Jenkins Family

Get Fit

2011-11-09T20:49:00.000-08:00

I've been on a health kick lately. I signed up for MyFitnessPal as recommended by my friend, Becca. I call it my free fitness motivator. It counts calories, records exercise, & records waist, neck, and hip measurements. I love it. I've lost 10 lb. so far. My favorite part is all the success stories that I read about. Surely if this guy here can lose nearly 300 lb. then I can lose my 30 lb! This woman here lost 100 lb. in 9 1/2 months. The people on here are just normal people like me who put their mind to something and accomplish it.

I've tried, but not very hard or diligently, to lose weight before. I've wanted to be back to my pre-pregnancy weight for a long time. I'm going to do it this time around. Just watch me!!

It's Time To Start Thinking About Christmas Cards Again!

2011-11-03T08:26:00.000-07:00

The Christmas season is my favorite time of year. Let’s be honest, I start listening to Christmas music before Halloween. I’ve even been singing Beckett Christmas songs so that when we sing them at church or hear them on the radio he knows them and can be excited about them.

One part of Christmas that is always so fun for me is checking the mail to see if there are any Christmas cards. I just love it. I love sending them out. Last year I sent them out the day after Thanksgiving. It’s only natural that I start looking at Christmas card options early so I can be ready to send them out right away. As the holidays get closer time becomes much tighter. The earlier you get this done the better!

My favorite ones from Shutterfly this year are:

I love the whimsy font and snowflake. I think a black and white photo adds a nice classic touch.

I love having two different fonts and the bright green coloring on this one. This one is my favorite and the one I'll be using this year!

I love the font. Sensing a pattern?

Want to find your favorites? Look here, here, and here.

Merry Christmas! As one of my friends said regarding Thanksgiving and Christmas, "Christmas is the biggest reason to be THANKFUL so the two can be friends!". Happy Thanksgiving and Merry Christmas!

UPDATE: I just noticed that new customers can get 50 free prints right now.

Pumpkin Time!

2011-10-09T18:32:00.000-07:00

We found this Mr. Potato Head pumpkin set at the store a few weeks ago. We originally thought it would be uneventful, but we were surprised with how much fun Beckett had.

Beckett LOVED helping Ryan use the hammer and nail to make holes in the pumpkin for the the various pieces.

He loved putting the pieces of the vampire in the pumpkin.

Poor Ryan got clocked in the forehead by a wiggly Mr. Beckett. It was the sharp side of the hammer too!

Our finished project! This is Beckett's smile when I ask him to smile for me, ha! It took us about an hour to clean the pumpkin out and put our pumpkin together. It was so fun and perfect for a Sunday afternoon.

Halloween Crafting

2011-10-07T15:10:00.000-07:00

I found this idea on Pinterest. Boy, I love that website! It's full of crafty ideas...including the easy ones that you can do fairly quickly. This idea was pinned from this website here. These are my versions. Love them!

I added magnets to the backs of my clothespins so I could put them on my door. I just need to find a few more Halloween pictures now! Happy Halloween!

Infertility Is Hard.

2011-10-04T23:11:00.000-07:00

Infertility is hard. It's like an unwanted zit. It's there for everyone to see, is awkward for everyone, and brings pain all around. It's a dream killer. I've always wanted kids and I've always wanted them close together. I had always planned my life to be exactly the way I dreamed it. The funny thing about life is that just because you planned on something doesn't mean it will happen. Sometimes there are no guarantees for dreams.

Sometimes I feel like this:

Other times I feel like this:

We're a while into trying for #2 and have 5 rounds of fertility treatment behind us...all unsuccessful. With our family being warped into student mode again, we've decided to put treatment aside for a few years. Coming to that realization of no new baby in our family, at least for a while, was very difficult. I know we've already been blessed so much with our sweet boy and I can't really convey how truly wonderful he is. I am thankful every day for him.

I know the Lord has a plan for me, and I also happen to know that my plan and His plan have been very different, haha. I've been working on seeing my life the way He sees it so I can be more accepting and happy with my life. I know that my life is perfect for me and that Heavenly Father has a very specific plan for me. I know this all in my head, but trying to get it into my heart has been more difficult than easy. I'm doing pretty well with that plan of action. I'm just grateful my Heavenly Father is always there for me. He's only a prayer away.

I've always been a dreamer and I've had to change my dreams. Sometimes, you have to change your dreams to keep happiness and sometimes you have to change your dreams to become stronger. I'm praying for more days like this on the horizon:

BYU!

2011-06-06T22:23:00.000-07:00

Ryan has been accepted into BYU's MBA program! He starts August 15, and we're so happy to be starting this next leg of our lives together. We've always felt that a master's degree was the right path for us, and it's fun to think of the possibilities this degree will give our family. Congratulations, Ryan!

Good luck to us over the next two years! We're moving to Provo!

Goblin Valley

2011-05-16T16:57:00.001-07:00

We went camping in Goblin Valley this past weekend. It was a complete BLAST!!!! We hope to go back soon.

Brazil

2011-05-15T13:26:00.000-07:00

We went to Brazil a few months ago, and we had such a wonderful time. I'm not going to give a bunch of detail because that's what my journal is for, but here are a few of the photos we snapped in Brazil.

We went on this amazing hike to Lagoinha de Leste. This was the start of the hike. We hiked over the mountain which took us about 2 hours and 15 minutes. The hike was through water and I used the vines in the trees for support. It was so fun! We drank a LOT of water on this hike. We were grateful it was a cloudy day so we weren't as hot.

This is later on. It was fun walking through little streams and climbing up rocks.

Another photo of the hike to Lagoinha do Leste.

This is the beach Lagoinha do Leste. We were so ready for some swimming after that long hike!

This is at the Hotel Daifa. The city center of Florianopolis is behind us.

It took a lot of tracking down, and a lot of driving, but we were able to find Iané. She was a woman who Ryan baptized, and now her mother and sister and one son have been baptized. It was so fun for me to meet her, especially since we're naming our daughter's middle name after her (not an announcement...not pregnant). She was awesome.

We ate lunch at a little place called Mandala at Pântano do Sul. We ordered one shrimp plate for all 4 of us. We had several platters brought out, but this was the most memorable. We weren't really expecting shrimp with all the legs and those big black eyes.

This is guarana zero. They have this at Rodizio's here in SLC. It's delicious.

We flew over to Iguacu Falls which is on the western border of Brazil and Argentina. We spent a day in Argentina enjoying these magnificent waterfalls. It was gorgeous. We took the option of doing the boat tour under the falls. We were absolutely SOAKED, but it was a blast.

It is so green there. We saw monkeys in the trees, and the butterflies were EVERYWHERE. I felt like I was in a butterfly garden. They were landing on people and just fluttering all over. They had big spiders here, but their webs were so cool. When the sun hit them, they were gold. It was so beautiful to see these golden webs. I wish the camera would have picked that up.

There wasn't as much shopping as I expected, but this place was so fun because they had handmade goods.

There were groups of men playing dominos all over. It was so funny! There were NO women at these tables. Men of all ages would gather around to watch.

Joinville was a fun little town. It has German roots, so we had to go to a German bakery.

We ordered some delicious foods. It was soooo good!!

We found one of Ryan's old mission apartments. The landlady, Dona Loni, still lived next door. She remembered Ryan, and even went inside to get her pictures. Sure enough, she still had a photo of Ryan! She was so cute, and I couldn't believe how shiny and clean her driveway was. That orange tile is her driveway. It's just beautiful.

We ate at a few Rodizios. They were so yummy. This one served pizza along with meat.

Ryan and I had such an awesome time. We were so glad my parents could join us on this fun vacation. We can't wait to go back!!

Latest Project: $2 Chair Redo

2011-05-10T10:21:00.000-07:00

We've been looking for a little chair for Beckett for quite some time. They're always $50, and that's a little pricey for a chair that I don't know Beckett will even use. We found this chair at a friends "used toy sale" this past weekend. It was $2! Awesome!

As I've said before, we're not huge on commercial-items. So, I decided to pick out the spiderman fabric and use something that Beckett would love.

I've had this orange truck fabric for a while, and it worked perfect with the blue color of the chair! It took a few hours total, but it was worth it! Beckett LOVES the chair. I'm so glad we bought it!

Treasure Hunt

2011-05-09T15:24:00.000-07:00

We went out on a family mini treasure hunt this past Saturday. We took Beckett's orange sand bucket, and found exciting things together.

He loved walking around, seeing birds, airplanes, and finding random items. I think he also liked being in charge of where we went. He was running around and having so much fun.

This is what he found! He found leaves, bark, rocks, sticks, flowers, and dandelions. Nice work, Beckett! I wonder what treasures we'll find next time?

Update

2011-02-01T22:54:00.001-08:00

We have been busy over the past several months! We've had lots of drives to Idaho and here are a few pictures for the update.

Beckett was Peter Pan for Halloween. This photo was taken at my Grandma Buhler's house. We went to the mall and he got about 8 pieces of candy. All the candy was gone by the time we arrived!

This was taken in October also. I just love my little Beckett.

Beckett loved saying "Santa". I guess the real life version was a bit of a disappointment! haha. He wasn't happy to be sitting on Santa's lap this year! Maybe next year?

We were in Idaho for 2 weeks at Christmas time. We had fun with both sides of the family, and we were spoiled!

We are so grateful for the knowledge we have that Christ is our Savior. We love Him very much. We hope you all had a very merry Christmas this year! (last year!)

Alicia, Ryan's little sister, came home from her mission this past week. We were able to go to Idaho for the week and hang out and catch up. She's so amazing, and we've missed her so much. She served in Italy, and we're happy to have her home again!

My Latest Project

2010-12-10T15:17:00.000-08:00

We bought this toy bin on KSL for $30. It had transformers all over it, and we're both kind of anti-commercial items. So, I changed it.

With a little mod podge a scrapbook paper we have a much more Beckett appropriate toy bin. I love it!

Seattle

2010-09-20T08:14:00.001-07:00

Back in June we went to Seattle. Ryan had a business conference, and Beckett & I decided to come along. Beckett was very good on the plane, although not perfect! It was definitely a 2 person job keeping him happy and entertained for the flight!

Also, my pictures are scattered since Chrome doesn't allow for the rearrangement of photos!

Woodland Park Zoo. I just had to get a picture of Beckett with this statue!

We went to Pike's Market Place. There were so many fun little shops from flowers to food to trinkets to artwork. I found a little French Pastry shop that I absolutely loved. Beckett & I went there twice while Ryan was in meetings. It was just fun walking around downtown Seattle. Something that I really loved about Seattle was there were NO billboards!! It was just wonderful!!

Woodland Park Zoo

The Space Needle. You can't go to Seattle without stopping by the Space Needle!

The Experience Music Project. This was a pretty cool building. Inside they had two HUGE screens showing music concerts. It was very cool.

This was a fun fountain near the Space Needle. It was pretty cold, but the kids were soaking wet anyway! The water went to music much like the Belagio in Vegas.

Snoqualmie Falls. This was a beautiful waterfall outside of Seattle. The hike was very short to get to the overlook, and was perfect for a short outing with Beckett.

This was on our "hike" back to the car after we saw the Falls.

We ate the most delicious seafood at a place called Steamers. I had fish tacos for the first time there, but this photo is of a delicious salad and fish kabobs. Ryan ordered a burger, but the next time he ordered seafood. I would go back there in a heartbeat. It was absolutely amazing.

We took a ferry to Vashon Island and back. Ryan and I enjoyed the boat ride, and we thought Beckett would enjoy it. We all enjoyed the ride back much more since we went outside.

Shot of the Seattle skyline from our ferry ride.

Beckett & Ryan on the way back to Seattle. We loved our trip. It was a lot of fun, and next time we hope to see more of Seattle, like the gasworks park!

The Big Fire

2010-09-19T20:29:00.000-07:00

There is a huge fire near Camp Williams tonight here in Utah. Over 700 homes have been evacuated, and the fire is still raging. You can read a news article here. Ryan and I drove on Frontage Road at the point of the mountain to get these pictures. They're not the best, but just look how huge the fire is! Beautiful disaster comes to mind, and I know there are many families scared and out of their homes tonight.

Update (11 PM, 9/19/2010): Now over 1200 homes have been evacuated and "some structures have caught fire".

5 lb!

2010-09-13T21:25:00.000-07:00

Well, I've lost a little over 5 lb. now! Today I bought this purse as my reward. The purse I put in my actual motivator photo was over $1000. No, that's not a typo. I figured 5 lb. was pretty good, but not THAT good! haha. I LOVE my new purse!!! That big pocket on the outside is for my keys, and the smaller one is for my phone. It's just perfect. Here's to the next 5!

Dieting

2010-09-01T12:33:00.001-07:00

I have never made such delicious food in my life. I have this book: 15-Minute Low-Carb Recipes, by Dana Carpender. Here is the amazon link: 15-Minute Low-Carb Recipes.

I've had this cookbook since I got married, but I just have never dabbled in it. I'm really motivated to lose some weight, so I thought I'd give it a try. From Sunday to today, I've lost 3 1/2 pounds. For dinner we've had Parmesan Chicken breasts, Chicken with asparagus and Gruyère, Cashew Crusted Chicken, and tonight we're having Thai-Style Crab Salad in Avocados. They are as delicious as they sound. The best part of this cookbook is that the recipes are super fast. We're ready to eat pretty soon after Ryan comes home. I just LOVE it!!! I can't wait to try more recipes!! :)

Motivators

2010-08-12T23:24:00.000-07:00

I have a new goal. I have a new goal because I've gained 16 pounds in the past 5 months. No, I'm not pregnant. I just haven't been able to keep my weight down since I stopped breast feeding. These four items are my motivators. Every time I reach my new "goal", I will purchase one as my reward. I figure it's a lot less expensive than any weight loss programs out there.

How will I achieve my goals? I started working out again as of last night. I will be eating healthier. Well, I do have a date with some German cheesecake this next week. Other than that, I will be eating healthier and being a better advocate for my body. I'm excited! My end goal is to reach my goal weight by mid November. I have 3 months. It's 5.33 lbs. a month. That's healthy, right?

Beckett's Birthday Party 2

2010-07-13T14:27:00.000-07:00

All the kiddos with their birthday hats. I love birthday hats!

Opening presents with help from aunts.

More presents!

Beckett tried this one by himself!

Beckett wasn't that interested in his own cake! He hardly touched it.

My whole family came to celebrate with us! It was so fun having everyone there!

Ryan's whole family, including Grandma, came! Well, all of them except the missionaries and actress.

Grandma Nelson and Beckett

Eric, Max, & Joanna. I just love this picture.

I cropped the corners off in photoshop. I originally wanted to do that to all my pictures, but it was way too time consuming.

We had a great time celebrating his birthday!! It's hard to believe it's already been (over) a year since he was born. We love our sweet Beckett so much. He's such an awesome little man.

Beckett's Birthday Party: The Details

2010-06-15T08:56:00.000-07:00

We had such a fun time getting the birthday party together.

Deserae and I made this "Happy Birthday" Banner. It turned out so cute, and we had lots of fun making it!! Beckett liked it too.

I made all of these birthday hats! I punched out party hat confetti, and bought all the 3 babies those toys in the bottom left hand corner. I bought water bottles for all the adults and put the party favor on them, but I didn't take pictures of them!

Beckett's birthday party invitation was A-MAZ-ING. Jaime Williams designed the invitations for me. Deserae won a contest (again, she wins everything) for a free invitation, party favor, and thank you card. She was fabulous to work with, and did an amazing job for me. I just love this invitation!! (You can check out her Etsy shop here.)

The Cake. This cake is so fantastic! I love it! Not only was it A-MAZ-ING, it tasted delicious. My friend Kara made this for Beckett. I just told her today that none of my kids, including Beckett, will ever have this fantastic of a cake ever again! It was just perfect!

We had SUCH a fun time at Beckett's birthday party! I can hardly believe I have a one year old!

He has started letting go of furniture and taking one or two steps on his own. If Ryan and I have him walk to either of us he has walked up to 6 steps on his own. So exciting!!

A Few Pictures for a Few Months

2010-05-16T21:14:00.000-07:00

We had Beckett's hair cut this past Saturday. It was his first haircut, and a lot of fun for me and Ryan. Beckett was so well behaved and didn't make one peep.

Here he is driving in his little truck with his new stylin' hairdo.

He thought the wheel was pretty awesome!

My sister and I made these cupcakes for a carnival in my neighborhood. We were helping out a family in my ward raise money to adopt their little Ukrainian girl who is around 10 years old.

We had our picture taken with Star Wars characters at the carnival. The costumes were great and it's always fun to see adults in costume.

We climbed into a fire truck and discovered that 6 firemen fit into one of those huge trucks. It was kind of fun and surprisingly not too uncomfortable!

We also had our family pictures taken by a high school friend of mine. Kristy did a great job and it was really fun having a photo shoot with her before she moved. We went to Wheeler Farm. My sister was showing Beckett this goat (?) and he was pretty fascinated by him.

Here's a picture of all three of us just for fun.

Beckett now has 4 teeth, and the 5th one should be coming in tomorrow. He can stand up with aid from furniture and he walks along with it. He has started to repeat words in his baby sounds and sometimes even with the inflections we use. It's so great. He's 11 months old. We only have a month left until he turns one!! This past year has gone by so fast and it's been so enjoyable with Beckett in our lives.

Waterworks Kitchen

2010-03-17T11:51:00.000-07:00

Ryan woke up this morning to find a surprise in our kitchen. This is how it looked before our surprise:

This is how our kitchen looks now:

Our neighbors upstairs had some kind of leak which provided us with a surprise indoor pool in the kitchen. There was about a 1/2 inch of water on the floor when we first walked in this morning... and water was coming through the light fixture. There was also a large puddle outside the building and our living room carpets were soaked.

We are just grateful for our insurance, and we hope our neighbors have it as well.

Seattle

2010-03-04T10:40:00.000-08:00

We are going to be taking a trip to Seattle in June. Ryan has a business conference there, and Beckett & I are going along. We're staying a few extra days to be tourists. From the researching I've done, these seem to be good ideas:

Pike Place Market

Ferry Ride

Water Front

Seattle Aquarium

Northwest Trek Wildlife Park

Space Needle

Woodland Park Zoo

Does anyone have any ideas? Are these good places/activities or are there better ones out there? I'd appreciate any input!

Update...again!

2010-03-01T17:58:00.000-08:00

We've been busy lately, and have been having fun with Beckett.

Here is Beckett "enjoying" the swings outside our house. :)

We've been enjoying our National Geographic Subscription (thanks Grandma Nelson!), and Beckett enjoys it as much as we do!

Beckett was being goofy one night putting this binky in his mouth. We all had a good laugh.

We went and visited my old room-mate Becca. It was fun, even though it was only for 10 minutes!

Beckett got a valentine in the mail from his friend, Courtney. As you can see, he enjoyed it thoroughly. There is definitely a huge smile under that Valentine.

We had a fun weekend with family, and on Sunday we enjoyed touring the Conference Center. This is in the parking lot. Yes, I need to work on taking my camera out more since this is all we got!
We've been having fun walking Beckett around. He's such a cheerful little baby, even though he's hardly a baby anymore!

His eyes are still blue, even though in the center they're changing to green. Ryan has hazel eyes, and I have hazel green eyes (is there a difference?) so we don't expect him to have the blue eyes forever.

We bought a humidifier. Beckett is absolutely enthralled with it. Ryan and Beckett have fun bonding time enjoying gadgets together.

The Jenkins came and visited us one weekend. Here I am with Emma baking.

That is all the picture updates we have for now!! It's hard to believe Beckett is 8 1/2 months already. We're enjoying life and having fun together as a family.

New Blog

2010-02-22T07:21:00.001-08:00

John and Virginia have a blog now...

http://www.virginiaandjohn.blogspot.com

Go check it out and share some love! :)

Beckett's Teeth

2010-02-20T20:18:00.001-08:00

Beckett cut two teeth within the past few weeks. He's such a stud. Look at those beautiful eyes. :)