Jenson [jen - suhn]: a person or persons who know how to have a good time.

There is absolutely no rhyme or reason to the order of these pictures. They just all equaled a super duper extraly special fun 24th of July!

Leg wrestles, arm wrestles and Cranium. The picture below is Jeremy acting out "carburator". (And the boys think THEY won the game!) haha :). No. Really. The girls won.


Fireworks, swings, and flexibility ... refer to the definition of Jenson.


Tricks, laughs, and the king. Yep. Jeremy went undefeated in the leg wrestle about 72 times.


Cousins and lava monster aka Ryan Jr.


More fun at the park, a picture that is irresistable (Krystal getting roared at by the lava monster), and just relaxing all together.



Favorites. Gosh - I took a lot of pictures of Krystal, didn't I? Ryan Jr. is seriously the best. Here he is playing the badbuy while Krystal attacks with the sword. Gotta love lil' Miss Angelina. Kryssie had no problem finding Jers' lap during the fireworks - and that's where she stayed.

All gathered for fireworks and picnic - Brandon was our pyro this year. Gmas wheelchair always provides some entertainment. And, once again - cool RyRy.


To all those Jensons out there. You ROCK!! Thanks for all the good times EVERY time we're together ... WHEREVER we are ... and WHATEVER we're doing. I love you all so so SO many!

The Little Leak ... Not so Little

About a week ago, we noticed some water damage in our kitchen wall. Very random. We thought maybe we had put away the food chopper full of water from the dishwasher on accident and it had dripped out of the cupboard. But, lo and behold, the next day - we saw the leak start again. So, we called Fieldstone. It was the weekend. It grew from about a one inch circle to this ...

The Warranty Representative came by on Monday to check it out and was just as perplexed. So, she started digging through the wall - and ... yep. There is a pipe right there (see the black thing on the right of the whole). A drain pipe to be exact - and it was dripping.

She got the Project Manager out here right away. He removed the microwave and 2 sets of cabinets. He discovered that Whirlpool (the type of microwave we ordered) decided to install our microwave bracket right into the drain pipe. Brilliant. And, hopefully it was an accident. :\

So - now we have a huge mess. They cut out the wall barely around the pipe and a plumber came and fixed the leak (we wrapped a towel around it to catch the drip from our AC condensation until he could get here ... we weren't about to go without ac). How disgusting is the mold that has grown all over the back of our cabinets? Our kitchen is a little torn apart. Come Monday - it'll be completely out of order. They will be replacing quite a bit of drywall - and may need to take out the kitchen counter and lower cupboards. Our cabinets will be replaced as well.

Thank heavens for warranties! Poor Whirlpool guys - I think they get to foot the entire bill. They weren't too pleased when they came by to see the damage. Pretty gross, huh?

Spanish Fork Fiesta Days

We have had a really fun week here in Spanish Fork in preparation for Pioneer Day. Talk about a city celebration!

Here we are at Movie Night at the Park. The kids thought that was pretty cool. And the crowds and traffic were not bad at all ... which is usually what keeps Ty and I away from stuff like this. So, all in all - very enjoyable.


We spent our FHE with the Merrill clan enjoying the "Stock Parade" and the carnival. We had SO MUCH FUN!!! Who would think that a parade of horses and poop could be something we want to do every year now? Krystal couldn't stop waving.


The kids got some good tree climbing in while the grown ups finished dinner (the booths offered some pretty amazing bbq ribs)! Speaking of grown ups ... check out Chris and Ty in line for the Carousel ... they look pretty excited to take their turns, huh? Thanks guys - for keepin' the kids' places while they enjoyed another ride! Haha. That's gotta be my favorite picture of the evening.

Aaron and Krystal have never really been to a carnival before. Marissa was always so scared of everything - it just has never been worth it. They both LOVED all the rides. Krystal even loved the bigger, fast ones. And Marissa still enjoyed the lil' tyke rides this year ... even with her knees up to her chest. :) Gotta love her! The fave for all the kiddos was the dragon coaster.


Thanks Chris and Melisa - our fellow Spanish Porkers (and no, I did NOT misspell that) - for a great time ... as usual. Love you guys!

P.S. If you look closely - you might see our own little Michael Jackson in the making. haha. (Aaron thinks he needs to wear ONE glove to keep from biting his fingernails on that particular hand). We could not talk him out of it. Oh well. Billy Jean is not my lover .........

The World As 100 People

I read this and thought it was so interesting, so I wanted to share.

If we could shrink the earth's population to a village of 100 people, with all the existing human ratios remaining the same, it would look like this ...

• 60 Asians
• 12 Europeans
• 8 Latin Americans
• 5 from USA and Canada
• 1 from South Pacific
• 14 Africans
• 49 would be female
• 51 would be male
• 82 would be non-white, 18 white
• 67 would be non-Christian, 33 would be Christian
• 32% of the world's wealth would be in the hands of only 5 people and all 5 would be U.S. citizens
• 80 would live in substandard housing
• 24 would not have electricity
• 33 would not have access to safe water
• 67 would be unable to read
• 50 would suffer from malnutrition
• One would be near death, 2 would be near birth
• Only one would have a college education
• 7 would have internet access

When you consider our world from such a perspective, the need for both acceptance and understanding becomes glaringly apparent. I've been feeling really down lately - and this was a big reminder for me to count my blessings.

This is What Happens When ...

This is what happens when we haven't cleaned house for like a week, so we take a day to stay home and get it done ....

3 hours later ... we still need to get the house cleaned. But we sure all look snazzy! :)

This is what happens when we watch "So You Think You Can Dance" with M ...


Need I say more?

This is what happens when we get home from the library on Mondays.

Ahhhhh ... I wish library day would happen every day.

This is what happens when a 3-year-old is in charge of keeping the mud room clean.

Yeah. And grounding her doesn't really seem to do the trick, because she is very capable of playing make-believe all day long.

This is what happens when we finally get our garden figured out - after 3 of our plants died ... we realized that we had an aphid infestation - got that under control - planted a few NEW plants (some which are just barely sprouting) - and VOILA!

Don'tcha think it looks beautiful? We can't wait to get some veggies from it!

And THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS!

Fourth of July with the Rasmussen Clan

These pictures are worth a thousand words ...

... and this VIDEO is worth at least a thousand words on its own. :)

Thanks for the pure entertainment, Paul! I've got this copywrited.

Happy Fourth of July!

Stadium of Fire: Worth every penny!