tynmichellejenson.blogspot.com

So - I have reached a maximum storage capacity with blogger and our "famjenson" blog.  I have tried many different things to be able to keep downloading pictures without having to pay a monthly fee - but, I have decided that just starting a new blog is going to be the way to go.  It's not really NEW ... just a continuation.  If you would like to continue following my mediocre blogging of our family life - please switch your links to the following:  http://tynmichellejenson.blogspot.com/

This is history in the making, folks!  :)

Webelos = We Be Loyal

Aaron earned his Webelos Award the first of November 2012! Woot! Woot! Cub Scouts at the age of 10 is a tough year. I'm so proud of him!

This kid has quite a few awards - he should have 3 more pins on the way by the time he earns his Arrow of Light (in December!) -

Grandpa Brent made him this cool leather neckerchief holder to sport while he finishes up his Arrow of Light. Gramps does good work.  Aaron loves it.

This kid sure is growing up. Congrats on earning your Webelos, buddy!

On the Trail Again

My parents planned a fun 4-wheeling trip with these lucky kiddos. We got one picture - just before they left on a rainy day. They ended up coming home soaked through all of their warm clothes and covered in mud. But - had a fabulous time!

Despite the blast these kids had - the grandparents insisted they were gypped due to the mega rain storm - so, they went again ...

Take 2! 

On a bright and crisp November Saturday - 

Lucky kids, I tell ya!

And not only that, but they talked about this little joint for several weeks - looks like a winner, yeah?

Well, see that sign back there - "Roll your own burger"?  Um - apparently that is the coolest thing to do IN. THE. WORLD!!

Fun!  Fun!  They have lots of fun with Grandma Pat and Grandpa Brent.  Love them!

Trick-Or-Treat!

We had a really fun month in October - full of lots of costumes and parties and just plain old trick-or-treating on Halloween Night. Here are LOTS of pictures of some of our fun. I'm struggling with Blogger lately and I can't load any more pictures through them because I have reached my limit on photo storage and apparently have to pay a monthly fee now to continue. I'm trying some different options - but, it is hard to download and organize my pics. So - hopefully this post even works. I've got to figure something out eventually FOR SURE! 

Richard Simmons and Jane Fonda (yeah - we rock it!)

Tyler dressed up as Seneca the Game Maker (from "The Hunger Games") for work on Halloween day.  Some people totally recognized him - but several people asked him if he was dressed up as Satan!  hahaha!  Pretty close.  ;)

Some of the gang we went trick-or-treating with.  It's great to have such wonderful friends in our neighborhood.  The whole night was so fun to mingle and see all of the neighbor kids roaming around.

             This is where blogger stopped loading my pics and I'm trying to upload them from a place called image shack - I have to do everything in html and that is tricky. I love this picture of Marissa! She was a girl of many costumes this Halloween -- although, Katniss she sported the most.

 

We had a great Halloween Party night at Grandma Jensons and enjoyed loving on baby Luke, hanging out with the cousins, decorating cookies, and drinking Grandpa's famous witch brew:

The kids at their school Halloween Parade:

All the cousins sporting their costumes for the night:

Such a fun time of year!

Passionate for Playdough

Sometimes - we just all have to have a play dough marathon to make the night just perfect!

Every Day

The month of October is always super busy - but, we still have a lot of regular, every day things going on. Here are a few:

 Dinner! We made fruit slushies to go along with our chicken and cheese quesadillas - and the kids decided to get out the fancy (yet, plastic :)) cups to enjoy them in style.

Krystal and Aeryn got a hold of my camera while I cleaned up the kitchen and went to town.  Most of their pictures were too dark or blurry - but a few turned out that I thought I should share.  They are the best of friends and so cute and creative and fun with the things they decide to play.

Dinner and dishes - that will happen every. single. day.  :(  But, I'm so grateful to be able to eat yummy food every night.  And, I'm SO SO SO grateful for good friends that are a part of our every day lives.  Krystal is so lucky to have her bff Aeryn - I'm quite certain their friendship will last for all time.  :)

Ward Halloween Party 2012

So, the Young Women Organization is in charge of the Ward Halloween Carnival each year ... and being a new presidency was no excuse -- so plan the Ward Halloween Carnival we did!  And, if I do say so myself - it was quite the awesome partay.

Marissa talked us all into going as the cast from ...

The Hunger Games!  (who'dda thunk?)  :)!

Me and Marissa were so busy the whole night of the party - I only got like 2 pictures of my kids!  BUT - I took pictures of most of the set up we did.  And THOSE I am posting!  It was so much dang work - but, worth it - cuz' the whole night was a huge success.

Here we are in front of the photo-op backdrop by the entrance:

(Marissa:  Katniss;  Aaron:  Seneca the Game Maker;  Krystal:  Prim;  Tyler: Cinna;  Me:  Effie Trinket)

Just for the record - I believe we had about double or possibly triple more people come to the party then we had tables and chairs set up for -- but, we were kind of planning on that -- and kept the carnival an "open house" style - so people ate and played in continuous shifts.  Here's the dining set up (the girls made those candle center pieces out of tp rolls, hot glue, and spray paint!!  Pretty amazing, yeah?!) -

In the dining hall we also had:  The Candy Mash Contest, a face paint and finger nail polish booth, a Guess the Movie Quote Game, and a Guess the weight of a pumpkin table:

We turned the Primary Room into an interactive mad scientist lab.  It was a favorite!  Everything was glow in the dark - we had big black lights set up throughout the room - as well as glow sticks all over.  It was pretty sweet!

These stations glowed too!  Everyone had to wear disposable gloves to play in the glow-in-the-dark cornstarch and water - and were able to fling it on the black sheets in the room.  It looked awesome.  Then just squishing and playing with the glitter gel packs was super fun:

There were lots of these kind of "feel it" boxes.  They kinda grossed me out.  :)  But, they were sure a hit!

All the details really added up to an awesome and effective atmosphere.  These hanging bats were made out of the lids of the black spray paint we used for the candles!  :)

The Young Woman President is extremely talented and made all these life size paintings for the "Halloween Maze" in the Relief Society room.  It was pretty spectacular:

There were little games set up all throughout this room too:  (Feed the Elephant, Jack-O-Lantern bean bag toss, witch hat ring toss) - lots of opportunities for kiddos to fill their bags with candy and get great pictures.

Some of the other classrooms were filled with other fun games like Donut on a String (didn't get a picture), this Spooky Swamp Fishing Game, and this Punkin Putt Putt Room.  I wish I would have been able to get pictures of the kids golfing in here - there were so many cute obstacles to go through and around.  My kiddos loved it!  But - this is the only picture I got.  :(

I was quite proud of our costumes.  We put them together on a $10.00 budget.  (Except Marissa who bought her own stuff - boots and pants):

  

 

I hardly saw Krystal the whole night.  Granted - me and Marissa were like crazy people manning stations and punching cards and handing out candy!  (AND plus - Marissa had her robot baby for her Child Development class that weekend -- so she was REALLY a wreck!  That baby was colicky that night -- I tell ya what!)  BUT - here Krystal is after rocking the Donut On A String game.  She had so much fun - Tyler could barely keep up with all she wanted to keep doing!   And - check out my hair do.  We spent ALL.DAY.LONG. setting up the church - and only had like 30 minutes to get everyone ready that night.  I have no clue how I pulled this hair style off, and I wish I could remember what I did, because it looks pretty cool.  ;)  haha.

 

These are the awards that we gave for the best costumes.  They turned out so cute (Pinterest has such fabulous ideas!) -

Snagged this picture when we started tearing everything down when it was all over:

 

Fabulous Party!  And next year will be LOTS easier - because a lot of the prep work is already complete now.  :)