New Year's Eve Dance Party!!

Rick and Janika fixed our New Year's Eve snack buffet for tonight.  We had chicken enchiladas, jello salad, a cheese ball, chips and guacamole, cocktail hot-dogs, vegies, and snacks.  I made white chocolate covered popcorn.  Rick made all sorts of specialty drinks -- Strawberry Daiquiries and Margaritas, Pina Colodas and so forth.  I joked with Rick that he missed his true calling as a Bar Tender.  One of the kids said, "....and it is all "alcohol free" to which another kid responded, "yeah -- it's FREE alcohol!"   So our the neighbor kids will probably go home and tell their parents that for New Years they had free alcohol at the Jensens. 

We had our traditional dance party.  Jared and Boots even wore matching shirts for their dance number and included pogo stick jumping (they both got one for Christmas).   Jase put the giant bear (now named "Barry" on his head and danced to "I Whip My Hair Back and Forth" which is definitely in the top five of "The songs that irritate mom the most."    

Janika partnered up with Jenna and she had a blast even though she has that famous "bored" look on her face while Janika is swinging her all over the place.  I danced with Josh and he clung on for dear life.  I think he was scared to death.   I tried to dip him and about fell over because he was holding on so tight.   Janelle and Jaiden teamed up for their dance numbers.  I got some great awful pictures of Rick that I won't post at this time.  After the free-style dance contest we had a Wii Dance party and then rung in New Year twice -- once at 10:00 for the younger kids and again at midnight for the older ones.  Fun night!

 

Branch Presidency Dinner

Tonight we had our Branch Presidency over to our home for a nice dinner.  The barbecued Salmon (compliments of Rick) was amazing!  We enjoyed everyone's company.  Meanwhile Janika tended all of the kids in the basement.  Then she had some friends over (including her EFY friend, Braxton, who was in town from Springville) for a get-together.  They played the Wii and a couple of board games, and then Rick and I joined them for a rousing game of Wackie Six (a game we got for Christmas).  It is a fun fast moving game -- I can't wait to play it again!

Family Pictures

When my sister-in-law, Alicia Westra, was here for Thanksgiving, she offered to do a photo shoot of our family.  I had gotten white shirts for all of us so that we would all match, but then the temperature turned  unseasonably cool for our area.  So I grabbed jackets and scarfs at the last minute.  We needed to go in the shade to avoid too much sun exposure but then the kids were all freezing and so we went back in the sun where it was warmer.  The picture with the jackets actually turned out to be my favorite because the lighting was the best.  I changed a few of the pictures to black and white and sepia because the sun was really bright in some of them.  Jenna wasn't really in the mood to smile and Josh -- well, he was in and out.  It is always difficult to do a photo shoot of such a large family -- especially with little kids.  So thanks Alicia for taking on the task!  As soon as I post this I will order a big one for our wall!

 

Aniston's Baby Blessing

The whole family was able to attend Aniston's baby blessing.  She is SO adorable!  The adoption was legally finalized recently and she was sealed to her parents last week in the Jordan River Temple.  We weren't able to go and so I am glad that we got to attend her blessing today.  What a beautiful family! We also finally got to see Derek and Danielle's house.  It is an older home that they fixed up and decorated.  It looks great! 

Hats

Grandma Jensen made these darling hats for each of the girls.  Cute, huh?  Unfortunately Jenna was sick and miserable today and so we couldn't get a smile out of her!

Jenna is in mid-cough, poor thing. She was feverish and had a hard day.  Jaiden's nose is sore and red from constantly wiping it.  Luckily Josh is finally feeling better after a nasty cough which lasted several days.  Jared was sick on our early Christmas Eve but feeling better now.  The kids' sickies interrupted our sleep at night and put a bit of a damper on the festivities but we still had fun. 

Christmas Day at the Jensens

Instead of sleeping over at the Jensens like we usually do, we set up our home base at my Grandma Norman's house and slept over there.  My Grandma was staying with my mom and dad and so the house was empty.   It was really nice because we were all under one roof and could spread out.  With three bedrooms with full/queen beds and a couch bed downstairs, there were beds for everyone (except for Jenna).  We made a little bed for her on the floor near our bed.  We were all tired and everyone was in bed before 9:30 -- wow!   The early to bed hour paid off because we were all up bright and early and got out the door in  plenty of time to drive to the Jensen party.  There we had a nice breakfast and then everyone emptied their stockings and opened their presents.

Grandma Jensen made the beautiful "Jensen" doilies and Jase got one for his hope chest this year since he is now 13.   Aunt Vicky made the other doilies, one of which Janika received for her hope chest.  Grandma Jensen made these darling tents for the younger grandkids which drapes over a card table.  You put a pop bottle on top to make the peak.  I will have to get a better picture of them later.  They are really cute and the kids love them!  Grandma also made gorgeous quilts for each of her kids.  I can't imagine the hours and hours of work that go into these keepsakes!

Christmas Eve at the Westra's

We got out the door a little later than planned.  The 4 1/2 hour drive was rough since Jenna wasn't feeling well and was really fussy.  But we arrived at the Westra party right on time.  We had a buffet of various kinds of soups and bread sticks, rolls, crackers and dips, and desserts.  We played the traditional candy bar game (a favorite for all of the kids which left them on a sugar higih) and the Blackhams put on a slide show of pictures from the past year.  I really enjoy seeing this.  The slide show started a few years ago and has become a tradition ever since.  (Sorry Blackhams, you are stuck now!)  Our kids always have such wonderful fun with their cousins.  It is times like this that I wish we lived closer to family so that they could get together more often.

Early Christmas Day!

 

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