Happy Halloween!!

Jenna and her friends had planned to dress up as bikers for Halloween. The leather jacket is her cousin, Rella's, the red shirt is mine, the black heels are Jaiden's, and she just happened to find the black leather pants at "Nifty Thrifty" when she checked out the nearby store with Josh last Saturday. $2.00 and they fit perfectly! Lucky find! Jenna wanted to dress up for school and at first her friends were not going to, but she convinced them! She even got some tattoos from her friend to complete the look. Unfortunately she had a dress rehearsal for her play after school. She is Sleeping Beauty in the play, which is why her biker costume includes "princess hair." They were taking pictures for the play and made her scrub off the tattoos. But instead of coming off, they just left her arms covered with black spots. So they had to arrange the pictures so that her arms didn't show, ha ha!  

Halloween Night was pretty anti-climatic for me this year. Josh and Jenna were off with groups of friends and Rick was out of town and so I was home alone to pass out candy to the few groups of kids who actually come to our house. I had gone to the high school to pick up Jenna from her play rehearsal thinking it would get out on time  since it was Halloween. But I didn't realize that they had their first performance -- a matinee -- the next morning. So they got out late. I waited almost 45 minutes for them and almost gave up and went home when they finally got out around 6:40. Jenna doesn't have a phone and all of the doors to the high school were locked and so I couldn't go see where they were at in the rehearsal. 

After the rehearsal she had me drop her and Bria (also in the play) off at Grace's house -- which is close to Cynthia Lane. Cynthia Lane is pretty much a neighborhood carnival attracting people from all over. So we navigated slowly there amidst the crowds of people, only to find out that the girls were at Blackrock Park. So I drove back to the park and then dropped her and Bria off. At least I got a few group pictures in the process! (Jenna could have also passed for Sandy from Grease in this get-up!) 

After dropping off the girls, I went home to enjoy my relaxing evening at home. I did miss the good ole' days of trick-or-treating with my kids though. Our neighborhood has people who give out donuts, hot chocolate, soup, treats, and so on. I always enjoyed going out every year and visiting with my neighbors. I guess I could have just gone for a walk by myself, but it just isn't the same without having trick-or-treaters along! Some of Jase and Ellen's friends stopped by our house with their little girl and so it was fun to visit with them for a bit and a few group of kids. Josh and Jenna had fun with their friends and so all in all it was a nice evening! 

Normally I can never get any pictures of Josh in Halloween costumes, but his work (Tuacahn) required them to wear costumes on Halloween week and had a theme for each night, but I was actually able to get a few pictures this year! Check out his 70's outfit in the collage below (my shirt, Jenna's pants, his chain!) Jaiden had sent a few pictures from her group that attended "The Scream" and Grandpa Rick headed up north today for work and so he got to hold baby Eli and join Evan for his first time trick-or-treating! Janika and Brandon attended a Halloween work party earlier this week. I haven't heard if Jared or Janelle did anything to celebrate the holiday. Baby Eli was born two days before Halloween and so he gets an appearance on the Halloween Collage this year too! 

Josh with his fellow employees at Tuacahn...

 

Baby Eli is Here!!

Baby Eli is here!!

From Ellen's Facebook:

Meet our sweet Eli Dean Jensen! He was born at 11:49 this afternoon at 33 weeks and 6 days gestation. He weighed 4 lbs 3 oz and was 17 inches long - the same size as his big brother! He is doing great in the NICU. We are so in love with our sweet boy!

Eli with a CPAP like his Grandpa Jensen...

Neighborhood Chili Cook Off (Halloween Party)

Tonight was the annual Chili Cook-Off in the Bishop's Cul-de-sac -- lots of yummy food, dunk tank, painting pumpkins, games and more! Jenna got permission to leave her rehearsal for Into the Woods an hour early in order to go. She dressed like a princess in Janika's former prom dress and looked SO pretty! 

Janika wore this princess dress to her Senior Ball on April 14, 2012 and also when she won Santa Clara Princess April13, 2013! 

Clarissa also donned one of Janika's former dresses and looked very pretty also! Jaiden and Emily also went as princesses in 2019 and so I will include one of their pictures just for fun. Jenna is wearing high heels and so she is actually as tall as Clarissa in this picture! 

DYW Showcase

One of the responsibilities for the top five winners in the State Distinguished Young Women showcase is to return the next year to help out with the next year's showcase. I had an interpreter job this morning and another one in the afternoon, and then I grabbed Jaiden and we headed up north to Janika's house to spend the night. The next morning I brought her to the school where they were hosting the showcase (same place as last year) and then went to the Draper Temple for a session since it was only five minutes away. 

I came back later that night to watch the showcase. It was fun to watch -- I was surprised at some of the results! Jaiden's friend, Gwendolyn Dooley was on of the participants. They had a lot less girls than Jaiden's group last year -- only 17 girls as compared to 28 in Jaiden's group. Now I guess Jaiden is officially finished with her responsibilities. It was a lot of work being involved with Distinguished Young Women last year, but well worth it! 

Jaiden's write up in her letter to Janelle: 

On Friday I got up and got ready and then went to help at state! when I first got there they were doing a run through, so I just helped girls change into their various dresses or costumes throughout the show. I got to watch some of them perform and it was fun!! then we had lunch and it was such a blast getting to know all the girls, and seeing the girls from last year!!! after that we all started getting ready for the actual showcase and it was SOOO exciting!

I helped people get dressed and run through their self expression answers and stuff and being on the dressing room made me miss it Soo much!! like I wanted to go out on stage and perform haha! also they did the same fitness routine I did so I was like AHHH PTSDDDD but it was funny  the showcase ran really smooth and then I basically just had to go on stage and pass out awards and take pictures with the winners haha! it was really fun!! I was surprised by some of the winners honestly but I'm sure they will do great. 

After the showcase we went to Janika and Brandon's and ate dinner and I did some homework and then we went to bed! today we went to church and it was the primary program and it was SOO FUNNNN they let the kids write their own parts based on specific topics  and they had a Sunbeam sing a solo of I love to see the temple it was AMAZING it was so funnyyyy  she was adorable and pronounced half the words wrong lol....anyway we are just driving home right now so I should be back in cedar soon!!  And  Todd Christofferson is coming to speak to us tonight how exciting is that??? it's my first time seeing one of the apostles in person lol I'm stoked! I have three chem assignments to do by tonight which is also fun  but guess what?? it SNOWED LAST NIGHT!!! LIKE IN CEDAR!!! so I wasn't there but Emily said it was still snowing this morning and I'm SO EXCITED TO GO PLAY IN IT!! anywayyyy I hope you have a great week I love you tons!

Josh: United FC Soccer

Well, Josh just finished up another season of club soccer. They didn't do as well as last year. Last year they were undefeated and took first place. This year they lost a couple of games and tied a couple of games and ended up in third place (I think). Josh decided to continue the season by trying out for the Olympic Development Team (ODP). It was pretty expensive -- $565.00 ($65.00 for registration, $250.00 for the training sessions and uniforms, and $250.00 for the travel expenses for the regional championship tournament in Mesa, Arizona, which covers a few days. So far Josh really likes it and says it is fun being able to play with the top players from the area. I will give an update on ODP later, but for now here are a few pictures of his United team. 

 

Heading Home

Janika and Brandon arrived home from Hawaii very late Friday night and stayed over at Brandon's parent's house. Saturday morning they picked up Evan from Ellen's parent's house in order to babysit him for the day. Ellen was finally released from the hospital today since her contractions hadn't started up again. Tomorrow she will be 32 weeks and then she will be able to go to the Riverton hospital which is closer to their home when she goes into labor again. 

Josh and I played with Everett and Evan and then got ready to head back home. We picked up Jenna from the Westra's and drove the four hour drive home without incident -- although I was very tired! Rick would be arriving home from his cruise Sunday afternoon and I was looking forward to seeing him! 

Red Robin

After visiting Jase and Ellen's place we headed to Grandma and Grandpa Westra's house for a little visit and I found a bunch of photos on my phone afterwards and so apparently Jenna was doing a little photoshoot, ha ha, making memories of their home before they move. We were able to see all of the changes that Scott and Amy did fixing up the basement into a living space, and then we met up with some of the others for dinner at Red Robin!