The January Blues

January is usually my least favorite time of year. After the beautiful fall and wonderful Christmaas season, I usually spend January in a funk! Boise usually gets inversions, so we don't see the sun. It is just cold and dreary! But this year has been different. No inversions at all, the weather has been warmer than normal, but we also have not had snow.

We started out the year with Megan's basketball team going into tournament. The high school pulled up 6 players from Megan's city-championship team from last year. So, this year they struggled a bit. But against all odds, they made it back to the city championship game. Unfortunately, they did not win the game, but they played their best! Here are a few pictures:







The day after Megan's game, Mike and I went to St. George with my sisters and their husbands, to surprise Dad and celebrate his 80th birthday! We totally surprised him, he was not expecting us at all! We did a session in the St. George Temple, but my favorite, we went to Zion's National Park and did some hiking. The scenery is beautiful! This is the Court of the Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Mike, Dad, Todd, Diane, Julie, Rachel, and Marty at the base of the Patriarchs.

We hiked along a trail to the start of "The Narrows," and saw several deer.
Mike and I next to the Virgin River.

Two days after we got back from St. George, Jan. 18, we finally had our first snow fall! Megan and I were the only ones home, so we had to shovel the driveway.

Meg and I are pretty proud of ourselves for shoveling the whole driveway! We counted it as our cardio workout!

So much to do, so little time....

I haven't blogged for awhile, so I will try to catch up as fast as I can!

This fall went by in a blur!

Mike and I rode our bikes on the greenbelt for the last time at the end of October.

We love the greenbelt! We discovered "graffati alley" where all sorts of pictures have been painted.

The 1st weekend of November, our YW Pres. took the young women in our ward to my parent's cabin in Donnelly for Personal Progress Boot Camp. We had a chocolate fountain, played games, had some great discussions about Personal Progress, and two young women took a dunk in the lake! Brrrr........

Next we hosted Thanksgiving at our house this year. We had all of Mike's family. His sister Pam, her husband Brian, and their kids Josie, Taylor, and Lizzie. And his brother Chris, his wife Pam, and their kids Sydney, Dani, and Cassie. And our whole family was home, even Drew! Just a few pictures from the weekend.

Megan had a quilt to tie, so she enlisted everyone's help!

We had no idea that Chris was so good at painting fingernails!

It was finally December, and Christmas! Of course, that month always flies by with not enough time to do everything. So again, here are a few pictures from Christmas!

Mom decorating her Disney Tree!!

Frosting sugar cookies!

Christmas morning:

Then, of course, Christmas dinner at Grandma and Grandpa Bakes's house! This is a tradition that we love! Aunts, Uncles, cousins, everyone there!

This brings us to the end of 2011. Hopefully I will do better next year at chronicling the crazy day to day life of the Jensen's!!

Volleyball

After having sent two boys thru high school sports, we are now trying the girl route.
Megan played on the sophmore volleyball team at Capital High School this fall. I took her and some of the other girls on the team from Fairmont Jr. High over to the high school. They had great season. Here are a few of the pictures from this season:
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The sophmores had a great coach! His name was Phil Buffington, and the girls loved him! Here he is talking to the girls.

On Oct. 15th, they went to District Tournament. They went into the tournament in 2nd place, and won 2nd place in the Tournament.

Megan talking to Grandma Bakes after one of her matches.

Here's the team after it was all over! We are so proud of them!

Megan has had one week off, and starts basketball tomorrow. She will be staying at the Jr. High to play basketball, so she should get lots of playing time! Here we go again!

General Conference

I love General Conference for several reasons. The main reason is I love the talks! Every speaker seems so inspired! Many of the talks seem to be just for me. This time my favorite talk was from Pres. Uchtdorf. His talk was titled "You Matter to Him," meaning you matter to your Heavenly Father.
Two statements really stood out for me:
"The Lord knows who and where you are. You matter to him."
"Please understand that what you see and experience now, is not what forever will be."
Sometimes we just have to hold on, believe in Him, and remain faithful, and we will receive all the blessings that have been promised to us by our Heavenly Father.

Another reason I love General Conference, is that on Sunday morning everyone gathers at Grandpa and Grandma Bakes's house for biscuits and cream gravy. Then we watch the morning session of conference. Biscuits and cream gravy is the best breakfast ever!!

Grandma with her famous rolls!


Katie eating the famous breakfast!

Lucas played with Chester during conference.



And of course, someone always falls asleep! This time is was Alyse!



Nothing is better than biscuits and cream gravy and General Conference. This is one tradition that we all love!

Happy Birthday Mike!!

Tomorrow is Mike's Birthday, and he will be 52 years old! So in tribute, I would like to list 52 reasons why I love him. This was very easy, there is so many reasons! So here goes!

1. He loves me!!
2. He's tall.
3. Let's me go to Disneyland and Disney World!

4. Gives good back rubs.
5. He will see "chick flicks" with me.
6. He goes hiking with me.
7. He lets me use his walking stick on the way down.
8. He does the dishes.

9. He scrubs the bathroom.
10. He eats everything I cook, and doesn't complain.
11. He won't let me mow the lawn.
12. He takes me on bike rides.
13. He goes at my pace.
14. He is a good home teacher.
15. He tries to get to all his kids activities.
16. He can help the kids with math and science homework.
17. He changed diapers.
18. He got up in the middle of the night with crying babies.
19. He goes grocery shopping with me.
20. He goes to the store late at night for me.
21. He can fix anything.
22. He is a righteous priesthood holder.
23. He is a good provider.
24. He has a strong testimony of the gospel.
25. He has a great sense of humor.
26. He supports me whatever I do.
27. He let me listen to Christmas music in July.
28. He puts up Christmas lights. Sometimes it is the morning of Dec. 24, but they are always there for Santa!!!
29. He let me have my "Disney Christmas Tree."
30. He let me go on "girls" weekends or vacations with my sisters and/or friends.
31. He misses me when I am gone.
32. He's honest and has integrity.
33. He is always giving service to others.
34. He will kill spiders and bugs for me.
35. He lets Max sleep in the house when it is cold. And sometimes when it isn't!!
36. He can draw.
37. He is a good writer.
38. He has a tender heart.
39. He was a good son, and he is a good brother.
40. He will go to the symphony/ballet/play with me.
41. He appreciates the little things.
42. He took good care of me after my knee surgeries.
43. He makes the best chocolate sauce!
44. He is not afraid to try something new.
45. He stays up late to wait for kids to get home.
46. He gives good advice.
47. He's very handsome.
48. He's a great Dad.
49. He loves my crazy family.
50. He lets me get silly with my sisters.
51. I love his blue eyes.
52. He still makes my heart go "pitter-pat!"

So, you can see Mike is and will always be my One True Love!

Happy Birthday Mike!!

All about Drew.....

Well, as promised, here is a post all about Drew.

Drew bought himself a car this summer, with his own money! (That's the kind of car Mike and I like!) He had to find the right car that would get across the country, hold all his stuff, and be in his price range. After much searching, and some test drives, Drew found his car.


So, at the end of July, he loaded it up, said goodbye, and drove away to start a new chapter in his life!





Drew drove all the way to Charlottesville, Virginia, where he will spend at least the next 4 years going to Univ. of Virginia Medical School. He is finally on the road of fulfilling his dream of becoming a doctor!

Mike and I flew out a few weeks later to visit him and attend the White Coat Ceremony. This is the ceremony where the 1st year med students get their lab coats. We had a great time!

Before the ceremony, we took some pictures out on the lawn with the famous Thomas Jefferson Rotounda in the background.


Drew waiting for the ceremony to start with some of his classmates.

Drew putting on his lab coat, assisted by the Dean of his college.

After the ceremony, Drew in his lab coat!

The next day, we let Drew decide what sight seeing we were going to do. He chose to go to Washington D.C. and walk around the mall.

Mike and I in front of the Capitol Building.
Drew and Mike by the Washington Monument. (Which I hear now is closed, due to the earthquake!)
Mike and Drew in the Air and Space Museum, which is part of the Smithsonian.

Drew and I in front of the White House. In my defense, when this picture was taken, I was extremely tired, and had been rained on twice (throughly soaked each time) and dried off. Enough said!

We are already planning (and saving for) the next trip out. There is so much to do and see there, and it is just beautiful! Do we visit Civil War sights, go to the Shenandoah National Park, or head out to the beaches? So many choices, we can't wait to start planning!