Jensen Update -- August 2021

 

August Highlights...

Extracurricular: Lots of soccer for Josh (United 06 Team AND United 05/06 Team). Jaiden working on requirements for Distinguished Young Women and attending football games...) Jenna participated in a two week Summer Camp called Annie Kids with a group of her friends. They put on a little 30 minute show at the end. Dance started back up for Jenna and Jaiden. 

Trips: Janelle Senior Trip to Montana with her two best friends, Ellie and Brea. Click HERE to see the blog post! Janika and Brandon went to Costa Rica for a week to stay at an all-inclusive resort!! Click HERE for the blog post! 

Tuacahn: Our family went to see The Count of Monte Cristo and Rick and I went to see Million Dollar Quartet in the indoor theater. Rick and I interpreted the outdoor shows. 

Jobs: Janika started as a middle school counselor in Alpine while she works on finishing her MA degree. Jase quit Deseret First Credit Union last month and started working at Chrysalis so that he can get patient care experience. I think he usually works the late shift. He enjoys playing video games with the clients and is able to get homework done after they are in bed. Ellen quit her job at Chrysalis to focus on being a mommy. Evan is doing well, by the way! 

Jared is a shift leader and trainer at Dutch Bros, Janelle is still working at Papa Murphys and she is also working for Kenworthy Monuments. Jaiden is teaching Swim and working at Tuacahn. Josh is working at The Icebox in Ivins (a family owned restaurant). He kept his job after school began, but only works two or three shifts a week because of soccer. 

My job at Dixie Tech ended (the student graduated) and I started interpreting at Dixie University (along with freelance appointments). Rick has a new schedule this year with a lot more flexibility to work on the Deaf Seminary Program. He loves his new schedule!! 

Rick and I went to his husband and wife inservice this month. This included dinner at a restaurant and then a performance by a local band called The Hubcaps (who happen to include several Seminary teachers!) They turned it into a sort of Karaoke Night by encouraging people to come prepared with songs to sing. Rick sang a couple songs. It was a lot of fun! https://youtu.be/bpjnS50oiqU

Church/Temple: Janelle was able to go to the Cedar City temple with friends to do baptisms. I was asked to speak at the Saturday night session of Stake Conference on the Children and Youth Program. I was glad to get it over with! 

Back to School: Jaiden is a Senior, Josh is a Sophomore, and Jenna is in the 7th Grade!  

Medical: The kids got their second Covid Vaccine. I had an Endometrial Biopsy (normal results).

Funeral: Our neice, Jamie Venable Lacefield passed away. She was only 39 years old. This was heartbreaking for the entire family. 

Parties: Jenna had lots of end of year parties!! Swimming and Spa Nights! 

Jamie Venable Lacefield

On August 17th we received a text from Rick's oldest sister, Jodi, saying that Jamie (our niece) had been rushed to the hospital by ambulance. She was struggling to breathe and unresponsive with her eyes rolled back in her head. Jodi said that she had been really sick with liver issues. 

Soon after this we were shocked to hear that she was doing poorly and probably wouldn't make it. The next day Jamie passed away. This has been such devastating news for the whole family! The Lacefield/Venable/Jensen family have been constantly in our prayers! The viewing and funeral were scheduled for August 22nd and August 23rd.

Rick, Janelle, and I headed to Ogden on Sunday evening. We would have left earlier in the day, but Rick was in charge of a Deaf Institute Fireside Sunday night. After the fireside we headed to Pleasant Grove and slept over at Janika and Brandon's house. We arrived late and so they were already in bed. The next morning we headed to the viewing and funeral. There was a great turn out at both viewings and at the funeral. The speakers did a beautiful job and Gerilyn's piano rendition of "I am a Child of God," was powerful and stirring. I have included the video of the funeral below. I hope that you will take the time to watch it.

After the funeral we went to the graveside and then Rick, Janelle, and I went out to lunch and then headed home. There will be lots of difficult days ahead for Chris and the boys, as well as for the rest of the family. Our prayers go out to all of them! 

Click HERE to link to Jamie's Obituary. I also copy and pasted the text below:

Obituary

It was early in the morning of February 6, 1982 that our precious Jamie was born to Troy and Jodi Jensen Venable in Ogden.  She passed away on August 18, 2021 at age 39 

She began her life by living in Farr West, and then the family moved to Roy, where she has since resided.  She attended Country View Elementary and Rocky Mountain Junior High Schools in Roy and is a graduate of Fremont High School and the ATC Beauty College.

In 2001 she married Adam Johnson, and they had a son, Gabe.  Adam and Jamie later divorced.  She then married Chris Lacefield, and they are the parents of Justin and Brigham.  Chris and her three sons were the joy of Jamie’s life.

Jamie proudly owned and operated a beauty shop in her home and loved her clients.  She was also very creative and made many beautiful crafts that her family will treasure.  She loved to serve others and was constantly taking treats and performing acts of service for her neighbors and friends.  She was a member of the Roy First Ward and dearly loved those people as well.  She especially loved her extended family and enjoyed the family gatherings that they shared.

Her greatest treasure in life was her family.  She is survived by her husband, Chris, her sons Justin, Gabe and Brigham, her parents, Troy and Jodi Venable and the following siblings:  Jake and Mikalyn Venable, Kallie and Riley Sabey, Katie Jenkins, and Shelby and Andrew Fawcett.  She adored her several nieces and nephews and her grandparents Carol Jensen and Dee and Betty Venable.  She is also survived by her in-laws whom she loved, Gabrielle and Brad Giles and Wayne Lacefield.

She was preceded in death by her grandfather, Jerry E. Jensen and two favorite aunts, Cathy Clark and Kathy Venable.

Funeral services will be held on Monday, August 23, 2021 at 11:00 a.m., at Myers Mortuary, 5865 South 1900 West, Roy, Utah.  A viewing will be held on Sunday, August 22, 2021 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. and from 9:40 to 10:40 a.m. prior to the funeral services at the same location.  Services will be live streamed and may be viewed at the bottom of Jamie's obituary page at Myers-Mortuary.com.  Interment will be in West Weber Cemetery.  

Here is the video of the funeral:

Jamie had a beautiful heart. Whenever she saw me she would come up and give me a big hug -- even if we hadn't seen each other in a long time. Jamie loved other people and loved to serve. Somewhere along the way she started drinking and it was that addiction that ended up stealing her life. In her talk, Grandma Jensen stated: 

If she could speak one more time I think I know what she would say:

 “If I could go back in time, I would NEVER have taken that first drink. 

·         I didn’t know where it would lead me,

·         I didn’t know that it would destroy my body

§  cut my life short

§  and take me away from my precious family.”

Then she would say:

“If you have already started drinking, STOP IT immediately.

·         It can do to you what it did to me.” 

·         “A smart person learns from his mistakes,

o   but a truly wise person learns from the mistakes of others.

LISTEN TO ME             Learn from my mistakes.                    Be wise.

In spite of her addiction, Jamie has a testimony. Jamie understood Heavenly Father's Plan.

o     She knew she was His child

o   She was so grateful that He put her in the family He did. She was so grateful to be a part of both the Jensen and Venable families.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here are some more pictures of Jamie and her family:

Cedar City Temple

 Janelle went and did baptisms at the Cedar City Temple with her friends today! I told her next time they should take a picture BEFORE going in to the temple, instead of afterwards with wet hair, ha ha! 

Emily Ord, Heidi Wakefield, Ellie Kenworthy, Janelle Jensen, Emma Johnson

Evan

Audrey and Clarissa were excited to be able to hold Baby Evan today!! 

Spa Night!!

 Spa Night at Sammy's!! Jenna taught everyone how to curl their hair with bathrobe belts!! 

The kids also got their second Covid Vaccination today...

Back to School!!

 Jaiden is a Senior, Josh is a Sophomore, and Jenna is in 7th!! Jenna and Clarissa -- first and second day of school!! 

Janika started her new job as a Middle School Counselor!! Janika will graduate from Utah State University (online) with her Master's Degree in December. 

Jase and Ellen are attending Dixie University. They will both be graduating with their Bachelor's Degrees this coming Spring (Jase in Bio Chemistry and Ellen in Communications). After graduation Jase plans to prepare for medical school. 

Jared will graduate with his Associate's Degree this December. He will continue at Dixie State University for his Bachelor's (or perhaps transfer to a different University, he hasn't decided yet). He is considering training to become a Seminary Teacher! 

End of Summer Party!!

 Maggie threw an end of year summer party for these cute girls!! They had a blast! 

Janelle Montana Trip

I had the opportunity to take a senior trip to Montana with my friends Brea Bulkley and Ellie Kenworthy. We had been planning this trip for a long time and after scheduling and rescheduling and countless meetings it finally happened! We flew out of Vegas and headed to Brea's cousin's house, where we would be staying. We started out by getting a little settled and taking a cute little hike from their yard to a small creek. The area was super pretty! Later we went to Hungry Horse Dam, which was huge and really pretty. Since it was raining when we got back and it was the perfect drizzle rain, we did what we had to do! By that I mean we danced in it, jumped on the trampoline in it, and then just laid in it for about an hour. It was fantastic. 

The next day we woke up bright and early at 4:00 am and headed out to Glacier national park. Brea's cousin Weston was acting as our tour guide since he knew Glacier better than anyone. We started out with a nice 4 mile hike called Avalanche. It led to a lake that was super pretty and really clear, and it was pretty foggy so that just added to the effect. Since we had come so early we had the whole place to ourselves, which was really nice. We came back from that hike and then visited a cute little lodge and Lake McDonald. It was super pretty and had lots of super pretty rocks. I am still in awe of the sheer amount of water there was there, and that it was all so clear! There were too many rivers, waterfalls, and lakes to count and I was only there for three days! It was so incredible especially since we're from southern Utah. The environment was jungly in some areas and it was so cool to see. Anyway, after that we did a small hike that was super pretty and had a lot of views of the river/waterfalls. It was a little muddy and it was a horse trail so there was a good amount of horse poop, but it was super pretty! We finished all of our hikes around noon or oneish and were able to go to some stores and sample huckleberry pie (Montana is famous for its huckleberries and they have huckleberry everything). We still finished up early enough to get back and take a nice nap to catch up from the early rising. After that we visited Whitefish Lake which had a really pretty beach and had lots of cute little pebbles and sediment instead of sand, it was quite fun! That was about it for the second day! We tried to get to bed kind of early since we were going to be waking up early again the next day. 

The third day we woke up bright and early at 4:00 am again, and headed out to Logan Pass. The morning was super foggy, and everything looked so ominous. It was really funny, we had a lot of inside jokes about that. Logan pass was really cold in the morning and would get packed super early, but we had brought jackets to stay bundled up. We started out with probably the most difficult hike of the trip, which was hiking to the mountain peak of Mount Oberlin. This was considered the "family friendly" hike of the peaks, which I personally thing is false advertising. I am pretty out of shape so I definitely made us stop a good amount of times and the elevation didn't help :) but it was probably my favorite hike! There were some super pretty meadows and flowers and the mountains were super pretty. Although the hike wasn't long, it was pretty steep and there were parts where we had to climb. I didn't want to carry my sweatshirt during the climbing portions so I left it in a little cave to come back for (which was a mistake cause it was really cold at the top but it was all good). We got to the top and it was super cool! It was super foggy and looked like we were in a cloud. It was really incredible. The way down was significantly easier, except we had to slide at some parts and I have a broken toe so this wasn't exactly my strong suit. But it was so much fun and gorgeous! Right after this hike we did another one to an overlook that was really pretty. There were ground squirrels everywhere haha. We were planning on doing another hike, but the parking lots were all packed and so we ended up pulling over to take a lunch break and found a cute little lake across the street! It was an adorable place to have lunch and we ended up skipping rocks and chilling for a bit. Afterward we found a place to park around a mileish away from the hike we were going to do, which was a waterfall one called St. Mary's I believe? We just walked to the hike and did it, there were so many pretty waterfalls! One of them had a bridge and lots of people would go to jump off the bridge. We kept hiking and passed several more waterfalls on the way to the biggest one at the end of the hike. It was super pretty and the water misted us and felt really nice! We hiked back to the hike entrance and then kept going back to where we were parked. By the time we got there I think we were all pretty dead and it was only about 2 in the afternoon :). We ate at a really good burrito food truck on the way back and then went back to the house! Since we still had lots of daylight left we ended up walking around the neighborhood a bit and walked in the little creek. Then we chilled and talked on the porch until late into the night and it was great. Tuesday was our biggest hiking day by far, I think we went a little more than 14 miles that day. It was so fun. 

Wednesday we got to sleep in to about 6:30 which was nice and then we headed to the tiny town of Polebridge. Seriously, this town had more bars than houses :) and we explored a cute little mercantile that they had. I bought some huckleberry lotion haha and we got a whole bunch of pastries that were fantastic. We went to a gorgeous lake called Lake Bowman and hiked to a little area so we had the place to ourselves. It was super fun and we walked around and skipped rocks and played some other games. We also did a little more hiking and then swam in the lake, which was super fun! The only downside was that there were horseflies EVERYWHERE. But other than that it was super pretty and probably my favorite lake that we visited. Then we went and got sushi and went thrifting! Some of the stores were closed so we couldn't go as long as we wanted to but it was still fun. After going back to the house for a bit we had the opportunity to go to a combined mutual activity with Weston, which was cliff jumping at finger lake. It was a little more than a mile hike to get to the lake and there were some mosquitos but the way there wasn't bad. There were some fun cliffs, a smaller one and then another that was about 23 feet up. This one was a little freakier because there were some rocks at the bottom and you had to get a running leap to get over them, but I did it and it was fun! We also went to another area with a rope swing but we didn't go on it since it was pretty sketchy. The hike back was like mosquito feeding time, especially for poor Brea. And she's allergic. We had put on bug spray but it hadn't done anything, and even back in the parking lot we were being attacked and had to go sit in the car because it was so bad. Surprisingly, we hadn't really had a problem with mosquitos until that day though, so that was nice! We headed to the store really fast to get mosquito stuff and then went back to the house to watch a weird movie called Sasquatch Gang that Weston had been wanting to show us. We finished the movie around one in the morning and got to sleep on the trampoline that night! It was a little chilly but I was between Ellie and Brea so I wasn't too cold. The stars were really pretty and we didn't have a problem with mosquitos that night so it was great!

Thursday morning we woke up around 6 and then went back inside and slept for probably around another 2 hours. This was our last day so it went by pretty quickly. We got to go kayaking down flathead river which was fun and relaxing! There were a few rapid areas to keep things spicy but most of it was calm. Afterward we checked and made sure everything was packed and ready to go and then stopped at a souvenir shop to get some last minute things. I got a sweatshirt and a bunch of huckleberry candies. Then we headed back to the airport and flew back to Vegas! The business of Vegas was kind of a rude awakening to the fact that our trip was over and we all kind of wanted to go back to Montana :( but at least we quit while we were ahead! Brea's mom picked us up from the airport and we drove home and got back at around 10 that night. This was a super fun and memorable trip packed with the perfect amount of relaxation, spice, nature, and plenty of inside jokes. I'm sad it came to an end so fast but I'm so grateful that I was able to go on this awesome adventure with my two best friends! It was definitely a senior trip to remember! 

Costa Rica!! Janika and Brandon

(Write up from Janika): Due to COVID we had not one, but two European cruises cancelled.  It was seriously so sad and frustrating, because we really just wanted to go to Europe! We finally decided to schedule an all inclusive resort somewhere because those hadn’t been quite as affected with COVID and it was less likely to get cancelled. After a crap ton of research, we decided to go to the Dreams Las Mareas resort in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. The only flights out of SLC (that weren’t $2,000 each) were a flight to somewhere else in the states, an overnight layover, and then flying to the destination, so we had to book a hotel in Dallas and Chicago. On our way there (literally 15 minutes or so before boarding from SLC to Dallas) we figured it would be good to look at the shuttle info with the hotel we booked with so we would know how to get them to come pick us up. After quickly realizing we didn’t have any confirmation emails or charges on any of our credit cards… we panicked because I still to this day SWEAR that I booked a hotel through Kayak. Brandon hurriedly called the one I thought I had booked and they luckily still had room, so we booked it as fast as we could before boarding! That was pretty stressful haha but glad we figured it out.

When we got to Liberia the next day, we had to take an hour and a half shuttle to our resort. Driving through Costa Rica was really interesting. It’s soooo so pretty there, but also not a place I’d ever want to live. I just feel like I never want to live in a place where you feel the need to put bars over all your windows and barbed wire on top of all your fences, ya know? It’s so sad that some areas just aren’t very safe like that. I would probably give the resort a 7.5 out of 10. It was GORGEOUS, huge, and soooo so nice. Very well kept, the staff were so kind, etc. Our room had a balcony with a little tub on it and a jungle view, and we actually saw monkeys in the jungle right from our balcony a few times (we wish it was more though! So cool!) The pools were huge and connected to other pools, and there were three separate pool areas total, so plenty of space for everyone! It definitely didn’t feel crowded. They had five restaurants and a couple of different bars throughout the resort. It was located in a little alcove of jungle right on the beach. I seriously can’t say enough how pretty it was. We spent most of our time reading by the pool and ordering whatever fancy drinks we could think of that didn’t have alcohol. They didn’t have Dr. Pepper (they only had three sodas!) so that was depressing haha.

A few reasons why I would give it a lower rating:

-        The pillows sucked. They have a ‘pillow menu’ that we had to order from to get different ones, which we had to do more than once before they actually came. We ended up ordering all three kinds and weren’t able to get a good night’s sleep on any of them! Maybe we’re just pillow snobs now, it’s a possibility haha.

-        The language barrier was really tough. Most of the staff only spoke very little English, so it was hard to feel like we could turn to them to ask questions about the resort, etc., because it was just so difficult to communicate efficiently. Brandon was able to get by a little better with his bit of Spanish, but I struggled.

-        Going along those same lines, there were so many things we felt we needed to ask about haha so it was doubly difficult. The resort wasn’t very clear on how things are supposed to be done and more, so this led to a whole lot of questions, especially since this was our first all inclusive. There were just so many little minor things that added up to make us feel a little bit frustrated with the whole process.

But overall, despite all of that, it really was so nice. I couldn’t stop marveling at the beauty of it all. We went kayaking on the ocean and it was seriously one of the most peaceful things. We also went on a nature walk (that was actually much more of a nature HIKE. It was honestly pretty difficult for us out of shape people haha. I was having a really hard time with it.) We were hoping to see lots of wildlife on the nature hike but we really didn’t see anything… besides cows. So that was disappointing. Brandon was especially hoping to see a sloth, but no such luck! We were able to see some wildlife on the beach though! We spent a lot of time walking on the beach and collecting pretty seashells (which we later learned we weren’t supposed to take home but we did anyway… oops.) and in the process of that saw some cool animals. We saw a crap ton of sand crabs and hermit crabs of all sizes, they are literally everywhere on the beach! We also saw a big (in comparison to the other crabs) blue crab in the water, as well as some fish that were right up in the shallow area, and even a little sting ray (glad we got out of the way in time for that… I’m going to make a habit of wearing water shoes in the ocean now haha.) I felt really lucky that we got to see all of that since we (I) really wanted to go snorkeling but we were told we couldn’t get snorkel gear from the hotel due to COVID-19. That was such a bummer because we have some here but we didn’t pack it because the hotel said they’d provide it! Oh well. 

Honestly that’s pretty much all we did. Eat, read by the pool, walk on the beach, repeat. It was a fantastic trip, and I loved spending time with my honey!

Annie Kids

Jenna and several of her friends (Lindsey Gardner, Clarissa and Audrey Williams, Anna and Evie Ence, and Sammy Smith) all did a two week summer camp at Broadway Bound Children's Musical Theater in Washington. Broadway Bound (CMT) took over "Brigham's Playhouse." This camp "Annie Kids" was for kids ages 5-12. As part of the camp they had a mini audition, rehearsals, and two nights of a thirty minute performance of Annie Jr. Their audition consisted of one line of singing a song. Jenna said that she did well singing the one line and so she was disappointed when she learned that she was cast as "Mrs. Pugh" (the maid) as well as the FBI agent working for the President. Neither part had any lines and Mrs. Pugh only had a very short one line solo. I understand her dismay since she has been singing solos for years and played the lead role of Jane in the High School play of Mary Poppins. 

Of course with this being such a young cast we knew that she would be too old to play Annie, or even an orphan, but she would have done a great job with roles such as Grace Ferrell, or Miss Hannigan. But her friend, Lindsey, got the part of Miss Hannagan, which was a natural role for her. She is tall and rambunctious and loud. All of Jenna's other friends got tiny little parts as well (except for Lindsey). But it was fun for these cute girls to do the play together. Although I wasn't too happy when I found out that not only did we have to pay the price of the camp (which was slightly pricey) we also had to pay $8.00 a ticket to go see "the show" at the end! I figured that the show would be included in the price! We went and watched it Friday night. I was going to go again Saturday night but then I was asked to speak in Stake Conference Saturday night instead! 

 

Snapshots for Distinguished Young Women