Jackson Family

It’s going to be ok

On our road trip to Utah I got to photograph the super awesome Jackson family!

Julie’s mornings start of with her hitting the ground running. The cool thing about their family is that, even though they have 4 kids and everyone going all kinds of directions, they take time every morning to around the breakfast table to be still and silent together.

They all remind each other that no matter what happens today, everyone is going to be OK.

it’s a little thing

What an awesome neutral ground to start off each day knowing that everyone is going to be OK!  Little things make a big difference in everyday life.  So many parents are doing so many things so well!

I get to hang out with such awesome families!  Each family does little things that they don’t even realize they do, that are so powerful.  I love it!

in sync (not the boy band from the 90s)

Grant is a dad that’s right in the thick of things with Julie, you can tell that they are in this family thing together.

While she’s helping with homework, he’s stirring the stir fry and talking to their daughter and then a few minutes later, Julie is prepping for the ice cream taste testing extravaganza that will happen after dinner while Grant is helping with homework.

They have a great way of just passing the baton off to each other so seamlessly that it’s obvious it’s just they way they do things.

giving space to be themselves

Each of their kids is so interesting, too!

They’ve done things like start a dog sitting business (already made lots of money at it), founded the stage crew at their school, going fly fishing and kayaking, play racquetball, noticing when another kid is struggling, referreeing for recreational soccer, creating their own little garden on the deck of their house, and remembering to always say thank you.

My favorite thing about their family, though, is how kind they are to each other.  Being together is their favorite thing and it totally shows in their everyday life.

Jackson family fun activity

The Jackson family has taste testing extravaganzas!  Sounds fun, right?

A few months ago they did an eclair taste test (say that 10 times, fast) to determine who makes the best eclairs locally.  They bought an eclair from all kinds of places and bakeries, they each got to taste every eclair.  A chart was created on their big board and they kept track of each person’s rating between 1-10.  The eclair with the most points was deemed the winner of best eclair in their area.

This time, they did their taste test with vanilla ice cream to determine which was best.  Want to know which one won?  Make sure to scroll all the way to the bottom of this post! 😉

Want to do your own taste test?

1. Choose what you’d like to taste test

2. Get at least one of each brand or one from every bakery in the area

3. Set up a chart to track everyone’s ratings

4. Add up the results

5. If they are local, take them a prize for being the best in the area

Have fun!  If you do your own taste test, come back here and share what you tasted and what won, in the comments! 🙂

what Julie said about her first look at their photos:

We all just sat down together before bed and watched our video for the first time. What a fun experience! You’ve captured so many classic looks, happenings, and mannerisms. Thank you. Now you’ve got us begging for more!

It would be much more convenient for me to sit and watch this video with you so that I could explain to you how this photo is my favorite because Scotti always does that with his hand, or how Everett always makes that face when he talks to me.  I love the picture of Grant and Sammi making dinner.  I love the picture of Loosey, our dog, sticking her face out from under the dinner table during the prayer.  So typical.  I love the trampoline picture with Everett up in the air.  I love the ones of the piano and the ones of helping with homework.  Those are exactly the things I wanted to get.  I love the ones of Scotti off to the side hula hooping because that is also so typical of all of us.  There is always a second to get a little hula hooping in, right?