Blah, I mean bloggg.

So, we lost the camera for a while and it really doesn't work very well, anyway, so the blog has suffered. Not that we've had much to report (I'm sure we have, but it ain't in my head at the moment). Some bits of news over the last month include a 4.0 for the latest quarter of middle school (this is huge. I mean HUGE!), paying off the minivan (hooray!) and Stacey being probably the sickest I've ever seen her with pneumonia and the ever-amusing double ear infection.
Probably the best thing, however, has been Seth's beginning preschool. Now, you might ask, "What's a two-year-old doing in preschool? Are these parents zealots or what?". Think of the preschool as extended therapy. Seth's home therapist said he's reached the point where he'd be better off in a "young threes" (he'll be 3 next month) preschool program. The teacher to student ratio is 1:1 (actually, it's more like 4 teachers to Seth on most days), and it's specifically designed for Seth by like eight different specialists (speech therapist, occupational therapist, early childhood development specialist, teaching assistant, etc.). He LOVES it! The best part is that you, the state taxpayers, are paying for it. Thanks!!! We feel very blessed to have this program in his life, and he's making great strides.
We may update the blog soon; then again we may not. Stay tuned for pictures from the Dominican Republic. 20 days and counting...!!!

How cool is this?

I wish I didn't have to explain this one because the picture is cool by itself (at least in my head it is). At any rate, the odometer reads my date of birth, which in and of itself is pretty fun when you think about it, but you need to calculate my age and then take a look at the trip meter. In a nerdy world, it doesn't get much cooler than that.

Where did you go?

I tried one of these fancy backgrounds, which looks great, but in the process I accidentally deleted all of your blog addresses. I'd like to stick you back on here, so if you don't see your name at the right, send me the url so I can add it!

Bienvenido 2009

The day after Christmas, I had to take a trip to San Francisco for work, but managed to squeeze in a quick trip to Monterey to visit with my sister and her family. It was a great time, complete with a trip to Cannery Row, Carmel-By-The-Sea, a Rock Band jam session, and lunch at In-N-Out Burger (I like my cheeseburger "animal style").
After I returned, we headed down to Colo. Springs to celebrate the New Year with my parents and my other sister's family (we celebrated pre-Christmas with Stacey's family, but we forgot the camera so I don't have any photos). The day after we returned, my sister came up with her family and we did the Casa Bonita thing. The kids had a ball.

Adiós 2008

Okay, I'm not a 'frequent blogger'. Now that we've got expectations at their proper level, here's what's been going on over the last few weeks:

We went to the Ward Christmas party where the girls got some last minute 'nice points' with Santa. Sarah also sang a duet with her friend, Corinne.

At home, the kids had a Christmas party where they (9 of them) made graham cracker Christmas houses a few days before Christmas.

We scored a screamin' good deal on an above-the-range microwave, which I got to install--the hardest part was removing the 1983 range hood that was clearly installed by someone who wasn't overly concerned with 'code'.

Our little family had a Christmas eve dinner for six (for, like, the first time ever), complete with Roast Beast and Martinellli's. Super ultra yummy!

Christmas morning started early (I suppose it was technically a.m. when they started trying to sneak out of their rooms, but the 'hall cop' was only half asleep and sent them back); everyone was sufficiently spoiled and loved it.

Merry Christmas

We were later than normal getting the Christmas cards with accompanying year-end letter out this year. If you normally get one from us, fret not, for it is on its way. For those who live in town (to whom we don't send letters) or who are just impatient, you can read the letter here:

http://carbon.cudenver.edu/~djenkins/Christmas/Christmas_2008.pdf

Photo from Christmas 2005.

Happiness

This photo may look relatively unspectacular (like my tan), but it's our favorite photo of the moment. As best we can tell, it's the very first photo of Seth in which he is both smiling genuinely and acknowledging the camera. Every time we see it, we're happy. And besides, he's dang cute.