Christmas Blankets

One of the best purchases I made this season, was buying each of the kids a Christmas blanket(a couple weeks before Christmas). It wasn't something I planned on, but when I saw the blankets for such a great deal I decided to buy ONE. Then I realized I had better get FOUR. That happens a lot where I think ONE will do just fine, and then I realize the kids may fight so I just end up buying FOUR. You know how that is! Any-hoo, I didn't know how much they would love these blankets! They are super soft and just made them feel special. They take them in the car and sleep with them. With the exception of Gavin who thought it rather insulting that I was trying to replace his "dee-dee"(blankie). So I have sort of adopted his for now, and I even ended up buying one for Brandon. It's been a fun memory and I'm so glad we have them. Hope you all had a great Christmas. I know "Wii" did. More posts to come!
Tanner loves his blue snowman blanket!










Megan loves her gingerbread man blanket.









Zach's nickname is Moosie and he loves red!



Gavin's(aka Mommy's adopted blanket for now!)

Temple Square and Festival of Trees

 

I find myself not keeping up with the blog as I should for two reasons:
1. I am extremely busy and trying to get ready for Christmas.
2. I am also into Facebook and spend time on that too.

So I am making an effort to keep up on the blog. We went to the Festival of Trees and Temple Square last week. Megan danced at the Festival of Trees and did a great job. Then we headed up to T. Square with the other thousands of people who had the same idea. There was also a game getting out of the Energy Solutions Arena so it was pretty well packed throughout all of Salt Lake. A lovely time to choose to take the kids! Ha ha. But, all in all a nice time. Exhausting...but it was really beautiful.

Happy Birthday Brandon/Daddy!

Make a Smilebox greeting

JUST A SMALL ONE THIS TIME!

Saw it...

Loved it! Yup, I really did. I thought it was great fun!

It's that time of year again...this time, Disco style!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Pause our music on the side if you need to!

The big game...straight ahead

This is hanging outside of our home right now. Brandon said it needed to be up the WHOLE week. I don't even think we do that with the American flag during the week of the 4th and that's my fave holiday. Brandon is wearing blue everyday this week, and Tanner is wearing a BYU shirt to school EVERY day(yes, he has that many!) Freaky you may say? I say,do what ya gotta do boys. Go Cougs.
P.S. While I was outside taking this picture, 18 month old Gavin locked me out the front door! He pushed the chair over to the door and bolted the door. I'm sure he was trying to figure out a way to escape. I was lucky to be able to get in through the garage!

Gavin's stitches

This picture isn't the best. Sorry.
He is a real stinker! His new trick is to push the chairs over to where ever he wants and climb on into trouble! He had just pushed a chair over to the kitchen sink and was getting ready to get into the sink. Brandon got him down off the chair. Gavin got upset(temper! temper!) and bonked his head on the cabinet knob! It isn't even sharp but he must have hit just right on the bone. Brandon being quite the expert on stitches from his childhood experiences, decided we'd better take him on in, so I did. He got three stitches. Poor kid! Surprisingly, he was the first child of ours to need stitches. Crazy boy! Honestly, when he is awake, we are pretty much just trying to keep him safe! He is anywhere and everywhere...that he shouldn't be! I made three trips to the pediatric night clinic last week. One for Zach because he had the croup and they gave him an oral steroid to open up his airways. The next night was for Gavin's stitches. Then two days later, I took Gavin in again for the croup. He also received the steroid but through a shot. He just loves that place so much now...not. The poor child had such a look of terror going in after he got stitches. He put his blankie over his head the WHOLE time the doctor examined him. He was so hoping the doc would disappear. Oh, the trauma! But at least they have a cool fish tank with "Nemos" and give out suckers. That's partially worth the trip.

To Wii or not to Wii, that is the question...

We don't have one...yet. The last latest and greatest thing in the gaming department we purchased is the Nintendo 64 I bought for Brandon about 10 years ago. Obviously that was a time in life where he had more time! I have been happy that the kids like to do a variety of activities and haven't exactly invested our money in that area very much. But now, Tanner is getting older and has been to birthday parties and relatives houses this year where he has played the Wii and really enjoyed it. I like the family and physical aspect of the Wii system and all of the options it brings. I don't like the price and the price of the games. Is it worth it? Tanner has also mention that he likes the Didj system by Leapfrog. It looks pretty educational. Please feel free to share your opinion!

Gavin is 18 months

This post turned a little longer than planned! I will understand if some of my readers don't read it all! I like to do an update here on the blog about Gavin every 6 months. I started when he was six months old and then did one at one year. I so wish I had done a blog when the twins were babies!

Gavin is the sunshine boy of our lives right now. He is such a loving little child. He is always giving us kisses and hugs. He just melts our hearts. All of the kids adore him. It is very fun to watch them all with him and truly love him. Zach HAS to give his "schmoopsy poo" a kiss every morning and after every nap, without fail.











Megan loves her baby brother. It has been fun to see her relationship with him grow. When she first found out he was a boy, well, let's not mince words: Weeping and wailing were sometimes seen! When he was born, she loved him and felt much better. Now even just recently, she has said things like: "I can't believe how much I love Gavin." Or, "Gavin is the cutest boy ever!" Or, "I'm so glad we get to keep Gavin forever because I love him!" And that is even with him constantly messing up her room, so she must really love him!














He loves tools! I mean the REAL tools. He seems to know the difference between real tools and toy ones. The real ones are just too tempting. One day he got several tools out of the drawer such as pliers, screwdrivers etc. I held the tools while he took turns with each one, fixing something! He would take one and use it and then put it down and go on to the next one for a long time.
He also likes balls like Tanner did. He likes to put one in the hoop every once in a while(with a little help) and play catch. Tanner is excited to play sports with him. Tanner says Gavin is his twin. Tanner looked very much like Gavin at this age. So Tanner says there are two sets of twins in the family.











Gav LOVES animals. Especially horses. We have to constantly drive by horses for this boy! He finally rode one at Thanksgiving Point a few weeks back. He could have stayed there all day. We are due for another trip to the zoo soon. We have a family pass and those are the best deal! I think he loves animals at an earlier age than the other kids did. He is very drawn to them and loves to make the animal sounds.














Gavin came into the world at almost ten pounds and did everything very fast. I hardly had an infant for very long. He has always been in such a hurry to grow and be a big kid. Boo hoo for me!













Gavin the Gavinator is pretty much into everything right now. Our house is sometimes a disaster and I'm tired a lot! Phew! He can push a chair over to things and get up to everything. But he is a cutie patootie and you know he must be, because Megan wants to keep him(she said so!) and so do we. :)

(I recently had his pics taken in his Halloween costume! They'll be posted later. I couldn't resist. He's the baby and he looked too cute.)

Halloween Fun

Halloween was great. I took the boys on a Haunted train ride and my Mom came along the day before Halloween. It was really fun for them. Halloween was a busy, but fun day. We also had a family dinner on Sunday with yummy soups. Last week the kids went to Grandma's house(Brandon's mom) for a kids' Halloween party. She and Mike put on a great party for the kids and they both dressed up so cute. My camera was dead at the time, so sadly, no pics from that night. We have all had a great Halloween season and with the beautiful weather, it made it so fun! We were able to get out and do a lot of great, fun activities!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Go Wildcats!

Tanner came too, but didn't care to be in the picture. That's okay. But guess what? He loved the show and was not ashamed one bit!


Warning: Slightly cheesy post!
We may bleed blue in our house, but some of us also bleed a little East High red! I almost tagged along to the midnight showing Thursday night with my cute sis-in-law and her roomies, but the old mom in me came through, and I knew I couldn't function properly the next day(it was a busy day) and decided to bow out. So I took the kids this afternoon, and it was great. I got a little teary at the end. I do tend to cry at absolutely everything, but I really do love these shows.

I came on the scene a little late with the first HSM. It was already quite a sensation before we bought it and I(oh I mean we!) fell in love with the show. By the time #2 rolled around, I(oh I mean we again!) was an official fan/expert and already had the music memorized for the Disney channel premiere. There are many reasons I love these shows. The music, the dancing, the adorable cast, all the recognizable places in Utah, and so on. But I've decided that one of the reasons I adore HSM might very well be this message: "We're All In This Together." I mean it's true, right?

By the way, I believe Disney owes the Hinckley family some royalties or at least some credit, because after all, Sister Hinckley said it first:

"We are all in this together. We need each other. Oh, how we need each other..."
-Marjorie Pay Hinckley

Go Wildcats!

Scarecrow Festival

 

On Saturday, we took the kids to the Scarecrow Festival at Thanksgiving Point. I really missed my Tanner, but he wanted to spend some one on one time with Grandma. The kids had great fun. They went on one inflatable slide after another to their hearts content! There was also music, and games and face painting. We even had Navajo tacos for dinner. The weather was just so perfect. It was a great evening. I enjoyed watching the kids have fun-even Gavin loved it. He jammed to the Bluegrass music in his stroller and rode around on Dad's shoulders too. This has been a beautiful weekend. The weather has been great. We did a lot of much needed cleaning and organizing, but had some fun too. I looked at my kids playing all around at the park today in the nice weather and I just thought: This is the best time of my life! I love these little kiddos and they are so worth my journey.

Boys' Road Trip '08

 

Brandon and Tanner went on their BYU road trip a couple weeks ago. They went to the USU game and had a great time with Tyler, Noah and Xander. Tanner loved the trip. It wasn't quite as outlandish as last year's trip to Vegas for the UNLV game and the Mandalay Bay(see this post)but still fun nonetheless. The kids swam at the hotel and they also went bowling. Their seats at the game were in the upper part of the South end zone, and the boys often just played football on the grass area during the game. Tanner really looks forward to these trips and cried when he came home just like he did last year! I try not to take it personally. :)I'm happy to have them make memories. If you're wondering why Zach doesn't go, he could, if it wasn't for the actual GAME. He doesn't like to sit through those pesky games, although he has just informed me that when he's a grown up, he WILL like sports!

Bye Bye Top 10

Sad night around here.

The Tale of Two Twin Teeth...

The Tooth Fairy did double duty at our house last night. That's right! The twins both lost their first tooth yesterday within hours of each other!




























I thought it was interesting enough that their teeth had become loose around the same time, but to lose it the same day? Wow! I can't believe it. The Tooth Fairy came to each of them last night for the first time! They came into the world on the same day, got blessed the same day, and will get baptized the same day. I'm sure they will share many more experiences on the same day, but I didn't expect this one! Oh, and Megan was the first to lose hers, just like she was the first born of the two, and the first blessed. Ladies first!

Yearbook Mania

This is a blast! I have seen these before, but finally got motivated to do ours when my cousin Lisa posted her "Yearbook Youself" pics on her blog, and I thought they were so fun! Tanner loves Brandon's 1998. Brandon really likes 1990(mullet) of himself. He says he thinks he really had a sweater like that. Brandon's 1994 looks like an actual photo of him. It is so fun! I'm not sure which is the fave of myself. Maybe I could get some input on that? :) Comments welcome!

Horsey, Horsey...He's on his way!

My baby finally got to ride on a horse! He loves horses and here he is! He loves all animals in general but is pretty partial to horses right now. I'm just trying to savor every moment of his cute little 17-month old self. His little chubby hands and feet and the way he is still a baby, but is fast becoming a big boy. The way he says "hi" every time one of us comes into a room or comes home. The way he is constantly climbing on my lap with a story every chance he gets. The way he will still let me rock him when he is really tired. I just love him to pieces!

A Tribute To Dave

Dave is my stepfather and he passed away 10 YEARS ago today. Sometimes I can't believe it has been that long. He was an exceptional person and an all around fun man, but apparently he was needed more on the other side than he was here-although I think my mom has a bone to pick with someone on that subject! I wrote this little list quite a while back. It has some of my favorite memories and qualities about him. Although my children won't know their "Papa Dave" in this life, I have wanted to preserve some of my favorite memories about him as I've done with their other grandpas as well. Here are a few:

He loved to make breakfast and would always save me a pancake if I slept in.

We always had four-wheelers and for years I would have parties and have friends come over and also have the neighbors come and ride them. He was very generous with them and really enjoyed it when people had a fun time with them.

He loved Mexican food and knew how to find good guacamole and put salt on it! Yum! He is one of the reasons I love Mexican food so much.

He liked to dry the wet newspaper and other items off in the open oven! And it worked!

He loved to grill and was so good at it. (Even tried It in the house once-whoops!)

He loved to "tinker" in the garage and could fix anything.

He loved a good burger.

He loves my mom.

He was the epitome of true charity and would help anyone.

He was friendly, tolerant and respectful to all. He really was loved by many people.

He was one funny man and just plain made life fun! We still laugh at some of the things he said and did. We sure miss him!

P.S. Since it is game day, and he LOVED the Cougars...Go Cougars!!!

Little Cougar Fan

We start 'em young around here!



(You can pause our lovely Halloween music and please excuse my loud voice! Sheesh...)

Happy 8oth Birthday Grandma and Grandpa Jensen!

Grandpa and Grandma Jensen's birthday is in September just a few days apart, and Saturday it was a celebration of their 80th birthday! Brandon is pretty lucky. He still has ALL FOUR of his grandparents alive and well! I never even knew my grandpas so I am glad to know and love his. My kids won't have the opportunity to grow up with their own grandpas either so we are very thankful for these great-grandparents and love them lots!

Megan playing in the sand

The party was at Aunt Sue's house. She has a fabulous yard and playground for the kids. It is beautiful. The kids had a blast with cousins. The teeter totter was great fun! Here are Meg and Zach on the teeter totter.

Gavin loved the dragon statue!

Grandma and Grandpa opening their cards with Grandpa's sisters and Brandon's Aunt Sue in the background. They got a hot air balloon ride and Jazz tickets. Grandma was so excited to go to her 1st Jazz game! Yeah!

Eating cupcakes is fun!

Messy cutie pies!

They have this merry-go-round that is a blast! Check out the video if you can stand it!


It was a fun day!

Zach loves Lady Liberty

Zach loves the Statue of Liberty. He wanted to pose for a picture last week, complete with a book and a miniature light saber for his torch!

So if you can't get to New York, or Las Vegas, how about...Red Robin??? Yup. We ate at Red Robin this past summer and Zach remembered their version of the statue. There is a hamburger for a torch and a menu for the book! He settled for us finally taking him to eat there again to see this Lady Liberty. A grilled cheese sandwich and a chocolate milk made the trip even more worth it for him!

At least it was much cheaper than a trip to New York or even Las Vegas for their small version at New York, New York Hotel/Casino. I remember being fascinated with the Statue of Liberty when I was a child. I was able to go see it in person 10 years ago, and it really is spectacular! A childhood dream fulfilled. I would love to do the same for Zach someday. He really wants to go to "Yew Nork" someday! He really CAN say it correctly, but haven't you ever gotten tongue tied and said it that way? I have.

Here I am heading out to the Statue of Liberty in August '98

Me & Meg at Red Robin

What a lucky boy!

Remember this guy?

Brandon e-mailed me this picture from last week's pre-game events. Curtis Brown is one of Tan's all time fave BYU players. Those are Tan's cousins: Noah and Xander with him. We have quite a few fun pictures like this with BYU players from various activities(I know...shocker!), but I really thought this one was especially cute!




The "Wicked Fun" post is below. I worked on it for a while, so if you tuned in and it wasn't there...sorry! Here it is now:

Wicked Fun Moments

As soon as I came home from my girls’ getaway trip to LA(see THIS post for details) to see Wicked, we downloaded the Wicked soundtrack off of iTunes for $10, burned it on a CD and it has been a mainstay in the van ever since. The twins have especially enjoyed the music and me telling them a little about the story and how I went to it. They both LOVE The Wizard of Oz so it has been very interesting for them to hear the music and story. If you haven't seen Wicked or don't know the story, it a re-imagining of L. Frank Baum's classic story The Wonderful Wizard of Oz from the perspective of the witches of the Land of Oz. If you have seen Wicked or at least know a bit about it, you may find these funny. Here are some funny moments since they've been listening to the music:
When Megan was listening to No One Mourns the Wicked, there is the part where Glinda is telling Elphaba’s story(that's the Wicked Witch of the West) and the chorus sings, “The baby is unnaturally…………..GREEN!” Megan said, “Mom why do they say that the baby is a MACARONI FREAK?”
No sweetie not macaroni...


They say, unnaturally GREEN!(although I always think of macaroni now!)








It is that time again…McDonald’s has the Madame Alexander miniature Wizard of Oz dolls. We collected them all last time, so here we go again! BTW, you don’t HAVE to buy a Happy Meal, you can purchase them alone. Last Sunday, Zach happened to slip in the church bag to sacrament meeting: the Wicked Witch of the East (Nessa Rose) and the Wicked Witch of the West (Elphaba) dolls. So during the meeting he was playing with them and it got a little out of hand when he started to sing his favorite Wicked song, Popular a wee bit TOO loud! I couldn’t help but chuckle!










Tonight at dinner, Megan was just about to say the prayer and Zach was singing, “Have another drink, my dark-eyed beauty, I’ve got one more night left here in town!”(again from No One Mourns the Wicked)…Brandon laughed and said, “Great song to be singing right before the prayer!”