You Need This Like You Need A Hole in Your Head (or Two)

Thursday, December 30, 2010


One of Camryn's gifts from us was to get her ears pierced. I took her to Claire's to have it done. She picked out Cubic Zirconium flowers, because they were pretty and will match everything she wears for the next two months. She was so excited to show everyone and looks even more grown up now.

Christmas Day

Saturday, December 25, 2010

After seeing what Santa brought, we headed over to Grandma Jenkins' house for breakfast (waffles, hot egg casserole, sausage, bacon, and grapefruit) and more presents. The kids opened presents from the cousin exchange. Then the brothers and sisters had their exchange. Ryan had me-so that meant I got the gag gift of the year. My Christmas list read "4 1/2 Black Vans". I meant the shoes, but I got:


He actually put a lot of effort into it. He bought white Hot Wheels delivery vans and cut one in half with a hacksaw. Then he painted the vans black. He wrapped them up in a Vans box for me to open. After we all had a good laugh I got the shoes too. It was very clever and pretty funny.

Next Grandma and Grandpa gave out their presents to the grandkids. Grandpa joked that they should sit on his lap, like he was Santa. Some of the kids did it.


And so did Lee. He looked like he would break Dad.


Later we had everyone over to revive our tradition of eating Mexican food on Christmas-only this time we had Nachos.


Then we had a ping pong tournament. Ryan won, with Dave coming in second. Madison and Diana played, so I didn't come in last. When we were done the kids played.


Dave spent most of the day putting together the giant trampoline we got the kids for Christmas. He finally got it together a little before dark, so the neighborhood kids jumped for a bit before we had to send them all home.


Overall, we had a great Christmas. Maybe the kids got a little spoiled this year, but I guess it's better to do that while they are young and so excited about everything. As they are getting older, this is starting to sink in.

Santa Came!

Saturday, December 25,2010

The kids made a bed with their mattresses in the loft so they wouldn't be downstairs and have Santa wake them. When they woke up, they woke us up too.

Alexis got a dock/speakers for her iPod. She actually ended up exchanging it for one that was also an alarm clock.


All of Camryn's dreams came true and she got a house for her Barbies. It is huge - about an inch or two taller than her. It is a really nice house and must have taken about three hours to put together.


Seth got a DS. Good thing he got one, because he had gotten lots of games.

Christmas Eve

Friday, December24, 2010

We started our Christmas Eve, by doing one of the best things we did this holiday, delivering Sub for Santa gifts. We took the gifts to a family with two boys. They invited us in and we visited with them for a little while. The boys were so well behaved and so grateful. They gave us a card and some tamales to thank us. They were such a sweet family and I was glad we could share our Christmas with them.


That night Grandma Hill came over for dinner. We had a roast, veggies, rolls, and the kids' favorite orange jello salad. After dinner we read the Christmas story, then it was time for presents.


Alexis got clothes, a purse, a soccer ball, a game, Uggs, and the "goalie goals" she really wanted.


Seth got lots of DS games, a zhu-zhu pet, race cars, and superstructs.
Camryn got earrings (with the promise of a piercing), DS games, Wii games, a bed canopy, and shoes.


Even us grown ups had a few presents to open. The kids had even got us presents from the dollar stores. They were ALOMST as excited to see us open the gifts from them as opening their own gifts.

Visiting Santa-Part II

Saturday, December 18, 2010

The cousins wanted to go see Santa and we wanted to see the cousins, so we headed back to Bass Pro Shop. The line was about 2 hours long, so Lee and Grandma stood in line, while Grandpa Jenkins and I kept the kids entertained. They played the games near Santa, then we took them to the Aquarium.


A scuba diver went in to feed the fish. Austin love to watch them swim around.


When we got back, we were close to the front of the line. The kids played on the ATVs and we got them to take a picture in the "snow".


It was finally our turn to see Santa. Austin wanted no part of it, which actually made for a pretty funny picture.


We went home to get Dave and Alexis (who had been at the movies with Ryan and the other cousins) and we all met back up at Macayo's for dinner.

Trimming the Tree

Friday, December 11, 2010


We went to the Ward Christmas Party (where Alexis was a bad Nephite in the story about Samuel foretelling Christ's birth), then we headed home to decorate our tree.


We got a bigger tree this year, and even Alexis couldn't get ornaments quite high enough.


Seth was excited to put up a new baseball ornament I had bought him.


It was Camryn's turn to put the star on the tree. It was a long way up!


This was one of the prettiest trees we have ever gotten. I love to have that pine smell in our house throughout the holidays - I just don't like cleaning up the pine needles after Christmas is over.

Oh, Come Let Us Adore Him

Friday, December 10, 2010

This year they brought back my favorite Christmas tradition - The Live Nativity. It was held at the new Opportunity Village Campus. Camryn and Seth were excited to see their cousin Mason, who was visiting from Tucson.


After the Nativity, we had Winchell's donuts, that Grandma Jenkins had brought.



Then we went inside to see all the creche displays. There were little nativities from all over the world. It never truely feels like Christmas until we have a chance to see the Live Nativity. We tend to get caught up in the secular Christmas festivities and it is nice to be reminded of the true reason for the season.

Jolly Old St. Nick

Monday, December 6, 2010

We had a Monday night off soccer and everything else, so we decided to spend some quality family time together. We started by heading over to Bass Pro Shop to visit Santa. Dave took the kids to play games and look around while I saved our spot in line.


We finally got up to see Santa. He is honestly a great Santa. Seth asked for a DS, Camryn for a Barbie house, and Alexis asked for "goalie goals". The girls said Santa needed to eat one of the peppermint candy canes he was passing out, he has some serious stink breath. I wonder if they can still be in the "nice" column after a comment like that.


After Bass Pro Shop, we dropped off food for a Eagle Scout Project and went to see the Christmas lights on Quiver Point. The whole end of the street is decorated like a Griswold Family Christmas.

Biker Boy

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Last Saturday, Seth was hanging out in the cul-de-sac with the big kids and came running inside an told me he could ride a bike. Danny from next door, and Alexis had taught him to ride this little red bike. We had tried teaching him before, but he wanted nothing to do with it.

He still has a hard time getting started on his bigger bike, but that will come.

The Biz Called Show

Thursday, December 2, 2010

Camryn's Hollywood Kids Class had a "Broadway Review" show. They had been practicing for it since September, and all their hard work paid off.

Camryn and Bethany, from our ward, tried out for a duet. They totally hammed up their performance of "Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better", from Annie Get Your Gun.

Camryn was Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz scene. We found Alexis' old costume in the garage. It was a tight fit, but we made it work. She was so cute pretending to be afraid of "lions and tigers and bears, oh, my!"

Cam also had a lead in a group song, "One Short Day" from Wicked.This was right after the Dorothy scene, so she got really good a quick changes.

All the kids did a good job. Camryn has had a blast going to class with her friends from the ward - Cynjyn, Savanah, Kimber, and Bethany.

Give Thanks

Thursday, November 25, 2010



Due to our turkey fryer ownership, we host Thanksgiving every year, but we have enough people to make assignments and have it not be too stressful. This year Dave injected half the turkey with Jalapeno Butter. It really wasn't too spicy and added a nice flavor.

I tried to make sure everyone had their favorites - banana pie for Jolynn, canned yams for Ryan, and my kids wanted orange Jello salad. That is pretty much all that is on Cam's plate here:



After eating at noon, the rest of the grownups went home to take naps and we took all the kids to see Harry Potter 7. It followed the book better than the rest of the movies, so Dave didn't complain the whole time like he usually does. It was a little slower and more grown up for the kids, but this is one of the few times we all go to the movies together.



On Friday we had everyone over again to have Ghetto Bobbies, basically a Thanksgiving sandwich - turkey, stuffing, and cranberries on a roll. We also watched Jo and Paul on the news. They had been interviewed about Black Friday shopping.