2025 Jensen Slideshow!

We have a really neat Christmas Eve tradition on the Westra side of the family where we show a video slideshow recapping the year. This tradition has been going on for the last twenty years! The videos have typically been done by my sister, Jen Blackham. She has done an AMAZING job with this and the videos are priceless keepsakes! We have all of the videos on Dropbox and on YouTube. 

This tradition will continue with the Westra family, but now that our immediate family is getting so big, I want to start the tradition of also making a recap video of our immediate family as well, that we will show at our own Christmas Eve festivities. Thank you, Jaiden, for putting together our first slideshow!! I hope this tradition continues for years to come! 

Jensen Christmas Newsletter 2025

 At this Christmas time we wish to express our gratitude for all of our you, our dear family and friends! Thank you for loving and supporting us and our family! We have seen so many blessings this year and are filled with gratitude for our Heavenly Father and for our Savior, Jesus Christ. 

Rick is continuing in his job as the ASL coordinator and advisor for the Seminaries and Institutes throughout the US and Canada. It has been so exciting to see all of the progress that is happening with the program! When he isn't working at his full-time job, Rick will often interpret in the community. His favorite kind of interpreting is on a cruise ship! I continue to work as an ASL interpreter in many different capacities including university, theatrical, medical, community, and sometimes even cruise interpreting whenever Rick can get me to join him!

In January we were blessed with our fifth grandbaby -- our first girl!! Baby Elsie is so adorable and everyone loves doting on her! 

In February, our daughter, Jaiden, finished her mission. It was wonderful to be able to see her again in person and hear about all of her adventures in Mongolia! You can listen to her missionary podcast HERE!

In March we brought Jaiden and Jenna on a cruise to Mexico! 

In June we had our traditional "Father's Day Flee." This year we decided to do something a little different, and went camping at the Crazy Cow Adventure family farm in Samaria, ID. We had a wonderful time and definitely want to return! 

Last summer Rick and I had the amazing opportunity of participating in the Pioneer Trails Workshop, sponsored by S&I. We followed the pioneer trails from Nebraska back to the Salt Lake Valley. This was an incredible, spirit-filled trip. 

In September I went on a girls' hiking trip to Capitol Reef with friends from the interpreting and deaf community. We hiked over 24 miles total. I felt pretty proud of myself for keeping up, especially since I was the oldest one in the group, ha ha!  

This year Rick and I went on a few cruises and visited: Aruba, Bonaire, and Grand Turk. We also went to Cabo, Ensenada, and Cozumel. Another cruise brought us to Canada. Rick went to several other places on work cruises on his own while I held down the fort at home! 

Now on to the kids!! 

Janika and Brandon: To be quite honest, I think our biggest highlight of 2025 was Callan learning to sleep through the night. We spent every spare moment of 2025 sleeping, and goodness, it was needed. Another big change was that due to some district changes, Janika switched schools to be the elementary school counselor at a school a bit closer to home. Leaving her 850 little friends at her previous school was heartbreaking, but she's quickly making about 650 more and still feels like this is the best job for her. Brandon is still working remotely for Flexible Financial and has been promoted to Revenue Operations Manager. Everett is three and a half and has been recognizing letters and numbers like crazy. He loves all things Spiderman, loves to read stories, and his imagination is exploding. Callan is 20 months and is still the teeniest little thing. I think the latest measurements have him in the .1% for height (a big jump from the last measurement of .07%). Callan loves to sing and dance and wants to be doing everything his brother is doing. Overall, we just feel so grateful to be doing life with the most wonderful support system and the sweetest little boys! 

Jase and Ellen: Another wonderful year has flown by for our little family! The biggest highlight was welcoming our baby girl, Elsie, on January 10th—she has been the sweetest addition and is already adored by her big brothers. Evan turned 4 this year and is our enthusiastic helper, always ready to ride his bike, dive into crafts, or show off what he’s learning in preschool. Eli is now 3 and proudly proving his independence every day. He loves playing with both his siblings, eating all the snacks he can find, and he officially became potty trained this year! In March, Ellen started a new job as the Marketing Director for Liberty Village, a nonprofit in Hurricane, which brought our family to sunny St. George. Jase wrapped up his job to become a stay-at-home dad and also began working part-time at VASA KidCare, where the kids get to tag along. It’s been a year full of big changes, new adventures, and so many sweet moments, and we feel incredibly grateful for all the love and blessings in our home.

Jared and Hallie: 2025 is the year of all years. Two newlyweds looking forward to the future, and MAKING OPPORTUNITIES! This year Hallie and I both turned 25, officially one year from paying our own health insurance :( but I am still teaching seminary now at Skyridge (only to find out I’m going back to Westlake), and Hallie got a job as a school counselor in Eagle Mountain! We’re both officially adults with adult jobs. Because I wasn’t fully ready though for a boring adult life, I decided to invest thousands of dollars (with Hallie’s permission) into DJ equipment, and thus a wedding DJ business was born! So, Hallie is working two jobs (her school and the restaurant Tucanos) and I’m working two jobs to keep up with her. It’s been a grind but we’re at a time of our life when we can do it.  We had the time of our lives as FSY session advisors as well as taking a trip to Florida to visit Hallie’s mission. (My mission is next year). It was a great year!

Janelle and Bryton: This was a wonderful year for us!! Bryton and I have been married for a whole year now and couldn’t be happier. Bryton got into the Information Systems Junior Core and has been loving this semester’s classes!! He worked at a solar engineering company for most of the year, and recently began a remote position at a small healthcare company, doing anything and everything technology-related in order to build the business. He is loving it! He also got hired to begin an additional remote job teaching kids in Singapore how to use AI, and will begin that officially in January. I have been loving my classes, majoring in Psychology and now officially minoring in Chinese. For most of the year I have been working as an RBT at the Kids On The Move Autism center, and within the next few weeks will start an additional job as a research assistant for a Chinese study. We were able to have several adventures this year. In October we ran a half marathon which was great! We jumped off of some cliffs at Lake Powell and got to go camping a bunch. We have loved our first full year married, and can’t wait to see what the next one brings!!

Jaiden: This year was busy busy busy. I started off the year in beautiful Mongolia! My favorite place ever!! Then in February I returned home from my mission - to my second favorite place ever. I quickly was kept busy by working as a paraprofessional for a special needs class at an elementary school! Then I soon spent my summer working for FSY! I was a counselor and an Assistant Coordinator, and I loved every second of my crazy, exhausting, spirit-filled summer. As things with the summer settled down I went back to school. I am at Southern Utah University studying elementary education in hopes to become a kindergarten teacher! When I’m not in class you’ll find me at the library, the gym, working in the Cedar City temple, in Provo visiting my boyfriend (soon to be fiance), or in my roommate’s room yapping her ear off!! As for next year, I have quite the exciting lineup planned so stay tuned!! 

Josh: Josh is currently serving his mission in Korea. He loves Korea and has even learned some killer K-Pop dance moves! At the beginning of 2025 Elder Jensen was serving in the YSA in Gangnam with Elder Velazquez. February brought a transfer to Sokcho, serving with Elder Morris. He loved Sokcho and served there several months. In June Elder Jensen became a district leader and was the second trainer for Elder Fellars. In August Elder Jensen was transferred to Songpa, with Elder Beardall. September brought a new assignment as an SNS Elder, serving with Elder Ejercito. He then transferred to Chuncheon and became a trainer to Elder Simmons. Elder Jensen is currently serving as Zone Leader in this area. You can read about Elder Jensen’s missionary experiences HERE!

Jenna: Oh boy this year has been crazy! I started off the year by snowboarding a couple of times, and it was so much fun! For spring break, I went on a cruise to Mexico with my family!  I still work at Tuacahn and this summer I got another job for the city as a lifeguard. I had so much fun at FSY and girls’ camp!! I also got my wisdom teeth out, which was a very weird and painful experience. The highlight of my summer was going to Lake Powell with all of my friends!! It was probably the best experience I have ever had!! This summer was definitely one to remember! Too bad it was ruined by starting my junior year. I decided to take a ton of CE and AP classes, which are hard, but I am glad I took them. In the fall I went to the coral pink sand dunes twice. This year I continued singing with the Madrigals and dancing at Southwest Dance. It was a great year!

As you can see, we have been extremely blessed! We are grateful for all of the tender mercies that our Heavenly Father has blessed us with and look forward to the years to come! 

Early Christmas Eve and Christmas!!

We had a fun Christmas with the family! We rented an Airbnb in Orem. It was a spacious house with seven bedrooms and so we had a room for every couple and a room for Jaiden and Jenna to share and one where Evan and Eli could sleep. The other grandkids slept in the same room as their parents. The master bedroom and bathroom were huge with a gigatic shower with shower heads on the walls and ceiling. Some of the other rooms were pretty small, but that's okay, as it allowed everyone to have their own sleeping space. 

There was a big backyard with a trampoline, basketball area, and playground for the kids. I booked the place clear last August and at the time I didn't know if it would be much too cold for the playground in December, but the weather was unseasonably warm for this time of year. It felt like St. George weather! So the kids were able to play outside for hours! The adults also had a great time playing speed on the basketball court! 

I liked the Airbnb, but they it wasn't stocked very well and so that was frustrating. Things they didn't have that I wished they had was: cooking spray, kitchen scissors, shampoo and conditioner, hair dryer, scrubbers to wash the dishes wish etc. But I liked the house and neighborhood and I think I would return. I would just make sure to bring a bunch of extra stuff from home. From staying in past Airbnb homes I have learned that I need to bring tinfoil, plastic wrap, ziploc bags, more wash cloths and dish towels (they NEVER have enough) and specific cooking thing if needed. Now I need to add shampoo and conditioner and bars of soap to the list. 

We checked in right at 4:00. The host's name was Forrest and he was very responsive. In fact he was there bringing some new pans and hot pads because apparently people walk off with stuff like that. Maybe that is why they keep supplies at the bare minimum! We fixed dinner, which always takes longer than we anticipate. The cheesy potatoes always take way longer than I think they will. I need to up the temperature and cook them without the foil because it seems to cook faster that way. 

We had everyone bring things for the dinner this year and that really helped things go more quickly and smoothly. We had a delicious dinner of ham (Brandon cooked on his smoker at home and then brought), cheesy potatoes (Janika made), salad, veggies (Ellen made), rolls, martinellis with "Better Than Sex Cake" for dessert -- one regular and one gluten free (made by Janelle and Bryton). Although apparently they didn't think it was really better than sex and so they changed the name to "Love Cake," ha ha! Jared kind of got in trouble with the family for booking a DJ gig tonight and promised not to do that next year! So he and Hallie didn't arrived until 7:45 missing the dinner, lesson, and part of the sibling gifts. 

After dinner we cleaned up and then Rick gave a little lesson upstairs in the theater room. He always does a great job with that. This one included an object lesson using some clay face masks, relating it to the healing and cleansing power of atonement of Jesus Christ. He gave everyone face masks that they would put on later. Then we did the siblings gifts. The only rule for the sibling gift is that they have to make the gift. The gifts have gotten better and more creative through the years. 

Jenna's gift to Jaiden was a hair kit. She designed a box and put together a tutorial -- both written and video that included instructions on how to improve your hair. Then she had a bunch of hair products. She really spent a lot of time on it and it turned out really cute. Jared and Bryton made Jenna a bunch of homemade scrunchies, which turned out really cute! 

Jaiden made a funny video for Jared and Hallie about Jared's life as a Jedi. She spent 5 or 6 hours making it. It was super cute and creative! We all watched it up in the theater room and everyone got a big laugh out of it. 

Jared gave Janika and Brandon a card saying that they would babysit their kids for a night out and included a gift card to Costa Vida. Jase and Ellen made Janelle and Bryton a darling coloring book. They had taken several pictures of Janelle and Bryton and changed the pictures to drawing that they could color. It was super cute! Janika and Brandon made darling crayons in the shape of letters for Evan, Eli, and Elsie. That was super fun too. We were so impressed with everyone's gifts! 

After sibling gifts the kids went to bed and the adults stayed up and played games. We played a game called ..... which we enjoyed. Then Rick put out gifts and went to bed and the girls and I put out the stockings. 

The next morning the kids were up early, but their parents kept them entertained with a movie in the theater room. We all joined them around 8:30 and went down for stockings and presents! Christmas is always more fun when there are young children and it was fun watching the grandkids open their gifts! 

Giving beef stew is a kind of a funny family tradition that has occurred on and off through the years. The kids always loved beef stew and always begged their dad to buy it. But he said it was too expensive and only would get it if it was on a good sale. So he would add it to their stockings and easter baskets (if he found a good sale) and they were always so excited to get their very own beef stew! So apparently there was a sale recently and so he got some for the kids. We were happy that the airbnb had a Christmas tree! 

I loved the gifts that the kids got us. They had a really funny group text where they exchanged ideas back and forth. Janika showed me their chat and I got a good laugh out of it! Jenna told them all of the things that were broken in our kitchen and so they decided to get replacements for all of those things, which was a great idea and perfect gift! We have two spatulas at home -- one of which is melted and the other which sheds plastic. So they got us a new set of spatulas. 

We keep using broken wire whisks with no handles and missing wires, and so they got us new wire whisks. It is funny, because it would have been easy enough for us to replace all of these things, but I just don't think about it or get around to it! Our rice cooker has a missing foot and so we have to balance something under it on one side. So they got us a rice cooker. We have this big tupperware bowl and lid, which I got at a garage sale probably over 25 years ago. I love that bowl and lid and use them all of the time. Well, the lid finally cracked on one side a year or so ago, and so I added some duct tape to it to hold it together. Well, Janika did some digging and found the exact bowl and lid set (now vintage) on ebay and bought it for us. I was pretty excited about that!

Jase had mentioned in the text list that we only have like three spoons and that he was pretty sure his boys took two of the three spoons to the sandbox! We do have more than three, of course, but can never seem to find them. So they got us two boxes of new utensils and a utensil holder and organizers for our drawers. Our electric knife recently gave out and so we had no electric knife to carve the turkey last Thanksgiving. So an electric knife was also included in the package!! Janika also got a rug to replace our old, worn out rug by our front door. I am a very practical person and so I was thrilled that every gift was something that we needed! 

After gifts we hung out with the kids outside and Rick and I went for a nice walk. The kids enjoyed the tramp and playground and the adults enjoyed playing basketball. Kind of a funny story... after everyone had been playing outside for a while Janika said she could smell gas. Several other people said that they could smell it too. It was sort of on and off. She was really nervous about it and wanted us to contact the host and also the non-emergency number for the city. 

So I contacted the host and he said he would come over and check it out. Janelle called the city and they sent the fire department over. So the host comes over and then a fire truck with two firemen all decked out in their fire fighter clothes. A few neighbors came out wonderining what was going on. They brought their sensors all around the backyard and neighbor's yard but couldn't find any indications of any problems. The poor host was probably wondering what he had gotten himself into by renting his property to us. It was a little embarrassing. But the fire fighters gave fire hats to the grandkids and they were in heaven and wore them the rest of the day! 

Well, a couple of hours later Janika starts cooking the potatoes and apparently the oven was dirty and smoke starts pouring out from the oven, setting off a very loud fire alarm! No, we didn't call the fire department, but apparently the fire alarm notifies the home owner who texted me to say that he disabled the fire alarm and wanted to know if everything was okay! 

After dinner and dessert we played games and then just stayed up and talked. It was just so fun to be together. Little Elsie didn't want to miss out on any of the fun and stayed up with all of the adults. She didn't seem to be the least bit tired! 

Rick got the grandkids a really fun racetrack, similar to the one our kids had growing up. They absolutely loved it and it kep them entertained for hours!! 

Thursday morning I went for a nice walk and then we just packed and cleaned up and headed out! Then Rick, Jenna, Jaiden, and I went to Janika nad Brandon's and tended Everett and Callan so that Janika and Brandon could go out to lunch at Tucanos. They chose Tucanos since Hallie was working there all day. Then we all headed to the Westras for the Westra Christmas Eve party!! 

Christmas Sacrament Meeting Program

We had a beautiful Christmas program!! I am the music coordinator for our ward and so I am very invested in the Christmas program, and so I am glad it went so well! Our "temporary" ward Christmas Choir sounded awesome!! I tried to record the song that Jenna, Jaiden, and Emily sang, but the app decided to malfunction at that moment. Sad!! It was beautiful though! Rick and I both sang in the choir (Rick took some convincing, but I am glad that he gave in.) Jaiden also sang in the choir!

1 Opening Song: “Away in a Manger,” with the ward choir. (Congregation come in on the third verse).  

2 “Witness of Christmas,” Sung by the Primary. Accompanied by Reagan Tachiini. Led by Sophie Rees.  (This was absolutely darling! Three little girls sang little solos at the end and it was so cute!)

3  “O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” sung by Alivia Jackson. Accompanied by Brooke Ence (Beautiful!!)

4 “If I was There,” sung by Paige Allred, Ethan Allred, and Chay Gubler, with Drue Ence on the violin and Josh Allred on the cello. Accompanied by Rebecca Gulbranson. (Drue and Paige wrote this song and it was gorgeous!)

5 Youth reciting “The Living Christ” (The Bishopric asked four young men and four young women to each recite a part. It was nice having the youth involved and I liked the variety of having different speakers).

6 “What Child is This,” sung by Jenna & Jaiden Jensen, and Emily Williams. Accompanied by Rebecca Gulbranson. (GORGEOUS!!! Jenna was really worried since she has been sick for the past week, including losing her voice, but the song sounded beautiful!)

7 “Peace, Peace, Peace,” sung by the Ward Choir. Accompanied by Jennie Rowan, led by Rebecca Gulbranson (Beautiful song!)

8 “Oh Holy Night,” sung by the Ward Choir. Soloists Jenna Jensen and Ethan Allred. Congregation join in when indicated. (One of my favorite songs! Jenna and Ethan did a nice job on the solo parts!)  

 
9 Closing Song: “Hark, the Herald Angels Sing,” with Shauntel Anderson on the organ, Rebecca Gulbranson on the piano.
(Such a powerful number!! The piano is extremely fast and complicated. Add the organ and congregation and this song is thrilling! I loved singing to this!! )

I pride myself on planning a program that ends on time (I hate when programs go over!) But we had a last minute addition to the program, which pushed us over by five minutes. But it was a beautiful number and a nice addition!

Interpreter Christmas Party

Rick sometimes complains that all of the interpreter/Deaf get-togethers are only for the girls (Girls' Night Out, Girls' Christmas Party, Girls' Hiking Trip, Girls' Camping Trip...) So he said he wanted to host an interpreter party for the interpreters AND their spouses!! We kept this one only for the interpreters, and not the Deaf, because we knew the spouses wouldn't come if the party was all in sign language! Those who came were Kelly and Curt Bunting, Andrea and Ben Luikart, Rick and I, Shauna Evans and Cari Shakespear (they both came without their husbands and so they are pretending to be a couple in this picture, haha), and Tiffany and PC Harding. 

Rick fixed a delicious salmon dinner with potatoes and vegies. Others brought side dishes and dessert. Ben brought his own food because he hates salmon. We will have to remember to fix something else next time! We tried playing a game that Tiffany brought, but it was complicated enough that no one picked up on it very well -- partly because we were all distracted and wanting to visit. If we do a game next time we might have to choose something that doesn't require any kind of concentration, haha! Several couples stayed and visited for quite a while. It was fun to get together! 

Jenna: Madrigal Salt Lake Trip

Jenna went to Salt Lake for the Madrigal Christmas trip the past couple of days and I also had the opportunity to go as a chaperone. I am really grateful that I had the opportunity to go. I have never been on the Madrigal Salt Lake trip before and I really enjoyed it! This would be my last opportunity to go and so I am glad that Mr. Moore approached me about it. 

The Madrigals met at the high school at 3:00 to head up on a school bus. I rode up with my friend Amy Ence, the other chaperone. It was really fun to visit on the way there and back. We left a half hour after the kids did, but still caught up with up them when they stopped for dinner in Fillmore. The kids continued on to SLC where they went ice skating at the Gallivan Ice Skating Rink. It was really cold. I told Jenna that she should bring a nice coat, beanie, and gloves, but she didn't listen and only brought a hoodie, so she probably froze!  

While they went ice skating Amy and I stopped in South Jordan for dinner. Amy was meeting up with some family members and so I had her drop me off at Texas Roadhouse. I got a grilled chicken salad and it was delicious. Then we headed to the Hampton Inn in downtown Salt Lake arriving shortly before the kids. Jenna said that she and Anna stayed up and listened to a scary podcast and then had to watch a Hallmark move after that to get their mind off the podcast. So they were up until 3:00 a.m. apparently, which was definitely not a good move and left them very tired the next day.

Tuesday we had breakfast at the hotel and then we all rode on the bus to the Hartvigsen School, which is a school for special needs students. I guess Mr. Moore had ordered teddy bears for the Madrigals to pass out to all of the kids, but they didn't arrive in time, so that's too bad. But the show went well and they were able to carol to some of the classrooms after. 

Then we all headed to the State Capitol Building and took a bunch of pictures and then did a concert. The accoustics were awesome and I was able to get some good videos. Then we stopped at an area where there were lots of restaurants. Jenna, Anna came with Amy and I to Cafe Zupes. I got a yummy salad. Then we all went to Trader Joes. Who knew that Trader Joes would be such a highlight of the trip, ha ha. They carry lots of yummy gluten free food and Jenna came away with a whole bag filled with snacks. 

We then went to the Joseph Smith Building. That is such a beautiful building! The set up was kind of weird though because they were singing up on the balcony with the audience below on the first floor looking up. I stayed on the second floor and walked around to the other side where I had a more eye level view. It was a bit of a rough performance. Jenna said that it was so hot and so they all felt like they were going to pass out. 

Rick met us here for that performance since he was also in Salt Lake for some work meetings. He had come up on Sunday and then stayed with him mom in Ogden and had meetings all day. He brought his mom out to dinner for a belated birthday gift and went to visit Tanner Wittwer in Primary Children's Hospital. He became very sick a week ago and they found a brain tumor. He is only 15. It is so heartbreaking! Since Rick was going up we asked the RS presidency if they wanted to send up a care package. They put together a huge basket filled with books and fruit and treats and other items as well along with a minky blanket. When Rick arrived Tanner's parents had just learned that Tanner would require surgery. We are praying so hard for him! 

Rick had to teach a class over zoom tonight and so he planned to stop in the seminary building in Fillmore to do that. So he had to rush out right after the performance.  After the performance we all went and looked at the candy display in the Macy's windows, were which so exquisite and amazing! They have these HUGE Christmas ornaments made entirely from candy. Jenna took a little cat nap on a bench in the mall. 

We then walked over to the Church History Museum for a performance there. Jenna's feet were killing her because of her church shoes. They are typically supposed to wear black performance shoes, but several of the girls had comfortable shoes, boots, or even slippers, which were a lot more warm and comfortable for walking around so much. Their feet didn't show anyway under their dresses, in fact they all had pajama pants or other pants under their dresses too, which I thought was funny. I wish we had known they could get away with alternate shoes because she would have been a lot more comfortable. 

After the performance at the Church History Museum Jenna and Anna decided that they were more tired than hungry and so they skipped dinner and took a thirty minute nap on some couches in the building. Jenna said that she slept great and that the nap really helped. We then went to the tabernacle building for the next performance. That is such a beautiful, iconic building with great acoustics. Being there brought back a lot of memories from when I sang with the Mormon Youth Chorus as a young adult. 

Jenna said that they loved singing there because the building was so cool. After that there was time to walk around temple square, but it was really cold and so everyone headed over to the conference center, where they had their final performance. It was a busy day, but fun to follow them around and hear them sing. 

Then we headed back to the hotel for a meeting with the group, where Mr. Moore emotionally gave a sad announcement that he wouldn't be with them after this semester. All four of my girls had Mr. Moore as their director in Madrigals and we really grew to love and respect him. He retired in 2020 after a wonderful, successful career of directing Madrigals, band, and orchestra. Then when Mr. Leonard had to leave at the end of last year because of his family situation, Mr. Moore felt prompted to come back. But so much has changed in the past five years and it was a really rough transition for everyone. There were lots of differences in opinion, and drama in the group, and kids started dropping out. About ten members of the group ended up leaving, which was really unfair to everyone else. This is why the numbers are so small. It was all very unfortunate. 

As for Jenna, I wish she enjoyed Madrigals as much as her sisters did. She was in Madrigals last year with Mr. Leonard and seemed to enjoy it okay, but wasn't passionate about it. She wasn't going to do it again this year but I convinced her to audition again. I was so excited that Mr. Moore was coming back and wanted her to be able to have him as a director. But then there was conflict in the group and she really struggled with the earlier time. With Mr. Leonard they met Monday through Thursday at 7:00, with Fridays off, but with Mr. Moore it was every other day at 6:40. The previous time worked better for Jenna and she and her friends went to the temple every Friday morning since they didn't have Madrigals that day. 

Jenna is also taking lots of college classes and an AP class this year and kept both her jobs (Tuacahn and lifeguard) and so she doesn't have a lot of down time. Mr. Moore required (or very strongly encouraged) them to take Concert Choir along with Madrigals and so I signed Jenna up for Concert Choir. She was at FSY in the summer during Class Choice and so I am the one who put together her schedule. But she hated Concert Choir. She said that the only reason she survived Madrigals last year was because she had a free period right after on some of the days (not really a free period, but an online class). So she could roll out of bed and go to Madrigals and then come home and take a shower and get ready for the day. 

She said that having Madrigals and Concert Choir back to back was exhausting. So I wished that I had listened to Jenna and let her take an online class after Madrigals, like last year, and not forced her to take Concert Choir. She would have had to get special permission and learn the songs on her own, but it definitely would have been better than listening to her complain about it everyday. 

The school will be getting an new director, and I wish Jenna would continue, but she has already decided that she is not going to, which makes me so sad! I have LOVED watching my children perform through the years! I was already so sad that Jenna didn't want to be involved with the plays anymore and will miss hearing her sing with the Madrigals. 

On the upside though, Rick has decided to put together a caroling group again in conjunction with Liberty Village. Jenna only got to be a caroler one year, several years ago, and she is excited about being able to do it again. So I guess the timing is good in that way. So I WILL be able to still watch her perform, and I am excited about that! Carolers is a lot smaller, more personal, and includes acting, bells, and sign language. I think it will be a better fit for her. But I am grateful that she was able to participate in Madrigals under TWO amazing directors over the past couple of years. I am sure she has learned a lot from her experience and I look forward to seeing her perform in a different way in the future.  

Jenna and Anna Ence