We had a good weekend. It was my birthday Saturday and we went to a shower for Weston Hadlock's fiancee Deanna Schroeder. They had a birthday cake for me also and sang happy birthday. Dad and I took time out and went to a open house to see Ray Davidson, a friend of his from when I was little. He used to read a story with so much expression that I still have a soft spot in my heart for him.

Mom and Dad gave Larry and I some money for our birthdays so we went to the Melting Pot Restaurant in Salt Lake City. We spent way too much money for one meal but it was so fun for the two of us to have an intimate dinner of Fondue.

When we got home Maren and Landon came over and gave me a blouse and skirt that they had picked out and Larry a classic movie. It was fun to have them over.

Then Erick and Heather came home and announced that they were planning on getting married on December 20, 2008 in the Manti Temple. We were all so excited because we approve of the match. Erick was lined up with Heather by his step-sister Michelle.

The first picture is a picture of Abby taken on Friday. The second picture is Maren and Guage on his blessing day. The third picture is of Ashton on the trampoline.

We just arrived home after Gauge Even Gentile's baby blessing. He was blessed by his father Landon. There was a lot of family on either side there for the event. Landon and Maren had a luncheon at Landon's parents for all those that attended. The grilled hamburgers and polish sausage and hot dogs. There was lots of fruit and salads and cake's and treats. It was a fun day for everyone to be together. It was a good day and did not rain but it has been hot. Evan and Shirley's house was air-conditioned so that helped. They had set up several shade maker's outside on the patio so that was nice also.

All of the brothers and sisters that are close here in Utah were there except Jake. Jake had an emergency appendectomy a week ago last Friday and was recovering from that when he became ill this morning and started throwing up. He has been going to his Annual Training at Camp Williams this week and doing light duty but he got sick this morning at Camp Williams and had to come home. Nikki said they thought it was food poisoning. She came up with the kids for the blessing and then went immediately home. She said that Jake is feeling somewhat better and was able to eat something this evening and keep it down.

Holly was not able to come down because she had to work. BJ came down and was having fun with the kids. BJ called this week and was able to get a discount set up for Larry and I on our Verizon account through the school district. I appreciated his willingness to help us with that.

My phone has been a problem this week anyway. A week ago I dropped it in the dish water when I was talking to Kirsten. I got it out immediately and tried to get it dried out and we took the battery out. The next day it worked for a half a day and then it quit for good. Luckily it had insurance on it and I was able to order a new one but they were not able to retrieve any of my data from the phone so I am having to start over on everything. I am hoping that my pictures were saved from my card but I have not looked yet. They do not show on the phone so I am thinking that maybe they were not saved on there. I am learning the hard way that I need to back up data.

I finished up my Master's classes for the summer at the U of U. I was taking website design and Adobe Photoshop and Flash and Fireworks. I still have a lot to learn but I was able to start a website about Grandpa Jenkins's stories that he wrote and told to us as children. It is at www.larsejenkins.com. Grandpa seemed to be please with the beginnings of the website. Brinli and Ashton liked the Flash illustration of "The Little Seal". Brinli came in and asked me to read her the story yesterday and then after I read it she said,"I want to see Grandpa" so she has liked it.

Larry's sister Judy Trolinger was here for a week to visit last week. We went to the Genealogy Conference at BYU for four days. It was fun to have her here and get to know her better. I felt bad because both Larry and I had homework to do somedays to finish up our classes and so Judy studied the things from the conference while we did that. We were able to go to Temple Square one night and out to dinner with Michelle's family and we had most of the family over for dinner on Sunday the 3rd of August and had August birthday's while Judy was here. She got to go with me to Tooele to see Jake in the hospital so she got the tour of part of Utah and the Great Salt Lake.

Nathan and Sara are going to St. Louis, Missouri this week. Sara's brother Matthew is getting married this week and they are going for the wedding. David started school last Thursday so he will miss a week of school.

I went to Herriman and got Ashton on Friday and we went to a primary activity here in Kaysville that I had to go to and then he came home with me and jumped on the tramp and played with the kitty's and fed the fish. We had lunch and then Kyle came over about the time that we were leaving to take him back. He rode with us to pick up Larry from work and then we went to the park in Herriman that Ashton likes. We were able to visit with Jake and Nikki for a while and spend some time with them. Then we met Maren and Landon for dinner in Salt Lake City because the traffic was so bad going into Davis county because of construction.

Michelle and Daniel are home schooling their kids this year. They started school last week. The kids seem to like it and there is a lot of curriculum that is available to work with. They also went to Daniel's Uncle's cabin this weekend on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. They are going to Yellowstone Park next weekend so they are getting in a lot of travel.

Jeff and Misty are busy with life. Jeff works everyday while the kids and Misty have explored some of the new parks. They have found a few that they really like. Leah starts kindergarten this fall around September 2nd or 3rd. They are growing up fast.

Kirsten and Jon are still fighting the custody battle with Jon's ex. Kirsten is working two jobs right now so is often stressed. She had a headache for three days last week. She ended up being sick for Stephen and Ashton's wedding. Kyle starts school in two weeks. School starts here on the 25th of August. He was excited Friday because he got the teacher he wanted.

Erick spends all of his time at Heather's or has Heather over here. He said the other night that she was a keeper because she liked onion rings but that is about as serious as he has got with us. He did go to Flaming Gorge with his ward on Thursday, Friday and Saturday. He said that he had a good time learning to water ski while he was there but he came home early on Saturday.

I start preparing to teach school next week on the 18th and then like I said school starts on the 25th. The University of Utah starts that week also so I will have class on Thursday of that week. Erick will start then also. Landon has been accepted to Utah Valley University in an online aviation program but I don't know if he has started yet. Larry starts one class as soon as the next one is over. They have homework that they have to complete for the first day of class. A lot of it is online. He is taking a statistics class this time and is not enjoying it but he will survive.