Update is out of order.

I am not very good at this. The next four posts are out of order, they are dated correctly.

Sand Dunes

Sand Dunes - Conference Weekend
10/3/2008 - 10/5/2008

We decided to go to the dunes for General Conference Weekend. Clay did't have to work Friday, so we left Friday morning and headed to Little Sahara Sand Dunes. The weather on Friday afternoon was okay so as soon as we unloaded the trailer, we headed out for a ride. The kids have fun playing in the sand while Clay was off playing on his motorcycle.

That evening Grandpa Todd and Grandma Lu were on their way to join us for the weekend. They brought the rain from Logan with them. It rained so hard that night, that we woke to a huge puddle on the tarp/rug when we stepped out of the trailer. We wet up an extra canopy to have just a little more room to sit around. We ended up moving up around the fire for something to do while we kept warm. It rained all day on Saturday. It did not even stop for us to get a little ride in. On Sunday morning the rain let up a little bit. We could not decided if we should pack up or wait it out a while to see if it would stop long enough for a little ride. So before we packed up, we all got to go on a ride. The rain finally stopped. YEAH!!! We all just went out on some trails and onto the dunes for a few hours. It ended up being really fun.

We had brought Justice's little motorcycle and it would not go very well in the dry sand on Friday, so when the sand was wet the kids got to ride it. Clay set them up a little track to go around, and they had a blast. We misplaced the key to Kaila's fourwheeler (again) so she had to ride the motorcycle. I think she had a blast. These first few pictures are of the kids playing on Friday before it rained the rest of the weekend.

Griff sliding down the sand hill. Kaila was showing him how to do it just right. He got so much sand in his diaper, but he was having so much fun to even care.

Griff just being so cute, showing me that he could fly.

Kaila playing in the sand. This is here favorite thing to do at the dunes. She could sit for hours and play in the sand. She loves that on the surface the sand is warm, but when you dig down it is cold on your hands and feet.

She found this flower and stuck it behind her ear. After the picture she gave it to me and made me put it behind my ear for a while.

Justice showing me his "hang loose" pose. He loves to do this lately in his pictures. He thinks he is pretty dang cool in his gear.

Kaila, Griff, and Justice having fun in the back of the Rhino. They got to take their helmets off to take a picture. This was the second ride on Friday before Todd and Lu arrived with the rain. We did start to head back because the sky was getting pretty gray and there was lightening in the distance. Clay was giving me a break from driving.

Justice giving Clay a little break from driving. Don't worry, he didn't drive longer that 1-2 minutes. He actually did pretty good steering.

This is Saturday when the rained had slowed down a little, not enough to go out for a ride, but enough to roast hot dogs without getting too wet.

Sunday before we went out for a ride, the kids tried out the wet sand. The motorcycle did a lot better on the wet sand than it did on dry. On dry sand it would dig the sand out under the tires and just leave the training wheels holding it up. Justice likes to go fast. Going up these little hills we would have to stand there and tell him "more throttle" to get him up the hills.

Kaila's turn. She did very well, she was a little nervous at first but once she understood that the training wheels would keep her from falling over she did great. I think she is just used to the stability of the fourwheeler.

Griff begged Clay to take him on a ride. Just as he finished one ride, he would cry for another one. He has a smile because he got his way without too much pouting.

Kaila was helping Grandpa find wood for the fire.

Justice found a tumble weed to burn.

This is not the best picture, but thanks to LuAnn we might actually have one of me. Griff begged me this time, he wanted a ride on Grandmas fourwheeler. He talks the entire ride, and says "wee" over the littlest hills. He loves it as much as I do. Man, am I lucky!

Griffin taking the motorcycle for a spin. He would sit on it and beg until someone gave him a ride. He would just go and sit on it, he started to stand up and act like he was doing tricks.

Pumpkin Patch

Pumpkin Patch 10-17-2008

Usually we just get a pumpkin from the store and go home to carve it, but this year we mixed it up a little bit. On the way out to Smithfield, there was this pumpkin patch on the side of the highway where you could pick a pumpkin off of a trailer, or you could go walk through and find your own. The kids decided that they wanted to pick there own, so we ventured out into the field. Kaila and Justice had a lot of fun finding the perfect pumpkin. They were all kind of smaller so I told them they could pick 2 or 3. Griff takes a nap alot when we drive and this day was not exception. He did not want to wake up but I made him, so he was pretty onry and did not want pictures. He had an okay time finding a pumpkin, until he stepped in a little rutt and fell down. Then it was down hill after that. I still wanted to get pics of Kaila and Justice, Griff wanted to be held, all the crying, people looking at us, etc.. Not as I pictured, but turned out okay I guess.

Kaila's perfect pumpkin!

Hauling another one back to the pile.

Justice thought that this one was perfect until I told him to turn it around and look at the green on the backside. He put it down and off he went on his search.

Griffin crying, again! Believe it or not, this is the best picture of him. He was sick of me still trying to take pictures of him while he was wanting me to pick him up. What a bad mom I am.

The other kids didn't care he was crying, they kept on looking! They ended up telling me that they wanted to look for a pumpkin patch every year because it was more fun looking for the perfect one from the patch than just picking one out of a box. I think next year we will just make sure that no one is waken up from a nap!

Then we went home to decorate them ...

Now usually we would carve them, but we found these cute Mr. Pumpkin Head things instead. I told them that because we didn't want them to freeze and then get all mushy like last year, that we would just buy these things and then when it got closer to Halloween we could carve them. They ended up liking these a lot and decided to keep them and not carve this year. I was okay with that, no mess this year!!! I think they turned out pretty dang cute, better than I could have carved them that is for dang sure. So, I think that we will keep them and hope that they want to do it again next year.

As you can see, Griff got a little happier when we got home and he was able to make funny faces into the pumpkins. They were so proud of their creations.

Justice by his favorite one he decorated.

Griff sitting by the 2 he decorated.

Kaila with her favorite one she did.

Salt Flats

Salt Flats 10-18-2008

We went to the Salt Flats with Grandpa Todd and Grandma Lu, and our little family. It is always so fun! We thought it would be fun for Justice to ride his motorcycle where he didn't have to worry about running into anything. He is getting pretty good! He really likes to ride it and all summer has been riding it with Clay or I on the back to help with balance as he is doing the throttle. Uncle Tony and Jake let us borrow some training wheels (thank you!) so that he could learn to ride by himself. I think he was ready to try, but then we realized that we forgot the foot pegs (whoops), but Justice didn't mind. I love it so much that he likes to ride motorcycles. I hope that he continues to enjoy it because I have big plans for him, I am kidding, sort of. Ha! Ha! No really he tells me that when he grows up he wants to be a motorcycle rider and a swim diver. That is music to my ears.

We are very lucky to have kids that let us haul them around. We enjoy riding so much that it would really suck if our kids didn't like it. We have had four wheelers around since Kaila was born, and now with motorcycles, I feel very fortunate that my kids love it as much as I do. I seriously could ride everyday/all day and camp everyday as long as I got a shower every once and a while (thank goodness for the toyhauler)!

Justice checking in after being out on a ride. I just love how cute he looks in his gear!

Taking off for a ride. He did let Kaila ride it since we had misplaced the key to her fourwheeler and could not bring it. Kaila is getting pretty good as well, but I think she likes the fourwheeler a litte bit more. Griffin also likes to be taken for rides, he climbs up it and begs and waits until someone will take him for his turn.

Griff in the back seat of the rhino. Always a smile on his face when he is riding, oh how I love it!

Kaila with her big piece of salt. The salt is so thick that we had to chip at it to get a few pieces off. Thanks to Grandma Lu's example, they even tasted it. YUMMY!!

Here is Justice with his piece. He is also showing me how strong he is. Can't you just see those muscles bulging out of his shirt?

Griff woke up from his nap he was taking while I was driving. He was wondering what everyone was doing by the water. He also wanted to go and walk in it.

Justice showing me his muddy hands. He did try to wipe them all over me until I told him that if he did he would die.

Playing by the waters edge with Grandpa Todd.

Have to have little pit stops to have a treat. Justice loves to ride on the back of Grandpa because he goes so fast. However, Grandma gives him a run for his money on her Rancher.

Clay would seriously kill me if he knew I put this on here. Please do not tell!! He is just hitting a small jump here, but he has a lot of fun.

And lastly, this is me on Clay's motorcycle. I can barely reach the ground with my tip-toes, but that won't stop me from having fun on it. He still owes me my own, so I had to make sure that this one wasn't going to work. I think I may get one just a little smaller. This one has so much power, it is such a blast to ride! I LOVE it!!!

Finally updating the blog!

Halloween 2008
10/31/2008

So I am finally updating the blog! This is for you Julie and Annilee since I have been telling you I would do it for months now. Sorry! I have no idea how people can do this daily. I get on thinking that I will update, first I go through emails, about 30 or so daily, then I start checking my favorite blogs to get my daily fill and to feel like I know what is going on in everyones lives, then hours later (seriously, hours!) I look down at that little clock at the bottom of my screen and it says numbers like 12:30 am, or 1:45am then I think that if I am going to get the kids up on time and not be so onry in the morning that I should probably get to bed, so I shut down the computer without updating my own blog, then shut down the house, check the kids, and finally about 30 minutes later get into bed. I do this daily! So for those who even care to read, I will try to do more photos than words, because I don't really want to type much. I hope I can get this to work the first time or I will get very pissed and probably not try again for a month or so. Ha! Ha!
So someone please tell me how I get the pics to come after the enrty. Tell me if I do this wrong, but I write first, then I put the curser down a few lines, then I go in to get the pics, then when I go to see thm, they appear before the post. This makes it harder for me to do several updated blog posts at a time. PLEASE HELP!! tell me what I am doing wrong, because everyone else seems to know how to do this. This is what makes me mad!!

Okay I figured it out with Clays help, what a head ache, he selected it, then did a drag up to the top. There has to be another way that is easier than that. There is no cut and paste? What?! I know that sounded easy as I said that, but I tried it before he came and it did not work for me. He has that kind of effect on technology, it instantly likes to work for him after I try it, for hours sometimes, but only about 10 minutes today. Anyway, if there is an easier way please let me know.

This is Griffin showing me what a skunk does best.

He is just so freaking cute! The tail on the skunk wiggled when he walked, it was so adorable, the costume fit his personality perfectly! The butt says " Little Stinker".

Justice is a pirate, he was so pissed because I made him have a goatie, eventually, after I told him that real pirates have them, he liked it and was not so mad at me. His favorite part of the costume was the sword, although it is not in the pic here because he was hitting us all with it.


Kaila was a witch. This costume was sewn by Grandma LuAnn about 20 years ago. I bought a dang cute witch costume that had a lot of colors, but she did not want to wear it because "witches wear black mom". So LuAnn dug out this one she had in the basement and she loved it. It was black, and it had a cape! We ended up without the green makeup, because I thought it looked funny, I have to mention that it is what Clay told me to do, like the the witch on Wizard of Oz, I even bought red lipstick although you really can't tell here because it had worn off, and she hated it. Of course, because that is Kaila for you!

Justice got this eye patch and teeth from Grandma LuAnn, he loved them! This was at the very end of the night so the makeup had well worn off.


Isn't she the scariest witch you have ever seen? This is one of her faces that she pulls often.

How can you resist this face? He really is not that cooperative with pictures, I had to stand on my pip-toes and aim over his head to get this, but what a cheese!

This picture is of all the Jensen side grandkids. Tessa is Dorothy holding her little pup Todo, Jake is Iron Man holding Justice's sword, Justice is a pirate, Jaycee is Snow White with her costume falling off, Cheyenne is a Barbie witch with a little mini skirt, and Kaila also a witch dressed in black. They all were so cute!

Changing the blog a little!

Thank you to Lindsay and Annilee for the suggestions to help me with the pics. I have not tried it yet, but will try tomorrow when I have my memory card with me. I hope it works. Cross you fingers for me please!!!!

So we laid sod on Thursday night and Friday morning. Thank you to Todd and LuAnn ( my in-laws) for coming and helping on Thursday night. They just came to say hi, when they saw us laying sod, they just jumped in and helped lay part of the front corner until it was dark. Then Clay went out and laid until about midnight and got part of the back yard done, while I got the kids to bed. Did I mention that it was the day of our anniversary? Yes, we laid sod for our anniversary. Aren't we so freaking lame?!!! Then on Friday morning Casey (Jorgensen), Clays friend from work came over to help lay along with Todd. They were here at 6:30 am, and by the time I woke up and got the kids ready they had just about laid most of it. I only got to help lay a few pieces, fill in the holes, and cut some that had overlapped the sidewalks. Not much help, but I really did want to. I guess I get to mow it!!! No, really I am excited about that. It has been years since we had a yard and grass to mow. We haven't put in yards in the last 2 houses, so it has been about 5 years, since the Richmond house, that we had to cut grass. Clay and I used to fight over who got to mow. Sounds lame I know, but .... I can't really find and excuse sorry! Anyway, thank you to Todd and Casey for helping, and also to the neighbor Jaelyn for having Kaila and Justice come over to play, it really did help. THANK YOU!!!

We are also finishing the family room in the basement, so we have had drywall guys in and out. Clay has been so busy, Friday evening he was doing finish work, and getting it ready to paint. He has just a little more finish work to do, then we can paint in the next few days. Carpet is supposed to come on Friday. This is great news to us, because we will have another place to hide, I mean retreat to, when we need some space from the kids.

So back to our anniversary..... we have been married for 9 years! Which means I have known Clay for 11 years. That seems so crazy. I told him ten years means a cruise right?!!! Something besides laying sod. We have always had something kind of big happen about the same time, like getting a new car (2 or 3 times), signing papers on a house (2 times), or been at Lake Powell (2 times), or something. 3 years ago we went to Cancun (2 months later) but called it our anniversary present. It is not that we don't want to, or can't financially, it is just that Clay doesn't like to miss work, or really can't because of certain jobs needing to be done. So I told him that no matter what we are doing something for #10. I may just plan it and surprise him you never know. We did go out without the kids on Saturday, this is not a norm for us, we take the kids everywhere. We went to Hamilton's for dinner, and then to a movie. You have to know Clay to know just how BIG that is, he hates the theatre (I think I have mentioned that in a previous post). We went and saw Tropical Thunder, very interesting show, we laughed, but it was a little different and I don't think I would recommend it to anyone. But it was fun holding his hand through the movie, it felt like we were on a date in college again. Thank you to Todd and LuAnn for watching the kids while we enjoyed a dinner and movie we really appreciate it!

*** But I do have to say that Clay is seriously the best husband, I could not have found any better. Clay you are the love of my life! You are my best friend, and I really don't think you know just how much I love and appreciate you. Thank you for giving me such beautiful children. You are a great dad to the kids, and they love you so much. I can not imagine my life without you, you make me so incredibly happy. Happy Anniversary, babe! I would do it all over again in a heartbeat, I love you!!!

That will end my post for the evening, hoping that I will be able to post pics next time. Good night!

I finally did it!!!

I WATER SKIED!!!
That's right, I finally did it! I water skied! We are lucky that Clays parents have a boat, and that they are willing to take us out with them. So, finally I broke down and tried it again. It has been 11 years since I tried, and I remember very vividly the crash as I drank gallons of water. But after a little coaxing, I figured "What the HELL" and just jumped in to try again. I got up on two skis and I was afraid to cross the wake for fear that I would do the splits and crash, so I just held on and let the boat pull me. That's right no tricks for me! It was actually pretty dang fun, and I think I will do it again. I am kicking myself in the butt for not being brave enough to do it the last 11 years, just think how good I could be... WOW! Clay thinks that I should try the wake board next time, so I probably will. No more Mrs. Scare -D- pants, I am can be BRAVE... right?!
Here is a pic... I hope this works! Well it didn't work the first time, so I am going to continue to type, then try again.

I can not believe how good Clay was. I have not seen him ski for at least 3-4 years. It was great to see him enjoying himself out there on the water. He also wake boarded, and I was amazed. I bet he hadn't boarded in 10 years, but he was trying to do a few tricks, a 180 jump, it was pretty cool.


And of coarse brave little Justice will not be left out in the fun, he had to do it too. He has skied with Grandpa Todd a few times when we have been at Lake Powell, so he had to do it again at Glendale. He has the biggest grin on his face the entire time.

And here is a pic of Grandpa Todd and Grandma LuAnn skiing there hearts out. I really cannot believe how much they enjoy it. They are really good!

And a few random pics of Kaila (the scare -d- cat), and Griff. He loves to drive the boat, but gets in the way a little, so he is standing while still "helping".


Okay. Now this is really making me mad. It will not upload any pics. This is the reason I am so discouraged and haven't posted in a while. It is saying something about internal error. This sucks!! If anyone out there in blog world can help or has any suggestions, please help me!! Or I will really be pissed and stop this whole blogging thing altogether. HELP ME!!!
So I guess that I will have to try to continue some other time after I figure this out. I know it can be so boring without any pics, so I will try later. UGH!!!

Okay, so after playing with it for a while, I got pics in but I don't know know to insert pics into the typing. Do I need to upload image as I am typing??? Anyway, you get the idea, here are some pics of us skiing and boating.