Aaron's 7th Birthday

Aaron had a super fun birthday this year! He invited 10 friends over for a SPY party ... so a lot of the day was spent setting up ....

Here is the balloon pit all ready to go ...

We had the Millers over for Dad's yummy thinnies first thing in the morning. It seriously felt like Christmas to me. Aaron was so excited he was skipping all over the place.

He got a Fuzion Scooter to keep him busy this Summer ...

Kristy and James helped us finish setting up for the Detective Training Obstacle Course. The kids loved the balloon pit!

Here are some random shots of the partay ...

The "Laser Room": (Marissa had 2 of her friends come to help ... I would NOT have survived without them!)

Here is AJ in part of the Booby Trapped kitchen:

Here are the kids in the Detective Disguise Relay:

After the obstacle course ... destroying the pit:

Happy Birthday, my sweet buddy!!

Shadow suspect line-up. Only two kids picked their own profile. :) Aaron invited ONE girl to his party (bless her heart). The funny thing is .... Aaron thought her profile was his .... and Rachelle thought Aaron's profile was hers. hahahaha!

I think it was a good day. I'm so lucky to have my Aar-Bear. He is seriously the best son I could ask for. Happy Birthday, Aaron!

Cast Away

Well, it's been over a week now - but Krystal DID finally get her cast off. Haleluah!! Bathing a 3 year old with a bag over her arm is not the funnest thing I've ever done, to say the least. I only got pics with my cell phone - and the USB ports on our computer are dorky and temperamental ... but, I was finally able to get the pics downloaded ... with a lot of patience, motivational words, cussing, and jiggling of cords for my computer. :)

Here is Krys giving us her tough face before the cast comes off ...

She's not worried AT ALL ...

Aaron, on the other hand - can't even bear to watch (notice him in the background) hahaha! So sweet. He was SO anxious. (No worries - he got a sticker too. :))!

She was a little wary of using her arm the rest of the day ... and pretty much kissed it every few seconds or so ...

The first thing Aaron said when the cast was off (and after he finally looked) was, "Wow, her arm is so skinny!" It really was, even though this picture doesn't show it that great. It just seemed so delicate and weak. (It's totally back to normal now ... a week and a few days later).

Now, keep in mind - I'm not sure it is totally like me to post pictures such as this last one. But, Kent told me to be sure to take a picture of her arm after the cast came off. It's pretty nasty, but cleared up quick ...

She was sportin' the grooviest outfit that day, eh? Ahhh - to be 3 again. We're happy to have her arm back!

Perfect Score!

We knew he would do fabulous -- but, we were quite surprised at what a little performer Aaron is. He didn't act nervous at all for Piano Festival this year. He was the first one in his group to play ... just walked right up on stage and played like a professional! After his first song ... the audience all started applauding. He was a little surprised - and looked out into the crowd with a big huge smile. His next song was the best I have ever heard him play. Some guy came up to him afterwards and said, "I'm sure you got plenty of stars on your certificate ... you are amazing!" (If you get a star with your score - that means a judge gave you a perfect score - 100% - not very common). Aaron had two judges ... and as you can see -- TWO stars!!

WOW!!!

And here's M and Dee at the Jazz game last night We had a blast with M and the Jacksons! Thanks Brand and Teener for keeping Krystal and Aaron. Definitely good times. Aaaaand - the Jazz rocked!

M's Skate Part-ay

I have to admit - last time I went to Classic Skate - I vowed I would never go there again. BUT .... what can I say? I'd do anything for M. :) Aaaaaaaand - it was seriously the best time ever!! We had so SO SO much fun.

Here's M gettin' her groove on:


Here's Dad in his first pair of skates that he was a little wobbly in ... actually, he pretty much nearly crashed and burned a dozen times the first time around the rink in them. So - we wised up ... and upgraded to the $3.00 skates. They were MUCH better ... and then, I could barely get any pics of Dad 'cuz he was so speedy. :)


Aaron was a trooper and kept trying and trying in his skates until he could go around the rink 4 or 5 times without falling down. That kid never ceases to amaze me - he is very persistent (it also helps that he is such a fast learner).


Marissa took kind of a "skates on"/"skates off" approach to the evening. She had to give herself a few breaks here and there (we needed the break too - haha), because it was such hard work! Melynda was very devoted - and got her goin' (a little) by the end. Thanks M!

Miss needed much support - and would take down half the rink with every fall. LOL!!

Love you so much, Dee!! Thanks for having such a good attitude - keeping us all laughing - and laughing along with us ... and STILL not giving up! You are the best.

Dad and his baby girl ....

The back of Dad zooming by was about all I could get of him with my camera ... he was a pretty fast skating machine!

M - thank you for always making EVERY kiddo feel special. I don't know how you do it - but, you make time for each and every one of us. We all feel #1 on your list. I am so grateful for you and your friendship. I count my lucky stars to have you as a sister!

Every so often - the regular skating would be stopped and Classic Skate would have us all do some sort of activity. One of the activities was a race around the rink. Here are the kids watching the final racers:


Hanna, of course, jumped right in with all the big kids for the first race ... no questions asked ... and completely confident that she had the race in the bag! :) My kiddos pretty much "raced" to the sidelines when the announcement was made for all racers to line up in the rink. haha.


Here's Mariss finally feeling confident enough to go it on her own on the carpet. She's determined ... bless her heart. And my Aar-bear ... who continued to fall into the straddles immediately after this picture. Somehow, he managed to fall in the splits several times. Ouch.


Krystal just scooted all over the place like that was what she was made to do. She thought she was pretty tricky ... doin' the cross over push and holding her leg in the air and shimmy-shakin' to the music. I struggled getting a picture of it. Dang it. But, hopefully I'll always remember it. She just melts my heart - this girl - my cute and sassy princess.


Thanks for such a great time, M! You made your birthday fun for all of us!!! We love you!

February Fabulous-ness

Grover and DeAnn had us all over for a fun evening. We had a yummy dinner, decorated Valentine's for each other, and then decorated cookies too. I'll tell ya what ... together is the best place to be.

Here's Grove with some of his girls:

Valentine buddies:

The littles. Tina's sister Jenn was in town and the lil' darlin' on the left is her daughter, Sophia.

RyRy caught some zzzzzzz's ... seeing as how into making valentine cards he is :) - He's such a good kid.

Thanks DeAnn for always making get togethers extra special ...

Sweet Kyle and Krys:

My pretty Marissa:

Plonnie made the most beautiful Valentine's for the little girls. She's so much fun to be with. She, of course, got way into the Valentine's Spirit and whipped this lovely card up for her hubby:

Seriously - I am SO happy I get to hang out with this girl. She is so much fun - we are always cracking up. I love her!

Happy February all!

Febrary Festival

As a piano teacher - preparing for the piano festival in February is mostly stressful. But, it is DEFINITELY rewarding. My students HAVE to perfect 2 songs each ... and they find happiness in the result (although not until there has been plenty of wailing and nashing of teeth).

Aaron performs for a group of judges on Friday. Here he is proudly (and a little nervously :)) playing one of his songs for ya ...

I'm so proud of him. Way-ta-go, bud! You'll be great on Friday!

To My Valentine

10 reasons I love Michelle (This list is not all inclusive, and is not in any particular order)

1- I love how she is always thinking about me. She let's me know she is thinking about me in many different ways. When she goes to the grocery store she'll come home with some little treat that is just what I wanted.
2- I love how musical she is. I love hearing her play songs and filling our home with her music.
3- I love her eyes. It was one of the first things I noticed about her.
4- I love her sense of humor, and I love that she gets my sense of humor.
5- I love how loving and caring she is. She is always thinking of others before herself.
6- I love what a fantastic mother she is. She really enjoys spending time with her kids, and enjoys doing special things for them (see the post "It's a girls night... for an example).
7- I love how creative and artistic she is.
8- I love how she knows how to make me feel loved by her. She can always say the right things, and do the right things to communicate her love to me. (see the post below for an example).
9- I love her perfectionism... Really, I do!
10- I love how well she runs the Jenson family. She takes care of everything, from the kid's homework to our finances, to cooking and cleaning. I don't know how she finds time to do all this, but she does, and she does it well.
11- I love how she is always reading a book. If you ever call her after the kids are in bed, and the house is clean... You will be interrupting her in the middle of the book.
12- I love how she will sit on the couch with her book as I watch my shows. She just wants to be with me.
13- I love that she has a Testimony and shares it daily with us. Our kids know all (or most) of the Articles of Faith because Michelle has been teaching it to them.
14- I love how I feel when I am with her.
15- I love how she always supports me in all of my endeavors.

OK, I know I said 10, but I couldn't just stop there. I could keep going. There is just so much to love about Michelle.

Happy Valentines day MIBABE!!!

Happy Birthday T-Man!

... AKA My Hunka Hunka (or as M always get confused and says Your Hubba Bubba) :)!!

In honor of my hubby's big day ... here is a sampling of something he loves ...
Football

Looks may be deceiving - but, as you will see in the following pictures (and those of you that have had the opportunity of playing softball with him) - Ty is SPEEEEEEEEDY. Granted - he has lost a little of that speed since his torn achilles and foot surgery a couple of years ago. But ... he's still pretty remarkable.

Here he is trying to work his way out of a tackle:

OPE! Brandon's down ... so Jers comes in full speed ahead:

WHA?!?? Both brothers down ... and Ty's still goin' strong (he DOES have his tongue out - and that's SUPER helpful)!

Sneaks past Brian and Marie (albeit he's losin' his pants) haha. Jers and Bran are moanin' and groanin' off to the left :) :) :)!

He is the unstoppable, amazing T-Dawg!

I love you baby. Happy Birthday. Thanks for bein' my man.

(Thank you, Plonnie for the awesome play by play photos. You are the best!)

" 'Cuz It's A Girl's Night ... "

" ... We're All Right Without You."

This is what Marissa said to Aaron when he was worried about how he would fit in for her girls only reading party. Nice.

Thank Heavens Marissa is the type of sister that includes her younger siblings in most anything and everything ...

(Sierra does most of the producing ... and leaves the loonie-ness to the professionals ;) haha).

AND ... thank heavens Aaron was invited to go to a basketball game with a bunch of boys that night as well (thanks Mendonsas!!)

Here are the girls reading "Coraline" ... they had the audio book going ... and followed along every once in a while ... pausing to memorize all the weird songs and sayings that they got a kick out of:

And, of course, taking a break after every chapter to test their amazing skills:

I love LOVE Marissa's friends. They are so fabulous.