Jensen Fam: June 2012

Sunday, June 10, 2012

Aloha Grandma & Grandpa

After serving for 18 months at the Kona Hawaii Temple, Grandma and Grandpa are home!!! We were able to see them quite a bit in May, yet somehow managed not to get any pictures of them besides these with Grandma in the background. Nevertheless, we are super excited to have them home. Since this was Noah's first time to meet them, and given that he's in that fun 'stranger danger' phase, it took him a few days to get comfortable with them. By the end of the month, however, he would run right to them.

We were pretty excited about our new Hawaiian attire.

Grandma even gave Maddy and Erin a Hula lesson.

Zack, Amanda, and Bobby lovin' their T's.

We spent 4 days in Moab and the kids loved re-exploring the yard.

Brandon found this little guy under a trash can and he stuck around for quite a while.

He's pretty good at blending in, can you spot him with the kids?

Grandpa made getting the 4-wheeler going a top priority. As you can see, it was appreciated.

I had this grand idea to take some pictures of the kids. Problem was they were all sleep deprived and were sick with head colds. So, basically I chased 3 snotty-nosed kids around a giant yard, aggravating them with a camera. It was awesome.

Group pictures went really well, obviously.

Practicing ballet or about to give me the back-hand?

Tissue, STAT!

I'm not even going to look at you mom, this is so embarrasing.

Yes, that is my leg he's clinging to, which makes it awesome that I could take his picture at the same time.

This is when he figures out where daddy is and knows he can't go to him. "DAAAAA'DEEEEEE!"

A little peek-a-boo cheers him up pretty quick.

Last effort at a group shot...at least they are all looking in the same direction, even if it's not at me.

We had to keep with tradition and go feed the ducks at the Old City Park. We say 'feed the ducks' but more than anything you feed geese. Occasionally something gets far enough out for a duck, turtle, or fish.

The turtle decided to take his chances and go after some bread and oats.

There was a random dog running around while we were exploring the water features. Noah LOVES dogs. It made his day.

Erin, however, is terrified of dogs and was frozen, whimpering, when he came this close.

We're looking forward to spending lots more time with Grandma and Grandpa now that they're back. It will be a busy summer and hopefully I can get some pics with Grandma and Grandpa in them. The next challenge will be keeping my posts up to date...wish me luck!

Thursday, June 07, 2012

April...yes I'm that far behind

In Utah, April = big snow storm. Since it was basically the only big storm this year we were obligated to enjoy it, snowman and all. Somehow I only had a couple of pictures and tons of videos of the event.

Of course, Utah also means that a couple of days later you can enjoy a sunny day at the park. The big kids are way too busy to look at the camera, but this little cutie knows what's up.

Easter! With super-early church, our basket hiding was postponed til late Sunday afternoon. Since this is our last year without a kid in school, it's probably the last year we can get away with the kids not knowing they get Easter baskets until we tell them they're looking for them. I know, I know...parents of the year, right?

I set up the hunt by putting word clues in eggs all over the yard. They (Ben) had to read the word to determine where the next clue would be. It worked well because it helped build excitement and prolong the hunt. Again, we have tons of video and only a few pictures.

Ben's favorite thing in his basket was an Angry Bird.

Erin loved her baby Cinderella that has her own carseat/rocker/bassinet.

Noah's happy with just a pack of popcorn to push around! ;) Parents of the year, remember?

And finally, here's what Brandon did in April...

Not just watching lecture, he's been doing that for almost 4 years. (this round) He finished his LAST lecture class for his Master's in Embedded Systems. He's doing his project right now, but by summer's end we may refer to him as Master Brandon.