A day in the life of a Jensen

Thursday, December 3, 2020

Hindsight on 2020

Well, it has been 6 years since I wrote on this blog. The last post I entered was to share the news that Matt had quite his job and we had bought a restaurant! Yeah! So that happened. From 2014-2019, we've been on a wild ride, which included

buying 2 more restaurants,
going through some really tough times,
convincing Dickey's to let us close on Sundays,
Matt going back to work as an engineer after 6 months of looking for employment,
Ashley taking over running of the restaurants,
closing one of the restaurants,
preparing for bankruptcy,
taking our children to Europe as a last farewell to a life of comfort,
miraculously NOT going through bankruptcy,
and finally, hiring Cortes Enterprises to run our business so I (Ashley) could return to part time work for the restaurants!!!

Of course, 2020 has been no less exciting! Besides all the normal life adjustments and growth (i.e. World-wide pandemic, earthquakes, floods, fires, water contamination), there have been plenty of big changes in our lives personally.

For starters, we had Emma Lagoutte join our family for 2 months. It was cut short due to the pandemic, but we made the most of it while we had her visiting local sites like The International Peace Gardens, the Salt Flats, The Great Salt Lake, Camp Williams, the local universities, etc. After school was shut down we made a point to have daily bike rides and nightly playing of board games, frequent "Just Dance" parties, and an occasional treat of her French cooking! Crepes, stuffed tomato with chorizo, and a few other things which I don't know what to call.

Nathan's big news was that, like many things in 2020, his mission was cut short due to the pandemic. But we were plenty happy to have him arrive back home on April 1st after several weeks of uncertainty! What a joy to have him in our home again. Although he left for the fall semester to live on campus at the University of Utah, we are privileged to have him at home once more for the end of the semester until mid-January.

Shadrach had a stellar year. He aced 5 AP tests, graduated from high school, accepted a mission call to Kobe Japan, fulfilled 9 weeks of missionary training from home over Zoom, and is now serving in Minneapolis, Minnesota with his best friend from high school while he waits for the opportunity to go to Japan! He's steadfast and immovable (and very funny!). Watch a neat video he made here: https://www.facebook.com/matthew.araki.3/videos/2645029265714143

For Crispin, receiving his Eagle Scout award in January was a great accomplishment. We are so proud of him for his hard work and determination to achieve this! He also finished up the running season at Bountiful High School and then picked up mountain biking after our move to Draper. He's only had one accident, but it did put him in the emergency room for 5 waiting for a plastic surgeon to stitch up his lip. He's now going to school at Corner Canyon High School.

Eden is delighting us all with her music. She plays the piano beautifully and just started playing marimba and other percussion instruments in the percussion class at Draper Park Middle School. It is the highlight of our day to hear about it.

As for Matt and I, I already let our big news slip: we moved to Draper in June! This happened so quickly that we hardly had time to say good-bye to anyone. We're loving everything about our new home and neighborhood especially being so close to Ashley's family and being able to recreate outside! (Sorry, Foxboro had one thing we never learned to love: mosquitoes). At the same time, we're missing terribly all of our friends from North Salt Lake. Through it all, we've managed to find plenty of reasons to celebrate, serve, and find joy. Check out my other blog to read about our 100 Days challenges: https://jensen100daychallenge.blogspot.com/

We'd love to hear from you! Please email or write us:

aheinrick@gmail.com

12786 S 600 E
Draper, UT 84020

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Merry Christmas! 2014

Well, I know we have no small reputation for doing crazy things, so what I'm about to tell you probably won't shock our average acquaintance. However, it has been a real shock to our systems, so it must be even more crazy than our normal. So what is our big news? Well, in addition to the normal yearly report (kids doing well, excelling at practically everything, fun family vacation, special awards received by many of us, etc.), we are blessed to tell you that on November 25th Matt retired as an engineer after 14 years. In place of that work, he and I now work full time together as owners of a Dickey's Barbecue Pit!

Having never been in the food industry myself, I am 100% green. Matt, on the other hand, spent his best teenage years working at a fast food joint, so he's our resident expert. As you can imagine, we make a great pair. But, what we don't know about restaurants, we make up for in unity and faith. That is to say, we are united in our faith that this is going to be a good thing for us and for our family even if there are some growing pains. Already we've experienced many miracles which I attribute to the many prayers that are being said on our behalf.

But I get ahead of myself. I know you're wondering how it is that we decided to buy a restaurant and how long we've been thinking about it. The short answer is God. When the stars align as they have for us this past month and a half, I know better than to profess that we had anything to do with it. But the answer to that second part of the question is more complicated. This deal has only been in the works since mid-October. However, Matt has been driven to be his own boss since the day we got married. I won't go into how many business ideas he's had and how many business start-ups he's been a part of at various stages.

So now you know about us, let me tell you about Dickey's. Our store is in West Valley at 2592 S. 5600 W. #103. It is right next to a Winco. Like our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/DickeysWestValley .

If you haven't eaten there, you should! And I'm not just saying that because I own one. I honestly think that you will love it-especially if you're a man or married to a man (unless you're vegetarian)! The prices are reasonable and the meal is so satisfying and filling that I usually don't eat dinner that night--so its a double savings. My personal favorites on sides are the coleslaw and fried okra--but really, you can't go wrong (The potato casserole with the baked beans also make a great combination). While you're there, you get free soft serve ice cream. And if you're into southern BBQ, ask for a pickle spear from the counter. Have I mentioned that we do the most delicious holiday hams and turkeys?... Okay, I know this seems like shameless advertising, but its not. This is my blog and I get to say whatever I want. And I'm only letting you know because it is how I really feel.

Well, you're still reading, huh? I was sure I'd have bored you by now. But since you're still here, let me give you some highlights from the year:

Matt: Quit the aforementioned job. Bought the aforementioned Dickeys. Still serving on the North Salt Lake City Council, putting on city events, and serving in the Utah National Guard.

Ashley: Accepted the assignment at my church to be the president of the Relief Society (the women's organization) for our ward (local congregation) in March. Still riding bikes with friends and family. Helping put on many events for city, church, and school. Received my "On My Honor Award" in Scouting. Still working on my own business (CheeseBabes- financial education for women) as much as time permits.

Nathan-Was ordained to be a Teacher at church and serves in the Teachers' Quorum presidency. Received his Eagle Scout award in June. Was recommended to be on a special crew to go to the World Jamboree of Scouting in Japan in July 2015. He is diligently and continuously working to earn the $6000 he will need for that trip. You can track his progress on his blog: http://www.youcaring.com/tuition-fundraiser/2015-world-scout-jamboree/216450 As a 9th grader he is in seminary, jazz band, AP geography, and advanced band--among other things.

Shadrach- Received the Aaronic Priesthood, was ordained to be a Deacon at church, and serves in the Deacon's Quorum presidency. Received his First Class Scout award in October. Started middle school. Plays trumpet in the intermediate band and just joined the National Academic League--a competitive academic after-school sport. But it is his art that astounds us most of all!

Crispin- Received his Wolf award, has loved playing recreational soccer this fall and sneaks a book into class every chance he gets. He is great at counting in his piano lessons and is working on some impressive Zelda tunes.

Eden- Started 1st grade (all day school) and is an avid reader and mathematician. She does ALL her chores every day and practices piano twice as much as I ask her too. Is it any wonder she gets everything she wants?

Well, I really have nothing else to say. If you're still reading, we count you as one of our truest friends. Thank you for all of your love, support, kindness, and prayers. We are humbled by the incredible people in our lives. Most of all, we are grateful to a loving God, without whom we would be utterly lost.

Merry Christmas!

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

Summer update

It has been such a fun and exciting summer that I thought I'd take a minute to write it all down and share our experiences with you.

June was exciting because it was the month of cousins. For 2 weeks we had my sister Elisse and her 5 kids from Texas staying with us. During that stay her oldest two (Ariel and Anna) and my oldest (Nathan) went to a one week youth camp at BYU called Especially for Youth, or EFY. Nathan skipped the last week of school in order to do it and he spent about 6 months earning the money to pay for the camp. The camp was great, but it was especially memorable because the three of them got to do it together. My sister Dawn then spent a few weeks with us later in the month. And my sister-in-law (Nan) came for a few days overlapping both of these visits and allowing us to have a sisters retreat the first Saturday in June. We rode in a women's bike event together called Little Red. This, our third year, was as fun as ever--with costumes and late nights and singing songs, decorating our bikes, and getting/giving gift bags full of fun surprises. Seven of us and all of our bikes slept in one hotel room and did everything but have a pillow fight that night.

We were very excited when we realized that my brother Aaron's 1-day visit overlapped with all the others brothers/sisters, spouses (except Ken), and kids. So we took the opportunity on that day, June 8th, to hold Nathan's Eagle Scout Court of Honor. It was a little stressful pulling it together as we only realized our good fortune 2 weeks earlier, but we did it! We have a great picture with everyone on my front steps! It really shows the character of all the nieces and nephews and is one of my favorite pictures. My parents weren't able to make it as they left in March for 12 months of volunteer service as missionaries in Lyon France.

Those things, along with soccer camp for Crispin, several preparatory hikes for Nathan, and general summer fun made June an exhausting month.

Nathan, river rafting at youth conference

Of course, July was no different. Nathan went on another 50-miler hike with the Boy Scouts. He was totally the Super Star of the month for doing it because he didn't really want to go and at the last minute his dad and Shadrach backed out. But he went anyway. The other star in that story is Grandpa Steve, who was so kind as to go up and meet them half way through the week. Of course, things never go quite as planned and they didn't end up finding each other until the boy scouts were on their way out. I must admit that I about had a heart attack when I got the phone call that the scouts were waiting at their cars to go home a day early and they had never run into Steve. There were a few stories to shared after that trip. The other thing Nathan did in July was he started a massive undertaking of earning $6000 so he can go to the World Jamboree of Scouting in Japan next July. Practically every spare minute this summer he has spent working: selling snacks at the park, garage sales, door to door sales of Dominoes Discount Cards, weeding, mowing lawns, watching dogs, tutoring. As an aside to that, Matt and I had a goal we set a year ago to teach our kids some skills (like mowing lawns and weeding, etc) I was failing miserably at that goal until Nathan got this "opportunity." It is so interesting how the Lord works. I can definitely say it has been a blessing for Nathan to have a motivation big enough that he will work and sacrifice for. We've all learned a lot from the experience so far and his brothers have jumped right on the "earning money" bandwagon.

The other significant thing about July is the birthdays. Eden got to go to Seven Peaks water park and out to lunch for her birthday. Sadly, she didn't have a party with friends and has mentioned it to me several times since then. Crispin chose to attend a 1 week soccer camp with his favorite cousin Zac for his birthday. I tried to help him understand that there wouldn't be other presents but if that is what he really wanted most, we would spend all of his birthday money on it. He did get a new helmet, some soccer shoes and some cleats. But after the fact, he was very disappointed that his birthday didn't involve more opening of things! (I just can't win!). So what did he do to dsolve it? He made his own birthday party. He called two of his best friends, made up some fun games with balloons (it was the only party-like thing we had at home) and got out the rest of his dessert of choice (sherbet floats in sprite). Voila! A perfect party!

Crispin's party with friends

I do believe I did okay with Shadrach's birthday however. It was a very special birthday for him because, in turning 12 years old, he is now eligible for much more privilege. At home, he gets to stay up later. At church, he received the Aaronic Priesthood and can now pass the sacrament and attend the temple. At school, he now gets to go to junior high and he doesn't have to wear uniforms. At our house, we don't have parties with friends every year. This is a hard concept for my kids for some reason because their friends never go without a friend birthday party. This year it was Shadrach's turn. He had a nerf gun battle birthday party with all his friends at a mountainous park. They had a blast! He also got a party with his extended family to celebrate his ordination to the priesthood- roasting s'mores up in the canyons.

Shad's nerf gun battle birthday party with friends

Cub camp

Of course, July also had cub camp, youth conference, other hikes, water parks, and all that kind of fun too. My birthday was non-eventful. I got some important chores done that I'd been putting off for a long time. Matt and the kids made a special ice cream cake for me. And a few days later, we went to the drive-in movie.

Cub Camp

Shad eating Creme Bruelle for his birthday dinner!

Crispin, fishing and playing on the lake in July with the Kennards

Eden, catching butterflies

Korean cookies my good friend Kim made for my birthday

August was very short for us because we were gone for 2 whole weeks of it. We went to Orlando Florida on vacation. We stayed with some good friends from high school on a ranch about an hour outside of Orlando. They treated us to horseback rides, surfing at the beach, toured the Disney parks with us and stayed up late playing games with us every night. It was a wonderful magical time. There were a few things not so perfect, but only worth mentioning because of the proof that we survived them: the suffocating heat, the bug bites (Eden was covered from head to toe--even on her scalp), and having lost both Eden and Crispin at various times. The Disney parks were amazing and full of surprises. In fact, we were having so much fun, we missed the first day of school. (okay-it wasn't because we were having so much fun, it was pre-planned)

Our whole group at Hollywood Studios

And now we're back. We're back in school. We're getting into the routines. We're doing homework and housework and church work again. It was a great summer full of time spent with our kids. But I must admit I like the peace and quiet that an empty house gives on occasion too.