2026 Fourth of July: America 250

This morning Rick and I packed up the grandkids (Everett and Callan) and headed to the parade! It was PACKED!! I don't think I have ever seen it so crowded! They changed the route this year to start on Main Street on 100 South and go to 900 East. Jenna was in the parade with the Santa Clara Royalty and so she met her group at 8:00. We also arrived at 8:00 (the parade started at 8:30) but it was really difficult finding an open spot. We ended up in a sunny area and it was HOT!! I wished I had brought the cooling cloths that I got for our Tuacahn show. 

The kids just care about the candy -- and there wasn't much. But there were people passing out apples and otter pops, which is even better. They did get a little candy. I'm okay with them not getting a lot, except for having to listen to, "where is the candy! I want candy!" It was fun to cheer on Jase and Ellen with Liberty Village and Jenna with the Santa Clara Royalty. The parade was over 90 minutes, we left a little early to help put Jenna's casseroles in the oven before all of her friends came over. 

Jenna was SO excited for the Fourth of July and very sick of being home bound after getting her tonsils out on the 23rd. So she planned a FULL day of activities for her and her friends. She sometimes says, "If I don't plan something then nothing will happen!" Her plans included the parade (all her friends came to cheer them on) and then brunch at our house. She was planning on it being brunch, but it was noon before everything finished and so it was lunch. She had spent the whole day cooking yesterday. She made three breakfast casseroles -- two cinnamon roll/french toast casseroles (one gluten free and one regular) and a casserole with sausage and eggs. We were the recipients of her efforts because we got to eat the leftovers, haha! 

All of her friends came over to eat (I forgot to get a picture) and then they went to Andrew's house for swimming, games, and croquet. Then some of the kids volunteered for the flag unfurling at the pre-show to the Russell Dickerson concert at Utah Tech University (in exchange for free tickets) and then they all watched the concert and the firework show. Then they went back to Andrew's house for glowstick swimming! She had a GREAT day!! Here is the album with lots of pictures!! 

The one below is a re-creation picture from a picture taken at last year's Fourth of July at Lake Powell! 

Jenna FSY!!!

Jenna and her friends went to FSY at Snow College in Ephraim this week! Monday morning Class Choice opened for Seniors (where they can go in online and change their schedule -- or at least try to). So I planned to pick up all of the girls for FSY at 8:30 to give them 30 minutes for schedule changes. Then I drove the girls (Jenna, Cortnie, Clarissa, and Anna) the 3.5 hours to Ephraim! 

When we arrived we checked in and then went to their apartment to drop off their luggage. We then hurried to Wendys to get lunch to go so that they could make it in time for their first counselor meeting! Jenna and Cortnie had arranged to be roommates, and Clarissa and Anna had arranged to room together. We were a little disappointed that the four girls were not assigned the same apartment, but at least they were in the same complex, right next door to each other, and they had the same counselor and company! 

I dropped them off and then drove by the new Ephraim temple and stopped by my former dorm and the institute building and let the nostalgia from my Snow College days run over me! Then I turned around and headed home! It was a long day of driving! 

Funny story... I had told Jenna that she should make an effort to meet new people and make new friends (including guys). After all, her boyfriend leaves on his mission in a couple of months and she would need to branch out socially and make the most of her senior year of high school. The next afternoon she send me a text saying that she decided to take my advice and had gotten really close to this guy saying he is "soooo funny and amazing..." I said I knew that she was just messing with me. She said she would send a picture. Well this is the picture that she sent!

Very funny, Jenna! 😂 I told her that she is a master at AI. She said that he was offended that I said he was fake, haha! Then she sends me this picture (see below) because I had warned her not to lean over the balcony because a couple of students at Utah Tech fell from the balcony of their apartment complex and  were killed (true story). Granted it was a lot higher up, but still...  

Jenna said the first two or three days were a little rough. They weren't allowed to go to their rooms for free time to take a nap like they normally do. Then later on she sends me pictures of her sleeping in the hallway and sleeping during class. She was SO disappointed that for pizza night they didn't get a gluten free pizza for her. I would be upset about that too. So I was a bit worried that she didn't seem to be having the same amazing experience that she has had in the past. 

But then by the time the week ended she said that it was amazing and that testimony meeting was awesome and that they had a wonderful time! So I am glad that things (or at least her attitude) improved throughout the week. This is her fifth time at FSY and she was had an amazing experience every single time. She said that she and her friends still want to go one last time next year even though they will be graduated and probably have their mission calls by that time! 

Clarissa's birthday was the last day of FSY. Jenna planned a scavenger hunt for her and brought her this birthday headband and sash. They sang Happy Birthday to her at every group event and so Clarissa got LOTS of love!! 

Anna's mom picked up the girls Saturday morning and brought them home. As soon as Jenna got home she showed me all of the pictures and videos and shared lots of fun stories. She said that all of the guys in their company looked like they were 14, haha, but they were fun anyway! She always comes home with a determination to do better and be better. Love you, Jenna!! 

New Lunch Group!!

Last year Jenna was in a lunch group called "Lunch Bunch," with her group of friends. One of the moms headed it up and sent out a signup sheet through "SignUp Genius," for all of the moms to sign up. It worked out great! I really liked it because then I knew that Jenna was getting a good meal for lunch. When she didn't have a place to go she often skipped lunch (which is definitely NOT healthy) or went out to eat with friends, which wasted a lot of money. So the lunch bunch was really helpful for her and her friends to socialize and also have a great home-cooked meal ready for them. 

Well, by the end up the year, Jenna wasn't hanging out as much with that friend group, and during the summer she started hanging out more and more with Ethan and his friend group, and other childhood friends from the neighborhood. I really wanted her to continue with the lunch group, but thought it would be better if we started our own group with this new group of friends. We contacted Clarissa and Anna to see if they wanted to switch over as well. So today was the first day -- at our house with Hawaiian Haystacks! This group went strong all year! Such a great group of friends!! 

Ethan Allred, Jenna Jensen, Clarissa Williams, Sam Bolton, Cache Nielson, RJ Stephens, Seamus Purdy, Kyle Crouch, Andrew Rowan, Anna Ence (and Cortnie Kendrick, but she didn't come today). 

Jenna, Camping

Jenna and Clarissa went camping at Navajo Lake with Cortnie Kendrick and her mom for Cortnie's birthday party. They had a great time! 

FSY: Jenna

(Written by Jenna): FSY was again one of the best parts of my summer. Although it is great to be able to feel the spirit by yourself, there is something different about going to a place where you can share God’s love, and the knowledge of the gospel, with everyone. The feeling is so much different than anywhere I’ve ever been. It’s a place where everyone is trying to become more like Jesus Christ and wants to be a true disciple of Christ. This makes it a great environment and an easy place to feel loved. I started out this FSY with my best friend Clarissa and I was expecting an exact experience from before and I was a little shocked when it didn’t turn out the way I thought. But I couldn’t have asked for a better experience.

Early on Monday morning, me and Clarissa drove to Cedar City to spend a week at SUU. We were super excited and were listening to tons of fun songs with my dad in the car. We checked in and dropped our stuff off in our room and then we left and got lunch at Culvers. When we came back we saw that there were two girls in the other room, and we walked in and said hi to them and started talking to them. It took a little effort, but I’m so glad that we talked with them because we clicked with them automatically and ended up spending the whole rest of the week with them.

After that, we went and met our company. All the girls were talking about how there weren’t that many cute guys in our company and that all the cute guys were in the other companies. But honestly, I couldn’t have asked for better young men to be in my company. We went down to orientation and got a big welcome to start out our week. Then we had dinner and we sat with our whole company. One of my favorite parts of the day is the home evening lesson and games. After that we had home evening goal setting, and we came up with some great goals for how we want our company to be like. After that we had quiet time and reflect and review of our day with the girls in my company.

The next day we woke up at 6:30 and got ready. It was kind of a challenge because there were eight girls and only one bathroom, but we made it work. We had a quick devotional and went to breakfast. One of my favorite parts of starting out my mornings at FSY is when we get to do gospel study. In gospel study you talk about a certain story and try to understand the meaning of it all together as a company, and then you go somewhere quiet individually and choose something to study in order to feast upon the words of Christ. After that we had our devotional and went to our classes.

Something that stood out to me in the first class was that the gospel isn’t “taught,” it is “caught.” So, if you’re not ready to catch what Heavenly Father gives you, then you will lose it and if there is anything good, it is from God. After classes, we went to lunch and had more classes. One thing I learned that day about revelation was that God will not answer all our questions because He does not want to interfere with our agency. He will help us the best he can without taking away our own choices. That night we had a dance outside, which was fun, but it was super-hot.

So far the week was going by so fast, and it was already day three. We woke up at 6:30, like we did every morning, and did a participation devotional after breakfast. We had our gospel study and talked about what it means to feast on the words of Christ. Feast is an interesting word because it means nourishment and a joyful celebration so you’re not taking a little bit, you are taking a lot. So, related to the gospel you would be consuming all of the knowledge that you can. Some of the ways that you can feast on the gospel is to pray before you study, ask questions and take notes, and try to liken scriptures to your own life. Jesus Christ does not only care about the things that are gospel related. He cares about us and each little thing that matters to us also matters to Him. Not only did Jesus suffer for our sins, but He also suffered for everything just so He could know exactly how we feel so he could succor us.

After dinner we had game night which was super fun. We played a lot of different types of games and we did our banner and cheer. Ours wasn’t very good, ha ha, but the games were still fun. I really liked rock, paper, scissors, jumping. After that we got locked out of our building, so we had to wait a while, but then we were able to get in and we got pizza, and I got a whole entire gluten free pizza to myself and it was really good. Then we had RNR and some of the things about taking it home that I wrote was that I’ve really been thinking about how I can include others when I go home and I need to keep up with my goals and try my best to give the Lord the effort He deserves, Also, when I return home I will share my testimony and my standards more freely and  I want to stay different instead of just going back to my old habits. Then we got ready for bed and went to bed.

Day four I had the participant devotional so I shared a scripture and a conference talk about how our body is sacred and my thoughts on it and then we went to breakfast. I finished the Book of Mormon gospel study. This was an incredible day for me, it was just a day that was solely based around the spirit and God’s love. First, we had an activity which was really cool. We learned the importance of the Book of Mormon and then when we split off into our own groups, we all chose a different part about how the Book of Mormon was translated and some of the reasons of how it couldn’t have been made up.

After that activity, we went to the devotional which I really enjoyed. Some of my notes were: As a disciple of Jesus Christ, I have my own unique role. Listen to hear the songs you can’t sing. Be joyful with other people’s talents, instead of being jealous. Following stereotypes, you lose who you truly are and why God made us all unique and different. The importance of needing to share our talents with the world and use the gifts that God gave us to help gather Israel.

After that we had lunch and the variety show which was super fun and we had free time. I think that I just got Chick-fil-A and then we had a short little discussion on testimonies and went to the musical program. I really enjoyed the program. It’s definitely one of my favorite things throughout the week because I feel the spirit so strong through music. After that, we had our testimony meeting and I got up and shared my testimony and I was shaking so hard. We also sang the FSY melody, which is definitely one of the most powerful times throughout the week, because it makes me feel my purpose and why I came to this earth as a daughter of God to do my part. I love singing together with everyone and having all these children of God bearing their testimony through music.

The last day of FSY was definitely one of the best, but also was really hard. We started our day like normal, but had a little “sharing the gospel activity” instead of classes, which was kind of hard, because as much as I love my company, sometimes it was hard for all of them to focus and then we sometimes couldn’t feel the spirit. But it was still really great. Then we went to watch the “taking it home” showcase and my company wasn’t in it at all, ha ha, but it was still fun to see. During free time a guy named Josh asked me if I wanted to come listen to him sing with his counselor, so I did ha ha and he almost wanted to go to swing dancing class with me, but I got away hee hee after that.

We took some pictures that were really cute, and we went to the dance. This dance was so much better than the dance on Tuesday because everyone knew that this was the last day FSY so they wanted to make the best memories and just give it their all, so everyone was in a good mood and having a good time. I got to swing dance with a few guys and as soon as the dance was over, we had the taking it home message and we sang the FSY melody one last time and I’m surprised I didn’t cry this time.

After that we went to our company spots and tried to have a taking it home message with our company, but I was honestly disappointed that it wasn’t a very spiritual experience for me because no one was paying attention, and everyone was goofing off. But we also got to run through the sprinklers so that made up for it after that we went to our dorms, and I was not ready to say goodbye to our roommates, Liv and Eden, so we decided not to. We were planning on staying up all night, but it didn’t work out that way, so we only stayed up till like 12:40 but still it was nice to have some extra time with them and we had so much fun calling people.

I don’t think there’s anything on this earth that makes me as happy as going to FY because you meet complete strangers but become friends so fast, it’s incredible, and it’s filled with the spirit everywhere you go.  I really want to live my life like that. I’m so happy for the opportunity to go this year!

 

One thing Jenna didn't mention in her write-up is that at least 8 different boys asked for her phone number. Heaven help us! She has already gotten together with friends with met at FSY a couple of times since being home!