Jensen Christmas Newsletter

 Merry Christmas to our family and friends!  

We hope this end of the year Christmas greeting update finds you well, healthy, happy, and full of life and hope. The world will sometimes have dark places, and unfortunately, as part of life, we get caught up in them. However, there is hope that the love of God can be bestowed on all of us.  Sometimes that love is more evident while experiencing trials. Sometimes it seems overwhelmingly evident even in the midst of what some call success. One thing that is for sure is that we are His children, and He loves us on such an incredibly deep level that we may not even understand it. It’s certainly one thing I (Rick) am trying to understand, even as I type this letter. I have seen God’s love poured down on our family, and on me personally, as we have gone through this last year. I’m so grateful for His love! 

This year we have seen many miracles, both with our jobs and with our family. I am still working for S&I (Seminary and Institute) in the ASL program. The program started up about two years ago and I have witnessed many miracles happen with our Deaf population. The numbers of Seminary students continue to grow and so do the numbers of Deaf adults who are involved in their own religious education classes.  Much of my time and energy has been focused on this wonderful cause and this year I had some great highlights. I was able to be involved with two Board of Accessibility meetings where I have met with General Authorities from our church, met with incredibly talented and capable Deaf chairs on that board, and participated in two of the six committees on that board. This year I also was able to take a trip to the Washington D.C. branch with Elder Peter Johnson, who is the Chair of the above-mentioned board.  He and I were able visit, minister, and work with the wonderful people in those areas.  It was an incredible learning experience for me! 

 

On another side of my career is the opportunity to go out and interpret. Both Wendy and I continue to interpret as much as we can because it is such a fulfilling occupation. Wendy is currently working as an interpreter and is also the interpreter coordinator at Utah Tech University. This year she also served on the language and translation sub-committee for the St. George Temple open house. She coordinated a special guided ASL tour for the Deaf Community and set up other tours for the Deaf Community on various days and evenings. She also coordinated three special tactile tours for the blind/visually impaired population and helped to coordinate volunteers and interpreters for people requesting language assistance in many foreign languages as well! This assignment has kept her extremely busy over the past year! She is grateful that the open house is finally complete, and the temple is now re-dedicated! She is thankful that she had the wonderful opportunity to be involved with this great work and is now hoping to take a few work cruises together to make up for lost time with her husband (or at least that is MY hope!) 😉 

 

Our family is growing, and our children have been able to accomplish some amazing things! 

 

Brandon and Janika: This year has had a lot of firsts for our sweet little Everett boy. Our baby has turned into a full-blown toddler who loves doing "zoomies" around the house, talks and talks and talks (especially during church or nap time) and can pound down adult portions of food and then some. He cracks us up and we have loved watching his sweet personality develop. He also loves being a helper, dancing, and playing with his cousins. Other highlights of the year: Brandon moved to a new company and now works remotely for Flex, a New York based company that helps people break up their rent payments. We had a fun getaway to New York in April and loved getting to see a couple of Broadway shows! Janika is still working part time as an elementary school counselor and feels like it's the best job. And the best highlight of all is that we've got another little BOY coming our way in April! We can't wait to meet baby brother! This year has included some ups and downs, but we've definitely seen God's hand in our lives the whole way. We feel very grateful for all of the blessings that have come right when we needed them this year. 

 

 

Jase and Ellen: We currently live in Herriman with our two boys, Evan and Eli. We enjoy being up north close to Ellen’s family and our careers. Jase works for Co-Diagnostics Inc where he has been for the past year and a half. He received a promotion this year and is now the formulation team lead. Ellen is a consultant for Cambridge Financial Group and has picked up many more assignments as part of her work there. Most exciting this year, Ellen will be graduating this December with her master’s degree in professional communications. She has already begun consulting for a few family and friend businesses and hopes to continue growing her opportunities once she finishes school this month. Evan is now 2 years old and enjoys playing with his brother Eli and spending time outside. Eli just turned 1 and has been crawling all over and getting so big! It’s been an enjoyable year for us to grow up as a family and we hope next year can be just as amazing!

Jared just graduated from Utah Tech University in Business Management. He is excited that this hurdle of education is finally over. However, that isn’t the big news for Jared. He was hired by S&I during the summer (even before his degree was finished) to teach full-time in Saratoga Springs. This career is EXTREMELY competitive to get into (I should know) and I’m so proud of him. I watched him teach this last year and saw what an incredibly gifted teacher he is. He’s used that skill with the kids and counselors at FSY this last year, with students in seminary, and will continue to use it with his own family.  He has a very active social life, and we are excited to see where this will lead!  

 

Janelle experienced the love of God this year in a myriad of ways. She returned home from serving a full-time mission to Taiwan and immediately started working for FSY (a job which she thoroughly enjoyed)!  During that time, she was able to get things settled for her schooling at BYU and get another job teaching at the MTC (another job that she thoroughly enjoys)!  In the midst of her busy schedule, she still manages to date QUITE often.  It’s great to hear about her dating stories with so many great young men.  She seems to attract winners, so we’re not worried about her prospects. Her only dilemma may be choosing which winner she wants. 😉 

 Click here for Janelle's Mission Video

Jaiden: This year flew by. It started off with me in college, and boy that feels like years ago! I was going on random little trips with my friends, working, and doing lots and lots of gym and library days. A gym and library day is where you go to the gym in the morning before class, then you go to the library to do homework for many many hours after your class. It's tons of fun! I was also preparing for my mission to Mongolia!! Never did I think would end up in Asia, but spoiler alert, I live here now and am writing this in the back of a shaky little taxi in the packed city of Ulaanbaatar! My summer was packed. I worked to save up for my mission, while spending all my free time with friends who were leaving on their missions too! My start date came all too quick, and I soon found myself at the Provo MTC. Little did I know that I would basically be moving in for a whole semester. Learning Mongolian is one of the hardest things I've ever done, but I had so many great experiences and made tons of friends in the MTC. I also became a certified English teacher so I can teach here in Mongolia!! My first transfer went by so fast, and I grew to love the people here in Enkhtaivan. I ate lots of animal fat, taught so many English and church lessons, saw cow heads on the side of the road, and continue to get called a Russian person on the daily. I just found out that I will be moving to Choibalsan this week!! So, I will be living in the countryside for Christmas!! I am so excited to see how goes and what this next year will bring!  Click here for Jaiden's Christmas message through song! 

Josh is a senior this year and is looking forward to graduating with a 4.0 like his sister Jaiden.  He is smart, athletic, has an incredible work ethic, and tries to show his love to his dear old dad by bringing home left-over candied nuts from his job at Tuacahn. He is extremely involved in soccer (both club and high school) and is looking forward to finishing up the year on the varsity soccer team. This year Josh and Jenna did a little traveling.  We first went on a family vacation cruise to Mexico.  Later on in the summer, they did the first leg of the Church History Tour with their cousins. That tour included New York down to Kirtland with a stop at Niagara Falls.   

 

Jenna is in 9th grade this year and seems to be the social light of middle school. She always has friends over for baking workshops, games, scream sessions (I’m not sure what they are doing, but there sure is a lot of noise coming from her area of the house), and movie parties. She is currently involved in dance, and voice lessons and loves to share her talents as she develops them. She is also extremely giving and observant, which is an incredible talent for a youth to obtain! She’s had to school her dad on a few occasions, and I’m grateful for the schooling. 😊 Though she isn’t looking forward to being an only child in the coming months, I’m sure her social skills will help her deal with the loss of all her siblings being there to hang out with.  

So, as you see, the term “God is Good,” does not adequately explain the number of blessings my family and I have received this year. He is much more than good. He is MAGNIFICENT! I certainly am grateful for His all-abiding love particularly at this time of year. John states it like this: “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:9-10)” I am sure grateful for that gift, and the love that so many of you have exemplified to my family and I in His behalf. We are certainly grateful for you! 

 

Love the Jensens  

Christmas!!

Christmas morning we headed out to Ogden to visit with Grandma Jensen and Gerilyn and other family members you were at the house. We opened presents from Grandma. She made these darling wooden gifts for Easter for the kids' hope chests. She also made a beautiful quilt for me and Rick. They had tons of food leftover from the party last night and we ate both lunch and dinner there and just visited throughout the day. We were also able to call Jaiden over zoom. Jaiden was bubbly and had lots to say and funny stories to share. She had us all laughing! 

We wanted to see Curtis and Steph while we were up there, but Steph wasn't feeling up to it, so we headed back to Shane and Alicia's just in time for a second dinner! I told them that we had already had dinner, but we managed to eat a little more, ha ha! Then the cousins hung out and played video games and some of us watched a Christmas movie. 

Westra Christmas Eve Party!

 I will add some details later, but here are a few pics! 

Early Christmas at the Airbnb

 this morning...

Early Christmas Eve at Airbnb

Our Christmas Eve was a little different this year. Usually we have our own Jensen Christmas Eve and Christmas Day celebration, and then hit the parties with the extended family. We still did that this year, but since most of our family lives up North now, we thought it would be easier to have us come to them instead of them come to us. So we rented an Airbnb in Provo and decided to do the festivities there. 

I was really looking forward to having almost the whole family together at an Airbnb where we could just get away and relax and spend time together. But then Jase texted the day before and said that he had just tested positive for Covid. We were SO disappointed and so were they. All of them ended up getting it and so their whole family was not able to come, which was so sad!!  

We drove up on Friday morning of the 22nd and arrived around 3:30.  The Airbnb wasn't as nice as it looked in the pictures, and so we were disappointed in that. It was okay, but a little run down and there wasn't as many beds as we thought. The biggest drawback was that were were no Christmas decorations up and so it didn't really seem like Christmas. I guess it makes sense that there wouldn't be, but I guess I sort of assumed that there would be at least a Christmas tree up.

Janika and Brandon met us there with all of the food. We ended up being an hour later than planned and a ham takes about three hours to cook, so dinner was a little on the late side since we were just waiting for the ham to finish. Dad gave a sweet little lesson that was mostly geared the Everett. He had everyone look around and find a "gift" to give to Jesus. Everyone scattered through the place and brought their "gifts." Then he talked about Jesus' gift to us and how He could fix people through His atonement. Then he had Everett open a gift, which was a little toy tool set so that he could fix things too. It was cute.

We had our dinner of ham, cheesy potatoes, vegies, rolls, salad, etc. and then did sibling gifts. Janika and Brandon gave Jase and Ellen's family a darling colored sensory bin filled with colored pasta and a variety of measuring cups to scoop it with. Ellen later said that her boys absolutely loved it and she send a cute video of them playing with it. The picture in the collage is just a representation of it. The one they made was a lot bigger than that. In fact, Eli kept climbing in it!

Jase and Ellen gave Jared a snuggie, which is one of those blankets that have sleeves so that you can put it on that Ellen had made. It looked awesome! Jared gave Janika and Brandon a coupon book offering to come babysit Everett and do some work at their house. They loved it! Janelle gave Jenna some homemade lip balm that she had made. That was awesome too. Josh gave Janelle a painting he had done (which I am pretty sure was kicking around his room for years) and some pictures. Janelle was a good sport about that gift, ha ha. Jenna gave Josh this container that you fill up with water and freeze to ice your face with, since he ices his face every night. It was inside a glass cup that had pictures all around it of Josh and Jenna together. He was excited about it. I think I got everyone! After that we just relaxed and then headed to bed! 

Wendy's New (used) Car: 2022 Toyota Rav 4 LE

Earlier this month my Subaru started making a rattling noise and felt like it was shaking when starting. I brought it to get checked out and they came back saying that it would cost $4200.00 to fix. We had already sunk a couple thousand a few months earlier. Since the car was only worth around $6K to $7K, we didn't think it was worth the repairs. 

So we shopped around and ended up buying a 2022 White Toyota Rav4 with 34,000 miles (or something like that). So far I love the car! The only issue that I have is that I have a harder time finding where I parked it since there are so many cars with a similar color and look. I always spotted my light blue subaru right off since it was more distinct. So now I have to pay even more close attention to where I park so that I am not walking around pushing the unlock button and listening for a "beep!" 

St. George Temple Re-Dedicated!!

What a special day! Rick and I brought Jenna and Josh to our stake center for the morning session of the St. George Temple Re-dedication. It was a wonderful meeting and I found myself constantly wiping my eyes! The youth speaker (a sophomore from our Stake) did such an amazing job! And the choir sang so beautifully! Several of them were from our stake. I cried when Elder Holland said that many were there at the temple from the other side of the veil, including his wife, Pat, and many of the original saints who sacrificed so much to build the original St. George temple. I cried during the hosanna shout and when we sang "The Spirit of God!" I think serving on the language committee the past nine months made seeing the re-dedication all the more exciting and special.

After the meeting we hurried home and ate a quick lunch and then Jenna and I headed over to the temple for the second session. Gina Gottfredson had been able to get two tickets for us to the re-dedication. Rick had a cold and didn't want to go to both sessions, but Jenna had agreed to go with me (which is pretty admirable, since it made for a long day). I was worried that the second session would have the exact same program as the first session, but thankfully it didn't. The choir, and the songs they sang, were all different. The speakers were all different too (except for Elder Holland, of course!) and they all did a wonderful job. Our friends, President Steve Caplin, and his wife, Toni, gave the prayers. President Caplin is in the temple presidency. The youth speaker (a young man this time) also did an amazing job. I love how they included youth in the meeting. I can't imagine how nerve-wracking it would be for this young woman and young man to be asked to speak at such a special, historical event, with an apostle present! 

We had a blue ticket (not a gold ticket) with general seating, and so we weren't in the actual room where the re-dedication was taking place (the assembly hall) but it was still inspiring to actually be in the temple for the re-dedication. We were in the third instruction room (the one with the red rock murals). We were right at the front and the broadcast on the screen was very big and clear. It was heart warming to watch Elder Holland walk in and shake everyone's hand as he passed them. He made it a point to shake the hands of the children he passed. He waved to everyone and blew kisses. His talk was so touching. He shared his strong background with this area and with the St. George temple and gave the historical background of how the temple came to be. He also gave the dedicatory prayer, and it was so beautiful! I am so grateful to have a working temple so close again!  

Milestones

9 November 1871Announced

9 November 1871Groundbreaking

6 April 1877Dedicated — dedicatory prayer

11 November 1975Rededicated — dedicatory prayer

10 December 2023Rededicated

Party at the Park (Happy Birthday, Rick!)

Janika headed up a little party for Dad to celebrate his birthday. They ordered a bunch of pizzas and then they "kidnapped" dad and blind-folded him and we all met at Vernon Worthen park. It was fun! The weather was being a little bipolar. Usually this time of year is beautiful in St. George, but the weather had turned cold and drizzly and was raining when we left. It stopped while we were at the park, but it was still cold. I was wishing I had brought a coat instead of just a sweatshirt. Boy, we really are wimps! Poor Jaiden is in sub-zero temperatures and we complain about temperatures in the high 40s. But the grandkids had a great time and we all loved playing with them -- and Dad loved the little surprise!! 

A little incident happened near the end of our stay. There was this man a ways off that was shouting all sorts of things, including profanities.  It was really unsettling. We quickly decided to leave since it was time to go anyway, but that sped up our departure. He started walking closer to the park and others there were getting nervous also. Several people called the cops and they came and arrested him. Brandon looked up local arrests later and found that the man had been arrested for drug use, drug paraphernalia and a few other things. Crazy! 

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! All of our children were able to come this year, except for Jaiden who is in Mongolia, but we were able to do a zoom call with her! Janelle came down with Jared. They arrived Tuesday night. Jared had a bunch of his friends over for SMASH that night. Then Wednesday Janika, Brandon, and Everett arrived in the afternoon and Jase, Ellen, Evan, and Eli arrived that night at 10:00 pm. 

On Wednesday Jenna made the gluten free pretzel-jello, four-step pudding dessert, and gluten free pumpkin bread with gluten free frosting. She was also going to make the yams that day, but Rick had pre-ordered and picked up the food and when we cut into the yams we noticed that they were white, not orange. This is what google said: 

• Orange sweet potatoes have more moisture, are orange-fleshed, and very sweet.
• White sweet potatoes are dryer, white-fleshed, mild in flavor, and slightly nutty.

I didn't want to mess up the recipe by trying something we hadn't tried before, and so Brandon picked up some yams at the store later than night since he was picking up some other things. (As a side note, when we have the grandchildren come we needed to remember to get WHOLE milk, since that is what they drink.  Another side-note: Check the ingredients on the gluten-free pretzels because the ones from Walmart had flax in and so Rick had to return them and get some from a grocery store instead.)

Janelle still had to work each evening (except for Thanksgiving day). But it is a blessing that she could do her classes through zoom and work from our house (since missionaries now do their first ten days of MTC over zoom from home, and so she was able to pick up a district who still doing home MTC. So she worked from 5:30 to 9:30 on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. She is also thrilled because she got a nice raise at the MTC! She was making $17.00 an hour and is now earning $21.00 an hour! 

Thursday most of us slept in and then I started cooking! Jenna made the yams. Normally Rick gets one big 25 pound turkey, but when he went shopping then didn't have those and so instead he got two smaller turkeys, 14-15 pounds each. So I cooked one in the oven and one in the electric roaster. I liked the one cooked in a turkey bag in the oven better, but Rick said he liked the one cooked in the roaster. Next year I want to get a wire meat thermometer so that I know when the one in the roaster is finished without lifting up the lid and letting out all of the heat. It cooked faster than I thought and so I left it in there on warm.

Another note is to start boiling the water for the potatoes earlier, because it always takes way longer than expected for such a big pot of water to start boiling! So next year I will plan to start that an hour before I expect the turkey to be done, instead of just a half hour. It still worked out fine because I pulled out the oven turkey when it was finished and covered it with foil and towels to keep it warm while I cooked the rolls and yams, so by that time the potatoes were finished. 

We made gluten free stuffing from a mix this time. It was good, but Jenna and I liked the homemade better. It is a lot of work to make though. I was expecting everything to be finished at 1:00, but it was closer to 2:00 when we finally finished everything and sat down to eat. Everything was a delicious though! I was very grateful for all of Jenna's help cooking! We had turkey, candied yams, stuffing, carrots, peas, corn, pretzel jello, and rolls. We had TONS of pies for dessert, and also the four-step pudding and the pumpkin loaf. I had gotten the free pumpkin pie from the realtor give-away that they do each year, but it didn't get eaten because everyone liked the other kinds of pies better. 

We started off the meal with everyone saying what they were grateful for and then we toasted with Martinellis. When it was time for Rick and I to speak we both became really emotional. We have been commenting lately on how incredibly grateful we are for our many blessings! Rick opened up a letter and started reading, "Brother and Sister Jensen, you are hereby called to serve..." I think he might have fooled some of the family members except for the fact that they could see the "Deseret First Credit Union" logo through the paper, and they could also tell by my face that he was totally lying. So he laughed and then went on to read the letter from the credit union. He was emotional again and his hands were totally shaking! 

He then read the letter basically stating that our house had been paid in full. Yep! Our house is officially paid off! We paid it off last month, but wanted to wait until we had the family together to make the announcement. We even did Dave Ramsey's, "I'm debt free" yell, ha ha!! The family was all very surprised and thrilled for us! After we ate the boys cleaned everything up. Jared and Josh had been out playing pickle ball in the morning and hadn't helped with any of the food preparation. 

Then we called Jaiden and had a great visit with her! Rick did the same announcement, again announcing our "mission call," except he kept going, announcing that we had been called to Mongolia. She totally fell for it and was freaking out and starting to cry. Then we felt bad and quickly pack-pedaled to say that we hadn't really been called on a mission, let alone Mongolia. Then he did the "real" announcement and she said, "I remember you saying that when you got the house paid off you would take us all on a Disney Cruise!" Rick said that he had no recollection of such a promise!! 

After the call with Jaiden we went to do our "jump into leaves goals!" Rick raked the leaves into a pile and brought out the bubble gun he had purchased at an auction and then each of the kids stated a goal for the year before jumping into the leaves. We filmed the event and took pictures and then went on a short walk around the Santa Clara town hall. Then we came back for dessert!! 

Tonight we rented "The Barbie Movie." I had been really excited to see it. Most of the kids had already seen it in the theaters, but Janika, Brandon, Janelle, and I hadn't seen it. Rick didn't want to watch it and just went in his room and watched one of his Masterpiece Theater shows, ha ha. The movie was cute,  but I was starting to get tired from the day's events and hadn't had my typical Thanksgiving-Day nap,  and so I started falling asleep during it. I hate it when I really want to watch a movie but can't stay awake! After the movie I ended up staying late and was just fine, but it is just the fact that I am sitting still, passively watching (or reading) something that I fall asleep! Josh said that the Stereotypical Barbie in the movie looked liked Jaiden, ha ha! Well, she did dress up as Barbie to go see the movie before her mission!  All in all it was a great day! 

Sadies, Josh

Josh went to Sadies with Bridget Layton. They are good friends and have been out a few times, and Josh said that it was a lot of fun. For their day-date they painted their shoes to coordinate with their sweatshirts. They turned out great! The dance was supposed to be outside, but they thought it would rain and moved it into commons area in the school. I can't remember what else they did on the date, I will have to ask Josh! 

ASL Temple Tour

Tonight was out last ASL temple tour! We had groups scheduled for 5:00, 6:00, and 7:00. This was smaller than the last two times, which was expected since it was on a Monday night. We still had a good turn out though! We had about 35 people come at 5:00, 4 come at 6:00. and 10 or so come at 7:00. We had lots of interpreters volunteer also: me, Cassie, Amanda, Andrea, Kelly, Ben, Allyson, and Macie. 

We gathered each group together in one of the language rooms at the stake center and then Cassie Riding and I brought the first group through the temple. Ben Ballard brought the second group through and Cassie and I brought the third group through It was fun to meet new people and to see some old friends that I knew clear back from Utah State University! Saturday is the last day of the open house!! 

Weekly Update

Wednesday Nov. 1: I worked out this morning. I still do my two mile walk, but have started to do small weights also. I bought some ten pound dumbbells for my workout and was really sore later! I interpreted at the University and got a lot done because it is a class that doesn't require a lot of interpreting and so I bring my laptop and work on administrative stuff for my job (calendaring and timecards). Jenna had a YW activity -- a movie party at Christine France's house. 

Thursday Nov. 2: This morning I interpreted two classes at the University and then since I was already on campus I decided to go to Rick's Institute class for the deaf. It was the first class in a five week series and so I thought I would go offer my support. He basically said that I wasn't invited because I was too old, ha ha, but he would let me stay since I was his wife. Gee thanks, ha ha! The class was good and I was able to visit with some people that I haven't seen in a while. The class is during lunch and so I had strongly recommended that he bring in food, saying that people would be more likely to come. He had a really good turn out! It was pizza so I couldn't eat it and had to get some snacks from the front desk of the Institute because I hadn't eaten all day and was very hungry! Later that night Jenna went to dance and I interpreted a class at the University. 

Friday November 3: I interpreted for a family at the temple open house. Rick left early in the morning to head to SLC for meetings and then to Washington DC for the weekend! Josh and Jenna were out with friends and I enjoyed having the house to myself! 

Sunday 5: It was a pretty uneventful weekend. I made home-made chicken soup and organized the photos from the year for the annual Christmas slideshow. Sunday we went to church and the kids' had an appointment with the Bishop. Jenna and I organized all of the cards and friendship bracelets from the camp service project last summer, getting them ready to give out. I brought Jenna out for driving practice. Driving with my teenagers is always so stressful, ha ha! 

Happy Halloween!!

Halloween (which fell on Tuesday this year) was uneventful. We got ZERO trick-or-treaters come, ha ha! We never get many, but at we usually at least get a few! I wasn't feeling very well and just worked on the computer. Jenna went with friends to Cynthia Lane. Josh went and watched a movie with friends. Jenna and her friends: Bria Thompson and Claire McCoy dressed as Kiss, Marry, Kill (which I had never heard of, but is some kind of party game or something)! 

Cute announcement from Janika and Brandon! (Due in April!)

Look how cute these turned out!! (Evan and Eli photos taken by Ellen's sister Lexie!)

Beware of water, snow, and wheelchairs: Jensen Weekly

Here are some of the happenings for this week in the Jensen household!! 

Ellen came down with her family for their Fall Break. They stayed at an Airbnb for the week. Jase came and joined them on Thursday night and we celebrated Eli's first birthday over the weekend with a barbeque and family and friends! Happy Birthday, Eli!!!

Jared had come down for his Fall Break last weekend, and is back to work and school this week. I didn't get any pictures from him this week, sorry! 

Janelle is loving teaching at the MTC and had her first district come and go! She came down with Logan for the weekend to attend her friend, Anika Boettcher's wedding. She and Logan went to the temple open house while they were here. 

Jaiden arrived in Mongolia!!! We are grateful that she and the other members of her district arrived safely!! We are excited for her P-Day so that she can catch us up on everything! The tidbit I did hear was that all of the missionaries had to go to the hospital to get x-rays and blood drawn to make sure they don't have TB or something!  

Josh is in the middle of Water Wars at the high school. Water Wars is not an official high school activity, but a student run event that lasts several weeks -- or until there is only one team left. The students choose others to be on their team and then they pay a combined amount of $20.00 for their team of around four people. It seems like practically the whole student body is involved. They all get wrist bands and have very specific rules to follow. They get members of opposing teams out by squirting them with a squirt bottle. 

Each team has to get someone from a different team "out" during the week or their whole team is out. Each person who gets another person out has to catch it on video so that they have proof. Inside the school or church is off limits, but inside someone's home is not. The winning team gets all of the money, and it is like $2000.00 or something! So it gets extremely competitive!! Josh carries around a squirt bottle wherever he goes and makes us lock the doors whenever he is home. I remember Jared being involved in this also, so apparently it has been going on for years! 

We are constantly getting emails saying that more volunteers are needed at the temple open house. It was Josh and Jenna's turn last Saturday.  The other available times for them were either during school or during evenings when Jenna had dance and Josh had work, and so we had grabbed the only Saturday shift for shoe-coverers that was assigned to our Stake. 

They had both signed up to be shoe-coverers, but then someone there assigned Josh to wipe down the wheels of visitors in wheelchairs, which apparently wasn't nearly as fun as putting shoe covers on people's feet. We were glad that they could serve, but sad that their service time ended up at the same time as Eli's birthday party. They would have loved to be there for the party, but they had signed up two months ago and we didn't feel right about backing out at the last minute. Jenna said it was fun and offered to come again. 

Josh came home completely grumpy and hangry. The shifts are almost four hours long and Josh was tired and starving. It was almost time for them to finish their shift and Josh was counting down the minutes when he was asked to push an older lady in a wheelchair through the entire tour -- tacking on an extra hour to his shift. He apparently accepted, but very begrudgingly! The others couldn't find him and had to wait the extra hour for him as well. Luckily we had extra hamburgers and hotdogs from the party waiting for the kids when they got home! 

Saturday night Josh went to his soccer Halloween party. He said it was fun but he was disappointed that he didn't win any big prizes. Josh got sick the next day -- he went to church, but soon after he was complaining of fever and chills, and was blowing his nose and sleeping all day. He said that it must have been from wiping down all those wheelchair wheels yesterday -- or the party outside in the freezing cold -- or a combination of both. Rick sang in church -- his arrangement of "Did You Think To Pray." It was so beautiful!!

Josh stayed home from school because of his illness. He also missed his last soccer game, which is okay with me because the weather suddenly turned cold tonight. We had our ward Halloween party and chili cook off. (Chili, dunk tank, cake walk, pumpkin painting...). Jenna dressed up as a devil for the party and her friend Clarissa dressed up as an angel. Josh managed to feel well enough by that time to at least go try a few bowls of chili. When I got home he and several of his friends were in the house saying that they couldn't leave or someone might "get them out" (water wars). They eventually left. 

I had tried a couple of bowls of chili at the Fall Carnival and then brought Jenna shopping for her Halloween party -- nothing like waiting until the last minute! We went to several stores looking for a red dress for her costume (Kiss, Marry, Kill) and having no luck I put a request out on our RS GroupMe chat asking if anyone had a dress she could borrow and soon had the perfect dress. 

I started to feel sick while we were shopping and realized that I was having an allergic reaction to something I ate at the party. My chest hurt and the skin around my eyes swelled up. This is the second time that has happened. It happened a couple of months ago the day before we left to bring Jaiden to the MTC after eating some soup at a work meeting and it took two full days for the swelling to completely go away. It has been the same this time. It is so frustrating -- and I don't even know what is causing it! (This one took three days for the swelling to completely subside!) I also feel like I am coming down with whatever Josh had and am praying that I don't get sick! Rick is going to Washington DC with Elder Peter Johnson this coming weekend for Seminary and Institute recruitment and so we are praying he stays healthy too.