The Jenkins Family

A couple of days ago David and Monica brought their kids to Utah for the first time. This awesome family came to stay with us last night and went to church with us this morning. We had a great afternoon visiting with them and the kids had so much fun making new friends.  Keith baptized Monica on his mission and she was only 16 years old! It has been so fun for Keith to see Monica doing so well in the church and to see her cute kids and what a great family she and David have.

The girls really had fun together.  Their oldest is named Sariah!   Here is Corrine, Sariah, Sariah, and Heather.

The boys LOVED playing together.  They really enjoyed playing laser tag.

Thanks for coming to visit David and Monica!  We love you guys! I think we need to come to San Diego to visit!

Days of 47 Parade!!

The Days of 47 Parade is a big deal in Utah. It is actually the second largest parade in the country . . . second only to Macey's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Pretty cool, right?! Corrine got the opportunity to participate in the parade with our stake float.  I have to thank my very good friend Brenda for taking care of Corrine all day as well as getting all of the pictures for me!  I had to get Corrine out the door at 5 A.M.!   This was very painful for two people that are not morning people at all! Corrine got to be in the parade with one of her very good friends, Cera. Here they are at 5 a.m. ready to roll! I love the sunglasses at 5 a.m. Maybe Kailey is asleep and we don't know it.

This is Corrine next to the float from our stake.

Here is Corrine with my friend Brenda and her two daughters, Cera and Kailey. I'm so grateful they were with her during the parade!

Our float was #90 in the line up. I think there were only 99 total . . . so they waited A LONG TIME before they could get going.

 Waiting . . . . .

They did get to catch a glimpse of Elder Oaks. My friend got to shake his hand and Corrine was right next to her.  Too bad Corrine didn't get to shake his hand. I guess he was in a very big hurry to get somewhere before the parade got going. Some people are important and busy. I'm just busy.  I digress . . . more waiting . . . but now they are waiting outside in the sunshine . . . looking more like this parade will happen!

Finally they got going! My friend tried to take a picture of them dancing. I guess the picture taking threw them off their groove and it messed them up!

I was so bugged that we couldn't see Corrine on the TV, but I'm glad we got these pictures and I'm glad she had this experience.  She will never forget it!  It was long and hot!  Good job Corrine!

Summer

Summer has been SO BUSY! I'm trying to think of what we have been doing . . . Here is a brief run down: Jakob was at Youth Conference. It was a great experience for him. I'm so glad he got a chance to go! He played Hyrum Smith in the reenactments. It was a pretty big deal in our stake. Jakob has also been busy working. I'm pretty sure he worked 1,000 hours in June. He would leave the house at 6 AM and be gone most of the day. This was a good thing for him . . . at least the paycheck was. Jakob has also started teaching piano.  Right now he only has one student, but he would like to get a few more.

Keith had to teach a lesson to the Relief Society and the Priesthood in church. Because he was teaching the women, he knew that he would need to have a centerpiece. I helped him with the idea and Corrine helped with the "arrangement" and the duct tape bow.  Pretty cute, I think.

Corrine has been busy with parade practice (learning the dance for the big parades), being in 3 different parades this summer, Beehive camp, and, on top of that, she also got called to be the Beehive Class President. Corrine got her black belt this summer and joined the robotics team PrototypeX. She also went to Oakcrest. This was a great experience for her! This is her riding up with my cousin's daughter, Ashlee. I'm so glad they spent some time together.

We had Jakob's birthday, Kate's birthday, and Hayden's birthday. Whew! We also went to Keith's summer work party, but I didn't get any pictures of that. It was at Sugarhouse Park. Jakob and Corrine couldn't go, but the other kids had fun. Hayden tried (unintentionally) to catch a Frisbee with his mouth. He lost a little blood and a tooth. It was exciting!  Hayden also learned how to drive a four-wheeler. On the 2nd day of driving, he rolled the four-wheeler on top of himself.  He got pretty banged up. Hayden also got a lesson on driving the lawn tractor, which was a little more his and my speed. I prefer him riding the lawn tractor to a four-wheeler.

 We had our very good friends, the Nyes, come for 4th of July weekend. We had so much fun with them! I should have taken more pictures, but I was busy enjoying the company! This was Kate's first fireworks show. She LOVED it.

Glow sticks are the best. You can do what ever it is that Hayden is doing here with them.  I'm sure it's cool.

My dad invited us to a BBQ party hosted by his work. The kids had SO MUCH fun! Kate loved "swimming."

Sariah and Hayden LOVED the large water bounce house!  Who wouldn't?! Here is Hayden on the slide down.

 Kate really enjoyed a sucker.  It happened to be black. What a mess.

Jakob and Keith were invited to go to the Styx concert!This is Keith & Jakob with Keiths brother, Brian and his son Ethan.

We have also been busy with church callings, many meetings for the robots team, yard work (which we are failing miserably at), lots of meetings, research on school options for Jakob, and general survival cleaning, cooking, and laundry. We have also been enjoying our backyard . . . when the temperature isn't 100+. We have had a few families over for a BBQ and it has been so nice to visit with friends.  We still have a couple of families that we need to invite but it has been crazy scheduling around busy people! Maybe we are the busy people we can't schedule around. Summer isn't even done yet!  We actually have our "summer vacation" planned for the first 2 weeks of August when Keith's sister and her family will come to stay!

Happy Birthday Hayden!

Its lucky #7 for Hayden this year! I asked him what he wanted for his birthday and the list was endless... and ever changing.  Hayden wanted a big friend party but his mother is a little bit unorganized. I never got around to inviting anyone.  Lame excuse, I know. I did get his best friend over for dinner and birthday cake, so that was pretty good. Hayden and Cannon are great friends!

After pizza, the boys watched a 10 minute Curious George while I cleaned off the table.  I'll be sad when Hayden is too old for a Curious George TV break at a birthday party.

Ok, back to party mode.  Presents!!

Aww, Sariah and Hayden are pretty good friends. Im grateful.

We went to a ward party a month or so ago and one of the boys brought laser guns. Hayden had a BLAST.  Keith and I knew at that moment what Hayden would be getting for his birthday. We were so excited for him to get his birthday present!

Here is the first team headed out to shoot. It was Hayden and Cannon against Keith and Jakob. The younger boys did much better than I thought they would holding off the old guys.

This is fun for all ages!

What is with the Gansta' hold, Hayden?  How have we not taught you proper gun handling?

Get-em' Sariah!

Always start the training while they are young.

Its hard to run for cover with the 2 year old.

Best just to stand your ground and fight.

Good job looking for cover, Corrine. Look at all these important skills my kids are developing.

 Hayden did request an oreo cake.  Here ya go!  This was actually pretty fun to make and one of the less stressful cakes I've done. It also required a lot of whipped topping and oreos. Two very popular items at our house.

Happy Birthday Hayden!