JENSEN FAMILY

Still here...

2010-10-26T15:27:00.000-07:00

ughhhh...seriously, is anyone going to post anything???!!! I think I have a really good excuse for no posts since MAY! We now have a fancy-dancy camera, which Jens thankfully retrieves the images pretty regularly, but they all go on his computer...which I have no idea how to use....which results in no post. I'm just not that computer savvy and not that clever to post without pictures :) And so, here is our blog, post-less for months and months (not that anyone is keeping track except me.) Promise to myself, I will catch up on my blog...soon...very soon.

Kindergarten, check.

2010-05-28T12:06:00.000-07:00

Jens again...

Blake had her end of year Kindergarten program. They sang about the A, B, C's and did some cute little dances... Generally a good time and great material for future embarrassment. A couple pictures of some other family and friends from the event as well. Oh - and of course a pic of the family... (No - that is not a wig).

2010-05-17T13:55:00.000-07:00

This is Jens again.

Well, we decided to buy a good camera. I have always wanted to buy a real camera, but I needed a good excuse to spend the money. I will spare you the details, but following a little advice from a professional photo buddy of mine from college, we decided to jump in. So here are a few from random stuff over the last week or so:

Bade watching one of my city league soccer games.

Aunt Alice

Blake at Gunnar's B'day Party... This is not totally in focus, but I like the wide angle lens looking photo even tho I am not geared up for it. The funny thing is that I just pointed the camera in her general direction and hit the shutter with the camera at my hip.
Bade and Mom.

I like this one - but I should have blown out the background a little more to get rid of that car and the other kids.

2010-05-17T13:23:00.000-07:00

Bade at District Soccer:

Emily took this - had friends over to play:

Other people's kids - Emily again:

Other people's kids - Emily again. I love how hot this kid looks:

Gunnar:

Gunnar again - I think this is my favorite photo thus far - Swing Away!:

Family Friend - IDK, just an interesting face:

Some Soccer Stuff - Alumni from my HS team. We all play together in City League now - which provides me with a lot of happiness and an opportunity to still have some influence on their life.

Ahhhh - remember HS? Next few are from District Soccer.

I have a bunch of other soccer ones - but here is one:

Ummmmm... Hello?

2010-05-07T10:28:00.000-07:00

Ok - this is getting redonkulos... My birthday was in February!

Even tho I enjoy being the center of attention there has to be something else going on... lets see what I can drum up on my work computer:

Here is one of Bade from a couple months ago - just being Bade.

The kids had a good Easter.

Soccer is in full swing of course. Districts start this weekend.

Oh - and I am trying to talk Emily into driving this around... (Dont worry - the white on the sides will come right off - it has a 3rd row seat and it is super retro cool!) I think she is holding out for a mini-van - Booooorrrrrrring.

Happy Birthday Jens!

2010-02-10T19:12:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday to Jens! Since Jens loves to celebrate his birthday, we've made it extra special...or rather far from it. This is how his "day" has gone...work which included a junior high dance, (probably the high-light of the day) pulled out our living room carpet to make way for our wood floors, (yea!!!!) dinner which consisted of the "World's best sandwich," (from Splanglish) had cake & ice cream with the deacons in our ward, (they came over to help pull out staples in the floor) went to futsol...and that about wraps it up. Pretty special day huh :) But seriously, we love you Jens and wish you a Happy Day :)

Trent's #3

2010-01-27T12:28:00.000-08:00

TRENT turned 3 December 21st. He had a bowling birthday and had so much fun with all the family that came to help him celebrate...Uncle Mark and Aunt Ashley, Cousins Gunnar, Campbelle, & Addie, Uncle Nicolas and Aunt Brooke, Uncle Tyson and Aunt Sarah, Aunt Janae, Aunt Ali, Grandma and Grandpa, Blake, Bade and Mom and Dad. He even had a special visitor come to Grandma's to wish him a happy birthday and to make sure he was being nice :) We consider ourselves pretty blessed to have Trent in our family and love our little guy.

Bade's Blessing & other things

2009-12-07T19:43:00.000-08:00

It was Bade's blessing day yesterday. He did really well...I always have the fear of the blow out...spit up...or crying episodes during the blessing. But Bade was wide awake and peaceful through the whole thing and Jens was able to give him a really sweet blessing. We had family & friends over later that evening for cookies and hot chocolate...very appropriate because it was freezing yesterday. Every time we stepped outside Trent would start crying and scream..."the storm's coming!" We are very thankful for our little guy and love watching him grow. Bade is now just shy of 8 weeks old and is smilng and starting to talk to us...so cute.

Some other updates....notice the hole in Blake's smile. She lost her first tooth a couple of weeks ago. Grandpa "popped" it out with a string and it didn't even hurt she says :)
And did you notice the long beautiful locks of blonde hair...me, you ask (I wish), maybe Blake? Trent? No. Jens, yes Jens, is 5 1/2 months into his hair crusade...no cut for a year...groovy baby yeah.

Mom & Dad & Bade

Blake, Davey Crocket...or is it Trent?
& Bade

The Family

Bade Merrill

2009-11-03T15:43:00.000-08:00

Bade is 2 weeks old in this picture. He's changing so much and is a really good little guy. He only fusses if he's not being held and when he's ready to eat. He still hasn't figured out that night time is for sleeping, but I can't complain, he's pretty lovable. At his 2 week checkup he weighed 9 lbs 3 ounces, 1 lb heavier since birth and was 1 inch longer. He's a healthy little guy.

Trent can't get enough of the little guy. He's always in Bade's face giving him kisses or saying "hello little guy!"

Blake is the perfect big sister. She loves loving on him as well. Bade is 1 week old in this picture.

Halloween 2009

2009-11-03T15:28:00.001-08:00

Our little Monkey....Bade's first Halloween...he slept through the whole fun-filled night...thankfully :)

Trent, Bade, Blake, & cousin Justin @ Grandma's before the Trunk-or-Treat at the Church

Blake was a Witch this year.
Trent was a Super Hero/Muscle Man...the muscles are real, seriously...

Blake and Avery passing out candy at the Trunk- or -Treat

Trent loved trick or treating. Notice little Addalyn in the background, she was the cutest little kitty ever. After the Trunk-or-treat my mom and I took the kids into town to knock a few doors and about blew away...so we only visited 4 houses and decided their candy bags were plenty full anyway and what the heck were we thinking?! Another fun Halloween.

Blake Soccer 2009

2009-11-03T15:19:00.001-08:00

Blake played soccer this fall here in Royal this year. It was fun to watch her play with all her friends...it's just the beginning of a fun 13 years of sports for our little kindergarten group.

Baby is here

2009-10-14T10:00:00.000-07:00

Everything has gone fine thus far.

8lbs 3oz

19.5"

No Name Yet

*EDIT EDIT EDIT*

Bade Merrill Jensen

Donut anyone?

2009-10-07T13:16:00.000-07:00

Our bi-annual donut making...while the dad's are at Priesthood during General Conference, we stay home and make donuts...naturally :) Always a good treat...my favorite...maple. I think the kids had more fun licking their fingers than anything.
All those helping this year....Blake-Trent-Me-Aunt Brooke-Gunnar-Campbelle-Grandma-Aunt Ali. I think we started this when my brother Mark starting going to priesthood...for some reason he needed donuts when he got home :)

Kindergarten!!

2009-08-27T16:43:00.000-07:00

Little miss Blake was off to Kindergarten today! It was very exciting for Blake...not so exciting for her mother...and an awful day for her brother. We started the morning by dropping Trent off at "Grandma's School" and then Blake and I went to an orientation where she left with her teacher, Mrs. Mueller, and I stayed with the parents to be "oriented." Before I left I went to peak in on her class. She was having story time and had already done her handprints in paint...she was loving it... so I said good-bye...and went to get the child that still needed me :)
Blake is lucky enough to be in the same class as her cousin, Gunnar, and a few of her friends. It should be a fun year for her, we're pretty excited for our not-so-little girl.

Blake & Avery outside the School
Story Time with Mrs. Mueller
At her Table next to Brynne and Kale

Me again...

2009-08-14T17:37:00.000-07:00

Emily is not getting to this - So here I am again to share whats up.

Every year we try to go on some sort of a camping trip with some friends. We went to Westport a couple of years ago, Sun Lakes last year, and this year we went to Scootney Reservoir. We just stayed a night and hit the lake and whatnot. It turned out to be a great place for camping and the kids.

I had tickets for the Sounders v. Barcelona match so we headed over to the other side of the mountains and decided to extend the stay a few days and stay with my brother Chris and his wife Christy. I went to work with Chris one of the days - He has his own business shooting studs, laying decking, and building stud rails/embeds for large structures. Many of you have seen me wearing an orange - Seattle Stud Welding - shirt... Well - this is him 'shooting' a stud:
We took a day trip to Westport another day - I actually brought my longboard over to surf, but it has to be really good to get me out in that cold water - it was not, but we had some fun:
Rub Emily's belly for good luck!We hit the Zoo on Wednesday and took a Camel ride. I cant imagine how boring it must be for the handler and the camel to walk in a figure 8 giving people rides all day long... Watch Out - They Spit! (Blake, Carly, Christy):
And Later that day I headed to the Barca match with some friends from Royal. Messi made the Sounders look terrible, but Barca is the best club in the world with Messi as possibly the best player on the planet, so what can you do. Sold out Qwest Stadium so it was good fun.
While I was at Qwest, everyone else went to some kind of 'cook in front of you' resturant. It is not Benny whatevers, but the same concept:
I had been kicking around the idea of heading down to San Diego for a surf trip with a buddy from BYU-Hawaii. I had never been south of LA, and I was jonesing for some warm water and waves. My buddy is a professional photographer shooting a lot of different things, but for the most part he shoots weddings and surf.

I will plug him because he is a buddy, but also because he is good at what he does:
www.nathanpetty.com

Anyway - Emily and I were really good friends with Nathan and his wife Arianna in Hawaii. They have since had some rough times so anyway - it was a good opportunity to see a buddy and catch some waves so I headed down for about a week. Surfed Scripps, Tressles, Windansea, and Ocenside. Also looked around a bit - saw the Temple and Balboa Park. Would have been better to have the whole family, but it was good times and a great opportunity to check out SD for future get-a-ways with the full crew. I am not a huge fan of California just because I feel like someone dropped me into the middle of Barbie Land, but the water was warm, and the surf pleantiful so I was stoked. This is Windansea in the am before the clouds burned off:

Last surf session at Oceanside before jumping on the plane for home:So I guess that is it for now.

Failure to Launch?

2009-07-21T12:38:00.000-07:00

Emily has not posted here in a while - summer is her busiest season... Working in the yard, garden, and motoring the kids around going swimming or whatever - while also babysitting me - which is nice - all while being preggo zaps her energy.

For me - I started to think about that movie, "Failure to Launch." In the movie the main character played by Matthew McConaughey lives with his parents and he fills his life with things that are perhaps - for a 30-something - less sophisticated than putting on a suit and going to work each day. Mountain biking, climbing, paintball, surfing, going to ball games... things like that - then throw into the mix projects that, to the reasonable person, seem better suited for the scrap yard, not commanding valuable shop space. So - Minus the part about living with my parents (unless Emily counts), I am seeing some similarities...

So here is what we have been doing - School was out the 11th of June.

Started out the summer by going to a Seattle Sounders v Crew Match. That was a bunch of fun! Due to HS Soccer this was my first opportunity to get to a match - took Emily but - Oops... I guess we didnt get any pictures.

I was asked to accompany the stake young women on the Hiawatha trail. It is this mountain biking trail that follows the old rail route over the north Rockies. Here is a picture of Emily's Sister, Sister-in-law, and also Macey who is from our ward. You go through a bunch of tunnels - one that is a mile and a half! It is an easy ride, but a good experience.

I spent a week or so getting the scout ready to take it to Spokane for the Binder Bash (its a get together for people that own old Internationals - sounds lame, but it is a good group of people actually).
Speaking of rigs - we bought a '66 13 window VW Bus. It is sweet and will be a fun (but LONG) project. I also got a 4 wheeler going this summer for the family, and have been fixing motorcycles, jetskis, computers, and websites for people just to make sure I dont have a bunch of free time.

Anyway - so that is the project part of the movie.
He also goes hiking/biking/climbing/paintballing. Done a little of that as well:

I am the 11 year old scout leader so I took the boys out in the Mt. Stuart area. Ben Orth and I went and checked it out prior to taking the boys up there and brought our bikes. We had a good time:
Lets see - what else... Oh - we went to the Oregon coast for a week with Emily's family and did some surfing (brrrrr...) and the kids LOVED the Beach. When Trent gets tired he says, "I wanna go Beeeee Hooooouuus..." (Beach House)
Oh - 4th of July of course (sorry Avery - only pic we had):
I also ran the week-long 3v3 tournament again this year for the community festival called SummerFest. Blake was in the parade - Emily, Blake and Trent did the Fun Run, Emily and Courtney had a booth selling cotton candy and frozen chocolate covered bananas.
I am trying to think if there is anything else... Be have visited some family and had some visitors. Oh - I have done some fishing here and there, gone to a couple of car shows, and played some paintball with members of the Elders Quorum.

Of course I have been reffing some soccer, playing as much as possible, and having some practice with the girls to get ready for the fall - but all that is a given. I have tickets for the Barcelona v. Sounders match on the 5th and I am stoked for that - but all that can wait for later posts.

Oh! Blake Turned 5 while we were in Oregon:

So as you can see - I am not living with my parents, but I do spend most of my time on things that Sarah Jessica Parker's Character would consider slackerish... But what does she know... Good thing is that Emily thinks Matthew McConaughey is hot - so I'm all set.

A picture of Trent just because:

A Trent Post

2009-06-10T07:23:00.000-07:00

Just a few pics of the little man. Every time Jens gets out the guitar, Trent runs to get the little guitar to play along...pretty cute. And well, the underwear shot...he found those over at Grandma's (spiderman underwear) and had me put them on over his diaper...he was loving it.

He's been labeled BATMAN

2009-06-04T16:12:00.001-07:00

I had my ultrasound yesterday...baby looks healthy and it's a BOY! Much to Blake's disappointment. But she's on board now and has labeled him BATMAN. Since Trent thinks his name is Spiderman....it's only natural that we'll be having Batman...

Catch up

2009-06-04T15:51:00.001-07:00

Wow...I've been away for a while...
Just a recap of what we've been up to over the past month...all without pictures. Because well, it seems I've been on a picture strike...

Jens soccer team played for 3rd/4th place in districts here at home on the turf. We lost with no time left on the clock in overtime!!!!....chalk it up to a VERY bad call by the center ref...yeah. The guys played hard...but no state tournament this year.

My mom, sister-in-law Brooke, and I had our yearly yard sale in May. We did pretty well. There's nothing like selling all your junk...and it seems like we can come up with a lot of junk every year...hmmm...

The sale ended with a flood of my garden. A lady pulling out of my driveway ran over the water spout and sent a Yellowstone-worthy geyser shooting out over my newly planted garden. It made me sick watching all that water flowing over the new plants...luckily nothing was washed away and the garden seems tobe growing just fine...weeds and all.

The family went over to Seattle to visit Jens' brother Chris and family. We always have a lot of fun when we're over there. Christy and I and the kids made an IKEA run....love love love IKEA. And then Jens and I went to the Seattle Sounders/Columbus Crew game. (MLS) Which was a lot of fun.

Blake got to go to a party out at the Millers. It was a bunch of kids starting kindergarten this fall. She had a lot of fun playing with the kids and it was fun to see the little group together.

And that about catches us up :)

Happy Birthday MOM!

2009-05-06T16:04:00.000-07:00

My third post of the day...yeah, I'm a little behind. But I had to wish my
MOM a Happy Birthday! Right now she's having a birthday party with the grand kids over at her house...so I'm home alone, enjoying a quiet afternoon...it sounds like it should be my birthday. That's just the kind of Mom she is :) I don't know what I'd do without her and I'm thankful to live so close. I love you Mom.

Senior Soccer Night

2009-05-06T15:56:00.000-07:00

Well, here's Jens with his boys. They had their last home game of the season last night and now on to Districts. It was a fun game with a win over KiBe 8-0 (I think.) Don't let the score fool you...it's usually not that high :) The defense was even scoring, with a PK by our goalie...it was a fun game to watch. They're a good group of boys.

Pruned & Blossomed

2009-05-06T15:46:00.001-07:00

We have a couple rows of cherry trees in our yard...that haven't been pruned...oh, I don't know 15 years or so. Jens decided it was time and pruned 1/2 the trees. They look great, and I was happy to see that they still blossomed. I thought they would go into shock and not produce any fruit...but maybe we'll get lucky..what do I know about fruit trees...
Blake is standing in front of our limb pile...that she helped pile up. Anybody ready for a bonfire?

#3

2009-04-07T13:04:00.000-07:00

As my friend Shannon put it, we're adding on because we wanted a little less room...yes, child #3 is on the way.

I'm 3 months now and counting :) Blake is constantly "just thinking"..."Mom, I've just been thinking, the baby really likes ice cream"....or "Mom, I've just been thinking, my baby sister should be named Ella."...her middle name. And no we don't know if it's a boy/girl yet, but Blake knows it is a baby sister. So yeah, I'm pregnant:)

A Real Farm...

2009-04-07T12:52:00.001-07:00

We went with my mom and sisters to Utah this past week for spring break. We visited good old Oak City and my Grandpa & Uncle Daniel's "real" farm...in Blake's words. The kids had fun riding horses with Aunt Janae and watching the baby calves and Uncle Bruce's geese. I wish I had a picture of Trent following Great-Grandpa around while he bottle-fed the calves. It had snowed the night before (yes...during spring break) and Trent followed right behind in Grandpa's footprints...it was a pretty sweet.
We visited Aunt Jackie and watched Ryan's tennis match in Richfield. And we spent some time in Provo with Ashley and Mark. Blake had fun swimming like a mermaid with Uncle Mark :) And Tyson, Sarah, & Trent's new favorite little person, baby Addie came over Saturday from Rexburg. It was fun to spend the week with family. But alway's good to be back home :)

4 year-old thankfulness

2009-03-13T09:26:00.000-07:00

Blake's bedtime prayer last night....

"dear Heavenly Father, thankyou for my soccer, and thankyou for letting me score a goal..."

She really is Jens' daughter...

Soccer Days Are Here Again...

2009-03-05T14:06:00.000-08:00

brrrrrr.....Soccer in February

Jens started the boys season on Monday and Blake started her own soccer season last week. She's pretty excited to be playing the sport that her dad worships... :) Her games start next week, so we're excited to watch her play and have fun. Trent can't hardly stand it though to have Blake out there without him.

Pay it Forward

2009-02-23T08:14:00.001-08:00

"The first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive a handmade gift from me during this year. When and What will be a surprise. There's a small catch though....Post this same thing on your blog and then come back and leave a comment telling me you're in. Remember, only the first 3 comments receive the gift."

I got this from my sister Sarah. I thought it would be fun to do...and with my continual lack of posts lately I thought it was a good filler :)

Birthday

2009-02-19T10:07:00.001-08:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to JENS!!!

...yes, it was a week ago and I had good intentions of posting a Happy Birthday the day of, but I slowly got around to it. So over a week later, here we are. We did squeeze in 2 days of birthday fun...the family party on Sunday with cake and icecream, and a little get together at our house on the day of with friends, icecream cake and cupcakes.
So Happy Birthday to you Jens...We love you.

Saddle Mountain

2009-02-09T15:36:00.001-08:00

Okay...we finally did something blog worthy...
On Saturday we rode to the top of Saddle Mountain in the SCOUT....a little off-roading action for the Jensen's. The ride went well...except for a moment of hysteria on Blake's part...okay, my part too :) If only Jens would stay on the road...that's all I'm saying...
Chad Bergeson, Audrey & the boys (Derek & Luke) went with us. Fun Saturday.

The SCOUT
The kid's overlooking the "Saddle."

HOLIDAY FUN!

2009-01-06T17:25:00.000-08:00

Well, the holidays are past and drab January is here. Now we look forward to the sunshine...until then, well, we wait...
But here's a rundown of all the fun we had through December-chocolate fountains, rocolette grill, Christmas Eve appetizers, matching pajamas, sledding, snowmen, presents...lots of presents, family visiting, Nativity story with swords, prime rib, friends, noise makers and party hats, countdown to the new year @ 9 pm, food...and more food, games at the gym, sitting on Santa's lap...3 times, nertz, Christmas morning, snow, farkle, sleepovers at Grandma's house, the list could go on and on. Our favorite happening this past month though, was all the time we got to spend with our family and celebrating the birth of our Savior. We hope you had a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and...Happy January :)

Redneck?

2008-12-22T12:39:00.001-08:00

You might be a redneck if - when faced with the problem of plowing your driveway - you decide this is your best option:

Emily is going to be embarrassed! Hehehehehe....

Happy Birthday Trent!

2008-12-21T18:16:00.001-08:00

I can't believe our little man is 2 today! Our Christmas baby is not so little anymore...but I think I'll keep him as my baby for as long as I can :) I can't pass up his kisses...his cuddles...our mornings with Boots and Dora...his soccer kick...
I love this kid.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUDDY!

How can you resist this?

Let it Snow!

2008-12-13T11:06:00.000-08:00

Blake has been waiting for this day since July! "When is it going to snow?" Is a common question from Blake. So this morning she was pretty excited to see snow on the ground when she woke up. Trent on the other hand...well, I guess I'm not quite ready for him and snow...big sister hand-me-downs don't quite look right on the little man, poor guy.

Primary Spotlight

2008-12-03T16:05:00.000-08:00

The Primary puts a spotlight of one of the primary kids on the back of the bulletin every Sunday, and this past week it was Blake :)

Primary Spotlight
Hi! My name is Blake Ella Jensen. I am 4 years old. I have one brother. The thing I like best about primary is my class. I have two dogs named Coco & Koby. The best thing about my family is my mom and dad. My favorite storybook is the princess book. The thing I like best about school is it's at Gunnar's and My house. The food I really don't like is fish. When I am grown up I want to be a BIG princess. In the summertime I like to swim. My favorite story in the scriptures is stories about Jesus. My favorite primary song is "We will Find a Little Nest." I think the best thing about being a missionary would be talking to people.

We haven't gone anywhere...

2008-12-03T15:47:00.000-08:00

So I have apparently taken a hiatus. We haven't been up to much (obviously by the lack of blogging.) But we did enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving. We spent it here in Royal with my family. Mark & Ashley and Sarah, Tyson & little Addie came up. We missed having Jason, Emily & Justin up here. We had a lot of time to just hang out with the family, which is the best way to spend time with everyone. We made jewelry, played games, made the early morning trip to Moses on Black Friday (where I made a steal of a deal on an artificial tree...Janae is still trying to forgive me, and I'm still loving my buy,) ate a ton of food...good food, and went to Addie's baby blessing. It was a great Thanksgiving and I had a wonderful time with the family. The family minus the kids...they weren't too interested in eating...crazy.This is at Addie's Blessing. Her dress was beautiful. My kids were rowdy. Blake didn't miss an opportunity to be the princess.

TIME TO FILL UP AGAIN!

2008-11-10T20:40:00.000-08:00

If you can agree with the picture above, you'll understand my excitement and utter joy when I filled up at Safeway the other day and payed only $2.08...yes $2.08 a gallon!!! I loved it. And I only have a little Scion to fill...11 gallon tank, and I was hating the chunk of change it took to fill up!

Go Knights!

2008-11-03T09:18:00.001-08:00

It was the Football Homecoming game Halloween night. Blake loved the fireworks, Trent not so much (He was buried in my coat in the beginning and then moved on to Grandma thinking she could save him.) Tawnee was Homecoming Queen and let Blake revel in the glory...

More Halloween...

2008-11-03T09:03:00.001-08:00

Trent was sick and tired of the pictures...

Blake, Aunt Ali, & Trent with the pumpkins they carved...

The scary house...

I'll give you a rundown of our Halloween by Blake's favorite parts-

1. Favorite part of Grandma's Halloween party...eating soup (which is a little surprising because Blake didn't eat any soup!?)
2. Favorite part of Trick-or-Treating...going to the scary house
3. Favorite part of the football game...the fireworks

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T08:32:00.001-07:00

Last night we had a little Halloween preview. Allred's had spooktacular Halloween party out at their "Haunted Barn." Blake was loving it until we made her stop and take a picture (notice the tears above). There was a big Bounce house (thanks to Dr. Fun ...aka...Uncle Jerry) food, bonfire...lots of friends.

Hot stuff...

This was the one moment Blake paused long enough to get a picture...

Rexburg!

2008-10-23T20:30:00.000-07:00

We took a quick weekend trip down to Rexburg. Jens had an Alumni Ricks soccer game, which he played awesome in :) We also visited my sister Sarah, her husband Tyson and their brand new baby...Addie. I think it was the highlight of Blake's year. She loves loves her auntie Sarah, and was so excited to see her new little cousin.

Uncle Tyson was kind enough to obey Blake's requests to rake her a pile of leaves to jump into. She loved it, and thanks Uncle Tyson. He also hit the spot when he took Blake and Trent to feed the ducks at the park after one of Jens' games.

We spent Sunday and Monday at a cabin in Montana with some of Jens' friends from school, Dan and Becky Coontz. We rode four-wheelers up behind their cabin and had a great view of miles and miles of Montana, beautiful.
And for the 20 hours of driving we did, I am happy to say we didn't have any uncontrollable outbursts...so I think it was a pretty successful, fun family weekend.

Secret Saints...

2008-10-23T20:19:00.000-07:00

During the month of October, our ward is doing "Secret Saints." We were assigned a family to perform secret service for and a family was assigned to us. No, we are not making these sugar cookies to give away, that, I'm pretty sure would not be considered service (mmmm, goobers and tons of frosting.) But our "Secret Saints" surprised us with cookie dough, cookie cutters and sprinkles, so we had fun making sugar cookies. Thanks go to our secret family :) Trent just liked dipping his vrrrmmm (truck) in the frosting and licking it off, yummy.

Too Cold??

2008-10-23T20:16:00.000-07:00

So here are the kids and Coco on our run the other morning...do you think it could be getting too cold for this...hmmm, could be....

Onions Anyone?

2008-10-01T21:32:00.001-07:00

(Notice Blake smoothing out the bag, getting it ready for the picture. And Trent, well, he was letting me know how excited he was about it all)
Blake, Trent, Grandpa, and I went out onion farming today :) My dad takes an annual trip down to Utah and takes produce to all our family down there. So we went and helped him get the onions. Blake and Trent thought it was great. Trent was in heaven...which he usually is when there's food or getting dirty involved. I forgot my camera out at the field, but I did capture the end product. Blake helped find the "Perfect" onions for 7 more of those bags. This is the one that we got to keep. So seriously...Onions anyone?

Playdoh...yummy!

2008-10-01T14:30:00.001-07:00

Did anyone else make edible play-doh when they were kids? My mom used to make it for us...and it donned on me today when the kids were bored and hungry...hmmmm....how about some peanut butter play-doh?!
So Blake & Jett (little boy we watch a couple days a week) made shapes, fields, balls, pumpkins....and Trent, well, he ate it. Typical :) They had fun. It was a great way to keep them busy and give them a snack - all at once. So here's the recipe if you're needing a boring afternoon activity :) Enjoy....

PEANUT BUTTER PLAY-DOH
INGREDIENTS

* 3 1/2 cups peanut butter
* 4 cups confectioners' sugar
* 3 1/2 cups honey
* 4 cups dry milk powder

DIRECTIONS

1. In large bowl, cream together peanut butter and confectioners' sugar, then beat in honey and fold in milk powder. Divide into 15 equal portions and refrigerate or freeze until ready to use.

I half it and don't use that much honey...I hardly used any at all actually. It makes it pretty sweet.

Volleyball anyone??

2008-09-20T13:42:00.000-07:00

Labor Day weekend we went camping with some family and friends...in Moses Lake. Yeah, it was a little strange, like camping in your backyard....but a lot of fun. The first picture is of Trent on one of the other kid's bikes. He was loving it, and he had to wear the princess bike helmet...safe kid :)
On Labor Day we raced over to Warden to play in a volleyball tournament with the Orths and Roberts. It was a lot of fun. We ended up taking 3rd...yeah, we just missed the mark. Long day, but fun.

Ohhhh....JACK JOHNSON!

2008-08-28T06:55:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to me! A little late in coming (my birthday's in March) but so worth the wait. Jens again got us tickets to the Jack Johnson concert here at the Gorge at George. (We went to his concert when he was here in 2005 and it was one of my highlights of that year!) Jens knows what I like :) Loved the show....did not love the crowd. Jack put on a great concert. He is ssswweeeet live. I have to agree with my sister Janae..."my love for Jack Johnson is on a whole new level!" Well put Janae :) But the concert crowd,wow, they're in a whole other crazy world.

CARE BEAR STARE!

2008-08-20T07:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday after being upset with Blake about something...she looked at me with all seriousness and said..."Mom, I think you need a Care Bear Stare!" I immediately started laughing and she said, "Mom, it's not funny, you need a Care Bear Stare!" Which made me laugh even more. I'm pretty sure she was referring to Cheer Bear up there and yes, I probably could have used a Care Bear Stare. Blake is in love with care bears right now....and it shows :)

Fun

2008-08-14T11:41:00.001-07:00

Camping on the Wetside:
Following a teacher conference I had on the Westside, we decided to do a little camping with my brother and his family. It took a while for the weather to cooperate, but it was nice to spend some time with family. Thanks Chris and Christy for the invite!

Boise:
I have a buddy that his family owns Cascade Raft and Kayak on the Payette river near Boise. I try to go once a year and help him work on his Scout while also doing some Kayaking. In between kayaking trips I decided to give something called 'Hydroslide' a try. You basically float down the river on a boogie board. They took some pictures - thought you would like the yellow helmet.

Salmon Season:
We live next to the Columbia River and we are in the middle of the summer salmon run. I am not a huge boat fisherman, but I like to go with a friend of ours here - he has the spots pretty dialed in so it is fun. Especially when you pull in a 26 pound Chinook like this one:

Field Turf

2008-08-14T11:37:00.000-07:00

This past spring the American Football coach, and a member of the community that has been the key figure in almost all of the volunteer improvements to the athletic facilities at the school, approached me about the idea of putting field turf into the stadium.
We had plans for improvements to the current Soccer facility, but by putting in Field Turf into the Stadium it would provide all of the proposed improvements along with a consistent playing surface that we could share. It took some doing, and not everyone is supportive, but we were able to combine support from the athletic programs, school board, booster club, and generous community members who continue to donate their time, equipment, and money to get the field built.
We are the first 1A school (That I know of) in the state to have this kind of field. It is hard for me to describe to you how amazing it is that we have this... Last year the graduating class last year was somewhere around 75 Kids! We are the little guy, and we will be playing on the same surface as the Seahawks and the Seattle Sounders!
The school district kicked in $150,000, the Athletic Boosters put in $150,000, and the fund raising committee continues find corporate and individual donations (Currently close to $200,000).
The prep work for the surface including the sod removal, gravel, concrete, and all the work to get the surface prepared for the turf was done by community members.
You may be thinking: Who cares - its just fake grass... That may be true, but it is also a symbol of the spirit of this community. This is why we live here - these are the kinds of wonderful things that can be done when you have a group of people that are truly a 'community' and not just a mass of individuals that happen to live next to each other.

Where have you been?

2008-08-14T11:27:00.002-07:00

Emily has been MIA on this thing for a while so I guess I will give an update:

Reunion:
To get the reunion week started we headed over to Seattle to pick up Emily's brother and family from the airport, and we were able to catch a Mariners game:

Emily's Brother Jason and Justin:Gunnar:
Emily's family had their family reunion up at Lake Roosevelt. It was our first time on a house boat and we enjoyed a week of boating and hanging with the fam. Each day had activities planned that kept the schedule full and made for a good time:

Branson Jack Call

2008-07-16T08:23:00.000-07:00

I prayed for this child and the Lord
granted my request.
Now I in turn, give this child to the Lord.

1 Samuel 1:27

My cousin Natalie is like a sister to me. So when I got the phone call that had told me her little baby boy that she's waited so long for was going to be stillborn, my heart broke for her. Natalie and her husband Rob have amazed me at how strong they have been through this very difficult time. They then made a website as a memorial to their little boy, Branson Jack Call. Take the time to visit the site and watch the memorial video they made...it is truly amazing and helps you to remember and appreciate Heavenly Father's plan for us.

bransonjackcall.com

SMILE!

2008-07-15T20:23:00.000-07:00

Okay...so the pictures are a little fuzzy. Didn't quite work out like I'd hoped. We had Blake's pictures done after her birthday and I thought I'd share. I'm putting a plug in for Kiddie Kandids...it's the only place even worth going in my opinion ;) They have a birthday club so if you go in the month of they're birthday, it's pretty reasonable. The downside...there are only studios in Seattle and Spokane. For those not from the area...that's a 2-3 hour drive in either direction...

RFC 3v3

2008-07-14T10:12:00.000-07:00

This is Jens - I do a 3v3 tournament during the summer festival in our town. These are the winners: It was another good year.

Purple Passion Baby

2008-07-04T16:15:00.001-07:00

It was a Purple Passion Party all day July 2nd...Blake turned the long awaited 4!

HaPpy #4 To BlAke!!!

She had her friends over that afternoon for a little water fun. 10 little bodies going water crazy.

Why not? A little purple cake, icecream and purple koolaid never hurt anyone :)
(front) Gracee-Blake-Kate-Avery-Brynne-Luke
(back) Derek-Gunnar-Wes-mommy Kristen
(not ready for the picture or cake and icecream) Jace & Brayden :)

Trent, well, let's just say that he enjoyed the party just as much as the rest of the kids :)
Happy Birthday Blake - We love you

Camping with the Clan

2008-07-04T15:51:00.001-07:00

JENSEN'S-ANDERSEN'S-MCGARY'S-BERGESON'S-FRANKS

So I'll finally get my blog out about our camping trip...I know, I'm the last and slowest to get it done, so here we are :) We went to Sun Lakes and camped for several days the end of June. It was great...sunshine, water, wind...what???!!! The wind was unbearable. No fail, every night the tents were flat on the ground. There was little sleep, but we all survived :) Well, I guess our "tent" wasn't quite as blown as the rest. We were fortunate enough to have Jens' brother's tent trailer for the trip. Not to worry though, the noise of the wind was enough to keep me up ALL NIGHT!!!

Luke-Blake-Avery-Derek @ water wars...

Amy Huss came up for a day...she got all of us lame mom's up off our butts at the lake and got us to jump off the docks (I'll spare you those pictures) and Hayden kept the kids busy all day with games...thanks go to the Huss family :)
Trent...well what can I say. My little man is pretty charming :) He thought the water faucet was pretty great.

Dad & Trent takin' it easy

Working Girl

2008-06-13T07:49:00.000-07:00

I went out to rake hay with my dad last week and Blake and Trent were "lucky" enough to come along...lack of babysitter Grandma :) So Blake rode along with Grandpa and Trent with me. Blake thought it was pretty great. She had to put on her boots just like Grandpa wears. And afterward she filled me in on all that she told grandpa....I'm sure my dad got more info than he could ever remember :) Good times.

Brazil v. Canada

2008-06-03T12:38:00.000-07:00

Jens and I went to the Brazil/Canada game at Quest field on Saturday. Jens has given me a love of the game :) It was a lot of fun. We spent the day at Pikes market and on the waterfront in Seattle with Jens' brother Chris and family. It was a pretty relaxing day...no kids and a whole day of wandering shops....nice :)
This is classic right?! A drunk fan running across the field after the game and getting tackled right in front of our seats...hilarious. No matter how often this happens it's always pretty funny when you see it.

Why I love living in Royal

2008-05-24T20:42:00.000-07:00

Why do I love living in Royal?? Well...this is my backyard. I think that pretty much says it all. Spring/Summer here is awesome...it takes my breath away when I take the time to look around. Just thought I'd share :)

Mary Mary, Quite Contrary...

2008-05-24T20:36:00.000-07:00

How does my garden grow?? I guess it's the farmer in me, but I love watching things grow. I don't mind the tedious work it takes to plant because the reward is well worth it. So yes, I've planted my garden, with the muddy help of Trent and Blake...and not to mention my Dad. I am learning from the best. So we'll see how the produce comes out this year.

My little garden plot :)

Fabric shopping...yes please

2008-05-11T20:46:00.000-07:00

Ladies in the Photo - Sister-in-law Brooke, Me (who made out with a free Bernina bag...) my Mom, Cousin Elisha, & Aunt Maria

Oh yes...a trip to the quilt shop....great fun. You think I'm foolin' but I'm serious. Quiltworks in Moses did a "Royal City Appreciation Sale." They opened up the store after hours "exclusively" for Royal City quilters with a storewide sale. It was pretty great of them. Quilting in Royal is a favorite hobby...and you all think there's nothing to do here...c'mon...tons of fun....no seriously....

Oh the decisions...it takes input from everyone to make a decision at a store like this...

Jens' Boys

2008-05-11T20:39:00.000-07:00

1 More year of soccer over. The boys lost out in districts, but had a great season. The highlight of the season -the WIN over Wahluke...something Royal Boy's Soccer has never done. So according to Jens...Season success.

2008-04-29T09:24:00.000-07:00

We went over to Tacoma this weekend and visited Chris and Christy (Jens' brother and his wife.) A favorite thing to do with aunt Christy is go to Build a Bear...there are so many cute little bears and puppies and...well, Blake chooses to build a psychedelic bunny...what!!?

I'm going to chalk one up for Build a Bear...They make it a pretty fun experience for the kids...after all, it's where friends are made...
After the stuffing and filling and creating your little friend, you take it over to wash her off and get her ready to get dressed...The finished product...a groovy new friend a happy little girl.
Unfortunately this is poor Trent...he didn't find the pink bunny business all that exciting. We had a lot of fun, as usual :) Thank you Aunt Christy!

ahhhhhh...my favorite thing

2008-04-29T09:17:00.000-07:00

Courtney surprised me with a late birthday celebration... a trip to Moses, lunch and ahhhh yes...a pedicure. Loved it. There's nothing quite like a total stranger clipping your toenails and rubbing lotion all over your feet...it's the best! THANK YOU COURTNEY!

Soccer...yes please

2008-04-29T09:03:00.000-07:00

We are either brainwashing Trent or giving him an early love of the game :) Trent and I went with Jens last week to yet another soccer game. Trent wanted to get out there and play with his "da" So Jens came over and played with him for awhile...Trent loved it.

2008-04-29T08:54:00.000-07:00

Jens and a van load of his soccer kids went to the Mexico/China Soccer game in Seattle on the 16th. It was a pretty awesome experience for them...

Family Night

2008-04-15T08:32:00.000-07:00

For our family night last night we made the journey to Tri-Cities in the wind and watched Jens play soccer. In his words, "I'm not old enough to play city rec"...in other words...pretty poor talent and he can still compete with the best of them...man it's tough to be so good...haha. No really, it was fun to watch him play for change. The kids and I only lasted the first half though...and then we hopped in the car and went to Costco. It was the fastest Costco run I've ever been on...45 Minutes...record time. It did help that there were no samples to eat...too late in the day.

This was Trent the whole time...yelling "go dad!" from behind the gate.
We braved the wind...the one thing that I do not like about the Columbia Basin...WIND!!!! At least the sun was shining, so it was bearable.

"Slipped His Lip"

2008-04-09T08:01:00.001-07:00

Little Trent...yesterday was not one of his best. Blake and him were "twirling" like every ballerina twirls (the bonus of having an older sister, Trent gets to learn all these very important things) and fell and hit the corner of the hope chest in my room. I picked him up and looked at the damage...then we all ran to the car and drove down to the clinic in town. I walked in and said, "Uh, I think we need stitches." Then Royal City's favorite nurse Jana and the PA got Trent all stitched up. Trent obviously fought us the whole time he was getting stitched...Jana and I had a pretty good work out trying to hold him as still as possible ( I was literally laying on his body to pin his arms and Jana was holding his head...oh man, it was awful) Poor little guy. So the gaping hole in his bottom lip is stitched up and if he doesn't bite out the stitches or pull them out...they say he should heal nicely :) 7 stitches in all...what a boy. So as Blake says it, "Trent slipped his lip!" Heidi Morales stopped by this morning and said she heard about Trent's busted lip and gave him a "Feel Better" Tiger and balloons. We love the Morales family...her daughter Korina plays for Jens on the H.S Girls soccer team and does stats for the boys team...who Jens also coaches :)
So that made Trent's morning...thank you Morales Family.

Easter

2008-04-05T20:19:00.001-07:00

Some of these pictures are at Grandma's coloring eggs with Aunt Janae...Blake loves "projects" so coloring eggs was a big hit with her...Trent just wanted to drink the egg dye. Blake loved finding her easter basket-and looking for eggs. All the pictures I got of Blake at the Andersen's egg hunt were of her running away from me as fast as she could to beat the next kid to the egg...(a little healthy competition) Notice Blake's "I won!" (in her own words) expression... And Trent figured out that the eggs were hiding some pretty great treats.

2008-04-05T19:45:00.001-07:00

I just wanted to show just how much Trent LOVES his food....can it get any better than that? The picture of him walking is at the Easter egg hunt at Courtney's...forget the eggs...give me more grapes!

2008-04-05T19:41:00.001-07:00

Trent and Blake wrestling... how it begins and how it always ends...help me PLEASE!!!