Sister Alyssa Jensen

At the beginning of March Alyssa told us she felt like Heavenly Father wanted her to go to the Temple to receive her endowment.  She had no plans for a mission, and wasn't getting married so we were surprised, but supportive.  She obtained a recommend and on March 24th we attended the Draper Temple with our beautiful daughter.  It was the PERFECT experience, she was well prepared, and everything felt right. 

Two weeks later I received a phone call from Alyssa sharing the news that she had decided to go on a mission!  

What?

Wow!

Awesome!

She had some experiences that led her to this important decision and within a week, she was halfway through with her paper work.

She needed to finish college though, so the papers went on hold for a couple weeks so that she could finish finals, and graduate from Snow College.  This is one of Alyssa's very best friends that she met at Snow.  Mikayla had her mission call to Milan, Italy and just entered the MTC the first week of June.  She was a tremendous influence on Alyssa's decision to serve.

We moved Alyssa out of her apartment,..

...and said goodbye to a wonderful chapter!

Alyssa didn't want to walk for graduation, since it's just an Associates Degree, and she plans on more education, so we all just went out to dinner and 

celebrated our college graduate!

The mission papers were submitted and we waited...and waited...and waited!

Actually the call came within less than two weeks, but boy, it seems like eternity when you are waiting to see where you will spend 18 months of your life!!!

Finally, on Friday, May 29th, the call came!  Alyssa had to work that night, and she wanted her friends and family to be there, so she opted to wait until Saturday night to open her call.

We had maps of the US and the World with lots of guesses about where she would be called...

They say it's never where you guess...and boy were they right!

Mongolia Ulaanbaatar Mission

Entering the Provo MTC on 

September 2, 2015

OK, so I've gotten a TON of comments on my surprised face...I have nothing to say but, 

"yes, I was pretty shocked!"  

I didn't have any feeling about where she would go, but I kind of thought stateside or a Spanish speaking country since she is almost fluent in Spanish.  

Apparently the Lord has other plans for her, and 

she will be stellar!

Alyssa had  a bunch of friends come and support her call!

Our family is super surprised and super excited!

I love this girl so much and couldn't be more proud of the woman she has become.  She has a beautiful light about her that comes from within.  Others are drawn to her goodness, and her obedience to God is unwavering and always has been.  

Mongolia is the luckiest mission to get our sweet Alyssa!

     

Reading the mission call packet!

Grandma and Grandpa served in Minnesota and are a great example and influence on Alyssa.

School's Out Party!

Taylor held his annual end of school party in our back yard on the

  last day of school.  

He invited about 12 kids and they had a blast!

We set up the volleyball net and played badminton.

Taylor did all the decorating by himself!

We kept it simple. BBQ hot dogs and hamburgers, corn on the cob, watermelon, chips and lemonade.

They are such fantastic kids!

Of course the traditional burning of the homework:)

We topped off the party with an outdoor showing of Penguins of Madagascar. 

Soccer Girl!

Ashlyn has been playing for Surf soccer since last June.  She plays year round with Fall and Spring outdoor soccer, then futsal in the Winter.  Needless to say, between she and Connor there is always a game going on.  I think I averaged attending five soccer games a week, and taking kids to at least 6 practices a week.  

This Spring she decided she wanted to try out for her school soccer team.  It is a coed Jr. High team, and she is in 6th grade.  I just kind of nodded my head, 

"Ok, but I don't think they really take 6th graders on the Jr. High team."  

Well, wouldn't you know it, she made the team!  She was the only 6th grader on the team this year, and played against some BIG 9th grade boys!  

So proud of my tough girl!!

She also continued to play for her club team.

Singing and Soccer

 It's been a super busy spring for everyone, especially Connor.  He played on two soccer teams, the HS Sophomore team and a rec team that his friends put together.  He has been in men's choir this year under the direction of Mrs. Warby, who is amazing!  He tried out for Acapella next year and made it!

The men's choir was super fun to watch and I'm sure they were all a handful!  Can you even imagine having a class of 50 15-16yr old boys and trying to get them to 

SING??  

AT THE SAME TIME??  

ON KEY??  

Let alone throw in some actions, and yet, that is exactly what she does every year!

I don't even know how Warby let Connor and Jonah stand next to each other!  

Let alone on the front row!!  

The guys sang "Men in Tights" and wore tights for their last performance...

Hilarious!

Connor has the best friends, he is so blessed!

The HS team did pretty well this year.  We won 7 games, lost 3, and tied 1.

Not too shabby boys!

Gotta say I LOVE THE CAVEMEN!!  

So glad my son is going to my old HS!

The rec team was a coed soccer team.  The girls were super fun to watch, playing with those big boys!

Recreation soccer is so low key, no stress, just fun! 

The boys sometimes played old teammates, and even current HS teammates, so there was a lot of competitive banter and teasing on the field between the players.

They made it to the championship game, but had to forfeit because it conflicted with their last HS game.  The great thing, is that it didn't matter, the kids were just in it for fun!

The Drowsy Chaperone

After a Sophomore year at a school primarily focused on math and science, (which he loves), Parker decided that he wanted more art in his life.  He switched schools for his Junior year and tried out for

 EVERYTHING!   

He made chamber choir, participated in debate and National Honor Society, was on student council (service committee) and somehow made advanced drama, having never acted before.  

He tried out for their spring musical,

 "The Drowsy Chaperone" 

and made one of the lead roles!

For a smaller school, it was an amazing production!  

Such a fun, quirky play!

Who knew he could dance??

Parker and Sweeney Corniea have been best buddies since they were five years old!! It was awesome to see them in this play together.

These kids literally spent hours everyday after school for a couple months, getting it all down. 

Parker was called to be a special needs councilor this year in church.  He was assigned a buddy, and attended mutual activities with him every Thursday this past year.  His buddy came to see him in his play (pictured on the left).  

Elections

I don't know where these kids of mine came from!   Youth today seem to have an extra dose of self-confidence!  Three of my kids decided to run for student government.

Ashlyn ran for 7th grade representative.  There are about 100 kids going into 7th grade and they vote for three kids to be on student council.  We ordered a bunch of small beach balls to hand out and wrote her slogan on each ball.

"Make a SPLASH, Vote Ash!"

She had to go before the student body (about 300 kids) and do either a skit or a video etc.  She made this darling sign, ran through it with her best friends and started squirting the audience.  We had music playing and then she talked into the microphone for a minute and invited the students to "make a splash, and vote for Ash!"  And guess what???

She won! 

 Along with one of her best friends Ella!

Student council is an actual class in school.  She will be with the 8th and 9th graders, planning school activities and learning principles of leadership.  

She will be awesome!

Connor ran for the position of Designer at AFHS.  This is an appointed position where you put together a portfolio and interview with members of the administration and the student council advisers.  He had an awesome portfolio and 

got the position!!

 Connor's job will be to help design t-shirts, dance tickets, posters for activities etc.  He is really good with photoshop etc. and will be amazing!

There are about 2,000 kids who go to AFHS, so it is quite an honor to be on student council.  

My Parker boy decided to run for Student Body President at Maeser Preparatory Academy. 

After campaigning for a week, each of the candidates were filmed giving a speech which was shown to the student body prior to voting.  Somehow Parker's name was switched on the video with one of the other lead contenders for SBP.  The voting was so close they decided to narrow the election to these top two candidates and have them campaign for another week.  

What?  

So Parker decided to focus his efforts on the middle school, since they don't know him as well.  He did magic tricks during lunch and campaigned like crazy! 

(the entire school votes for Student Body President, about 700 kids)

Finally the day of voting came.  When I called him to see how the elections went, he said, 

"Oh, mom, I didn't win, I lost by 5 votes!"

What?

He continued, "don't ever think your vote doesn't count".

"Wow, so sorry bud, I'm super proud of all you've done"

Then the phone went dead.

I knew he was still at school and figured he lost coverage, or had to go.  I felt sad for him for the next 2 days!!  I hardly saw him because his play was still going on, and I was involved with Women's Conference, so we just didn't cross paths...until...Mother's Day on Sunday.  As we were sitting at dinner, Parker looks at me with a big grin and said,

 "Mom, you know how I told you I lost by five votes?"

"Uh, yeah..."

"Well, I actually won by five votes!"

What?

"Happy Mother's Day!"

What?

I was totally speechless!  

Apparently he was going to tell me the truth during our initial conversation on the day of the election...just wanted to lead me on for a bit, but then his phone died and well, we just didn't see each other...

It seems all the kids knew and kept telling Parker,

"Mom is going to KILL you!  You better confess!!"

Needless to say, he is still breathing, and truthfully, 

I couldn't be more proud of my boy!

Super proud of all my little Politicians!