hiking Palisades

We are thinking of hiking Mt. Timpanogos in Utah sometime this summer, so we thought we would start getting in shape with a hike over the Memorial Day weekend. We were in Swan Valley visiting Blaine's mom and decided to go up Palisades Creek Canyon. The trail was alright at first, but by the 1st bridge started to get a little muddy. So we turned back. Lucky we did for when we got back to the car the rain turned loose and it rained most of the rest of the day. We would have been soaked if we had gone further into the canyon.

The other pictures shown below will show family members how green the valley is this year (and also make you a little nostalgic.)

Mother's Day

This picture brings back happy memories of my childhood even though I'm the baby in the picture and don't remember when or why it was taken. What I do recall with fondness are my parents who loved me, my brothers, and my sister. They taught us many things and instilled in us good values.

Our home was a happy one due in large part to our mother. Mom filled our home with the sweet sounds of music, beautiful flowers, and mouth-watering aromas. She made us laugh. Mom had a great sense of humor, in fact sometimes she reminded me of Lucille Ball!

On this Mother's Day I want to pay tribute to my Mother, a very special woman. I only hope my children will have the same love for me as I have for her. Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

Pinewood in Pink

(original post May 8) Blaine and Jenn have been working on two cars for a Pinewood Derby, one car for Jenn and one for her friend, Emma (G.). Jenn has named one "Pink Panther" and the other "Spider". It all started during the regular Cub Scout Pinewood Derby this year when a couple of dads were discussing their classic cars from prior years. In order to settle whose car was the fastest ever they persuaded the ward activities committee to sponsor a ward derby open to anybody, adult or child.

The odds-on favorite is the scoutmaster who is also an engineer in his day job. His youngest two of seven sons are now in Cub Scouts and the family turns out championship cars every year in assembly line manner. Several other dads think they have the best car ever. They are the ones who keep their championship car stored in a shoebox protected with cotton balls. Everybody else planning to enter a car is just window dressing. But, who knows, there may be a dark horse.

Perhaps one of those dark horses will be Jenn or Emma. (It's Blaine's hope anyway). We are completely off the radarscope because we haven't had any boys in Cub Scouts for a while and there isn't anybody still in the ward from the time when Jason was a Cub Scouter. Who wins with a pink car anyway? But Jenn's cars have a pedigree. Sixteen years ago (how time flies) Jason had the fastest car on the track for the year. Jenn's Pink Panther is a similar build.

Win or lose, it has been a fun project!

(updated May 15) The Pinewood Derby was held last Saturday, and Jenn and Emma's cars were among the fastest. Each car raced four times against the clock. Jenn & Emma's "Spider" car clocked fastest overall and their "Pink Panther" car came in third, out of a field of 40 or so cars.

"Happy Birtday Dad"

Early yesterday morning Blaine and I attended a marriage in the Boise Temple. We left Jenn at home with instructions to stay indoors and not open the door for anyone. She was also supposed to get dressed and eat breakfast. Since it was Blaine's Birthday Jennifer decided to make a special Birthday banner for him. She was so immersed in what she was doing that she failed to get dressed, make her bed, eat breakfast, or feed Scamp! We came home just before 10:30, as we entered the kitchen Blaine was surprised to see the 6 foot banner taped across the windows. It was colorful and decorated with pictures. The banner read, "Happy Birtday Dad!" We oohed and aahed over it and Blaine gave Jennifer a hug and thanked her for the surprise. For most of the day the banner stayed taped to the window. Several hours passed before Jennifer noticed that she had misspelled "Birthday!" She was so embarrassed. It's funny that not one of us noticed it any earlier.

Time Flies....

Where has the time gone? Today Blaine and I achieved something... a milestone that by the world's standards is getting harder to reach; our 30th wedding anniversary! One problem though, I'm in Boise and he's in Mexico. Before you get too worried, we're not having marital troubles and I didn't miss the plane. Blaine is on a trade mission to Mexico with Idaho's Governor. It just so happened that the trip was scheduled over our anniversary. However, Blaine did give me a dozen roses before he left with a promise that he'll make it up to me later :)

As Blaine and I have reminisced about our life together we have felt very grateful for the many blessings we have received as a result of our marriage in the Washington, D.C. Temple. The most important one is our family. Our 4 children have brought so much joy to us (okay... there have been moments of some anxiety but then we wouldn't know real joy :)) We are thankful for Heavenly Father's Plan of Happiness and the promise that if we live up to our covenants we will be together as a family through eternity.

I tried to find some photos of Blaine and me together without anyone else in the picture. It was really hard but I did find two from last year's trip to Washington, D.C. One is a little dark and we're standing in front of the Washington, D.C. Temple. The second one we are enjoying the cherry blossoms along the Tidal Basin in D.C. I guess we need to make sure that more pictures are taken of just the two of us during our next 30+ years together.