* Brandon * Tina * AJ * Julia * Amy *

The Zoo-April 30, 2010

2010-06-15T20:18:00.004-06:00

So now that i am not voting every night (that was only my excuse for the past 2 months) because my brothers-in-law won their grant we were all voting for! YEAH!!! I figured, if i could make that much time to vote, i need to make more time to blog. So i am not going to go in order or try to catch up on everything, but i am just going to get in what i can. So, here are the pics from when i went with AJ on his field trip to the zoo. I was excited to be able to go, especially because i couldn't last year since they went on May 1st or something and i was afraid i would have a baby at the zoo! So we went this year on a nice spring day..ok, not "nice" exactly. Notice the kids are in winter jackets and some are all bundled up! It was really cold and wet but it didn't actually rain while we were there. But we had fun anyway and got some great pics of the animals-some up close!

Wow! ONE year!!!

2010-05-06T10:12:00.006-06:00

ONE!

I CANNOT believe that my baby is 1. I sound like such an old person talking about how fast the time goes, but it is so true! I know i am TERRIBLE about posting, but, SERIOUSLY, it is her 1st birthday! So i decided to step it up today and just get it done. (Even if the birthday girls is yelling at me while i do it! :)!!!)

So, I dropped Julia off at preschool and decided to have a quick photo shoot with the birthday girl and our tulips. So here she is: TA-DA!!! She is SO dang cute, i can't even stand it!!! :) (OK, so i am a little biased, but it IS true!!!) I love the tongue sticking out-what a Jenson! The fuzzy is

I love the tongue sticking out-what a Jenson!

The fuzzy picture is not a great quality pic, but a perfect representation-she is IN ACTION!

Look at her kneeling-she is SO proud of herself (I can't believe how strong she is!)

I love the cheesy grin!

I am so proud of how well she is walking. Just this week she has made that transition to preferring to walk instead crawl. Although, she does drop to all fours and take off on a mission when necessary!

Of course, Julia had to get in on the photo op this morning, but such a cute picture. I am so excited for my girls that they have a sister. I don't know what i would do without mine!!! And (assuming that Amy survives childhood with Julia as a big sister) i hope they always love each other like they do know...or more!

AJ was at school during these pix-i'll have to get him represented later!

An Easter Miracle!!!

2010-04-14T12:33:00.003-06:00

This is it--a new post IS the miracle!!! It's about time, ya think?!?!?!

So this is actually this past Sunday. We didn't go to church ON easter Sunday because it was General Conference. So I put them all in their "easter clothes" a week later! But, I must say...they are pretty DANG cute!!! (and, can i note that we FINALLY have a cute front yard. I LOVE That our daffodils have bloomed and our tulips are getting close!!!)

How FREAKIN' cute are these Kiddo's!!! This is them right before they got to look for their jelly beans that the Easter Bunny hides. They are a little excited!!!

And, after they find their Jelly Beans, they get their baskets...YUM!!!

YAY for Easter. It is so much fun. It was a little sad for AJ because he could hardly eat any of his candy because of his tonsils (or actually his LACK of tonsils!) but the peeps were ok and he has since made up for lost time and has less candy left than his sisters!!!

Halloween

2009-11-03T12:20:00.002-07:00

YAY for Halloween! We hadn't had a chance to decorated pumpkins and remembered that i had these stick-in thingies JUST IN TIME! So right before dinner we decorated our pumpkins. The one that i had gotten for Amy was not intended to be decorated, but it looked so naked. So, we made it work. I love AJ's face in the little picture. He was DETERMINED to get that ear into that pumpkin! They looked pretty cute on our steps. (And i love how you can see the scarecrow's shadow in the pic-so festive!)

So we had a quick dinner and headed out. I felt too un-festive so i threw on my back-up-plan baby costume quick and we headed out. We hit all the town homes and i figured since we still had time we should go hit some of the houses a couple of streets over. The kids were cracking me up because half-way down the street they were SO done!! We were headed home and we would walk past a house across the street. I would ask if they wanted to go there and they would just sigh and say "no!..too tired!" they slept good that night though! :)

Oh the memories. I remember LOVING this part as a kid... inventorying the LOOT!!! I showed them how we used to sort all our candy and trade what we didn't like. AJ was all over this, but Julia just dug in! Julia gave all her sweet tarts to AJ because they are "too spicy" and when I asked AJ if there was anything he didn't like, his response was "not really" (with a big grin).

Amy was AWESOME during this event! I has put her on the floor in her boppy while we were sorting candy. She started fussing and squirming around. Before i could get over to her, she had flipped herself over so she could pull herself over to the pile of candy and she was grabbing at it the best she could. She was SO proud of herself when she wrapped those little un-coordinated fingers around a twizzler. What a cutie!!! As long as we let her swat the candy around and occasionally get that wrapped twizzler back into her mouth, she was happy!

What a fun night, and the kids were only slightly bug-eyed and hyper when it was time for church the next day! :)

Family Home Evening

2009-11-03T00:30:00.002-07:00

Tonight For Family Home Evening, We were playing "Seek and Ye Shall Find". It is a Mormon version of "Go Fish". The cards are cartoon character-pictures of Book Of Mormon people. So, out of nowhere, Julia says "Do you have the guy with the Boobies?". Brandon and I start laughing hysterically! When i get a grip enough to check out the card she was looking at, sure enough, It looks like Captain Moroni needs a bra over that chest plate of his! HAHAHA!! WE TOTALLY lost it at that point. That girl keeps us laughing! Love her!

The Mascot Bowl-September 28th

2009-11-01T00:16:00.000-06:00

We think we have found a new tradition!!! The mascot bowl was SO much fun. The kids had a blast and it was a GREAT family night!!! The mascot bowl is a charity football game where a bunch of different mascots form a team and play against the Lehi football team (I think they were middle-school kids...i forget! :)

They have a meet-the-mascots thing before the game when you can get autographs.
Here are the kids with "Holly" the Orem Owlz mascot. (minor league baseball)

The "pre-game show" included a guy parachuting in and landing on the field. The kids thought this was pretty impressive. It really is crazy how fast they are going when they come in to land!!!

This picture sums up the night...AJ watching the game, and Julia watching EVERYTHING ELSE! :) she is so easily distracted, but she had a blast!

Are we feeling the love?!?! AJ is such a good big brother. They were so cute watching the game and going together down in front of the bleachers to watch. They thought they were hot stuff going "alone"...(as if we couldn't see them the whole time :) !!!)

Barney turned out to not be a very talented football player! He was injured playing football and had to be taken out of the game!!!

Luckily, the injuries turned out not to be serious and he was able to rejoin the team on the sidelines. He wasn't looking so good though!!!

On our way out we were able to catch another picture with
"Big Blue" (from Utah State) and get a couple more autographs.

It was a great night!!! Can't wait till next year! :)

Crazy Spaghetti Dinner-September 21st

2009-10-12T00:24:00.005-06:00

So the Jenson's have some fun (and a little weird) traditions that we have decided to carry on...one being a "crazy Spaghetti Dinner".

First, Mom and Dad have to get bags of "stuff" together for each person to use to eat-no real utensils allowed! Each bag is given a number. Then, after everyone get their stylish newspaper bib-like-thingies on, each person picks a nimber to see which bag they get.

Then you get to see what you get...and figure out how you are going to use it. AJ wasn't so sure.

Then you dig in, or at least try!

I got to eat spaghetti from a Tupperware lid using a ladle.

Brandon had to eat from a glass pot lid with tongs.

AJ had a pan of spaghetti and a wooden spoon and whisk as "utensils".

...and Julia had an egg separater and the lining of a lunch bag.

AJ was nice enough to let her borrow the wooden spoon when she had given up on the egg separater. :)

Drinking can also be a challenge...

-I had a vase (which would have been pretty easy except for the scalloped edge on top, water kept escaping!!)

-AJ had a measuring cup

-Brandon had an ice cube tray (which prooved to be the trickiest)

-And Julia was quite amused that she got a bottle!

It was a really fun event, but we all had a little cleaning up to do after! But, it was all worth it!!

If nothing else, a face like that makes it all worth it-That is true munchkin joy!!! :)

YAY for silly but memorable family traditions!

Our little Amy!!

2009-10-09T13:02:00.002-06:00

I have been feeling so guilty because if the "third-child-syndrome" that my child has truly been cursed with! I haven't taken her baby book out if the plastic yet, i feel like i don't get enough pictures of her like i did with the other kids and i certainly have not sent enough pictures to family far away to see her grow!!! GUILT!!! so her i am FINALLY making a post and it HAD to be about her!

We really just love her to pieces. Although she has not been as well documented as i would like, she has had PLENTY of attention in other ways, usually in the form of being nearly smothered by siblings! :)

She is really a good baby but is the biggest mama's girl out of the 3 kids. But, she has been with me more than the other 2 were at this age, too. She loves to smile and her favorite things to smile at are AJ & Julia.

I have tried really hard to get a good picture of her ADORABLE smile, but i have really struggled to get one that is centered, she is looking and she isn't doing "big-eyes"...

She LOVES the bath and is usually smiling a lot. This one is pretty good too, but it is so funny how different she looks with her hair wet! Usually it isn't so drastic at this age but with that hair, it is!

Oct. 6th ..this one is pretty close, but not the whole effect.

Oct. 8th..this is what i usually get when i take a picture. Our camera is slow and it flashes first so by the time the picture is actually taken, she is making one of these faces...

although "big eyes" makes me smile every time, i really wanted her real smile!

So, i took her outside, laid her on the grass, and TA-DA!!!!

A cute smile,

And a giggly girl!!

So there she. We just love her and i will try to show her off on the blog more often! :)

Baseball "season" ?

2009-07-14T11:08:00.000-06:00

UGG!! I think it is time that we all need to accept that i am not a good blogger and will ALWAYS be behind. But i will keep trying! I have had these pictures ready to go for a while now but haven't been able to find the time to type anything (It's a lot harder to type with a baby in my arms).

Anyway, So AJ played Baseball (Coach-pitch) for the first time this year. He LOVED it and, I must say, was pretty good too! The weather was less than cooperative and his baseball "season" was not very summer-like. I think he had one game and maybe one practice that was warm and sunny...ohh well! But we were at all the games (we had to tag-team a little because of Amy) with blankets and sweatrshirts when needed! :)

Here is his first practice. He was all decked out in his baseball gear-GO SOX! :) Julia was happy about the playground. AJ just jumped right in and was the first to bat. We were so proud of him. He was really involved and excited to learn and practice.

(Bottom right pic:)

When "Grammie" came to visit she took the kids to the store to pick out a prize. AJ chose a bakugan and a batting helmet! (That is dedication!) He thought he was pretty cool that he had his OWN helmet at the games!

Here are pix from his first game. He was SO excited!
He had some nice hits and my friend got a great action shot of the ball up in the air. (Top right) We were so proud. It was so fun to watch him and cheer for him!

Ok, this picture CRACKS me up! If this isn't true baseball form, i don't know what is! :)

So, the season has been over for about a month now, but at least it has been documented! He loved baseball and has been playing at the park with friends and practicing with Daddy whenever he can. We are so proud of how well he did and we all had so much fun going to his games and practices as a family!

HAIR!!!

2009-06-20T10:15:00.000-06:00

ok, after i had already finished this post, i realized that most of these pix were already on here, but, oh well, i figure better some duplicates than nothing at all...and these are in fancy little collages too! :)

Amy has had a TON of hair since she was born. They had it all styled when they brought her to me, but it didn't take long to discover what it was really like...CRAZY!!!

I took these pix after a bath. At first, when it is wet, it looked like it might curl a little and stay down. But, NOPE!!! As it dries it starts to pop up until it is all sticking straight UP into the air! it is pretty funny, but I love it!! :)

2009-06-16T12:30:00.004-06:00

SO I am OBVIOUSLY not a very good blogger! I was just looking at a friends blog and saw us on her list that it had been 4 weeks since our last post! I was horrified. i knew it was bad, but come on!!! SO here we go! (note: i am starting this Tuesday at lunchtime!)

Ok...5/18/09 Coming home from the hospital.

Here we all are ready to go. That day was so busy for me. I should be a low-key day, but come on, if you know me, we all know that isn't likely! So we ended up staying at the hospital for a few extra hours because we were waiting for the lactation consultant to come in. I wanted to meet with her one more time before i went home. I don't really know what happened but it took FOREVER. So we finally met with her some time after lunch, finished getting everything rounded up, and headed out.

Amy was so tiny in the carseat. She was quite stylin' I must say! :) She actually had a headband to match the outfit and bracelet exactly, but it was too big-I made it beforehand but obviously had forgotten just how tiny their little heads are at first! AJ and Julia we GITTY to be bringing "baby Amy AND mommy" home.

We left the hospital and headed over to DeAnn's place. Brandon's mom was in a nursing home and had been able to come to the hospital to see Amy be born, but hadn't had a chance to hold her yet. We stayed for a little while and then headed home. Unfortunelaty, our timing sucked and we got stuck in the ridiculous traffic that happens on the road on the way to our house.

But, we made it and once we got home, of course, Murphy had to investigate. I was trying to hold him back enough so he didn't christen her with his slobber, but let him get close enough to feel like he could really sniff her. And Julia had to hold her too. She just can't get a hold of her enough...still!

Because of the traffic, we didn't get home until dinnertime. Our friends, Brian and Heather, had called and offered to come by and bring us dinner. So they (and their 3 kids) got there soon after we got home. So we had a big Subway picnic in our house and they hung out for a while.

It was a good day, but i was TIRED! But it was really good to be home with my WHOLE family again! I can't believe we have 3 kids!

(note: I finished this Thursday after Lunchtime! :) UGG)

Baby Amy!!!

2009-05-14T22:57:00.005-06:00

Well, Amy Maria Jenson has arrived! And since i am not a great blogger, she is now a week old! But she is doing great and is has been so fun! Here are a few pix...I will try to post more info/stories soon!

Birthday: May 6, 2009

Time: 6:22 pm

Weight: 7 lbs. 10 oz.

Length: 20 inches

This is the "one week old" pic!

...and i have to give you a close up so you can really see just how much hair she has! it is CRAZY!!!

This is what she looked like when they broguht her to me for the first time after she was born...the bows were all the nurses doing, it was PERFECT!! :)

And here is the FRO that happens after the bath. There is just no controlling it! :)

The Final Countdown!!!!

2009-04-25T09:50:00.005-06:00

I get to change my little countdown...to LESS days! I had my doctor's appointment this week and we decided that unless Amy comes sooner, he will enduce me a week early! So if she hasn't come by MAY 6TH she WILL come on May 6th! :)

It is a little weird to pick our child's birthday, but because

1. we live so far away from the hospital (45 minutes thru crazy construction zones) and

2. Brandon works so far away (45 minutes through crazy construction/traffic and in the other direction from the hospital) and

3. we have to get our other kids somewhere and

4. Julia was born within 4 hours of my water breaking...

i have been a little worried about making it all work (and making it all work fast enough) whenever "It's time". Although this may still have to be worked out if she decides may 6th is too far away, (which i would be ok with ) I feel a little better knowing that the insanity of getting to the hospital might be avoided. (Plus having a for sure date that is earlier than planned makes me...and my WHOLE body REALLY happy!!!)

so that is the update...as of today...11 days to go! WOOHOO!!!!

Easter!

2009-04-21T22:27:00.003-06:00

So here is the Easter Run-down!

1. First, when the kids wake up (as was tradition in the Lantz household) The kids have to hunt for Jelly beans. Each kid has to find a specific color and the amount of jelly beans for how old they will turn in this year (AJ-7, Julia-4) So here is the hunt!

2. Once they find all the jelly beans then they get the baskets the easter bunny brought (that are hidden in a special hiding spots that only the easter bunny and the parents know about!) Here is the happinesss that Easter Candy brings...

3. Then comes a little while of free reign over the candy until mommy can't stand it and makes them put it away for later! :) This year Brandon made a YUMMY french toast breakfast for us!

4. Then, for the REAL meaning of Easter!...We get to go to church and remember why we really have this day! Of course, we have to get dressed up and i must say, i have some pretty cute looking kids!!!

5. This year we didn't have a regular Easter event with all the Jenson's like we normally would because Grandma (AKA "Ma-mah") is in the hospital. So we decided that we would bring some little Easter festivities to her hopsital room. We brought some eggs with us and the kids waited outside while i hid them. Then they got to come into her room and have a little egg hunt. It was cute and "Ba-Pa and Ma-mah" had a good time watching the event! Here is that event:

6. So it was a little different Easter than we would usually have, but it was a good one. We got to eat candy, have fun, remember why we REALLY have Easter, and spend time with family...a successful day, i think!

Firehouse Field Trip

2009-03-29T11:59:00.003-06:00

Julia is in a little preschool/playgroup thing and each month we either have a party or a fieldtrip. This month was a fieldtrip to the Fire Station down the street. It was really cute, the kids loved it!

Here is the little group learning all about the fire truck and all the cool tools in it. I love the one in the top left where they are all so serious...they are looking at the jaws of life!

And here are my kiddo's checking out the firetruck and with the fireman all suited up.

It was cool, they had him get all his gear on to show the kids and talked about how it is all to protect him and that it is still a nice man inside and not a scary monster! They talked about regular fire safety and really focused on not hiding from the firemen! It was really a good thing for them all to see and know!

It was a fun little fieldtrip!

Tha Jazz Game!

2009-03-25T22:25:00.003-06:00

Brandon found some super cheap jazz tickets on stub hub so we could ALL go to the game on St. Patrick's Day! (I think he was looking for tickets for just him and AJ to go, originally.) We wore green for the day and then all changed into jazz colors/gear for the game!

So we met Brandon at work and had dinner at Taco Amigo.

We parked at his work and headed over to the trax station. The kids were all excited to go on the "train". Here they are-you can just see how happy they are! SO Cute!

Due to Brandon's NEED to be in seats for all sporting events well before the event starts, we planned plenty of time and were there really early! So we got to go check out the statue of Stockton and Malone (and have a little photo shoot) outside the arena. AJ and Julia got to compare thier hands to Karl Malones's hand prints...WOW!!

So we had some time before the game started, but the kids did GREAT! They both really watched the game and loved the whole atmosphere and event. Seeing the Jazz bear (although he was pretty small from where we were sitting) was a highlight!

Around Half-time (which happened to fall right around their usual bedtime) they started to get a little antsy! Luckily, i came prepared with some push-pops and that saved the day. You would think that my children never got candy-they were so excited to have these things! Julia was so funny. She wanted me to hold her like "Baby Julia" and feed her with the push-pop like a bottle. Of course AJ thought this would be fun for hm too...i looked QUITE ridiculous with then on my pregger-belly lap feeding them push-pops! HAHA hey-whatever keeps them entertained-right?!?!

Oh-and Julia's grumpy face...i don't even remember what that was about but it was so funny, i had to include it! I'm pretty sure it was just plain old attitude!

So that was our St. Patty's day Jazz event! It was super fun. The kids had a blast and it was so fun to watch them soak in and enjoy the whole event! Yeah for stub hub! :)

Family scripture study!

2009-03-08T10:49:00.004-06:00

"Our Savior and Our Lemur"...

Ok, so for the background. We were doing family scripture study this morning. We have been having AJ read some simple versus here and there. Of course, whatever AJ does, Julia MUST also do. So i whisper the words to her so she can "read" a verse.

So this morning, Julia was "reading " a scripture that was talking about christ and ended with "savior and redeemer" Julia repeated it as "Savior and Lemur" HAHA it was really cute. But word lemur is more familiar to her than "Redeemer"-gotta love how those little brains work!

Krispy Kreme

2009-03-07T22:22:00.003-07:00

FIRST OF ALL...We are SO excited to have our new camera and are finally getting a post up with some pix!

So, we were on our way home tonight and drove by Krispy Kreme and i happened to notice they were serving HOT donuts!!! YUM!!! of course i barely had to mention it to Brandon and he was in...so we stopped to get some. The kids thought it was SO COOL to watch them cook the donuts, and we just had fun watching them. Here are a couple of pix! (I had the new camera with me...i have to get back into the habit!)

I had to snap a few pics in the car as we enjoyed the yumminess that is FRESH krispy kreme donuts...Of course the kids wanted the ones with sprinkles instead of the fresh ones (they just don't appreciate greatness, i suppose!) but AJ is such a goofball when i take pictures these days! it still cracks me up just to look at how psycho he can look! but hey, at least he's happy...right?!?! And Julia's eyes are SO big, it is crazy!

Little People Conversations!

2009-02-10T17:56:00.003-07:00

Ok, since we don't have a camera right now-it broke! :( -i don't really have fun blogs with pix to post...but i had to share this little conversation that was just happening in the kitchen...

The kids are eating dinner and i hear AJ telling Julia "When the baby comes out, not at first, but after a little while, she will eat all this food but all SMASHED UP!!! She will have squished greenbeans, and corn, and rice." (all foods they are eating) Julia just listens and says something to sound like she was knowledgeable about such things, and then i hear AJ say something like "I know all about babies, i have known lots of babies." Oh, AJ, my little expert! They just crack me up, I love these little conversations that happen!

Happy New Year!!!

2009-01-20T21:28:00.003-07:00

SO, again, better late than never!!!

For New Years Eve, we went down to Tyler and Michelle's house to ring in the New Year! Melynda (Michelle's Sister) came too which we were really excited about...we haven't seen her in FOREVER!!! It was a BLAST!! (pun intended!)

We had a super yummy dinner and played games, the kids played tons until it was time for FIREWORKS!!!

First, we had to get bundled up! We weren't really prepared for the event, so Aaron and Krystal let AJ and Julia borrow some warmth! Thanks Guys! (look at Julia's hand...the gloves were a "smidge" :) too big!-but hey they worked!!!)

Then, we had to get all situated for the show! We were quite the crew huh?!?!

I HAVE to comment on the expressions on my kids faces!!! Brandon just happened to catch this pic of AJ at the exact time that one of the fireworks started to make some loud noise...haha!! (It was a DRASTIC improvement from the fourth of July to have our kids within 20 feet of the fireworks.)
And Julia...look at that face is she focused or what-i think her eyes almost popped out of her head!!!!

Then, the show!!!

Tyler did a great job! Michelle had these cute little bags makde up for everyone with sparklers, glow sticks, treats, and noise makers! SO CUTE!!!

And MIRACLE OF MIRACLES: MY KIDS actually held the sparklers...what progress!!!

So after the show, we came in and warmed up. We parked the kids in front of a movie and continued the game marathon! At midnight we watched the ball drop and celebrated with good ole' Martinelli's (Mormon Champagne!!).

Thanks for a great night! I hope this year is as fun as the start of it!!!

Temple Square (last month-haha!)

2009-01-17T10:09:00.004-07:00

Ok so these are more than a month late, but they were so cute and we had so much fun, that i decided to post them anyway! On Jeremy's Birthday, our little fam went with their little fam to see the lights on Temple Square in Salt Lake. It was beautiful! The kids loved it!

It was QUITE chilly but the kids were troopers and we were able to get some cute pix! AJ was pretty proud of his shoulder ride, and of course whatever AJ does, Julia must do also!

These pix of Brandon and the kids were taken inside the visitors center around the big statue of Christ. Julia 's face just makes me laugh and the one of all 3 of them is so cute because they are just looking up into Christ's face!

OK, and how CUTE is the pic of Plonnie and Ty! Holy Cow, he is such a cutie!

YEAH for cute kids and good photographers!

2009-01-10T13:24:00.005-07:00

We did our christmas/birthday pictures as we usually do...in the beginning of january (while just pretending it is still december! :) We went to Kiddie Kandids because we have finally accepted that fact that, although they are a little bit more expensive, it is worth it!! (and it helps that we get 2 free 8X10's-1 for each kid's birthday!) The kids did SUCH a good job. I think this is the FIRST time EVER that we did not have a crier or attitude to deal with!!! They just stood/sat up there, did what the girl said and ta-dah...how cute are they!!!

Just for the record...we don't love Julia more, we just didn't do AJ's "birthday" pix like we have in the past because he had school pictures this year!

Julia was LOVING doing the girly thing. She was doing all the right poses and thought whe was pretty hot stuff. I love that her little attitude still shines through...

Look at that face! I see trouble!!! haha!

Happy December Birthdays!!!

2009-01-06T10:02:00.000-07:00

WOW! Do we have a busy month!!! (Which is why these are all getting posted now!) This year we had a party for each of the kids (seperately!)

HAPPY 3RD BIRTHDAY TO JULIA!!!

December 11, 2008

We had her Dora party on the morning of her birthday. She had a couple of the neighborhood kids and her cousins come. We played pin the tail on swiper, went on a Dora scavenger hunt, and played a backpack and map game. It was really fun!!! We ate Diego cupcakes too YUM!!! Baby cousin Ty was a BIG fan of the frosting!!!!

The party was so much fun that it totally wore Julia out! She fell asleep that afternoon and, when Daddy got home, we tried to wake her up. I don't think it would have happened for any other reason except to open presents!!! We had dinner and then had a little family party with a Dora Cake. YUM!!!

HAPPY 6TH BIRTHDAY TO AJ!!!

December 20, 2008

The morning of AJ's Birthday, we gave him the presents from us. He got a hotwheels "Trick tracks", a football with a tee, and the Kung Fu Panda movie. Hurray for Presents!!

We had AJ's Puppy party the afternoon of his birthday. We didn't have as many guests as we had hoped or expected, but we still had a lot of fun! I think a highlight was playing "Doggy trainer says". Daddy was the doggy trainer and had the "puppies" beg, sit, roll over, and chase their tails HAHAHA!!! We also played pin the bone in the Doggy's mouth, hunted for paw prints, and ate cupcakes with Bones on them! FUN!!!

That night was the BYU bowl game. (no further comment!!!) We went to the Jenson's for that and at half time we had AJ's bone and Puppy cake! It was good, but i think we were pretty "caked out" at that point! :)

PHEW!!! We made it. They both had fun birthdays and that was the goal. Mommy was a bit EXHAUSTED, but will recover and it is ALL worth it for these faces!!!

Merry Christmas...FINALLY

2009-01-03T08:45:00.010-07:00

So here are some pix from Christmas morning! We had a great day. The kids did pretty good as far as wake-up time...Julia woke up first (no surprise) around 8:00 and AJ soon followed. Santa leaves our stockings on our beds so we can check them out first. Santa was SO silly this year and put the wrong stockings on the wrong beds...HELLO SANTA!!! I think he was a little sleep deprived when he got to our house this year! :) But we got everything straightened out and we were good to go!

SO....Stockings first!!!

THEN...we get to go check out what Santa brought!!!
How 'bout these action photos of the kids' first look at the tree and ALL the gifts!!!

OPENING PRESENTS!!

Poor Murphy had to wait till all our presents were open before we remembered to let him check out his stocking...it was worth the wait! I love his WHOLE face in the stocking trying to get the goods!

I love this one of Julia with her baby...Note AJ in the background, that just cracks me up!

Our big gift from Santa to the WHOLE family was the Wii...we have all loved it and I love it because it is something that we can all do together!!!

To anyone needing a laugh who also LOVES BACON!!!!

2008-12-02T20:01:00.003-07:00

I couldn't make it fit full size, so I had to shrink it down, which made the writing to small to read, so you'll have to click on it to see it full size...... that's what she said :)

A little laugh therapy to help us get over the loss to the Yewts!!!!!

2008-11-26T14:03:00.003-07:00

Did you hear that Max Hall wasn't allowed to pass the sacrament in Church on Sunday. The bishop was afraid that he'd get intercepted.

The teacher tried to give me a Hall pass, but it was intercepted.

Did you hear that BYU has officially filed a protest with the NCAA regarding the Utes cheating during the BYU game. They were playing with 12 men on the field!!!

Anyway, I hope we can all get a little chuckle and move on with our lives, and begin counting down the REMATCH in less than 365 days when we can POUND THE YEWTS!!!!!!

Halloween Fun

2008-11-02T16:46:00.008-07:00

Our halloween festivities started on Wednesday when we had a halloween party with Julia's preschool group. So, off i went with my little puppies..how cute are they! At the party we played a wrap the mummy game-Julia opted out so Aj was up-he did great!

They also had a pinata which was fun. AJ felt like quite the stud that he was the oldest boy there-he definately helped to finish it off! :)

Then Friday came...We had a blast at AJ's school-so much fun that i didn't really have a chance to take any pix! I organized and ran AJ's class party and thought i was tired when it was done...until the halloween parade around the school. They went in and out of the different classes and Aj's class was the last class and kept getting distracted and split up. I was at the end of the class trying to keep everyone in line and moving-THAT was a workout! So by the time we cleaned up the classroom and got home, i was ready to sit for a few minutes before we had to get ready to Trick or Treat...BUT, Julia decided that her costume was "too itchy" and she didn't want to put it on, so my "sit and do nothing time" turned into "Julia's costume plan B prep". WE tried on EVERY costume in her dress up box and decided on snow white because it was the least "itchy"

SO..... FINALLY we were ready to trick or treat! We went around our neighborhood and the kids got a TON of candy just in our little neighborhood!

After we hit all the townhomes, we headed out to Orem to to the Jenson Halloween event! How cute is "Ba-Pa's" face when he saw the kids at the door! :)

Here is our little family in our costumes!

So after eating chili and decorating some cookies, all the cousins headed out to trick or treat around the neighborhood...How cute are these kids! (Kyle was so proud of his "la-la" costume)

And Julia was killing me- she kept right up with Aj and the boys-she was running from one house to the next and yelling "happy halloween" or "i'm ready to go" while she ran! -she has a BLAST!

Here are the boys..Ryan wasn't there so the Mask made up the fourth spot in the usual "brother" picture! :)

Halloween was such a fun day.....

...and then on Saturday we had a party at church. They had a chili cook-off, a cake walk, decorating cookies, and OBVIOUSLY, face paiting. AJ was so patient and sat to get his face painted the way he requested-VENOM! Not to bad!

So What a week!! It was fun and tiring but all in all a GREAT week!!! and now we will be working on the candy for a while! :)

The Zoo with a Crew!!!

2008-10-25T23:08:00.004-06:00

So on Thursday of the UEA break, My friend Heather and I decided to take our kids, with a few extra (her neice and nephew too), to the Zoo. Basically, we are crazy-as you can see with these pictures of 7 kids (ages 6, 5 1/2, 5, 3, 2 1/2, 2, and 2)! YEP-we had our hands full!!!

Even with our crew we rally had a good time. Animals are just so much fun to watch!! The Rhino was a favorite, as well as the Tiger which was totally pacing in front of the window, right in front of the kids. he also got in the water and swam around right in front of the kids. It was really cool.
(And why do i not have pictures of all this cool tiger stuff, you may ask...that would be because we were trying to locate the 2-year-old nephew who wandered off in the 2 seconds that we were gathering the kids...we went the wrong direction the first attempt to find him so when i went back from where we came from to get him, he was down the hill where someone saw me looking and probably my almost-frantic looked and pointed him out! PHEW!!!)

AJ and Julia were sportin their BYU gear because we were going to watch the game at "Ba-pa and Mah-Ma's" after the zoo. So i couldn't resist the BYU-gear-with-the-cougar picture!! (The cougar is above Julia's shoulder-kinda hard to see) And Aj took this great picture of the Cougar. He's pretty good huh?!?!

Another Higlight, of course, is the mural of the gorilla's arm span. All the kids wanted their turn to get a picture (except the youngest who didn't really know any differently!) Here's the gorilla-arm photo shoot!!!

And i just couldn't not put this one in-is that a happy kid or what!!! This was in the playground at the end of the day. -and let me tell you-Heather and i were not looking this chipper and energetic at this point! :)

Beside the trauma of the wondering child, it was a really fun time. The kids had a blast seeing the animals and just being together-it was a fun day!!!

Good thing for "K" cousins!!!

2008-10-23T16:23:00.002-06:00

So, AJ sits down to do his homework-a K page-and then he had to think of 3 things (or people) who start with K.

Luckily, he had 3 cousins that fit the bill...here are their pictures-pretty good replicas-huh?!?! :)

CORNBELLY'S-finally a new post!

2008-10-15T13:07:00.008-06:00

For Julia's preschool group field trip, we all took the kids to Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving point! Everyone split up so we pretty much just explored the place-just me and the kids, it was fun!

How Fun is this chair?!?!

My little piglets (This is what AJ looks like when he sounds like a pig!)

After our little photo shoot, the kids spotted this cool climbing hay structure thing and off they went. Julia, of course, following right behind AJ like she had been climbing these rope things for years.

They were really cute coming down the slide together. I think Julia was a little nervous about it so AJ was there-The big brother to save the day!!! They can get along so good sometimes...I just LOVE it!!!

We did the corn maze and were pretty successful the first time, in "phase 1" (we went in the entrance and came out the exit fairly quickly) but AJ was ambitious and wanted to do "phase 2" and we weren't quite as successfull (it took us twice as long and we went in and out the entrance!) but we had fun!!!

Julia would run ahead to where there was a turn, whip her head in both directions, turn and say "which way should we go" and then just take off in whatever direction she wanted to! She was so excited-it was really cute! AJ would force his way through every once in a while so he could lead the way!

Here we are on the hayride-so fun! (Doesn't AJ look like he is having a BLAST!! So, not his greates picture ever :)!!)

AJ was the brave one (that's a swap :) huh?) and went on the Cow train. Julia was ok with it until she found out i wasn't going and she bailed!

Julia opted for the stationary cow while AJ was on the go!

Before we went home the kids got to go to the pumpkin patch and pick ANY pumpkin they wanted! They found some good ones!

...and home we went and, OF COURSE, those pumpkins were decorated before Daddy even got home! Pretty goofy HUH?!?!?!

(Do you love the rocks for eyebrows that AJ added this morning!?!?)

Ty and Jers, this ones for you!!!!!

2008-10-06T17:06:00.002-06:00

I tried to upload this video, but I couldn't remember how to do it, so here is the link. ENJOY!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSAXLayoMKI

Aj and I at the BYU game!!!!!

2008-09-28T16:15:00.004-06:00

Ok, So obviously it's been awhile since we've blogged, cuz here are the pictures of the BYU game (Now this is the Northern Iowa game, ya know week 1, almost a month ago!!) I'm just so excited about BYU this year (I guess it's just their turn to go undefeated in the regular season, unlike the Pats this year. Hopefully it ends better for them than it did for the Pats last year!!)

Here we are all ready to go. Aj was so excited when I told him it was time to go he hopped up from the computer and ran to the car. He didn't have his hair done or anything, he was just to excited.

AHHHH: Here is the LOVELY Lavell Edwards Stadium, I'll tell ya, it sure was a sight for sore eyes. (Even sitting as far away from the field as we were, It was a gorgeous sight to see!!)

Here is AJ checking out the cheerleaders......Er I mean checking out the action on the field!!!!! (Right next to AJ was our typical BYU co-ed at the BYU game. OHHHH look theres Rob, he's so cute. Theres Tom, what a cutie, Oh my gosh, he's looking at his watch now, what's he doing that for. (Gag me!!!!!!!)

Here we are in our seats, notice the wall that signifies the back of the stadium right behind us!!!

Here we are after the game. What a perfect day. BYU wins, I was at the game with my son, It was extraordinarily hot that day and we didn't really get sunburned.

OK, I've been tagged!!!!!!

2008-09-05T15:17:00.005-06:00

My AGE ( In a week) :)

My First name (Ya'll remember Punky Brewster doncha?)

My Middle Name (This is ROBERT the bruce from Braveheart fame)

My Last Name ( I tried really hard to find a more uplifting picture, but you can only search for so long ya know)

My favorite color (do you really need to ask)

My favorite animal

Favorite past time: Again, do we really need to ask (and my most favorite past time is when BYU beats Yewtah).

my favorite food: A nice Porterhouse steak, with corn on the cob and a nice baked potato on the side :)

Favorite Vacation: Pretty much any beach I've been able to go to.

Where i would like to visit: (It never said where on Earth i'd like to visit), I would also like to visit hawaii.

What I'm doing now: Watching Football on my primitive non-HD 21 inch TV screen :)

I give a slacker tag to Tyler, Jeremy and Jen.

My picture survey

2008-08-31T23:27:00.010-06:00

Well, here goes-my "picture tag"

My age

My first name

My middle name

my last name

My favorite color

I couldn't decide...
OR

My favorite animal

I don't really have a favorite, but i think big cats are amazing!

Favorite past time

and
I REALLY need to scrapbook more!!!

what am i doing now...multi-tasking

my favorite food, my mom's lasagna is the best of course! ...and no meal is complete without dessert!!!

Favorite Vacation, any beach...I would LOVE to spend a week in a beach house on Cape Cod with a private beach!!!

Where i would like to visit..I would LOVE to go on an African Safari and see all these amazing animals in the wild...how cool would that be!!!

I TAG BRANDON AND JEREMY AND TYLER!!!

AN JEN, I tag you too!!! :)

R U RLDS 2?

2008-08-31T21:19:00.003-06:00

Funny story that i REALLY wish we had the camera for, but didn't...

The other night, AJ was sitting on the livingroom floor playing playstation. I look in just at Julia walks up behind him, buts both hands on his head and says... "Hev-ly fa-der, help AJ feel bedda.." and then starts randomly saying phrases and then "name Jesus christ, AMEN." Holy Cow, Brandon and I were dying!!! The best part was that AJ just kept playing until she was done, like it was a normal event, and just as she finished they both realized we were watching and AJ says "She doesn't have the priesthood! It was so CUTE!!! I just LOVE kids!!! :)

AJ's FiRsT DaY!!!!

2008-08-31T20:15:00.005-06:00

WEll, it happened, and we are all alive to tell about it! AJ started Kindergarten today and he did SOOO good. We were a little worried about how it would all go, given his history in preschool and church classes:), but he did GREAT! (i held it together and only shed a few tears after we were at the car!) So we started the day with a special first day breakfast. We made chocolate chip pancake guys for the kids and had a yummy breakfast.

Then we all got ready and off we went. AJ was so excited all morning. After breakfast he kept asking if we were going soon! So here are all the pictures of going to kindergarten...every step of the way (at least i realize i am ridiculous! :)

Here is Aj as we left the house.

Here is AJ in the car (I LOVE this picture-it really captures the excitement-with-a-little-nervouseness-thing that he had going on!)

Here is AJ in front of his school (They really have been working hard to get the school done. If you look close you can see the construction stuff-the fencing, the wheel barrow and the ladder thing!)

Here is AJ waiting in front of his classroom door, where he will go in everyday.

Here is AJ with Julia in front of the school. (Of course, Julia had to wear her backback and wanted to be in every picture. She just thinks she is so big!)

Here is AJ in front of his cubby. (DO you love the glowing spikes look, he, he)

And here is AJ sitting at a table right before we left! OK, CAN YOU BELIEVE IT!!! NO TEARS!!! Look how chill he is just sitting like he is such a pro at just saying good-bye and starting something new!! I LOVE IT!!! Ok, this is where the story just gets funny!! We are walking back to the van and i look up at the van to find this...note the drivers side door (where BRANDON got Julia out of the car!)

YEP. Brandon was so focused on AJ going to school that he forgot the close the door of our NEW van! Oh well, all was well!

So there is the full play-by-play of AJ going to school on the first day. I am sooo proud of him for being so brave and doing so well! If his preschool teachers could see him now!!! (I guess all those days of just pushing him into preschool and running have paid off! :)

CATCHING UP!

2008-08-20T19:11:00.004-06:00

Ok, so i have obviously been really bad about blogging. I keep planning to do better and then i get to the computer and by the time I have checked e-mail, looked for jobs, checked banking stuff, and made any phone calls i needed to along the way, i have no time left and AJ is bugging me for his turn on the computer. So i need to make it more of a priority, but for now, i will catch up on what i should've been blogging all along! I made a bunch of collages to get as many pix in as possible!
Ok, the 4th of July...yes, i know that was over a month ago but it was super fun and i got some great pictures so here they are...

The kids were playing out side on the hill (Love the action shot of Julia) when the sprinklers came on. Plonnie had the GREAT idea of playing red rover in the sprinklers. Good times!

While that was happening Brandon and crew were getting the fire going to make s'mores..they were YUMMY!!! Luckily we were mostly done when the sprinklers turned on right next to the fire and pretty much made it impossible to roast any more marshmallows.

Later we headed outside for fireworks. Brandon ran the show again (he really was quite the piro that night!) Our kids were scared of them and AJ cowered in the back and Julia used the very effective coping mechanism of falling asleep!

These are just some fun cousins pictures. We went down to hang out one night. I ran out to do some errands and when i got back this is how i found AJ and Kevin-note the painted nails!! :)

The one of Julia and Kyle just make me laugh. Julia is such a spaz and Kyle is just going along with it...kinda funny. They really have started to get along so much better. Kyle still calls her AJ but my favorite part is that Julia just responds to it like he is calling her name! :)

And that close-up of Kyle's little grin was to cute not to include it!!!

So here is one round of catching up done...i'll keep working on it!

CATCHING UP SOME MORE!!!

2008-08-20T18:31:00.000-06:00

These are pictures from one day when we were playing outside and a fun UTah summer shower came. We decided it would be more fun to play in the rain then to go inside...we were right!!!

PIONEER DAY!!!
So, on pioneer day the Jenson crew gathered for lots of fun. We really always have fun no matter where we go or what we do. So we started at the Scera pool. we just hung out in the pool and stayed cool. Some highlights were when Brandon and AJ and then Jeremy and Kevin wentdown the slides. The boys were pretty proud of themselves and i was pretty proud of the dads for risking the embarresment of possible getting stuck on the way down. Brandon was pleasently surprised that he didn't have a problem...Jeremy-not so much!! (I think i might have broken into a very tyler-like "he-he-he" session in the other pool watching!!! :D) another highlight was the cone things that filled up with water and then fell into the pool. That is what kevin is waiting for in the picture that looks like he is just hugging a pole!

AJ got a lot of practice going underwater and holding his breath. He also swam under water WITHOUT his bubble on. WOW that kid has come a long way! If Ms. Susan (his swim teacher) could see him now!!!

After the pool , we headed over to the park and met up with Tyler and Michelle and crew,who didn't go to the pool :(, and had a picnic. After we all ate, thanks to jeremy-OF COURSE, we somehow ended up doing leg wrestles...it was pretty entertaining but when all was said and done Jeremy's undefeated!!!

Then back to the Jenson's for the fireworks show. Brandon and Tyler did a great job and, although my kids started by watching through the back window of the parked car, they did finally work up the courage of watching it with the rest of us! :)

SO there is round two of catching up.....see-we really are having all sorts of fun, we just haven't been documenting!

Our crazy girl!!

2008-08-20T17:53:00.000-06:00

One last collage for today!

These are just a bunch of pictures of our little Ham the Julia-Gulia. AJ almost always moans when i bust out the camera and Julia-shock if all shocks-yells CHEEEEESE! The really goofy pictures (especially the top middle) very closely resemble the faces she has been making for Sophia and my parents on the phone lately...she doen't quite get the concept that they can only HEAR her! it is pretty funny!

A Praying Mantis-we think!!

2008-08-13T12:26:00.003-06:00

How cool is this. Today, we were outside.... Aj had just finished practicing riding without training wheels-by the way....anyway, we were sitting on the steps and AJ says, "Mommy is that a praying mantis," I automatically said, "Probably not" until he pointed it out, and sure enough, I think he spotted a Praying Mantis.

I took a ton of pix trying to get one to focus on it instead of all the leaves, but we got a couple of good ones. So we went inside and got the book that Aj knew it was in and compared. As far as we can tell, it is...its just lighter than the one in the picture!

Our little photographer...

2008-07-31T08:31:00.003-06:00

Here is a beautiful collage of the photos that end up on our camera after we confiscate it from the Julia-Gulia!!!

We Got the Box, Jennie!!!

2008-07-21T15:16:00.006-06:00

Our trip to the mail box today was the best one yet.....

Here are some pictures of the big, exciting, event of AJ opening his first package!!! AJ tried to open the box by himself but after the first couple of pulls said"Auntie closed this really good!" So, I helped! :)

We loved it all, AJ was relieved tht his socks were found-not that he ever asked me about them or knew they were missing :) He said "That was a close one" when he saw his socks. He had been asking about the battle ship, so that was exciting. The smartfood was a nice and yummy surprise...and, yes, i am getting cheese on our keyboard right now! :) and Murphy has been eyeing it since AJ pulled it out of the box!

Of course the highlight is the Iron Man mask and shooter thing, Murphy is currently under attack as I type! :)

Oh, Richard, i must say you are quite the photographer, we LOVED the pictures!! ...and you are a pretty good subject too. We had to go back 2 times to see the picture of you with the whip cream on your face.

So thank you, Thank You , THANK YOU!!!!

We Love you and Miss you tons!!!

For those of you reading this who have not yet had the opportunity to see Richard as the whipcream stud, here you go...

Return to Sender?

2008-07-21T14:58:00.000-06:00

Do you think it would work?!?! :)

Pioneer Day Primary Activity

2008-07-19T23:09:00.002-06:00

First of All ...SORRY that it has been FOREVER since i have blogged. I am going to try to be much better! I know i say that all the time, but we are more settled and i found the cords to put pix onto the computer...i'll TRY!!!

Anyway, today was the pioneer activity at church. They had a parade from the primary president's house up to the park and then played some different games in the field.

We are so proud of how well Aj is doing with his bike-riding. He was so nervous to ride his bike before and he has gotten so much better and so much more confident, he is doing so well!!! :)

AJ is also doing so well getting involved in activities, even with new kids, it is great. He had a lot of fun playing the different games. These were some of his favorites. So cute, or, as Sophia would say, SOOO TOOT!!!

A funny AJ/Kevin Story

2008-07-19T22:22:00.002-06:00

OK, so Jers actually told me this story, so Jers if I get any of it wrong, feel free to correct me, but Jen, you'll get a kick out of this (Picture me rubbing my hands together!!!!!)

Apparently AJ, Kevin, and Jeremy were outside playing football ( I was helping Julia do Pee-pee on the potty so I missed out) and Kevin asked Jers who he was and Jers said he was the Cougars, AJ said he was the Patriots, and Kevin said he was the Dolphins. Well, AJ (my little patriot fan) looked over at Kevin and said "the Dolphins, they always lose"!!! (I must say I was proud my son has begun to smack talk!)

Then Kevin went out and topped it. Kevin immediatly replied "Oh yeah, Well the Patriots Cheat!!!

Isn't it great when your kids start to show interest in the things you are most interested in!!

GO PATS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

-Brandon

A Family full of graduates!

2008-06-13T18:41:00.005-06:00

Well, our second graduate of the year is official! Aj graduated from preschool today. His stage fright made for a rough ceremony, but he was able to pull it together to get his present and then once the eyes were all off of him he was all set! WE are soooo proud of him and how much he has learned and grown while he has been in school. He knows all his letters, numbers, is writing ans reading and even was talking about patterns the other day! He is swimming so well too! Here are some pix from todays event. We missed Daddy ans were sad that he wasn't here, but Grampie took video of the whole ceremony! We can't wait to see you Daddy!!! :)

A Bostonian Day!!

2008-06-12T22:41:00.005-06:00

My Mom, Brother, and I took Aj and Richard into Boston today. We went to the top of the Prudential center tower to the "skywalk". The boys were all excited that they got to squish a penny and get a post card of the tower. I think their favorite thing that they found was Fenway park. AJ and I had just been there with Tyler and Brandon, so I think that really stood out to him! Then we went to lunch and then to the Public Gardens to ride the swan boats. We also walked over into Boston common to play on the playground but it was closed! The boys quickly recovered from the disappointment by chasing pigeons around the park! We had a little hike to get back to the train station but the boys were troopers (and the popsicles that we stopped for along the way DEFINATELY helped!!)

So when we got home we got to have a lobster dinner...well, My paensts, sister and I got to anyway. The kids had macaroni and cheese and hot dogs and Kevin had steak! (and they call themselves Bostonians..whatever!! :) The kids were actually really funny. They boys kept running in and out o f the kitchen asking to see the lobsters and then yelling comments like "gross", "nasty", "I'm NEVER eating that", or "That is DEEE-Sgusting". You can see the girls reaction to the weird little creatures that their mothers were eating. They did warm up to them a little and were playing with the emply tail shell later (it bends open and shut and they were singing "open shut them, open shut them " as they played with them!) None of the kids even took a taste of it! But let me tell you...we REALLY enjoyed them...YUUUUM, YUUUM!

So, it was a "wicked" good day. I feel like I have a little fill of bostonian living to last for a while until i can come back and get another fill! I can't believe how close i am to leaving. I am so sad to leave but so excited to start a new chapter in our lives and spend time with the Jenson Clan!!!

SEE YOU GUYS SOON!!!

CELEBRATION, I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-05-18T20:06:00.005-06:00

Well, I finally did it, I actually Graduated with a Masters Degree, and here are the pictures to prove it!!!!!!!

Here is the MSW graduating class of 2008 from Bridgewater State College. (Not a bad lookin' bunch I must say!!)

Here is the best lookin' of that bunch, with the prettiest girl at the graduation!!!!

Here I am getting my hood. (It's that stupid thing you wear around your neck. It was such a production.)

Here I am with the prettiest girl at the graduation again, this time with a diploma holder!!!! (I'll get the actual diploma sometime when I'm in Utah. It'll be coming to Mom and Dad's house)

This is my field instructor Karen Fein. She gave me an A in field!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is my research professor Spencer Zeiger. I wish you all could meet him, he reminds me so much of Ryan, it's kinda funny!!!!

This is April Connoly, She is one of my fellow graduates.

Here is another one of my fellow graduates, Diane. She loooooooooves Tina's peanut butter cookies!!!!!!April organized a little party for us graduates on Friday Night. Here is that same attractive young woman who seems to be following me around :)

This is me with my research partner Dave Shalit. He was a blast to work with. He really kept me focused and on task.Well, I really can't believe it is all over. I am so grateful for my family in Utah, and here in Mass. who have been such a huge support to me and my family in getting me through these last few years. And especially a huge thank you to my lovely wife Tina. She has had to wear a lot of hats while I was in school: Mom, wife, Early Intervention instructor, Nanny, copy editor, chaefaur, housekeeper, computer agravation solver, the list goes on and on, and I wouldn't have been able to do this with out you. I love you, and am grateful for all you do.

UTAH, HERE WE COME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

AJ's card for Kevin

2008-05-07T14:12:00.002-06:00

Oh my goodness, I just love AJ. So today Aj has Utah and his cousins on the mind since Brandon left for his visit and interview event. He told his preschool class that "Daddy went on an airlane today and that he didn't drive but he went on the airpane and he went to have an interivew and the interview is going to last 5 days".

So this afternoon he came and wanted to make a card. It started as a father's day card but then after he started to make it he came to me and asked "who is that who has baby Ty?" I said "Jeremy" and he said "no, the kid"..."oh, Kevin?" That was it and he disappeared again. He came to me again a few minutes later and said Mommy, I want to write (saying each word slowly and counting how many words on his fingers, like we do when we do his writing)
"Kevin...I'm...so...glad..you...have...baby...Ty" How cute is this boy!!!!!

So we went through his little sentance and wrote it on the card he had made. He wants to send it in the mail but i wanted to share with everyone so much that i suggested the brilliant ideas that we could put it on the blog so kevin could see it right away and then we can send it in the mail when it is all done (he has to finish the front).

So Kevin (and Plonnie and Kyle and Jeremy) we are ALL so glad you have Baby Ty and we CAN'T wait to meet him!!! Love You guys!!!

HAPPY 8TH ANNIVERSARY TINA!!!!!!!!!!!!

2008-04-29T07:29:00.002-06:00

Wow, has it really been 8 years!!! I can't believe it. Thank you so much for 8 wonderful years, and here is to an ETERNITY more! I LOVE YOU!

Webkinz and writing

2008-04-26T07:53:00.006-06:00

I am so proud of AJ and how well he has done learning to write!!! We started doing a journal (like i used to do with my class) back in January and he has improved TONS!!!! (The first one he did on 1-29-08 and the second one he just did today!)
GO AJ!!!

Translation: "Bruschi has a puppy room."

No need for translation!! :) YAY!!

Far more importantly in his world...AJ loves Webkinz. He got one for his birthday, one for Christmas, one for Easter, one for a reward for finishing his first journal and his newest one...just because. (Actually, he and Richard got twin lions and Julia and Sophia got Twin kangaroos so they can have matching friends even when they are far apart!)

So these are the pictures of his newest lion.."Simba" (Richard's is named "Mufasa")

How Cute are They!!!

2008-04-17T21:30:00.002-06:00

This just had to be posted, They just love each other so much, I can't even stand it!!!!! :)

AJ...our little Olympian...FINALLY!!!

2008-04-17T21:15:00.005-06:00

AJ had his Olympics at school this week. This is the third year that he has done it and at the events for the last 2 years I spent the whole time pushing him (literally) to participate in ANYTHING!!! This event started the same and we were a little concerned. But with many-a-pep-talk from Brandon and I, and some bribery...i mean "incentive" ...of a McDonald's happy meal, he participated in the final 3 events. He ran the hurdles, (This was the stepping stone from refusal to attempt and, therefore, meant that i had to hold his had ALL the way around the track) He threw the Javelin, and he did the final lap race. He even stood on the "podium" (for about 2 seconds) to get his medal!! We were really proud of him. He really pulled himself together and was brave, and pretty fast, i must say!!! :)

This was the happiness that he was feeling after standing on the podium to get the medal! Note the clinging...this was AMAZING progress by this point! :)

And here is the better picture... I swear he is Dr. Jeckel and Mr. Hyde sometimes!

Julia...our olympian wanna-be!

2008-04-17T21:05:00.003-06:00

So, after taking what felt like FOREVER to get AJ to participate, "Coach Ed" offered for Julia to run too and before I could really respond she was at the starting line and jumping the gun to run. What a difference between our 2 little personalities!!! The best part was that when everyone came around and stopped at the finish line Julia took a 2ND lap, and probably would have tried for a 3rd, if i hadn't grabbed her!! :) She thought she was pretty hot stuff (as did all of the parents there!) She just cracks us up!!

When we went back to the classroom for the little snack, Julia, of course, had to sit a the table and have her snack too. She didn't even sit next to AJ or even at the same table. She just had to be like the big kids! This all gives me a lot of hope that shipping Julia off to school will go much smoother than it did with AJ!!

Our moving plans have been finalized!!!!!

2008-04-17T11:00:00.002-06:00

Tina and I have finally finalized our moving plans. After much discussion, we decided to just make a plan (even if I don't have a job yet) and execute that plan, and everything will work out.

I am flying to Utah on May 7th and I will return the 13th, for job searching and interviewing and swedish pancake eating (hopefully :). Then, Tyler, Jeremy (hopefully) and I will roll out of Massachusetts on the 30th of May and arrive back home in the early morning hours of the 5th. We are so excited to have a plan, and that we are FINALLY returning home!!!!

Can't wait to see all of you!!!!!

Julia's FIRST hair cut!!!

2008-03-29T07:58:00.004-06:00

Well, We finally did it!!! We cut Julia's hair, and yes, that meant all of her curls. I think it came out really cute, but the cutting of the curls was quite traumatic for me, i'll admit!!!
SO here is the documentation...
BEFORE:

DURING: (She did a GREAT job of sitting and letting me cut it. She thought she was pretty hot stuff!)

AFTER: TAH-DAH Here she is, and I have to say she is pretty darn cute!!!

B or BEE night!

2008-03-13T18:25:00.011-06:00

Tonight we had such a fun little activity. We knew a little while ago that we wanted to watch The Bee Movie when it came out. So we decided to be creative and have a "B night" So we had Burgers on Buns for dinner and then we watched the Bee Movie. AJ wore his Ball pajamas and Julia wore her Blue pajamas. I wore a Brown shirt and Brandon wore a Byu t-shirt. Treats were the really fun part...we had Banana Bread with Butter, Blue Bunnies (peeps), Bears (gummi...), Butterfingers,Blue Boxes of Berry juice, Buttered popcorn (that was pushing it! :) The kids even watched most of the movie sitting in a Box!

...........................................................................
AJ took this B-theme to heart a little too much when he got a Bump on his head before bed. (It wasn't that bad, Brandon was dumping him out of the box and it didn't end well...but it was all about DRAMA!!!)

Amazing Grace

2008-02-25T08:40:00.002-07:00

So, We watched the most amazing movie last night, called Amazing Grace. It is a true story based on the man who wrote the song. He was a captain of a slave ship for 20 years, repented and became a christian monk. He was a pastor to a boy named Willim Wilberforce, who became the most influential abolishinest in England, and was the primary force in abolishing the slave trade throughout England. It's a really good movie.

Jenson Look-alike Meter

2008-02-10T14:02:00.001-07:00

MyHeritage: Look-alike Meter - Family tree template - Roots

Jenson Look-alike Meter

2008-02-10T13:59:00.001-07:00

MyHeritage: Family tree - Genealogy - Celebrity - Collage - Morph

Funny Story: AJ's family tree confusion!

2008-02-09T20:07:00.000-07:00

So i was having one of our MANY conversations with AJ about life (he has just been a non-stop chatter box these days) He had made some comment about Julia and how much he loved her. There was a pause, and then he says "I can't marry Julia, HUH?" and i said "No, because she is your sister...but she will always be your sister...and Brothers and sisters don't get married cause they can only be brothers and sisters (Something like that, but i figured i had made my point.)
So there is another pause and then he says, "But i could marry Sophia!" (I almost died, but i toatlly held it together)... SO i said, "no probably not because she is your cousin and (laughing to my self..he, he, he) "Cousins usually don't get married!"...i couldn't resist--i added, under my breath, "but it has been known to happen."

SO a few minutes later he asks me, did you know daddy when you were little. and i told her that we didn't because we met when we were grown ups..

OF COURSE, during this whole conversation i am just thinking "don't ask about grammie and grampie, PLEASE don't ask about grammie and grampie!!!"

I think the best part was how hard my parents laughed when i told them the story!

Hopefully we cleared things up so that he doesn't want to follow in his "grammie and grampie's" foot steps some day!!

OH, KIDS!!!

Funny story: Julia and "Fee-Fee"

2008-02-09T19:45:00.000-07:00

LOOK...IT IS A MIRACLE....I AM BLOGGING!!!

Ok, Julia is just talking up a storm!!!

Today we realized that even though she is talking very well she still makes some crucial mistakes in her commentary!!

SO she was standing next to murphy and he was wagging his tail about something and we really didn't think much of it. Then Julia says what sounds like "Pee-nis". Brandon and I looked at each other to see if the other had heard it too. She said it 3 or 4 ore times until i said "Julia are you saying penis" which she responded with "yah". Then she says "fee-fee(what she calls murphy), my bum, fee-fee penis my bum." Brandon and I were somewhere between horrified and hysterical with laughter when we realized what she was talking about....Murphy's TAIL (wrong appendage there girl) had hit her butt when he was wagging it. So we did a qhick review of puppy anatomy and moved on, but it was pretty funny!!!

Kiddie Kandids!!

2008-01-13T21:57:00.000-07:00

Well, we got our ususal christmas/birthday pictures in January again (it is just not worth dealing with the insanity before Christmas!!!) I LOVE the way they came out. Aj just loves his little pets so we brought those with us...he was so excited to have a picture with his pets he wanted to hang it in his room. And Julia was so funny. Can you believe how LONG her hair is..it is crazy. I really need to cut it (just a trim)but i'm so sad to cut the curls because it is not looking like it is going to come in curly!!! And the pictures of them together...Is AJ such the little stud muffin big brother, or what and Julia just loves him so much!!! CUTE!!!

Finally...Christmas pictures!

2008-01-13T21:47:00.000-07:00

Christmas Eve my parents, my aunt, uncle, and their 2 girls and one of their boy friends, my sister, her husband and their 2 kids all came to our house. It was busy and crowded to have that many people in our little apartment but still fun. Poor BRandon and Richard (My brother-in-law) were both sick and spent most of the night in their beds! :( We did our tradition of having a birthday cake for jesus and singing happy birthday to him. IT is a fun little traditon but we didn't even cut the cake since we had so much junk food!!! That is a Lantz event for you!!

and more...

2008-01-13T21:07:00.000-07:00

Christmas morning....In Tina's family growing up santa always left the stockings on the beds after he filled them so that is what he does at our house. AJ was stressed for a few days before christmas because santa was going to come into his room. Luckily, we were able to reassure him and he went to bed GREAT the night before. (He was convinced he had heard sleigh bells and had to hurry to get to sleep) Julia went to bed fine but in the morning we found her stocking on the floor next to her bed. She had pitched it out when she woke up to find a foreign object in her bed...even if it was full of toys!! :)

After stockings were open we got to check out what santa had brought! Aj's reaction was cute and Julia was just loving the whole thing. Aj's big gifts were his patriots helmet and uniforn and his bike. Julia's big things were a baby doll set (stroller, swing, carrier, etc.) and horse thing (se picture, we have no idea what to call it!)

The first present that AJ wanted to open was this little present from Brandon and I (not even a Santa one) he had been holding it and feeling it the night before and i think he knew it was a little animal of some kind!! He went right for it when we said they could go to it!!

2007-12-30T13:28:00.000-07:00

16-0!!!! What a great season!!!, Now hopefully they can win 3 more to make that accomplishment even more meaningful!!!!!! GO PATS!!!!!

Happy Birthday to AJ and Julia!!

2007-12-09T20:22:00.000-07:00

So we did a family birthday party for AJ and Julia today. (we were going to just do Julia so they didn't have to share, but AJ is still going to have a "friends party" that will be a transformers party. We figured it would be easier (and cheaper) to just combine them and since this meant he could get some presents early, he was all over it!!

AJ got to pick a cake with strict instuction that it had to be one that Julia would like too...so Shrek it was!! -It was a cute cake and AJ did great blowing out candles. Julia did pretty good but resorted to a raspberry to get the second candle out (with a little help from jen--i'm not sure if it was the wind from jen or the spit from julia that actually did the trick!!)

They had a great time opening presents. Julia got a doll house from us with a bunch of furniture and stuff. WE also gave he a big stuffed Dumbo with the Dumbo movie. My parents gave her doll house people and my sister gave her a Dora color wonder coloring set. With "BA-pa and Mah-ma's money i got her a magnadoodle and an aquadoodle, which she loved and was extra happy that the aquadoodle was elmo! With my grandma's money i got her this cute flapping ears Eeyore thing that sings "do your ears hang low" -so cute and an elmo book with a little stuffed elmo. --She has suddenly gotten into the elmo thing-sophia was influetial on that one! :)

AJ got one of his presents from us-the Fox and the Hound movies with a stuffed hound that happened to be a webkinz-he was ECSTATIC!!! HE will get his other present from us at his "transformers party"-that was part of the early birthday party deal!! My sister gave him a Diego color wonder set like Julia's and my parents gave him an awesome hotwheels carrier case that holds 100 cars...room to grow!! :) With "ba-pa and Mah-ma's money i got him a leap pad and some games for it. and with my GRandma's money i got him this cute animal carrier vet thing with little cages for the little pets. It is super cute and he LOVED it. HE has been so into the little animals and pets and carrying them around and naming them and everything so this was perfect. It is next to his bed right now with "carrot" the parrot, "buddy" the dog, and "tuna" the cat that came with it and 3 other animals that he already had-"cocoa chocolate Jenson" the dog, "Brownie" the dog (that he got when grover and Deann were here this summer)and "stripes" (I think) the tiger...HOLY COW he is soooooo cute!! I just love it!

IT WAS SOOO MUCH FUN and the kids were just sooo cute!!!

CATCHING UP!!

2007-12-09T19:23:00.000-07:00

Yikes...I am so sorry that we have pretty much disappeared from the blogging world. Things have just been crazy but here i am to catch up with things so here goes...

Thanksgiving was fun, we went to my parents, it was pretty small since Jen and her family spent most of the day with Richards family (because his cousin, Adam, was back from afganistan on leave). i did get a few pictures of the girls-they just LOVE each other--it is sooooo cute!!!

Julia is in to "upside down" thing lately. She will hold her dolls, stuffed animals, even books upside down and sing "ap-a-down down, up-a-down" so as we were getting ready to leave on thanksgiving, i caught her hanging from the door nob singing "ap-a-down, down, up-a-down" She CRACKS US UP!!!

CUTE STORY... Julia is also very much into getting herself dressed and undressed lately. It is cute that she wants to be independent but when it takes a half-hour to get her dressed because she keeps yelling "MINE" and ripping the clothes out of my hands, OR she grunts at me when i pull the shirt out a little so it actually goes over her head, it gets quite frustrating!!!

ANYWAY, so she is also dressing and undressing her dolls..mostly undressing!! The other day she tells me "pee-pee" as she is taking the pants off of this little doll and then she wanders into the hall near the bathroom. I go to check it out, expecting the baby to be swimming in the toilet, and found this!

LOCKS OF LOVE!!
SO i finally did it... i have been wanting to hack my hair off and donate it to locks of love FOREVER. because of our crazy schedule and my useless brain (i kept forgetting to find a salon/make an appointment) It has taken a while. So i decided during this week that i would finally do it. I cut off 11 inches and was able to go to a salon where they cut it, send the hair, and give me a style for FREE!! I just gave her a little tip and i was set!! So here is before and after...

So, heres a quick update on our crazy lives!!!!!!

2007-11-29T20:29:00.000-07:00

Life has been so crazy lately, we've barely had time to breath, let alone think about blogging (not that it isn't important, just life gets crazy ya know!!) So here's what's goin on.

Two weeks ago tomorrow (Friday) my favorite client here at the program Jimmy I know I shouldn't have favorites, but what can I say i'm human) died here at the group home. He choked on a PB sandwich. I got in late that day, so I missed the whole thing (thankfully, I'm not sure I could handle another death on my shift), but it really shook me up. It is such a reminder of how fragile life is. I still can't believe he's gone. His sister was away on vacation and we couldn't reach her for 5 days after his death, so the funeral wasn't until yesterday, a week and a half after his death. It was good to be able to remember him, laugh and cry with those who knew him best. I'm getting pretty emotional even writing about this, so onward to other family news.

Tina will not be nannying for the Dennehey's anymore. She found another nanny job and will be doing that 3 days a week, and looking for other jobs the other days of the week. The Dennehey's unstable life (ugly divorce, psycho father) made her decide to look elsewhere. Tomorrow is her last day with them. She's having a mini celebration!!!!!!!

I had evaluations this week where my field instructor (from school) and my field supervisor (internship) met with me to discuss how I am doing. It was really frustrating for me. I felt that my instructor really focused on my anxiety (which is high) but never mentioned how I plow through the anxiety and get the job done. It really opened me up to a lot of self doubt during the past couple of days. Then today, during supervison with my field supervisor (internship) she stated what a good job I do at hiding my anxiety, she had no Idea how anxious I was while at work. She also told me that the othe clinicians are always happy when I am on, and several of them have commented to her that "he's good" :) That comment felt so good, and removed a lot of the self doubt and insecuriteis I was feeling about myself. Then in class, we had a group presentation (two people) and after class, my teacher came up to us and specifically told us what a great job we had done, and how impressed he was with our work!!!!!!! YEAH!!!!! (OK, I just about broke my shoulder patting myself on the back, but it's worth it :)

We sure miss you guys, especially during the holiday season. But, at least it will be our last one apart!!!!!

A Mom's Day!!!

2007-11-03T20:29:00.001-06:00

Ok, this is awesome!!! It sums up my life and just makes me laugh!! ENJOY!!

TRICK OR TREAT!!!

2007-11-01T19:28:00.000-06:00

Well here they are, the only pictures that we took on Halloween night!! OOPS-i was so busy carrying Julia up and down each set of stairs(she could do it with the HUGE car on her--the costume is so cute that it was all worth it!!!), i didn't have time to think about pictures!!! Weather-wise i don't think it could have been nicer!! But...we wish we could have been there with you--i over heard brandon talking about the Jenson Halloween traditions YUM!!! We had a lot of fun though. We did a few houses with Richard abnd Sophia and then they went to see other family and we did some more around my parents house.

Julia was so cute she would stick her bag out and say "tr-tri-tree" and then stand there, hoping they would give her more. then i would prompt her with "what do you say" and she would say "tay-too" and turn around to go to the next house. She's all business when it comes to candy collecting--that's our girl.

Aj was soooo tired by the end of the night. Jen took all 4 kids to the neighborhood where she nanny's. They do a little parade down the main street every year and then all the kids start trick-or-treating. It is a pretty good walk, so this year jen parked half-way down the "parade route". So AJ had to walk 1/2 of the route and then do the parade and then was trick-or-treating back to the car. But the neighbor hood is full of HUGE houses and also HUGE yards so it is a lot of work. He was so done he was saying he had enough candy...even though Richard, apparently didn't agree and ran ahead with the little girl, payton, to collect more. Then we did the houses around my parents and then we left their house past his bed time. I don't think we were more than 4 houses from my parents before he was asleep!! When we got home, I woke him up to bring him in and told him "we're home" he said "no were not" as he looked around all confused. I reassured him that we were and then he said "how'd we get home this fast?" I just giggled! He is soooo cute-I love that boy!

So... a fun halloween was had by all. And today wasn't too bad with all the sugar-infested children!! :)

Trunk or Treat!!

2007-10-26T20:46:00.000-06:00

We had the "Trunk or Treat" tonight at church. The kids had a blast. We went with Richard, Sophia, and Jen. AJ and Julia were Mater and Sally from Cars. I found the costumes on clearence on disneyoutlet.com!!! SUPER exciting find!!! I must say they looked pretty DANG cute. (P.S.-AJ totally says "dang" now and i am pretty sure that Julia does too- i think that is what she is trying to say, it definately sounds like it!! :)

Halloween Cookie Decorating

2007-10-26T20:36:00.000-06:00

Wednesday night (our only night home together during the week) we watched the Transformers movie and decorated halloween cookies. AJ was so excited about the movie, it was adorable!!! He, of course, also enjoyed the cookies!!! Julia was all about decorating the cookies!! She got very into the details a few times which was super cute. I don't think that she actually had any cookies but she had plenty of toppings along the way!!!

GO SOX!!!!!!

2007-10-24T18:47:00.000-06:00

So, the whole are is of course THRILLED that the Sox are in the world series, it's impossible not to get swept up in the emotion and excitement of it all. And if the Braves can't win the World Series, I gotta cheer for the Sox!!!

A cute AJ story

2007-10-20T00:04:00.000-06:00

So, it's been a little while since posting (sorry about that) it's just so hectic right now!!!! Here's a cute AJ story.

Tina dropped AJ off with me on Thursday. When it came time for lunch, all he wanted to eat was the left over rice and corn from Wednesday's dinner. I told him he had to eat more than that, so I put some left over home made Mac and Cheese (from Tyler and Michelle's cookbook they gave us when we got married) on his plate and warmed them up. While I was warming up his lunch, he asked if he ate all his lunch if he could he have some chips. I told him only if he finished all his lunch. He gobbled down the rice and corn, but wanted nothing to do with the Mac and cheese. He got up from the table and said he was full. I let him go and play, because I knew that eventually he'd want those chips. He went into our room to watch Bob the Builder and after it was over, he came out of our room and STOMPED into the kitchen saying "BUT I DIDN'T WANT MACORONI AND CHEESE!!!!! He marched right into the kitchen and ate all of his luch!!!! He came running into the living room with an empty plate and asked for those chips. And of course, I was only happy to oblige.

If you guys think Will Ferrell is funny, you're gonna love this!!!!

2007-10-07T18:54:00.000-06:00

COMMICAL RELIEF!!!!!

2007-09-30T20:39:00.000-06:00

HOLY COW!!!
I am going through all of our stuff and trying to start the downsizing process early. I was going through some of our old clothes today and Brandon decided to see if these spandex and this shirt from his mission fit...WHAT DO YOU THINK...i'd have to go with "a little snug" HE HE HE!!!

Our Crazy Life!!!!!!!!!

2007-09-30T18:58:00.000-06:00

We have begun to settle in to our crazy and hectic life, here is an update of what we are up to.

Tina is nannying and has a real love/hate relationship with it. She LOVES being with our kids, and Loves taking care of the kids she takes care of, it is just A LOT of HARD WORK taking care of 5 kids 40 hours a week!!!!(there is a special place in heaven reserved for her I'll tell ya!!!!)

Here is Tina's crew. There was no school on Wednesday so they went to a little farm place and the kids got to play on the hay pile, have a picnic, and then pick out pumpkins.

I am learning so much at my internship. I am doing it at a crisis center. One of the two area hospitals will call us with a person to assess for crisis. We then need to determine if admitting them into a psych hospital, to the crisis stabilization unit, or just letting them go home is the best course of action. I also have to deal with the insurance agencies and make sure their insurance will cover a psych hospital stay. It will be quite a learning experience, I am excited.

School for me is going great!!!!! I am taking a practice with families class which is a TON of fun and I really enjoy it. I also have to take a research class which is a bummer, but if it'll get me that degree, I'll take it.

We sure miss everyone and can't wait until we are all together again!!!!

2007-09-19T18:24:00.000-06:00

Now that our crisis with DSS is over, we will be setting our blog to private. We'd like to do it this weekend, so please get us your e-mails so there is no lapse in being able to access it. Send your e-mail address's to branjenson@gmail.com.

Thanks guys!!!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRANDON!!!

2007-09-15T16:41:00.000-06:00

After such a crappy week, I don't know anyone who deserves a better birthday. We love Brandon so much not only because he is such an awesome Dad (Even DSS can see that) but also just because he is an all around great guy (and quite a stud-i must say!!!!)

Our worst week ever!!!!!!!!!

2007-09-14T19:07:00.000-06:00

For those of you who are not aware, we have had the worst week ever, and the most stressful week ever and now that it is over, I feel more comfortable putting it on the blog.

Last week, we got a call from Tina's sister Debbie saying that a Department of Social Services worker called her about a report they got saying we were neglecting our children. The individual who called DSS was uncomfortable that our children were close to Kevin.(I'm pretty sure all the adults understand). Anyway, when the worker called Debbie, she told them that she couldn't say that we weren't neglecting them becasue she is in Oregon. She then detailed all of Kevin's history to DSS. Her conversation provided DSS with all the information they needed to investigate all of our family out here for neglect and putting our children in harms way.

Let's just say the Lincks and the Lantz's took this information and blew up. Being a social worker who knows people who work for DSS, I was confident that nothing would be found, and all would be well. Richard Lincks (RL from now on, ya know to many Dicks in the family) :)!!! found an article from an attorney he knew while he worked for the John Birch society. He specializes in DSS cases and has seen the worst of the worst. (Including cases where DSS took the children out of the parents home becasue of a bruise on the child's thigh. And no, I am not kidding) The Lincks and the Lantz's were preparing for war!!!!! (RL even kept little Richard home from school out of fear that DSS would take him away from them while he was at school). Over the weekend we tried not to think about anything as we had heard nothing from DSS about the matter. I thought that if DSS were truly concerned, they would have contacted us before the weekend.

When I got home from my first day at my internship, we had been served with papers saying that we were under investigation for neglect. This really sent us all over the edge. Tina called Debbie to let her know, and (from what I hear, I was at the internship) Tina really let her have it. Debbie refused to say she trusts us as parents. We really felt (and still FEEL) betrayed by Debbies accusations. But that's another story for another day. At this point, RL had almost made up his mind to hire his attorney friend. One of the things the attorney told him was to not let them into the house for the first meeting. Let them serve you with papers, and that is all. On tuesday, the investigator came over and I feeling that handing of the papers was over, felt I should talk to him. One of the first things he asked me is if Fannie was a regular caretaker of the kids. I almost laughed because Fannie NEVER takes care of the kids!!! ( I knew then and there that this report came from a friend of Debbies who is not even close to the situation). He asked about Kevin's history, and about what precautions we take while over at the Lantz's house. After talking to me, the investigator served papers to the Lantz's.

The news that I had let the investigator in and talked to him didn't go over to well with the Lincks and Lantz's. RL still thought that our only contact with him should be with an attorney. This made for a very STRESSFUL tuesday for me, as I thought that I had screwed up royally. I knew I needed to talk to someone, and I thought about calling one of my professors from last year, David o'Malley. He has been kind of a mentor for me. I quickly dismissed this idea, because I had NO idea when we could meet on campus. I drove to class that night and walked in the door, and guess who is teaching the CLASS!!!!! David O'Malley!!!!!! I knew it was a sign from the Lord and a truly comforting sign it was. We spoke on the way out to our cars, and he was so helpful in putting into words what I was feeling. He reminded me that I wasn't the first social worker to have a DSS case, and that it wouldn't affect my status as a social work student. It just felt good to talk to someone.

When I got home from school, the Lincks and Jenson's had a meeting and we decided to hire the lawyer. Mom told me not to get the lawyer. She told me she had prayed and she felt if we were honest and truthful everything would work out all right. We just felt that having someone there who knew the law would protect our rights. We also thought that even if the attorney is speaking for us, we have plenty of community witnesses who could vouch for us as parents. Wednesday was the worst day of my life!!! My stomach was in knots, and I still wasn't entirely convinced that having a lawyer was the right decision, I just didn't want to bring it up.

After my internship and class on Wednesday, I came home and found we were having a family meeting. RL had gone to see a psycholigist because he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. The psychologist strongly suggested not using a lawyer becasue of the adversarial nature of having a lawyer. We had a really powerful family meeting and the SPIRIT was SOOOOO strong in the room. I shared my experience about meeting my professor. I also talked about Mom's prayer and as I said the words honest and truthful, Jenn got chills. Those were the EXACT words the psychologist used. We decided that not to hire an attorney. Each of us felt so much better about our situation after this meeting. The knots in all of our stomachs were released. Those knots were the Lord telling us not to use the Lawyer, and let this investigator see us as the good parents we know we are.

The investigator came over yesterday and met with each of us for about an hour. He asked some very personal questions and we answered honestly. He encouraged us to seek family counseling as a way in insure our safety plans for our kids are appropriate and safe. We agreed.

The investigator met with Richard and Fannie this morning from 8:30-9:30. After the meeting, he told them that he had NO FINDINGS OF NEGLECT (Take that Debbie). His investigation is over, and our file will be DESTROYED in a year. (Tina wants to send the shredded file to Debbie). :)

Anyway, we have truly been blessed as a result of this trial. We each feel closer to each other. We have felt the Lords love and concern for all of us. It is so exciting that it is all over. Thanks one and all for their prayers and for their concern.

Brandon and Tina

HELP!!!!!!

2007-09-13T07:17:00.000-06:00

This is really not the place to broadcast the difficulties we are facing right now, however we still need your prayers on our behalf. Please get in touch with Mom and Dad for the details. We apologize for not being able to tell you over the phone what is going on, but between school, Tina's new job and this issue, we have been OVERWHELMED.

Anyway, keep us in your prayers as we face this difficult time.

Check out my Slide Show!

2007-09-11T19:34:00.001-06:00

NO TIME!!!

2007-09-09T20:39:00.001-06:00

SO here they are...my crew!! (2 are not "my kids")

Ryan(the one I saw with mny old job), Antonia (jen's girl), Alison (Ryan's twin), Katherine (AJ's new best friend), AJ, Sophia (jen's daughter), and Julia (squatting -she has to be different/difficult! :)

WOW, it has been a busy week. I LOVE being with the kids all day and the kids are really good kids-busy but good!! Katherine is a toughy-she has been pushing the limits but i think i have effectively established that i don't put up with any crap!! The twins are just excited to have "Miss Tina" at their house every day. (They called me "Miss Tina" when i came to see Ryan through early intervention and i am afraid it might stick!!) AJ and Julia have had a blast with a daily full-day play date and a huge house and yard full of new toys. They have definately had to adjust to the schedule-both getting up and out early and playing hard all day. They have been VERY tired at night!! (Another benefit because so have I!!!) So i have pretty much come home and collapsed every night this week and we went to the beach this week-end (pictures to be blogged soon) and life is just busy. I will try to be better because i recognize that a full week between blog postings is totally unaccceptable!!! :)

WE'RE OBSESSED!!-We admit it

2007-09-01T12:41:00.000-06:00

Ok, We recognize that this is OUT OF CONTROL. But AJ is so excited about the BYU game it is just too cute not to blog. So today we cooked on the grill and all went out to play while the steaks were cooking. Julia had to wear a hat because AJ had his when we went outside. Of course, to play football one needs a helmet to be safe...The bike helmet has to do!! (This was all AJ's doing-his idea, his explanation, etc.) They were just sooo cute. Gosh-we love our kids! :)

GO AJ GO!!!!

No game is truly complete with out a cheerleader !!
(or 2-does Murphy count? :D )

OUR LITTLE COUGAR FAN!!

2007-08-31T21:51:00.000-06:00

All these early traning events are all starting to really pay off!!

Ok, AJ has continued to watch the football clip on the computer. (he knows how to get onto the Internet and make it play!!!) but today he took it to a new level. He was playing it again and i said "You and that football game" and he replied "No Mommy, i was just getting it started for Julia". Of course it took about 2 seconds for Julia to become uninterested and wonder off. He kept yelling at her "JU_EE_AAAH" to come and watch it. Finally i told him that she didn't have to watch it if she didn't want to and then he started with "Ju-ee-aaaahh, you're missing out!" He kills me-he is so stinkin cute!!

Then at the grocery store tonight i told him we were getting soda for the game. They, of course were out of Mountain Dew and Root beer so i told AJ we would just get it tomorrow. He got this panicked look on his face and said "Mom, the BYU game is tomorrow, we CAN'T miss it." I was able to reassure him that i would get in and be back with PLENTY of time for the game!! The funniest part is that Brandon is just LOVING that he is so excited. I must admit, it is pretty cute!!!

OUR next BYU spirit project...

2007-08-31T08:57:00.000-06:00

Just a reminder to all those going to the game tomorrow, Make Lavell Happy, Wear BLUE.

BTW, AJ has watched the video of the Utah game like 7 times!!!!!! (we might have a mini me on our hands!!!!)

IS IT SATURDAY YET!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-08-28T21:40:00.000-06:00

Just a little video to wet your appetite and get you ready for Saturday!!!!

My first Grad School Report Card!!!!!!!

2007-08-28T06:21:00.000-06:00

Diversity A-

Social Policy B+

Human Behavior/DSM-IV A-

Not to shabby for my first semester in grad school huh? :)

Who says all dumbs are blonde?

2007-08-27T14:38:00.001-06:00

AJ and Julia JIB JAB

2007-08-24T08:27:00.001-06:00

Star in Your Own JibJab! It's Free!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TINA!!!!!!

2007-08-21T10:48:00.000-06:00

Happy 29th birthday Tina, from all of us!!!!

We love you so much!!!!!!!!

Pudding Anyone?!?!

2007-08-19T13:23:00.000-06:00

BUSTED!!!!

I was trying to put some stuff away in the kitchen yesterday so i plopped Julia down with a little thing of pudding-chocolate (OBVIOUSLY) Luckily, I took her shirt off first cause i had a feeling how it would end up. She loved it, of course, but i think she preferred it as body paint instead of a snack!! :) My favorite part was when she turned around (i was sitting on the floor behind her) and said "MAMA" as she placed her nasty, slimy, chocolate-pudding-filled hand on top of my head!!! HE,HE,HE

SO PROUD OF HERSELF!!!

"HEY LOOK HOW YUMMY I LOOK"

We've finally added music

2007-08-18T19:44:00.001-06:00

OK, We obviously need a little help. How do you add the imeem so that is off to the side, and not part of the main body of the blog?

HELP US!!!!!

We're back!!!!

2007-08-18T19:32:00.000-06:00

Sorry, we kind of took a little time off from the blog, i'm not really sure why, it just sort of happened. (i think it's cuz we really liked seeing ourselves simpsonized!!!!!). As I think about it, there may be 3 reasons for the break.

1. As a reward to myself for not having a complete breakdown in the month of July (the craziest school month IN MY LIFE!!!!) I bought Madden 08. So, i've been playing a lot of that since tuesday.

2. Since I am done with school until september, I thought I would use this time to read Harry Potter 7. I finished it last night. I can't believe that Voldemort was able to kill all of the Gryffindors and is continuing his reign of terror!!!!!! (that's for you Tina) :) I was especially shocked when it turned out that Harry turned his back on all his friends and joined Voldemort!!!!

3. Tina has been at girls camp. She left after work on Wednesday and got back at 7 on friday. So, I was Mr. Mom for three straight days and I certainly grew to understand the saying that insanity is inherited, you get it from your kids!!!!!! It has been good to have her home and to have some backup.

So, I hope you accept our apologies for the lack of postings.

The Simpson-Jenson Family

2007-08-08T21:20:00.000-06:00

Ok, here we all are-"simpsonized" I don't know how much they really look like us, but it is fun!!

Heres our south beach diet update!!!

2007-08-08T06:30:00.001-06:00

So, Tina and I have been doing the south beach diet for 10 days now, and we are both losing weight (I've lost more than her, but they say guys lose weight easier than the gals). I even fit into a pair of shorts that were WAY to tight before we started!!!! We can't tell you how much we've lost because our scale was broken when we started.

The other day, AJ and Julia were eating cookies. AJ looks up at me and says "Daddy, I'll never eat healthy, I just love cookies to much". It was so dang cute. Obviously he is our kid huh?

Look at me, I'm on the simpsons!!!!!

2007-08-07T07:55:00.000-06:00

I did this at simpsonizeme.com. It's pretty fun. You have to do one person at a time though, no family pics.

Brandons traumatic experience

2007-08-05T21:09:00.000-06:00

I posted on Plonnies "office" video clips that I needed a good laugh after having a rough time. I was on my way to bed and didn't want to type a lengthy post so I waited unitl I was at work and had to be awake anyway.

This happened on Friday

Jimmy is one of the clients in the group home I work in. He has a girlfriend he has been with for 35 years!!!! Her name is Grace (we all call her Gracie). Every day (except saturday) we pick her up from her house and bring her to the group home so she and Jimmy can be together. I got into work @ 4 and immediatly took Roger (another client) to work (he washes dishes at a local restaurant). I got home and John ( a co-worker) had already begun serving dinner. Gracie and Jimmy came in to eat (gracie never eats here, it's weird) and she had brougt her portable radio, and was singing Life is a highway by rascal flatts. After dinner (about 4:50) Jimmy and Gracie went out to the porch where they spend most of their evenings together. About 10 minutes later Jimmy comes in all frantic saying "gracie is having a fit" I took this to mean they were fighting. When I got out onto the porch I saw slumped in her chair taking very shallow breaths. I immediatly called 911 for help. They sent their medical teams. Because she was breathing, I never considered cpr. After about two or three minutes, I realized that she was no longer breathing and when I checked her pulse, I couldn't find one. I called to John to run upstairs to get a face shield for CPR. He was having a difficult time finding it, and by the time he ran downstairs to ask where it was, the police and the ambulances were already here. They shocked her heart several times before loading her in the ambulance. The EMT's believed she was already dead. They took her to the hospital where she was pronounced dead. We are all still shocked that this happened. She had died of a massive heart attack.

This experience is such a reminder of how thin the veil is, and how we never know how long we will be around. I am still having a difficult time comprehending how a person can be so full of life one minute, then dead the next. It was a real wake up call for me. I was able to get the rest of the night off, and I raced home and gave Tina the biggest Hug (I couldn't kiss her because I have a fever blister from my strep throat). I cried as I went into the kids room and just watched them sleep. I can't imagine life without any of them. I also had to call and hear mom and dad's voice. They are so great and caring and loving. I LOVE THEM!!!!!!!!

Don't take life for granted, tell your kids, spouse, parents, and loved ones how much you love them on a daily basis.

I love all of you!!!! I really do , and I can't wait to be back in Utah with all of you.

Take care of each other

-B

Little Frills is ONLINE!!!

2007-08-05T19:57:00.000-06:00

OK, so i have been working like crazy to get all my pictures of my "little frills" stuff onto the blog that i have been planning to do FOREVER. Since we finally got the high-speed Internet uploading such a HUGE amount of pictures if finally an option! I still have all my bracelets to post, but i have all of my hair stuff posted. So let anyone you know who might be interested know about the blog. I am having people e-mail me to place orders and i will e-mail them the bill. Then they can send me the check and I'll send out the items! I'm excited to make this step...let me know what you think!!

Check out the link on our blog!