Jensen Family Reunion!

Last Friday and Saturday (July 3 & 4) was the Jensen Family Reunion. It was up a Heber Valley Campground in Utah, which is an LDS-owned campground. It was organized by Nancy and it was so much fun!

Instead of tents and sleeping on rocks, we got to stay in cabins:

and sleep on air mattresses! Tyler and Emalyn even got to sleep on the top bunks of the bunk beds because there was a higher railing there than on the lower bunks. As you can see, they were pretty excited. Pictured above: Tyler and Emalyn using their strong heads to help Aunt Heidi get her air mattress into her cabin.

This is a picture of Scott with all of his Calder cousins that came to the reunion. It's amazing to see the posterity of two amazing people, Paul and Geri Calder. This was taken Friday night after dinner, and just before the skits. Last Christmas, Nancy gave us each copy of the history of James Hacking, and for this reunion we were given the assignment to prepare a skit based on one of his life experiences. Our family (Scott and I) chose to do the story where James (Tyler) was a little boy with his two sisters, Phoebe (Emalyn) and Eleanor (Krysta), running down a hill when they saw a diamond-backed rattlesnake (Scott) ready to strike. They were running so fast, that James decided to tell his sisters to jump with him over the snake, and by some miracle they weren't bitten. (I narrated the story.)

That same day before dinner, we all went out on the lake in paddleboats and canoes, but Scott and I forgot our camera, so we have no pictures of it. But we had a lot of fun with all five of us on one boat!

The next morning, we went to the challenge course. These courses have challenges that build teamwork, self-confidence, and teach gospel principles.

The first was the zipline:

These are all pictures of Tyler first climbing up the pole, then walking across the rope, then getting across to the other pole where a sister missionary was waiting for him. This was about 20 feet up in the air. He was so brave! After this part (we didn't get any pictures) he was supposed to ride the zipline down to the ground. That part was a little traumatic for him, he really didn't want to go, and started crying and holding on to this lady for all he was worth. She saw me down on the ground and said, "Are you his mother? What do you want me to do?" You have to understand, there was no other way down than to ride the zipline at this point, and we couldn't go with him because it would only hold one person at a time. But when she asked me what she should do, I knew inside that the only answer was to push him off of the platform, but I just couldn't say that outloud. I was just so scared for him, and I couldn't have him hear me say, just push him. So I turned to Scott, and he yelled up, "Just push him out!!" And that's why we all have Dad's who are brave enough to do what has to be done no matter what. So the sister tried, but Tyler's grip must've been pretty good, because she couldn't get him off the platform. She tried and tried, and all the time Tyler was just crying and crying for Scott and I to come up and get him. Finally, Uncle Chris, (our brother-in-law) crossed the rope to be with Tyler (I think this was technically against the rules, because it took a while for them to let Chris do this) and he helped her push Tyler off of the platform. I am so so so grateful he was up there with them!!! About halfway down, Tyler's screaming and crying turned to screams of excitement and joy and relief. He was grinning by the time he got to the ground. The first thing he said to me was, "I wanna do that again, mom!" What a boy!!!

Here are some pictures of Scott doing the zipline. These pictures start form the platform after crossing the rope, where the sister missionary helped him get hooked up to the zipline and then he rode down it, and used a ladder to get off at the end:

After the zipline, we more challenges, but I only got pictures of two more. This one was the spider's web. We had to get everyone through the spider's web, without touching it, and each of us had to use a different hole in the web. Here we are after we crossed it:

The next challenge was to get all of us on this teeter-totter log and make it balance. We had to all get on from the same side and not change the order once we got on. Here we all are on the balanced log!

That was such a fun time with everyone. I got to know a lot of Scott's cousins a lot better. And it's always good to spend time with family. We miss our families a lot, since we moved to Idaho, and we love any and all time we spend with them.

Tyler's kindergarten graduation and Kinder eggs

Tyler graduated from Kindergarten yesterday afternoon. I can't believe how fast this year has gone by. He has grown and learned so much this year, and I've enjoyed watching him change as his knowledge of things grows. He is becoming such great reader and mathematician. He has a lot more confidence in his ability to learn new things. We're so proud of you Tyler!!

Also, last Friday, my sweet sister, Cheryl, mailed to me some Kinder eggs that we'd bought together near her home in Connecticutt. That was quite a miracle on her part, since they'd gone from her house in CT, to Utah in a moving van, then back to Nebraska in the same moving van, then she mailed them to me. Very sweet of her to do all of that for me. Here's the kids opening theirs. They'd never seen Kinder eggs before, so they didn't know of the surprise inside.

Memorial Day Fun

We had a really fun day yesterday. Scott didn't have to go to work, so we got to be together all day! We started the day by finishing the planting of our garden. I wish we'd taken pictures along the way, because everyone helped, well, except Krysta and that was another story... I must say, I'm really glad at the moment that our garden plot is so small. I guess my memory of gardening with my family while I was young is somewhat lacking...I don't remember it being this much work. But it's fun too, and well worth it...if our plants survive Krysta...So anyway, here is the finished product.

For lunch we went to the lava flow a little south of IF just on the side of I-15. It's actually a rest stop, but it has a nice paved trail that's about 1/2 mile long with lots of things to see and picnic benches. So we ate lunches and then went on our "hike". Tyler and Emalyn were so excited to be "hiking in the mountains." We really had such a fun time.

I don't remember for sure why Emalyn has this look on her face, but they were really happy right before this picture, I promise.Here, Emalyn was super freaked about sitting in this crack in the lava. We tried to help her understand it was ok, but as you can see, she was not happy about this at all. Krysta was just upset about being held at all. She wanted freedom. Tyler was just the happy person he usually is, and I was hoping the photographer (Scott) would hurry and take the picture.Here, everyone is much happier about the picture, but Emalyn was having way more fun climbing the railing, than looking at the photographer (me).

They built this overlook in the middle of the trail. You can see Tyler and Emalyn waving from up there.

Preschool Graduation

Emalyn graduated from preschool this past week. She has learned so much this past year, and is so ready for kindergarten!! Here she is with her teacher, Mrs. Anderson.

Tyler played a great soccer game last week. Here is a video of some of the game:

Also, here is Tyler posing with a huge lego tower he and Emalyn built together. Normally, I don't condone standing on the table, but this had to be an exception-didn't they do a great job?

Soccer, Gymnastics, and other fun stuff

Emalyn started gymnastics about a month ago, and Saturday was the "family show-off day" at her gym. It was so much fun for all of us to go and watch her have a blast! She did really well. First, they did a dance to the song "You've Got a Friend in Me". About the camera work, well, Scott had picked a perfect spot to videotape her and just as the song began, her teacher stepped right in front of him. He did pretty good at finding a new spot pretty quick, as you'll see.

After that, we got to see her do some tricks on the trampoline, the bars, the balance beam, and tumbling on the mat. At the end, they had her stand up and raise her arms when she got her award certificate. She was so proud, and we're very proud of her for the great job she did.

Tyler has been playing soccer for over a month and has had three games. He's done so well! He loves to kick that ball as hard as he can. In the second picture, it's kind of small, but Tyler is in the lead to chase the ball. He's a very fast runner.

And Krysta is walking now!!! She's been walking for about a month. I was going to post a video of her walking, but apparently I haven't taken any. But Tyler took this cute picture (that has nothing to do with walking, but I love it!). I think he's got a future in photography!

What's been going on with us for the last month...

This post has been waiting awhile, because I wanted pictures of my trip in it. However, I have NO pictures from this trip because Scott and I decided that it would be better to leave the camera with him, and I would just get pictures from the other people who were with me on my trip. Getting those pictures is more challenging than I'd thought it would be, because we took sooooooo many pictures. Really, it's not their fault, I want good quality copies, so we have to with until I can upload them on my computer. So I need to be patient. But just so you all know, it was a blast. If you want to see pictures of my trip to Montreal, you can go to my Facebook page, where Irina has graciously posted some pictures she took. If you want to see pics of my trip to Connecticutt and NY to see Cheryl & Blake and their kids, and my parents, then go to Cheryl's blog, http://www.bcroper.blogspot.com/.

Anyway, I'm hoping that Scott will pen his first post ever, and tell you what he and the kids did while I was gone. It sounds to me like they had fun-in fact, listening to them, it sounds like they had more fun than I did! Scott did a great job at being Mr. Mom (of course, he's often that around here, but he did 8 days all by himself!) and I am so grateful to have such a wonderful husband! It was time that I needed and he gave it to me so willingly.

So, for this post, I'm going to start with pictures taken with Jaron and Heidi before I left, when they visited us. They suprised us the week before when they called to ask if they could come visit. Now, just in case any of you are also wondering if that would be ok, I'll tell you now what I told them, "YES! Really, you're coming?! Oh we're so excited!!! When?" Truly, we love to have visitors. In fact we even now have an open room (and we can make more room if you need it) since Tyler and Emalyn are now sharing a room. I took courage when visiting my sister Cheryl who's two kids share a room and came home and made the change. They're really doing pretty good with it so far.

Anyway, we had so much fun with Jaron, Heidi, and little Jaxen.

Here is little Jaxen, isn't he adorable!
Definitely a well-loved little guy!
We went to the Greenbelt along the Snake River to feed the ducks and walk around the temple grounds across the street.

Jaron, gripping Tyler and Emalyn's shirts to keep them from falling in the river (it was not an ideal place for kids to feed the ducks).

The kids found this little table on our walk around the temple. Apparently it was a little tough to keep Krysta there long enough to get a picture.

Loved this picture that Heidi took of Emalyn.

Tyler and Emalyn found this stump that had been carved into a chair along our walk to the temple.

Oh no, we're in jail!

Krysta decided this was the comfortable way to ride in the 40-degree weather.

As you can see, we had a lot of fun with them. Thanks again to them for watching the kids while I packed and got ready to go on my trip!!

Now for what we have been doing since I got back:

On Tuesday, Tyler had his first soccer practice of the season (and his first ever!), so here he is with his uniform and ball: (he was really excited and in a funny mood, as you can tell from the pictures.)

Krysta also got excited about the soccer ball, and the mysterious toothbrush she'd found somewhere that day.

How does your garden grow?

We just started our garden last night for FHE. This is our very FIRST FAMILY GARDEN. So very exciting. Since there is still snow on the ground outside (and more in the forecast for the next few weeks,) we started some of our plants inside, and the rest will wait for warmer weather. It took a lot of planning, so we are extremely proud of ourselves. We've got one raspberry bush and some asparagus, onions, tomatoes, and celery that we've got planted in little planters downstairs in our laundry room.

The asparagus,

celery, onions, and tomatoes (in the covered tray being shown by Tyler and Emalyn),

strawberries,

and our raspberry bush, that doesn't look anything like a bush yet.

In other news, Krysta is finally walking (when she wants to). She's had the ability to for some time, but she finally walked across a whole room last week. Mostly though, she still prefers crawling. I guess it's still faster. We're so proud of her. I tried to get a movie of her walking, but she hasn't been agreeable to that, so, no movie. We'll try to get one soon.

Happy Birthday Scott!!!

As I was looking for a picture for this post, and couldn't find one of just him, I realized that he is the picture-taker in our family. He's always the one behind the camera. And that is something I love about him-he remembers stuff, like taking pictures, and other little things that really matter that I so often forget. And just about being behind the camera, he's often in the background making sure that things go smoothly, giving support and encouragement to me and to the kids when we need it. He's not too fond of the spotlight sometimes, but he deserves it more than anyone I know. He's my best friend, the one who makes me believe that I can do what I need to do. The reason I believe that I can be a good mom, that I can try to stop stressing about anything and everything, and that I can even try to unclog the dishwasher on my own (since he showed me how). Because of his support, I can play the organ on Sundays while he watches three very squirmy, loud, irreverent children in church, I have time to do fun things, like sew, crochet, and paint, and I can go on a trip for 8 days to NY by myself while he watches those same children the whole time...
Another thing I love about him is how he loves to build and invent things. He built a bassinet/changing table for Krysta when she was born, he built the coolest rig ever to hang our newly-acquired canoe from the garage ceiling, and he built a balance board for Tyler to play on. He changes the oil in the car and truck, vacuums, mops, and sweeps when my back hurts, puts the kids to bed almost every night, goes to work everyday at 5:30am, rubs my back when it hurts (and when it doesn't), reads books with me, and helps the kids with their Saturday jobs.
He can play the guitar and sing (my favorite is Shenandoah), he can speak Spanish, he is so amazingly good with kids, loves to play games with the kids, can get Emalyn and Tyler to really talk to him, and he lets me win way too many arguments.
These aren't even close to all the reasons I love him, but that would be a really long list.
Happy Birthday Scott!!

Valentine's Day

We had the funnest Valentine's Day yesterday. Every year up until this one, I think of it as more of a romantic holiday rather than just a holiday of love. This year, Scott and I put more emphasis on the whole family, rather than just the two of us. It's fun to have the romantic holiday, but well, we didn't have any babysitters lined up, and so it seemed better to just include everyone.

It started with a Valentine's primary activity in the morning, then we went to Lowe's to do their Saturday bi-monthly project (Valentine mailboxes). Tyler and Emalyn had lots of fun pounding in all the nails with their hammers. After that, it was nap time and quiet time. Tyler and Emalyn were suprisingly cooperative with that, so Scott and I got to read together (we've been reading Warrior Heir by Cinda Williams Chima), and that was fun to have time together in the middle of the day without our kids.

After that, we started on dinner, which I'd been planning for a week. It was so much fun to have the kids help. We made a cake and decorated it with chopped strawberries that the kids arranged to say "I love you". It was so cute. Then we had strawberry lemonade (with real strawberries!!) We had spinach raviolini and asparagus. Add that to the BEAUTIFUL pink roses that Scott brought home for me, and this is what you get:

I thought that we had a better picture of the cake, but it turns out we didn't take one. But arent' those roses beautiful? It was a nice surprise.

Anyway, it was a really fun day. As I was writing about it, I realized that we didn't really do anything that spectacular. In fact, when I woke up that morning, I was in a horrible mood. Scott and I'd gotten to bed late, and with different kids waking us up in the night and then Emalyn getting us up at 6:30am, we got around 4-5 hours of sleep that night. I was really sad to be awake that early. I'd made these fun plans for the day, and I really didn't want to do it all being so tired. But we did it all anyway, and I just remember going to bed that night and thinking about how much fun we'd had making that dinner together. I guess it was just the excitement of the kids over making everything that made it just really special. It was a day that I hope we remember.

Also, on a different note that has absolutely nothing to do with Valentine's Day, I finally got to see my mission president and his wife at the temple on Friday! A while back, I posted about how they were called to be the president and matron of the Idaho Falls temple, and they've been there since November. I've been trying to see them every time I've gone to the temple ever since they started, but they've never been there when I was there. Sometimes I just missed them by half an hour. But they were there on Friday evening! When I saw them, everything I'd been planning to say flew out of my mind, and I just stood there with the biggest grin on my face because I was just so overjoyed to see them. I love them so much, and it's been about 7 years since I saw them last. He was in between meetings, so I knew he didn't have much time, but he kept saying to not worry about it, they had time to talk to me. We caught up on stuff that's been happening in the mission and in our lives since. We only talked for probably about 15 minutes, but everytime I think about it, I just keep smiling. I had some rough times on my mission, and President Stoddard talked to me and was there for me when I was really struggling. They are so dear to me.

A day of sledding

Last Saturday, we finally made it- we went sledding! We've had a goal to go sledding as a family for, well, all winter, and Tyler and Emalyn were getting pretty impatient with us. We have these huge soccer fields that are surrounded on one side by a huge hill just about a block from our house. It was supposed to be really cold that day, but it turned out to be just perfect.



Tyler was the best. He went down over and over and over, all by himself, and brought his own sled back up every time. It was so slick there, that a couple of times, his sled went down without him (it happens in one of the later videos on this post)! He was a pretty good sport about it, just laughed and went down and got it and brought it back.



Krysta tried going down twice on a sled with Scott, but she preferred her own way of sledding:




Here are some more fun videos of us sledding: