Sunshine, blessed sunshine!

As I sat soaking up the rays yesterday, it hit me.  Every time I can feel the sunshine on my face and the warm breezes are blowing by, I am taken back; not just to one moment but to several.  It's like a little slide show in my mind of happy places of time gone by.  I thought I should list some out so I never forget and maybe bring a smile to a few of my old friends as well.

1.  Waiting in line at Disney with the whole family.
2.  Lying on the beach hearing the water wash up, watching Larry snorkel in Waikiki.
3.  7-Peaks, the day I met Larry.
4.  7-Peaks, the day I was due with Payton.
5.  Zion's Beach circa 1989.  Terri, Ranee and me.
6.  Disneyworld, Christmas break of Freshman year.  The water jumping fountain with the fam.
7.  The afternoon after graduation practice, end of May 1990.
8.  Bensonville, mid 70's, spring time.  Tube tops. Big Wheel. Birds chirping.
9.  Freshman year at BYU- the field, the roof, the roommates, a little homework, a lot of fun.
10. Last summer- driving my new VW bug with the top down (real slow!).
11. Thanksgiving 1992, road trip with Larry. Driving through Lake Tahoe, the sun shining through the car windows.
12.  Walking through Lehaina with a giant strawberry ice cream cone and my honey.
13.  Spring break 1990.  Trip to Mississippi with Terri.  The whole trip.
14.  Riding my bike to the community pool, summers in Palatine.
15.  Bonney Lake, the old house.  The girls were so little, Cooper was a puppy.  Life seemed simpler.
16.  Easter with the Sharp's, the grass was so green.
17.  Big Adventure Denver Youth Conference.  One hot bus. 
18.  Oklahoma summers as a kid.  Sisters. Cousins. The pool. The house. Aunty Mary Bess and Uncle Larry.  Washing cars. Feeding goats. Clothes lines. Homemade quilts. Spaghettios.

So these are just a few.  The cloudy, rainy day doesn't help revive the memories quite as well as that sunshine.  But it's so good to know they're there.  Stored away.  Until the next sunshiny day.

I Can't Say It Better Myself!

Governor Romney today issued the following statement on House passage of the healthcare bill:

"America has just witnessed an unconscionable abuse of power.  President Obama has betrayed his oath to the nation -- rather than bringing us together, ushering in a new kind of politics, and rising above raw partisanship, he has succombed to the lowest denominator of incumbent power: justifying the means by extolling the ends.  He promised better; we deserved better.


He calls his accomplishment 'historic' -- in this he is correct, although not for the reason he intends.  Rather, it is an historic usurpation of the legislative process -- he unleashed the nuclear option, enlisted not a single Republican vote in either chamber, bribed reluctant members of his own party, paid-off his union backers, scapegoated insurers, and justified his act with patently fraudulent accounting.  What Barack Obama has ushered into the American political landscape is not good for our country, in the words of an ancient maxim, "what starts twisted, ends twisted."


His healthcare bill is unhealthy for America.  It raises taxes, slashes the more private side of Medicare, installs price controls, and puts a new federal bureaucracy in charge of health care.  It will create a new entitlement even as the ones we already have are bankrupt.  For these reasons and more, the act should be repealed.  That campaign begins today."

http://www.noapology.com/Blog/#fbid=o04TbMk4uez

St. Jude Ab Crunch Challenge

As you can see in the column to the left, I am participating again in the Ab Crunch Challenge for St. Jude Hospital.  Please check out my sponsor page and donate if you can.  My goal was $50 last year and I did it.  This year I would like to up that to $200.  I know I can do it with your help! 

So follow the link.  Read the stories.  Grab a tissue.  And make a donation. 

https://waystohelp.stjude.org/sjVPortal/public/displayUserPage.do?programName=lofamerica&eventId=102170&userId=464029

Thanks everybody!

Porter and Waylen

A few weeks ago, I started watching Waylen for a friend.  What a cutie!  I was a little worried about how Porter would react to having a baby around but it didn't take long for him to get quite attached to the little guy.  In fact, he just started saying his name two days ago.  Before that he called him "little brother". 

It's very sweet to see Porter fall right into the big brother mode!

He loves getting his picture taken.  In fact, he's always asking me to get the camera and

"take my picture", "take our picture".

 

Last week he leaned in and smelled Waylen's head.  He pulled away and "mmmmm... he smells good."  I asked him what he smelled like and his reply was, "mmmmm... he smells good like potatos!"  I'm not quite sure if I should tell Lindsey or not yet.  But Larry and I got a good laugh out of it! 

Then Tuesday of this week, Porter did the same thing.  Only this time after taking a good long whiff of Waylen's little head, he said, "mmmmm... smells good.  Smells like corn."  So maybe Johnson & Johnson has some new scents I haven't tried out.  Or maybe Porter really loves potatos and corn.  Either way, we are liking having a "baby brother" around!

Christmas Morning!

It's always so exciting to wake up Christmas morning to find out what Santa brought.  Everyone files into our bedroom so we can all head down the stairs together (after brushing teeth, of course).  This year was certainly not a disappointment.  Stockings were chalk full and the gifts were piled under the tree.  Grandma and Grandpa always make the rounds with their own sleigh packed to the brim.  Our house is first on the route and they arrived promptly by 6am.  The bounty was aplenty!  The kids got more than they ever expected and so did we.  This year, each child had gifts for each other and for us.  They had to put in a lot of time and thought to come up with fun ideas - and everyone was surprised.

Santa left a letter this year.  He wrote to tell us about his gift to the family- an overnight stay in Leavenworth that Friday night!  It was a perfect gift after a crazy month!

Once all the dust cleared and everyone had opened their toys, clothes, nail polish, gift cards, jewelry and more, we got to sit back and enjoy our Christmas morning relaxing with our spoils.  Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa, Payton, Riley, Sydney, Maisyn, Porter, and Larry for sharing the Christmas spirit! 

Merry Christmas!

Porter's new ride.

 

Merry Christmas from Grandma and Grandpa! 

Christmas Eve

Christmas is our favorite time of the year.  It might have been grey, cloudy, cold and wet outside, but we always enjoy the extra family time we share inside.  On Christmas Eve we enjoyed reading the Christmas story in the scriptures, singing hymns from our family book and, of course, opening up one gift each.

The kids were pretty excited (almost as much as we were!) to be opening a gift before Christmas morning. 

It didn't take them long either!  So once the entire family was clad in our new jammies, we had to gather in front of the Christmas tree and take some pictures.  I love to see my children smile!  You can almost feel the anticipation and glee for Christmas on their faces!

The most special part was being able to snuggle up together - all 5 of them! - and watch a movie before heading to sleep.  Porter was especially thrilled to climb in with the "his girls".  They didn't even make it through the whole show, knowing that Santa wouldn't come when even one person was still awake. 

Christmas Cookies

What do you give your kids' teachers each year for Christmas?  I usually have a plan, at least.  This year was an exception.  With Larry and all of his health issues, the holidays were rushing in with no gift ideas in sight, no time to shop for said gifts and only one day left before Christmas break.  So Porter and I took it upon ourselves to make some Christmas cookies. 

All of you who know us, know that I don't do the baking.  Larry makes the cookies at our house.  Unfortunately the drug-induced coma he seemed to be in most days prevented that from happening.

I think Porter and I did a pretty good job.  Peanut butter M&M cookies are some of my very favorites.  I like to use the Holiday colored candy.  And, yes, I make sure that I have even numbers of each color on every pan.  Porter was a great help and loved wearing his apron like Mommy. 

So we made it through another Christmas gift-giving season. 

 Luckily Larry is all better now that Easter is just around the corner!

Grandkids Christmas Party

ReNae said, "I don't know why I haven't been doing this all along."  And now we know.  Was it an opportunity to share in the Christmas spirit with all the cousins gathered in?  Or was it the new locations for the WWE?  Well, Porter did learn a few moves under the tutelage of his big boy cousins.  But only AFTER dinner was eaten and the gingerbread houses were complete.  So thanks to Grandma and Grandpa for opening their home and sharing an evening with all the grandkids.  I, for one, hope that is becomes a Jensen family tradition!

Our little weatherman...

Riley: "Hurry, come and look outside!  It's totally foggy."
Porter: "What?"
Payton:  "Check it out!"
Porter:  "What?"
Maisyn:  "Come on!  Let's go see the fog."
Porter:  "The frog?"
Maisyn:  "The fog."
Porter (looking out the open door):  "Huh?  Where's the froggy?"
Maisyn:  "Not froggy.  FOGGY."
Porter:  "Froggy?"
Door shut.

Oma's Early Christmas

Oma came to visit in early December.  We couldn't get her here for the actual day but she was able to see several choir concerts, a Christmas play, a volleyball game and a handful of basketball games.  So the trade off was worth it.  She was also here to help out when Larry ended up in the emergency room on her 4th day here.  Not quite what we had planned but it was good that Payton had her help at home.  Larry was laid up that week for the most part and we just relaxed and enjoyed a quiet week.  Her last night in town was a Monday.  So we had our Christmas Family Home Evening and then the kids and Oma got to open presents early.  They all enjoyed that!

She had a red-eye flight and so we said our goodbyes before the kids went to sleep. 

Merry Christmas, Oma!