Elder Jenkins Returns

My youngest brother, Scott, just finished serving his mission in San Fernando, CA! From the minute he opened his call, we've been plotting to go pick him up & take the kiddos to Disneyland. He finished up the end of January and off we went. Actually my parents met him at the mission home, picked him up and toured the mission visiting some families and then met us in Anaheim. It was great to see him again! You always wonder what the returned missionary is going to be like? Will they have difficulty adjusting, how different will they be--for better or worse :-) Scotty stayed true to himself--his personality was exactly the same as I remembered and it is great to have him back. The boys were thrilled--especially Jason who remembered him the most--and our little hotel room immediately became a boy's "frat house" with wrestling, eating, teasing, laughing and the "occasional" bodily noise!

As for Disneyland, it couldn't have been easier with several sets of extra hands to wrangle our kiddos. Auntie Weesa (my sister Lisa) flew to Vegas and drove to CA with us. It was AWESOME to have her along--she is a huge help but mostly, we don't get to spend much time together and it was great to catch up. Besides, she totally spoiled the boys and they'd love to have her around anytime!
I think our favorite "kid" ride was Peter Pan's Flight--so cool. And my favorite "adult" ride had to be Indiana Jones. We polished off the last night by walking back to the hotel devouring roasted turkey legs. You know it's going to be good when you first bite into it and juice literally squirts five feet in the air. Oh how I wish a truck would deliver one to me once a week

On the way home from CA, we stopped at Cafe Rio before dropping Lisa off at the airport. Collin was gnawing on the table, bit down hard, jerked his head back and ripped his tooth out of the socket. He had blood gushing down his chin, I was completely freaked out, turned to my little sis and said what do I do???? Being the dental hygienist that she is, she calmly took a look and told me to pop it back in and then called our dad who is a dentist. I don't know what I would have done without her. We'll know it 6-8 weeks if the tooth is ok--if it starts to discolor, I have to yank it out. My poor little boy might have a huge gap until his permanent teeth grow in!

Aside from the tooth incident of 2011, the trip was perfect. We're glad the last of the Jenkins' boys are home from missions--we can finally take a family photo, have Thanksgiving and not feel like someone is missing all the time. So viva Mickey Mouse and welcome back brother!