Utah (September Trip)

We took a road trip to Utah September 25-October 5 for my Grandma's funeral. It was such a long drive. It should take about 20 hours driving straight through. But on the way there we figured we were in the car about 28 hours over 2 days! But over all it was a pretty fun (and memorable) trip.

We drove Thursday and Friday, stopping in Aurora at Corinne and Morgan's Thursday night.

Brushing teeth at the Beede's Friday morning. One of Collin's favorite activities

Morgan drove with us on Friday and we got to Logan very late that night. Saturday was the funeral. It was such a fun reunion! My entire immediate family was there and even some extended flew in from New Hampshire. Just wish we could have all been together for more then just one day! There was a viewing and service in the morning then we all drove to Freedom, WY for the burial. Then there was a dinner at Jeremy and Tanna's house there.

Love my family! First time we had all been together in 2 years, since Grandma's 100th Birthday- she sure was good about bringing us all together ;)

 

 

The funeral was also Mom's birthday, we had a little celebration and opened presents during the dinner at J&T's. Fun to celebrate with her- first time in probably 5 years.

The rest of the trip we used Huntsville as our home based and went off and did things. We tried to limit our driving since we knew we still had such a long drive home. We are so happy that we were able to see so many friends and do some many fun things while we were in Utah. Unfortunately, there is always still many things that we wish we could have done but just didn't have time for.

Some highlights:

Fun times talking, sharing memories, playing, and watching movies with Corinne, Bailey, and Aunt Fay in Huntsville. It was a great way to unwind from all the emotions over the last week and just be with family. Collin also took his first steps in the basement! A whopping 4 steps ;)

 

 

Dinner with some of Michael's siblings at his sister's new house in middle-of-nowhere Snowville, UT.

 

 

 



Dinner with Courtney and Jonathan at their cute little home.

 



Lunch with Caitlin, Isaac and Laila in SLC at the delicious Pizzeria Limone (yummy!)...I need to get our picture from Caitlin!

A quick visit in Provo with Jessica, Josh, and snuggling their sweet twins- Brody and Brinley



Meeting Lisa and Stephen for ice cream at the Creamery on campus. This was also Collin's first taste of ice cream- we had to start him out with the good stuff!

 





Lunch with Michael's old boss from BYU at one of their favorite lunch places- Burger Supreme

Hanging out with Ryan at his place, eating pizza, and watching part of the BYU game.

A little shopping at the BYU bookstore- to pick out a BYU shirt for Collin. Unfortunately, we didn't have time to walk around campus. And one of these trips I still want to get a picture of Collin by a very "iconic" BYU spot. And of course I would have loved to drive by our old apartments. But oh well. Seeing friends was more important then seeing things!

Looking handsome in his new shirt



Fun times in the car! Collin got pretty good about falling asleep in his car seat.

 



 

We stopped at many parks over the course of the week, to help break up all the driving for Collin. 

 

 

 

 



Some not so highlights, but certainly memorable moments:

Collin having the BIGGEST poopy diaper literally 80 miles into our trip! We used so many wet wipes to clean up the mess, and a whole lot of Febreeze the rest of the trip ;) We think he might have been back there playing in it for a while until we started smelling it. And he was totally fine until Michael opened the back door and reacted to just how messy it was and then the poor boy lost it and started bawling!

Collin got the flu the middle of the week- in his car seat again! (Poor car seat went through a lot this trip!) This time we were driving in my sister's car...which actually was a good thing, since her seats are a lot more wipe able then ours. Turns out some of Michael's family had had it before we saw them, and then some got sick the day after we saw them :( I wasn't exactly happy about that. Poor Bailey got it the next day. We thought we had escaped the bug until we were on the trip home, driving somewhere in between Provo and Price, when it hit me in the car (Thankfully I was prepared and had a plastic bag handy.) Corinne and Aunt Fay ended up getting it that night too. It was a pretty quick 24 hour bug for Collin, Bailey and I...unfortunately not so quick for Corinne and Aunt Fay. But we were so blessed that Michael stayed healthy so he could drive and I could just sleep and sip my ginger ale and nibble my crackers ;)

 

 

Home Sweet Home!

I think we could win an award for world's messiest car ;) 

 

 

 

Halloween 2014



Collin made the cutest little monkey for Halloween this year! We had even been practicing his monkey noise (the first animal noise he was able to make). We didn't take him out trick-or-treating this year, he is still a little young, next year will be the best though (hopefully)! But we did go to our ward trunk-or-treat a few days before Halloween. He walked to a few cars, but was really more interested in the banana he was holding or the pumpkins (he also learned how to say "pumpin" this month). But it was just enough to get some candy for Mommy and Daddy to enjoy ;) Michael and I dressed up as zoo keepers.



 

On Halloween, we went downtown with some friends to meet the guys for lunch. It was a perfect afternoon for lunch in the plaza. But a little warm for the full costume so we opted for just the hat.

Love this picture!
He had only been walking for a couple weeks and was loving his new freedom walking around the plaza.



 

 

Love our little monkey!!

 

Norma Bailey Jenkins

My grandma passed away a couple months ago. She was 102, so her passing wasn't so unexpected, but it still was hard. I still find myself feeling sad occasionally. But I love to have so many of her paintings hanging around my house to remind me of her. And now that it is Christmas time, I have some of her old Christmas decorations around the house. 

 

I have this picture of her holding me framed in Collin's room next to one of my Poppa holding me on the same day. I posted it on Facebook after she died and wrote this, "I cherish this photo of my Grandma and me- our first meeting, nearly 24 years ago. I have it on a shelf in Collin's room where I often look at it as I rock and sing to him before bed. She passed away last night, after a long (102 years) and wonderful life. The pain of losing her is hard but I am comforted by my testimony that I can be with her and the rest of my family forever. I smile at the thought of her sweet reunion in Heaven with my Poppa. Until we meet again Grandma! I love you!"

 

A few memories I have of her:

 

One time when I was in elementary school I spent part of my spring break with her at Leisure Village while my mom was at work. I kind of feel like Corinne only had spring break for one week and I had it for two?? Any way, my mom would drop me off in the morning and then pick me up sometime in the afternoon. I remember Grandma making me a chocolate milk shake every day (She sure had a sweet tooth!) I also went to her ceramics class with her and got to make a little dish. She also took me swimming.

 

I remember many Christmases going with one of my siblings to pick Grandma up in the morning before we could open our stockings. My favorite thing was to hold up the pass for the person in the booth to open the gate.

 

I remember playing behind her place in Camarillo. There were lots of trees, I would collect pine cones and look for bunnies and squirrels. She also always had a poinsettia and tomato plant growing on her patio.

 

I also have a very vague memory of her babysitting me one night when my parents were out late. She put me to bed in her spare room and I remember my dad carrying me out when they picked me up. I have no idea how old I was, but I feel like I pretended to be asleep so I didn't have to walk to the car, or something like that :)

 

In middle school I sang a solo for the CineMagic performance I was in. The day of the performance I got a package in the mail from Grandma. It was a beautiful gold necklace with a hear pendant. I don't remember exactly what she said when I called to thank her but it was something along the lines of her being proud of me and happy that there was someone else in the family who enjoyed singing as much as she did. I wore it on the day of her funeral.

 

In the last couple years of her life her memory was not always the best. But I was always so impressed that she remembered that I was married to Michael and that we lived in Texas. My biggest regret is that I didn't call her nearly as often as I should have. But I will always cherish our last conversation a couple weeks before she died. We didn't talk about much, but she wanted to talk a lot longer than I expected- probably close to 30 minutes or so. She was eating lunch at the time so we talked about her food- a fruit assortment. She would pick a piece randomly (she couldn't see, since she was blind) and then try to guess what fruit it was. We talked about how Collin and I had had fruit and cottage cheese for lunch. She told me that she used to love small curd cottage cheese with her fruit (they didn't have small curd where she was living). After she died I went and bought some. Collin and I both loved it with our fruit, but really who wouldn't, its like eating cream :) We also talked about her paintings, I told her of the many I have hanging in my house. We talked about a Christmas painting she did once of the Nativity, but it got lost at a church activity one time. We both hoped that where ever it ended up that someone is loving it as much as she did. I told her about the small nativity painting I have of hers. (Perhaps it was a practice piece for the one she lost.) Some day I will frame it, but this year it is resting on my mantle. Every time I talked to her she always ended the conversation telling me how blessed she was to have such a "perfect" family. She always commented on how happy she was that we were all so close. I will never doubt that my grandma loved me.

 

Her obituary:

 

A spry 102 year old Norma Bailey Jenkins passed away September 22, 2014 in North Logan, Utah due to an overdose of life.
Norma was born June 22, 1912 in Revere, Massachusetts to Fredrick Joseph Bailey and Norma Fay Amazeen. She was raised in Kittery Point, Maine and lived all over the West, although she always considered Kittery Pt. her home.
She married Howard J. Jenkins on August 12, 1948 in the Idaho Falls LDS Temple. They raised their two children in San Bernardino, CA, and then retired to Crescent City, CA where she loved to paint scenes of the rugged coastline and redwoods that reminded her so much of her childhood home. She and Howard enjoyed camping and traveled all around the US and Canada every summer where Norma would paint and Howard would fish. They especially loved their trips to Banff, Alberta, Canada. After 15 years in Crescent City, she and Howard moved to St. George, Utah. After Howard’s passing, she moved to live near her son Allen in Camarillo, CA and later near her daughter Fay in Half Moon Bay, CA and finally to North Logan, UT.
Norma was an accomplished painter in both watercolor and oil and many family members and friends are the recipients of her beautiful paintings. She was a voracious reader, loved poetry, pottery and music, learning to play the organ and later in life, the drums. She authored several books: autobiographic, philosophic and original poetry. During World War II she worked as a welder fabricating submarine components at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine.
Norma was very proud of her New England heritage and never lost her accent or mannerisms. Some may have called her stubborn but those who knew her well have described her as “independent, witty, and a firecracker”. She was interested in current events and enjoyed a spirited debate, sometimes adopting an opposing viewpoint just for the sake of a good argument.
Norma was a convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, joining the church in Maine as a young woman. She was the first convert of the Portsmouth, NH branch and she remained faithful to her beliefs throughout her life.
Norma was preceded in death by her parents, two brothers Richard and Frederick, and her husband Howard. She is survived by her son Allen (Nancy), daughter Fay (Robert), five grandchildren, and fourteen great grandchildren.
Services will be held at the LDS Church located at 2540 N 400 E, North Logan, UT with a viewing at 9:30 am and funeral at 10:00 am on Saturday September 27, 2014. Norma will be laid to rest in the Freedom, Wyoming cemetery that afternoon at 3:00 pm.    

 

Life, Thoughts and Family Pictures

I feel like this is kind of a hodgepodge post of sorts. I didn't quite know where I was going with it until I started writing. Just mostly some thoughts I have had lately. But it has turned out to fit in with pretty well with this Thanksgiving season. So bare with me through my random thoughts and enjoy some of our recent family pictures!

 

Do you ever look at your life and wonder how you got to where you are? I have been thinking about that quite a bit lately. Growing up I always dreamed of being married and having kids. And all of a sudden I am realizing I am there! That is exactly where I am in life right now and I wouldn't have it any other way.



There was a while where I dreamed of traveling and having a career, but I know that those things wouldn't bring me nearly the amount of happiness that spending time with my little family does. Sure my dream has come with some hard parts, this life isn't all sunshine and daisies (especially when you are abruptly woken up at 5 am or change 4 poopy diapers before noon), but overall it is great!

 

I am so grateful to be able to stay home with Collin, that Michael has a good job and is doing well in his career. I am grateful for the friendship and support of other mom's that I have met here in Texas. I am grateful that I was able to go to college and graduate. I may not be making a living with that education, but it certainly influences how I am as a wife and mother. And I am proud of just being able to finish- college is hard work!

I am grateful to raise Collin in a Christ centered home. We read the scriptures and pray together with him each night. Most of the time he is crawling around and sometimes screaming, and it really doesn't seem like he is getting anything out of it, but I know it will have an influence on him. Already we were so surprised when he started folding his arms on his own for prayer. A couple weeks before Collin was born it all of a sudden it hit me that I was going to be raising a future priesthood holder and leader of the church. That is such an overwhelming responsibility! But I know the spirit is guiding us as we raise him and I am grateful he has his Daddy as a role model.  

 

I am grateful for my sweet little Collin who reminds me to slow down, is helping me learn patience, and who makes me laugh every single day.

 

 

 

And I am grateful to my supportive husband who brings home the bacon...and doesn't get mad when I spend it at Target, Costco and Hobby Lobby ;)...and who will just hold me after a long day, and takes out the trash and does the dishes because he knows how much I hate to :)

 

 

recreating an engagement photo

Life is good right now, and for that I am eternally grateful!  

 

 



Family pictures courtesy of our good friend, Becca Bird. We wanted some uniquely San Antonio pictures to remember the time we lived here, the Riverwalk was the perfect place for that! It was such a fun morning, just walking along the Riverwalk, enjoying the cool weather and stopping when we liked a spot or there was good lighting. And I love the way they turned out!

Collin's First Birthday

Collin's birthday ended up being such a fun day! It was simple and most importantly all about Collin!  When Collin woke up I went in and filled his crib with balloons. He thought it was so much fun!



I made him his favorite breakfast- green smoothie. And later that day we had lunch downtown in the Plaza by Michael's office. It was such a beautiful afternoon, and Collin loved seeing his daddy!

 

 



I had brought his present from my parents to open while we were there. I knew it was shoes of some sort, and I was anxious for him to wear them, and I also knew it would get crazy that afternoon and I wanted him to be happy and not rushed opening it. They got him the cutest little shoes, perfect for a beginner walker! It was so fun to watch him try to walk in them for the first time. Up until then he had been walking barefoot. He really didn't know what to think of them at first, but now he loves them. He even brings them to me to put them on. Its pretty adorable.



We didn't want to do a birthday party for Collin (why stress when he won't even care/remember it?)But I wanted to do something to celebrate that night since we don't have family near by, so we (really I) decided to plan a cake smash photo shoot. Our good friend Becca is great with the camera and agreed to be our photographer. I made the banner and cake.

 



The original plan was to do it in our dinning room with a white backdrop and the wood floor, but the lighting wasn't great so Becca had the brilliant idea of moving outside to the side of our building. I think the red brick gives it so much character- way better then I had originally planned! Collin wasn't the biggest fan of the cake and his party hat, but he loved the icing and balloons!

 

 





Michael thought his reaction was kind of boring, but I loved it (but really what don't I love when it comes to Collin?). Although, I had to laugh when he made a bigger mess with his breakfast the next morning...it would have been fun if he had been a little more into getting messy. Oh well, his reaction was adorable and I am so glad to have so many great pictures to remember this fun moment!

 

 





After the photo shoot we had cake and ice cream with the Bird's. And then Collin got to find his present from us. We got him a walking/riding toy. His reaction was priceless and I loved that he immediately knew what to do with it, and we were all so impressed that he was able to climb up and sit on it his first try. Collin, Bronson and Evie all played for a while, they were definitely all hyped up on sugar! I loved sitting back, laughing and just taking it all in! It was such a perfect night, Collin was so happy, and that is just the way it should have been on his special day!



Singing happy birthday to him...he got so bashful

We ended the night with a Facetime call with Boppi and Grandpa Al. Collin showed off his walking skills and his new shoes and toy! And when he laid down on the floor we knew it was time to get the birthday boy to bed!



The whole day was definitely bittersweet for me. It was lots of fun celebrating our little boy, but I couldn't help but mourn the end of his babyhood! Mommy and Daddy love you Collin! We are so proud of how much you have learned in one short year, and can't wait to see how much you grow this next year! Happy First Birthday Collin!