Easter Sunday -- Baby Josh is Born!!

Sunday, April 16 (Easter morning):  I think I slept some before waking up with painful contractions around 1:00 a.m.  I just lay in bed and watched the clock, timing the contractions….1:05…1:10….1:15…..1:20…finally I woke Rick up and said that I was having contractions five minutes apart and they were hurting so maybe I had better go to the hospital.

We’ve never had to go to the hospital in the middle of the night before and I was thinking “Darn! Gerilyn left one night too early!”   At first I was saying maybe I should just drive myself and leave him with the kids since it might take awhile (I know bad idea).  But when he could see that I was really starting to hurt he hurried and got dressed.  We  wondered who we could call in the middle of the night since most of our logical choices were out of town for Easter.  Rick said maybe he should drive around and see who had their lights on (another bad idea – I would have been home alone having a baby).

I said, “let’s just go and leave the kids and we will call someone on the way.”  So we grabbed the video camara bag, hospital bag, cell phones and ward directory and headed out.  Our neighbors who live down the street (Gentrys) had a light on and they have several teenage daughters and so we called them. She is also my visiting teaching companion.  I said, “Ronda? This is Wendy,” then started having a bad contraction and thought I might start to cry and so I just handed the phone to Rick.”  Rick explained the situation and she said that she would be right over.  We told her we had left the back door unlocked for her. On the drive over the contractions were coming closer together and really starting to hurt.  I was clutching my seat and breathing hard through each one.  The good thing about going that time of night is that at least there was no traffic!  

We arrived at the hospital at 1:38 a.m.  I stopped on the steps with a bad contraction and could hardly walk in the door. The desk attendant saw my plight and hurriedly brought a wheelchair to the door.  He said “Do you need this?”  I said “I don’t know” (I was sort of out of it) and sat down and Rick wheeled me to the nurse station.  The nurse at the desk was standing there brightly saying something like “Hello, what can we do for you?”  I’m thinking, “Isn’t it obvious??” I was about to say I was ready to have a baby (I mean – hello!) but I couldn’t talk through the contractions and so Rick said, “um, we need some help.”  When they saw how serious it was they hurried me into a room and handed me a gown and asked if I wanted an epidural.  I said “okay” (yeah, right!)   They handed me a gown (there were several nurses there) and I’m thinking, “I don’t want to change right here in front of everyone!”  So I go into the bathroom and I think Rick or someone helped me.

I barely made it on the bed and the nurse checked me and said, “She is fully dilated – and the bag is bulging!”  Seconds later the bag of waters broke all over soaking my socks and then I felt that burning, pushing sensation and baby Josh was here!  (1:45 a.m. – just 7 minutes after we had arrived!)  It was over with just like that, and I wouldn’t have it any other way!  It was so much better than sitting in a hospital room all day or all night hooked up to monitors, IV’s, and an Epidural and being numb and unable to walk for hours afterwards.   I don’t know if Rick thought so though – he was shaking his head saying that was cutting it way too close!  It was still awhile before the placenta came out, so I still hurt somewhat.  Then Dr. Lunt arrived and said there were two tiny tears and one of them would need to be sewed up.  So that took several minutes and was not fun!  I wasn’t able to nurse the baby until after that because it was too awkward.  Finally I got to hold him and nurse him.  He definitely looks like a member of the family!  He has lots of hair – more than any of the other kids (about like Janika when she was born).   So all three of our boys came quick and natural and all three of our girls took a long time and came with all of the interventions.  Anyway, I was so glad to have him here safe and sound and what a wonderful Easter gift for us!   

Josh weighed 7’5.” Rick took video footage and pictures and stayed for the baby’s bath and everything and then headed home so that Ronda could go home.  Ronda and her teenage daughter both came over and none of the kids woke up or anything. I stayed in the room where I delivered the rest of the night but didn’t get much sleep.   

At home we had the Easter Baskets all filled with toys but of course I didn’t get to watch the kids go through them since I was in the hospital.  I remembered that Rick had gotten “groceries” last year for their Easter Baskets and I didn’t want that again so I had prepared early and gotten lots of toys from the Dollar Store.  I wanted to stay away from candy and junk food as much as possible since they already had plenty from all of their Easter Egg Hunts.  I got each of them swim goggles (from the dollar store, so hopefully they won’t bust the first time they put them on – one of them already has!) and little toys etc.  I got Janika underwear and socks since she is in dire need of some and Rick got each of the three older kids scripture crayons for their scriptures (which really helped attentiveness during scripture study).

I told Rick to be sure and video-tape Easter morning since I missed it.  Rick and the kids decided not to go to church since he was up half the night and really tired.  I understand, but still – missing church on Easter Sunday – that’s terrible!  Later Rick and the kids came into the hospital to see the baby.  They have a new rule where kids 14 and under can’t come into the rooms since it is RSV season.  They don’t lift the rule until the end of April.  So that was too bad!  So they didn’t get to hold the baby but just got to look at him through the nursery room glass.  Rick went in and held him up to the window for them and we got some cute pictures and video footage of all of the kids peering through the window.  They all looked really cute and Jaiden kept squealing and signing and saying “baby, baby!”  They all brought in their traditional dozen roses – except one plant was a beautiful Easter Lily.  I was glad for the Lily – it looked and smelled beautiful and was the only plant that lasted.  The roses already looked half dead .  Rick said that is what he gets from buying them from Lins – I think Janika said that is what he got for buying them on a Sunday!

Mon. 17:  I was ready to go home today – I start to get cabin fever staying in those little hospital rooms and start to feel almost depressed after awhile.  The beds are not all that comfortable and the room on the other side of one of my walls sounded like people were having a party at 4:30 in the morning.  It was so loud!   They had done a few blood tests on Josh (I think it was to make sure he didn’t contract the Group B Strep). They had to send two blood tests in for a more detailed reading at the other hospital since they were high after the initial tests, but they came back normal.  So he was cleared to go and all we needed was clearance from my doctor.  The nurse said she paged him and said he would be there in fifteen minutes.  So I went ahead and called Rick to come get me and he made arrangements to drop the girls’ off at a neighbors.

Part of me thought I should wait until my doctor actually came before calling Rick, and I wished I had! The same thing had happened with another one of our babies – we were all ready to go and were waiting around for hours for the pediatrician to come and take his 30 seconds to say “okay, you can go.”  So I should have learned my lesson!  Rick came and we waited and waited and still no doctor. We kept checking with the nurses who said he had been called on a delivery.  Finally like three hours later, he came.  

Since we were later than expected, we weren’t going to be there when Jared was to arrive home from kindergarten. I worried that the gal I car pool with might drop him off and no one would be home. We tried calling her several times to see if she if she could bring Jared to her house, but no one answered.  So I left a message with his teacher to tell him to go to her house. Anyway, Jared’s teacher ended up calling to say that Kaylee (his ride) wasn’t even in school today. Apparently they had gone on vacation over Easter and had forgotten to call us to say she wouldn’t be picking up our kids!

So now Jared was at the office and we were both at the hospital wondering who we could call to pick him up. Finally I thought of Monica Williams, whose son is in Jared’s class and who lives close to the school. We called her and she said she would pick him up and he could play at her house with Tyson.  We felt bad about leaving the girls’ at Gentry’s so long when we told her it would only be a half hour.  So the lesson is – don’t call your ride to come get you until all of the doctor’s have seen you and your baby and you have been officially discharged!!

We came home and of course the girls were all excited over seeing their baby brother.  We put them straight to bed, however, and told them they could hold him after their naps. I took the quiet time to write in my journal about the delivery. The other kids were equally excited to see their baby brother when they got home from school and they all wanted to hold him. Josh was asleep in his car seat when he got home around 2:00 and pretty much slept all afternoon. I fed him and changed him and let the kids hold him but other than that he pretty much slept -- until bed-time of course! Then he was fussy and didn’t like his bassinet at all! I would nurse him and then put him back in his bassinet and then he would fuss. Needless to say, we had a hard night and didn’t get much sleep!

 

 

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! 

Fourth of July!!

Mon. 4: Jase was feeling better and I spent the whole day with the kids. Rick opted to stay home and work.  He wanted to clean out the unfinished room in the basement to get ready for his Studio equipment that was due to come this week. So now all of the boxes of storage are in the family room in the basement instead of in the other room and we have nowhere to put it!  He has been calling around to see if we can get a shed out by the garage but it will be probably be awhile before we can get one ordered.  He brought several big loads to the DI. 

I packed a picnic lunch for the kids and we all went to the park in St. George to enjoy the Fourth of July Festivities. I left Jaiden home with Rick, putting her down for a nap before we left, and she slept pretty much the whole time we were gone. The kids did all of the free games and went on the 100 foot slip and slide. We ate our picnic on the grass in the shade. We weren't going to do anything that cost money or required a ticket but then we had two different people (total strangers) come up and give us tickets because they were leaving. So the kids went on the giant blow up slides several times. We ended up running into Barneys and the kids had fun going on the slides with their kids.

I had told the kids I would take them to a movie "Herby Fully-Loaded" and Janika asked if Madison could come too. Her mom gave the go-ahead and so she ended up tagging along. We went home first to drop off Janelle since it was time for her nap. The movie was cute but still had the Lord's name in vain several times - and it was rated "G!"  I mean if you can't trust a "G" movie - what can you trust?  Why can't they just say, "Oh my gosh!" instead of using the other word?  The kids were all very good during the movie and they all loved it. 

Our neighbors called and invited us over to their place tonight for a BBQ.  All of the kids went swimming. Neither Rick or I felt like staying up late to see the fireworks tonight. I told Rick it was his turn since I had been with the kids all day but he didn't want to go either. Janika was really giving it to us, whining and complaining about how unfair that was -- especially since they didn't get to see them last year either. Then some ward members invited us to go over and watch the fireworks that they had purchased.  That seemed to satisfy the kids and so they weren't disappointed about missing the big ones. They came back all excited and said that they were "so cool!"  I had just put the baby to bed and so I stayed home and let Rick take the other kids.  

  

Stomach Flu

Sun. 3:  Jase was complaining of stomach cramps all morning and was just laying around on the couch.   We didn't know how serious it was and we all went to church (bringing a barf bag just in case). Good thing we did!  No sooner had Sacrament meeting started then Jase started throwing up!  So Rick rushed him out the door and stayed home with him.

I had totally forgotten that a week or so ago Janelle and Jaiden had both thrown up in the middle of the night.  Janelle had been crying and said her tummy hurt and so Rick had brought her in bed with us.  Then in the night she started throwing up and Rick shouted "help help!"  He had actually caught it all in his hands (unbeknownst to me of course!) and was pretty proud of himself.  But when he shouted "help!" I grabbed for Janelle, trying to yank her out of his arms to make a run for the bathroom and of course it all went flying everywhere!  He was a little upset at first but then we had to laugh about the whole thing.  I told him to shout something more specific next time like: "grab a towel!"  So we had one of those middle of the night do-an-emergency-load-of-laundry sessions along with the middle of the night bath for Janelle.  The commotion had awakenen Jaiden and so I had gone in to nurse her and then she promptly threw up all over me too! 

Anyway, back to Sunday...I had been was asked to sub for the chorister in primary, but they ended up not having a Pianist and so I ended up playing the piano instead and they found someone else to lead the music at the last minute.  That has happened before when I was asked to lead the music.  I am supposed to lead the music next week too.

When we got home from church, Janelle's crib was in the garage and her little bed was up.  She excitedly crawled right on to it!  In fact, after dinner I couldn't find her and she had crawled on her bed to go to sleep!  It hasn't always been that easy though!  Often she just runs out of her room giggling.  One day I put both girls down for a nap at the same time.  I could hear them in there and so I went to check on them and Janelle had crawled into Jaiden's crib and was playing with her.  When I walked in they were both giggling guiltily and crawling around in circles! These two little girls really keep me going, but they sure are cuties and a lot of fun!!  They love to play and are always laughing!

Janika and Jase Funnies!!

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! 

 

2004 Jensen Christmas Newsletter

 When we were expecting our fifth child we decided that we were growing out of our home in Ivins and needed a bigger home. We found one we loved in Santa Clara, just ten minutes away from our previous home and moved the end of February. The new home was two and a half times bigger than our former home and we loved it!! We had a wonderful ward with lots of great neighbors – including friends for the kids and baby-sitters – all within walking distance. We bought tons of new furniture and put in a cement slab in the backyard for the pool.

Rick’s sister Julie came down from Ogden to help us decorate and we painted the entire house. When I say “we” I mean Rick and Julie.  I, in my pregnant condition, just watched. We loved the way it turned out! Rick transformed the basement into a studio for the Carolers with mirrors all the way across the wall and he put in an entire theater system with a projector so that the Carolers could critique themselves (and so that we could watch movies on the big screen.) We also had the bathroom in the basement finished and planned to rip out the carpeting in the front room and hall-ways to put in tile. 

On May 31st (Memorial Day) we welcomed another beautiful baby girl into the family. Jaiden Wendy Jensen was born at 10:16 p.m. and weighed 7 lbs 7 oz and was 19 1/2" long. I had a few different doctors in the past and every single one of them missed the birth of my babies (either they were gone that day, or left temporarily, or the baby just came too quickly and they didn't make it into the room in time). But this doctor (Dr. Lunt) was there (barely in time) to deliver Jaiden! We really liked this doctor and decided to keep him for my future deliveries! Jaiden was a cutie and looked much like her siblings! 

 

 
July pictures...


July was a big month filled with family affairs. We went to Jake and Mikalyn's wedding in the Jensen's yard in Farr West on July 16th and Jaiden was blessed on July 18th in the Jensen's ward in Farr West. She received a beautiful blessing and we enjoyed time together with our family!

We then spent time with the Westra family in Salt Lake and visited with friends. July 22 and 23 we went to Lagoon with the Healeys and had a great time! We then stayed in a condo at Powder Ridge and went boating at Pineview Reservoir. 

Rick taught EFY again this year in Provo, Las Vegas, and San Diego. The Provo session included the Deaf group and so he and I also interpreted for several of the meetings and classes. Rick and I also celebrated our ten year anniversary this month! 

Jaiden is now almost seven months old. She is chubby and cheerful with big beautiful bright blue eyes and long eye-lashes.  She is such a doll and we are all enjoying her very much! 

Janelle turned two years old in October.  She mostly communicates with sign language but she is finally starting to talk as well!  She is a favorite of all our baby-sitters who love to come over and baby-sit cute little Bellie! She has dark brown hair and dark blue eyes and looks just like her mom when she was a baby.  Her favorite things are her silky blanket and her thumb!!  She also loves Barney, toy farm animals, dollies, story-books, hats, necklaces, shoes and going on outings with her Daddy. 

Jared is 4 ½ and loves attending pre-school with all of his friends.  He continues to hoard treasures (everything from rocks to screws to mom’s earrings) everywhere he can – in bags, boxes, bowls, egg-cartons – you name it!!  He loves to color and has a great imagination.  We can hear him carrying on complete conversations with several different people when he is the only one in the room! 

Jase just turned seven years old and is in the first grade.  He is also a great reader and very good at math.  He LOVES to play computer games!  He is a good singer and is excited to start soccer again this year.  We started a ticket system this year where the kids earn tickets for doing chores and for good behavior and Jase is the one that always has the most tickets by far!! 

Janika just turned nine years old.  She is the splitting image of her dad when he was her age.  She is in the third grade and is the smartest one in her class (okay so I’m a little biased, but it is still true!!)   Janika loves to read and loves to have her mom read to her.  Most nights after the other kids have gone to bed I read to Janika from my childhood journal.  She loves the time we spend together and to hear all the quirky things I did when I was a kid!! Janika has been taking piano lessons (with a little arm twisting) and it is her first year being one of the Hands in Harmony Carolers. She wasn’t too sure she had made the right decision with all of the long practices for four months, but as soon as performances started she blossomed into a little performing star, charming all her audiences! She is the youngest one in the group – four years younger than the next ages in the group.

Rick is teaching Seminary at Snow Canyon High School which is just right up the street now that we live in Santa Clara. He is in the Elder’s Quorum Presidency and is the ward choir director and I teach primary.

I have been very busy being the mother of five children and trying to keep the house in order.   I love being able to stay at home but I also love to get out and take a break by keeping up with my sign language. This year I taught an ASL class at the college as well as a community education class and did lots of freelance interpreting.  I also worked as a mentor for interpreters working to become certified here in the Southern Utah area.  A couple of months ago I joined “Curves” and I rush out the door every morning at 6:00 a.m. before Rick leaves for work to go “work-out.”  I can finally work out without kids jumping on top of me!    

Christmas at the Jensens means Caroling season. As you all know, we have a caroling group called the Hands in Harmony Carolers. This year they had over 70 performances!! They have done a great job and have become very popular here in St. George. I am very proud of the great job Rick does putting all of this together…and now he gets to take me to the Anniversary Inn and LOTS of dates to make up for being gone the entire month of December!

We are filled with gratitude as we reflect upon all our many blessings, including the Atonement of Jesus Christ, the gospel, our family, our health, new home, our friends, and the many opportunities we have had to spread cheer throughout this holiday season! 

2004 Jensen Family History

Here is an update from our past year.  On May 31st (Memorial Day) we welcomed another beautiful baby girl into the family.  Jaiden is now almost seven months old. She is chubby and cheerful with big beautiful bright blue eyes and long eye-lashes.  She is such a doll and we are all enjoying her very much! 

Janelle turned two years old in October.  She mostly communicates with sign language but she is finally starting to talk as well!  She is a favorite of all our baby-sitters who love to come over and baby-sit cute little Bellie!   She has dark brown hair and dark blue eyes and looks just like her mom when she was a baby.  Her favorite things are her silky blanket and her thumb!!  She also loves Barney, toy farm animals, dollies, story-books, hats, necklaces, shoes and going on outings with her Daddy. 

Jared is 4 ½ and loves attending pre-school with all of his friends.  He continues to hoard treasures (everything from rocks to screws to mom’s earrings) everywhere he can – in bags, boxes, bowls, egg-cartons – you name it!!  He loves to color and has a great imagination.  We can hear him carrying on complete conversations with several different people when he is the only one in the room! 

Jase just turned seven years old and is in the first grade.  He is also a great reader and very good at math.  He LOVES to play computer games!  He is a good singer and is excited to start soccer again this year.  We started a ticket system this year where the kids earn tickets for doing chores and for good behavior and Jase is the one that always has the most tickets by far!! 

Janika just turned nine years old.  She is the splitting image of her dad when he was her age.  She is in the third grade and is the smartest one in her class (okay so I’m a little biased, but it is still true!!)   Janika loves to read and loves to have her mom read to her.  Most nights after the other kids have gone to bed I read to Janika from my childhood journal.  She loves the time we spend together and to hear all the quirky things I did when I was a kid!!   Janika has been taking piano lessons (with a little arm twisting) and it is her first year being one of the Hands in Harmony Carolers.  She wasn’t too sure she had made the right decision with all of the long practices for four months, but as soon as performances started she blossomed into a little performing star, charming all her audiences!  She is the youngest one in the group – four years younger than the next ages in the group.

The end of February we moved from our home in Ivins to a home in Santa Clara.  It is two and a half times bigger than our former home and we just love it!!  We have a wonderful ward with lots of great neighbors – including friends for the kids and baby-sitters – all within walking distance. We bought tons of new furniture and put in a cement slab in the backyard for the pool.

Rick’s sister Julie came down from Ogden to help us decorate and we painted the entire house.  When I say “we” I mean Rick and Julie.  I, in my pregnant condition, just watched.  We love the way it turned out.  Rick also transformed the basement into a studio for the Carolers with mirrors all the way across the wall and he put in an entire theater system with a projector so the Carolers can critique themselves (and we can watch movies on the big screen.)  We also had the bathroom in the basement finished and plan to rip out the carpeting in the front room and hall-ways to put in tile. 

We didn’t go on a half a dozen vacations like we usually do since we were so busy (and broke) with all of the house purchases but we did squeeze a trip up North to take the kids to stay in a condo for a few days and take the kids to Lagoon. Rick taught EFY again this year in Provo, Las Vegas, and San Diego.  This next year he will be the session director for the ASL group in Provo.   Rick is teaching Seminary at Snow Canyon High School which is just right up the street now that we live in Santa Clara.   He is in the Elder’s Quorum Presidency and is the ward choir director and I teach primary.

I have been very busy being the mother of five children and trying to keep the house in order.   I love being able to stay at home but I also love to get out and take a break by keeping up with my sign language.  This year I taught an ASL class at the college as well as a community education class and did lots of freelance interpreting.  I also worked as a mentor for interpreters working to become certified here in the Southern Utah area.  A couple of months ago I joined “Curves” and I rush out the door every morning at 6:00 a.m. before Rick leaves for work to go “work-out.”  I can finally work out without kids jumping on top of me!   

Christmas at the Jensens means Caroling season. As you all know, we have a caroling group called the Hands in Harmony Carolers.   This year they had over 70 performances!!   They have done a great job and have become very popular here in St. George.  I am very proud of the great job Rick does putting all of this together…and now he gets to take me to the Anniversary Inn and LOTS of dates to make up for being gone the entire month of December!