National Anthem Video (Jaiden and Janelle)

 Jaiden and Janelle Jensen are members of the National Honor Society at their high school. They had the opportunity to sing the National Anthem at the NHS Induction Ceremony tonight. They did great!! You can listen to it HERE!! 

Janelle Waterskiing

My friend Ellie Kenworthy's family is really into boating, and she managed to schedule a trip to take all of us friends! It was way fun, we went Sand Hollow (I think, don't quote me on that :)) and we all went boating and wake surfing. After that we went to her family's lot in Hurricane and ate food and watched a horror movie on top of a trailer! (It wasn't really scary cause we just made fun of it really) but it was a super fun day!

Josh: Soon to be Soccer Referee

Josh has been interested in becoming a soccer referee and so I have been trying to help him through the process. This is all new to both of us and so we don't really know what we are doing! Someone on Josh's soccer team told him about a certification training in September for new refs (and this boy's mom also called me to let me know about it). We both decided to register our boys for the training. It was the St. George entry level grassroots training through the U.S. Soccer Learning Training Center. I checked to make sure it was the correct website and the proper training that would lead to him becoming a ref for competitive soccer leagues in our area, and it was.

The training included 5 hours of online training (and quizzes) and then an in-person course on September 1st. The training, including both the online training and the in-person course, was $85.00. Rick was hesitant about spending the money for that, but Josh assured him that he would pay back the funds once he had his license and could start working. Rick was also concerned about transportation to and from games, since the soccer fields are clear across town. I am concerned about that also, but want to give Josh the opportunity to work, even if I have to bring him. Hopefully we can work out a carpool situation. 

At the training course the people giving the training went over more referee drills and calls, but Josh and his friend left the course confused because they were given NO information on what to do now that they were certified. How did they get to where they were now to actually working as a referee at games? When they asked they were just given the phone number of the ref assigner for Southern Utah. I called the number a couple of times and left a message, but received no response. Josh was very busy with Cross Country and soccer and so I put it on the back burner for a couple of weeks. I kept forgetting about it and so I set up a time in my calendar for Josh to call the ref assigner. (He doesn't have a cell phone and so he needs to use mine).

Josh called a couple of times and left a message. This time we received a text with a link to a PDF which contained detailed instructions with the next few steps on becoming a referee. I am not sure why the boys were not given these instructions during the online training or during the in-person course! Well, those instructions took another hour to wade through (granted I am a little slow, but I am constantly checking and double checking to make sure that I am following the instructions correctly). So now Josh is registered as a referee (we just have to wait for the final approval). We have the payment system set up (for him to get paid), and filled out the information that would put him on the referee list, and ordered the referee uniform and kit (another $68.90). I sure hope this will be worth it! So now we are just waiting for approval from whoever is in charge and for the uniform and other supplies to arrive. Then we will call the ref assigner again and let her know that he is ready to accept games. His friend already went through this process a couple of weeks ago and so he is assigned to three games this Saturday. 

Josh has been concerned about the expenses and said that he would pay us back for all of the referee expenses once he starts reffing games and earning money. (Thankfully they pay well!) He also wants to put together an account to help pay for other soccer expenses, such as specialized trainings and tournaments. He wants to tryout for high school soccer this coming Spring and has offered to help pay for that as well. He is such a great kid! So hopefully he will get to ref at least a few games before the season ends and will be all ready to go for Spring season. We also encourage our children to pay tithing first, the missionary jar next, then savings. So after all that (and helping to pay for soccer expenses) hopefully he stills has enough leftover for some play money!!  

Janika in Snow College Magazine -- 40 Under 40

 Way to go, Janika! 

Josh SCHS Cross Country Meet

Josh ran in the home Cross Country meet at SCHS. He did awesome! We had been really worried since he injured his back at his soccer game last Saturday after he collided with another player. His back had been hurting him ever since. On Monday he rode his bike halfway to XC practice in the morning but then turned around and came back home since his back was hurting so bad. He missed all of his XC practices this week and also missed one of his soccer practices. So we were worried about how this race would go! We really wanted him to run because he had already had to miss almost every XC meet due to conflicting soccer games. 

Josh's back was still hurting him the morning of the race. I asked him if he was okay getting a blessing and he accepted. Rick and Jared gave him a blessing and he was blessed that his back wouldn't bother him during the race and that he would be able to do his best. Well, his back didn't bother him during the race and he was able to beat his former time by over 2 minutes! His former PR for a 5K was 21:03 and this race he got a time of 18:56!! Way to go, Josh! We were all excited over his time and humbled and grateful for answered prayers and tender mercies!!    

Visit from Grandma

Grandma Jensen came down with Julie (and Haulee and Shane's family -- and their neighbors) so that Shane could do the Iron Man. The Iron Man was actually cancelled this year due to Covid, but Shane still did the entire race by himself!! Now that is some crazy dedication!! Meanwhile Grandma came over to visit. Grandma played some games of Uno and Skipbo with Jenna, and then the girls and I met them at the house they were staying at to go swimming. The kids had a ball! Jenna brought her snow cone machine and served everyone snow cones! (Pictured, Janelle and Jaiden modeling, Jenna and Jhi swimming, Jenna with cousins and their friends making snow cones). 

 

Jaiden's Group Homecoming Pictures

 This group is lucky that the mom of one of the boys is a professional photographer! Thank you, Melody Averett!!