Merry Christmas!

December 21, 2008
Dear Friends and Family,
In this day of technology and convenience we are blessed with an “easy way out.” Today Dan and I realized that there is a fundamental difference in the way that we do things. We learned this after a conversation with Dane about why he is so slow at his schoolwork (it was the only negative thing his teacher had to say about him). His answer was, “I guess I just want to get A’s.” He is his mother’s son. Dan, on the other hand, mentioned that when he was a kid he just wanted to get it done. And in his mind, “whatever I had done deserved an A.” (He still thinks that way.) Me, I have always wanted things done well. Yesterday after about four hours of hand-making bridal shower invitations, I asked myself, “Why do I do this to myself?” Now we all know…I don’t want to just get it done, I want people to think I did a good job.

Well…as time is running out before Christmas and I have just ended a busy week of all kinds of stuff. I have decided to take the “easy way out” and adopt Dan’s way of thinking. So here is our family Christmas Greeting. It comes to you by way of "the blog." My goal is to not be stressed these last days before my favorite holiday. I am hoping to spend more time enjoying it with my kids and less time worrying about what others will think about our Christmas card (or lack thereof). Maybe next year I will manage my time a little better and you will get something a bit more personal…and you will think, “Wow, she deserves an A for this!” :0) But this year, I hope you will understand that I just needed to “get it done.” (Not to mention the fact that my printer is broken and I probably already spent too much on Christmas).

Please know that we don’t love you any less. We are so thankful for your place in our life, whether it be daily, weekly, monthly or even just yearly (with your much anticipated Christmas cards). We are also thankful for the invention of the “blog” which allows us to see updates on your lives as time quickly passes.

We hope you and your family have a wonderful Christmas. We always love guests…our door is always open if you ever need a place to stay in Las Vegas.

Love,
The Jenkins Family

P.S. Not much has changed in the past year. We still live in Las Vegas. Summer didn’t seem so hot this year. And so far winter has been one for the record books. Tiffany still hopes to move back to California but fears our time here is getting longer due to Dan’s new love. He now works for the Public Defender’s office where he has the opportunity to be in a courtroom almost everyday arguing his own cases. Dane is in 1st grade, Brice is loving preschool and Mackenzie mastered walking almost two months ago (despite the fact that just turned one).

Bad haircut..or maybe I should say fur-cut

Here is a "before" picture:

Dan decided he didn't want to have to pay to have Lexie's fur cut. So he started doing it himself. He bought some cheap (like $10) clippers which of course wouldn't cut her long, thick fur. Then he resorted to cutting it with scissors. He made it about 2/3 of the way through and the scissors were too dull to finish. So he bought scissor sharpeners. Both times the poor dog looked like a stray dog that had been in a fight. It was sad! So, Dan is getting slightly more expensive clippers for Christmas. But in the meantime, Lexie really needed a haircut. She likes to hang out under Mackenzie's chair at mealtime and she had food matted in her fur. So we gave in and figured we'd get her a good grooming just in time for Christmas.

But when the lady at Pawsh Wash said she would try to leave Lexie's fur a little longer than a summer cut (do to the matting) and I said short was okay (because if I am paying $45 for dog grooming, I want it to last!) I had no idea what "short" meant. My poor fluffy dog has even more reason to be a "snuggle puppy" (as we call her, she sometimes resembles a cat). Of course two days later it snows and the poor dog (who looks naked) is shivering and constantly trying to sit on my lap to keep warm. I was left with one option...buy her a dog sweater. We had to shop around a bit to find something warmer than a t-shirt or ballet dress, but not a winter coat with a hood, and not something with the name brand "Hannah Montana" (geesh, are you kidding?!) So here is our poor cold puppy with her winter sweater, just in time for the second round of snow.

First Snow Day...

...in 30 years. These are pictures from yesterday. This is MY backyard. We ended up with almost 3 inches of snow, at MY house. Crazy!! School was cancelled today due to the record snowfall. Thanks Tutu for the great snowy weather sweaters!

Snow in Vegas

Snow in Vegas does happen...but not often. It snowed all day on Monday at our house but it didn't stick. We drove about 10 minutes north/west and there was enough snow to make snow balls and attempt to slide down the hills. Dane was in heaven (not my kind of heaven). Brice and Mackenzie and even the dog, Lexie, enjoyed it until they were cold. If its going to snow in Vegas, I am happy that it is just before Christmas. It is even snowing again today. In fact, it is starting to stick on our "grass." The boys are out playing in it again. Mackenzie is taking a nap, otherwise she would be out with them. She was even excited about the strange white stuff falling outside.

3-year-old Lies

Brice: "Mom, will you play with me?"
Me: "Yes, after I mop the floor."
Brice: "Why?"
Mom: "Because someone peed on the floor." (noticing the different pants Brice is wearing)
Brice: "It wasn't me...it was the ghost."
Mom: "I didn't know ghosts could pee."
Brice: "He just lifts up the blanket and pees....It wasn't me, it wasn't anybody...it was the ghost." (note: if you pretend to be a ghost, what do you wear?)

Happy 1st Birthday Mackenzie

I can't believe my baby is already a year old. I have had tears come to my eyes several times as I have thought about this day a year ago. She is such a joy...my little girl. I hate that this time flies by so quickly. I really, really love the baby stages. I don't think I want another baby...I just want HER to still be my baby.

We celebrated her birthday a few days early so that family could be there. Dan's parents, his sister, Liz and her family drove out to my parents house the day after Thanksgiving. Thank you mom for a yummy dinner. Thank You Anne, for bringing bread and "goodie bags". It is so much better to celebrate with family.

Church Callings

So, a friend of mine had a post on her blog about how she cried for days about the new calling she was given in church. She wanted people to guess what calling could make her cry. It was funny to see all the different comments in response to her blog. Everyone seems to have a different calling that they would cry about. Some I read and thought, "are you kidding? that would be such an easy calling!" Or, "no way, I would love that calling!"

I think I would enjoy being a Relief Society Teacher. But, I think my heart is in Young Women's. However, I am currently the second counselor in the Primary Presidency...I would have told you before that Primary is the last place I would want to be... but after 7 or 8 months, its not so bad. Though I will admit, I still wouldn't be excited if I was called to be a Primary TEACHER. I think its funny how that calling that I dread is actually another's favorite.

So now I am curious...what has been or possibly would be your favorite calling? I posted a poll on the side of my blog. Please share!

Go Cougars!

We thought since Dane is playing soccer and we are BYU fans that it would be fun to go to the Mountain West Championship Women's soccer game. BYU played U of U in the finals. Go Cougars!! BYU won 1 to 0. The kids had more fun running around on the sidelines but Dan and I enjoyed watching the game. Here are pictures of the Jenkins Family Cougar fans:

Can I watch you?

So to preface this little story, we have been planning to breed our dog Lexie (we are thinking about keeping one but also want to make up the money we spent when we purchased her). Anyway, she went into heat a bit sooner than I had anticipated and we hadn't found a stud to mate her with. So I guess we had been talking about finding a male dog and must have mentioned to Dane that we needed one. Its too late now to breed her (plus I realized we'd have a litter of puppies a little before Christmas which would make traveling hard.)

Anyway, today Lexie found a friend in the neighborhood. She chased the minature poodle (male, I might add) around the corner and we all went running after her. We catch up and Lexie and the other dog were having a great time chasing each other and playing. We sat and watched for a bit. Then Dane asks, "So we will have three dogs when Lexie has a puppy, right?" I was a little confused. He explains, "We will have Lexie, the husband dog and a puppy." Oh! I laugh at the term "husband" for a dog and explain that we won't be keeping the "husband."

"Why won't we keep the husband?"
"Because we just need him so she can have babies"
"Why do we need a husband dog?"
"Well, you know how to get a baby you need a mommy and a daddy? Its the same thing."
"What does the daddy do?"

Oh, great! How do I answer that to a six year old?? So I call up, Ranisa and ask what she would do. She suggests asking Dane what he thinks. So I do and he just shrugs, with his cute dimpled smile...

"I don't know, I have never watched."
I laugh, "you've never watched?"
"Can I watch you?"
Ahhh! I repeat, "Watch me???"
"Yeah, you lay babies."

So to all you out there with older kids...at what age do you actually explain how babies are made, because obviously Dane's suggestion is not a possible solution. Ahhhh! Can you imagine the questions, comments...nightmares... he'd have!?! I told him he'd have to ask Dan but when I called him he laughed and told me to just tell him. The best part was as I told the whole story to Dan, Dane was standing next to me a bit embarassed but laughing with me. I was in tears by the end of the story and Dane was laughing so hard neither of us could stop. I wonder how long the humor will distract him from asking me again. Help! What do I say?!!

My last scrapbook page...

EVER!!!! I mean it, if I see another picture with crafty paper and cool-edged scissors, I may scream! See here's the deal... I want to be a good mom. I want to have my kids life's documented in a way that is fun to look at. I have never liked pictures in a photo album. I wanted to be more creative than that. But, honestly, I HATE scrapbooking. I have been doing it since Dane was born (including the 3 inch binder of when Dan and I dated and got married). No, wait! I even did it the four years I was in college. My problem is, I am not good at keeping up with it. I usually get 8-12 months behind before I force myself to pull out the craft table, the scissors, the fun paper, the gluesticks etc. By the time I catch up I seriously want to throw up!

I now have about 20 two inch (or bigger) binders full of my life from the past 12 years. I save everything: ticket stubs, art work, birthday cards, Christmas letters, hospital i.d. bracelets...yep, its all there. Then add the hundreds and hundreds of pictures I have taken and printed. I take a lot of pictures and even though we have a digital camera and honestly I am fairly choosy about how many and which ones I print off, there are still A LOT of pictures. I am not really that good at it anyway...I have always done just your basic cropping, mounting to colorful cardstock, cutting with the cool scissors and then arranging on the fun decorative paper. I love looking at scrapbooks with the buttons and borders and stickers (how do you do it??) but by the time I do just the basic I am so tired of it...I am just done. I have always wanted to go back and "journal" next to each picture so I have recorded memories. Let's be real! I have 12 years of scrapbooks and now 3 kids. What are the chances of ever doing that?

So, to all of you avid scrapbookers...how DO you do it? Are you picky about the pictures and only do a few? What then do you do with the rest of your pictures? How do you find time to do all the great little cutesy things and still enjoy it?

I must say, I do take a little pride in what I have accomplished. I know numerous people who have intentions of scrapbooking...they have even printed off the pictures and have them organized in boxes for each child. ( I won't mention any names...) They want to do the really great scrapbooks but don't have time right now...maybe they will get to it someday :0) and for their sake, I hope they do. But for me... at least I can say that I don't have any more pictures filed away just waiting for the day that I am not too busy.

So I do have a lot of pictures in scrapbooks, but I have two fears: the first fear is that one of my binders (heaven forbid more than that) gets knocked open and the pages all fall out. Most of the pictures don't have date stamps on them (due to the cropping). It would be a nightmare to figure out which page goes where. My solution? I am hoping to put date stickers, month and year, on the plastic sheet protectors. But who knows when that will get done.

My second fear is a disaster, like a flood, fired, or earthquake. What are the chances I will be able to get my three kids, any other valuables AND all 20 scrapbooks out of my house?? Come on, really? I can just see myself lugging the heavy things out to my car. Not a pretty picture, or very realistic either.

So with these fears, combined with my long over due admission to HATING scrapbooking, added to the fact that I can't really answer Dane when he repeatedly asks me "Why do you HAVE to scrapbook" and then multiplied by what a horrible, moody mom I become when I am trying to catch up on a year's worth of pictures... I decided that today I have completed my last scrapbook page, EVER!!

So does that make me a horrible mom? Can I still fit in with all my great stay-at-home mom friends?? I still want to document my family's life. I want it to be fun to look at. But, I don't want it to involve craft scissors,, glue sticks and itty bitty pieces of paper all over my house. AND each book needs to weight less than 10 pounds. (Did I mention that now that I have 3 kids I can't fit more than about 3 months worth of "life" into one 2 inch binder?) So... I am resorting to online scrapbooking, most likely through shutterfly or snapfish(because while I actually enjoy doing it this way, I still am not interested in spending time with computerized buttons, borders and stickers. Online scrapbooks are very organizational (which I love!), not messy, and I can do it bit by bit without taking out all my supplies. The books are fun to look at and light weight. I have done a couple already...special occasion ones like Mackenzie's first photo shoot and Brice's newborn photo shoot (I printed off Brice's pictures when he was 2 months old and they are still sitting in the envelope waiting to be "scrapbooked." I couldn't bring myself to cropping, cutting and gluing them like all my day to day pictures. But now they look great in their own little "coffee table" book.)

Now that I have moved on in my life I need to mention a few people I am thankful to. Thank you to my mom, Julee, and my mother-in-law, Anne, for the enormous amounts of scrapbook supplies. The paper, stickers, scissors, paper cutter, rolling suitcase, decorative flowers, tape, stamps, etc. etc. etc. I really, truly have appreciated all of it! They have been the greatest gifts! I do have some pretty decent scrapbooks thanks to both of you and your thoughtfulness. And don't worry, anything that is left will still get used. I DO enjoy "scrapbooking" invitations, birthday cards, and framed picture collages. But from now on, thanks to Sheri, Mindy and a few others...I won't be needing any more scrapbooking supplies; my "life" will now be "scrapbooked" on the computer!

Dane's First Soccer Game

So, we have been wanting to get Dane into sports for awhile. But as with everything, he's a perfectionist and if he can't do it well, he doesn't want to do it at all. Obviously you can't be perfect at something on the first try, so it took some convincing to get him excited. Of course, his hesitation to play ended pretty much the second he stepped onto the field the first day of practice. Now he asks everyday if he has soccer practice and is disappointed that the answer is "no, you only have practice on Wednesdays." He actually surprised us in his game this morning. He did great as goalie (his coveted position) and stopped quite a few goals. Then when he joined the team on the field he was right there with everyone (most of the time). He ran his little heart out and was sweaty and red-faced by the end. We are very proud of him! Maybe there is a little athlete buried in there somewhere.

Standing!

She doesn't really like to walk but she can with the help of her dump truck...



I want to play outside with my brothers, too!