It's beginning to look alot like Christmas!

Christmas is in full swing at the Jenks house- Trees are up and the snow is down! We made it down to see the lights and the kids can't wait for the big guy to come- and let's be honest, neither can Tony. Okay, I'm kindof excited too. The kid tree (Jossy is on her way to a princess birthday party.)

My real tree

A cute chandelier idea I got from a magazine

The red room

Jocelyn loves her dance class! She tries so hard it darn near breaks my heart- She's just too cute

As you can see, she (in black) is better at some things than others. The one footed hop is her nemesis.

If you can stand to watch the whole thing, you get a Christmas greeting from Lauren.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thank you everyone who came over to our house for Thanksgiving. We had such a great time and the food wasn't too shabby either.

Jossy told me that the ducks needed Thanksgiving too, so we took the kids to the pond the night before and handed out some old buns and stale bread. They love it, and I love how it feels so fallish.
You lose so much ambience with the flash, but you can't see the hundreds of ducks without it.

Some of them are as big as Lauren. Gage was showing Jossy how to "kick'em" if any of them get too close or too pushy. I love it and I'm so excited for Christmas!!

'Tis the season

YAY!! Christmas cards!! I love cards. I love picking them. Sending them. Getting them. Opening the envelope. I heart Christmas cards!!

I have a few people that made my nice list that I could not locate in the white pages:

Damon and Jacqueline Thayne
Matt and Ashley Wilson
Brian and Kandace Nielsen
Brent and Krissy Lowe
Neil and Johanna Warr
Brandon and Julianne Mackay
Ryan and Lacey Parks
Brittany and Spencer Shelton
Jesse and Cari Woolsey
Ben and Danielle Lane
Keeley and Matt Mendenhall


I know this list is long, but out of 125 cards, this is all I have left! If you want, you can leave any addresses you have as a comment, or email me at allijenks@hotmail.com

Let the merriment begin!!

Taggarooski!

Sorry Ally B., I have not been ignoring you. Thanks for the tag!! It is a rare post when I talk about me... and not my kids!
Six silly things about me:

1- I am totally the kind of person who can go to bed with the sink full of dishes. Overflowing even. Mr. Spoon and all his buddies will wait for me. (Tony insists that whenever he leaves dishes in the sink, the dish fairy comes and takes care of them. Do I break his little heart and tell him?)



2- I watch shows on TLC like "John and Kate plus 8" and the family with like 17 kids, and I want to be just like them. Then I roll over and go to sleep, deciding that's probably not such a good idea.




3- I read National Geographic every month. Just like my dad!


4- I am a chronic furniture rearranger. I move things around every few weeks. I can't help myself.


5- I think that if you wear earrings and cute shoes, that makes any outfit look like you tried. White T and Jeans? Danglies and red heels- it works every time!


6- I ADORE autumn. The smells; wet leaves, wood burning stoves, cinnamon-spiced foods, hot cocoa. And layers and jackets, pumpkins, BOOTS, the colors in the trees, football (real, NOT on TV). That strange combo when the sun is bright and the sky is blue and the air is frigid! Who knew?

I TAG ASHLEY R., JULIE L., BROOKE J., BETHANY D., JANDE M. AND JULIANNE M!

Twilight film

I dragged Tony with me to the movies on Friday night, much to his dismay. We were about a half an hour early and were totally at the end of the line. Second row from the front- talk about a neck cramp! Anyway, the movie was a little disappointing. I know the book is always better than the movie, but I was laughing really hard at parts that I don't think were meant to be funny! Bella was kindof dull. Charlie was funny. The pink cotton candy helped save the night!

I'll probably go again next week over Thanksgiving with my mom and sister/in-law. Maybe it will be better from a little further back...

I want to know what you guys thought!!

Let's play catch-up...

What have we been up to for the last month? OOOhhh- lots of fun stuff!!

TRICK-OR-TREATING!!

I got the kids these flashy necklaces, and Lauren was surprised to see the lights!

You see Belle, Iron Man and Snow White and a Black Cat (which I have been for 3 years now. My trusty headband never lets me down!) were our costumes of choice this year.

Tony didn't dress up because he is too cool.

The weather was nice enough, we went around my neighborhood loop on 4-wheelers! The kids thought this was the greatest thing ever! Usually, they were snow pants under their costumes.

DADDY! DON'T LEAVE ME!!

Our house all spooked out for little visitors...One of Kinsey's first big-girl trick-or-treat moments!!Dave, Kinsey and Ashley- on the hunt for some treats!!

AND BIRTHDAYS!!! Jossy had a Tinkerbell party with all her friends from primary and cuzzin Kinsey! I made all the girls little tutus and we danced and played "pixie appropriate" games. They loved it! Tinkerbell hair-do. Not bad considering her latest hair-cut!



Pixie tea party. Wow. Those girls ate more that Gage and his friends. Actually, I remember me and my friends and that sounds about right...

Gage had a Transformers party. Hence, he is dressed as Bumblebee. I got some cute ideas off the internet for his party: Powerlinked Energon hunt (tied together with glowsticks, looking for treat bags) and the biggest hit: a Decepticons vs. Autobots battle! We used silly string, and it was a huge hit. I love that five-year olds think I do good parties.

Thank you to Jen, Julie and Ashley for helping me with these parties when Tony couldn't be there. If you hadn't been there, I would have been eaten alive. Or trampled.

And I redid my "fancy" room. Muy Caliente!! It was a soft steely-blue before. It just wasn't doing it for me. I still want more stuff- like on the walls, and better window treatments. And maybe something for the corner.... Oh well, I'll just have to put it on my list.

The spring at the ranch...

On the family ranch where I spent so many days as a child, there is a little secret freshwater spring that is like a little hidden fairy tale. Water like glass and clear as air. This is where we took some more pictures- they are weeks old, but they still are worth sharing.

Could I have been blessed with more beautiful children? I do not think it possible...

Forgive my leg in this last one. Lauren was inching closer and closer to the edge. I was a little nervous she was going swimming.

Spooky!

Everyone is finally feeling better! Here's some spooky stuff we've been up to:

Halloween Carnival. Gage was sick this night and wouldn't even get out of the car. He was Ironman.

Super SPOOKY haunted gingerbread house. Gage ever the perfectionist:

Lauren licked the roof. Gage was mad. So was her dentist.

Then Jossy licked it too. I think the finished product turned out pretty good!

Happy Halloween!!

Mom, can I have the pink bowl?

We have been sick. Jossy prefers pink for her puke bowl. Gage and Lauren prefer to throw up in my bed. I generally do a little better, and make it to the bathroom. Yes, you can be impressed.

I've got some fun pictures to post when everyone's feeling a little better and I can escape.


Remember to Sanitize!!!

DIY family photos.

Me and Jen are aspiring photographers. As luck would have it, the guys just happened to plan a non cancellable hunting trip the same day we had family picture scheduled. So, we launched a surprise attack after conference on Saturday when we knew they were doing nothing.

These are a few of my faves: This one I love because of Jossy's pose. What a girlie girl!
This candid shot Jen got while we were just finishing up after the pose. I actually think I like it best, because nobody looks mad and the smiles are natural.
Don't be surprised when you see an encore performance of one of these on our Christmas cards!

Thanks Jen!!

Jam out 'cause you know you want to...

I'm totally behind the times in the music department. It's true. I FINALLY added a playlist after Jen showed me how. I've been blogging for about a year. She's been at it less than two weeks. Some people just don't have the gift, ya know. I think you will enjoy my culturally diverse selection of tunes- variety IS the spice of life, after all.

Someday, this will be really funny.

Today was our first day of morning church in a long time. We've been waiting on a new building, which is great, and we finally have time in the afternoons for a little nap. Ah, bliss.

Gage and Jossy wouldn't nap (surprise) and since Tony got a nice 3 hour snooze yesterday, I thought that it was my turn. It was incredibly loud, but I did doze off for about 20 minutes.

This was my joyous wake-up call:
I tried really hard to fix it. The back was hacked up too, but that was fixed pretty easily with a few layers. The front posed a challenge SINCE GAGE CUT OFF HER ENTIRE PONYTAIL!
Our options are now the wig look,
wig with barrett,
and tight front twist.

I don't know if I can pull it back because of all the chunks missing from around her face. This just added about ten minutes to our get ready routine every morning. Or maybe I'll just get her some cute hats.

AND Gage had pooped his pants and had been sitting in it for a while. Yay.

(And yes, he is too old to still be doing that. I'm open to suggestions.)

Tony must have been watching them like a hawk.

House offer...

So, another deal falls through. We got an offer on Monday for about $120,000 below asking. We're going to pass. I'm glad we've had so much interest, and we're going to find the right buyer and this is going to work out. I believe that. Thanks for your concern and send all your house hunting friends our way!

Utah Trip!

This weekend has been so fun- coming back to old Morgala! My uncle Scott's dog has a new litter of puppies. Could they be cuter?!? And so much fun playtime with the cousins- I would move back in a heartbeat.

Thanks also to Staci and Anica for going out to dinner with me. It was so great to have some girl time and it was wonderful to see you!

Jossy at Ballet

Maybe it should be required for every three year old girl to take ballet. It just makes me want to squish her chubby little cheeks!

At the studio: At home, in first position:
Jossy and Lauren doing arabesques (sp?) Kinda looks like a dog marking his territory to me...
Still, she looks forward to this every week and it CRACKS ME UP!

I know, I know... no pictures again.

So Tony is turning 30 this year. December 6. His BIG birthday. I want to do or get him something really great and hopefully memorable. I've got a few ideas, but I want some help! We don't have a HUGE budget, but I could do a couple hundred bucks, and I figure if I start now, I could also do something time intensive. Come on- you know you've got good ideas and I need them! So lay it on me!

Sorry so long...

I haven't posted in so long... Sorry about that. I don't think anything post worthy has happened though. I was even trying to find a cute or funny picture on my camera and came up empty. Gage started preschool and Jocelyn started ballet lessons. That's where I should've gotten a picture- Joss is the cutest little ballerina ever! I'll take one next time and post.

I did read the Midnight Sun sample on Stephenie Meyers' website. I wished there was more... If you have time- it's worth the read. I luv Twilight. I'm not sure if I've ever mentioned that. ;)

We've had a few more lookers on the house, but so far no takers. We've got a group coming back next week for second tour, which is good so I'll keep you posted on that facet of life.

Essentially, that is what's going on. A little of this, and a little of that, and a lot of kids! LOVE!

The chill of autumn, in August.

Summer here is just not long enough. I love to be HOT, like to the point where the sun almost stings... The other day there was the unmistakable chill in the wind. The thermometer says 74 but it feels like 64. I think we got 7 or 8 weeks of 70 plus weather. Alas, I miss the sunshine. Plus how could you not want summer to last forever when you've got cute little funny monkeys like mine?

Lauren

Jocelyn

Gage