Friday, December 26, 2008

Christmas Eve

I think last years picture turned out better but I thought I would try again. The kids remembered it from last year and kept reminding me to take a picture. They are still adorable to David and I. We had a wonderful Christmas. We have so much to be thankful for.

Thursday, December 25, 2008

Small town benefits

We were reading the local paper tonight and noticed two bright, familiar faces. They did such a good job that night. So did George, Ginger, and Lucy with their own dance routines. I got it all on the camcorder the night of their dance performance, so I didn't post any pictures but these were a nice surprise.

Some closer views.


Just to add a little color. Here is a picture that Ginger painted at school about a month ago. I just love to see what she comes up with.

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

A Korean treat

My parents sent my sister a mix to make this yummy Korean treat, "ho-dduck". It is a yeast dough that you shape around a brown sugar, cinnamon, and peanut mixture and cook like a pancake. Well my sister gave it to us so David could translate and make it. We were going to make it while we were in Utah last spring but we ran out of time. Anyway, we made it on Sunday and it turned out really good. David did say that it tastes better on the streets of Seoul in the cold weather. I guess with us coming to Provo we could have waited a little bit longer and shared with you Gina. We'll have to try the recipe out that I found.


Here is beautiful Christmas decoration that Callie made for us at school. She is so creative and crafty. She did not get that from me.

Here we go again!

We are moving once again!

David will be taking a new position in Provo in a nursing home starting on the 5th of January. We are sad to leave this beautiful part of the country, but excited for what is ahead of us. We have made many wonderful friends here, as we have in every place we've lived. We are also sad to move away from some of David's family but we are grateful for the time we have been living closer to them. We will miss them dearly!

After this week, when the kids are out of school, it will really hit me. I am too busy with concerts and Christmas preparations. We are glad to have movers this time which will save our backs and my belly. Anyway, I'll do my best to keep everyone posted.


Thursday, December 11, 2008

Christmases Past and Present

These pictures are the same Christmas, 2001. The top one is right after we moved to Dillon just before Christmas. Aunt Nancy is holding George. I love Carson's egg nog mustache. Callie always ready for the camera.

The bottom picture is in Baker City, OR right before we moved. David was gone because I remember my neighbor helping me go downtown with the kids to see Santa and a parade. My neighbor had a little girl Callie's age. All I remember is that it was COLD.

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This is at the church Christmas party in Lincoln, NE. In 2004. Callie brought a list with her. I love Ginger's expression and George's hair that is standing up.

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This is at the church Christmas party in '05. Also in Lincoln, NE. David started his position in Missouri the next February, 2006. We didn't completely move til June of '06. And we didn't sell our house til October of '06.

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2008
These are some friends of ours from church. We meet up with them and went to see Rudolph and Santa later. They also sang with the choir.

We went downtown Mt. Shasta to the tree lighting ceremony and Callie sang in the choir with some friends. Carson could have but he chose not to because he hadn't been to any of the extra practices for it. Callie was right in the middle on the front row and got her picture taken for the front page of the newspaper. She was excited about that. Small town livin'!

George and Lucy stayed home with Dad. We didn't know Santa would be there or that we would actually wait in the long, long line to see him. Carson made sure though that he wouldn't have to sit on his lap. Carson asked for some kind of military thing that I don't remember, Callie asked for an iPod touch(Ya right!), and Ginger asked for a Disney Belle doll.

Sunday, December 07, 2008

Laika

Well, yesterday we said goodbye to our dog Laika.

We just weren't giving her enough exercise. She is really a herding dog and five children weren't enough for her.

We gave her to a rancher in the area that had two other dogs and tons of cows and pigs. The kids felt better about it after they watched her run around a lot on the ranch. I forgot to bring my camera or else I would have pictures. The "Mrs." of the ranch works in the cafeteria at the elementary school so the kids are excited to ask her tomorrow how Laika did the last two days.

We also traveled to Walmart to do some Christmas shopping for everyone in the family. We drew names so the kids were really excited to buy for each other. We even made them use their own money so it was more of a sacrafice. It made it for a long day but fun to see the kids excitement.

A funny: While the kids were getting their money to spend every one had a twenty, they had been saving for a while, and Lucy asked for $5. I told her I would hold her money and she cried and whined. I said okay handing David a $1 bill. David said, "Here's a fiver", handing it to Lucy. Lucy then says with curiosity in her voice, "A one is a fiver?". Miss smarty pants!!!

Saturday, November 29, 2008

George is thankful for...

...loosing two teeth. He lost his first one on Wednesday and his second on Thursday. He has fun spooking Lucy with his smile.



Thanksgiving

Here is Lucy in the car, off to Grandma and Grandpa's for Thanksgiving.
We were surprised to see Garrick there. He's Uncle Tony's youngest. He will be graduating from high school this year. He didn't stay long because he was on his way to spend the holiday with his girlfriends family in Portland. The kids were excited to see him though.


Here is a new friend. Grandma and Grandpa's new dog Schatzie(sweetheart in German). The girls loved her. Grandma's sister, Barbara, was there along with her husband Bruce. It was nice to see them again, since our trip to Washington.


Look at all those leftovers. We have been enjoying them these past few days. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for having us over. We have so much to be grateful for.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

George

A few months ago George came to me and was upset because he hasn't lost a tooth yet and all his friends have. He'll be 8 in January. He said to me, "I will never get married because I will have these little baby teeth and a big body and no one will want to marry me." Poor guy.

Well, George ran off the bus last Wednesday to tell me he has a loose tooth.(bottom left tooth when I look at him) And yesterday we discovered he has two more loose teeth.(his top front teeth) He is nervous of the pain now but is excited to tell kids at school on Monday.

The Tooth Fairy has had a two year break. Its time to break the piggy bank.

Monday, November 17, 2008

Our trip to Washington

We drove up to Aberdeen, WA for Grandma Jenkins funeral service. Aberdeen is where David was born so we were excited to go see old places and visit family that we haven't seen for awhile.

We left Friday morning and after 2 hours of driving we stopped at David's parents bakery for a little breakfast snack. We all love to go to Grandma and Grandpa's bakery. Grandpa let Ginger and George play with some left over dough which we took with us when we left. They had lots of fun with it. We "lost" it somewhere a long the way though.


We all loved our little treats. We soon departed for Washington with David's parents ahead of us.

Lucy below. Carson above.

We continued from there up to Portland and stopped at the temple to get out and walk around. As you are on the I-5 you can see the Portland temple pop out of the trees just like the Washington DC temple. The kids got so excited. I love to see the temple!


The pictures above are ones that we took on our walk around the grounds. In the last one, Dad was shaking his booty while I was trying to take a picture. At least we know how to get everyone to laugh all at once. In the picture below a sister we met there was needing a picture of a family and we agreed to help. I don't think the pictures are going to turn out very well. She took this one with our camera. As we were leaving I saw a family that was dressed up that she was cornering.


We made it to Aberdeen, WA and went out for Chinese food. Something other than snacky road food. After that we went to the hotel to crash. Lucy was ready for that. Actually this is in the morning when she didn't want to get out of bed until I mentioned breakfast.

What to do in a hotel room? Try to look through the peep hole!


The fountain in the lobby. Water is always fascinating to children, even the bigger ones.

This is the house that David's parents were renting in town when they brought little David home from the hospital. Its for sale!

It was a very nice service and we learned a lot about Grandma Jenkins. She was pitcher on a state winning softball team as a teenager. She also was practicing her pitching with a rock with her sister and knocked her sister's two front teeth out. Her sister Effie had to get gold caps on her missing teeth. Grandma Jenkins called her sister "Goldie". Grandma Jenkins loved to cook and serve others. She loved ice cream. Grandma Jenkins said ice cream makes everyone happy. Before she passed, Grandma Jenkins requested that ice cream be served at her funeral. We all enjoyed one of her last wishes. Here is George stylin' in Uncle Tony's(David's brother) leather jacket. That is David's dad and brother, Tony, in the back ground.

Here is Uncle Tony's new bride, Aunt Nicole, with Ginger and Lucy looking at pictures on a cell phone.

The lady in the hat is David's cousin who recently started chemotherapy for cancer. The quilt was made by her mom, David's aunt, who has had her own struggles with breast cancer. The day that Grandma Jenkins died, David's Aunt Eva had a double mastectomy.

George is pretty proud of himself giving David rabbit ears.

Here are the siblings. There's Barbara, Eva, Susan(David's mom), and Bill. Barbara is also a survivor of breast cancer.


Here are some candid shots. I don't know every one's name.

The picture above is Aunt Eva's husband, in the black jacket, and his two son's, David's cousins, in the blue shirts. The man with the goatee and sunglasses is Aunt Barbara's husband, Bruce I think. I don't know who the couple are.

The picture below is Uncle Bill with Nicole and Tony.

More shots of cousins.

Years ago, Rich, David's dad worked at this pizzeria. Its still around and we enjoyed that for dinner Saturday night in the hotel breakfast area. I had some pictures of everyone there but they had their mouths full or their teeth out so I thought I would pass on showing them.

Here is a picture of the kids though with Aunt Nicole.

I knew we were going to a hotel and that there was a pool but I didn't get the swimming suits. I was going to tell Callie and it would have been taken care of quickly but I didn't want her to do it to soon. Well I guess it wasn't soon enough. Anyway, we went to Walmart and bought some boys boxers for all of them. They felt pretty cool. It took a while to convince Callie that she looked okay.

Dad got in but mom didn't have anything to wear. I sat by the stairs where Lucy was playing. At one point I did have to go in after her. She kept pushing her limits and Dad was in the hot tub. I was in jeans and went in the water up to my bum to get her.

Go Callie!

This is Grandma Jenkins house that she lived in till after she had a stroke, about 10 years ago. This was Grandma's house to David. He remembers the wind chimes on the back porch. Tony has it now. It has a huge kitchen that served its purpose many times. Grandma Jenkins loved the Schwanns truck. She was also known as the plate lady. Before her stroke she would shop on QVC for sets of wall plates and other nick-knacks.

On our ride home, the kids saw a dragon in the clouds. Can you find it?

It was a quick trip but well worth it. We are glad to be home.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Wood for the Winter

For the past month our family has been working on getting ready for the winter months ahead. This being our second winter here we know a bit more than last winter.
Carson, Callie, and George have helped a lot in splitting and stacking the wood. We bought the wood in rounds then borrowed a splitter to get it all split. That was a HUGE help!






This after it was all split. We brought some in the garage to keep it dry. There is still a lot outside that needs to be stacked. We have had some wet weather lately so we will finish that probably the week of Thanksgiving since the kids have the whole week off. We are supposed to have sunny weather till then so it can all dry out and we can get it covered.