Blue and Gold Banquet

Blue and Gold Banquet!!

  

Sweet note from Jaiden

 Email from Jaiden: 

I love you so much mommy!! You are so great and so helpful!  I love you!

 Jaiden

Scout Expo

Saturday 20:  Rick went to Las Vegas today to interpret all day. He was excited to get some hours in.   He stayed overnight and came home early the next morning.

Meanwhile I brought Jaiden, Josh, and Jenna to the Scout Expo.  Since Josh's car was one of the winners at our ward's Pinewood Derby, he was given a "golden ticket" that enables him to compete at the Pinewood Derby held at the Scout Expo.  He was excited.  I told him it was just for fun and to remember that he was competing with the other winners from all over the area and so not to be disappointed if his car didn't win anything.  Then he ended up taking first place -- ha ha!

The kids had a great time at the Expo -- they had all sorts of booths and games and treats.  They kids were able to roast hot-dogs and apples filled with marshmallows and caramels, race cars, make and shoot paper rockets, get snow cones, see real falcons and other animals.  They even had a big rock climbing wall and obstacle course and some really neat things.  I had purchased the ticket -- which gets the whole family in and then everything else was free.  The ticket included a a huge list of coupons, freebies, and buy 1 get 1 free deals and so forth.  It was definitely worth it!  I brought all of the kids to Denny's afterwards with some of our coupons.   

Janelle had invited some friends over for "a party."  They wore PJ's, watched High School Musical 1 and 2 in the basement as they ate ice-cream and popcorn.  It was a gorgeous day.  I went for a walk and was starting to get a little too warm!  Jase had his preference dance tonight.  He went with a friend from his work and said that they had a lot of fun. (Pictures to come later).

Janelle Braces Off!!

Janelle got her braces off today!!  She was SO excited!!

Happy Valentines Day!!

Happy Valentine’s Day!  Rick still took care of our traditional Valentine’s day breakfast even though he wasn’t feeling well.  He made French toast – both gluten free and regular with fruit and this cream cheese sauce. It was really good! He also made spam, eggs, and hashbrowns. I went to choir practice and church with Jaiden and Jenna and everyone else stayed home sick!!  We had a ton of visitor’s today!  I guess President’s day weekend is the time to come to St. George!

It was so gorgeous outside and Rick and I went for a walk in the sunshine. My Uncle Merrill and Aunt Lorrie were in town and stopped by to visit and brought a newspaper with the Sterling Scholar candidates. It was fun to visit with them for a bit!  The newspaper had a nice group picture of Jase with the other Sterling Scholar winners from his school. Rick cooked a delicious dinner of Salmon, potatoes, rice, vegies, and salad for dinner! 

Deaf Center Valentines Activity

I brought Jaiden and Jenna to the Deaf Center today to make crafts and decorate cookies!  I stopped at a store on the way there to pick up some gluten free cookies for Jenna to decorate.  Janelle wanted to come but everyone has been sick at our house and she still wasn't feeling well.  The other two had a fun time!

Valentines/Hump Day Package to Janika!!

February 13th is Janika's HUMP DAY!!!  

Package from Grandma Jensen!!

The kids were thrilled to receive a package from Grandma Jensen sent down with one of their neighbors who were coming to St. George.  It is from the Jensen Junk Food Bingo Party!!

 

 Jaiden and Janelle said that the food came just in time since they were going on a special choir fieldtrip to Hurricane the next day and were supposed to bring snacks and a lunch and now they actually had something worth packing!! Thanks Grandma Jensen!!

Jenna's Complicated Teeth

Saturday 6:  This morning Rick and I went to an interpreting workshop at the Deaf Center from 9:00 to 1:00.  I LOVE being able to go to things like this together!  The workshop was good.  The Williams brought Jenna with them to the library movie this afternoon “Hotel Transylvania 2.”  Tonight was Stake Conference.  Jaiden babysat the Conovers while they went and Janelle babysat for us.  We were upset with Janelle when we got home because she and the kids were just watching TV (and probably had been the whole time we were gone).  The food was still out, the kitchen a mess, and Josh and Jenna were not bathed or put to bed.  Rick told her that he and I were going to Smiths to get some ice cream and that she had thirty minutes to get it all done before we got back – and she did!!    

Sunday 7:  This morning we all went to Stake Conference and sat in the back up on the stage.  In the middle of his talk President Wagner (member of the Stake Presidency) said something to the effect of how difficult it can be to stay awake during this two hour meeting and motioned clear back to the stage where our family was seated on the front row and said, “I see Jase Jensen, who is currently in our missionary preparation class, sitting there on the stage.  Please don’t fall asleep, Jase – we wouldn’t want you to fall off the stage!”  So everyone was turned around looking at us.  Jase wasn’t falling asleep and so I am not sure why he was picking on him (perhaps our family was being a little distracting from their vantage point, I don’t know).  Jase just smiled and gave him a big “thumbs up” sign! 

The girls and I fixed a nice dinner of ham and cheesy potatoes tonight with salad and asparagus. Then the girls had a fun time video chatting with their cousins and Shane gave us a video tour of their house!  It has been a nice relaxing weekend and Rick and I got to spend a lot of time together.  I feel so blessed and grateful for such a great husband and happy marriage and awesome (most of the time) kids!!  

Monday 8:  I normally don’t interpret on Mondays but had been called for a freelance appointment this morning for three hours – it was at a school and super easy.  I came home and and started reading Janika’s missionary e-mails and then got a call asking if I could go interpret at the hospital right then and so I went and did that.  It was an early out day for school and so the kids were already home when I got back. Janika got her package already – that was fast -- I just sent it Saturday morning! I wonder why packages get there so much faster than letters? Maybe because I used one of the priority boxes from the Post Office?

Tuesday 9:  Josh wasn’t feeling well this morning and ended up staying home from school.  I had to leave him alone so that I could go interpret for my class.  I came home and ate lunch and then got called in for a medical appointment.  I left Josh again knowing that the girls would be home before too long. I had another appointment with DSU (with Rick) after that and so it was a busy day for interpreting and I had to make arrangements for rides for Josh (scouts) and Jaiden (activity days and tumbling). 

Wednesday 10:  So, Rick is sick – again.  He ended up staying home from work today and I ended up covering his interpreting job at 7:00 a.m. Ugh!  It was fine though – I am already up for scripture reading at 6:00 am anyway.  After the appointment and getting Jenna off to school (Josh stayed home again) I helped in Jenna’s Chinese class today.  I go in for an hour every other Wednesday). 

I soon found out that one of the girls had had a very smelly “accident.” I pulled the teacher out in the hallway to tell her (because no English is allowed in the classroom).  I ended up bringing the little girl to the office and they had me bring her to the nurse’s office while they tried getting a hold of her parents.  Meanwhile a little girl skipped out of the nurse’s office saying “I just threw up again!”  I thought, “Get me out of here!”  But my house is no better – with Rick and Josh sick (and stinky).  There is no escape!

I had been asked to sub interpret for a class this afternoon.  It was easy and I enjoyed it.  I left a few minutes early to check Jenna out of school and pick up Josh from home to go to the Orthodontist.   Josh was coming in for a recall (second evaluation – first evaluation was a year ago).  He was in and out.  The Orthodontist said, “get these two baby teeth pulled and we will see him in another year.”  Jenna’s evaluation, however, was a lot more complicated. We were there for two long hours with Josh whining the whole time because he wasn’t feeling well. 

When we went to the dentist a couple of weeks ago he pointed out that Jenna has a severe under-bite and that she should see the Orthodontist as soon as possible to get her jaw corrected while it is still developing.  I had never paid attention or noticed it until the dentist pointed it out to me. He said that his wife had the same thing and since it wasn’t corrected until later they had to go in and actually break her jaw to correct her bite. Yikes!  So apparently it is recommended to try and get intervention before the suture that separates the top jaw matures fully and becomes fused. 

The Orthodontist said that she has an under bite and also a cross bite and that her work is going to be "complicated."  She is going to need an expander, head gear, and the whole works -- all while in the first grade, poor thing!  At least she won't be required to wear the head gear at school.  Although she is sassy enough that she could probably get away with it – and cause the other kids to wish that they were lucky enough to have one too, ha ha!  Jared had an expander but he was old enough to turn it himself (with a little key). With Jenna we will have to do it.

When Jenna was laying there and the Orthodontist was explaining all of this to me Jenna said, “I do NOT like what I am hearing!” After the appointment we ran to the scout store to get some scout pants for Josh since he has grown out of his scout shorts (our Cub Masters are really emphasizing FULL uniforms and rewarding the boys each month for wearing it).  Then we ran to Staples to get some ink so that our printer will actually start printing again. 

The kids were tired and whiney and so I was glad that Rick had made dinner (Chinese food – yum!)  Jase, Jared, Janelle, and Jaiden all had their young men/young women activities.  Jaiden is not in Young Women yet but went to this one.  The Young Women were babysitting from 6:00 to 8:00 so that couples in the ward with young kids could go out for a nice Valentines Date.  Rick and I had been planning to go too but with he and Josh both sick, we had to 

   

Valentines/Chinese New Year's Party

Thursday 4:  I interpreted at DSU and then had two more freelance interpreting appointments back to back and was exhausted by the time I got home. I was grateful for the appointments though because interpreting has actually been pretty slow lately.

 

Friday 5: Rick couldn’t go to “Dad’s and Donuts” since he works too early and so I had the kids go with Emily and Clarissa’s dad and sent some gluten free donuts with Jenna. Jenna had her school Valentine’s party/Chinese New Year party today.  I don’t know why they did it early except for the fact that they were combining with the Chinese New Year, which is Monday.

I spent the morning finishing up a Valentines/Hump Day package for Janika and decorated the inside of the box and filled it with candy, popcorn, and other treats. I filled a bag of treats for her companion too.  Transfers were today but they are both staying.  Janika’s companion will go home next transfer.  Jaiden had a Valentines party tonight at her friend, Lizzie’s house.  They made Valentines boxes and played games and ate snacks.  She said it was fun!  Rick and I stayed home and relaxed and watched a Netflix movie.

 

Jaiden had fun at her friend Lizzie's Valentines Party tonight and came home with a ton of candy and treats!

Mom's and Muffins and New Beginnings

Wednesday 3:  This morning was “Mom’s and Muffins” at the elementary school. I had a purchased some gluten free muffins to bring for me and Jenna.  It was packed as usual and was fun visiting with some of the other moms.  We had our primary presidency meeting. My first counselor is funny.  She said, “I have an announcement.”  I said, “You had better not be quitting on us!”  She said, “Are you kidding?  I want to be buried next to you ladies!”  I really am grateful for such an awesome presidency – they are SO easy to work with and really on the ball.  

There has been drama with our scouts leaders though – clashing personalities and differences of opinions to the point that one lady walked out of the planning meeting last Thursday night and announced that it was over – she was done with scouts!  I wasn’t there, but heard all about it later.  Something similar had happened before and we were able to get things resolved, but now it looks like that is not an option and now we are stuck looking for a new scout leader…sigh!!  

 

I put a pork roast in the oven (see, I actually cooked dinner three nights in a row!  After Rick did so much cooking last week I figured that maybe I should step up to the plate, ha ha!)  I took the three girls to the dentist to get their cavities filled.  The dentist said that Jenna has a severe under-bite and he wants the Orthodontist to look at her teeth now instead of waiting until she is older.  He said that often times they can help these problems easier now while the jaw is still growing.  So I will set up an appointment and see what he says.

 

Tonight was New Beginnings. They are only receiving two new Beehives this year – Jaiden and Graci Newby. So they were both spotlighted tonight and received wrist corsages.  It was a nice meeting and they sent Jaiden home with a big bouquet of balloons from the decorations (and extra treats) and she was pretty excited about that! She will go into Young Women’s just in time for Girls’ Camp!