Sunday Lessons

Today was fast Sunday. Rick and I attended the ASL branch and were asked to be the interpreters for sacrament meeting. We then stayed after church in order to get our temple recommends renewed from the Stake. The Bonnys were in town and it was fun to visit with them. Betty Jones was also there and we hadn't seen her in a long time. We gave her a ride home after.

We came home and hurriedly finished dinner before the ASL sister missionaries arrived. We had marinated chicken and several salads. The missionaries did a fun activity with our family and then taught a little lesson and challenged us to look for God's miracles this week! Later that night we had our Come Follow Me lesson with the grandkids taught by Jenna. She did such an awesome job! 

She showed Evan and Eli the object lesson where you have a bunch of pepper in a bowl of water and then dip a finger with dishsoap into the bowl and watch the pepper scatter to the edges of the bowl. This shows how with the help of the holy ghost you can be "in the world, but not of the world." She talked about the things of the world compared to the greater gifts that Heavenly Father has in store for us.  

She told the boys that they could either have a treat now (a little marshmallow), or if they could wait a whole five minutes then they could have a big treat (no bake cookies). At first Eli (age 3) wanted the marshmallow, but Evan (age 4) knew better and said they would skip the marshmallow and wait for the "real" treat. 

We went outside and she had two pathways written in sidewalk chalk on the back patio. The said "Son of Man," and had a picture of an entryway to a path with bright colors, rainbows, and candy. The other path said, "Son of God," and had a picture of an entryway to a path with a few rocks. Then she asked Evan and Eli which path they would want to walk. Of course they chose the enticing colorful pictures. 

But then she had them look through a rolled up paper, that looked like a paper telescope to see what was at the end of each path. On the cement wall at the end of each pathway was a picture. The entryway with the picture of rocks had a picture of Jesus at the end. The other picture had someone who looked like he was in chains. The pathway with the colorful images had different steps such as parties, temptations, addictions and so forth. 

The pathway with the rocks had steps such as baptism, studying scriptures, going to church, and going to the temple. That pathway led to Jesus and the other pathway led to misery. She explained that it was easy to be enticed by the bright, colorful things of the world, but if we kept our eye on Jesus (as shown when looking through the paper telescope) then we would stay on the right path of making and keeping covenants. Then we went in at ate her yummy no-bake oatmeal cookies! Great lesson, Jenna!! 

Evan and Eli!

Jase and Ellen came for the weekend and went and saw Anastasia tonight at Tuacahn. Meanwhile I tended the boys! We had fun with the race tracks and marble machine!! We loved the orange race tracks growing up and often made elaborate designs with loops and jumps. These ones have seen better days -- I'll have to see if there are any of these tracks floating around the internet that I can purchase. As far as the marble machine goes -- we have had this for many years!! Our children often spent many hours building all sorts of cool contraptions with them!! Evan and Eli loved them too. I am glad that I hung on to them! 

Zion's National Park

We went to Zion's National Park with Jase, Ellen, Evan, and Eli. I think the last time I went hiking at Zions was in 2016! A lot has changed since then! It was crowded back then, but now it was insane! As we drove up there were signs saying that there was no available parking in the park and that visitors needed to park in Springdale. In Springdale there are hotels and restaurants with available parking, but each place was charging $25.00 just to park there. There were several kiosks with which to pay. So not only do you need to buy a pass to get into the park, you also need to pay another $25.00 just to park! It is ridiculous! 

After parking you need to ride a huge shuttle bus into the park -- which was crammed with visitors squished in with every seat taken and then everyone else standing with very little room. The driver announces interesting landmarks, but it is so crowded you can't see much of anything. The bus drops you off at the visitor's center and then you catch another bus to get to your desired trailhead. All of this took a long time. Two of the trailheads were closed. There were intercoms making announcements making it feel more like an amusement park rather than a national park. 

We finally got to the trailhead of a very short hike, since we Evan and Eli wouldn't make it very far. It was basically a half mile walk to a picnic area. That is as far as we got into the park! Then we ate some snacks and then rode the long bus back! After we got to our cars we went to a nearby park so that the boys could run around and so that we could eat our picnic. This was the most pleasant part of the journey! It is sad that Zions has gotten so overly crowded! 

We departed ways since we had the 40's dance tonight and Jase and Ellen and their boys went camping at a place they had found a ways outside of the park. Luckily it was a wide open space with nothing but land for the boys to run around! I am sure it was difficult camping with two young boys, but they said that it went well!    

Happy Birthday, Eli!!

 Happy Birthday, Eli!!  Click here for Ellen's Facebook post of Eli's Birthday! 

Jase and Ellen had Eli's birthday party over at our house before her family headed back up north. Those who came were Ellen, Jase, Evan and Ellen's mom and dad, brothers, and sisters, Ky Phillips and Callista, Logan and Summer, and Lanae and Brecken, me and Rick. Josh and Jenna wanted to be there, but had already committed to serve at the temple open house two months ago and so I didn't feel right about having them back out at the last minute. Janelle and Logan were in town for her friend, Annika Boetcher's wedding in the Cedar City temple and already had lunch plans with one of Janelle's missionary companions afterwards. So they missed it too. 

Eli is such a happy baby and is almost constantly smiling his big mouthy grin. He is so fun to play with because he laughs so easily! He is such a cute, chubby baby. You would never know that he was a preemie! (Ellen's sister took a ton of pictures at his party and they turned out soooo cute!!) 

We love you, baby Eli! 

President's Day Weekend!

Thursday night after interpreting at SUU I brought Jaiden back home with me. Then Jase and Ellen came down later that night. Jase had a presentation at Utah Tech University on Friday and also on Tuesday. Friday I worked all day. Saturday Jase and Ellen went with Rick to the Parade of Homes while I watched the boys. We enjoyed a nice walk to the park. That night we had a nice family dinner and Jared came over and joined us. Sunday we all went to church. Jaiden was supposed to sing Sunday, but I bumped her a week since another college student was in town and it worked out for her to sing this week. Monday Jenna and I brought the boys back to the park for a walk. Monday night Jase and Ellen went to Sakura while Rick and I watched the boys. I was glad that we had nice weather for their weekend because the next week brought cold and snow! 

Blessing of Eli Dean Jensen!

Baby Eli was blessed today! Their ward was at 10:30 in Herriman. It was estimated to be 35 minutes away from where we were staying in Highland, but we left early to play it safe. It is a good thing we did because it was snowing and the roads were terrible. The drive was a big nerve wracking and I was worried for Gerilyn and Grandma Jensen who were coming clear from Ogden. They said that their drive was very scary, but thankfully everyone arrived safely without incident (although there was a scary close call with Jared, who was taking Jenna, Jaiden, Adria, and Rella). Josh was with us and we also had my mom and dad drive with us, since we were worried about my dad driving in the snow.

I offered many prayers on the way there and thankfully those prayers were answered! It was a very good sacrament meeting and I really enjoyed all of the talks. Jase gave a beautiful blessing and I was grateful that we could all be there for it. We all went to Jase and Ellen's basement apartment for brunch afterwards. Thankfully their apartment is quite big, because there was a lot of people who came! After the blessing we headed back to Shane and Alicia's and changed our clothes and headed home. The roads were bad part of the way, but not too terrible. The wiper fluid in my car stopped working and so that was frustrating and scary because I felt like we couldn't see well. I am so glad that I live in Southern Utah! I wish all of our family lived there too, ha ha! 

Baby Eli, Two Weeks!

I finally got to see baby Eli! He is two weeks old today and as precious as can be!

 

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...