Josh's Graduation!!

Six down, one to go!! Congratulations, Josh!! Josh graduated with a 4.0 GPA!! All of our children have graduated with either a 3.9 or 4.0!! Josh got several honor cords, but ended up losing one somehow during graduation. 

I had told Rick that one of us needed to go an hour early in order to get seats on the shady side! He offered and said that when he got there a little after 7:00 a.m. it was already really crowded! He was lucky to get seats! I came thirty minutes early and had a difficult time even finding parking! 

It turned out to be a little chilly in the shade. Whereas the people on the other side of the stadium were all fanning themselves because it was so hot in the sun! Rick had first put on a long-sleeved shirt and I said, "Why are you wearing long-sleeves? It is going to be really hot!" So he changed, but then he wished that he hadn't listened to me because he was cold! By the time our seventh child graduates we should have it figured out -- come over an hour early to get in line in order to get the shady side, but bring a jacket! 

The program was good and the students who spoke did a great job on their speeches. Josh's friends were the Valedictorian and Salutatorian. Josh sang with the other senior madrigals for the musical number. The program ended in about 90 minutes. We took some pictures and then took Josh out to lunch at a restaurant called Bishops. It was really good. Then we came home and took naps!! Tonight he will go to Grad Night at the RINQ! 

Yesterday I made candy leis for Josh. They took a lot longer than I remembered. In fact it took several hours to make the four leis. It also took a good while to iron Josh's graduation gown. I think Josh is glad to have high school behind him. Rick and I are glad that he is graduated and can now move on to bigger and better things! Now he can start focusing on mission preparation!! 

Josh Jensen and Bridget Layton 

Adam Parkhurst, Josh Jensen, Caleb Parkhurst 

A few of the soccer seniors... Zach Buck, Ethan Scott, Brock Boyce, Josh Jensen, Kadan Morris

To see all of the past graduation posts, click HERE!! 

Jared: Utah Tech Graduation

Jared graduated from Utah Tech University with his Bachelor of Science in Business Management last December. He was offered a full-time job teaching Seminary last August, before he had even graduated. He was able to talk to the Dean and make arrangements to take his last two classes online so that he could take the job (which turned out to be in Saratoga Springs). The classes were NOT online classes, but he was able to get special permission to take them remotely. He graduated in December with high grades (Summa Cum Laude). 

The graduation ceremony for Utah Tech University was held on May 3, 2024, but Jared chose not to participate in the ceremony.  I can understand that, after all he had been living up north for almost a full year. But I said I still wanted some pictures to document the event. So we borrowed Jase and Ellen's cap and gown and diploma cover in order to take some pictures (which is why the diploma cover says "Dixie State University" instead of "Utah Tech University," because the name of the University changed right after Jase and Ellen graduated in 2022). 

Ellen also let him borrow her 2024 tassel from her recent graduation with her master's degree from SUU last month (which is why his tassel is black and not white). Afterwards I thought I should have had him also borrow all of the candy lei's that I made from Josh's graduation, ha ha! So, there you have it -- Jared's graduation pictures!! 

Ellen's Graduation from SUU with Masters in Professional Communications

Ellen just graduated with her master's degree in Professional Communications! Congratulations, Ellen!! 

Jase and Ellen left for our house Thursday morning. Their van  broke down in Spanish Fork and they had to bring it to the shop and take Ellen's mom's car instead. So they arrived much later than usual. Friday morning they headed to SUU with the boys. We left shortly after and met them there. Ellen's parents and sister, Lexie, and her husband also met there. It was difficult keeping the boys entertained during the ceremony. Lexie got some darling pictures afterwards and then we all met at Pizza Factory for lunch! We are so proud of Ellen for this huge accomplishment! 

Jaiden's Graduation from Snow Canyon High School!!!

Jaiden graduated from Snow Canyon High School this morning! Jaiden has done very well in high school! She was incredibly involved (a little TOO involved) and accomplished a great deal! When she was doing Sterling Scholar the instructions said that they could link to one on-line document in their portfolio. She could have added a link to a page on the Distinguished Young Women website that had a nice picture and bio of her. That was one idea. Another idea was to link to a blog page. I recommended this to her because then she could basically copy and paste her entire resume into it and easily update it. So check out her blog: JaidenJensen.blogspot.com to get an idea of just how busy this girl was all throughout high school! After Sterling Scholar was finished I added her Sterling Scholar portfolio and some of her other awards to the blog. It is just a fun way to keep everything in one place. 

Now for graduation. Last year was the first time they had graduation on the football field and we ended up on the west bleachers and it was extremely hot and uncomfortable! So this year I vowed to show up an hour early to get seats on the east bleachers. It ended up being more like 45 minutes early, but still early enough for the good seats. It was well worth the extra wait. We were in the shade most of the time and the temperature was very comfortable. Our poor graduates were another story! First of all, the turf is apparently way hotter than the surrounding area. I could feel the temperature rise as soon as we walked on to the football field after the ceremony. Second, they got new caps and gowns this year (I was sad about that because I had just purchased Janelle's cap and gown last year and figured I would get a year off from buying new ones, because I figured that Jaiden could wear hers). But alas, it wasn't meant to be. They changed the caps and gowns so that everyone has the same gown (instead of blue for the boys and green for the girls, like they did in the past.) The material is also much thicker material and so our poor graduates were probably dying! 

Since Jaiden was graduating with a 4.0, she got to sit on the front row and be in the first group of students to graduate. (She is the first child in our family to graduate with a 4.0. The older four children all had a 3.9, which is awesome too!)  She also sang the musical number with the Madrigals. I scanned in the entire program and put it in Dropbox if anyone is interested in it. I also cut and pasted a few things from the program into a collage for this post. After graduation Rick and I took Jaiden out to eat at a restaurant called Bishops. Then Jaiden took a nap and headed to a dance rehearsal. (The busyness won't let up for her until her Senior recital is finished next weekend!) Then she headed to Grad Night with her friends! Congratulations, Jaiden!! (And congratulations to us as parents -- five down, two more to go!!) 

I just have to explain the significance of her "splits" picture. Just a few days ago a "memory" came up on Facebook that I had written in 2010 after Jaiden's kindergarten program: 

Right near the end of her kindergarten program, Jaiden gets down on the floor (in her dress) and does the splits. Ummm...sweetie, I don't think that is part of the program! I think only those of us in the front row saw her but I was laughing so hard that tears were rolling down my face!

You can see that post here: https://wendyjensen.blogspot.com/2010/05/kindergarten-program.html

Congratulations to our College Graduates!!

So proud of all of our graduates!! Janika Jenson graduated from Utah State University with her Master of Education in Psychology! I love what Brandon posted on social media:  

"I'm so proud of my wife Janika Jenson for graduating with her Master's degree from USU! Not only did she do an amazing job getting through this program, but she finished it up while dealing with the challenges of pregnancy as well. Now only a few more weeks until she gets a new challenge to master!" 

Jase Jensen and Ellen Jensen graduated from Dixie State University -- Jase with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Ellen with a Bachelor of Science degree in Communication Studies with an emphasis in organization and applied leadership.

Jared Jensen also graduated with his Associate of General Studies from Dixie State University and is continuing on with his Bachelor's degree in Business Administrations. He didn't "walk" for graduation since he is just continuing on at the same school. 

We were sad that we couldn't go to Logan to attend Janika's graduation, and then Dad got the stomach flu and wasn't able to attend Jase and Ellen's either!! So that was a total bummer! At least we were able to watch Janika's through the live stream and Dad was able to watch Jase and Ellen's through the live stream also. Thank goodness for technology!! 

This first collage of Jase and Ellen and Evan below is of photos that were taken on April 20th by Ellen's sister, Lexie. They turned out SO darling!! The second collage are just some snapshots we took right after the ceremony before heading to Cafe Sabor for lunch! 

This is a bad picture on the right (and he took it before I was smiling), but I thought it was hilarious that I happened to be wearing the exact same outfit at Jase's high school graduation back in 2016 that I was at his college graduation six years later in 2022. I guess I don't update my wardrobe very often, ha ha! 

Jase's good friend, Ky Phillips, also graduated from Dixie State University with a degree in Communication Studies. He and Jase have shared graduations from elementary school, high school, and now college!