The Whole Fam, Fall 2020
~Merry Christmas and a Happy 2021 New Year From The Matt and Carla Jackson Family~
Well where do we start and what do we say for this past 2020 Year of The Covid-19?! Despite the many challenges and strangeness that this past year has brought into the lives of all God’s children around the world, we are counting our blessings and have personally seen His hand individually and as a family in so many ways & aspects this past year. Despite our Hawaii trip being cancelled, life with a full family just doesn’t stop...so we managed to make the best of our current times and to roll with the pandemic while doing our best to be smart about everything going on around us.
The Siblings, Fall 2020
The Girl Siblings
The Parents, Matt and Carla
Feeling Old- Matt & Carla stay busy on the daily managing the family, homefront and our business Renovation Resolutions in Sumner, WA. With everyone in our state spending so much quality time at home, it has proved to be a good thing for our business as many homeowners have seemed to be inspired to remodel and renovate their homes. Since the pandemic, the demand has called for hiring a handful of new employees and pulling in more subcontractors. Managing the online home-schooling thing is in full swing and from the sound of things...school at home isn’t going to change any time soon. Remote online school has its benefits and downfalls; oftentimes it has us all wishing our wifi could be better out here in our neck of the woods! We are a night owl family to begin with, then you throw in the homeschool thing and all bed-times have gone out the window; there’s just not enough hours in a day! We’ve recently done some renovations of our own putting in a much needed new back deck and making the property down towards the river more useful. We both serve in callings at church, Matt is our ward Clerk and Carla is the Relief Society Secretary which we enjoy the involvement in. In his spare time, Matt enjoys grilling and smoking his meats, shooting his guns, golfing, ATVing and working to further new ideas and inventions. Carla enjoys dabbling in creativity in the kitchen, party planning, decorating the Homefront for each season and holiday, photo taking, family memory making and serving.
Josh
Josh who just turned 14 in November has always been passionate about anything with wheels. No surprise this past year he has done quite a bit of working on, fixing up and even selling his ATV Quads and more so- he’s enjoyed his times riding in Oregon at the Sand Dunes. This past year- the boys hit Winchester Bay, Sand Lake and Florence Oregon in their riding adventures. Josh is quick on his toes and we can always count on him to fix or build anything around our home that needs attention with tools or parts. As an 8th grader, Josh has enjoyed drumline through his middle school years and oftentimes he’s found tapping or drumming on anything he can get his hands on. Josh enjoys serving in his church calling with planning activities and goals as President of his Quorum. He is growing up like lightning and by the way it looks, Josh will probably grow to be the tallest of all our boys including his dad.
BreAnna
Our 20 year old BreAnna graduated Evergreen Beauty College this past year with her Aesthetics Degree. She is into beauty, skincare and fashion. Bre’s main focus right now is lashing “eye-lash extensions.” Bre is currently working full-time at our business design showroom as the “Schedule Coordinator” while she works on fixing up and planning for her own Lashing business she will open in 2021 (the state has just recently opened back up for her to take her testing for her Aesthetics License.) Bre enjoys going on adventures to find natural outdoor beauty and waterfalls with hiking and road trips. She recently bought a new jeep to help aid in these outdoor adventures and over the summer & fall she’s done quite a bit of this with her friends; she also took a trip to Utah to explore many landmarks of outdoor beauty.
Jarom
Our oldest Jarom is 22. After returning home from Buenos Aires Argentina last year, Jarom now speaks fluent spanish which we and even some of our Spanish speaking friends were impressed by. Jarom settled back home nicely starting work full time for our business as “The Supply Chain Manager.” Jarom is currently attending college online through Pierce College working towards his business degree and when the course opens back up (covid-permitting), he is scheduled to start Real Estate School. Jarom also does Website Design & IT Maintenance for other businesses on the side. Jarom enjoys snowboarding, working on additions to his car and researching & shooting guns.
Brooklynne
Brooklynne our 11 year old is outgoing, all girl and she loves attention. She enjoys choreographing and performing her dance and cheer routines and teaching others her choreography. No doubt Brooklynne will be a teacher of some sort in her future! Besides her obvious passion for dance, cheer and gymnastics, this past year Brooklynne has started to enjoy baking. Mom was happy about the baking as it put the daily slime-making aside, this was also a skill that she could probably do in her sleep...not certain of just how many gallons of glue she went through in this phase! Brooklynne has also proved to be quite the entrepreneur with her lemonade and hand-made jewelry selling stands this past summer; her and her friends made a small fortune thanks to our great neighbors.
Saydee
As of December, our youngest little Saydee is now six years old. She is eager to learn, impress and to create; she blissfully goes about her carefree kindergarten life with energy and happiness. Saydee is independent, sensitive, loving, full of imagination and a smart little fire-cracker. Saydee is a social-butterfly and will make friends with anyone and everyone. She is an open book...oftentimes a little bit too truthful about things :) Saydee is very colorful, loves art and crafts (there is not an Amazon box delivered to our household that goes to waste) and depending on any given day, she will be found dressing up as a beautiful princess or a tough superhero...seriously the best of both worlds with this gal!
Elleisha
Ellie is 18 now and she was our 2020 “Quarantine” High School Graduate. Ellie graduated high school with the “Student of the Year” title for her Cosmetology Program through the PCSC at Clover Park Tech College. Although it was a lot of work with late nights and early morning seminary mixed in, it was a great opportunity for her to graduate HS with her Hair Design Degree. Ellie still manages to stay busy while attending college locally and working two jobs to save money. After Ellie turns 19 this coming year, she plans to serve an 18 month mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. She is anxious and nervous at the same time to find out where she will be serving but she knows she will be sent to where she is supposed to go. After returning from her mission, she plans to open up a Hair Salon of her own.
Spencer
Spencer, 16 this past year is our newest driver in the family and no joke, the front of our home looks more like a used car lot now than a driveway. With the corona-virus and it shutting the driving schools down for a while, it put a damper on Spencer’s plans to get his license on his actual b-day since he was still needing to take the driving test...but all in good time, the day they opened back up he had an appointment set and passed his test. As a junior in high school, this year Spencer spends half of his high school day at the Pierce County Skills Center (currently still remotely online) working towards his IT and Cyber Security education for certifications and credits that will also transfer to college. Spencer is very technically inclined, excels in school with good grades (he ended last year with straight A’s) and he is a member of the National Honor Society. Besides his addiction to buying the newest shoes that NIke drops, Spencer’s new thing is weight-lifting. Minus Sunday, (Covid-mandates permitting) he hits the gym daily and has been working on those muscles & abs; they are coming along quite well which he is happy about :)
The Boy Siblings
Mom and her Girls
Dad and his Boys
We are All: looking & moving forward with faith and hope in 2021! This year has taught us more than ever that our home can be a place of protection, peace and harmony from the world around us. In 2020, we’ve learned first hand that by building our foundation on the Gospel of Jesus Christ, our home can be a sanctuary where our family can be spiritually sheltered from the raging storms of life. From our “Quaranteam” to yours...Sending love and warm wishes for a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year~ The Jackson Family
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