merry christmas 2010

merry christmas everyone! what a year it has been! just wanted to get on quickly and share my latest favorite pic of my kids together:) oh, how they make me smile:)

we have been having a terrific season. so many exciting things going on with each kid.

alec continues to do well in school. i hope he gets a little break his senior year. this year has proved to be his most challenging yet. he continues to work at mathanasium as a math tutor. he has also picked up quite a few other clients on the side for math and science. he has been playing tennis for a local league, and will begin again with the high school in a few weeks.

lexie is extremely busy! she spends a great deal of time doing gymnastics. she took first place on bars at state! she is also playing the flute at school.
ian discovered he really loves golf and swim this year. we hope to try out water polo this spring! he is also doing quite well on the piano.

chase is loving gymnastics as well, and really loves basketball. matt is coaching chase's bball team this season. it is quite enjoyable to watch.

we hope everyone is enjoying their holiday season.


a few pics of lexie at state for level 4.

love'n the uniform on him!

my cute baby! i had to bribe him with a hershey's chocolate bar to wear this hat and let me take his picture...little stinker!

a pic from lexie's band concert.

just a picture of a little christmas cheer in our home.

these are leaves from my favorite tree in my backyard. i just love the color of these leaves in the winter. unfortunately, they don't last long on the tree.

this is from chase's cute kindergarten christmas program!

this is ian receiving a school award. it just so happened to be on "pajama day" at school:)

lexie's last dance recital:( she had to give up dance, because her hours at the gym increased.

here's chase with his buddy during their "polar express" at school.

i am sure you noticed the lack of pictures of alec. i should just take one of him in his car...between school, work, and tennis we don't see him a lot:(

a new puppy!

well, for any of you still out there....i am still here, busier than ever. for some reason we thought it would be a great time to get a new puppy! i have always heard that a puppy is like a baby...but you don't really get that until you get one! this is lexie's dog, lilly! she is a malti-poo and we love her to death!

aside from taking care of the dog, i have been doing a ton of photography, a ton of driving kids around, lots of girls camp stuff, and not enough cleaning:) anyway, anyone interested in my pictures, please refer to my flickr. the link is off to the left hand side:)

alec finished the tennis season at tvhs, and is looking forward to a break from school. however, with multiple ap classes next year, he will be doing a ton of work over the summer. fortunately, he still has his job at mathanasium over the summer. he needs money, to help with the car insurance:)

lexie finished her first season competing in gymnastics. she did great! she had her dance recital, and it was fabulous!

ian is looking forward to a summer of 100% play time, unfortunately i have not broken the news to him yet that he still will be working for me!
chase is just now finishing up his first year of baseball..oh so cute! matt was the coach and it was perfect season! the kids and the parents were the best!

i have pictures of all above events which i should post...but not sure if i will get a chance to! i think this time of year is crazier than christmas!

i am off to another photography workshop, and i am sooo excited! it will be focused on lighting, i can not wait. and then off to girls camp! hopefully in about a month i can post some pictures...

and here is our beautiful pup lilly...she has grown a bit since these were taken, but she looks the same!

my brother joshua...

as many of you already know, my younger brother joshua, passed away april 11th at the age of 33. this was very unexpected. he had not been feeling well for a couple of weeks, visited the doctor, received an antibiotic and was sent on his way. he continued to not feel well, and finally went to the emergency room where he had a heart attack. they were able to shock him and get his heart back to a normal rhythm, but for some reason he continued to decline, and eventually his heart gave out and he could not be revived. so many unanswered questions.

he left behind two beautiful daughters (ages 4 &6), 3 brothers, 2 sisters, and his mother and father. he is missed greatly.

josh was such a wonderful kid (since he is younger than me, i always think of him as a kid:)) he had a big heart. he loved everyone, and everyone loved him. he was a devoted father, brother, son, and friend. although, he loved to argue, and could drive you crazy with this, you couldn't help but laugh and love him for it anyway! he received his bs in finance, and managed a bank in sacramento.

when i think of josh, i think of star wars, super heroes, and math! it is because of him that i absolutely love star wars and super heroes (these are always my movies of choice.)

josh loved to dress up as star wars characters, super heroes, and a business man. josh loved to wear a tie and carry a briefcase and calculator. these are the images that go through my mind when i think of him.

josh loved his girls, in fact josh loved all kids. as we sat back and looked through the pictures of him, we noticed that they almost always consisted of him playing or holding kids. the nieces and nephews love him. we all love him!

here are just a few pictures of my wonderful brother joshua michael jensen!

i wish i could share some of the photos flying around on fb...i just don't have them yet:)

i just want to thank everyone for their kind words, acts of kindness, and love. it is all very much appreciated.

defending the crown....

congratulations butterfield stage ward! they won first place again! our road show is sooo cute! i don't have a video of it, too busy with the camera, lame i know. i will have to see if i can get a copy and post it. the music and dancing in it are so amazing:) anyway, here is the slideshow i put together. i didn't want to post it until all the youth had a chance to watch it! enjoy!

odyssey of the mind

ian had the opportunity to participate in odyssey of the mind. his problem was "the gift of flight." he started practices in october and competed in march. he spent a lot of hours working on his problem and skit, and practicing for his spontaneous problem. from october -december he spent about 4 hours a week. from january until the competition in march, they worked about 8-9 hours a week. this was an amazing experience, and we are so grateful for this opportunity.

fortunately, ian had his best buddy caden with him through it all. in addition to the pain and suffering they caused their coach, they really did provide their team with excellent ideas! i would definitely say they were an asset to their team:)

road show is now over, and i am so proud of all the youth in our stake! they all worked so hard, and did such a great job:) i am so happy for our ward...they took first place! i will be posting my final slideshow soon!

road show

here's a little sneak peak of the fun the youth in our ward have been having with their road show! the theme we were given is "princess and the pea" and also president hinckley's "be clean." i love the script, i love the music, i love the energy you get when you watch the kids practice. sooo great! so i had to put together just a quick fun slide show. this is just a low res version, since i am not really done yet....i'm having way to much fun with this:)

click here: road show

my favorite peeps:)

ian just had a birthday:) this was his off year for a "friend party."
however, i did take him to the family fun center after school for some fun. and wouldn't you know, i grabbed my camera bag and left the camera at home:( i wished i had some pictures of him on the bumper boats.

this little red head just started his first year of baseball! we have waited forever for this!

this picture proves that alec does occasionally smile for the camera, lol! this was taken at road show practice. i can't wait to post some more pictures from road show!

my sweet princess! she will be in her first gymnastics competition in april. she did gymnastics for years, finally got to competition level, got really sick and switched to dance. after 2.5 years of being out of gymnastics, she decided she wanted to go back and compete. it is absolutely amazing that after just 6 months of training she will be ready to compete! i am so excited for her:) i love her drive and desire to succeed!