Jared's DJ YouTube Channel

Jared has a successful youtube channel for his DJ business (target audience is other DJ's) and made a video (gig log) of Jaiden's wedding. Take a look!! 

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!! 

Tukupetsi Trail

Rick and I went on a hike with Jared and Hallie on the Tukupetsi trail. I love hiking and love that this trail is so close to our home! Then we went out to lunch afterwards at Don Pedros! 

Jared and Hallie!

 Jared and Hallie...

Jared's Podcast

Jared's Podcast through the St. George Institute!

 

Jared's Podcast 

Happy Birthday, Jared!!

 Jared is 22 years old today!! I had his missionary blog transferred into two really nice big hardbound printed books and gave them to him for his birthday. The books turned out great!!  

Jared -- San Diego

(From Jared) My friends and I recently took a trip to San Diego California together as soon as we all finished our finals. So, there were four of us from apt 10 and four girls who are friends of ours who came. We went to the beach, we went to the Mormon Battalion Museum, which was pretty fun, we also went to the zoo which was super awesome. It was a really great way to finish off the semester.

Creative Dates

One of Jared's favorite date ideas is to bring a group to our house and have each couple paint a canvas together. His groups have ranged from small to large. They always seem like they are having a lot of fun! 

Jenna's Restaurant

Jared had remembered the nice candlelight dinner that Jenna did for me and Rick last year. (Click HERE for the post!) And so he asked her if she would put together a nice group dinner for him and his friends. She agreed (and I helped her cook the food -- spaghetti with choice of red sauce and meatballs or white sauce with chicken, garlic bread, and Caesar salad). Jenna, Clarissa, and Audrey did all of the decorations and setting up. They did a great job (and were rewarded with $40.00 in tips! WOW!!!) They split the cash between the three of them! 

Murder in the Dark

Jared, Janelle, and Josh ended up leaving Father's Day Flee Saturday afternoon to head back home. We had pretty much wrapped up the lessons and everything for FDF and Jared wanted to get back for some Sunday obligations and Janelle and Josh volunteered to go with them. The next day Jared sends me this picture. Apparently after they arrived at our house (about 8:30 p.m.) he whipped up an entire group of friends to come play Murder in the Dark at our house! Their version of this game involves actually running around the house in the dark. He said that they had a blast and played until 1:00 a.m. or something. I wasn't thrilled about a huge group of young adults running around our house in the dark -- especially with our brand new kitchen and stair case. Oh well, I am glad that they had fun! (Josh was the one taking the picture). 

 

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!) 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday, Jared!!

Jared is 21! We have missed him this past week since he has moved out, but glad that he is enjoying this time with such great friends! Jared is so cool! He is energetic, positive, always smiling, great with kids, happy, buff, smart, funny, and so fun to be around. He expresses gratitude often and I love that! He has adopted the mantra from the Nigerian people he worked with on his mission "Too blessed to be stressed!" Even when he totaled his car a couple of weeks ago and had the worst day ever, instead of getting angry and upset at his misfortune, he wrote me the sweetest note saying how grateful he was for me and that he could feel my prayers for him. It made me cry! I am so grateful for Jared! 

Moving Out: Jared

 Apartment #10 Boys! They are a good looking crew! 

Car Accident

Jared called me this morning and said that he had just been in a car accident. He was driving Josh to school and looked down for a second to see if he had brought his ear buds (he was planning on going to the gym after dropping him off). When he looked back up the car in front of him had stopped suddenly at the crosswalk and Jared plowed right into him. The car he hit belonged to the older brother of one of Josh's friends. Josh and his friend hopped out of their cars and headed to school -- leaving their older brothers to deal with the accident. Jared called me and then called the police. I headed over and the other mom (who I also know) was there too. She said that this is the third time her son has been hit like this! 

 

They filled out the police report and I called Rick. Then came even worse news. Rick told me that Jared had "liability only" insurance on his car. This means that our insurance would cover the other car, but not Jared's car. I just felt sick when he told me this! The car was not drivable and I had to call a tow truck to tow the car to the body shop in town. I called the body shop and told them to call me with the estimate. A couple of hours later the body shop called me to say it would be $8500.00 to fix!! What? Jared only paid $6000.00 for the car and so obviously it wasn't worth it to fix it. 

So now Jared has a totaled car and no insurance money to pay for it. I feel so bad for him! Here he has been working so hard and was in a great financial place. He was able to pay for the car in cash when he bought it right after his mission and it has been a great car for him these past eight or nine months. So now he is out several thousand dollars and has no car. Jared said this was pretty much the worst day of his life! He just signed a contract to move into an apartment near campus with friends in a week, so now he will need to pay for housing as well as a new car. 

Jared called the body shop to see if they would buy the car for parts and they said they don't do that but referred him to some other places. Jared made some phone calls and found one that would take it for $300.00. Better than nothing I guess. Tough day -- and expensive lesson learned!!  

Jared with Missionary Friends/Grub Club

This morning Rick and I both had interpreting jobs and then we headed up North in two separate cars (since we can't all fit into one car). My car dropped Jared off to BYU where he was meeting up with a former missionary companion (Ryan Dodson). A couple of other former companions met up with them and they all had a great time playing Spike Ball and hanging out. Jared stayed overnight at the BYU dorms with his comp and then caught the train to Ogden to meet up with the rest of us. 

Jared and Josh Bell

While I was dropping off Jared, Rick and Jaiden and Janelle stopped by Mom's to visit for a few minutes before meeting up with the rest of us at Murray Park where we were having a little get-together with the "Grub Club" (a group of friends we associated with when we were dating). All three of Rick's former roommates (at the time he and I were dating) came and another girl who was in the group.

We see Curtis and Steph all of the time, but the other three former roommates we haven't seen in probably twenty years! So it was fun to see everyone and catch up! Two of the wives didn't come though, so that was too bad as we would have wanted to see them too! We met at Murray Park and ate dinner and visited. The only bad thing was that our kids were bored and kept begging to leave and we wanted to keep visiting!  We then headed up to Ogden to spend the night before heading to Bear Lake!

(Rick Jensen, Curtis Healey, Gordon Jones, Eric Hoth) 

(Eric Hoth, Wendy and Rick Jensen, Curtis and Steph Healey, Gordon Jones, Marni and Shane Manning)

Jared's Missionary Video!!

I am SO glad that Rick makes these "Welcome Home" videos for each of our missionaries!! Click HERE to watch it!

Watching this video makes me both laugh and cry!! I am filled with so much gratitude for the opportunities our missionaries have to serve the Lord and His people and while doing so, change and grow so much themselves!! I am SO grateful for Jesus Christ and His gospel and for the blessings of missionary work!

Jared is Home!!

Jared is home from his mission! It was just three days after Jase's wedding (March 17th) that we learned that the Church would be sending missionaries home early due to Covid-19. We then received an e-mail saying that Jared would be coming home May 27th (three months early). His original date was August 19th. I had mixed feelings about this! I was excited at the prospect of getting to see him in just over two months, but also sad that his mission was being cut short.

Later on the church started sending home missionaries in droves! All foreign missionaries immediately came home (many to be re-assigned to missions in the states a couple of months later). Everyone in Jared's original MTC group got sent home except for him. We wondered if this was because Jared was serving as Assistant to the President at the time. All of Jared's friends also started returning home. If they had served 18 months or longer (which I think was the case with all of his friends) then they were given an honorable release and were home to stay. Other missionaries who had served less than 18 months would be home temporarily and then reassigned to a mission within the states. So at 21 months Jared actually ended up serving longer than most of the other missionaries. He was grateful that he could stay as long as he did.

Jared was such an awesome missionary! I loved receiving his letters each week and always felt so inspired by them! There were so many changes that happened during Jared's mission (Rick points out some of them in the MISSIONARY VIDEO he made for him). Jared still received his call through the mail in a big white envelope -- now missionaries open their calls online on their device. Instead of being nick-named "The Mormons," we are now are to refer to the church by it's official title only, "The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints."

February 15, 2019 the church sent out an official letter explaining that missionaries could now call, text, or Skype home on P-days. In the past missionaries could only e-mail and were only allowed to call or Skype on Mother's Day and Christmas. This was a HUGE change! I wasn't sure how I felt about this change at first -- it definitely took some getting used to, but I learned to love it! I felt SO connected with Jared throughout his mission because there was such open communication with him. Then Covid-19 and the resulting quarantine hit the past couple of months and that severely impacted the way missionaries did their missionary work! No more knocking doors -- most missionaries were quarantined to their apartment most of the time. Missionary work was done through social media such as Facebook and lessons were taught through video calls. Amazingly enough the work still continued to progress! As Joseph Smith stated in the Standard of Truth: "...the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly and independent..."

Now back to today...we spent yesterday and today cleaning the house, preparing food, making posters, buying balloons, preparing Jared's room (he is sharing with Josh -- good thing Jase got married just in time so that Jared had a room to come home to, ha ha!) Rick didn't want to leave too early to go to the airport because only the first hour of parking is free and then you have to pay. He originally planned on leaving at 12:45. I told him that was cutting it too close since Jared was flying in at 1:12 and it was a 25 minute drive, so we decided to leave around 12:20 instead.

Good thing we left earlier! Jared's flight was 25 minutes early! We can't fit our whole family in one car and so we drove two separate cars, actually three cars since Jase and Ellen were meeting us there. I rode with Jaiden (she drove to get driving hours) and Rick took the three youngest. Rick and the kids arrived about five minutes before we did. We were just walking into the airport when I heard Rick cheering and looked up to see Jared walking off the plane! We had barely made it just in time! Whew! I was so grateful that we left early! I would have felt so awful if he had walked off the plane and no one was there to greet him! Jared and Ellen arrived just a couple of minutes later as we were taking turns hugging Jared!

He looked great! Jared told us that he gained 30 pounds on his mission! His legs definitely look bigger and more muscular -- must have been all that time on a bike! Rick videotaped him "running" across the finish line! With all of our missionaries Rick has come up with some silly chant and then had a piece of crepe paper representing the finish line that the kids held up while the missionary ran through it. I don't think he had a chant for Janika, but he did have the finish line. Of course Jared did his serious "runner" pose just as Josh had predicted and then he ran dramatically in slow motion as we all cheered for him. He is such a nut -- boy have we missed him!

We came home (we had hung up his mission state flag and also the missionary sign that Jared had made for Jase in Digital Graphics that said "Welcome Home Elder Jensen" with a big picture of the Book of Mormon." Jenna also made a little sign for him and we had balloons hanging up.) We ate Papa Murphy's pizzas for lunch, including a Chicago Deep-Dish style pizza in honor of Jared. Then Jared gave us a really awesome lesson. Rick had Janika and Jase teach a special family lesson after their missions also. Jared said that he had remembered Jase giving his lesson and that it had really impacted him and he wanted to do the same. In fact he asked if he could give the lesson as soon as he got home, before he was released.

He taught about the apostasy and restoration and shared some really neat personal experiences about when he first received his testimony of the Book of Mormon and of the gospel. He said that he only read the Book of Mormon four times on his mission because he really wanted to delve deeply into it and study it instead of just reading it. He said when he finished the first time he prayed really hard to know if it was true. Finally, after much prayer, he had a vivid memory pop into his mind. It was when he went to his first EFY when he was 14 years old. He said that the first couple of days he really had an attitude and thought everything was dumb and that he was "too cool" for all of activities. Then some things happened that changed his attitude and he ended up having a great experience. He said that during a testimony meeting with his company he felt the spirit so strong -- it was literally a "burning in his bosom."

He acknowledged that we don't always feel an actual burning in the bosom when we feel the spirit, but he said that time he did. It impacted him so much. He said that he didn't share his testimony -- he didn't even want to move because he didn't want to lose that feeling. That really changed things for him. So when he prayed about the Book of Mormon this time he remembered that experience and he knew that he already had a testimony and already knew that the Book of Mormon was true. He said there were many times during his mission when things were "brought to his remembrance" and he felt an overwhelming sense of gratitude for his Savior, for the gospel, and for his family. Jared also emphasized the importance of writing things down when we felt the spirit and received personal revelation. We really felt the spirit during his lesson and both Rick and I got a little emotional. In fact Rick was really weepy on and off the rest of the day.

After the lesson Jaiden went to her rehearsal for dance concert that is coming up this weekend. Jared and Rick had a neat discussion and then we took naps while Jared unpacked and visited with Josh. He was excited to ride his unicycle again and got out his juggling supplies!

Then Rick and I took Jared to the Stake President's house for him to be released. President Nadauld  visited with Jared alone for a while and then called us in. He had Jared share some feelings and experiences from his mission and gave him some advice. He asked Jared what his morning routine was (getting up early, exercising, and studying the scriptures) and his first piece of advice to Jared was to continue this morning routine and not let those things slide. He said in following up with missionaries who had been home for a little while he could definitely tell the difference between those who had kept up these important habits and those who hadn't. His next advice was to study the scriptures (which is included in the morning routine). He also admonished him to pay his tithing and asked Jared why he thought that was so important and they shared a discussion about that. He finished with "always having a current temple recommend." At the end of the meeting he had Jared share his testimony. The meeting was really neat and the spirit was definitely present!

When we got home we late a late dinner of marinated barbecued chicken and squash, salad, and rice. Then the kids went swimming! The pool probably felt so good to Jared since he hasn't been able to swim in almost two years! Jared was able to call Janika and then later on Jared's friend, Broden came over to visit. All in all it was a perfect day!

Rick wrote a nice thank you letter to both of Jared's mission presidents and they both wrote glowing letters back about how much they enjoyed working with Jared! I have included Rick's letters and the two letters from the Mission Presidents in my journal.