Month: April 2007

Oh, I wish I [lived] in Dixie, Hooray! Hooray!

This is Jules. It has been one party after another since last Wednesday! We started off Wednesday evening right, watching neices Melissa & Megan in Suessical. It’s a Dr. Suess musical. Megan did a fantastic job as Thing 2 and Melissa truly captured the audience as Gertrude McFuzzy. We left the babies (Gwen & Lucy) at home for a change and took the two big girls. We sat center front row with Jim & Eliece, Dave & Marilyn, and the Crosby Clan. I watched as both girls eyes became saucers and they sat on the edge of their seats. On the way home, I could overhear them in the back saying, “When I’m on stage, I’m going to be Jo Jo (grace)” and Abby, “I’m going to be Gertrude!” They were all about it! Looks like we’ll be signing up this fall.

On another note, I had a good getaway with the sisters in sunny Dixie or St. George. It’s amazing to me that we can be away from each other for months at a time and somehow we pick up almost on the same sentence after being together five minutes. When we get together we don’t plan to do much or go many places because we are so content with gabbing, laughing & catching up, we have a hard time getting places at all. I can see why many brother-in-laws migrate to bedrooms, downstairs, bikiing, hiking, sleeping whatever they can do to steer clear of the crazy Jenkins sisters! We talk about our kids, our troubles, our joys, we watch movies, cackle & stay up late. Whatever we do, we do with zest (pools, trampolines, concerts, walks).

Unfortunately the synchronized swimming was a bust this reunion but the trampoline tricks were a nice save! It’s always a whirlwind of late nights, candy, sore stomach muscles (from laughing), and sunburns. We really get some looks from people especially when we tell them we’re sisters. There were some highlights like listening to Dad, Lisa, Amy & Bonnie play on the large Grand piano in the St. George tabernacle. Another was listening to Peter Breinholdt & Sara Sampler sing Growing Old With You to my parents under the star lit sky @ Tuachan (nice touch, Nan). We always think that it needs to be one day longer but are nervous of the men at home watching the kiddos. It was unanimous that we would be getting together sooner than later–four years is just too long.

Even though it was so nice to be able to think clearly, shower and dress MYSELF, eat in peace, lay by the pool, & sleep-in until 8:30, I found myself missing those noisy car rides, hectic mornings, and chubby fingers and toes. Didn’t miss the diapers too much–I will admit. Just grateful I have a husband that is willing to let me go occasionally on these excursions. He steps up to the plate and does a great job as full-time Daddy. Thanks Brian for making it possible! Enjoy the Pictures. http://www.flickr.com/photos/midder/

She left me

Boo hoo, i know. Julie left yesterday morning for her somewhat-semi-annual pilgrimage to wherever the other 6 sisters happen to be gathering. This year it’s in St. George and it sounds like a rip-roaring time. For them, at least.

We’ve actually been holding out pretty well here at home. Lucy spent most of yesterday asking if she could “go have fun with momma.” Poor girl just thinks her dad is a wacko I’m afraid. I’ve commented a few times to people that I have no idea how Julie gets anything done. My excuse is that I’m trying to work, but it’s really only that. Though it was interesting trying to get on a conference call today.

We’re going to have a fun weekend, I’m sure. The biggest struggles are what to wear, what to eat, and going to bed. Lucy was up until about 11 last night. She is, of course, napping on the couch right now, gearing up for an encore tonight.

Tomorrow morning the 3 oldest girls are going to a birthday party across the street. So that should give me time to pawn Gwenyth off on someone so I can go cut my mullet. It’s pretty bad. I’ll write about all of the other fun things we’ll be doing this weekend. We just have to figure out what they are first.

Julie will be back Sunday night, after I’ve spent church with Gwenyth, Lucy, and the rest of the 2/3 year olds. I’ll be fresh, the house will be spotless, and dinner will be on the table. Or something like that.

Quickie vacation to SLC

The girls had spring break last week, Wednesday through Friday. And anyone that knows Julie knows that this means a mandatory going somewhere. Because we’re obviously deprived if we don’t go somewhere. She’s been this way our whole marriage, but knowing her parents I don’t think that’s how she grew up. Somehow she comes by it honestly, though I’m not sure.

We had a great surprise visit from the Bowmans on Friday. Troy posted a comment to this here blog earlier in the week and said they’d be in town. So, I called him and they were able to arrange their tight schedule to come on by. They have 2 daughters that line up pretty close to Abigail and Grace age-wise, and then 2 boys, who were definitely boys. We had a good visit. We both commented that we’ll probably see them more living up here than we did in Arizona. Crystal ran in the Salt Lake City marathon on Saturday. Go girl.

Friday evening we went up to Salt Lake City for our “vacation.” We started off with a nutritious meal at Fuddruckers and then went on up to the Embassy Suites. Since I’m a tightwad, I just got the one suite, so we fit 6 of us in there. It wasn’t as tight as I thought it would be, but it’s always interesting to try and get the girls to sleep in a new area. We had to feed our addiction by watching the rest of 24. There was no DVD player in the room, so we gathered round the laptop and finished it off.

Saturday morning we got up a bit late and went down for the fancy breakfast. We left the hotel late morning and walked over to the Trax station. Because of the marathon, we had to walk a bit farther as the station we were going to get the train at was closed. So we rode the train up around town and went a few places. The girls loved it. They were crawling all over the place, scaring not only us but the rest of the people there.

We went to the Beehive House, the Joseph Smith Memorial building, the Gateway center, etc. We were able to go up to the 10th floor and have dinner at the Garden Room. It was a great view of the city and of the Salt Lake temple. The girls (including Julie) were a bit too tired to really enjoy it, but we had our meal and went on our way.

Over near the Gateway center, we went to the Clark planetarium. We made the mistake of telling Abigail that they had some Dinosaur 3D movie showing on the IMAX inside the planetarium. We all got our 3D glasses and went into the auditorium. Gwenyth was completely blitzed, so she crashed out right when the lights went out, which is a good thing. 2 minutes into the show, after watching a dinosaur nearly jump through her, Lucy decided she had had enough and lost the glasses. She spent the rest of the movie curled up with Julie. The move was really great. Abigail loves dinosaurs.

After the movie, we went and walked around the mall. It’s a bit like Desert Ridge in Scottsdale, but a little bigger. The girls found a water fountain and figured that it was warm enough to get wet. They learned pretty quickly that it wasn’t like running through in Scottsdale. It was about 60 degrees. We walked around a little more when Julie found her mecca: a 2 story forever 21. Of course it was also the grand opening, so she had to go in and check it out. I took the girls over to Barnes and Noble and a few other places to pass the time while Julie prayed to Mecca. It was fun.

Saturday night we found a great Thai restaurant up on South Temple called Sawadee. It’s such a beautiful area up there and toward the University. The homes are beautiful and the city is very clean. I don’t think I’d ever convince Julie to move up there, though. After dinner we all came home and put the little ones to bed. Then Julie took Abigail and Grace down to the pool. The chlorine was pretty intense, as it was still stinking up the room later that night, even after the swim suits had been rinsed out.

This morning we did the fancy breakfast again, and then out to Temple Square to go to the visitor’s center. We ran into Aaron Davies’ mom in the cross walk from the conference center to temple square. Julie and I were looking down, around, and all over, so we would have missed her. She quickly recited all the girls’ names, asked how we were doing, and was on her way. She was with one of her college roommates. After the tourist stuff, we drove around the city a bit more, through the Avenues and on to Surgarhouse. We thought we were probably in the Steele’s old stomping grounds. Julie commented that she could see why it was so hard for her to leave.

All in all, it was a good time. We took quite a few pictures, which are at the same place as always.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/midder/

65 degrees — pool weather

We hit a balmy 65 degrees last Saturday, which apparently marked the official start to the sunning season here in Utah. Some neighbors across the street bought one of those new-fangled blow-up things that you can hook a hose up to and you’ve got a regular water park in the front yard. The girls were upstairs looking out the window, when they started jumping up and down screaming due to Water World being across the street. So they got on their fancy new swimsuits and went out “swimming.” I think that the water was literally just above freezing. You can see the snow in the background of one of the pictures.

Today was even warmer. We were up over 70 degrees. But we’ve got another storm coming in tonight that will cool us off by about 20 – 25 degrees. So it should be fun.

The girls have spring break starting tomorrow, so we’re probably going to go do something fun this weekend. We’re thinking about going to the zoo or something. There will be lots of pictures, no doubt, so stay tuned.

My apologies for the lack of posts and depth of content lately. We’re halfway into season 2 on 24, which is taking up way too much of our time.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/midder/