Highlights of 2008 - Visits from Family

I think it is very interesting how it works with family when you have kids . . . there are these people that they see three or four times a year (or less), every now and then they look at pictures of them, sometimes they get cards from them and yet somehow they are just supposed to love them. But you know the crazy thing is that they do! My family all live in Denver, so a couple times a year we get to go there and every now then some of them come here. My boys LOVE having them come visit! Of course, this year I think we got spoiled with a few extra visits because we had a baby. :) Thanks to everyone for making the effort - We love you!

Grandma and Grandpa Jensen (Russ's dad's parents) came down from Oregon in April and we are so glad they could make the trip. This was the last time we saw Grandma, she passed away just a few weeks ago.

Our Jensen cousins came down from Idaho and got to go to Corbin's birthday party at Jumpin Jacks. What a great surprise!
Aunt Megan got to come shortly after Colton was born. What a great help that was! (Grandma Jill came before that, but some of us ended up sick and we didn't get a single picture!)

Uncle Mason came to help too. Or maybe he just came for the fishing and boating . . .
Grandpa Dave came for Colton's baby blessing. It turned out to be a short trip, but we are SO grateful he came!

Finally, a picture with Grandma Jill! Grandma can never stay away long. She came for my birthday in October. That was a nice treat!
Uncle Matt decided that he wanted to come to Utah for HIS birthday. We are so glad that Matt and Layna are in Denver now instead of Chicago so they can come visit much more often! (I'm pretty sure my brother would want me to tell you that his awesome 'stache was for a charity thing - I think he was just feeling nostalgic for the 80's).

Uncle Mason came again and spent his entire fall break with us and we loved it! I hope he felt the same. We can't run around everyday like we used to when he would come. Three kids (one being a small baby) makes a big difference, but I hope he had a little fun. Thank you Mason!

For Thanksgiving, we got to see our Idaho Jensen cousins again. Corbin misses them so much! He got to spend alot of time playing with his best friend, Oaklie. They are just two months apart and he talks about her all the time and all the things they are going to do (including going on the Amazing Race)

"Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one." -Jane Howard

Two Thanksgivings

We had a great Thanksgiving this year. Russ had to work at the fire station, so we did the Jensen family thing and then the fire family thing. It was hectic, but fun. We had Thanksgiving lunch at my in-laws with all the cousins, etc. We played and let the food settle a little and then we headed to Murray (about 45min) for an awesome dinner cooked entirely by the firemen. Several of our friends were there, so it was a good time. The boys always love going to see dad, especially when there are other kids to play with and the adults are pre-occupied with eating and visiting.

Colton's first Thanksgiving! He actually loved his mom's orange jello and the potatoes. (this is a kid who eats maybe 2 bites of food a day) The boys had fun making little turkeys with Grandma and the cousins.

The kids table at the station. They waited so patiently!

Playing in the firetruck is a must.


Laying with their "blankets" (aka white towels use dry the fire truck) watching Charlie Brown's Thanksgiving . . .

until Cody crashed the party!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Jessica, Josh, Cody, Rosemary, Corbin

Highlights of 2008- Colton joined our Family!

I decided to do something this month to recover from my guilt of hardly posting at all last month and to recap the year, since I didn't start blogging until half way through . . . so every day in December you will get "Highlights of 2008". Not in any particular order, chronologically or significantly, but this will be our year in a nutshell. Hope you enjoy!

So although I said that these weren't in order, this one probably is the most significant and the first that came to my mind. Plus, I feel bad about not posting pictures or anything when he hit the six month mark last month.

Colton Doyle Jensen joined us on Saturday, May 17, 2008 in the evening (horrible, I know, I really can't remember the time). I will spare you the gory details, but share a little, because who doesn't love a good birth story, right? He was due on May 25, but since both of my other boys were a week early, I was kind of planning him to be that way too. But when that weekend started to roll closer and NOTHING was happening, I decided I better make some plans so I didn't just sit around waiting for a week. On Friday (the 16th), my friend Dorie and I went to the spa and lunch at the cheesecake factory (thanks to an awesome, unsolicited Mother's day present from my hubby). Got home that night and talked to my friend Amber on the phone in Denver, who was expecting a baby day before me. She was seriously wanting to have her baby on the 17th, so she called me to tell me some herbal thing she was trying to go into labor and was trying to get me to do it too. My philosophy with babies is that no matter how much pregnancy sucks at the end, they are always easier in than out - so I was in no rush. About an hour later, I realized I was either continually peeing my pants or my water had broke. My husband thought it was funny. I assured him that it was not funny, because peeing your pants is not that unusual at this stage. Anyway - I am dragging this out. Turns out my water did break, I tried to convince my husband that I could sleep at home and go in in the morning, because at this point I was still not contracting or anything. Didn't work. We checked in at midnight (after a stop at the gas station for some last minute snacks), they put me on pitocin about 3am and by 3pm they were talking c-section because nothing was happening. My mother-in-law and my other two boys came to visit around 4 because they were tired of waiting and when my husband went to walk them out of the car Colton decided it was time to come out. Russ came back, got the nurse and he was already crowning. A short time later, there he was, 7lbs 7oz and only 19 1/2 inches - my smallest baby yet. (See I told you I would spare the gory, painful details).

It took us a few hours to decide on Colton's name. We had obviously debated for months and not decided on anything. His middle name comes from my great grandfather, Doyle Porter Likely. Saturday morning I got a call that he had gone into the hospital the night before. A few hours later I got the call that he had passed away. He was 101 years old, he was still living at home with his wife Betty. They are both amazing. I am really happy about the legacy of his name. As a side note, my brother is also named after him, Matthew Doyle, and growing up I always thought he had a weird middle name and felt sorry for him. Now I love it! Strange how things change, eh?

His brothers love him (most of the time) and we are really happy that he is in our family! This was definitely the biggest event of 2008.

I am thankful

So my sister and some others have been doing this cool blog posting thing where they post something they are thankful for everyday for the month of November. I thought it was a totally cool idea, and although I have many things to be thankful for, I had to be real with myself - I knew I would not be posting everyday and I would constantly be playing catch up and it would just cause me more stress. And obviously, as you can tell from my total lack of blog updates lately, that it has just been one of those months and I am just wondering when it all slows down. But, I am thankful for so many things - so I thought I would share a few with you on this quiet Thanksgiving night.

First off I am very thankful for my boys. They make me smile, laugh, and cry daily, they push me to be a better person. I love them!

I am also thankful that I have the ability and the means to take care of them. Many, many times when I am up at night rocking a baby, holding my boy waiting for the tylenol to kick in, or sitting in a steamy bathroom with one of them trying to avoid another asthma attack - I think about all the mothers and children I have worked with in other countries. I have it so easy! How would it be to have this sick, crying child and live in a one room hut, with no water, no medicine, none of the things we take for granted. My husband has a job and I get to stay home and care for my kids. When they get really sick, we can take them to our doctor, the insta-care, or if all else fails we can go to the ER. I am so thankful for these things!

Guatemalan girl helping her mother sell crops at the market

Going along those same lines, I am thankful for my home and the comforts I have. I have seen so many with less and sometimes I feel ashamed at the things I think I "need". But I do love my home, I love my yard, I love my neighborhood, I love that we live on a cul-de-sac, I love Corbin's school. I am so blessed!

working on a two room house in El Salvador

the shelter it was to replace

I am thankful for this country, for the rights we have, for our government (yes, I said that I am thankful for our government), and for what the future holds. For anyone who has ever lived or spent time outside of the US, you know how much we have to be grateful for. This is starting to sound like diatribe on how our country is so much better than others and that we have so much more. Maybe it is just the way I think about things. I am grateful for all these things and I think sometimes it takes seeing the other side to make us realize what we have.

For example, sleep, I would love to put in here that I am thankful for a good night's sleep - but it has been a long time since I have even gotten a decent night's sleep, but now when I do get it, I know I will be very, very grateful. And in an effort to get closer to achieving that ever sought after sleep, I am going to simply list a few more things that I am grateful for (more for my benefit than yours, but I hope you will read them and feel the same).

I am thankful for:

• my husband
• my sister (and the rest of my family, of course)
• my parents
• my friends - new and old
• my in-laws
• modern conveniences (dishwasher, vacuum, telephone, online-everything, washer/dryer, etc, etc.)
• education
• opportunities to serve
• working with people I can learn from
• people who are willing to work in low-paying, under-appreciated jobs (teachers, garbage men, etc.)
• ability to stay connected with friends and family (I guess that goes along with internet, etc)
• music and people who share it
• hot baths
• food storage
• I think I could keep going forever . . .

Happy Thanksgiving!

Halloweening

This year it seemed like getting ready for Halloween was as fun as the holiday itself . . . Here's a little taste of the goings on the last week or so leading up to the big day.

Carving Pumpkins: The boys did about two scoops and then decided they didn't really like that part, so since Dad is the artistic one and does most of the carving, I got to do all the dirty work. We were pretty happy with the final product though.

Remember those squash things I posted about a couple weeks ago. Well, since we have probably 50+ of them, I decided to try and do something creative with them. The boys thought it was cool. I thought it was a pain to cut out all the wings, and then they just kept falling off. A couple of them actually lasted till Halloween though, so that was good. The boys had fun with the painting, so I guess it was a successful project.

Even though the boys have had their costumes picked out for months (thanks to my mom's awesome garage sale find), they insisted on trying on costumes from previous years to see what the really wanted to be. Corbin even somehow managed to fit into his frog costume from when he was 2!









Wait, is that one of my kids?

And finally our Jack'o'Lantern Pizza. Yum Yum.

And now the REAL costumes

So all of these pictures were actually taken the Saturday before Halloween when we went to this fun trick or treat on Main Street thing. On Halloween, the boys were too excited and busy scoping out the next deliverer of candy to be bothered with a mom following them around with a camera. Also, by the time we were headed out the door to trunk or treat on Halloween, we either forgot or couldn't find several parts of the costumes. Oh well. I still think they were the cutest Hook and Pan. They had fun. Corbin told me several times that this was the best day ever. I think he said it was the best day of his life. We ate pizza and candy and the kids were in bed by 8:30. I'd say it was a success.