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).

My Happy Birthday and Merry Christmas

I've been meaning to blog about my birthday and Christmas for a while now, but I've been putting it off because there's so much to write about and I'm going to have a hard time editing it all down. I turned 26 a few weeks ago. I had a great birthday. Jason always goes out of his way to try to make it special. He took me to dinner and got me a gift certificate to get my hair cut and high lighted. As you can see in this picture, I was in desperate need of a makeover. My hair had been so neglected. Anyway, after dinner we went to my in-laws' house and had this delicious cake that Amber made for me. It was sooo good. She's the best. I think her baking skills haver surpassed mine :) On the 2oth we made the long trek to Wyoming to spend Christmas with my family. We had such a great time.

Here's a picture of my kids in their Christmas outfits. Iris' bow might be a little ridiculous. It has a little bell on it and Jason kept threatening to cut it off because he couldn't stand the jingling sound.

My dad's birthday is on the 23rd, so it's been a tradition in our family to have Santa come visit on Dad's bday. This year he came and brought an early Christmas present for everyone. It was so fun. Roman is deathly afraid of Santa. He burst into tears when he came in the door. He kind of warmed up to him though. This was as close as he would get to him. Iree didn't seem to mind...

Here's my dad getting ready to blow out his birthday candles. This is all of my parents' grandchildren and then Danna, Cicily, and me.

Like I mentioned we spent Christmas with all of my family. I have six siblings, so with everyone's spouses and children the grand total was 22 people. Look how many stockings there are!! Luckily, my parents just built a new house in October and every couple had their own master suite with its own bathroom. That makes such a difference to have your own bathroom! Plus there's a big room upstairs for the grandkids. There was 3 bunk beds and they had their own bathroom too. The kids absolutely loved it. This was our first time at the new place. It is so beautiful. My dad has been building for 30 some years and he does such great work. I wish he could come build me a house in a few years.

We did lots of fun things while we were in WY. My little brother, Kimball and my little sister, Cicily are pretty good at Rock band. Roman loved watching them, so they let him "play" on the drums for a little bit. He thinks they are pretty cool.

But so much playing can wear a guy out..

Christmas morning was full of lots of great gifts. I didn't think Santa could pull it off, but he ended up finding a football helmet AND uniform for Roman. He thinks it's pretty cool, but he still puts on his knitted hat and calls it a helmet. I think it's because the helmet's still a little too heavy for his head. By the way, that's Roman with my little sister, Cicily. She's gotten so old! She's 15 now and I can hardly believe it. She's such a pretty girl and she's so sweet with her neices and nephews. Roman still asks about her everyday and we've been back for a week.

Here's the kids with my parents, "Mama and Papa Ben" as Roman calls them. I just have to thank my mom and dad again for the great time that we had. There's nothing better than spending time with your family. My mom and dad were so great. They had yummy meals and fun things to do and they didn't even complain about all the kids ransacking their beautiful home. We had a great time and we can't wait to do it again.

Family Pictures

If you're anxiously awaiting your Christmas card from the Jenks Family, then you'll just have to keep on waiting...til next year - or maybe later. Yes, it's true, I didn't do Christmas cards. I have a million excuses, but basically I didn't want to take the time to do them. That's what it all boils down to. I have, however, really enjoyed getting many of your cards. As the holiday season approached, I planned on doing them and had our family pictures taken, but alas I never followed through. So, here's some of our pictures. My friend, Shaila, took them and I think she did a great job. She's a self-taught photographer and she's really got a talent for it. She has this fancy shmancy camera that I can't even dream of operating. We took them outside in the freezing cold and she did it really fast and still had lots of cute shots. She was such a pro- thanks, Shaila! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. We had a great time in Wyoming with my parents and all six of my siblings and their spouses and kids. It was a crew! I'll post about our fun trip later. This is a picture Shayla took of Iris while we were inside chatting. I love it because Iree always has her hands in he mouth like that. And she always lifts her eyebrows like that, so it looks like she has a unabrow. Isn't she too cute?

My handsome Romie in his festive sweater.

Roman and Jason are goofing off and I'm just checkin out Jason's bulging biceps. He does have nice arms, don't you think?

If I had sent out a card, thi would have been the picture I would have sent. Iris's eyes are closed, but oh well. It was still my favorite shot. Oh...by the way, I have cut my hair since this picture was taken. Don't worry, I got rid of that stringy mess. Now I just wish I would have chopped it before we got the pics taken. I just don't look good in long hair...oh well!