Running the HALF!

Wow.  Have you ever done anything really hard??  I mean, REALLY, REALLY, REALLY HARD?  This summer my friends and I decided to take on a Half Marathon.  Several times we asked ourselves..."What are we thinking? Have we truly lost it this time?"  But then we'd push on, and continue to train, secretely hoping the day of the race would never come, but of course it did. 

July 30, 2011,

a day I'll never forget. Three of my friends ran this same half marathon on June 25th, and we cheered them on to victory.  We thought, "well, they didn't die, maybe we can do it too..."

Peer pressure is a terrible thing!! 

 No I didn't die, but I think I may have come close...that "light" we're told we walk towards when we die, seemed awfully close on mile 12...:)   Truly I had to dig deep for this, glad I did it, but am grateful it's over. 

The best part was turning the corner to the High School and seeing my family and friends all cheering us on.  My kids made this cute sign. Karl was an unbelievable support to me.  He'd text me after every long run while training, and ask how it went, always telling me how proud he is of me.  Definitely my biggest fan!!

This is a pic of my friends completing the Half in June.  We've all been running together for several years, but just a few miles a few days a week, nothing big until this summer.  I love these women, they are truly my sisters!

Our turn.  We may be wearing smiles, but really we just want to find the softest space of grass, and die. Would you believe we have 32 children between all of us?  Amazing moms!

The 4th Celebrations

Our summer is going super fast, how about for you?  We always look forward to lots of family fun at the 4th of July.  Here are some of our highlights:

We had our annual family sleepover at our house, and enjoyed a yummy breakfast.

We set up some games in our back yard, and we adults just watched and relaxed as the kids played.

We rented some huge slip n slides from a home near this park with big hills.  It was a total blast, until...Taylor's toe was ripped and we ended up at the Insta Care...never a dull moment!

Ashlyn saved up her money, literally all year, to pay for her ticket to the Stadium of Fire again this year.  It's kind of our Mom-daughter annual date night.  We liked Carrie Underwood better last year, but Brad Paisley and David Archuleta were awesome too.

Monday morning, my boys, Aaron and I ran in the Freedom run 10K.  It was super fun to run with my boys, I couldn't be prouder! 

The Provo parade is always tons of fun with cousins.  Aaron and his family are moving to Oregon this month, so this will be the last summer we're all together.

After the parade we enjoyed a KFC picnic at the park.  All my favorite people in one spot...so fun!!

I love, love, love these little girls! My home has replaced little ones with teenagers, and sometimes I just miss the sweet personalites of little babies and toddlers, so I get my fill in when I can!!

Just Roll With It!

My brother recently moved into a new home, and this huge corrugated pipe was left behind by the previous owners.  Nate was anxious to get rid of it, and my boys begged and begged me to take it home...I finally gave in.  Guess what our game was this week for Family Home Evening??

 

Everyone wrapped themselves in  blankets to protect against the impact...Parker had Connor add the turban after his first unfortunate roll down the hill without head protection.

We call it "Piping". 

You want one too don't ya!

                                    

The kids positioned the tube at the top of the hill and let her go!

I know, right?!

The Last Days...

Someone once described the month of May as feeling just like December..you go crazy all month trying to attend everyone's end of year programs, recitals, seasonal games etc. Then on top of that, you have tons of tests, papers, reports and assignments to wrap up, maybe a couple fieldtrips thrown in for good measure and of course parties galore!  It's enough to throw the Jensen household into a coma!! And Santa doesn't even come at the end of it all, which is a total jip! 

On the last day of school, Parker invited a few friends to come and celebrate with his annual "torch the homework" party.  He literally saves up his math assignments in his locker all year, then brings them home to burn baby burn!  We bought little squirt guns for each of the boys, and they just ran around squirting each other....it's a boy thing. 

He deserves a relaxing summer, the kid pulled off a 4.0!

Taylor graduated from KINDERGARTEN!!

I had to swallow back tears the whole day I tell you.  I would guess about half of his class were the babies in their families, so we moms have decided to form a support group...not really... though it's sad to see that chapter end, I'm excited to see what having 3 extra hours in my day will be like...hmmm...when does school start again???

Ashlyn's gymnastics class had their end of year performance.  They showed off all the cool stuff they can do on each apparatus.  Ashlyn was moved to a higher group mid year, and has flourished!  She was introduced to the back handspring, and came back the next week perfecting it!  Her teacher was

amazed, the kid has no fear.

Connor ended his Arsenal Soccer season. 

It was the best thing he's ever done!  He's made some fantastic friends, and learned some important life lessons, not to mention, his skill as a soccer player has improved 100% !  The club teams are a whole different ballgame than the city league, and he is so happy!  And....we just found out, that after 2 grueling days of tryouts, he made the team again! 

Way to go Corner!!! 

(his coach calls him "corner" because he plays R. Defense, but also because the guy's from Germany, and it's fun to play with the accent...:)

A Moose, Some Good Music, and May!

My good friend Shauna and I escaped for a couple precious hours and went to the mountains to hike and talk, and talk, and talk!  'Cause it's been waaaay too long!  We had a very relaxing time...for the most part...until we met a new friend...

Mr. Moose! 

He/she?? didn't look very big, but we were still quite leary and gladly gave him the trail. 

Good Music: 

Ashlyn had a solo part in her children's choir.  She was an orphan girl and sang one of the songs from the musical "Annie".

Alyssa's Women's Choir at AFHS gave their last performance as well.  She had a solo part too, and did awesome! 

Go Girls!!

Mom Day

Did you have a fun Mother's Day? 

 I hope so, because I sure did!  I love all the little handmade notes, the Mother's Day cards good YM leaders give to the boys to fill out in class...(Parker wrote me a darling poem:)  the sacrifice of pooling money to buy me a gift, but most of all I enjoy all the extra smiles and hugs I get on Mother's Day. 

 I'm one blessed mama!

Parker's Deacon's Quorum treated their moms to a delicious dinner date at the church.

Karl and I hosted a Jensen Mother's Day BBQ on Saturday.  It was originally scheduled for Sunday evening, but we changed it at the last minute and held it on Saturday.  Good thing too, it rained like crazy on Sunday!  This is me, Lisa, and Eleanor!

Lucky me to be their mom! 

Ashlyn saw this cute key chain that says #1 MOM on it.  She priced it out, and worked really hard for a week to earn the money to buy it for me. 

So thoughtful!

The kids all pitched in to buy me this great cookbook I've been coveting!!

So excited to try it out!  I spent at least an hour perusing it with Alyssa, and we came up with some yummy meal ideas.

Karl treats me like a queen, he put together a beautiful day for me!

Fun cards...Taylor's Kindergarten class filled in a fact sheet on their moms.  Did you know I'm 24yrs. old, 41inches tall, and only weigh 31 lbs?? Pretty awesome huh?

At the end of the day, the kids treated me to Paradise Island. 

This is one of the best ideas ever to hit the Jensen family!  They gather around me, and one kid lotions my feet, another my hands, and someone takes the head for a lovely head massage! 

 It's heaven!

The Lists

Do you remember a line in the movie Ratatouille, when the mean turned nice, food critic Aton Ego says the following;

"You know what I'm craving? A little perspective. That's it. I'd like some fresh, clear, well seasoned perspective."

Well, I got a little of that fresh, clear, well sesoned perspective this morning when I went to write out my "To Do" list for the day.  (I'm a little/lot OCD about lists, and have been this way since I was little, so there you go...) but anyway, I took a look at my note pad, and tore off my previous list

(Below)

And found the following:

(below)

Good 'ol fashioned PERSPECTIVE!