Day in the Life // A Photoblog by Joel Jenkins

A date has been set. On Match 28th we head to the hospital to welcome baby #3 to the family. She’ll make many appearances here, don’t you worry. Before the chaos comes in full blast Alicia and I zipped off to Las Vegas for a quick weekend. It was great. Other than a white-knuckle 3 hours of driving in a snow-storm from home to St. George, it was a lovely warm weekend.

We arrived Friday night, got situation in our room and then had dinner at the hotel. It was late and time for bed afterwards so the fun didn’t start until Saturday. I woke up and took myself for a walk to the Strip. We were staying about a mile away, but I enjoyed the long walk in the morning sunshine.

Our hotel was right by the Las Vegas Convention Center, which has a monorail station. Naturally this meant the monorail track was nearby.

I’m always amazed at how large the hotels along the strip are. Just massive, massive buildings.

After my walk I took some breakfast back to Alicia and we hung out lazy like for a little while before heading down to the Hotel pool to take a dip in the water and be in the sun. It was just a little bit cold, but it was a nice.

We then got ready for our night out! We started out with a late lunch at a fantastic Japanese restaurant called Cafe Sanuki. It was super good. Alicia got the Udon, and I couldn’t pass up Katsu Curry. I wish we had one of these back at home!

After lunch we headed over to The D Las Vegas for a comedy magician show. Adam London’s Laughternoon was a lot of fun. He’s funny, really great at magic, clean, and from Utah! Totally recommend his show, and the tickets are cheap.

After the show we drove back to our hotel and took the Monorail to the Strip for our next show. We were probably only 2 miles from the venue but it took over an hour to get there between riding the monrail, walking through one entire casino to get out, and then walking almost all of the Miracle Mile Shops at Planet Hollywood. Between my morning walk, and this evening one, I accumulated a ton of steps!

Our evening show was The Mentalist. It was incredible! Lots of jaw-dropping moments as he did his show. He’s also pretty funny and a great entertainer. Tons of fun!

After the show we hit up another local-to-Vegas restaurant called Nacho Daddy. This one also most definitely needs to come to Utah! Alicia opted for the Supreme Tostada Nacho and I couldn’t pass up the BBQ Chicken Nachos. We began the evening with some White Jalapeno Queso. Everything was incredible!

After dinner, feeling thoroughly stuffed, we started the long walk home. I pulled out my camera with my ultra-wide and stopped for a few photos. The Strip is quite a busy place at night!

Sunday morning we got to sleep in just a little bit before loading up the minivan for the drive home. Thankfully, the weather forecast proved wrong and we had clear skies and a smooth ride home. We took a little break in St. George and visited my brother Kurt. It was fun to catch up as it’d been awhile.

By dinnertime we made it up to Sandy to pick up our kids from Alicia’s dads house. He took them for the weekend and kept them very well entertained. They love spending time with him and Becky.

Overall it was a great trip! It’s always nice to get some one-on-one time with my wife; we spend too much time wrapped up in work and family and kids and other responsibilities.

Pizza with Friends

March 1, 2019

Today we had some friends come over for a few hours. The weather was lovely so it was a great opportunity to pull the bikes out and use up some energy. And eat Pizza.

3 Kids sitting in folding chairs on the porch — Everyone loves to sit in chairs on the front porch.

Kids sit on bikes on a warm winter day. — It was a lovely 50º outside, so it was time to bring out the bikes.

Flashlight Walk

February 27, 2019

Kids love flashlights, and ours are no exception. One way we get the late night wiggles out is to go on a Flashlight walk. The kids love it! Tonight was extra special because we took the LED lantern.

Emmett holding a lantern, Elle holding a flashlight.

Good Weather Walk

February 24, 2019

This has been a long, cold winter. I’m done! I’ve had enough of it. Today was a wonderfully nice 45º day outside and I made sure to take advantage of it. I took the kids for a walk over to Orem High School to get some wiggles out and get some sun exposure. Pretty sure it’s the most sun I’ve had in weeks. It was so nice to be outside.

Emmett and Elle walking down the street.

Elle, wearing her star coat, green dress, and Sky helmet poses on her bike

Emmett

February 23, 2019

Bedtime Showtime

February 20, 2019

Sometimes they brush their teeth and get the jammies on and get snuggles and get stories and songs and the royal treatment. And sometimes you take the path of least resistance to get them in bed as fast as you can because it’s late and they should have been sleeping an hour ago and you’re the solo parent for the night.

Emmett and Elle sitting in bed in their jammies watching a show on my phone

Austin Photowalk

February 16, 2019

I’m down in Austin on 460 business attending the TOA Summit for the Texas Optometric Association. We’ve been working with the TOA for a little over a year now, and they’re such good people. It’s always fun (and kinda expensive!) coming to visit Austin for a few days. Staying right in downtown gives me easy access to get out and take some new photos. These are from my stroll on Friday morning. Shot in Classic Chrome with my 12mm F2.

Las Chismosas Taco Stand in Austin, Texas

A scene of downtown Austin, with an older building painted in red

An alley lined with garbage dumpsters in Austin, Texas

A man stands in the street while waiting for the crossing light to change.

So, fun story on this on. The other day at home I had Siri “play me something new”. One of the songs I heard was from a 2004 album by Marc Broussard. It was catchy so I added to my library.

Today on my walk-around I thought I’d give them whole album a listen. Lo and behold, as I’m heading back whose name should I see on some signage! Marc Broussard! Too bad he was sold out.