January happenings

We rang in the New Year with a visit from my dear friend Emily. 

It was a short visit - with just enough time to explore the tide pools, climb rocks, go through the caves, get photo bombed by seagulls, go out to dinner, and then home for scripture study and New year goal setting. I loved having Emily there and soaked up any wisdom and advice she could pass on to my children. My kids are an excellent judge of character and they adored Em as much as I do. It was such a wonderful visit - much too short but we made the most of every minute!

With the whole first week of January off school, we made the most of our time and hit up the zoo with friends. We didn't last too long though because it started to rain (which ended up being the beginning of the flooding in Ventura and Santa Barbara).

Elle's first basketball season started last month but games started in January. 

We have LOVED watching Elle play and look forward to cheering her on every Saturday! 

Raining days are a novelty here in Camarillo. It's not too often that we get to use our umbrella's.

And In-N-Out gives free hot cocoa on rainy days so we took advantage of a little after school treat! 

 With our new 9am church time, we've discovered the joy of after church walks! 

Since we didn't get our annual New Years Day hike in with Emily here in town, we made sure to fit it in on our Monday off for Martin Luther King Day. 

Calvin's dream were just the sweetest! 

 The fires and then floods have been so devastating to our area and I love my sweet boy and his huge heart!

Grandpa Al's new pizza oven has gotten lots of use in the past month. 

I'm been soaking up mornings with my two boys. 

I love their close relationship and how well they play together. 

Madi's school play, "Once Upon a Mattress" got postponed back in December because of all the "smoke days" off school. I was happy that it finally got rescheduled so we could go see it. 

Love spending Sunday afternoons with my family. 

Elle went to Dojo Boom for Ava's birthday party. 

James got sick the same day that Jocelyn, Michael, Collin, and Derrick arrived. Poor boy coughed so hard he threw up the shake (from the pic below) all over me. 

I spent the morning of the 27th in the ER with James and made it home just in time to see my 3 oldest kiddos off for a hike up to Paradise Falls. 

They had such a great time with cousins, Boppi, Grandpa Al, Aunt Joci, Uncle Michael, and Aunt Corinne. 

Then later that night we went out as couples for an adult only dinner! 

We celebrated Sunday dinner, which was Grandpa Al's birthday, over at the Terry's. 

Great end to the month of January!

23 months!

23 months today!

After 4 days of fevers and clingy, needy, sickness (including a trip to the ER), it's SO wonderful having James back to his regular happy self. 

Of course he still has his moments  - like when I told him no more popsicles . . . 

James is one smart little boy who follows instructions to a T but is by far our latest talker. We really need to start banning the binkies - I'm constantly having to tell him to take out his binky (which he calls a "tee tee") so I can understand what he's saying. 

He's obsessed with electric toothbrushes and going on adventures with Calvin. He loves being included in his siblings play but also does super great when he's home with just me. I usually find him outside in the toy car, carrying around all sorts of rocks and treasures.

Can hardly believe he's gonna be TWO next month!           

New Years Eve

Our last moments of 2017 were spent with family at the Terry's house. We gathered for dinner and then a game of mafia/murder in the dark.

We skipped out on dessert to get home to put kids to bed, but paused long enough for a glass of oreos and milk to ring in the New Year together as a family!

All the kids were in bed long before midnight expect for Madi who was working so hard on her new Book of Mormon study guide. I couldn't argue with her desire to stay up to study the scriptures until midnight! 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

Christmas Card 2017

Dear friends and family, 

We love you all and feel so blessed to have seen many of you this past year (whether in person, or living vicariously through social media). Either way, are grateful to have you in our lives.  2017 has been a good year, filled with many blessings and memories . . . 

• Spencer got his ASA sailing certifications, joined a sailing club, and now is dreaming about buying a boat and sailing to Hawaii (easy there tiger…maybe some day!). He also became a named partner at his firm - Beach Cowdrey Jenkins, LLP has a nice ring to it! He’s very busy and enjoying (most of the time) all the responsibilities that go with this new gig. 
• Anie loved sledding in the Utah snow (January), the Rudd family reunion in Park City (August) and lots of visits with friends! She looks forward to her morning runs, nap time, Spencer coming home from work, and spending time with her kids, especially when they’re all happy and helpful! She loves getting to work in Calvin’s kindergarten class every week  
• Madi (10) has taken after her mama and started running every morning before school. She also fell in love with tennis this year. She just finished her 1st year on the violin and is coming up on her 4th year playing the piano. Music, art, and reading are her passions. Harry Potter and knitting scarves were her biggest obsessions of 2017. She’s recently started babysitting her brothers and opened up a whole new world of freedom for her parents! A 2017 highlight for Madi was getting braces on in May. 
• Elle (8) fell in love with dance this past year. We always find her making up her own routines, doing leaps, cartwheels, backbends, and jumping into the splits. She’s excited for her first year of basketball starting this month. Elle’s taken off with reading and loves school - having an awesome teacher makes all the difference. She is super responsible, organized, and loves to clean the entire house to surprise her mom. Getting baptized in August was her biggest highlight of 2017.  
• Calvin (5 1/2) is experiencing the magic of kindergarten. He’s constantly reading signs, telling us the speed limit, spelling words, doing math problems, and writing us notes and letters. He loves school and is a top notch student! Cal played on his first organized soccer team this past fall and also started piano lessons! He is very thankful for his pet bird, Bob, that joined our family back in March. Bob is loved by all! 
• James (21 months) is a busy boy and adored by all of us. It’s been such a magical year celebrating James 1st birthday and experiencing all the toddler firsts while having older kids to enjoy them with. James has a big cheering squad every time he learns a new word, or does something cute. And he has lots of babysitters to help alert mom when he’s getting into mischief. 

We are truly grateful for this holiday season to count our many blessings and thank our  Heavenly Father for the true reason for the season, the gift of His son Jesus Christ. We hope you are all doing well. Sending lots of love and Christmas wishes.

The Jenkins Family

Cal at 5 1/2

Just a couple of things I want to make sure I document before I forget Cal at this sweet, perfect, innocent age. . . .
 Every night he prays: "Please bless me to have good dreams and not bad dreams and really good dreams and not really bad dreams, Bless me to have really good dreams and bless me to have really good dreams and not really bad dreams ....." (says this probably 6 or 7 times in every prayer).

He also says, "Bless me not to fight or scream or kick or pinch to have temperaments."

Cal is such a sweet boy with a kind and sensitive heart.

I love how every time Cal is going to tell me something he always starts with, "Can I tell you something . . . " And if he has a lot of things to tell me, he'll continue to ask - "Can I tell you one more thing?"

And when telling me about something that happened: "And can I tell you what?"

Cal is thriving in kindergarten. I love that I get to work in his class every Monday and see how well he gets along with everybody, how obedient he is, and what neat handwriting he has compared to all the other kids in his class. He teacher pulled me aside the other day at drop off to tell me how impressed she is with Calvin's homework. He really is a top notch student and I look forward to seeing these good study habits continue with Cal over the years.

 And how lucky that he gets to have Bailey in his kindergarten class. I hope these 2 always share a sweet friendship. They really are such good little buddies. 

Cal's first soccer team!

Calvin had such a awesome first soccer experience! He got to be on the same team with 2 of his favorite buddies - Drew and Jackson. The other boys were great and the boys all got along perfectly! 

I volunteered to be the team mom so I got to know everyone really well. It was sad when the season came to an end. 

We had practice every Thursday evening and games on Saturday morning. 

Last game of the season we did cupcakes and trophies and a perfect little celebration! And a big shout out to Spencer and Madi for making the team banner for me! They did such a fabulous job! 

Cal is truly an All Star and already looking forward to soccer next year!