2002 Jensen Family History (needs editing)

The biggest news of this past year is the birth of our new baby girl, Janelle.  She was born on October 14^th and has been such an easy baby. She even started sleeping all through the night right from the first!  The kids have loved having a baby around and Janika was especially excited to finally get a baby sister. 

Janika just turned seven years old and loves first grade.  I thought it might be an adjustment going from kindergarten to first grade but it wasn’t at all and it sure made things quieter at home!  She continues to be quite the reader and reads several years ahead of her grade level.  Janika has been begging to get her hair cut short for a long time and so we finally gave the go ahead.  Rick had a hard time seeing her long locks go but she looks darling in her new “do.”  She wanted to donate her hair to the “Locks of Love” – an organization that makes wigs and hair pieces for kids who have cancer – and so she got ten inches cut off and sent it to them. 

Jase just turned five years old and loves going to pre-school.  He loves playing computer games, dancing, singing, playing with Jared and getting Janelle to smile.red will be three in March.  He is very affectionate with his new baby sister (a little too much at times) but also still wants plenty of attention coming his way.  

We went on several fun vacations this year. During Spring Break we took the kids to California and stayed in some really nice condos.  First we went to Big Bear and stayed at a condo in the mountains and then we went to San Diego and stayed at a condo right on the beach.  We went to the beach (which the kids loved!) and also spent a couple of days at “Lego Land” and “Sea World.”   

Rick planned another family vacation over Father’s Day, which he called “Father’s Day Flee.” This later became an annual tradition! We reserved a bunch of condos up at Powder Ridge Ski Resort and enjoyed swimming, hiking, tennis, and ski-doos at Pine View Reservoir with our family and extended family.

Rick and I also went on a 7-day cruise to the Eastern Caribbean with our friends, Curtis and Stephanie Healey.   Unlike last year, this time the Norway actually sailed!   It was fun having some time without the kids and the kids had their own great vacation at Grandma and Grandpa Jensens. The only down-side to all of our vacations was that I was pregnant during all of them and had plenty of morning sickness. 

Rick also went on a church history tour with another Seminary teacher.  They flew out to New York and then drove down to Missouri – visiting all of the Church History sites along the way.

This last summer we finally got our cement brick wall put up all around our back yard and Rick worked very hard putting up a diamond block wall in the back.  We then had cement poured and purchased a 20X4 foot above ground pool in order to go skinny dipping, woops!  I mean, swimming!  It was so wonderful to take a dip in the pool to cool off in the St. George summer heat!  The kids went swimming every single day and Janika pretty much taught herself how to swim.  Jase also overcame his fear of swimming and improved dramatically. Of course they all got very tan and Jani became very blonde.

This yearly update wouldn't be complete without adding a few "funnies" from the kids! 

Last night Jase fell out of bed and started to cry. I don’t know how it happened because he had just barely gone to bed and was still awake. Well I gave him hugs and kisses and then Jared leaned over until he fell out of bed too and then he started into some fake crying. It was so funny. I guess he wanted hugs and kisses too!

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A few weeks ago in Primary Jase was called up to give the closing prayer.The Primary President must have thought he needed help because she started whispering things in his ear to say. She whispered “We thank thee for the Holy Ghost” and Jase said loud and clear, “We Thank Thee for Legoes!”

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I was in line with Janika at her school when the lady behind me asked, “When is your baby due?” Janika then whispered to me, “Mom, how does she know you’re pregnant?”

Hmmm……must be that motherly glow….

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Whenever Jared tries to pick up scissors or a knife I always tell him “No, danger!” We were shopping in Staples a couple of months ago when he suddenly yelled out, “Danger!!” I looked on the shelves and sure enough there were scissors there for sale!

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Rick is teaching Seminary at Snow Canyon High School this year.  He enjoyed teaching at Tuacahn but was glad for the change.  Now he actually has an office again and is with other teachers and has a nice big room that he can set up differently for different lessons.

I am still teaching an evening class of ASL at Dixie College and doing freelance interpreting and mentoring and training other interpreters and interpreter students. Rick is the executive secretary and choir director in our ward and I am the Primary Chorister. 

Speaking of music, we have been extremely busy this Christmas Season with our caroling group “Hands in Harmony.”  Rick wrote all of their musical arrangements and several original pieces and they are gorgeous!  This year he purchased Schlumerich Hand Bells for the group and they have added so much!  There are eleven kids in the group this year ranging from in age from eleven to seventeen.  It is amazing that they have learned all of this difficult music with such tight harmonies as well as hand-bells and sign language on several of the songs.  Word had spread from last year and we had no difficulty getting performances this year.  In fact, they had around fifty performances!  It can get really difficult at home because I feel like a Single Mom in December but it is fun to see the group be so successful and they look and sound great!

We feel really blessed as we reflect on everything that Heavenly Father has given us.  We have truly been blessed with a wonderful family and friends and many opportunities to serve.  We hope to live worthy of all that we have been blessed with!! 

Janelle's Baby Blessing

Janelle Marjorie Jensen was blessed in SLC on December 1, 2002!

Janelle Meets Her Brothers and Sister!

Baby Janelle is here!!!

Mon. 14:  Well, Janelle is here!  We named her Janelle Marjorie Jensen and she was born on Columbus Day -- October 14th at 11:55 p.m.  Rick was off for UEA and Gerilyn and Madee were here for the weekend and so it was really good timing.  Gerilyn had taken all of the kids out this morning to shop for supplies for their “Scary Dinner” and Halloween Party that they were planning tonight. I worked on grading my class videos and midterms.  Gerilyn and all of the kids went to Chuck-A-Rama for lunch and to the Visitor’s Center.  Rick was busy today draining our pool and working on the steps and the wall.  We had water coming out several pipes and hoses and I didn’t want to waste it and so I decided to wash our very dirty cars with the hose draining the pool water.  The kids all helped, except for Gerilyn and Madee who had gone out shopping at the Dress Barn. 

We washed the white car and were in the middle of washing the van when I felt a little trickle of water.  I told Rick that I thought my water had broken.  I wasn’t positive until I felt a few more little trickles and then I was sure.  The boys had come so fast after my water had broken that Rick and I didn’t want to waste any time and hurried to the hospital.  This is the first time my water broke on it’s own; with the other three, I was already well into labor and the doctor stripped my membranes.  I called Gerilyn on her cell phone and they were at Iceberg and said they would be right over.  We had our neighbor, Chimane, come over until she got there.  We kept thinking hard and fast contractions would start any minute like they did with the boys but not much happened.  We got checked in and admitted and the nurse started an IV.  Rick asked her if he could give me a blessing and that was really nice.

The nurses kept asking me if I wanted an epidural. After Jared’s quick delivery I hadn’t been planning on one. Rick and I weren’t sure and discussed it for a while.  Not much was happening though and it looked like it might be a long night and so I decided to go ahead and get one. At the same time, I was a little worried about getting one so soon since I wasn’t really even in labor yet and was only dilated to a three. 

Getting the Epidural was really uncomfortable and I was glad when it was over. I had gotten one with Janika and just sat up while they did it.  For this one they wanted me to lay on my side and crouch my knees up (with Rick’s help) to my chin and arch my back out. That position is nearly impossible when your stomach is poking out so far and it was very uncomfortable. Then he said just to hold it and not move at all for half a minute which seemed a lot longer. 

After it kicked in my legs were so numb I couldn’t even feel anything. I didn’t like the feeling of not having control over my body or not being able to tell how things were progressing along – except for the computer screen which didn’t always seem to be accurate. It was around 6:00 and I said that I hoped it wouldn’t take until midnight but it did! I wasn’t surprised when they suggested giving me Pitocin to get the contractions going. I don’t know if I can blame it on the Epidural though – I may have needed it anyway and then it would have probably been hard without the Epidural. It is hard to guess what will happen one way or the other. The doctor who gave me the Epidural said  he still wanted me to be able to move my toes and I told him when it got to the point when I could only on one side. He asked if I wanted it lighter and I said yes. It didn’t seem to get lighter though, if anything it felt heavier. Later I said I wanted it lighter again and he turned it off for about fifteen minutes but I couldn’t tell the difference. Near the end I started feeling a few contractions but they didn’t hurt. I did get some rest here and there which was nice but I had a very hard time changing positions since my legs just felt like noodles. Scott and Amy were here staying at our condo on their way to Disneyland tomorrow. I asked them if they wouldn’t mind bringing Rick some dinner since he was starving and didn’t dare leave. I was hungry too but couldn’t eat. So they came over and brought him a hamburger and fries. Rick did end up leaving about 10:00 though because the doctor said he had plenty of time and he wanted to get a book and his laptop and some other things that I needed. He didn’t miss much.

I have quite a low blood pressure normally and it kept dipping really low and would set off a little bell that would ring forever until someone came and checked it. One time it was like 74/36 or something like that. At around 11:00 p.m. a nurse checked me and I was only dilated to a five or six. Then shortly before midnight a new nurse came in and started to check me. A couple of times throughout the night I couldn’t hear the heartbeat on the computer and that always worried me. When I brought it up to the other nurse she said that it was still there – you could see the numbers on the screen. She said sometimes the noise of the heartbeat was just a nuisance anyway. I didn’t think so, I found it very reassuring and peaceful. 

Anyway, it was like that now. I couldn’t hear the heartbeat anymore and the numbers on the screen seemed to be jumping all over the place. That had happened before when the baby was moving around or something. The nurse tried to pick it up by moving the doppler around on my stomach and I was getting worried that I couldn’t hear it and was silently praying that everything was okay.  My doctor came in from delivering another baby and another nurse came in too.  Then the one who had been attending to me moved the blanket and said surprisingly, “There’s our baby!”  I thought she meant the baby was crowning or something and that it was time to push. Then I moved the blanket and looked down and there was the baby all the way out laying sideways between my legs. I was shocked!  I think the nurses and doctor were too.  My doctor said that this was a definite first for her. Right then the baby started to cry and they cut her cord and started cleaning her up.

I think I was still sort of in shock. Rick and I were both asking how long she had been there.  They said she had just barely come out but all I could think of was that maybe she could have suffocated under the blankets or something. Luckily I wasn’t in one of those short beds where she could have fallen off!  We asked what would have happened if no one had checked and my doctor reassuringly said that she would have started crying but still we are not so sure. The whole thing freaked us out. The baby and sheets were a mess but she seemed really calm through the whole ordeal. 

They finally got the baby and I cleaned up and I was able to hold her and nurse her and she latched right on and nursed like a pro!  She didn’t seem to want to let go and nursed for a good long time. She is a beautiful baby and has a little round face like Janika did. Not near so much hair though and several nurses kept referring to her as a boy and so we put the little pink bow in her hair.  She weighed in at 6 pounds 15 ounces – so almost 7 pounds – and 19 inches long. I thought she would be bigger judging by the size of my stomach but I guess my girls are just more petite than my boys and that’s how it should be!

I was just grateful that she was okay. This whole birth experience was so different from the last two. I didn’t have any pain at all with this one because I was so numb – not even one painful contraction. It was a little uncomfortable sitting in the same spot for six hours though and then several hours after that since it took quite awhile for the Epidural to wear off.  Rick had stayed to take a bunch of pictures and finally left around 1:00 a.m.  After I was done feeding and holding her, I had her taken to the nursery so I could try and get some sleep. She was only there two hours though and all the rest of the time she has been here with me.  It seems like with my other baby I made sure that they went to the nursery so I could rest and wasn’t kept up by their cries or noises. Janelle is sooo good though and has been so quiet. She had been quietly sleeping almost the whole entire time. It is a bit strange because she seemed to be by far the most active one while she was in my tummy – it seemed she was constantly moving.  Now she is so quiet and sleepy. She hasn’t cried at all except for a little bit when I was changing her diaper.

 At 3:30 a.m. I woke up and my legs were feeling back but were still really tingly.  I had just managed to turn on my side when they brought the baby in for me to feed.  She nursed and nursed for a long time and then the nurses wanted me to change rooms and so we gathered everything up and went to another room. I didn’t really sleep  well tonight.

Tues. 15:  Rick and the kids were off today for UEA too and Rick will take tomorrow off.  Janelle must have gotten her fill last night because I couldn’t get her to nurse until after lunch time.  She just wanted to sleep.  Some of the time she was really alert and happy just to be held.  Gerilyn and Madee stopped by to see the baby and take some pictures before they headed back to Ogden.  Rick and the kids came around 11:00.  They brought balloons and four dozen roses. They had also stopped to buy a couple of vases. Each of the kids carried in a dozen roses with a little card that they had written or drew.  It was really cute!  They each had their own balloon to give me too.  It was fun to see them and see how cute they were with the baby.  Jared and Jase weren’t sure which was more exciting though – the baby, or Scooby Doo that was on TV.  We took a lot of cute pictures and videos.  I ate my lunch while they were there and then the nurse brought in lunch for Rick and all of the kids too so that was nice of her.  They stayed for a couple of hours.

 I have been having awful cramps and contractions when I nurse and sometimes when I am not nursing.  I had them with Jared too.  I finally asked for some Ibuprofin this afternoon.  I hope it helps.  Tonight Rick is subbing for my ASL class.  He will end it a little early so that he can go straight to Hands in Harmony practice.  I’m glad we had the baby last night and not tonight!   I called mom and dad and they are coming tonight and can take over for the baby-sitter when they arrive.  That will be nice to have them for a few days.  Tomorrow morning I plan to go home.  It had been really quiet here and at least I have been able to get some much needed rest!

I decided to go to bed early but then Janelle started to fuss.  I kept trying to feed her for about an hour but whenever I put her back in her crib she would start to fuss again.  So when the nurse came in at 10:30 I asked if she would take her to the nursery and then I was able to go to sleep until 2:00 a.m. when she brought her back to me saying she was very hungry.   I kept her with me the rest of the night but she slept pretty well.

 

Wed. 16:  I felt ready to go home today.  I was getting a little restless from staying in my room the whole time.  It seemed like yesterday morning everyone kept coming in my room bright and early saying, “Are you going home today?”  After I had been up most of the night giving birth and changing rooms and nursing…no thank you!  But today I was ready to go home and the room was quiet – no one was asking if I wanted to go home or anything. I finally had to go ask the nurse what needed to be done so that I could check out. She gave me a little training and my doctor had come in for a quick peek but we had to wait forever for a pediatrician (ours was out of town) to come and give her the check up before we could leave.  The “check-up” was about fifteen seconds long.  Rick had come to pick me up and we gathered up the things and left.  It is always so weird to walk into a hospital and then walk out a couple of days later with a new member of your family.  It seems to take awhile before reality kicks in! My parents were at our home with the boys and my mom had made home-made bread.  My mom and I went on a walk tonight.

Funnies from the Kids!

Last night Jase fell out of bed and started to cry. I don’t know how it happened because he had just barely gone to bed and was still awake. Well I gave him hugs and kisses and then Jared leaned over until he fell out of bed too and then he started into some fake crying. It was so funny. I guess he wanted hugs and kisses too!

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A few weeks ago in Primary Jase was called up to give the closing prayer. The Primary President must have thought he needed help because she started whispering things in his ear to say. She whispered “We thank thee for the Holy Ghost” and Jase said loud and clear, “We Thank Thee for Legoes!”

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I was in line with Janika at her school when the lady behind me asked, “When is your baby due?” Janika then whispered to me, “Mom, how does she know you’re pregnant?”

Hmmm……must be that motherly glow….

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Whenever Jared tries to pick up scissors or a knife I always tell him “No, danger!” We were shopping in Staples a couple of months ago when he suddenly yelled out, “Danger!!” I looked on the shelves and sure enough there were scissors there for sale.

Father's Day Flee: 2002

 Sun. 16:  Happy Father’s Day!!  This morning we all slept in until past 8:00.  I’m surprised that I was still able to sleep so long after sleeping so much yesterday.  I felt a ton better today. We all got up and got ready for church and went to a local ward that was about fifteen minutes a way.  We just went to Sacrament meeting.  It was a really good meeting.  Jase was so tired he looked like he would drop off to sleep at any minute.  

We came back to the condo and ate lunch and then put the boys down for a nap. Janika made a big sign that said, “Welcome to Father’s Day Flee!” and hung it on the wall. She just couldn’t wait for the others to arrive.  My mom and dad arrived around 4:30 or so and then Scott and Amy arrived an hour or so later.  We had already started eating our chicken fajita dinner when Scott and Amy got here.  

My stomach must still be sensitive because I felt sick again after eating a big dinner.  There was no one in the office to check in our family members to their condos for a couple of hours. It was a good thing that we had our condo open for them to come to. Grandpa and Scott took all of the kids on a hike and they came back with a couple of caterpillars.  They wanted to get more and so we all went on a little hike to the place where they found them and they filled up little sandwich bags with them.

 Later on I gave my lesson and passed out pictures from the gospel art kit of different stories from the scriptures.  Each of the kids told how the person in their story was choosing the right.  Then we played the game I had made that had different situations and they had to choose with answer would show them “choosing the right” best in that situation. It went well. Then the others checked in to their condos.  Scott and Amy’s is right next to ours and so that has been fun for the kids to run back and forth.  Tonight they were all so hyper and kept running back and forth between condos. Janika ended up sleeping over with Alyssa. Kellen was going to sleep over here with Jase and Jared but he ended up going back to his own condo. We were going to play games with my mom and dad but it was already late by the time we got the kids down.  I didn’t sleep well tonight and felt sick to my stomach.

Mon. 17: I still felt sick this morning and threw up again.  What is going on????  Today we spent the day at Pineview Reservoir. Scott and McKenna did their lesson this morning. They were assigned to do it on safety comparing the rules to the Sea-Doo to keeping the commandments. Rick wrote all of the rules on a big paper he had hung on the wall and gave his input and said that we would check back to see how everyone kept these rules after we got back.  It took awhile to get everyone ready and to get out on the lake. It actually took awhile to get the sea-doos launched and all that. 

Once we got settled though it was quite pleasant. We found a little beach spot and there was a nice shady spot there where I sat and watched the kids play. Amy had brought their nice camping chairs.  Rick and Scott and Amy went out on the wave-runners and took turns with the kids. McKenna went several times and Kellen and Alyssa went. Rick took Janika out for a ride but she was a little nervous and wanted to go back. Jase didn’t want to go. I would have gone had I not been pregnant. I was still feeling a little dizzy and queasy and just sat in the shade and didn’t venture out into the water. The weather was perfect.  The kids were really good and spent most of their time building sand castles and mud puddles and damns on the beach and playing in the water close to the shore. Jase and Jared kept their tubes on the entire time. Even Jared was so good playing happily. They were all exhausted by the time we left several hours later and all of the kids in our car fell asleep on the way home.

 We came home and called my mom to tell her that we were back. She had stayed behind at their condo and relaxed and worked on her lesson while the rest of us went. Rick went for a little swim while I bathed the boys and then I went for a nice swim while he bathed Janika. I had just thrown up AGAIN but felt better after I did. I took it easy on dinner tonight. Tonight all of the kids were having a video party in Scott and Amy’s condo while we had a video party in ours. They watched “The Jetsons” and we watched “Miss Congeniality.”  Gerilyn and Abbee showed up around 8:45 or so and stayed with us in our condo.

Tues. 18:  I slept much better last night except for Jared waking up at 4:30 in the morning.  I didn’t even hear him the first time and Gerilyn had gotten up with him. I ended up bringing him in bed with Rick and I as soon as I got him settled down and he went right to sleep. This morning Rick gave his lesson.  He did a great job and it kept the kids attention for the most part but I think it is too long to give hour and a half lessons for a family thing like this especially with such young children. He really likes to get in depth though and likes everyone to really get in to the scriptures and mark them and write notes in them etc.

After his lesson we all went to the pool and went swimming.  We fixed lunches on our own and have just been relaxing this afternoon.  Scott took his older kids fishing and Kemery stayed home with Amy to take a nap. Our boys both took naps and so did Rick and I. Janika never takes naps and so she stayed up and watched TV.  I don’t know what Grandma and Grandpa have been doing all afternoon. Jani and I read some stories together and wrote in her journal and Rick just played a game with her.  Rick’s mom called and might come and spend the night.

Wed. 19:  This morning Scott and Amy’s family left early and then Mom and Dad left around 11:00.  We ended up going to Ogden and Rick and I went to see the movie “Star Wars” while the kids stayed at Grandma’s.  Madee came back with us to the condo and slept over. We didn’t get back until almost midnight and so it was pretty hectic getting tired onery kids to bed. 

Thurs. 20:  We went over to the other time share – Wolf Creek and went swimming in their pool. We had been told that we could do that. It was really nice. They had a big baby pool which was only a foot deep and so it was perfect for Jared. The kids mostly stayed in the baby pool. There was a water slide in the other pool but Janika was too chicken to try it. Madee tried it out.  It is just like the curvy slides at the park except a little taller. Adults can’t really go on it. This resort is really nice – there are two or three big pools and a big hot-tub. There was a nice area with picnic tables. We had brought some bagels and cream cheese and the left-over PBJ sandwiches and ate it for lunch at the picnic area. There is also a nice big exercise room and some really nice tennis courts.  If we come up here again we might want to go to this condo instead of the Powder Ridge one. There is pros and cons. This one is more crowded but has more amenities and is closer to town. Tonight after dinner we all went for a hike up to where the ski lifts are.  We played ball and “Mother May I.”

 Fri. 21:  We checked out of the condo and finished our vacation in Ogden and Salt Lake!