Girl's Camp

The girls were SO excited for girls' camp! They are really lucky that they get to go to camp with their very best friends. Each ward was assigned a different decade and our ward was the nineties. So Janelle borrowed my overalls that are actually from the 90's -- yes, I have saved them all of these years, because I love overalls and just couldn't part with them!  I had Janelle do a write up about Girls' Camp and so you can read her account for the details!

Girls' Camp: By Janelle Jensen

Tuesday 27: On Tuesday morning we left early and drove up to Cedar Mountain. When we got there we set up the tents and decorated the campsite (The theme is time and our ward was the 90’s so we used cd’s, tapes, and other cute decorations). We went down and had the welcome and everything, and waited for the 4^th year hikers. Next we had our Kick-off with the stake and then had scripture reading. Our ward had free time and so we came up with a skit (it was based off of power rangers and was super cheesy). 

Then after dinner and everything we went down for a dance party with the stake. It was actually super fun and I really enjoyed it. The only problem was that I ate too much right before and so my stomach was hurting the whole time. After that we were playing campfire games when we saw a skunk. Two actually, and they came right up to us. The leaders were all freaking out! Then we went to bed. During the night though me and one of my friends went to go to the bathroom and we saw FOUR skunks. It was really creepy because they would just pop out of nowhere and my flashlight wasn’t very bright. We lived though! Okay, that’s it for Tuesday!

Wednesday 28: Today we started by getting up and eating breakfast and then we had this thing called Mingle With Hugs. Basically you would go to each ward and draw out someone’s name from that ward (it also had something about them) and get a hug (the candy) and we would have to try to find that person and give them the hug. It had a lot of walking just because everyone was looking at the same time so half the time people weren’t at their own wards. I finished all of mine except for one but everyone I asked said that they couldn’t find the girl I had. 

After that we had lunch and did our service project. For our service project we were making fleece blankets for people in hospitals. It was really fun and we got a lot done.  Next we had free time and dinner, and then presented our skit that we had been working on. It ended up super funny and it was great. After that we did campfire stuff and then went snipe hunting. I got to help lead, and that was super fun. Some of the girls were so freaked out about it. It was pretty funny actually. We were hoping to go the next night too, but didn’t have time.

Thursday 29: We luckily had more sleeping in time on Thursday. We started by doing breakfast and scriptures and then did certification with the stake. Since I am a 3^rd year, I did things like emergency shelters, CPR, Extinguishing fires, purifying water, and making fires without matches. It was kind of fun but it was super hot outside.  After that we had lunch and presented our “Who Asked”. This was like a little thing we would present about a person who asked of God and received an answer during our time period. Ours was about a famous singer named Gladys Knight who joined the church in the 90’s.

I think our presentation was once of the best because we acted it out like a skit, while some wards just read theirs. Although the stories were really cool. I was a narrator in it. After that a couple came and talked about their love story and how they asked and received answers about their marriage. It was really cute. Then we went to our wards and made homemade time capsules that included a picture and a bunch of papers we filled out. It is super cute! I’m excited to open it someday.

After that we had dinner and spiritual night. For Spiritual night we were blindfolded and our leaders led us to the benches, where we listened to a recording about the life of Jesus Christ and we would have things be put in our hands and we could feel them. It was super spiritual and I’m pretty sure everyone cried at some point. When we took our blindfolds off at the end it was kind of hard to see anything because we had had them on for so long! After that we had our ward testimony meetings, which was also super spiritual, and then we talked around the campfire until around 11:30 when we went to bed. 

Friday 30: Today we got up early with the stake to pray for the first counselor in our Stake Presidency (he has cancer and was going into surgery that day) and then we packed up all of our stuff, had breakfast, put away the tents, and headed home. I had such a great experience at Girls Camp and it was so fun! I loved it and can’t wait to go next year!

Tuacahn's Newsies!!

Rick and I brought Janelle, Jaiden, and Jenna to Newsies tonight at Tuacahn! Janika was EFY, Jared was working, and Josh opted to stay home. Great show!

Ivin's Reservoir

We had a great time at the Ivin's Reservoir today with the Williams, Olsons, and Purdys! A few more friends tagged along with them. The water felt so good! Thank you to Allison for bringing the shade and for Mari and Christin for bringing the paddle boats!

Jenna and Janelle went early with the morning group and Jaiden and I joined them after her eye appointment (contact evaluation for new contacts). The Purdys came shortly after we did right after lunch. Jenna stayed until we went home later that afternoon and so she was in the sun for six hours! I applied her sunscreen every two hours and so thankfully she didn't get fried! 

 

Jenna and Friends!

Jenna swimming with Talei Vuikadavu and Audrey Song!

Longest Day of the Year Party!!

Thank you to the Bassos who always throw an awesome "Longest Day of the Year Party!!"

Jared and Friends!

The kids in the neighborhood all love to come over and play with Jared! He is going to make a great Daddy someday!

Notice Jared and the kids in the background while I am trying to get some mermaid pictures of Jenna!

Happy Father's Day!!

Happy Father's Day!! We drove up Friday night so that we could attend the annual Father's Day party. It was a quick trip, but fun to see everyone!  We enjoyed our meetings at my Mom and Dad's ward. The primary sang "Ye, Elders of Israel" for the musical number. 

We really enjoyed the party at Scott and Amy's. It is always fun to see and visit with everyone!  The girls really missed Adria and Rella since their family couldn't come from California (because Adria had Girls' Camp) but they had fun playing with their other cousins. The food was awesome!!  Grayson has really gotten into smoking meat lately and cooked a delicious, tender brisket! The marinated chicken was extra good too. Loved all of the extras too -- Mexican corn on the cob, Brazilian Cheese Rolls and so forth. Janika teases me that I always describe my meals in my journal, so I will stop gushing about the food, ha ha! 

We had to do the family picture with my camera since Alicia wasn't there, so the quality and resolution isn't as good, but it still turned out cute! 

Rick and I took some pictures of my mom and dad. I really like this picture! 

Janika EFY Wyoming

Janika returned from her EFY session in Lovell, Wyoming and drove from Provo to meet us at Grandma's. It was a stay-at-home session, but there was no where for the counselors to stay on site and so they had to drive 30 minutes away every morning and night to stay in some dorms at North West College. There were some challenges, but overall it sounds like it went well!

Fun at Grandma and Grandpa's House!!

After Jenna's SGMT show our family headed for Salt Lake in two separate cars. Rick had Jared and Josh with him and I had the three girls. We arrived around 7:00. Grandma made us some yummy taco soup for dinner. The kids all decided to sleep outside in the backyard since it felt so nice out!

Saturday 17:  Rick left at 6:00 a.m. and drove clear out to the Draper temple since the Jordan River is currently closed. But I guess they weren't open for endowments yet. For some reason he wasn't able to do initiatory or sealings and ended up driving all the way back to pick up Jared for baptisms. Baptisms weren't busy at all so he they were able to do 30 names!

Mom and I did our exercise swim in her pool while the kids went swimming at the neighborhood pool with Grandpa. I met them at the pool after exercising with Mom and did some more swimming. This afternoon we all went to Chuck-A-Rama and enjoyed a lovely meal!  Thanks, Grandma and Grandpa!

Saint George Musical Theater Camp

Jenna did a musical theater summer camp with her cousin, Caroline.  They were in the afternoon session which was from 1:30 to 4:00 for two weeks. They learned singing and acting and practiced to put together a little show on the final day.  This morning we were busy packing and get ready to head to Grandma's and went to their final showcase on our way our of town. They performed four songs from the shows that SGMT will be putting on this year. The show was only about 20 minutes and it was really cute. It was fun to watch -- they did a great job!

Elder Jensen's Hump Day!!

Thursday 15: Today is Jase's Hump Day! It is hard to believe that he is halfway done! I don't know if it has gone by fast for him, but it has for us! The kids and I put together a "hump-day" package for him and it was delivered to him right on time! I didn't know what to get him since he never tells us what he needs and so we just filled it with fruit snacks, granola bars, and other treats.

Friends!

We have a new family in our neighborhood that built a house on the lot just West of our house. Our kids LOVE having new friends so close by!  These three darling boys are over so often, I feel like they are part of the family!