Tuacahn's Live Nativity

Tonight we brought the Young Women to go see the live Nativity at Tuacahn! 

Jase and Ellen

Ellen's sister, Lexi, had her missionary farewell on Sunday and then left for the MTC on Wednesday. So Jase and Ellen went to stay with her family for a few days to share in these exciting moments! Not only did they help with the missionary preparations, but they also worked on Wedding plans. Ellen and her mom and sisters went dress shopping and Ellen picked out a wedding dress! They also went ice-skating and Sophie did a photoshoot of them. The pictures turned out absolutely gorgeous!! 

Jase is Engaged!!!

Well, tonight Jase popped the question! He planned a nice dinner out with Ellen to the Cliffside restaurant. He even dressed up for the occasion (which is a big deal for Jase, ha ha!) She might have suspected it was coming, and so after the dinner in order to throw her off he said something like, "Well, I think Ky should be back. Should we call him and see if he wants to hang out?" This caused Ellen to think that he wasn't going to ask her that night after all!

She said, "Wait, aren't we at least going to go to the Cactus Gardens?" (This is what he had planned all along but acted like he had completely forgotten). He said, "Oh yeah, we can go see the lights -- you might have to remind me how to get there!" Meanwhile his friend, Ben Lords, was already at the Cactus Gardens (Red Hills Desert Garden) ready to take some pictures of the proposal.

Jase and Ellen walked around the Desert Garden to where Jase had told Ben to be when Ellen said, "Let's walk down this way." He thought, "Dang, now what am I going to do?" So he excused himself to use the restroom and texted Ben the new location. He went to a place where there were some pretty lights behind them and knelt down on one knee and asked Ellen if she would marry him! She said "YES!"

Rick and I are so excited for Ellen and Jase! They make a great couple. They haven't been dating very long -- less than three months -- but we are impressed with Ellen and feel good about their decision to get married! We are thrilled to welcome Ellen into the family!

By the way -- Rick and I didn't even know about the Red Hills Desert Garden until Jase and Ellen told us about it. It is a garden off of Red Hill Parkway and is right next to Pioneer Park. Their website states: "Red Hills Desert Garden is Utah’s first desert conservation garden. The nearly 5-acre garden features 5,000 water-efficient plants, a 1,150-foot stream stocked with native and endangered fish species, a replica slot canyon and prehistoric dinosaur tracks found onsite dating back 200 million years."

During the Christmas season the garden is decked out with thousands of Christmas lights. Rick and I stopped by on a date after hearing about it from Jase and Ellen. It was SO pretty!! We definitely need to bring our family to come experience it! 


 

Parent Night for Southwest Dance (Jenna)

Jenna said that they could wear red or green or black. Apparently she was the only one who chose green. She also forgot until we had left the house that they were supposed to bring some kind of Santa or elf hat or accessory. We couldn't find any and so she grabbed one of the crocheted hats that Grandma Jensen had made the kids several years ago instead. Later Rick told me that we had a whole pile of Santa/elf/reindeer hats in the giant Hands in Harmony bin. Oh well! The dance teachers explained what they do on a typical day in dance, warm up exercises, dance steps etc. and then the girls performed a dance number they had put together this month and took a few pictures. I am not sure why Jenna has Anna's head in a head lock!

 

Jenna's Clay Creations!

Jenna is so good at making cool creations out of clay! Check out the detail on this Llama! I love to see the creative figures she comes up with!

Young Women Salt Lake Temple Trip

This weekend we took the Young Women on a temple trip to the Salt Lake temple. We wanted to give the girls the opportunity to go before it closes for several years. This trip overlapped with the Madrigal trip to Salt Lake and so our girls were not able to go on the temple trip.  

Jaiden and Janelle left on Wednesday afternoon (in the pouring rain) to head to SLC with the Madrigals. I think the weather was fine for them most of the trip. They performed at the Capitol building, the Assembly Hall, the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and many other places. They also went ice skating at the Gallivan Center. They arrived back home on Friday around 4:00 -- the exact time that I was leaving to SLC for our Young Women's Temple trip. 

We have five Madrigals in our ward -- Jaiden, Janelle, Drue, Emily, and Chad Lyman. The four girls were all in our caroling group last year. So those four weren't able to go on the temple trip because they had a Madrigal performance the night they got home and also the next morning. 

We only ended up with five girls on the temple trip (four dropped out the morning of) and five leaders -- one per girl, ha ha! But it was a fun trip and the weather was good -- a little cold, but not too bad. We stopped for dinner on our way and then headed to Temple Square to see the lights. It has been years since I have seen the lights and it was neat to go again.

It was also fun driving by the building where I worked at the Bureau of Land Management for several years. After the lights we stayed over at a hotel near temple square. We had five leaders sharing a room with only two FULL beds and a couch bed. We are all used to King sized beds and so a Full bed looks barely bigger than a twin bed! Needless to say it was a little cramped! But that's okay. 

I went and did initiatory while the girls did baptisms. Rosemary Wixom was working in the temple (Former General Primary President). She was very friendly and shook all of our hands and visited with us for a little while. After we finished with the baptisms we headed home, stopping for lunch on the way home. We got home just in time to rush to the ward party Saturday night! 

Happy Birthday, Jase!!

It was nice to have everyone here to celebrate Jase's birthday (turning 22)!! A few months ago I overheard Jenna talking with Josh. She said, "Would you rather have $50.00...or spend the whole day with Jase?" I think Josh opted for the $50.00, but Jenna said, "Not me, I would rather spend the whole day with Jase!" She loves her big brother!!

Jase's birthday is actually tomorrow, but we celebrated it today since we won't see him tomorrow. We had turkey casserole for lunch with martinellis and dessert and sang caroler songs. Then Janika and Brandon and Grandma headed back home! It was lovely having them here for several days!

Ellen sent me a few pictures from Jase's birthday. I am glad that he had someone to make a birthday cake for him!