Highlights From 2012 Part 1

I know this is a little late, considering January is almost over, but I want to make sure I highlighted some of the great things that happened in my life this past year. 2012 was a great year full of numerous ups and downs, and lots of life lessons. Along with the learning and trying moments, we (Taylor and I) were blessed with so many incredible things, and great memories to accompany them. I wanted to make sure that I am able to remember some of these wonderful memories. So here are our highlights of 2012!

January

Moved
We started out the year by moving into the amazing, and coveted guest house of my dear cousins, the Denton's  Its a two bedroom, one bath guest house with a nice open kitchen and family room. We have loved living here the past year. Its been fun to be part of a great neighborhood and ward!

49ers Amazing Playoff Win
I didn't really start liking football until I was about 10 years old, but once I did I became obsessed with it! Since I wanted to be a receiver in the NFL, like Jerry Rice, the 49ers then became my favorite team! Once I became a true 49ers fan I had only watched them play in the play offs twice, and both times they were defeated:( So when the 49ers made it back to the play-offs for the first time in 10 years I was so excited to watch my team once again in the playoffs. And what a game it was! They were down 32-29 with 9 seconds left when Alex Smith threw a 14 yard pass to Vernon Davis to win the game! Even though they ended up losing in overtime to the Giants the next week, this was still one heck of a game that I will never forget! Now I can't wait for this year's Super Bowl! Hopefully it will be a highlight of 2013!

Check out the highlights from one of the greatest games ever played! 

Disneyland Trip

The happiest place on Earth with my favorite person, makes for one my favorite highlights of the year! If you want to try and find a time to go to Disneyland when its not crowded I would recommend January. The longest we had to wait in line was 22 minutes! (Yes we timed it) Along with that I got to ride on the new and improved Star Tours for the first time, and then go on Splash Mountain 4 times in a row!

February

Scouts
In early February I got called to be the second counselor in young men's presidency in our ward. What that means is that I was would be working on scouting and other activities with 12 and 13 old scout. So since February every Wednesday night and Sunday I am hanging out with this guys trying to teach them important life lessons, but I feel like they have been teaching more than anything I have taught them! Let's just say that this calling hasn't been as easy as I thought it would be, but it has been very rewarding! I have learned so much from these boys, and I'm so grateful that I've been able to work with them. There have been a lot of hard times, but even more good times. I look forward to another year of merit badges, camp outs, and great spiritual growth from these boys.

If you count them, you will notice there are 15 of those little rascals! 

Trevor's Wedding

In mid February I traveled up with my family to snowy Utah to see my cousin Trevor's wedding. Trevor and I are only a few months apart and we have been best friends pretty much since birth. It was great to be able to be a part of his wedding, and spend time with family.

March

Jake's Mission Call
"Elder Jackson you are hear by called to serve in the Utah Provo mission". Yeah right was my first thought when I heard Taylor's little brother Jake say that's were he was going on his mission. But after finding out that this was really where he was serving, I couldn't be more excited for him. Having served a mission myself, I was so excited for him, and all the joy he was about to experience from being a missionary.

Looks like we are all looking at different camera's. I'm so grateful to be apart of this family! 

New York City Trip

Before going to New York, I used to always wonder what's so cool about New York. But after spending 8 days there I have fallen in love with that place. (Not like I how I love Mesa, or Brisbane, but still pretty close) We had so much fun touring the city, eating delicious food, watching Broadway plays, and hanging out with her gracious and fun cousins. We were so blessed that her cousins, who are currently living there for school, let us stay with them. Not only did we have a fun time, but we also learned a lot from each other. (We spent about 8 days straight with each other so of course our patience would be tested lol) Taylor learned that I'm not the best navigator in the world, and I learned how much she loves gluten free baked goods!

These are my favorite pictures of my beautiful and elegant wife!

Got stung by my first scorpion! 

Growing up in AZ one of my favorite things to do was to go scorpion hunting around the house. On a good night we could catch up to about 20-30 of those little critters. All those years of sharing a house with those scorpions I never once got stung. Then one night this past March I was sitting on my bed doing homework when I felt a sharp pain in my lower back. I stood up to check and see what it was and I started feeling this sharp pain in different parts of my back. Then I felt the little legs crawling up my back and that's when I freaked out! I ran into the other room, thinking Taylor was done with her piano lessons for the day, and I ripped off my shirt hoping to shake it off. Once I had my shirt off I thought there may be more so I started taking off my belt, when Taylor yelled "What are you doing!?". I didn't realize her piano student was still there and I was about ready to strip down it front of them! The actual sting didn't hurt too bad, but my back was a little numb for a few hours. Besides that I didn't have any other side effects, and now it has turned into a fun story!


Tay's B-day
Taylor's birthday was a fun day spent eating all her favorite foods (which are some of mine) watching Hunger Games, and hanging out with family! It was pretty low key, but we both had a lot fun with each other. (And we were also still recovering from our New York trip!)

April

Started Blogging
I wrote my first post on April 8th! You can check it out here.

Crazy Diet 
Last April I was probably the most fit I have every been in my life! I didn't eat gluten  diary, sugar  and many other things for the whole month. Along with that I exercised a lot more consistently than I usually do. My second blog post was all about this diet. I kept the diet up for a few weeks after the 30 dyas, slowly adding in the foods I had stopped eating. Unfortunately I haven't been as strong as I would like (sometimes food is just too good), but I'm working on it!

Here is a little sample of what we ate for that month. Brown Rice pasta (with sauce without sugar) was one of the staples of this diet! I didn't realize how hard it is to find pasta sauce without sugar in it. Man, I need to start eating like this again:/

Green shakes were also one of my favorites! 

1st Anniversary 
On the 22nd Taylor and I celebrated our first Anniversary! Since we were both in school, and had finals coming up, and as well as just taking a trip to New York (and I also had a surprise cabin trip for when we finished with the semester the next month) we decided to just go out to eat and catch a movie together. We both love going to movies, and we both loving eating, so it was fun, easy going night. We went to Outback (and yes we both stayed within the no gluten, dairy diet) and then I gave in and we saw The Lucky One.

May

May was one of my favorite months of this past year. With The Avengers coming out, me finishing school for the semester, a late anniversary cabin trip, visits from good friends, and Taylor's life changing surgery, we experienced great blessings, and great memories! I actually did a post all about it back in May, which you can read here.

June

Marianne's Wedding

My little sister's wedding was a day I thought I would never see, not because she couldn't find a guy to marry or anything, but because she is my little sister!!! She's not supposed to grow up! But she did, and she couldn't have picked a better guy for our family. He's got the essentials for a great brother in law (you know he likes Star Wars and all that stuff). The weekend was spent hanging out with family, and all the other fun festivities of weddings! Even though I was sick with a cold, it was still a great time! Another reason it was so fun was because of the dancing! Anyone who has been to an Olsen wedding knows that when it comes to dancing we know how to get down! We may not be the most graceful, but we do know how to have fun, and make complete fools of ourselves in the process.

Here we are the night before the wedding singing the traditional wedding song, Forever in Blue Jeans by Neil Diamond. My Grandpa usually sheds a tear when he hears us sing this song. 

Comic Book Nerd
I've always loved comic book heroes but I have never really gotten too into reading the actually comics, until this last summer. One of the goals of the Avengers movie was to get people to be interested in the comics, and it sure got me. I had a lot of fun reading some really cool stories this summer, and talking to other comic book nerds at the local comic book store.

These are a few of the books I read. 

Lake Powell Trip
Having lived in AZ my whole life I had never been to Lake Powell until this past summer. We went up there with Taylor's family, and her cousins the Udall's. We spent about three days boating, exploring the lake, watching movies, playing games, and just hanging out on the house boat. As I've grown older I've come to realize that sometimes its fun just to sit around and chat with people. This was especially fun because I got to know Taylor's cousins a lot better. Another one of my favorite things was exploring all the crevices of the lake. One day I would love to take jet skis through there!

Here is most of the gang!

Taylor's cousin CJ, partying it up on the tube!

All of the "kids"

Me and the Jackson Boys

Last day of MCC and Math 
In order to transfer to ASU, I needed one more math credit, and I was able to take it in one month over the summer! It was a weird feeling to go to MCC one last time, but it was a great feeling at the same time!



This is the end of the of the first half of the year, the rest is soon to come!