2017- Week 20(May 15- May 21)

Ethan had a Dentist appointment this week. We are slowly transitioning away from the pediatric dentist so this was his last appointment there. We have loved our dentist but the kids have out grown the children's atmosphere and also it's too far from our house now so it was time to switch. He ended up having three cavities- ugh. He is horrible with dental hygiene and we've been working on improving it before he gets braces but apparently not enough. Luckily two of the cavities are on loose baby teeth so we only have to do one filling. We are going to wait till Summer to do it.

For FHE Ashtyn taught us about the Celestial kingdom using Revelation chapter 4 . 

She had Ethan draw what she read.

I went to my last DUP camp meeting before the Summer. We learned about some of the items in the DUP museum down town. We also sang the most touching song about pioneers. Then we had a pot luck afterward. I brought chocolate chip cookies. I'm looking forward to the convention next week.

Ashtyn competed in her last track meet of the season. It was the JV Region Meet. Her goal was to beat her best time and break 18 seconds. It was pouring rain for most of the meet. It was held at Copper Hills High School. Jenacee came to support her and of course in true Jensen fashion was late and missed her 100 M race. Ashtyn did so well and she did beat her time and her new PR is 17.75 and she even did not come in last over all this time. She was so over the moon proud and so were we! In the 200 M she got a 39.85 which was not her best and unfortunately was last place. It has been a fun and hard season. I am proud of her for sticking it out even when she wanted to quite. She has had to face ridicule and embarrassment and kept going and persevered. I think she learned a lot this year and it was great to be part of a team. These cute friends Baylee and Rylee helped her survive the year and they supported each other every step of the way.

One of the Weebelos den leaders was out of town this week so I went and helped at their meeting. It was their first meeting with the new leaders so we did a get to know you and played foosball. Whichever team I was on won every time so they kept making me switch partners so they could all win. It was so fun and so crazy and they are a great group of boys.

Thursday night a few of my neighbors took another one of our neighbors out to dessert at Village Inn. She is going through a divorce. It is so sad for our street. We love her family so much and it's heartbreaking. They seemed like the perfect couple from the outside which made it so much harder to hear the news. They are both good people but can't make it work so it has come to this- which is even more depressing. They have two girls that this is going to be so hard on. I pray for them. Marriages are falling apart left and right these days. I just also found out about a couple that I use to babysit for all the time that also got divorced recently. They were a couple that I had looked up to. They were always going on dates and seemed so happy. It really makes me want to strive to do everything I possibly can to safeguard our marriage. My friend Shanda who Jeff went to school with is divorced from her husband who Jeff also went to school with and again I would have never thought that they would end up this way. They were so strong it appeared- but not on the inside. She recently shared these tips on keeping your marriage strong and I love them all...

Lesson #1- Always sit by your spouse at church. Sit next to each other in Sacrament. Always put your kids on either side of you if you have them, that way you can hold each other's hand while you sing, pray and grow spiritually together.

Lesson #2- Don't ever complain about folding your spouses laundry. Someday they might not be there and you'll miss it.

Lesson #3- Always put each other first no matter what. Your spouse should be the most important thing in your life. More important than hobbies, activities, children and sports. There will be times when you will have to choose. Choose wisely.

Lesson #4- No one is perfect. Everyone makes mistakes. The love you give to someone needs to be unconditional no matter what. There will be times when you will need to choose to stay married. Sometimes every minute you will need to choose that. Choose to love. 

Lesson #5-Communication is key to a healthy relationship. I hope you feel like you can share anything with your spouse. If your happy, sad, scared, mad, or just need someone to listen to you without judgement. I also think it's important to take a turn and listen to them as well. Your not always right, everyone has a different opinion. If you can agree on something, that's even better but you can also love and agree to disagree.

Jeff and his dad went golfing on Friday and Tom got a hole in one. So impressive!

Ethan had another Scout Camp and Jeff went with him this time. 

They went to This is the Place again and had a great time.

It was our Ward Conference this weekend so we had a  temple night. It was so good to be back in the temple after a while. I love the peace I feel there. It was a great session.

We got to clean the church on Saturday. This is another one of my favorite things to do. I love when the families bring their little kids to help. It's so important for them to learn to respect and take care of these beautiful buildings.

My friend Tanya's daughter Kaylee is getting married next week. It is so weird to me that now my friend's kids are starting to get married. They held a shower for her that I got to go to.

We have some friends that are now in the other ward since the split and Jeff went to college with the husband so we decided to go on a date with them and one other couple. It was the Jackson's and Barney's and us. We went to the Enigma escape room. This is the second one we have done and it was so fun and challenging. We barely won in the nick of time. It was fun to think through the everything and figure it out. Then we went to The Chocolate Dessert Bar and afterward we went back to the Jackson's house to try out the driving simulator Chris built. It was awesome and so fun. They are so great and we had a lot of fun.

Sunday was Ward Conference so it was nice to have the Stake teach Sharing Time. Their lesson was wonderful and all about deciding why we should come to church for ourselves and not just because our families do. In Sacrament the Stake President talked about missionary work and how we need to pray for our children every day that they will have the desire to serve a mission and our Bishop counseled us to read the Book of Mormon every day. He said most of the problems people face stem from not reading and studying their scriptures daily. I believe this is so true. I can see it in my own life. The days I read go so much better and I have more patience and love for my family. The scriptures are a huge blessing to me in my life.

We had my family come over for a BBQ on Sunday. It rained all day so I wasn't sure how it would work out but it was great. We made turkey burgers and they didn't turn out as well as I would have liked. I am still trying to perfect the art of burger making. It was great to catch up with them because we haven't seen them for a while.

2017- Week 19(May 8- May 14)

My friend Halley was on the Ellen show. It was so cool to see her and our other friend Moka compete in the "Winning Word" game. They won and both won 40" TV's. 

We held our first Pack Meeting as a new scout troop this week. I love being over Cub Scouts- they are all so darn cute and full of enthusiasm- the leaders aren't always, ha ha- 

but it's a really fun program.

I got my cavity fixed this week and afterwards I met Melinda at the cemetery to see if my grandma's headstone was done yet and to take her some flowers for Mother's Day. The stone was not done yet. Melinda was a few minutes late so I just sat there and enjoyed the quiet, peaceful feeling. There was a bird that sounded like he was talking to me. When Melinda got there we wandered around and looked at our other relatives graves. Brooklyn was so concerned every time we saw a baby's grave and she wanted us to read her every single headstone we saw and then she would say "Cindy died here", Carla died here" etc. 

I took my friend Aubrey to lunch for her birthday this week and to catch up and hear about her recent trip to Paris. She and I have been friends for over 20 years. She loves Paris as much as me and she recently got to go. Seeing her pictures on Instagram were just like being there myself. Someday I'll make it to Paris but hearing about it from her was the next best thing. We went to Bake 360 which is a European bakery in Draper. So so so good. I had the croque madame and it was amazing. Of course we both had to buy pastries afterward. I got the pistachio berry tart and ate the whole thing in one sitting it was so good. It's always fun to catch up with her.

Saturday I took my mom shopping for Mother's Day and then we went to Bryant's 7th birthday party. He is such a cutie. He had a football party with his friend's earlier in the day and they left the games up for us to play. It was really fun.

Sunday was Mother's Day. Jeff and my kids are so good to me. I have been a mother for 16 years- which is so crazy to me. I love my kids more then anything. They are smart, amazing and beautiful people and I am honored to be their mom. They spoiled me all day. Jeff got me a cute new outfit to wear to church with some shoes I've been wanting. They also got me an I-Chart-You that I had been coveting for years. I got to pick out the one I wanted and it's on order so I will post a picture when it's done. The priesthood took over Primary the third hour so we could all go to Relief Society. The lesson was so good but it's been a very long time since I sat through a meeting that long and it felt so long- ha ha. Primary goes so fast because you are always on the go and I love that. After church we went to visit Sharon and then my mom came over for dinner. 

It was a really nice day.

This is the dress and necklace we got my mom.

2017- Week 18(May 1- May 7)

I took Julia to see Grandpa's grave and check our his name on the headstone. We ran into Dave Zito who is a man who's wife died the same week as grandpa and her grave is right beneath it and to the right one spot. She died a very horrific death from blood clots in her lungs due to her doctor's neglect. Poor Dave is a total wreck. He sobbed and sobbed talking about her. I think it helped him and Julia to talk about losing their spouse. Of course it's a little easier for Julia to bear since Gramps was so old and at she knew the end was near- Dave's loss was sudden and unexpected. He is a really nice man and this is the second time we have run into them. 

Ashtyn was eager to get her drivers license so we went on Tuesday to the DLD. She did not want me to take her picture- ha. When she came home she needed to go to Target to get a gift for YW's that night so she asked Ethan if he would come with her on her first solo drive. He was reluctant but she promised him treats so he went. I was a nervous wreck- Target is super close but it was rush hour and the District gets really busy. They were fine. They made it safe and sound. I wonder when I will ever feel comfortable with her venturing out on her own in the car and I think the answer is never so I'd better get use to the squeezing anxiety feeling in my chest.

I worked three days this week instead of two. It was so fun. I am really really hating the drive but the kids are so great. I saw a few deer running through this week and here is a picture of my classroom. I always tell them the story of when I was 17 crossing the plains and one boy said how old are you now and when I told him 32(the age Mary Kelly would have been) he said but how can that be because you look 17 now. He became my new best friend- ha ha. I did have one unruly class that kept telling me Abraham Lincolns vice president was Hitler. It's always the class after lunch- food really hypes the kids up. Friday I started to feel dizzy and sick so it was really hard to make it through that day. When I got home I started taking my Wellness Formula and by the next day I was fine. I can't say enough about that stuff. There has only been one time it didn't help and that was against the flu but it gets rid of a cold super fast.

  

Melinda and I took Brooklyn to Gardener Village to see the Fairies. I love tiny little things like this so much. They had darling little scenes set up all over the place and fairies hiding around every corner. It was so fun to watch Brooklyn as she spied one and to see the wonder in her face. I am for sure going to add some fairy magic to my gnome garden. In one of the shops they had a rack of paper dolls. I loved paper dolls as a child and this Princess Kate book was very tempting to buy.

Saturday was the Stake Baptism. My secretary Halley's son was baptized. He is so so cute and is my go to kid in Primary if I ask a question because he always knows the answer. He is also very honest- when I went to his house to drop off his baptism jumpsuit I had on my BYU shirt and he said "We hate BYU". His mom was embarrassed- ha.

Sunday was dinner at the Shaw's. Tom and Sharon just got back from Jerusalem so they showed us a few pictures of the places they visited and talked about what they saw. It was so cool- To think about walking where Christ walked is amazing and I would love to go there some day. They said they want to take all the adults just as soon as the babies are old enough to stay home with a babysitter. Something to look forward to for sure! They also brought us back some beautiful souvenirs but I won't post pictures of them until later so we don't spoil it for Scott and Malia who haven't received theirs yet. They brought back BYU Jerusalem shirts for all the kids except the Utah lovers and they all look so cute in them.

 

 We made apple dumplings for dessert.

2017- Week 17(April 24- April 30)

I had a dentist appointment this week and Jeff loves to tease me about my "perfect" teeth. The dentist does usually tell me how great my teeth look and that I have no problems. I joked that I would probably have a cavity this time from all the Cadbury eggs we had been eating right before bed and unfortunately I was right- I did end up having a cavity. Not from the eggs I'm sure because it had probably been developing for months so it could have been the Valentine candy, my birthday candy, Christmas candy, etc.- ha ha. We do have a really bad habit of eating candy right before bed and not brushing our teeth afterward. Afterwards I had the feeling that I should stop by and see Malia's mom Barbara. I was really close to her house. I decided I would stop and pick up some cinnamon crisps that you can only get at one Ream's in the valley and afterward I texted her to see if she was home. She didn't respond so I decided I would drive to the cemetery to see if my grandma's head stone was finished. She still didn't respond so I called her. She told me she wasn't even dressed and that she was having a bad day. I told her I would love to handle that bad day for her and that I was at the cemetery so if she wanted to get dressed I would come a little later- she said yes. Since I had a little time to kill I ran to Walmart to get some flowers for the graves. I put some on Ryan and Lemoine's graves and then my grandpa Burros's grave and then I got out a blanket and sat at my grandma's grave and talked to her for a while. It felt strange to be talking into thin air but it also felt good to be talking to her. I miss her so much some days and some days I feel a darkness come over me because she really was like a light in my life and now I feel an empty space so it was good to be able to tell her how things are going in my life like I use to. Then I headed over to Barb's. I stopped and got us some hot chocolate to go with the cinnamon crisps. We had a nice visit and I ended up staying until almost noon when her aid came to help with Annie's shower. She is a great lady and so easy to talk to and I hope in some small way it made her day better.

I am really starting to hate the drive to work. It is long and full of traffic and I hate being in the car. Sometimes it feels torturous but the second I drive through the gate an enormous feeling of joy and calm and exuberance over takes me and I feel right at home. This is why I keep coming back.

Here is a poem that Austin wrote in our lesson this week.

I successfully register Whitney for Junior year and this time it went smoothly. It still lagged a little but not much and I was able to get her every single class she wanted all except one teacher, but the next day a spot opened up in his class and we snagged it so she has every single class she wants. She is so lucky because a lot of people had problems again but patience and luck helped us this time.

Ethan had a scout camp this weekend and of course yet again it was snowing. He did not want to go and was so upset but we made him because they had already paid for him. He ended up having a lot of fun like he always does.

Ashtyn took her Driver's Ed final this week so now she can get her license after her birthday. Speaking of birthday- my girl turned 16 on Sunday! She has been waiting for this birthday her whole life. She was so excited. We spent the whole weekend celebrating. On Saturday she went to breakfast with my mom for her and Ryan's birthday then when she got home I took her to get her hair cut. She decided to cut off about five or six inches and I think it looks so darling. After the hair cut we headed to the mall to do some birthday shopping. I hate to shop- I hate crowds and trying things on so we got into a fight because I just wanted to sit on a bench and let her look and she wanted me to be there with her- but she also doesn't like my taste so she just wanted me to be with her silently. We have these clashes sometimes because we are complete opposites in our biggest needs and yet we are both so much alike in so many other ways. Once I chilled out and she calmed down we had a grand time. I let her pick out whatever she wanted up to a certain price range and I even let her pick out things in shops that are normally out of our price range. She got some really cute things and a bath bomb from Lush. She loves to shop and had a lot of fun.We also of course had to get our favorite cinnamon pretzel bites. It's fun to people watch at the mall. There are so many different kinds of people. One man in particular stood out because he was wearing fish net tights with Daisy Duke shorts and lace up high heel pioneer shoes. He had on a brown leather jacket and full beard and was with his girl friend. I have to give props to any man that likes to wear nylons. Ashtyn drove us home on the free way and did a great job. When we got home Jeff took Ashtyn on her first date. He had called her earlier in the week to ask her on the date. Then he came to the door and brought her flowers and she introduced him to her mom- who promptly gave him a huge hug and kiss. The kids thought that was entirely inappropriate and gross- ha ha. They went to dinner at Cafe Rio- her choice. He gave her a pair of diamond earrings and talked to her about how precious she is to us and how we don't want her to ever let any man treat her unkindly and also how we want her to stay pure and to wait till marriage to give a piece of herself away. When she got home she went over to her friends house and they had a "I didn't get asked to prom" party. Sunday was her actual birthday. We did balloons and notes like we always do but this time I got sweet 16 balloons and a giant 16. She had already gotten a lot of early gifts so we just gave her a few more things. Then we went to church and when we got home the Laurels had come over and decorated her bedroom door and gave her the cutest laurel wreath headband. She wanted to watch La La Land which we did and all of us promptly fell asleep- not because it's not a darling movie but Sunday's make you so tired. Then we made her favorite navajo tacos and strawberry shortcake for dessert- which turns out is not her favorite- I just saw the strawberries and I know she loves those. It was a fun and relaxing evening. We adore her so so much! She is such an amazing young woman. She has taught me so many things and she has truly become one of my greatest friends. She is spunky and funny and beautiful through and through and smart, kind, adventurous, creative, amazing at doing makeup, stylish, passionate, spiritual and the best thing that ever happened to us for sure!