Elder Jenkins

This weekend we took a quick trip to Star Valley for my brother Charlie's mission farewell. He has been called to the Hartford, Connecticut mission and will enter the MTC on June 4th. He gave a great talk on sustaining the Prophet and other church leaders. Then we had a yummy luncheon that included tons of awesome food. We had a lot of family and several of Charlie's friends in attendance. In this photos he's visiting with a table full of friends.




Charlie took a second to pose with Mason and Me.



It was my other brother Danny's birthday on Saturday. He had planned to spend the whole holiday weekend camping, but decided to take a break to attend the farewell and eat real food! My mom had a huge cake for him and we all sang happy birthday. Last Saturday was also our 6th wedding anniversary. I've decided that it's hard relax and enjoy an anniversary when you're 38+ weeks pregnant and also traveling with a 2 1/2 year old. Since I wasn't sure that the doctor would let me go at all, it was great to be able to make the quick trip--anniversary or not!

We're not quite sure when Charlie grew taller than Danny, but he said that although he has the height, Danny has the strength. Although I did beat Charlie arm wrestling several years ago, I'm pretty sure it wouldn't happen again! I think all of my sisters would agree that we have two pretty cool brothers!



This was our attempt to get a family photo! Everyone was there except DanaRae's husband Scott, who was working. Yeah, that's my kid in the front that's trying to escape! He takes after his dad . . .

Finally a Swingset

Mason got this swingset for Easter and we were able to put the slide portion of it together back in March, but we didn't have a place ready in the yard so we could attach the swings. Thanks to Dan's hard work (and Shane's trailer), we were able to get the area finished. Dan laid brick to separate the play area from the yard and we have since moved the swingset back onto the dirt you see in the photo and filled the area with woodchips. Now if it would just stop raining so Mason could play back there!

After all that work, it was still Dan's job to push Mason in the swing!

Okay, so I had a turn, too!

Mason and Kambry (my sister Suzy's youngest) could have swung all night! Melissa was watching Kambry at our house while Suzy and Adam went to Disneyland with Carson and Hallie. Hopefully Kambry felt like she was on a Disneyland ride while she was swinging (in a couple of years she realize that she was jipped!).

One happy kid!

Backyard fun

Dan has been working on this back corner of our yard since we bought this house 5 years ago! We were planning to make a raised flower bed, but decided that it was the most level part of the yard to put Mason's swingset/slide that he got for Easter. He was finally able to get the huge chunks of concrete out (left over from the retaining wall) so he could level it all out.

Mason had fun riding his tricycle around the patio while Dan worked.

He also watched the huge pile of ants!

And watched them some more (Dan sprayed them afterward and they magically disappeared!).

The Living Planet Acquarium

Another rainy day activity--The Living Planet Acquarium in Sandy. It's still in the temporary location until they have enough money to move to the Gateway, so there aren't a ton of exibits, but Mason loved it! We've taken him once before, but it's been a long time. Dan wanted to get out last Friday for an early Mother's Day celebration.

Mason loved watching the little black Sea Horses.

He didn't want to hold still very long for photos, so we had to snap this quick before he wiggled out of my arms!

Mason loved this tank since it had a few fish that resembled the fish from Finding Nemo. There was also a little tank with Nemo (clown) fish that he thought was pretty cool. After the acquarium, Mason and Dan took me to Ruby River Steakhouse at Jordan Commons for a Mother's Day dinner. Yum! You can see more photos on the link with the last post.

Rainy Day Fun!

It was a rainy day last Friday and since Dan was home sick, I had him put this tunnel/tent set together for Mason. You can see his face peeking through the mesh on the tent.

Looking down one of the tunnels.

He thought it was cool to pop up from the center of the 'tunnel wheel'

All that playing wore him right out! I took this photo because I wanted to try to capture the little freckles that are appearing on his cheeks and nose. There are about three tiny freckles right below the outer corner of his eye and you can see one on his nose! Isn't it a little early for freckles to appear?!

You can see more photos at http://picasaweb.google.com/stepkyj/May92008AcquariumAndNewTunnels?authkey=1Bi7Mq_3kmk

My Mom

In honor of Mother’s Day yesterday I wanted to post about my mom! Some of you may know that after several years of wanting to go back to school to become a Registered Nurse, she was finally able to start her first year in the fall of 2007. Well, last week she successfully completed the last final of her first year! It took her many years to get through the required general courses since she could only take classes part time as she worked three jobs, supported her kids in sports, helped our dad through cancer, and worked through many other obstacles. Since the RN courses require that you go to school full time, she quit working so many hours (FINALLY!) and has focused mainly on classes and homework. I’m not sure she knows how much all of us admire her for jumping so many hurdles and having the determination to get this far! It hasn’t been easy for her and she could have taken the easy way out several times, but she stuck with it and now has only one year left! Her family is VERY proud of her and we all know that she has what it will take to get through the final year. I sit back and wonder how she can do all that is required of her and hope that I can accomplish just a sliver of what she has done in her lifetime! YOU ROCK, MOM!!!

Bowl full of Lego's

Have any of you ever wondered what it would be like to eat Lego’s? Well, I hadn’t either, but several months ago I had one of those weird pregnant lady dreams where I was eating a bowl of cereal (Rice Crispies if I remember right) and Lego’s. It didn’t taste so great in my dream, but for some reason I ate them! Well, every time I eat cereal now I get the sickest feeling that my stomach is full of Lego’s! It’s like a lump there that can’t be digested. Sometimes if I drink a soda or have something else to eat, the feeling goes away, but I haven’t been so lucky today! It’s really weird what pregnancy does to all of your senses! One of my neighbors (Carrie Tolman if you know her) told me when she was pregnant with one of her babies that she craved rubber tires and just wanted to take a bite out of one! Sick! Post a comment and let me know if you ever had anything weird like this happen when you were pregnant so I’ll know I’m just not crazy!

Popping Corn

We were out walking the other day and I started singing Popcorn Popping to Mason as I showed him the blossoms on the trees. Then I realized that he probably has no idea what I'm talking about since we've never even popped popcorn with him (although he's known the song for a long time)! Isn't that pathetic?? I probably haven't had my popper out in the past 2 1/2 years!

So, last night I pulled out the kernals and the popper to see how Mason would like it. We pulled the chair up to the counter and he was very interested to see what I was doing . . . until I plugged it in! He jumped off the chair and ran as far away from the popper as he could get without losing sight of it! It took some coaxing, but we got him to climb back on the chair to watch.

He was hesitant as he watched the kernals popping around, but when the white stuff started pouring out he loved it!

He climbed back off the chair to soak it all in and laughed so hard as the popcorn shot out into the bowl!After all that fun and excitement, Mason still wouldn't even try the popcorn. Doesn't the look on his face say "you guys really eat this stuff???"To make it more appealing, I turned it into carmel popcorn and he still wouldn't consider even a small taste! I guess that leaves more for us!

We Need a Name!

Our poor baby still does not have a name! We have a long list of names that would work just fine, but can't narrow it down much! So, we're asking for help from our friends and family! The survey to the right has a few names that we've considered (although none of them are definate), so please let us know which name you like best from the list. Or, if you have suggestions for a great name, please comment on this post! Thanks for your help!

Big Boy Bed

Since we needed to turn Mason's toddler bed back into a crib, we bought him a new 'big-boy' bed!


Dan and I put the bed together while Mason was taking a nap on the recliner (well, Dan put the bed together and I assembled the drawers).


When he woke up we showed him his new big-boy room and he climbed right up on the bed and started jumping!

I think he liked it!
Dan's thinking about trading him rooms!

The first night Mason slept great in his bed! We checked on him a couple of times during the night and he didn't climb out at all! He's been much better at sleeping on this bed rather than on a heap of pillows on the floor (although he as still fallen asleep on the floor a couple of times). We often find him outside the covers and laying sideways on the bed!

We still need to put his dresser together and we're thinking about painting the room to match the Cars bedding. Like it or not, our little guy is turning into a big boy!

One creative chic!

Thanks to Holly Fisher for creating blog backgrounds and letting those of us who are a little less creative (and computer literate) to use them for free! Holly created the background I'm using. Thanks, Holly!

Mason and Mom at Demolition Derby (Minus the mullets)

Mason and Mom at the Demolition Derby. (Summer of 07)

(Dan wanted to post this to make sure he knew how to add photos and posts. Now that he knows, I'm nervous for what he'll put on here!)

Due Date Countdowon

The countdown to delivery is on! My official due date is June 7th--just 5 weeks away! My doctor said he'd start me a week early, but I'll have to see how things are going at that point. I'm sure I'll be begging him to get this girl out of me by then! Below is a photo of my belly from a week ago (34 weeks). I thought I'd leave my double chin and my quadroople butt out of it!