Highlights of 2008 - Conference with Yunus

One of the highlights of my year was getting to attend the Social Business and Microeconomic Opportunities for Youth Conference in Denver in March. It was great for so many reasons. I got to go on a short trip without my kids, fly and hang with two of my good friends, stay in my Dad's hotel, see my brother Matt from Chicago, be there for my Dad's 50th birthday celebration and of course, the conference was awesome. The keynote speaker was Muhammed Yunus who recently won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work in creating micro loans for the poor. He started in Bangladesh, where he is from, over 25 years ago and it has now become a worldwide movement with thousands of organizations providing microcredit and microbusiness training to the poorest of the poor (mostly people living on less than a dollar or two a day). I am so glad that he won this award, although he has revolutionized international development, he is such a humble and kind person - he deserves every bit of recognition! I enjoyed hearing him speak and the many others at the conference that really inspired me to continue on my path of finding ways to contribute to alleviating poverty around the world. (And yes, I was very pregnant in these pictures, ugh.)

I was privileged to get to have breakfast with Yunus one morning (me and 300 others). :)

Yunus, Me, and my friends, Jen Boehme Kumar and Genevieve Brown

Highlights of 2008 - organized sports

Corbin got to play baseball and soccer for the first time this year. It was an interesting experience. He did "Smart Start Baseball", which is one of those things where they don't really divide up into teams - it's more of a parent/child learning thing. Too bad they had the parents pitch for part of it, poor Corbin never had a chance with me getting like 1 out of every five in any remotely close area for him to even try and hit. He had fun, but I don't think he is going to be a baseball kid. Too boring for him (good for me, because I tend to agree.) The funnest part was seeing the kids running randomly around after they hit the ball, trying to figure out what this whole thing was about.

Soccer was the usual 5 year old bunch ball. For monst kids it was their first year playing, but a few of them were quite natural. Corbin was a little timid and too nice to take the ball away from anyone - even the other team. He was really good at letting everyone have a turn. he told me he did like practices way more than the games though. In his words, "why would anyway want to just fight over one ball the whole time?" In practice they all got their own ball and they played all different kinds of fun games. He had a great coach - Thanks Jennifer! We had fun watching him. Who knows if he will do it again next year, but you have to let them try it all, right?

Highlights of 2008 - the election

Shhh, don't tell anyone, but I am 30 years old and this is the first time I have voted. I have never really been into politics and I think I felt like many people do, that my vote didn't really matter - especially in such a red state. But I was so intrigued this time - and I have learned so much. I have truly been interested and engaged in those news shows that I used to find totally boring and meaningless. Maybe it is because of the turn in the economy and how it is effecting me and my family. Or maybe I am just maturing and moving beyond just getting my news from Jay Leno and Staurday Night Live. This is an interesting time for our country and I am glad to be a part of it. I don't want this to be a political statement or to get into a debate with anyone, but I am excited about our new president and the change that is coming. I know I have friends and family on both sides of the political arena, but just so you know - I voted for Obama and we won! Yeah! It has been very interesting to see what he has done with his cabinet already and I am very intrigued to see what happens next year. I know there are many of you who have been critical - so here's a link to check out where he stands on the issues. http://www.barackobama.com/issues/. Obviously I don't agree with everything, but it is done and he is our president - come what may. . .

So to make a sort of uncoherent posting brief, this has been a highlight for me this year - following the political debates, learning more about our country's government, and electing a new president that I actually believe in and am excited about.

Highlights of 2008 - Maxwell Family Reunion

I am really getting off easy on this one because I already did a post on this event back in July (click here to view), but I have to add it because it really was one of the great highlights of the year. The last reunion we had with this side of my family (my dad's fam) was the year Russ and I got married. It was right after we got back from our honeymoon and included our second reception - needless to say, I wasn't totally involved in the reunion. The reunion before that I was a delinquent teenager and was not totally engaged then either. So this one was significant and memorable in many ways. It was really fun to see so many of the next generation getting to know each other and allowing them to see that they are really a part of something bigger. They all have alot of people that love and care about them. I love my family!

PS If you do check out the last posting, just realize that this was when I first started using blogger and it was a learning experience. . .

Highlights of 2008 - Grass!

Strange, I know. In comparison to having a baby, getting grass may seem like a small detail. But after two winters and one summer of dirt and mud, I was so grateful! We put it in less than two weeks afte I had Colton, so I wasn't much help, but a big THANK YOU to my sister, my in-laws and all our neighbors who came over unsolicited on a Saturday morning and got it done in just over an hour. It made me love my neighborhood even more! We have sure been enjoying our grass since that wonderful day . . .

Playing on the slip n slide with their friend Jimmy

Playing in the sprinklers

playing firefighter
playing with old Halloween costumes

playing on their Little Tikes slide

Colton's first time in the grass!

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