General Conference and Conference Crepes!!

Rick went all out for Conference Crepes this year! They were awesome!! Thanks to the St. George Marathon we had Jared, Hallie, Bryton, and Janelle in town for Conference! 

Favorite quote of the day came from two-year-old Everett. Janika and Brandon were discussing the "peacemaker talk" and Everett said, "And do you think we should be an ice maker? To help Jesus?"

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Little Everett is very observant and smart. When Bradley Wilcox gave his conference talk and said, "From Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia to Thomas, Idaho..." Everett piped up when he heard "Mongolia" and said, "That's where Jaiden is!" 

We did have some worn out kids today though!!! I didn't get any sleeping pictures of Jared and Hallie, although I am sure they slept a lot after the marathon. I did get a couple of Janelle and Bryton though!  

Everett Photoshoot

When I stayed with Janika and Brandon I did a couple of photoshoots of baby Everett. I was able to get a few with his eyes open at the very beginning and the very end, but he slept through most of it -- even with me changing his diaper and clothes and moving him around to different positions. It was funny! You can see the little scabs on his feet from being poked in the heel for his bilirubin tests so many times, poor thing! I was happy that he cooperated and we got some cute pictures!! Janika used a few of them for their baby announcement/thank you postcards...

More pictures...  

Also, some funny text threads with our family...

And some more funny texts from back in March... imagine getting a doctor bill for that amount!! 

Funny/Embarrassing Stories

For our Family History Challenge this week the kids were all asked to submit a funny or embarrassing story to share with the family. I look forward to seeing what they wrote! This also sparked a few more. Here they are! 

(This happened a couple of days ago)

 Jenna (age 12) told her friend Anna "It took five-ever!!" (An expression that she gets from Janelle). Anna replied, "It isn't five-ever, it is FOR-EVER." Jenna retorted with, "Well, why does four always get to be the lucky number!" 

And one from Janelle from her date Saturday: 

Janelle and her friends were playing Jackbox at our house after her Senior Ball. One of the games is called "Fakin it," where everyone is secretly given the same instructions to do something -- except for one person (the faker) who has no instructions, but tries to blend in and copy the others so that they are not caught. The instructions said: "Make the face you would make when you are cuddled by a fire." The other teenagers in the group made a happy face of contentment as they imagined themselves cuddling with someone they like near a fireplace. Janelle also received the instructions, but took it literally as "a fire is cuddling you," which she thought was odd, but she proceeded to make the face of a panicked person in horror as if ready to be consumed by fire. Everyone assumed that she must be the "the faker." Either that, or she just didn't enjoy cuddling!

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When I was a Senior in high school I worked at Kmart. I worked in the domestics department (bedding and so forth) in the back corner. They had an intercom in the store to announce blue-light specials or to call more checkers to come up front. They would use the intercom to tell everyone it was time to go clock-out after a night shift. Well, I had to work on Christmas Eve and was in the back straightening up my area when I noticed that it seemed really quiet. I decided to walk to the front of the store and noticed the manager was starting to lock up the doors before leaving. He noticed me and remarked, "What are you doing here? Everyone has left -- you were almost locked in!" Apparently he had decided to let everyone go earlier than usual since it was Christmas Eve, but hadn't announced it over the intercom. This was way before cell phones and I wouldn't have had anyone's personal phone numbers -- only their work numbers. I was embarrassed, but very relieved that I didn't actually get locked into Kmart on Christmas Eve! 

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When I was on my mission we were teaching a Deaf man about the law of chastity. The ASL sign for "sex" is very similar to the sign for "shave" (as in shaving a beard). We came back a week or so later and this man had started to grow out a beard. We commented on it and he said (in sign language), "Well, you told me that I wasn't supposed to "shave" until after marriage!" Woops! We then explained to him that he wasn't supposed to have sex before marriage -- shaving was perfectly fine! 

A couple from my blog... 

Tuesday, January 13, 2004

I went to help in Jase’s kindergarten classroom and Jared (age 3) was playing in the playhouse. I guess he left to go to the bathroom by himself (which is across the hall) and I didn’t notice since I was busy with the students. Well apparently, after he finished, he needed help wiping and just sat on the toilet yelling, "MOM!" over and over. Then some girls heard him and went all the way down the hall to tell their teacher, who in turn informed the principal. The principal went down to the restroom and got Jared’s name and then announced over the intercom, "Will Mrs. Jensen please come to the office." I heard the announcement, but figured that the “Mrs. Jensen” must be another teacher or someone else who worked there. A little later I needed to use the restroom and I went in and heard a child call out, “Mommy?” I ignored the voice thinking it must be a student or something and went back into the classroom. Then the principal came in and told me what had happened and I was so surprised to learn that she had indeed been calling ME and that it WAS my child -- and he had been sitting there on the toilet the whole time! How embarrassing! 

 Monday, October 18, 2010

I scheduled all of my kids for flu shots today this morning. Then I ended up with an interpreting appointment and so I asked Rick if he would take them. My appointment ended early and I was right by the hospital and so I called Rick and told him that I would meet them there. It was a good thing I came because Rick was getting frustrated because they were out of the shots and only had the mist. He was ranting about how the shots were out and the mist was a live virus and now everyone was going to get sick -- and what about Janelle and Jared who were already coughing -- sick kids couldn't get the shot anyway, could they? Then as if to emphasize Rick's point, Jared (age 10) gave a couple of fake coughs. I told him that I would take over and he could leave with the two youngest (who had their shots last week). My pediatrician assured me that they were fine to get the mist in spite of having a little cold and that it wouldn't make them sick. Janika volunteered first and then they each volunteered in order of age. They did just fine -- except for Jared. He faked a little coughing and then pretended to pass out on the floor! (Thankfully our pediatrician knew him well enough to know that he was totally faking!) 

 

 

 

The Truth Revealed (Jenna Catches the Easter Bunny)

We have never emphasized the Easter Bunny at our house. In fact we have hardly ever even mentioned the Easter Bunny so as not to take away from the true meaning of Easter. We still do Easter baskets and dye eggs and have Easter egg hunts, but we don't say things like "Aren't you excited for the Easter Bunny to come tonight?" In fact when Jenna stumbled upon some candy in my closet and asked what it was for I told it was for the Easter baskets. She said, "I thought that the Easter Bunny filled our baskets!" I didn't affirm or deny that and when she asked Rick if the Easter bunny was real he just waved his hand and scoffed and said, "no." She refused to believe that and set out to write a letter to the Easter Bunny. 

She wanted a way to prove the Easter Bunny was real and Rick suggested that she set up a camera that would supposedly take pictures during the night if it detected any movements (as if that was a thing) to "reveal the truth." After she went to bed Rick thought it would be funny to have he and I pose for the pictures as if we had been "caught in the act." I know that sounds a little mean, but we decided at ten years old she should probably know the truth about the Easter Bunny and so we decided to go ahead. She was singing a duet with Rick in Sacrament meeting on Easter Sunday and so I told Rick not to show her the "the footage" until after church so as not to upset her right before her musical number (which was absolutely beautiful by the way!)

After church she asked to see the "footage" and we showed her. She burst into tears and ran into her room. I went in to hug her and she said that we had lied to her. She said, "That means nothing is real -- Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, nothing!!" Then she said "you could have at least taken a picture of a stuffed bunny or something!" I said, "Well wouldn't that be lying?" I explained that Jesus was real and that Easter was a time to remember and celebrate His atonement and resurrection. Of course she already knew all that but I guess she wasn't ready to give up the fun and magic of the rest.  Later we found that she had written little messages across her can of Stax potato chips such as "Easter Bunny not real," "All a lie," "Drawn (her spelling) away from my childhood," with pictures of frownie faces with tears coming down. She is so dramatic!! 

Memorial Day

Happy Memorial Day! Rick and the kids slept out on the tramp last night. It was warm when they started but said that it got really cold during the night and that they were freezing.

I took Janelle, Jaiden, and Jenna hiking (walking) early this morning on a little trail that starts from the Jacob Hamblin home. We then picked up Rick, Janika, and Josh and brought some flowers to Eliza William's grave-site. Jaiden suggested yellow since that was her favorite color.

At the cemetery Rick asked me if we should consider buying some plots in that cemetery. When the kids asked why he would want to do that he was explaining that when a death occurred it made things a little easier if the plots were already purchased so that you aren't having to make a lot of emotional decisions while going through the grief process. He explained that he would be buried next to me, and Jenna said, "I want to be buried next to Clarissa!" You know you have a good friend when you want to be buried next to them! 

Rick decided it would be fun for the kids to have a summer "spelling bee."  A few days ago he printed off a list of grade-level words for each of our kids and today was going to be a practice for the real thing. The catch was when they missed a word, they got thrown into the pool. The kids all did remarkably well and Jaiden was the winner, and thus the only one who wasn't thrown in. But she didn't want to be left out and jumped in.  Actually we let Josh off the hook too (from being thrown in) since he has a cold/allergies.

The rest of the day we let the kids play with friends and swim and so forth and then had a barbecue tonight.

Jenna Soccer

This is Jenna's first year playing soccer and she is doing great!  I have been pleasantly surprised!

We were watching her play and during a break I asked her what her team name was. She said, "The Green Mortals."  We responded with, "The Green Mortals?" "Well, maybe it was the green morals." "Green morals?" Turns out, they are the Green Emeralds!!" 

   

I'm a Big Kid Now!

I asked Jenna to do a job and after she did it she said, "Can I get a treat for doing my job?" I told her that I appreciated her doing her work, but she didn't need a treat for every little thing she did.  "Besides, you are a big kid now, and doing your work is just part of the responsibilities one has in a family." Then she launched into this cute anecdote:

"Everyone is always telling me -- 'you are a big kid.' When I was in preschool, Mrs. Kathy would say, "You can do it -- you are a big kid now!" Then when I was in Kindergarten our teacher would tell us to be quiet and say,  "Remember, you are big kids now!" In first grade we sang a song that said, "We're first graders and we're big kids now!"

Now I am in second grade and you are telling me that I am a big kid. So I must not have really been a big kid in preschool, in kindergarten, or in first grade!"  "Are you a big kid now?" "Yes! Can I have a treat now?" 

SEP's (Jenna Funnies)

It was fun listening to Josh and Jenna carry on a conversation in Chinese with their teachers during SEP's today.  Jenna went through a student reflection checklist where she had evaluated herself in various areas such as "I raise my hand and participate in class," "I do not rush through my classwork," "I listen when others are talking," and so forth. She evaluated herself with either one star (I rarely do this) two stars (I sometimes do this) or three starts (I always do this).  She gave herself two or three stars for everything and then at the end of the list she gushed, "So as you can see, I am a perfect child!" Then she crossed her fingers, put them under her chin, and gave a big grin as if she was posing for a picture. Later on when her teacher was praising her she again did the pose and added a big wink. Her teacher laughed and said, "I have never seen this side of you!" Little does she know that this is the side that we always see at home!  

Extremely High!!

I took these pictures of Derek throwing his little girl, Layla, into the air. She was laughing and squealing with delight.  My mom commented, "Derek, you are throwing Layla extremely high!"  Then my brother Shane posted the bottom picture with my mom's quote above it.  I laughed and laughed!!

Precocious Jenna

I had to smile at this conversation yesterday between our very mature five year old and her Daddy (not wanting her to grow up so fast):

Rick: What are you going to do when you graduate from pre-school?

Jenna: Go to kindergarten.

Rick: What? You can't go to kindergarten!

Jenna: Dad, I'm FIVE.

Rick: No! Don't go!

Jenna: Don't you want me to be a mom? Don't you want me to go to College?

Rick: Well, yeah.

Jenna: THEN LET ME GROW!!

From kindergarten to college in one conversation -- our baby is just growing up way too fast!

Adult Problem or Kid Problem?

 (I am not sure who typed this up, but it sounds like it was perhaps Grandpa Westra!) 

    Is this an Adult Problem or a Kid Problem?

This story is about Janika, age 17, Josh age 7, and Jenna age 4. 

Janika was tending her younger siblings when Jenna came into the room screaming something about an altercation with Josh. 

Janika looked up from her texting and calmly and softly replied: “Jenna, is this an adult problem or a kid problem?”  Jenna replied, “This is a kid problem”. 

Janika then told Jenna to go back to Josh and explain to him that this is a kid problem.  Jenna ran off.  We can only assume that Jenna explained the situation to Josh, and they decided to work it out at the kid level without getting an adult involved. 

We must again assume that the groundwork for this happy resolution was prepared with some previous lessons from adults to children, perhaps in one or multiple Family Home Evenings.  There it was likely explained that it was much better for the kids if kid problems were resolved by kids and not by adults.

 

Week One in Review

Well we survived the first week of school.  The night before school started Rick gave all of the kids' Father's blessings.  Jenna was very reverent for the first couple but after that she lost patience and was jumping up and down on the ottoman singing, "up and down, up and down!"  We were tempted to lock her in her room by the time we finished.

I went with Janelle and Jaiden on their first day of school to help them find their classrooms and get situated.    Kindergarten starts a week later so I think Josh felt a little gypped that he didn't get to go to his class.  Jaiden had an appointment with the Wound Clinic and so I had to come back to the school and get her a couple of hours later.  I dropped the two youngest off with a friend while I brought Jaiden to her appointment.  The doctor was a kind older man with white hair and an engaging personality.  He offered Jaiden $25.00 if he could cut off the braid in her hair and keep it.  She giggled and shook her head and then he said, "How about $50.00?"  I told the doctor he had better watch out or she would take him up on it!  Then we ran into our neighbor who works there. She always brings sunshine into a room and so it was fun to see her.  After the appointment I dropped Jaiden back off to school and picked up Josh and Jenna.  We decided to go swimming and the water felt so refreshing in the heat and they loved the play time.  It wasn't long before Jared arrived home.  He is on the early schedule now and so he is the first one home.  I love having one home by 2:25.  I am usually very tired by that time and longing for a nap.  So after the daily chit chat about school, I leave him in charge of Josh and Jenna while I sleep for a half hour.  He likes it too because it gives him a few minutes to chill before he has to do his other jobs.

I asked Jared how his first day of school went and he said in the voice of one who is pleasantly surprised, "You know, it actually went really well!"  Then Jase got home a half hour later bursting through the door with, "that was the longest day of my entire life!!!"  Poor kid.  Janika's day at the high school went well too and the other kids all had good first days.  After school I hurried Jaiden off to her dance class and then started cooking chicken tacos for dinner.  After a wonderful dinner we decided that for our FHE activity we would  run out to Wal-Mart for school supplies since many of the kids had come home with a new list of things they needed before the next day (or at least that is what they claimed).  So we headed off for notebooks, calculators, 3X5 cards and so forth.

I also got shoes for Janelle.  I didn't find out until this morning that all of her tennis shoes that fit at the beginning of summer were suddenly too small.  I tried to get her to wear sandals like she has been all summer but she likes to wear tennis shoes to school so that she can run around and play sports at recess.  Janelle is so funny because she put on these old pair of shoes this morning that were full of holes and falling apart.  I had been meaning to sneak them into the garbage but forgot.  When I saw her wearing them I told her she needed new shoes.  She said, "These ones are just fine -- I hate for you to have to spend your money on shoes for me."  She is one of our frugal ones.  But I insisted that we really could afford $15.00 for a pair of shoes!  And then Jaiden didn't want to be left out so she got a pair too even though she doesn't really need them.  Wal-Mart was out of the cheap composition notebooks and we ended up having to go to three more stores to find some.  We had been planning on going out for ice-cream after (we had several coupons for free cones) but it was so late by the time we finished that we brought everyone straight home amidst protests and crying.  It was a long first day!

Tuesday morning I had some neighbor kids over for playground for three hours in the morning.  Then Josh and Jenna were invited over to a friend's house and it was so deathly hot outside that I decided to swim for an hour in our pool.  It was heavenly!  Jared came home and I retrieved the kids and took a nap.  That night I went to the elementary school "Back to School Night" while Rick stayed home with the kids.   When I was in Janelle's class the teacher happened to mention an experience she had that day.  She had told the kids to write a paper using their best third grade handwriting.  She said, "I want your handwriting to be so neat that anyone can read it."  Then she said she had one student who raised their hand and said, "Well, what if they are blind?"  Everyone laughed and I thought, 'sounds like Janelle.'  So I went home and asked her and sure enough -- it was her.

The next day Janelle came home and said that the teacher banned the class from asking "what if" questions (which Janelle is notorious for).  Then the next day Janelle came home in tears because her clip had been moved down because of talking in class.  She was really taking it hard because I don't think she has ever been "in trouble" before.  I started to worry a little but then the next day Janelle came home all smiley and happy and said, "Prayers really do work! Today I got my clip moved all the way to the top!!"  Whew!  Glad to hear she made it over this little bump.  She can be overly inquisitive to the point of being annoying (as her brothers will attest to).  But I don't want to squelch her curiosity and interest either!  

Wednesday was Josh's kindergarten assessment (he did great) while Jenna played a neighbor friend.  Wednesday night was Achievement Days for Janelle, a Board of Review for Jase and Jared, Young Womens for Janika, Interviews for Rick, and bathing kids for me.  Bathing kids has always been one of my least desired responsibilities.  I am not sure exactly why -- maybe because it hurts my back to lean over the tub and wash hair or maybe because I end up getting soaked or maybe because the kids end up screaming an ear splitting scream that echoes in the little bathroom piercing my ears.  I often try to pass off that job to Rick, Janika, or Jared.  But they were all gone tonight.  But bath time is getting easier now that we only have to bathe the three youngest and the older kids can take care of themselves.       

Thursday Jaiden had another appointment at the wound clinic with an hour waiting time.  I tried to keep her entertained by reading to her from "The Friend."   This is the first time I met the doctor who did her surgery.  Jaiden was pretty quiet and nervous about the prospect of getting her stitches taken out, but the doctor decided to wait a week and suddenly Jaiden was cheerful and chatty, talking non stop.  Thursday evening I had my Adjunct Faculty meeting which stretched on for two long hours.

Friday night we ended up having a BBQ at our house with our friends, the Adams.  They are moving to Salt Lake and so this might be the last time we will see them for a long time.  We have gone camping with them several times and done a lot of fun things together.  We will miss them and Jase will really miss their son, McCabe, who is one of his best friends.  They are excited to start on a new adventure though and we wish them the best of luck!

Saturday Rick came home from his early morning shopping trip with two huge cases of uncooked chicken that needed to be cut and bagged up in order to freeze.  I also made three or four chicken dinners to freeze for future use and put a bunch in some marinade for dinner tomorrow.  It took several hours to cut up all of the chicken and make several meals and it was tiring.  We also babysat my friend's kids for about five hours. They were really good and our kids loved playing with their kids.  They spent several hours in the pool.  Then Rick and I went to the temple and Janika went to the monthly Region dance. 

Sunday I helped teach the primary a couple of songs in sign language for the upcoming primary program.   Rick pulled me aside after church and said he invited one of our members over for lunch right after church.  Good thing I had food prepared!  Rick barbecued the marinated chicken and I had a rice/vegetable casserole ready and we also had green salad, tomato salad, and perfect corn on the cob.   It really hit the spot.  Rick and our guest then went and visited other branch members.   Everyone is still adapting to the earlier schedule and as you can see the first week of school was tiring for our kids too...

The Dentist

My first grader's teacher posted the question "What are you doing for Spring Break?" in her students' dialogue journals and Jaiden wrote back, "We are going to the dentist!" Such a lucky girl to have such wonderful exciting plans for Spring Break, don't you think?

So this morning I brought the six oldest children to the dentist.  The good news?  NO cavities!!! Yeah!!!  We have had past dental visits which have not been quite so optimistic. The kids all got their new toothbrushes, toothpaste, and prizes, and everyone was happy.

The bad news? Janika needs her wisdom teeth out -- ASAP.  Well, not exactly an exciting Spring Break activity, but I decided that now this week would actually be a perfect time since she would have a few days of recovery before she was back in school. I called the oral surgeon and they said we could get her in Friday morning. So Friday morning it is!

Janika said, "I am not really worried about getting my wisdom teeth out -- I just don't want to miss the Stake Dance on Saturday night!"  Funny girl -- going in for surgery and all she is worried about is possibly missing out on a little boy/girl social time! 

Ridiculous!

Jaiden got graduation pictures taken in her kindergarten class. She said, "They gave us the clothes with the little jacket and the hat with the string." I said, "Did you look cute?"  She emphatically responded, "No -- I looked ridiculous!"
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Today Jaiden was being her usual loud self.   I whispered to her, "You are inside.  Please use your indoor voice."  She said, "I don't have one!"  (I've noticed!)

Name and Date

Janelle was doing her kindergarten homework tonight and it said Name_______ Date_______. I told her to fill in the information and so after the word "date" she carefully wrote "Boots." Boots is her little friend who lives next door (the one she says she is going to marry). I said, "Boots?" why did you write that? She said, "Well, he is the one I am going on a date with!"
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Oh by the way...Janika didn't make it into "Annie." So that is disappointing but at least I will have my daughter around this summer and that is VERY good news!

Janelle's Song at Kindergarten Evalutation

April 11, 2008

Janelle is sooo excited to start kindergarten next year! I brought her to her kindergarten evaluation today and she passed with flying colors. But her
moment of glory was when she blurted out, "Jared taught me a song!" Then she suddenly started singing (loudly) -- giving an entire new rendition of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star." We had lots of smiling glances come our way. Oh, to be as confident and uninhibited as a five year old!

2005 History

This is my attempt at giving a re-cap of the past year. I’ll try not to make it too lengthy, but that is difficult since I keep a detailed journal every week and I want to include everything! 

January:

We started off the year with lots and lots of rain!  Our little town of Santa Clara made national news because of all of the flooding in our area.  It was labeled “The 100 year flood” because there hasn’t been flooding like that in a hundred years.  The Santa Clara River (which had looked more like a creek) was now raging out of control.  There was flooding going on everywhere – Santa Clara, Gunlock, Dixie Downs, Enterprise, Hurricane, Bloomington – but it wasn’t all visible unless you drove to those sites to watch it.  By the end of the flooding, 18 homes had fallen into the rivers and were lost and many more were damaged.   The raging river was only about ¼ mile from our home. They closed all of the schools due to all of the road closures.

           Rick and the other Seminary teachers got together and came up with a relief fund called “FUNDS FOR FLOODED FAMILIES” for those who sustained damage in the flood. After a couple of hours of phone calls to all the right people, there were over one hundred high school students (and the Seminary teachers) wearing T-Shirts with their logo printed on them, out on the streets collecting money in sand-bags.  Janika also went out to help them.  They collected money for several days and ended up presenting the Red-Cross with a check for $23,000!  I was very proud of Rick for heading up this whole effort and also for Janika for getting out there and pounding the pavement, collecting money.  The land-scaping of Santa Clara is forever changed and I am amazed every time I drive on the road from Santa Clara to Ivins at how different it all looks now.

            After all of the flooding, things slowed down and were quite peaceful in our family.  I continued to work out at “Curves for Women” most mornings at 6:00 a.m. – making it back in time for our family scripture study.  We had gotten alarm clocks for Janika and Jase for Christmas and wow, what a difference!  The kids actually started getting themselves up every morning at 6:30 and were dressed and eating breakfast by the time I got back from my work-out. The kids were usually in bed by 8:00 p.m. and I continued to read to Janika every night from my journal, which sparked some excellent discussions.   Monday nights we had our family home evening activities; Tuesdays and Thursdays I taught my ASL class; and Wednesdays Rick directed the Hands in Harmony Choir in conjunction with St. George Musical Theatre.  Janika also enjoyed singing in the group, although not as much as she did with the Hands in Harmony carolers, which is a much more intense and professional group.  Our church schedule changed to 1:00 p.m. and Rick kept saying how nice it was to be able to sleep in, throw on pajama pants and just relax Sunday mornings.  Well, that only lasted a few short weeks since he was called to be the new Elder’s Quorum President and now had meetings every Sunday morning!

February

We were always entertained by the funny comments our children would come up with.  Janika had been teaching Jase times tables and he learned some of them.  We were walking to the park and Jase saw a truck that said "4X4."  He exclaimed matter-of-factly, "There's another one of those 16 year old trucks again!"  Then one Sunday we were sitting in church and the first counselor in the Bishopric got up to conduct.  Janika said, "Is he like the "Vice Bishop or something?"  I said, "They are called first and second counselors."  She said, "So that's sort of like the first mate on a ship then?"

On Valentines night we all went shopping and when we came home there were some plates of cookies on our doorsteps.  Janika asked me if she could call and thank our neighbors for the cookies and I said, "sure!"  Well, she called and they weren't home and so she left a message on their answering machine saying thank you for the cookies...(and then she must have been in prayer mode because she said)..."in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen!"   When she told me she accidentally ended the message like that I laughed so hard that tears were rolling down my face.  It seems like one of us did that as a kid too...probably me! 

Anyway, on Valentines Day Rick always does a special breakfast for the family.  When I got back from working out they were all already sitting around the table eating French toast, eggs, sausage, hash browns and the works!!  Rick writes everyone a sweet little love note (including me) and leaves it on their plate with a little gift.  The kids all got Valentine pencils with heart erasers.   I had also gotten each of the kids a little heart box of chocolates. 

This month I started writing my first e-book after being inspired by my brother Chris.  He had written several e-books and was selling them quite well on the Internet.  The process includes writing a book and then advertising it with Google Ads and an Internet sales page.  People can purchase my book with a credit card through Clickbank and I get $20.00 of each purchase (out of $22.70).   Then they download the book to their own computer and so there is no shipping involved.  Clickbank keeps track of the sales and sends out a check every two weeks.  I really enjoy researching topics of interest and I love to write and so this was a fun project for me.  My book was called “Sign Language for Babies and Beyond:  How to promote early communication and language development in your child.”  I also included a video of me signing 250 signs that customers can also download to their computer along with several free bonus books.  I also included a free newsletter that people could subscribe to on my web page and by the end of 2005 I had over 3000 subscribers.    

This month Jase lost his first tooth (first grade).  Our family FINALLY finished the Book of Mormon through our morning scripture reading.  I think we started about 2 ½ years ago and so it has taken us quite some time!   Janelle continued to go to her TLC classes once a week and it was good for me to be able to give her my undivided attention during that time.  Jaiden also loved the music and playtime that the play-group provided.  Jared really looked forward going to the  class that was set-up for siblings each week.  There were only a few kids in his class and so he received lots of attention as well.

I did lots of interpreting jobs this month and also turned down a lot since there were more appointments than I had time for.  Being a mom, interpreting, teaching and working on my book all kept me very busy!   I sometimes called a baby-sitter to help watch the kids so that I could go interpret or just get caught up on everything!  I had a little home-schooled gal named, Ilana Hailstone, who I often called to come watch the children for a couple of hours here and there so that I could go interpret for a couple of hours.  Sometimes I called her to help tend while I got caught up on grading papers, prepping lessons, cleaning house, and writing my book! 

March

My mom and dad came to St. George for a visit, along with my Aunt Nelva and Uncle Arnold (Griffiths). They all stayed at Merrill and Lorrie’s condo in Sunbrook (Merrill and Lorrie were serving as Mission President in New Jersey).    On the eighth, Jared turned five years old and got all super-hero (spider-man and power ranger) gifts for his birthday.  The only T-shirts he would wear were super-hero shirts.  We celebrated his birthday by going to the Fiesta Fun Center (Jared’s choice) and eating pizza and letting the kids play on the soft-play indoors.  Of course their favorite thing to do is play the games and redeem their tickets for prizes! 

Right after Jared’s birthday, we ended up bringing Janelle to the hospital with a kidney infection.  I had brought her to the doctor since she had been really feverish the past couple of days on and off -- especially bad at night -- and hadn’t eaten or drank more than a few bites the past few days.  She had been crying a lot in the night and threw up whenever I tried to give her a drink.   They did a urine sample and said it was a definite kidney infection.  She stayed in the hospital for a couple of days and nights and went on IV antibiotics.  She was a trooper and got lots of attention from all of the nurses.  Rick was able to get off work and stay overnight with her at the hospital since I had a nursing baby to take care of at home. 

We brought Janelle home and the kids were all so excited to see her and she was thrilled to see them!  We hurried and got everything together to head up North for our Spring Break vacation.   We had the carpet ripped out of the front room and main hallways and tile put in (while we were gone).  It turned out really nice and was sure a heck of a lot easier to keep clean (or at least it had the appearance of being clean)!   For our vacation we stayed at my mom and dad’s one night and then headed up to Park City.  Gerilyn also came up to stay at the condo with us with a swollen knee and crutches after her knee surgery from the previous month.  Little Jaiden learned to crawl during this trip (at 9 ½ months)!

  At the condo we played games, watched movies, and went swimming in the pool.  We also brought all of the kids snow-tubing and they had a great time!  We were able to spend some of our time with the Jensens and the Westras and went to Eric and Kerianne Hoth to plan a Hand’s Up Reunion for this summer. The older three kids slept over at Scott and Amy’s one night and had fun with their cousins.  Back at the condo, Grandma Jensen came up and brought the kids’ Easter Eggs filled with candy so that they could have their own Easter Egg Hunt.  They also boiled and dyed eggs and had their own Egg Bash.  Jared was the winner so his egg will get to compete in the Jensens’ party next week.   Grandma said he was so excited and threw his arms in the air talking about his “power egg” that won the contest!

While we were up North, Rick and I attended the EFY Session Director training at the University of Utah Institute building.  We enjoyed the training and it made us really excited (and nervous) to be able to spend a whole EFY week with the participants in July.  After picking up our four oldest (we had brought Jaiden with us) from Westra’s, we headed to Gunnison where we had a nice visit with Chris and Sandy and stayed overnight. The kids had fun playing together and Chris gave me a lesson on how to work Clickbank and make Google Ads.  I realized how much there was to learn!    Soon after our trip Jase started soccer and enjoyed it.  Rick volunteered to be the coach of his team.   

April

Janika came down with Impetigo and broke out with sores all over her chin.  It started with one and over the course of a few days spread to thirteen! Unfortunately I misdiagnosed it as cold sores and was treating her accordingly.  As soon as I found out that it was Impetigo I started her on antibiotics right away and they quickly cleared up.  I felt bad that she had to walk around that way for over a week and had sores all over her chin for her solo in Sacrament meeting, her Hands in Harmony Choir performances, and for her big outing to Vegas to go to “Build-a-Bear” for Madison Barney’s (her best friend) birthday! 

I got the new calling of Cub master and was really nervous since I knew absolutely nothing about scouting.   Janelle continued to progress with her speech and sounded so cute with her vocal inflection going up at the end of every sentence making it sound like a question.  We were able to understand her more and more but still relied a lot on her sign language to understand her.   She was really quite fluent in sign and often signed (and talked) in sentences.  I turned 37 on the 29^th of April and Rick and I went out to celebrate. I even treated myself to a clean house by hiring a cleaning service to come clean my whole house that day!  Rick made my sign language DVD for me (that went along with the e-book) for my birthday. 

May

On Mother’s Day Janika said, "Mom, you go lie down and read a book -- we'll take care of everything!"  She made me a bracelet at Achievement Days and Jared made me a door hanger at pre-school and Jase made me a caterpillar magnet at school.   We had our annual “Mother’s Day Tea” with lots of yummy desserts that Rick made.  We all dressed up and took goofy pictures!  

I finally finished my e-book and Rick spent many hours getting it ready to sell on the Internet by putting together the web-page.   I started to sell books and it was really exciting!  It was fun learning how to market on the Internet but it also took a lot of time trying to figure everything out.  By the end of 2005 I had sold 340 books.  I had sold books in almost every state and over 23 foreign countries.

 We had other fun events this month such as the Father's and Sons Outing (Rick and the boys) and our “girls night out” (me and the girls).   Temperatures started to soar and just a few days before the kids got out of school we turned on the AC and put up our pool for the summer.  I brought Janelle to the optometrist for the free yearly eye screening that she gets through TLC and it turned out that she needed glasses since she is far sighted (one eye more than the other one).  She can see fine but it is more of a strain on her eyes since they see differently from each other.  She got a little pair of glasses and looks really cute in them!

Jared graduated from pre-school and the kids all got out of school for summer vacation.  The thing I like about summer is that the kids all have time to do their jobs everyday and so I get a lot more help around the house and Janika is a good little baby-sitter and big help with the kids. Our schedule is also more relaxed and we can spend more time together as a family and go swimming everyday!

June

Our family went to Disneyland where Rick and Janika’s “Hands in Harmony Choir” was performing.  We celebrated Jaiden’s first birthday (May 31^st) and enjoyed a nice little vacation.  Rick and I then went to our annual Seminary Convention while Gerilyn and Katie and Shelby tended the kids.   We then headed up North stopping at Chris and Sandy’s and then stayed over my mom and dad’s where we were able to visit with Jeni and her boys.  Rick had helped organize a “grub club” party with college friends at Evergreen Park with Healeys, Hoths, Karen and Dave Hunter, Gordon and Kris Jones, and Laura and Holly (and of course everyone’s kids!)  It was really fun to visit with all of them and the kids’ had a great time playing together.  Then we headed up North for the Hands Up Reunion that Rick had also planned.  It was held at the Jensen’s house with dinner and visiting and then the infamous DVD that Eric Hoth had made from pictures and video-clips.  Then Rick and I left the kids (except for Jaiden) with Gerilyn and Grandma and headed to Idaho to be session directors for EFY at BYU-Idaho.  It was a wonderful experience for both of us.  Jaiden really enjoyed all of the attention as well! 

When we got back to St. George, the kids enjoyed swimming all of the time!  Jared finally learned to love it too.  At first we had to bribe him because he was scared of the water since he couldn’t touch the bottom.  But he finally overcame his fear and started swimming as much as everyone else!  He even started getting brave and began taking off his water wings, which really made me nervous!  Janelle and Jaiden loved to swim too!   

July

We headed back up North again and left the kids with the Jensens again for another week while Rick and I session-directed another week of EFY (the ASL session at BYU).   This time we left Jaiden too.  The week went well and had some great high-lights, but it wasn’t as spectacular as our first week.  It was the first time leaving the baby so long and I was ready to have her back by the end of the week!  She seemed to adjust just fine though.  The 28^th was our 11^th Wedding Anniversary! 

The seminary teachers in Rick’s faculty at Snow Canyon High School all decided to form a LLC in order to buy land and housing for investments.  We hope these investments pay off!   Rick made a major investment by buying an entire recording studio.  It was extremely expensive -- $7000.00.  It has been worth it though.  He loves it and really has a knack for putting together incredible arrangements of music!  We think it will pay for itself through time.

August

In August Janika and Jase started swimming lessons.  Even though they are both good swimmers and have been swimming all summer, I wanted them to be able to swim the actual formal strokes in water where they can’t touch!  They did great enjoyed their lessons and were swimming clear across the pool and back by the end of their two-week lessons. 

I was definitely ready for the kids to start school again.  They got to go to a brand new school – Arrowhead Elementary, which is on our same street – just one mile away.  Jared started kindergarten and did great!  Janika had Mrs. Sparks for Fourth grade and Jase had Mrs. Goodman for Second Grade and Jared had Mrs. Robinson for Kindergarten.  My mom and dad came down to visit and to see the Tuacahn plays.  It was fun seeing them and they were a big help with the kids. 

Our family started up scripture study again and had some long sessions as we were trying to follow President Hinckley’s challenge of finishing the Book of Mormon before the end of the year.   Rick gave all of the kids’ blessings to start off their new school year.   I found out that I was expecting again and soon started to feel the effects of my new pregnancy with exhaustion and morning sickness!  August 30^th was my Grandpa Norman’s 90^th birthday!!  Our family had a big party for him the beginning of September and I wished that we weren’t so far away so that we could have attended..

September

This month New Orleans was hit by Hurricane Katrina, which ended up destroying the levees and leaving pretty much the entire city under water.  It was labeled the biggest natural disaster ever in the United States.   Our nephew, Haylen, got called to Japan on a mission.  His parents, Kyle and Calleen, surprised us all by going through the temple and getting sealed!  Haylen and Kydie also were sealed to them.  It was wonderful news and we were all thrilled to hear of their decision.

I started Jani and Jase with piano lesson with a teenage gal that lives near their elementary school and so they can walk there right after school on Fridays.  Rick also started “Hands in Harmony Carolers” again and after getting the group and practicing for a few weeks they had a very successful retreat at Dana Raine’s home.  Rick had Curtis Simmons and Julie Ann Perry come and present at it.  At the end of the month Grandma and Grandpa Jensen came down for a visit and to see the Tuacahn plays.  We made arrangements for Grandpa Jensen to come and play the piano for Janika, Jase, and Jared’s classroom.  It was a big success and the students’ all had a great time dancing around to the music!  Jase brought home his back-pack stuffed with darling “Thank-you” cards that his class-mates had written to thank Jase’s Grandpa for coming and playing the piano for them. 

October

            Since Grandma and Grandpa Jensen were in town, we had an early party for Janelle at the ORE condo that Rick had reserved for the weekend.  We ate a dinner of Japanese food in honor of Haylen’s mission call to Japan and everyone went swimming in the outdoor pool.  We also let the kids play on the tennis court and at the playground.  Then we sang to Janelle and ate a yummy zucchini chocolate cake made by Grandma Jensen.   Then we let her open up her present (a little Barbie Trike) and then the kids played some games with the balloons.  

I started volunteering in Jared’s kindergarten class every Monday.  He seemed to really enjoy having me come and I was able to get a feel for how he was doing in class.  My friend, Mari Purdy, would watch the two little girls while I went each week and they enjoyed playing with her two girls of similar ages.   I switched my work-outs from “Curves” to “ReZults” where they have a child care center.  Janelle loved it and Jaiden did too after a few times of getting used to it.  

Since Janelle was turning three years old (on October 14^th), she had her last day at TLC.  They had a birthday party for her with decorations, a Dora Piñata, party bags, and a scrapbook of pictures of her (and me) from the last year and a half that she has been going there.  They also dipped her feet in paint and got footprints of her feet.  It was cute.  She was tested for the pre-school but didn’t qualify since her speech had improved so much and she was now in the normal range for a child her age.

Over UEA, Rick took Janika, Jase, and Jared to Vegas for an overnight outing as a reward for earning their gold ticket (20 tickets).  They went to Chuck-e-Cheese and ate pizza and earned prizes from redeeming their game tickets and then went to their hotel.   Jen and Gray’s family also came to visit over UEA.  Our kids were so excited to see their cousins!  All of the kids slept on sleeping bags in the family room and Jen and Gray slept up in Janika’s room.   While they were here, we ended up getting a new car!  We were keeping our eye out for one since we needed one more seat with the new baby coming.  We purchased a 2005 Chevy Venture Mini-Van that seats 8.  It has 23,000 miles on it and ended up costing around $16,000.  Grayson drove down with Rick to Las Vegas to pick it up and Jen and I took all of the kids to Fiesta Fun Center. 

           

Earlier that day both our families went to the beach at Sand Hollow Reservoir together and had a really good time.  Later on Jen helped all of the kids make “flubber” in all different colors out of Elmer’s Glue and Borax soap.   Also this month, Janika earned a trophy for her literature entry in the Reflections contest!  She was in the top five in that category from her school.  We were proud of her!  She is a great little writer. 

November

Rick turned 38 years old this month and of course both Grandmas had their birthdays this month too.  Rick has always loved the show “Star Gate” and he learned how to download past episodes of "StarGate Atlantis" from the computer and then he would always watch them on this little 2X3 inch screen on his lap-top!  It got to the point where we wondered if he was addicted!   For Thanksgiving we invited another Seminary teacher (John Bushman) and his family over for lunch for Thanksgiving and enjoyed a very nice meal and company.  Yearsleys were also in town and so we were able to spend some time with them too.

December

December was the usual whirlwind of Christmas preparations and Hands in Harmony performances.  Our schedule was totally thrown out of whack as the kids got to bed late every night and slept in late.  I managed to squeeze in a friend birthday party for Jase with a clown and magic show.   Janika’s birthday included a late night at Fiesta Fun with Madison and then a sleep-over at our house.   The next day she and Madison (also a caroler) performed all day long.  Janika enjoyed performing with the carolers immensely and thrived on the crazy schedule.   Rick had new costumes made and they were absolutely gorgeous!  The carolers did a great job as usual performing non-stop and spreading Christmas cheer!  I am always amazed at the beautiful arrangements that Rick comes up with.  He has written and recorded several songs on his studio and they are so beautiful! 

We had a very nice Christmas both at our house and in Ogden at Grandma and Grandpa Jensen’s.   To celebrate Grandpa Jensen’s birthday, Rick, Julie, Jodi, and Gerilyn sang the songs that they had performed as kids at Lagoon.  They wore Rick’s Hands in Harmony Vests for an added touch.  Kyle announced the group and Craig played the drums.  It was a neat tribute to Grandpa Jensen and he became emotional as he accompanied them on the piano.  Christmas was also wonderful.  I am always amazed at all of the work Grandma Jensen puts into these Christmas celebrations to make them extra special. This year every grand-child received a pillow-case with his or her favorite prayer scripture embroidered on it along with a little picture of the child.  On Christmas evening Rick and I were able to take a trip to the Anniversary Inn in Logan which has become a tradition of sorts for us these past few years.  We also had Jase’s baptism while we were up North and then had everyone over to Jensen’s for Jase’s special dinner of favorite foods.

Jase is now in Scouts and having this calling as cub-master helps me to know better how to help him earn his achievements.  It will be interesting to see what this next year holds.  Rick loves his faculty and he is an awesome teacher, but he is getting restless and is tired of the attitudes of some of the students (and some of the parents).  We put in a request for a change of assignment this year and so we will see whether or not that comes into fruition.  

Things are going really well with our family and I feel truly blessed.   We live in a beautiful area and have been blessed with a lovely home.  I love my husband very much and always look forward to our weekly dates every Friday night.  We always have a wonderful time together.  He is also a great dad and plays games with our kids and often spends individual time with each one of them. He has always been a good provider and is good with handling finances (which is a great plus!)    

All of our children are happy and thriving.  Lately we have been spending a lot of time together as a family just playing games and having fun together.  I am grateful that I have the opportunity to be a stay-at-home mom.  I know it sounds like I am gone a lot, but it is really only a drop in the bucket compared to the time that I am home with my children.  It can be overwhelming at times, but I really love being a mom.  I often find myself gazing at my beautiful children while uttering a silent prayer to Heavenly Father that he has allowed me to be their mother.

Janika is now ten years old and a big help when she is home.  She is a great baby-sitter and also a good little cook!  She can whip up a dynamite batch of chocolate chip cookies from start to finish without any help at all.  She also often cooks breakfast for all of the kids and loves to try new recipes.  She loves to sing and has a very nice voice.  She hasn’t been too thrilled about taking piano lessons, but we are trying to keep her motivated.  She continues to be a stellar student who excels at everything academically.

Jase just turned eight and was recently baptized.  He bore a beautiful testimony at his baptismal service and also in church after we returned home.  He is also a great student and excels in all of his subjects.  He loves to play with friends and he loves to play video games and computer games.  He is also a good singer and sang a couple of solos in church this year.

Jared is doing well in kindergarten and is also very outgoing and social.  He is also very affectionate and will often come up and give us hugs and snuggle with us.  He has a wonderful imagination and can entertain himself with the smallest of things.  He is certainly a bundle of energy and we will find him pulling his light saber on anyone who walks through the front door! 

Janelle has progressed leaps and bounds this year!  She is now a chatty little three year old who is fiercely independent!  She wants to do everything herself.  She can go potty all by herself, but just don’t go and flush for her or you will never hear the end of it!  She continues to make me smile and laugh with the cute things she says and with her little songs and rhymes.

Jaiden has also progressed a ton this year.  She now runs all over and is a little chatter-box as well. She sounds so cute – I never tire of hearing her cute little phrases.   When I say “Okay Dokey!”  She chimes back, “okey okey!”  Ever since I stopped nursing her she has become attached to her bottle.  She goes around shouting, “Kaw-Cut milk!  Kaw-Cut Milk!” (Chocolate milk!)

We also look forward to the arrival of our new baby boy who is due in April.  We will have three girls and three boys and feel that our family will be complete!  We are grateful for the gospel in our lives and for the many blessing that Heavenly Father has given us.  We know that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true and we feel grateful to live at such a time as this with a prophet of God to lead and guide us.  We have truly been blessed abundantly this year and throughout our lives!