Our Wyoming Easter

It took a little persuading, but Jason finally gave in and agreed to spend Easter in Wyoming. He was concerned about missing work and the LONG drive with the kids, but when I found out that my sister Natalee (who lives in UT) would also be visiting AND that I would get to see one of my BFFs (Kenna) and a bunch of my aunts and uncles then he knew there was no way he could talk me out of it. So, we left early Tursday morning and came home on Monday. We had a fun and eventful weekend and the kids did WAY better than we expected. They were such troopers.

On Friday, we went to my grandma and grandpa Hopkin's house to decorate Easter cookies and look at the baby cows. Rome loved decorating the cookies although I think my grandma was a little concerned with the amount of sprinkles he was putting on them. Cicily and Iris on the farm.

Look at that. Sometimes I wish I lived on a farm.

On Saturday my cousin, Claire got married in the Billings temple. We drove up for the reception and it was fun to see so many of my family members. I was especially excited to see my cousin Kenna. We were roommates during our freshman year of college and we had so much fun together. The only bad part was that I felt like we didn't get to spend enough time together. I miss her :(

My sister, Natalee, has a little boy named Keric that is two months older that Iris. He is so cute and sweet. They loved each other. It's hard to believe he's only two months older though because I swear he weighs twice as much. My little Iree is very petite :)

Cicily and I did an Easter egg scavenger hunt for Cameron, Reagan, and Roman on Saturday. The kids loved it. Here they are searching in Cicily's room.

There they are with all their candies.

Of course I had to get a few shots of the family in our Easter outfits. The theme was supposed to be pink. You can't really tell though. My shirt is kind of light pink with green flowers. Roman's shirt is pink although it looks kind of white here and Iris' dress has pink polka dots. Jason didn't want to go along with the pink theme, so basically there was really no theme this year. Maybe I'll do better next year :)

Natalee, Chris, and the kids. They all looked so cute.

Here's a pic of my parents with the kids. We had such a fun trip...I only wish that it lasted a little longer. Thanks Mom and Dad for the great food, hospitality, and always entertaining conversations :)

We will, we will shock you!

Some of you may already know this (I'm trying to remember if I've mentioned it on my blog before), but anyway...my brother-in-law, Brady (who's married to my sister, Danna) owns an arena football team called the Spokane Shock. Yesterday was their opening season game, so we drove up to see it and visit with Danna, Brady and their cute kids. Since Brady's the owner, they have a suite. It's so nice. I feel so bad for all the peasants that have to watch it in the bleachers, just kidding. But it is nice to have the suite because we could watch while the kids just ran around behind us. The team looks really good this year. They beat the other guys, so that's a good start. They had some pretty good touchdowns that even I could appreciate :) There were a lot of people at the game, I think the announcer said ten-thousand something? People in Spokane love their Shock and Brady's pretty much a celebrity there :) So, thanks, Danna and Brady for the fun night! Anyway, here's some pictures from the game.Iree was getting so excited when everyone else would clap. She was so cute...and a real trooper too. She usually goes to bed between 6:30 and 7:00, and we didn't leave the game until 9:00. She was such a good girl.

Roman absolutely loves his cousins. We were walking in to the game and he was holding my hand. Then he decided he wanted to hold Tate's hand instead. So, he just left me and added another link the Danna's chain of kids.

That's Danna and me in our orange and blue. Go Shock!

Roman, Ella, Tate, and Milo just before the game started.

I think this was right after a touchdown. Brady looks pretty excited, but I don't think Danna noticed :)

This picture is worth a thousand words. Roman is starting to have so many of the same mannerisms as Jason. He likes to play with his hat and adjust is just like Jason. See what I mean? Two peas in a pod.

Spring....and other things

I can't believe it's been more than 20 days since my last post. Where does the time go? This month has especially flown by for me. I'm so glad that the weather is starting to warm up a little bit and the kids can go outside! I'll have more on that later, but first I just have to complain about Roman's eating...or lack thereof. Apparently he's inherited his father's picky eating habits. He's good at eating snacky foods like crackers and fruit snacks, but when it comes to meal time it's become a huge battle. He won't eat anything I cook (which is too bad for him because I'm a pretty darn good cook if I do say so myself :). Lately all he wants to eat for all three meals is rice krispies. Not the most balanced meal. So today I said, "Roman, what do you want for lunch?" Of course he said, "Cereal." which means rice krispies because it's the only cereal he'll eat. I told him he had to choose something else. So, he said he wanted pickles. I told him he would need to have something else besides just pickles and he said toast. Of course he won't eat the crust though. Then he said he wanted pop corn too. I said no to the popcorn and suggested corn instead. So, this was his lunch. Just a weird assortment of strange foods. Oh, and to make it worse, he put the corn on his toast like it was a corn sandwich. Please tell me this is just a stage. We've had a few nice days and the kids are loving it. We've been going for walks in the stroller and it's so nice to have the option of going outside.

On Monday Jason came home from work kind of early, so we he played catch with Rome for quite a while. Iree and I just watched.

Look at that form. We're fully expecting him to be an athlete - and by that I mean a professional one :)

I told Jason to pose, and so he did. Nice pose, Jase.

And my teeny tiny angel (that's one of her many nicknames) turned 8 months on St. Patty's day. She's getting so big! She's the sweetest little girl and she's just so happy. We love out little Iree and I can't believe she's already 8 months. Like I said, time is just flying by.

The Good News and the Bad News...

Good news first. We took a little family vacation to Boise this weekend to see Jason's brother, Chad. We had so much fun and the kids were GREAT. They were angels during the drive there and on the way back. They slept like logs in the hotel and they were practically perfect at the stores, restaurants and the zoo. We had so much fun and we ate lots of good food. The other good news (and part of the reason we went up this weekend) is that Chad finished taking the BAR on Wendesday. So, we thought it would be fun to go celebrate with him. He won't find out if he's passed it for a few more months, but he's pretty much a genius and I'm willing to bet some big dollars that he passed. The other good news which has nothing to do with this, is that Cadbury Mini Eggs are officially in the stores and it makes me smile just thinking about that. I purchased my first bag of the season last week. Pure joy.

Now for the bad news...don't worry, it's not THAT bad. We took lots of great pictures of our little family vacation and a certain little boy earased ALL of them. I know...I'm still so sad. I can't really blame my Romie too much because I let him look at the camera. You see, on the way home from Boise he was getting a little tired of watching movies, so I told him he could look at the pictures of Uncle Chad and the animals. So, he was looking at them for a while and it kept him entertained. I showed him the button to push to skip to the next picture and that was the only button he would push. So, the next day I was home doing the dishes and Jason was working and Rome was wanting some attention. So, I gave him my camera and told him to look at the pictures. He was looking for a while and then all the sudden he says, "Here, Mom, pictures gone." Sure enough, I look and the camera says, "There are no files". What?! That's right, he erased all of them. The thought had crossed my mind that he might do something like that, but I didn't really think he would because you have to push the trash can symbol and then scroll down to "delete all" and then it asks you if you are sure you want to delete all of them and you have to select "yes". Anyway, he managed to do all of that. I was so sad. Usually I'm not that great about taking pictures, but this time I took a bunch. We had tons of cool pictures from the zoo and Chad even managed to take a family picture where we are ALL looking at the camera (that's like a miracle). Oh well, in the grand scheme of things it's really not a big deal. I really need to learn to stop underestimating that little boy of mine.

Excuses, excuses

I haven't posted in a while, but I have a good excuse. This is currently what my keyboard looks like.... Roman decided to pluck off a bunch of keys while I was putting Iris down for a nap. And I can't get them back on. Fortunately, you can still type without keys. However, there's these litttle nubby things that you have to hit just right since there's no key there. It's extremely annoying. Right at this very moment I'm about to throw in the towel on this whole post because I'm getting so annoyed. I'm so cheap though that I'll probably just keep it this way forever. When did I become so white trash?

There's a funny story that goes with these two pictures. Roman LOVES the Backyardigans. My mom knows of his love for the cartoon, so for Christmas she bought him a Backyardigans DVD and some toys. Well, he loves his little guys. Their names are Tyrone (the one on the left) and Pablo (on the right). Anyway, they're probably his favorite Christmas present. I'll often find him walking around the house with Pablo and Tyrone tucked safely in his jeans pockets. By the way, what's with those names?! So, the other day he was rebelling against taking a nap (a regular occurrence these days). So in an effort to get him to go to sleep nicely, I took Tyrone and held him up to my ear and acted like I was listening to something he was saying. I started saying "Uh-huh...yep...I'll tell him." Roman's face lit up. Then I said, "Roman, Tyrone just told me that it's time for you to take a nap. He really thinks you need one." Then without missing a beat, Roman takes Pablo and puts him up to his ear. Then he says, "Mommy, Pablo wants to watch Cars." What?! How did he get so smart? He didn't buy it for a minute. I know for a fact that I was not that smart as a kid. In fact, I was down right gullible. I was one of those kids that believed anything my parents told me. I guess I won't have that luxury...not with Roman anyway.

I just love this picture of my little Iris. Who knew that a unabrow could be so cute? She's starting to eat baby food AND last night was her 3rd night in a row of sleeping through the night...yay!! It's so nice to get some sleep. She's such a sweet girl and her personality is really starting to show. She is always smiling and laughing- I love it.

Just so you all know, this has been the most annoying post to type. I hope you're all grateful for your fancy computers that have keys. D0n't worry about me...

My Iree is six months!

My little Iree had her six month birthday yesterday. I can hardly believe that she's already half a year old. It's so cliche, but the time really has flown by. She's such a little angel and we are so glad that she's in our family. She's the most easy-going little girl. Yesterday I put her down for her nap and after a few hours I hadn't heard from her, so I went to check on her and sure enough she was just laying in her crib smiling and laughing. I love that! I hope she's always this sweet. This is a picture of her that I took this morning before church. I love this little outfit! Ellen gave it to her for Christmas and I think it's so darling. It's even cuter in person. And don't worry, Jason didn't wear those moccasins to church :) Roman has been so sweet to Iris lately. There was definitely a period of time where I couldn't leave him alone with her for fear that he'd poke her eyes out or break her fingers. Luckily he's moved past that stage. Now he's darn right protective of her. I take them to the daycare at my gym every weekday morning and the girl who watches them says that Roman calls Iris, "My Iree". What a sweet big brother. He really does love her.

Lately Roman's been way into wearing a baseball cap. He loves them because Jason always wears one. So anyway, last week he was walking around the house with his hat and one of his play guys. Iris was laying on my bedroom floor while I was making my bed, and Roman came up to her and put his hat on her and gave her his guy. It was so sweet because he thought she should love them as much as he does. Then he said (in his high-pitched baby voice), "Iree, it's Roman's, OK? I share it." He didn't let her keep them for long, but still...so cute.

Another thing I love about this little angel girl is that she loves toys. Roman was not that into toys at her age. He seemed way more high maintenance. I can put her in her little saucer and as long as she's well-rested and fed, she acts like it's the greatest thing ever. Look at that sweet little smile.

And of course I have to add a picture of her chub. I love that baby chub- look at those cute arms. Happy half birthday, Iree girl. Hopefully the next 6 months won't go by so quickly!

5 years of wedded bliss

Jason and Bethany Jenks on January 2, 2004

January 2, 2009 - We've doubled the size of our family in 5 years!

Jason and I celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary last week and I've been wanting to post something about it. For those of you who know Jason well, you won't be surprised that he has requested that I not post something too cheesy. He likes it when I'm sappy...just as long as it's not publicly. So, I'm respecting his wishes and I've decided to post about how we met. I love hearing about how other couples have met, so I'll tell you our story. Just a warning, I'm not sparing any details on this one. This post is mostly for me and my posterity. :)

So it all started during my freshman year of college when I was working at the duplication center in the library at BYU-Idaho. There was this cute guy that had to order some stuff for one of his classes. We got to talking and pretty soon he asked me out. Right now you're thinking that I'm talking about Jason, right? Wrong. His name was Dan. (Don't worry...this will all come together). So, anyway, Dan and I go on a date. He picks me up in this blue Audi. Audis just happen to be my favorite brand of car. I was so excited. Then I get in the car and my very favorite song, "With or Without You" by U2 is playing. I'm thinking, "This guy is getting better and better." So I say to Dan, "I like your car, and just so you know this is my all-time favorite song." He kind of smiled and he said, "Well, thanks, but I can't really take the credit. This is my roommate's car and his CD too. But I like this car and song too." Now I'm thinking, "That's good that you like this song and car, but it's not the same. Maybe if things don't work out with you I can date your roommate." Dan and I proceed to go out to dinner and have a fun time. It was the last Saturday of the semester before summer break. I was planning to go home to Wyoming for the summer and he was planning on working for a white water rafting company somewhere. So, while we were on our date we talked a little bit about our summer plans and we said that we'd keep in touch and we exchanged email addresses. (Side note: we emailed eachother exactly once..haha). Back to the story...I promise this is going somewhere. We were done with dinner and the night was still young and neither of us really wanted to go home yet, so he asked me if I wanted to meet some of his friends. I said that was fine. So, he pulls up to these tennis courts and we get out. I see this really cute guy that is playing tennis like a pro. He's all tan and his arms are really toned. He's decked out in everything Polo. Everything from his hat to his shoes was Ralph Lauren. (I've always been good at knowing my name-brands and I can spot a polo horse from a mile away). Anyway, he stops for a minute and Dan says, "Hey, Jason this is Bethany." Jason looked at me and kind of nodded and said hi, but he didn't smile. I thought he was kind of rude. Then Dan turns to me and says, "It's his car that we're driving." So then Dan, Jason, and the guy Jason was playing against start talking and I'm kind of just standing there. In my head I'm trying to figure out this Jason character. I'm thinking that he must be a yuppy. He has a nice car, he plays tennis and everything he wears is Polo. Plus, he didn't even smile at me when Dan introduced us. So, at this point I'm pretty convinced that Jason is a spoiled brat.

OK, so fast forward to almost exactly a year later. It was February 2003 and I was in my second semester of my sophomore year. I had just met a guy named Ryan and we were just starting to date. I was pretty excited about him. He was cute and funny and so far we were having lots of fun together. One night we were at his apartment and his roommates came in. One of them looked familiar. Then the one that looks familiar notices that I look familiar. Then he says, "Hey, aren't you Bethany?" I say, "Yeah, you're Dan's friend with the Audi, right? What's your name?" He says, "Jason Jenks." (Keep in mind that Jason sometimes pronounces his last name like "Jinx"). Then I make this really funny comment...or so I thought. I said, "You mean jinx as in, 'jinx you owe me a pop?'" He stares at me blankly and I'm trying to explain that when you say the same word at the same time as someone else then you say jinx and the other person owes you a pop. He tells me that he's never heard of that before and I'm completely shocked. So anyway, we start to talk a little more and I'm beginning to think that he's not such a snob. He was asking me about myself and acting like he was actually listening. Then Ryan starts telling me what a great cook Jason is and how he makes the best homemade soups. So then we talk a little bit about cooking and that was about it. Ryan and I continue to date and we end up hanging out at his apartment a lot with his roommates. This Jason character was really starting to grow on me. He was crazily obsessed with sports which was pretty foreign to me, but everything else about him just seemed so great. So what does a girl do when she really likes her boyfriend's friend? She sets him up with her roommate. Ryan and I set Jason up with my old roommate, Katie. We all went bowling and Jason and I had a great time...with eachother. I remember during the date feeling like it was me on the date with Jason instead of Katie. Soon after that Ryan and I broke up and Jason started coming by my apartment to visit. Winter semester was almost over and I was going to stay for the summer term. I was kind of bummed because none of my friends were staying. Then one day I was talking to Jason and I mentioned that I would be staying and he said he was staying too! I was so excited...I would have at least one friend!

Once the Summer term started, Jason's visits became much more frequent because Ryan had moved out and I wasn't "off limits" anymore. We started hanging out on a daily basis. He was wining and dining me every night (minus the "wining" that is). The only problem was that I didn't know what we were. At first it was like we were just friends, but then I was really starting to like him. He was really slow in making a move though. I had never dealt with a man like this. He kept taking me out, calling me, stopping by, but he wouldn't even hold my hand!? I was very confused. I'm not one to make a move either, so for 2 1/2 months it went on like this. Now Jason says he waited so long because he wasn't sure if I liked him. He had never been with someone like me...he always left the move-making up to the girls. Anyway, a guy I worked with asked me out. I wasn't the least bit interested, but I figured it might be a good way to let Jason know that I wasn't just going to wait around forever. So, while I was on my date he came by my apartment ( just like I knew he would). My roommates asked me what they should say to Jason if he came by while I was on my date and I said, "Tell him I'm on a date." So, they did. And my little plan worked. He finally got up the courage to "make a move". After that, we got serious pretty fast. I drove to Washington with him in August to meet his family. Then in September we went to Wyoming so he could meet my family. In October he proposed and in January we were married. Four moves, two kids, and five years later, I'm so glad that I gave that yuppy a shot. He's turned out to be the most non-yuppy not spoiled man I know. My firsth impression couldn't have been more wrong. Jason really does have the kindest heart I've ever seen. He's a great husband and dad and I better stop now before I get too cheesy. And that's how Jason Jenks and Bethany Bennion came to be Mr. and Mrs. Jenks (pronounced jaynks, not jinx).