It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!

So to all of you in Utah that I have mocked as you've gotten slammed with snow while we still had our air conditioner on here in Vegas, I'm sorry :)

We are getting snow right now, and it's beautiful!! I love snow for Christmas, but I've seriously gotten used to not having to be in it all that much. My kids are LOVING it right now though. I'm so glad this hit on a day they are off for parent teacher conferences, because they are having a ball. Thought I'd add a few pics for the enjoyment of those in UT. Since it doesn't happen all that often, it's been a cool day :) I do feel bad for our poor little grapefruit tree though that's in one of the pic's. I'm not so sure that it's going to like this weather so much!!

Because I'm so appreciative of the things he started...

I thought I'd mention Happy Birthday to Walt Disney. Without the Happiest Place on Earth and all the other things that he created our world would be a different place. Thanks Walt and Happy Birthday!!

Moyle Christian Jensen

November 15, 1932 - November 17, 2008

Just taking a big, deep breath here.

I am going to miss you Grandpa. You've been such a major presence in my life. It's going to be so different not to have you around at times when you should be. I can't help but think of how joyous the moment was when you got to see Grandma again. Seeing her without her oxygen, and you without the pain this cancer had caused. I think of you seeing Jerry again. I'm sure that was a wonderful moment as well. Seeing your parents, your siblings who have gone before you. What a reunion you must be enjoying right now, though the Jensen Reunion will never be the same again. Don't worry grandpa, none of us will forget whose we are. I'm proud to be your granddaughter, and will always remember the things you've taught us all. You'll be in my heart.

Whoops

Not sure where Meghan and Madison's pic went the first time, but here it is :)



And another from our little get together after. The kids were digging the ranch while we were prepping the food. Such cute kids :)

It's a little update...

So, my big excuse has been that I don't have anything to blog, just the same old everyday stuff happening around here. I definitely have some great things to blog, and am finally getting some time to do it. I don't know where the years have gone, but my baby just turned 8. She's been so anxious the last year, excited to turn 8 so she could be baptized. Finally the day came. I really didn't expect to be as emotional as I was. I basically couldn't look at her sitting there next to her handsome dad, both dressed in white, while they were speaking at the beginning without totally tearing up. Even sitting here typing about it gets me a little emotional. I am so grateful that she's this incredible little girl. She's been so amazing. She made the goal to memorize all the articles of faith before her birthday, and she worked hard on it and did it. She a wonderful big sister. Here's a few pictures from the big day...






And last but not least, one with her good friend, Madison. She gets to get baptized next month, I know Meghan is excited to be able to go see her baptism.

The kids are off track right now too. As much as I HATE having the kids in school in the middle of the summer, it is nice to be able to have them off now when the weather is nice and they can be outside. Except it got COLD this week. I've been loving it though. MUCH better than the triple digits we got out of not that long ago. I'm getting excited for the holidays. We are going to Disneyland for a few days next weekend. Then Halloween will be the weekend after that, then the holidays are just around the corner. I love this part of the year. Most definitely my favorite!!

Memories

I thought this was a good cop-out on a post (as it's been 2 freaking months, I guess it's about time to update SOMETHING). Don't worry, one of these days I'm going to finally have some extra time on my hands, and will get you a good post with real pics and everything. lol. But for now, please follow the instructions below and leave a memory! I emphasize that even if you don't know me well or think it's a stupid memory or whatever, share it anyway!
1. As a comment on my blog, leave one memory that you and I had together. It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, anything you remember!
2. Next, re-post these instructions on your blog and see how many people leave a memory about you.
It's actually pretty funny to see the responses.Thanks ya'll! Love ya!

Newport

Wow, what a weekend. You know, 4 days of adult time on it's own is fairly exciting, but when you get to spend it in a beautiful place on top of that, it's amazing. I love rain. I think it would take years of living in the Pacific Northwest to get sick of it. I guess you always want what you don't have. It was so beautiful there. I LOVE the green. Roger and I are ready to move!! We spent hours getting to Newport from Portland, just stopping at a bunch of different places along the coast.




So fun. On Friday we went to a few different places with Jessica and Jennifer. We went to the Yaquina Bay lighthouse. It was so neat. I personally didn't dare go all the way up. The stairs wound around and around inside and were metal grate. You could see all the way down. I stuck by the window you can see in the pic. Really neat anyway. One day I won't be afraid of heights, right?




Right by this lighthouse there is a place called Cobble Beach. It's not sand, it's a lot of black cobble stones. So cool. Even cooler was the seals that live on the rocks off the beach. There was a mom and a baby seal. There were great volunteers there telling us about the local seals. I don't know if you can see them in the picture, but the little grey baby is next to the white mom in the picture on the top left. The baby was born on Mothers Day. It was so sweet!! The mom was sleeping, then the baby kept tapping it, we thought it maybe wanted to play, then the mom finally woke up and fed it. Funny how the Mom instinct is everywhere in nature. There was another rock with a lot of seals hanging out all over it, then a few came out to play. There were also some fun tide pools with sea urchins and green anemones everywhere.




The marathon was a fun day. We met some great people at the dinner the night before, then there were some fun spectators to talk to at different points along the race. Funny how people come from all over for these things, though I can't blame them for driving a ways to this marathon, it was a beautiful course. I had planned on being able to hang out with Jennifer as she wasn't going to race because of an injury, but she couldn't but help run it when we were driving the course the night before and she saw how neat it was. It really was great getting to know others there as well. I even got to listen to the rantings of a Marathon Dad. I've seen them in other sports, but this new species was pretty fun to watch :) The group of Canadians I got to talk to for a while was used to Hockey Dad's, but thought he was a step beyond them even :)



Unfortunately the trip had to come to an end (though I was missing my kids pretty bad by this point so that was ok as well). Still there were a bunch of things we didn't do that would have been so fun. It was such a great trip. I got a pic of the marathon running Jones kids in their "Finisher" t-shirts. Also there are a couple of pictures of the Columbia River just East of Vancouver, WA. We had some time to kill before our flight left from Portland so we just went for a drive. We had been in a pretty, foresty, mountain drive, then came around a bend to this amazing view. So beautiful there!!

One more extra thanks to Taryn and Mom. I know Taryn had the crazy end of the deal. 8 kids, 7 and younger, is a big undertaking. I can't even express how grateful I am.

Hope everyone is having a fabulous day!!

The countdown is on...

5 more days and we're flying out to Newport. First and foremost, I am SO excited!!! The countdown is getting me a little nervous as well however. I hate packing. I hated packing when I was single and only had to pack for myself, so silly isn't it? I would procrastinate it down to the very last second that I could, then hurry and throw all my stuff in a bag, generally taking way too much because I was just in a rush and wanted to make sure I covered all my bases (kind of like when I grocery shop in a hurry. I throw all kinds of crap that grabs my attention on the ends of the aisles and don't bother to check cost per ounce, etc. Usually I end up with buyers remorse on the way home.) Now that I have to pack for 7 of us, it's a much scarier process however. My kids are staying at my mom's house. RaeLeigh is thrilled because now she'll be able to swing to her hearts content (I REALLY need to get that girl a swingset, she's obsessed since she learned how to pump.) Unfortunately, soon it's going to be hot enough to fry an egg on the seat of the swing weather here, so she better get her fill of it for a while. My mom and my sister-in-law Taryn are my hero's. Words can't describe how grateful I am that they are willing to take on my kids for 4 days. It's going to be fun trying to get everyone organized to the point that they can easily see what goes for who. My husband doesn't know who wears what around here even :) Needless to say, I've got to get packing. Have I mentioned, I can't wait to have 4 whole days of adult time in Newport??

It's official

So I bought airfare yesterday, I am officially going with Roger to his next marathon in Newport, OR. Yeah!!! We've managed to pull off at least 1 overnighter every year since we got married (2 or 3 each year a long time ago when my younger siblings were newly marrieds and thought it was fun to have the couple kids I had at the time overnight.) Last year we actually went for 2 whole nights on our anniversary, but we took Mallory since she was still nursing. This year we are actually going for 4 nights away with NO kids!! Holy cow, I can't even comprehend it. I've been so stressed thinking about how I can manage someone to watch the crew for that long, if they can handle it, if it's too much, if I should be spending that money on something else, etc, but just sitting here typing this out, I have this overwhelming excitement building. I CAN'T WAIT!! I can't even remember the last time I had a whole day of no kid-reposibilities, it's been so long that I can't even comprehend it, but needless to say I'm excited for this much needed time together. Sometimes the daily hussles of kids makes you forget about the person you are married to, it will be fun to actually be able to have a conversation that isn't constantly interrupted by someone needing something. After some of the tantrums I've had to calm today, May 28th can't come fast enough!! Maybe I better get the watercolors out and crank up my playlist, I need a reminder of the good day that started my week :)

Having a good day :)

So I just wanted to jot down that I am having a great day. My house is a mess, but my kids and I are hanging out painting with watercolor's anyway, and it's great. We were listening to Alecia Keyes No One on my playlist and my kids were all grooving along, Mallory loves dancing and actually has really great rhythm already, it's kind of funny. My kids know a lot of the words and I just couldn't help but be hit by the phrase "I don't worry cause everything's gonna be all right." as my kids were belting it out. I worry too much sometimes, and I'm glad that I didn't care today, because everything really is going to be all right. I have fabulous kids, a wonderful family, even if my house is a sty, I love my life. I'm grateful for my belief in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I'm grateful for the joy that comes to my life because of it.

Aaaahhhh.

So, I think as my first official blog post, I'll just mention how grateful I am for bedtime. While I love my kids dearly, there is just something that happens to them every afternoon that makes me start counting down the hours (or minutes if they are REALLY on one) to bedtime. On a bad day it starts about 4, normally around 5, and sometimes I get oh so very lucky and it doesn't actually start until 6. I don't know why they all choose this time to get all cranky. Maybe a lack of food and the smell of dinner cooking sends them into a frenzy? Doesn't entirely make sense as my kids snack all afternoon long, but whatever. I guess I'm they're just tired, though Meghan promises that she isn't tired at all (though she has no other reason why she's sobbing uncontrollably over the fact that someone said something that didn't actually change anything in her life, but she didn't like it.) Oh do I look forward to the teen years, give her 6 more years to practice her mood swings and she'll be a professional. Seems that I battle my way through getting dinner on the table, getting dinner off the table, last bits of homework, scripture reading, brushing teeth, on a nightly basis. Then the real fun starts. One of these days I'm going to just make a tape. Every 30 seconds or so I'm going to say each of these phrases...No, you already got a drink...no more snacks, you won't starve to death before breakfast...Ryan, stop hitting your sister...Olivia and RaeLeigh, stop touching each other...Yes you can go to the bathroom, just hurry, wash your hands, and get back in bed (darnit, they know I won't ever say no to that one!!)...No, you can't watch a movie and close your eyes at the same time...I said, you already got a drink...GO TO SLEEP. Do you think if I just repeat that list a few times on a tape and play it in the hall that they'd fall for it? Can you imagine how many words a day you could save by not having to say anything more than "Goodnight cute kids?" Then if you multiply that out by the week, then the year. That would leave me 1000's of extra words to nag my husband with use while chatting with my friends.

I must admit though, isn't it great to watch your kids sleep? Maybe it's just a sense of accomplishment that you were able to control them long enough that they got to that state? Maybe that beautiful peaceful look is just a gift from God. He knew you'd had a rough day, and in order to make it through the next day, you needed something that erased the grouchy thoughts that were permeating your head. Maybe He made them look so angelic so you couldn't even remember the scene just after breakfast when you came out to find your 3 and 4 year olds under the table holding the syrup bottle that they had just emptied all over each other and the floor (true story, Meghan and Ryan did that to each other a few years ago. Now I am the syrup nazi. After we're done with pancakes, it's back into hiding again) Seriously though, I am so grateful that He knows what it's like to be a parent so I think He helps us as much as He can. I guess I need to give Him a break sometimes when I sob uncontrollably to Him over the fact that someone said something that didn't actually change anything in my life, but I didn't like it. Maybe He's a little tired of it all too.