Party at the Park (Happy Birthday, Rick!)

Janika headed up a little party for Dad to celebrate his birthday. They ordered a bunch of pizzas and then they "kidnapped" dad and blind-folded him and we all met at Vernon Worthen park. It was fun! The weather was being a little bipolar. Usually this time of year is beautiful in St. George, but the weather had turned cold and drizzly and was raining when we left. It stopped while we were at the park, but it was still cold. I was wishing I had brought a coat instead of just a sweatshirt. Boy, we really are wimps! Poor Jaiden is in sub-zero temperatures and we complain about temperatures in the high 40s. But the grandkids had a great time and we all loved playing with them -- and Dad loved the little surprise!! 

A little incident happened near the end of our stay. There was this man a ways off that was shouting all sorts of things, including profanities.  It was really unsettling. We quickly decided to leave since it was time to go anyway, but that sped up our departure. He started walking closer to the park and others there were getting nervous also. Several people called the cops and they came and arrested him. Brandon looked up local arrests later and found that the man had been arrested for drug use, drug paraphernalia and a few other things. Crazy! 

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving! All of our children were able to come this year, except for Jaiden who is in Mongolia, but we were able to do a zoom call with her! Janelle came down with Jared. They arrived Tuesday night. Jared had a bunch of his friends over for SMASH that night. Then Wednesday Janika, Brandon, and Everett arrived in the afternoon and Jase, Ellen, Evan, and Eli arrived that night at 10:00 pm. 

On Wednesday Jenna made the gluten free pretzel-jello, four-step pudding dessert, and gluten free pumpkin bread with gluten free frosting. She was also going to make the yams that day, but Rick had pre-ordered and picked up the food and when we cut into the yams we noticed that they were white, not orange. This is what google said: 

• Orange sweet potatoes have more moisture, are orange-fleshed, and very sweet.
• White sweet potatoes are dryer, white-fleshed, mild in flavor, and slightly nutty.

I didn't want to mess up the recipe by trying something we hadn't tried before, and so Brandon picked up some yams at the store later than night since he was picking up some other things. (As a side note, when we have the grandchildren come we needed to remember to get WHOLE milk, since that is what they drink.  Another side-note: Check the ingredients on the gluten-free pretzels because the ones from Walmart had flax in and so Rick had to return them and get some from a grocery store instead.)

Janelle still had to work each evening (except for Thanksgiving day). But it is a blessing that she could do her classes through zoom and work from our house (since missionaries now do their first ten days of MTC over zoom from home, and so she was able to pick up a district who still doing home MTC. So she worked from 5:30 to 9:30 on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. She is also thrilled because she got a nice raise at the MTC! She was making $17.00 an hour and is now earning $21.00 an hour! 

Thursday most of us slept in and then I started cooking! Jenna made the yams. Normally Rick gets one big 25 pound turkey, but when he went shopping then didn't have those and so instead he got two smaller turkeys, 14-15 pounds each. So I cooked one in the oven and one in the electric roaster. I liked the one cooked in a turkey bag in the oven better, but Rick said he liked the one cooked in the roaster. Next year I want to get a wire meat thermometer so that I know when the one in the roaster is finished without lifting up the lid and letting out all of the heat. It cooked faster than I thought and so I left it in there on warm.

Another note is to start boiling the water for the potatoes earlier, because it always takes way longer than expected for such a big pot of water to start boiling! So next year I will plan to start that an hour before I expect the turkey to be done, instead of just a half hour. It still worked out fine because I pulled out the oven turkey when it was finished and covered it with foil and towels to keep it warm while I cooked the rolls and yams, so by that time the potatoes were finished. 

We made gluten free stuffing from a mix this time. It was good, but Jenna and I liked the homemade better. It is a lot of work to make though. I was expecting everything to be finished at 1:00, but it was closer to 2:00 when we finally finished everything and sat down to eat. Everything was a delicious though! I was very grateful for all of Jenna's help cooking! We had turkey, candied yams, stuffing, carrots, peas, corn, pretzel jello, and rolls. We had TONS of pies for dessert, and also the four-step pudding and the pumpkin loaf. I had gotten the free pumpkin pie from the realtor give-away that they do each year, but it didn't get eaten because everyone liked the other kinds of pies better. 

We started off the meal with everyone saying what they were grateful for and then we toasted with Martinellis. When it was time for Rick and I to speak we both became really emotional. We have been commenting lately on how incredibly grateful we are for our many blessings! Rick opened up a letter and started reading, "Brother and Sister Jensen, you are hereby called to serve..." I think he might have fooled some of the family members except for the fact that they could see the "Deseret First Credit Union" logo through the paper, and they could also tell by my face that he was totally lying. So he laughed and then went on to read the letter from the credit union. He was emotional again and his hands were totally shaking! 

He then read the letter basically stating that our house had been paid in full. Yep! Our house is officially paid off! We paid it off last month, but wanted to wait until we had the family together to make the announcement. We even did Dave Ramsey's, "I'm debt free" yell, ha ha!! The family was all very surprised and thrilled for us! After we ate the boys cleaned everything up. Jared and Josh had been out playing pickle ball in the morning and hadn't helped with any of the food preparation. 

Then we called Jaiden and had a great visit with her! Rick did the same announcement, again announcing our "mission call," except he kept going, announcing that we had been called to Mongolia. She totally fell for it and was freaking out and starting to cry. Then we felt bad and quickly pack-pedaled to say that we hadn't really been called on a mission, let alone Mongolia. Then he did the "real" announcement and she said, "I remember you saying that when you got the house paid off you would take us all on a Disney Cruise!" Rick said that he had no recollection of such a promise!! 

After the call with Jaiden we went to do our "jump into leaves goals!" Rick raked the leaves into a pile and brought out the bubble gun he had purchased at an auction and then each of the kids stated a goal for the year before jumping into the leaves. We filmed the event and took pictures and then went on a short walk around the Santa Clara town hall. Then we came back for dessert!! 

Tonight we rented "The Barbie Movie." I had been really excited to see it. Most of the kids had already seen it in the theaters, but Janika, Brandon, Janelle, and I hadn't seen it. Rick didn't want to watch it and just went in his room and watched one of his Masterpiece Theater shows, ha ha. The movie was cute,  but I was starting to get tired from the day's events and hadn't had my typical Thanksgiving-Day nap,  and so I started falling asleep during it. I hate it when I really want to watch a movie but can't stay awake! After the movie I ended up staying late and was just fine, but it is just the fact that I am sitting still, passively watching (or reading) something that I fall asleep! Josh said that the Stereotypical Barbie in the movie looked liked Jaiden, ha ha! Well, she did dress up as Barbie to go see the movie before her mission!  All in all it was a great day! 

Sadies, Josh

Josh went to Sadies with Bridget Layton. They are good friends and have been out a few times, and Josh said that it was a lot of fun. For their day-date they painted their shoes to coordinate with their sweatshirts. They turned out great! The dance was supposed to be outside, but they thought it would rain and moved it into commons area in the school. I can't remember what else they did on the date, I will have to ask Josh! 

ASL Temple Tour

Tonight was out last ASL temple tour! We had groups scheduled for 5:00, 6:00, and 7:00. This was smaller than the last two times, which was expected since it was on a Monday night. We still had a good turn out though! We had about 35 people come at 5:00, 4 come at 6:00. and 10 or so come at 7:00. We had lots of interpreters volunteer also: me, Cassie, Amanda, Andrea, Kelly, Ben, Allyson, and Macie. 

We gathered each group together in one of the language rooms at the stake center and then Cassie Riding and I brought the first group through the temple. Ben Ballard brought the second group through and Cassie and I brought the third group through It was fun to meet new people and to see some old friends that I knew clear back from Utah State University! Saturday is the last day of the open house!! 

Weekly Update

Wednesday Nov. 1: I worked out this morning. I still do my two mile walk, but have started to do small weights also. I bought some ten pound dumbbells for my workout and was really sore later! I interpreted at the University and got a lot done because it is a class that doesn't require a lot of interpreting and so I bring my laptop and work on administrative stuff for my job (calendaring and timecards). Jenna had a YW activity -- a movie party at Christine France's house. 

Thursday Nov. 2: This morning I interpreted two classes at the University and then since I was already on campus I decided to go to Rick's Institute class for the deaf. It was the first class in a five week series and so I thought I would go offer my support. He basically said that I wasn't invited because I was too old, ha ha, but he would let me stay since I was his wife. Gee thanks, ha ha! The class was good and I was able to visit with some people that I haven't seen in a while. The class is during lunch and so I had strongly recommended that he bring in food, saying that people would be more likely to come. He had a really good turn out! It was pizza so I couldn't eat it and had to get some snacks from the front desk of the Institute because I hadn't eaten all day and was very hungry! Later that night Jenna went to dance and I interpreted a class at the University. 

Friday November 3: I interpreted for a family at the temple open house. Rick left early in the morning to head to SLC for meetings and then to Washington DC for the weekend! Josh and Jenna were out with friends and I enjoyed having the house to myself! 

Sunday 5: It was a pretty uneventful weekend. I made home-made chicken soup and organized the photos from the year for the annual Christmas slideshow. Sunday we went to church and the kids' had an appointment with the Bishop. Jenna and I organized all of the cards and friendship bracelets from the camp service project last summer, getting them ready to give out. I brought Jenna out for driving practice. Driving with my teenagers is always so stressful, ha ha! 

Happy Halloween!!

Halloween (which fell on Tuesday this year) was uneventful. We got ZERO trick-or-treaters come, ha ha! We never get many, but at we usually at least get a few! I wasn't feeling very well and just worked on the computer. Jenna went with friends to Cynthia Lane. Josh went and watched a movie with friends. Jenna and her friends: Bria Thompson and Claire McCoy dressed as Kiss, Marry, Kill (which I had never heard of, but is some kind of party game or something)! 

Cute announcement from Janika and Brandon! (Due in April!)

Look how cute these turned out!! (Evan and Eli photos taken by Ellen's sister Lexie!)

Beware of water, snow, and wheelchairs: Jensen Weekly

Here are some of the happenings for this week in the Jensen household!! 

Ellen came down with her family for their Fall Break. They stayed at an Airbnb for the week. Jase came and joined them on Thursday night and we celebrated Eli's first birthday over the weekend with a barbeque and family and friends! Happy Birthday, Eli!!!

Jared had come down for his Fall Break last weekend, and is back to work and school this week. I didn't get any pictures from him this week, sorry! 

Janelle is loving teaching at the MTC and had her first district come and go! She came down with Logan for the weekend to attend her friend, Anika Boettcher's wedding. She and Logan went to the temple open house while they were here. 

Jaiden arrived in Mongolia!!! We are grateful that she and the other members of her district arrived safely!! We are excited for her P-Day so that she can catch us up on everything! The tidbit I did hear was that all of the missionaries had to go to the hospital to get x-rays and blood drawn to make sure they don't have TB or something!  

Josh is in the middle of Water Wars at the high school. Water Wars is not an official high school activity, but a student run event that lasts several weeks -- or until there is only one team left. The students choose others to be on their team and then they pay a combined amount of $20.00 for their team of around four people. It seems like practically the whole student body is involved. They all get wrist bands and have very specific rules to follow. They get members of opposing teams out by squirting them with a squirt bottle. 

Each team has to get someone from a different team "out" during the week or their whole team is out. Each person who gets another person out has to catch it on video so that they have proof. Inside the school or church is off limits, but inside someone's home is not. The winning team gets all of the money, and it is like $2000.00 or something! So it gets extremely competitive!! Josh carries around a squirt bottle wherever he goes and makes us lock the doors whenever he is home. I remember Jared being involved in this also, so apparently it has been going on for years! 

We are constantly getting emails saying that more volunteers are needed at the temple open house. It was Josh and Jenna's turn last Saturday.  The other available times for them were either during school or during evenings when Jenna had dance and Josh had work, and so we had grabbed the only Saturday shift for shoe-coverers that was assigned to our Stake. 

They had both signed up to be shoe-coverers, but then someone there assigned Josh to wipe down the wheels of visitors in wheelchairs, which apparently wasn't nearly as fun as putting shoe covers on people's feet. We were glad that they could serve, but sad that their service time ended up at the same time as Eli's birthday party. They would have loved to be there for the party, but they had signed up two months ago and we didn't feel right about backing out at the last minute. Jenna said it was fun and offered to come again. 

Josh came home completely grumpy and hangry. The shifts are almost four hours long and Josh was tired and starving. It was almost time for them to finish their shift and Josh was counting down the minutes when he was asked to push an older lady in a wheelchair through the entire tour -- tacking on an extra hour to his shift. He apparently accepted, but very begrudgingly! The others couldn't find him and had to wait the extra hour for him as well. Luckily we had extra hamburgers and hotdogs from the party waiting for the kids when they got home! 

Saturday night Josh went to his soccer Halloween party. He said it was fun but he was disappointed that he didn't win any big prizes. Josh got sick the next day -- he went to church, but soon after he was complaining of fever and chills, and was blowing his nose and sleeping all day. He said that it must have been from wiping down all those wheelchair wheels yesterday -- or the party outside in the freezing cold -- or a combination of both. Rick sang in church -- his arrangement of "Did You Think To Pray." It was so beautiful!!

Josh stayed home from school because of his illness. He also missed his last soccer game, which is okay with me because the weather suddenly turned cold tonight. We had our ward Halloween party and chili cook off. (Chili, dunk tank, cake walk, pumpkin painting...). Jenna dressed up as a devil for the party and her friend Clarissa dressed up as an angel. Josh managed to feel well enough by that time to at least go try a few bowls of chili. When I got home he and several of his friends were in the house saying that they couldn't leave or someone might "get them out" (water wars). They eventually left. 

I had tried a couple of bowls of chili at the Fall Carnival and then brought Jenna shopping for her Halloween party -- nothing like waiting until the last minute! We went to several stores looking for a red dress for her costume (Kiss, Marry, Kill) and having no luck I put a request out on our RS GroupMe chat asking if anyone had a dress she could borrow and soon had the perfect dress. 

I started to feel sick while we were shopping and realized that I was having an allergic reaction to something I ate at the party. My chest hurt and the skin around my eyes swelled up. This is the second time that has happened. It happened a couple of months ago the day before we left to bring Jaiden to the MTC after eating some soup at a work meeting and it took two full days for the swelling to completely go away. It has been the same this time. It is so frustrating -- and I don't even know what is causing it! (This one took three days for the swelling to completely subside!) I also feel like I am coming down with whatever Josh had and am praying that I don't get sick! Rick is going to Washington DC with Elder Peter Johnson this coming weekend for Seminary and Institute recruitment and so we are praying he stays healthy too.