FINALLY DONE!!!!!!

I have finally finished school!!! I took my last final on Monday night and now I am just waiting for my grades. I had to do a comprehensive oral exam on Dec 5th. That was the most stressful part of my whole program - but I passed and I am so relieved!

My mom sent me these beautiful flowers the day before my oral exam to encourage me.

Mike went with me to my exam since it was in Pocatello and I didn't want to make the drive by myself - I was a nervous wreck! Afterwards we were planning to go to dinner. When we got there, my mom and sister and her family were all there. Mike had arranged it a couple of weeks before - I was very surprised. We had a nice dinner and then my sister, Melissa, brought a surprise over to my house - she made me this AWESOME cake -it is huge!!!

Red Ribbon Week at Kenneth's School

Last week at Kenneth's school they celebrated Red Ribbon Week. On Friday they wore Halloween costumes - Kenneth was a football player.... Scare drugs away - stay drug free!

Thursday was crazy hair day - this was the best! Kenneth has been needing a haircut for a while, but we knew that this day was coming, so we let him grow his hair out. Mike buzzed the sides of his head Wed. night and left a big strip down the middle. I found some hair glue at the store (I never knew that such a thing existed)which worked really, really well. Then we spray painted it bright orange with black stipes along the sides - it was great!! The theme for this day was Don't be crazy - Don't do drugs!

Wednesday kicked the celebration off with crazy hat day....the theme was Be Cool - Too Cool to Do Drugs! Kenneth found a leatherhead hat that he instantly knew was the right one for the occasion - he now needs it to keep his head warm since he has no hair.

Happy Anniversary

Well, it is now official - we have been married for 13 years! And for the first time since we have been married, Mike actually forgot. This morning before he left I got up and gave him his gift - I got him an iPod docking station/alarm clock. But he made it up to me by taking me out to dinner tonight. Kenneth went with us and the food was really good - we all had a good time.

So in honor of our 13 years together, I thought I would list 13 things that I love about Mike. (Not in any particular order)

____________________________________________________________________

1. He is very laid back. Most people don't know him very well because he is pretty quite and doesn't say a whole lot. But that is typical for him - he is just real easy going.

2. Mike is the best dad I could have ever asked for my child. He spends a lot of time with Kenneth. They like to just hang out downstairs in the man cave, they mow lawns together - which is teaching Kenneth a great work ethic, and they just goof off together. Last week Mike and I were both sick with food poisoning, and Kenneth had his last football game of the season. I told Kenneth that since we were both so sick he would have to miss his game. Mike felt bad about this and so he had Kenneth get ready and drove him to his game in Firth. Mike waited in the car - sick as can be - for about 2 hours and then drove home - what a good dad!!!

3. Mike is patient - he puts up with me and my craziness - need I say anymore?

4. Mike is a hard worker. He has one of those jobs that requires a lot of flexibility and sacrifice, but he does it day after day because he loves it. He gave up his education and working as an engineer because he knew that he wanted to be a cop. It isn't always a glamorous or high paying job, but I think that he gets a lot of satisfaction out of being able to help people.

5. He embraces his inner computer nerd. He has fully accepted that he is a computer nerd and is often found fixing a computer around the house or helping out any one of our numerous friends/family that need help with technology crap.

6. Mike is a good friend/brother. Mike would give you the shirt off his back if you needed it. He often gets calls that someone needs help with a variety of things and he always is willing to sacrifice his time and energy to lend a helping hand.

7. He protects our family. Not that we live in a high crime area or anything, but I always feel safer when he is around. He is always available to take care of whatever we need.

8. He still thinks of himself as a kid. He doesn't ever really want to grow up. He enjoys doing so many activities and "fun stuff" that sometimes I think I have 2 kids. You can often hear me saying - "no horseplay in the house - somebody's going to get hurt" For example, a few weeks ago Mike and Kenneth were goofing around and Mike accidentally slammed Kenneth's head into a corner of the wall in the hall. Now we have a big ole dent on the corner of the wall that I don't think can be fixed........like I said, sometimes I think I have 2 kids. (don't worry - Kenneth's head is just fine)

9. Mike takes care of the "manly" things around the house. He feels that it is his responsibility to take care of things like mowing the yard and fixing things.

10. Mike is a fantastic artist. He really has a talent. He likes to draw things - he still has a picture he drew in high school - it is called vision master. I think he use to have a poster of it in his room .... or something like that. It is really cool.

11. Mike has a terrific sense of humor. Most people don't get to see this part of him because he is so shy. But once you get to know him, he is pretty hysterical. A great example (he won't like me sharing) was last night we were saying goodnight to Kenneth and Mike was wearing a halloween shirt that glows in the dark. It is a black shirt with a skeleton outline on it. Well, he charged it up with light so that it would glow really well and then we turned the lights of - he started dancing around and Kenneth and I were laughing so hard we coulnd't catch our breath....I know you had to be there to get the whole effect....

12. Mike has stuck with me through good and bad. And believe me - there have been both. I have never doubted his love for me. Some days we don't necessarily like each other very much, but we still love each other no matter what.

13. Mike is my eternal companion. Thirteen years ago today we knelt across an alter in the Idaho Falls temple and he agreed to be sealed to me for time and for all eternity...how lucky am I??????

I LOVE YOU!!!!!!!

First Day of Middle School

This post is about a month overdue - oh well - better late than never! This is Kenneth all ready to tackle his first day at the middle school. I think he is pretty excited about rotating classes (he has 8 classes a day) and he is happy to have a locker. So the day started off great.....until we tried to get him on the bus - but he eventually made it to the right school.

Then around 4:30 I was starting to get a little concerned because he wasn't home yet. I had already called the bus department twice that day, because his morning bus didn't pick him up where it was suppose to.......All I got was conflicting information and no one really knows what is going on........I still don't know if they have figured it out yet.

Finally around 5pm this is how he arrived home:

Nice!!!! I send my happy kid off to his first day of middle school and he ends up coming home in a cop car!!!! At least he didn't do anything bad......the bus system was even more screwed up in the afternoon and the resource office (who is also our neighbor) ended up bringing him home. At least he made it home safe and had a good first day!

Garden Harvest

A sample of what we got out of our garden this year. Mike dug the rest of the potatoes up and we had home grown carrots, corn, and potatoes with our roast for dinner tonight - YUMMY!!

Kenneth Playing Football

Kenneth has been playing football for the last 6 weeks and is really enjoying it. He saved up a lot of his lawn mowing money to pay the $90 fee to be able to play. Then he had to invest another $100 for all of his gear. He practices 3 days a week and has a game once a week. For the most part he has played hard and learned a lot. Some days it is frustrating because he doesn't get to play the position he wants or he is just physically exhausted - but he always looks forward to his next practice. This particular day he came home from practice just a mess! He got a bloody nose and of course got it on his white jersey. Luckily, Mike was there and able to help him take care of it. This picture shows how happy he is after a grueling 2 hours of practice.

He said that their cleats kept tearing up the soft grass and he was just covered in mud - I don't think you can see it in the picture very well.....but notice he is standing with muddy cleats on the cream colored carpet.....(sigh) oh boys!!!

My Friends

I have been thinking about friends a lot lately. I have made several friends during my life, but eventually time moves on and things change. This picture is of me and my friends Anna and Jamie. I laugh every time I see it because it reminds me of all the great times that we had together. I actually have it hanging up on my office wall at home. Jamie and I met about 6 1/2 years ago at work and I think we became instant friends, she is so likable and easy to get along with. She even invited my family to her extended family campout (which was a ton of fun)! I interviewed and hired Anna for a job at the beginning of 2006 and at first we weren't too sure about her, but she proved to be one of the most hilarious people I have ever known. They have both moved on to better and more exciting things in their lives, but most days at work I think about how much I miss having them around. These are just 2 examples of how blessed I am to have such great friends that bring joy and happiness to my life!

Work??

So, one day I come in to the office and sit down at my desk and this is what I see........

What the crap??? Why is Connie under her desk?? I thought maybe she had finally been buried by piles of paperwork, but nope - she was just repairing her desk or keyboard tray or something......she doesn't believe that she needs help doing any of this "manly stuff" and she fixes all of her own stuff - notice the blue tool kit on the floor - that is the one that she keeps at work, just for jobs like this.

Now, as for the following, I had nothing to do with it!

These are a couple of salesman at the store I work at. Their manager had them wear these lovely, bright green "hats" on the sales floor. They weren't allowed to take them off until they made a sale that morning.......hhmmmm...they look like dunce hats to me.

I thought that Tanner looked like an elf with his hat on.....

The New Paintball Gun

Kenneth has worked really hard this summer mowing lawns and he finally saved enough to buy a paintball gun. He was sooo excited - this is him practicing in our backyard - he shot at the wheelbarrow for a while.

Kenneth's Birthday

Kenneth wanted a german chocolate cake for his birthday this year - so I made a triple decker. I had one more layer to add, but I thought it might tip over because it was already so tall. I am not sure why he is holding up 3 fingers - he really turned 11 this year.

He got a couple of air blaster rockets that he plays with outside.

They actually go pretty far.

And of course, they have many uses.

He also got several smaller things like a package of his very own Reese's peanut butter cups, ice breakers, a new bottle of flarp and he got a new Play Station game - the new Legos Indiana Jones game. I think he had a pretty good day.

Trying out Ricky's Motorcycle

Ricky stopped by on Kenneth's birthday and Mike wanted to test out the motorcycle - and of course Kenneth wanted to go with him. I think he was a little nervous - but he loved it.

My Baby is A Boy Scout!

Kenneth turned 11 last month and is now officially a boy scout. This was right before his first meeting with his new group. Grandma got him the shirt for his birthday - we think it will fit him all through his scouting years!

Mike Won a Bet!

Mike was at work a while back and he had Jenny out and one the guys he works with bet him a quarter that he couldn't get the ball out of her mouth.

Well, Mike won the bet - but he has a big ole gash in his right index finger. He is finding it hard to type or work with small things. I just can't believe he stuck his hand in her mouth - she has big teeth!

Webelos Readyman

Kenneth spent an afternoon at the local fire station learning all about first aid to complete his Readyman for Scouts. A volunteer came and taught the boys a lot of great information. Kenneth got to demonstrate a choking victim and JW got to participate in the CPR demonstration. After they did the classroom work, they got to go look at the fire trucks and the equipment that the firefighters wear....they even got to try some of it on.

Garden - Week 3

If you look really closely in the middle of the picture, you can see the first signs of a head of lettuce - it is actually growing!!!!!
I know it doesn't look much different from week 1 - but there are small things popping up.

Reading

A few weeks ago I came home from work and found this book that belongs to Kenneth laying on my pillow. There is a pink sticky note on it that says READ! Kenneth figured as long as we are making him read this summer, we should have to read as well.....

Kenneth and Potato Faces

Kenneth was helping me in the kitchen and I asked him to peel some potatoes. He was being very creative and made faces on the potatoes - he thought it was pretty hysterical.

The Jensen's Garden - Week 1

For the first time, we are attempting to grow a vegetable garden at our house. Mike cut out the sod from this corner of our yard and we brought in some top soil and compost to get it started. This is the first picture taken after we planted. We have planted corn, carrots, onions, potatoes, lettuce, tomatoes, peas, beans, and zucchini.

An example of our tomaotes, we have surrounded them with water walls to insulate them from the crazy Idaho weather until it warms up and the plants become a little more sturdy. The tomato cages are just there for decoration at this point. Once the water walls come off, we will turn them over and use them correctly.

Kenneth Playing in the Water

Kenneth had a blast last week putting the sprinkler underneath the trampoline and cooling off for a little bit. We haven't had to many hot days - so this was a treat for him!

My Attempt at Planting Flowers and Shrubs

We have a white vinyl fence that extends from the side of our house to the edge of our property in the front. It is really stark white, and so I wanted some color in front of it. My neighbor, who knows a lot about plants and such, went with me to the store and helped me pick these out....hopefully they will grow and fill in the front of the fence. On each end I planted Spirea that have pink blossoms and in between I planted some annual yellow and purple flowers - I don't remember the names of them. If they survive - I will post more pictures as they grow.

A close up of the yellow flower - since I can't remember the right names, we just appropriately call it the yellow one.

The tulip bulbs I planted came up very beautifully this year!!!

The Importance of Rotating A 72-hour Kit

I made 72 hour kits back in 2002 for all three of us. I worked pretty hard to get them all put together and was pretty proud of my accomplishment. However, we have never looked in them since....which we found was a problem (DUH)!!! Kenneth brought his in to me the other day and wanted to see what was in his - this is what we found....

Size 6 pants - he now wears a size 14...

A really cool Scooby Doo T-shirt that is a size 3T (although it was more like a 5 or 6) and the black jacket that he managed to squeeze in to.

And the most interesting stuff - the food.....most of which expired in 2003. We opened up the Frosted Flakes - they were pretty stale, but I think if you were starving, they would get you buy. He tried a couple of things that I thought would probabaly not kill him, but he refused a second serving of anything he tried. From the assortment in the picture, I think that I will duplicate a lot of what I used last time. Mike and I both had more extensive food kits, which included a few canned soups and beans along with some peanut butter.

So, now I have my work cut out for me again, but this time I have a better plan that I heard a while ago. Every year during general conference, empty out your kits and have a picnic with the food you have.....this will help use the food before it goes bad and the kids will think it is a fun adventure! I still have all of the non-perishable items, we will just update the clothing and food and be ready to go.

May Hail Storm

We have had the craziest wheather this spring! It can be 80 degrees one day and the next it will snow! Well, the second week of May we had a massive hail storm - Kenneth is holding a piece of hail in his hand...

He thought it would be fun to attempt and catch a few of the hail stones in his mouth - I think he actually caught one in this picture....

However, he wasn't so lucky in this one - it got him right in the eye!

Mother's Day Cooking

Mike and Kenneth made crepes for mother's day breakfast. Here is a quick picture of them working away at the project. They had me get out of bed and I laid on the couch to help direct the preparation. They turned out great!

This is a picture of how the yummy crepes look - until they are devoured, 2 seconds later!

Football in the Front Yard

Kenneth and a bunch of his friends like to play football most days after school. Now it seems that half the kids in the neighborhood show up to play.