Jenks - One Rockin' Family!

This is Mom & Dad's last Christmas at home for three years, so we packed everything up and headed to Troy for the Holidays. They had an enormous amount of snow, which meant lots of fun for us. Santa came a day early, on Christmas Eve, as Christmas was on Sunday and we planned on attending church in Potlatch, where Annie sang a solo, Brooke accompanied, and Gemma threw an epic tantrum. It started in the middle of the opening prayer, and I picked Gemma up and whisked her out of the room. Well I tried anyway. Gemma grabbed each set of window curtains and clung on like a cat (very fitting), so I had to pry her hands off multiple times. We got out of the room and headed to the van for some cool-down time. I held Gemma on my lap for 20 minutes, trying to calm her down. I tried to get her to count to 10, sing primary songs, and blow out the finger candles. Nothing worked, and my ears were ringing from all the screaming, so I set Gemma in the middle row of the van, grabbed my phone...

So here in Salem it doesn't snow much. But this year has been different. We've had multiple snowstorms, which basically shut down the city (even if there's half an inch). And since I work for a safety company, it means I've had several snow days. A couple of the days we've even walked to the store to get our food. Sure, we could make it in the car, but I feel pretty wary of the other drivers, since many of them have practically zero snow driving experience! Cute! Can you see the blurry snow ball? Pretty sure Brooke just pelted one of the kids. Nice release, Maddie! Ode to my sweet love! Gemma made extremely happy snow angels. Eat that snow, kid. Brooke let me decorate the gingerbread cookies for her piano recital. I went a little nuts with my designs. Gemma the kitty cat at the ward Christmas party. Speaking of the party, I was put in charge of it. Lots of work, but we kept things simple, and it all turned out great. ...

Oh the joy of babies. Watching them learn and grow so rapidly during their first year is a total blast. One evening we waited for the big kids to go to bed, then got out the camera and captured some of Cameron's first steps. I love love love it!

Here are all the highlights for November: I folded a ton of laundry for all my lovely ladies. Cameron was creepin' on the neighbors. Gentry and Liz came for a visit, which meant I just had to smoke a 7 lb pork shoulder. Me oh my, what a tasty treat! We had our own little Thanksgiving, and we invited our good friends, the Johnston's. So fun to hear all their stories, as they've lived all over the world (Jim was in the Air Force for 20 years as a meteorologist) Our little turkey! Gemma being adorbs. Where's the food?! Watching the baby...or the football game? Brooke and Myra treated us to a few Christmas duets. In other news, Cameron's film making apprenticeship is going quite well. In fact, he's almost tall enough to see the viewfinder. Ha! 

So with the addition of Cameron to our family, it was about time to do family photos. We decided to take our own this year. We headed the Pringle Park, which is right next door to SAIF's headquarters in Salem. Set the camera up on a tripod, I operated it from my phone, and we went for it. We got the group shot, but it wasn't easy. No one was by the camera, so Cameron kept watching all of us. We figured out that if we were all super quiet, the noise of the camera shutter would draw Cam's attention, and BAM - we got the shot! Family photo 2016 Madeline - age 11 Sharlie - age 8 Gemma - age 4 Cameron - 8 months Brooke - age 35 I had to remove five power lines from the background of this photo! A few weeks after family photos, we were all set for Halloween. Me oh my how we Jenkins love our Halloween. Is there anything more fun than wearing costumes? This year I purchased a big dinosaur costume. I used it for a gig, then Maddie wore it t...