Christmas Miracles...

This past season I've been privy to a few sweet experiences.  I am a believer in miracles, and am grateful for God's presence in our lives 

Miracle #1:  I was in line at the post office...half-hour wait at least, when I saw a girl approach the counter.  She was trying to mail something, and found herself $2.00 short.  Without hesitation, an older lady in the window next to her handed the girl $2.00.  The older woman looked to be on a fixed income, and I'm sure this was no small sacrifice for her.  Everyone around me noticed the exchange, and someone voiced, "I guess there really are good people in the world." 

Yes, there are.

Miracle #2:  I was shopping in a clothing store, when I noticed a young mother struggling with her small son.  He had had it, and was letting his mom know he was DONE SHOPPING!  A little older, experienced mom noticed the stressed mom and boy, and dug into her purse to produce a small candy cane.  She quietly offered the treat to the mom, and asked, "do you think this might help?"  The mom looked greatly relieved, and said, "oh, I would LOVE THAT!"  The little boy was a happy camper long enough for his mom to finish her shopping.

Miracle #3:  Yesterday the kids and I went hiking in the canyon with my parents, some of my siblings and their kids.  When we got back to the van, Parker worriedly told me that he had lost his pocket knife somewhere along the way.  He had been all over the mountain, up and down the hills, not to mention there were patches of snow.  I really didn't have any desire to go look for the knife, feeling it was a needle in a haystack, and tried to tell him we'd just buy another one.  He looked so sad, so I gave in, and we set out to retrace our steps.  We decided we needed Heavenly Father's help, so we said a prayer first.  Following the prayer, Parker said, "I think it may be over by the bridge up ahead."  Sure enough, we saw it right by the bridge, lying in the snow. 

God loves His children, and he is aware of even the simplest of needs...

whether it be $2.00,

 a candy cane, or

 finding a pocket knife!

The Bridge...:)

Ho, Ho, Ho!

A Big Hello to yummy food baking in the oven, wood crackling in the fireplace, Christmas music filling the room with magic,and cozy hugs from family & friends.  We were

oh-so-ready for Christmas!

Our annual extended family (my side) Christmas Eve sledding tradition had to be altered since...

WE HAVE NO SNOW!! 

BOOO!!

 So we put together some plates of goodies, and went caroling to some of our neighbors. 

We enjoyed a simple pasta dinner at our home, then dressed the kids up and enjoyed a sweet and simple production of The Nativity. 

The kids all gathered in a circle and took turns opening up their cousin gifts to each other, and then the gifts from grandma and grandpa!!  They were pretty spoiled, I must say! :)

Christmas morning started at 5:40am.   I told the kids it was too early!  If you start out early, it's over with too soon, we should just make it last as long as possible..I told them to give it another hour.  The kids begged us to start in 1/2 hour... 

Parker said, "hey mom, let's do rock, paper, scizzors to decide when we start opening our presents."  Feeling confident in my rock, paper, scizzers prowess, I stupidly agreed. 

I lost. 

So...at 6:10 AM, we had a great time ripping and tearing, and everyone had a fun morning.

Church started at 11:00, no one was too thrilled to get out of new PJ's, into church clothes...one of my kids said, "yeah, the rest of the world only goes to church on Christmas and Easter, and those are the only 2 days we Mormons want to stay home...:)  We did go to church, and enjoyed a beautiful Christmas Sacrament Meeting. 

Let the games begin! 

 Back in PJ's, we spent the afternoon playing some new board games. 

More than anything, Ashlyn wanted this doughnut maker.  She and I came up with a recipe for lemon doughnuts, and boy were they tasty!

Kinda pretty too!

We got a couple new wii games for Christmas, and the boys laughed 'til their guts hurt playing

"Wipe Out"!

Christmas Traditions

Each year it seems someone at school or at church will ask my kids, what types of Christmas Traditons do you have as a family?  They get this blank look, and seem to have a hard time coming up with an answer...so kiddos,

this is for YOU!

Every year we go to Grandma and Grandpa Jensen's home and help them decorate their tree and put up decorations.  This is our gift to them, since they need absolutely NOTHING!

We go to The Festival of the Trees.

This year we had Emma with us! 2 of "us" didn't care to meet the real Santa, so we took a picture in front of this alternative..:)

Ashlyn and The Big Guy! (and Gal)

We decorate gingerbread houses.  This year, we met at grandma Baxter's house and celebrated Emma's birthday at the same time!  So fun!

We put up our Christmas village.
 The kids knocked themselves out this year, and did an outstanding job!

Each year we find a way to serve others.  This year Connor and some friends hosted a neighborhood gathering, and collected card games, board games, and movies to be distributed to Primary Children's Hospital.  This is a pic of the kids at Primary Children's Medical Center.

We visit  the lights on Temple Square. 

This year we started out at Karl's office and ate pizza, then walked around Temple Square, then returned to his office for hot chocolate.  Good thing he works just across the street from Temple Square!

Most of all, 

"We talk of Christ,

we rejoice in Christ,

we preach of Christ,

we prophesy of Christ,

and we write according to our prophecies, that our children may know to what source they may look for a remission of their sins." 

2 Ne. 25:26

Giving Thanks!

For family home evening, we got together and created a thankful tree.  Nothing too fancy, we just cut out leaves from construction paper, and wrote down all the little things we are grateful for. 

LOTS to be thankful for!

Thanksgiving was spent with Karls family.  Lee and Lisa hosted a beautiful, and delicious dinner..wish I could dive in again!!

Smart Boys!

In November I got a call from the school, telling me that both of my boys were going to be honored at an assembly.  Parker for his 4.0, and Connor as one of 4 kids of the term!

These are all the kids of the term for 7th, 8th, and 9th grades.  Connor was the only boy in 7th who was chosen.  Apparently the teachers all get together and decide who they think would be a good canidate, based on grades, and how respectful and kind they are to the other students.  I'll take a good and kind boy any day!

Parker is one of the hardest workers I know.  He is really aware of when his assignments are due, and frequently stays after school to finish up homework, or get help when he needs it. 

Pumpkins and Pickiness!

Truth be known, I do not enjoy putting my hand in cold, slimy, pumpkin guts, but my kids LOVE IT!  So...I take the pics!!  We grew these pumpkins all summer, and the kids had their pumpkin picked out in the garden weeks ago.  Karl loves to cook the seeds, (another thing I don't enjoy), and the kids love eating them.

How many of you..be honest...like Halloween?  I'll tell you why I dread Halloween.  It can be summed up with one word...COSTUMES!  Not to mention the holiday is all dark, gory, and evil..but back to the costumes.  So Taylor told me in July, yes July, that he wanted to be a vampire.  We have had his costume ready for months, and I thought to myself, "maybe this year won't be a costume nightmare..", Ooooh how wrong I was!  The kid started changing his mind 4 days before Halloween, and was in genuine turmoil over it.  All day I'd hear, "I just don't know what to be!"

I'd reply..."a vampire."

Taylor:  "no, I don't want to be that anymore."

Me:  "but you look so cute as a vampire." ooops...

Taylor:  "I don't want to look like a CUTE VAMPIRE!"

Me:  "I mean, you look all creepy and everything."

Taylor:  "no, I just don't know what to be."

He finally decided he would call on the family for help.  At the dinner table he announced that he would be having a contest to see who could pick out the best costume, and to bring it to the family room after dinner.  We all obliged, and produced our best ideas from the dress up bins. (and his dresser, which happens to be full of costumes..aaagh!)

This is what we came up with for his approval:

We each took a turn to describe our costume ideas, and to try to convince him to choose something. We had an army man, Spidy, an Indian, a Nephite, a mummy, How to Train your Dragon guy (last years costume), a baker, and I even tried the vampire thing again. 

He still went to bed discouraged.  I'm embarassed to admit that I caved, and took him to the store.  He ended up looking like an...

ALIEN! 

Soooo not my first choice, but he paid for 1/2, and I was exhausted!

Alyssa:  Lavendar Brown (Harry Potter)

Parker:  Harry Potter

Connor: guy in a toga

Ashlyn:  rock star

Taylor...well you know!

Fall and Friends

If I'm remembered for nothing else when I die, I hope children will always know they are welcome in my home.  I love my kid's friends, and frequently take them on little outings.  We have a policy, "if we can fit ya in the van, you're welcome to join us!".  I was anxious to get up into the mountains with the beautiful fall colors, so we packed up some hotdogs and marshmallows, invited whoever we could fit, and headed up the canyon one afternoon after school. 

The kids were awesome, and were good sports with their burnt popcorn, and hotdogs!

Great group of kids, so grateful my children have such quality friends!

The Mighty EAGLE!

An Eagle Project is quite a beast to take on!! 

Luckily Parker was one of those rare kids who was independently motivated, (with occasional reminders from mom and dad..:).  He really wanted to help the people in Japan following their tsunami, since we've been lucky to get to know a couple Japanese students, but the Church Humanitarian Center doesn't directly ship supplies to Japan.  After touring the inspiring Humanitarian Center, Parker turned to me and said, "I don't care where our donations go, anywhere the Lord needs them is fine by me."  He decided to hold a yard sale, and use the proceeds to buy school kit supplies.  He had a goal of 50 kits, but ended up making 137 kits due to the generous donations of our ward members, and of the sucessful yard sale.  It was a great experience for our whole family!

We set up all the yard sale items the day before, so Parker decided to sleep outside to protect the stuff.

We had soooo much stuff come in, it barely fit on our driveway!

The bench the kids are sitting in, was the hot item!  We had bought it from the old Manila church that had been sold.  We realized the bench wasn't what we wanted in our basement, and EVERYONE wanted it!  We should have charged more for it...who knew??? 

All the Teachers came over and helped assemble the kits in our basement.  Many hands make light work for sure!

We delivered all of our supplies to the Humanitarian Center and felt a great sense of accomplishment..and exhaustion! Parker was barely 14 yrs. old when he completed everything, so proud of a kid so young!

At the end of October, Parker had his Board of Review, and passed with flying colors!  Thank goodness, because after all of that work, Karl and I may have gone balistic!

Now to plan a Court of Honor in January!

Where to Next?

I had a chance to travel a little bit the past couple of months, which is really rare for me, since I'm such a home body!  Boy was I glad I got to get away though, lots of great memories, and time spent with family.

Lee and Lisa (the lovely folks behind us..) and Karl and I decided to try out the Provo to Denver direct flight.  New this year!  We spent 2 days just romping around Denver and Boulder CO.  I laughed the ENTIRE weekend!  We ate great food, stayed in a beautiful hotel, and enjoyed the strange, liberal town of Boulder...:)

Downtown Denver.
Our feet are starting to kill us after walking all day...so fun though!

We knew there was a "blue bear" somewhere in the city, but couldn't seem to find it until...we turned THIS corner...yeah, our jaws pretty much dropped open!

Probably the funnest part of our trip for me, was hiking in Boulder.  We saw lots of rock climbers, and enjoyed the gorgeous flatirons!

I agreed to pose for about 2 secs, then quickly got off that ledge...SO afraid of heights!!

Karl and Lee...NOT afraid of heights!!

How cool is this rock!!  So cozy!

Next stop...warm and sunny ARIZONA! My sister had her second baby, little Isaiah! I wanted to help her out with her newborn, so Adrienne and I flew out for a week and helped out as best we could, but mostly played with those cute kids!!

Have you ever seen so much hair?  DEFINITELY NOT a Jensen baby! Bald 'til they're 2!

We sisters get along perfectly, and LOVE each other so much! 

Swimming in the pool..that's Arizona for ya in October!! 

Darling Emma kept us smiling all week long!

Birthdays...

Fall is full of parties...of the birthday kind!  Everyone but Ashlyn has a birthday in the late summer/fall seasons, so we party a little extra during those months!

Sept:  Karl says his best gifts are his awesome kids!

We held a birthday party for Karl on a beautiful fall, Sunday afternoon.  Perfect weather!

Karl took me to my favorite restaurant for dinner for my birthday!

King Parker, 14yrs. old!

Alyssa brought Parker a shake from Purple Turtle, and I made him a cloak for night games with the neighborhood kids...you'd have to see it to believe it, but night games are not taken lightly around here!

The kids were really great to each use their own money to buy something for Alyssa.

17 yrs. old! 

A new iTouch..lucky girl!

Taylor's birthday is the day after Halloween, so it was an extra fun weekend!

7 yrs. old!

We took Taylor and his friends to Classic Skating for a party...they mostly used their scooters..:)