The Jensen Family!

October

2011-11-03T21:14:00.000-04:00

Here is a few things that have happened this Fall.

1. We found out that Steve PASSED the bar!! It is all final and he has been sworn in so that ship has sailed "ahhh" what a brick off our shoulders. Now it's the job hunt which is another brick but I'm sure it won't take him long, he's charming. So we'll see what comes our way. As for right now he is working temp jobs he is sub teaching and he is also a manager for Amazon through the Holidays to get us through until he gets the law job, he is also working for a Judge in Nobelsville IN as a clerk part time.

2. Bridger turned 9! For his birthday he wanted to go camping and as luck had have it, it was the perfect weekend to do it. The weather was warm and the leaves were at their peek of fall colors it was awesome.

This is the cake I made him. It's supposed to be a trout and it looked really good but when I look at the picture it doesn't look as good as I remembered it. But the important part is it was really yummy!

Here is a few pictures of Briders birthday and our camping trip.

I brought up some craft stuff because if you know my kids you know how much they love to create things. So these are some rock people they made. The one on the right is supposed to be roasting marshmallows.

This is the tallest mountain in Indiana (at least I think) but it was very pretty pictures don't do it justice.

Bridger opening his presents. We did it at night with the campfire.
One thing here in Indiana that we find very strange is all the camp sites have power outlets so everyone puts lights hanging all around (like Christmas lights) but everyone had Halloween lights, they also decorate their campsites with Halloween decorations some of them were decorated more then our house "so strange". I can't imagine doing that for a weekend. So anyway, we thought it would be awesome (before knowing that everyone puts up lights) that we string up lights to make our campsite look like a party for Bridger but to our surprise everyone had it, so we fit in I guess.
One of Bridgers main gifts was a small fish tank so here he's holding up the fish net.

3. Shaylie had a Johnny Appleseed day at school and they all were encouraged to dress the part. It was fun and I think she was the cutest Johnny Appleseed there.

4. And last it was Halloween! Bridger dressed up like a Zombie.

Shaylie wanted to be a rubiks cube. Homemade costumes are always best, they both got tons of complements.

And that was our October!

Our Summer 2011

2011-09-03T23:41:00.001-04:00

Ok... I say this every posting that I do but it has been way to long to catch up on, so this is going to be a long post of all the things that has gone on this summer.

I'll start from the beginning of the summer. First of all Steve graduated law school (YAY!!) It was very exciting and I am sooo proud of him.

I have a ton more pictures but I can't post all of them and get through the rest of the summer.

Next, we did some fun activities.

While Steves mom was here for his graduation we went to Shipshewana Amish country in northern Indiana we were able to go to the flea market and do some shopping and eat dinner at a yummy restaurant and of course see all the buggies and stuff. We had been there before but Steves mom had never been so it was fun to take her there.

We also took her to Connor Prairie when it was civil war days.

There was a few new baby goats in the farm area and we had the cutest little goat who loved us, he was like a little puppy. He kept climbing on Shaylie to eat her bow.

Then in June Steve turned 34 on the 23rd we just had a small little family party.

We went to the Lebanon parade on the 4th of July (which is full of tractors and not much else) then we went to Zionsville to the little carnival and saw fireworks.

Most of the summer while we were in Indiana the kids and I spent most of the time at the pool.
(Bridger is a fish)

On the 9th of July me and the kids flew to Utah. Because Steve had to take the bar at the end of July we went out earlier and he drove out after he took the test. It was so fun to see family again and to be able to spend so much time there. It's funny how fast time fly's but we were able to do a lot of stuff.

This is Bridger and Shaylie with their cousins Damon, Calub and Levi at the Bountiful park on the 24th of July.

Steves mom and their aunt Em took us to the dinosaur park in Ogden.

We went to Cherry Hill and the kids climbed the rock wall all by themselves I was so proud of them. When Shaylie got up and was ready to come down she was to light for the rope to let her down and the worker had to climb up to rescue her, it was funny.

We went camping with the Jensens to Bear Lake.

Then all good things have to come to an end and we drove back just in time for the kids to start their first day of school.
Shaylie is now in the 2nd grade (HOLY COW)

And Bridger is in the 3rd. Why do they grow up so fast?

Then on the 24th of August Shaylie turned 7! We had a Ladybug party with some of her neighbor friends and we had a blast.

Steve gives her roses every year for her birthday it is so sweet he has done it since she was a baby.

Her big present from us this year was a ipod shuffel. She is always singing so we thought it would be something she would love to listen to (and she does). It's funny too because she sings and doesn't realize that we can all here her, it cracks us up.

This was the cake I made her this year. It was really fun to make and I think it turned out pretty cute. I'm sure it would have been cuter if I had used fondant frosting but I haven't quite mastered that yet so I opted out of it.

Steve also got Shay her very own fishing pole, and not one of those pre packaged barbie poles that you can get at every department/grocery store, he had to get the best and it's cute too. We will be using it on labor day I'm sure.

This is some of the kids playing at her party. All I can say is Steve is crazy and little girls love it! He was the highlight of the party I just planned it.

That is the jest of our summer, we had so much fun it's so sad it's over.

For a update of where we are as far as what we are doing now that Steve is done with school. Well... he won't find out if he passed the bar until October sometime so until then it is tricky to find a job, but he is still searching and wherever he gets a job is where we are going. Our lease is up on our house but our landlord is letting us lease month to month (thankfully) so we are still here and happy. The kids love the school here and they both have a ton of friends. I will keep an update when things change.

Shaylie is missing some teeth

2010-11-29T23:11:00.001-05:00

I haven't posted for such a long time. There is so much that has happened and so many pictures that I have taken, and there is just no way to backtrack.
So I'm just going to give a brief message about what has gone on.
In the summer we took a trip across the country and saw a lot of sites like Mt. Rushmore, Corn Palace, Yellowstone, Grand Tetons and the best... was back home to good old West Bountiful Utah.

The kids started school. Bridger is in 2nd grade and Shaylie 1st. They both love it and are doing awesome.
Steve is almost done with school, he will graduate in April. Yay! He also has a job working for a judge at the Noblesville court house. I help out at the kids school each week and I also have a part-time job at Kohls.
We are not going to go home for Christmas this year since we went back home in the summer. This will be our first Christmas without family around; it will be really difficult for everyone but especially the kids, so we are going to try really hard to make it a good fun Christmas (we'll see how it goes).

Shaylie has been growing up so much and this past week it really has shown. A few months ago she lost her first tooth and she was very proud. And just in the last week she has lost her 2 front teeth. She lost them right before Christmas so she has and probably will have the "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth" song, sang to her a lot. She is also about to loose another bottom tooth it is dangling and might come out tomorrow.
But since this just barley happened I'll post some pictures. She looks really big and it makes me a little sad, but she does look pretty cute. And if you thought it was hard to understand her before, you should hear her talk now, it's funny.

Time with my parents!

2010-06-08T22:51:00.000-04:00

The last week of May my parents were able to take a vacation to visit us here in Indiana. We were so happy to finally have them come out here so we could show them where we live. It was a really fun week and we did a lot of things.

Bare with me this is a long blog with a lot of pictures!

The first couple of days the kids were still in school so one of the first things we did (without the kids) was go visit down town Indy. And it was HOT and HUMID! We did a lot of walking and saw some of the cool sites, one of them was the down town circle. It is the middle point of Indiana and there is a look out tower where you can see the city. Well... we decided to go in and take some pictures from the top. We got in and there and there wasn't any air conditioning and it was sooo hot. You could either take the stairs that was I think 30 something flights or pay and take the teeny elevator. Me and my mom and dad decided to pay and Steve decided to race us up the stairs. We got to the top and you could barely walk or breathe for that matter. Steve did beat us up or was up just after us and by the time he got up he was so sick I don't even know how he stayed standing, I quickly took some pictures and we got down and out of there. It was miserable, at least I can say I've been up there but I don't ever need to go again. I think Steve regretted his decision to take the stairs.

We also went up north to the Amish communities (which none of us have seen before) and it was really neat. The first place we went to was a small little area but it had a awesome gift shop, so we played in there for a while and decided to move on to some different communities, we then later regretted our decision because none of the other places had such great souvenirs, but at least we got some good pictures.

It was really interesting to see there way of life.

This picture above was a game that they had made and it was really neat, you had to swing a rope with a ring around it and hook it on a hook. Very tricky! Steve actually managed to hook it once, but we were standing there waiting for him a long time.

We saw a lot of funny signs while we were there so we had to take a picture of a couple of them.

This picture above was in a different community in Shipshewana that was a little bit more of the Amish lifestyle, this sign was at a parking lot for horse and buggies. They ride them around everywhere they go, there are all kinds of stores and shopping centers in this area and they just ride bikes with baskets or in a buggy and just park their horse, it was so weird but really fascinating.

I think that was one of the funnest things we did through the week, a lot of driving but very neat!

After that we took my parents to the Indianapolis Zoo.

Here is my mom and Shaylie petting the sharks.

We saw a bunch of stuff. However it was also a very hot and humid day.

We saw the dolphin show.

We were their early so we could get good seats and it was nice and cool in there so it gave us time out of the heat.

Steve was taking all the pictures and wasn't able to be in any of them so he took one of himself and I think it turned out pretty hot so I put it in. ;)

The zoo just got a new animal exhibit the cheetah and for members only you could take a sneak peek at it a few days before the exhibit was actually open so that was cool.

Then we saw the butterfly's this is one of Shaylie's favorite things to do at the zoo. And this time with my parents there it was awesome! The best we have seen it, the butterfly's were so friendly we were able to hold a lot of them or they would just land on you. The first one we saw landed on my dad's hat.

Shaylie was finally able to have a butterfly land on her finger, she was so proud. She first had one land on her shoe and she wasn't expecting it so it scared her for a minuet but after that she was in heaven.

We had a really good time with them here. I hope they had fun too. After they left it made me really homesick. I miss them so much!

Anything you can do I can do better

2010-04-28T00:54:00.002-04:00

Bridger and Shaylie were asked to sing a duet at a fundraiser in our branch. We had a week to come up with something for them to sing, I was at a blank, and Steve suggested "Anything you can do I can do better" from the play "Annie get your gun". I thought their would be NO chance they could learn that song in just a week but we changed some lyric's to fit them and Steve was able to edit the music and cut a couple of verses. They worked really hard on it after singing it OVER and OVER again they finally got all the words down and even a few actions.

This is the performance at the church

And this is the one of them practicing at home.

I'm writing out the lyrics because the sound on these recordings aren't very clear and they were singing away from the microphone some of the time so just in case your wondering... this is what they were singing.

Anything you can do I can do better
I can do anything better than you
No you can't
Yes I can
and so on...

Anything you can be I can be greater
I can be anything greater then you
No you can't
Yes I can
and so on...

I can beat Darth Vader with his own light saber
I can bat my lashes at any boy that passes
I can do most anything
Can you date a girl?
Yes
Not in this world

Any age you can be I can be older
I can be any age older then you
No you can't
Yest I can
and so on...

Anything you can sing I can sing faster
I can say anything faster then you
No you can't
Yes I can
and so on...

I can eat a Snickers faster then a flicker
I can eat it quicker and get even sicker
I can do most anything
Can you make a pie?
No
Neither can I

Anything you can sing I can sing softer
I can sing anything softer then you
No you can't
Yes I can
and so on...

They got a lot of attention after that performance. Steve made a good choice. He did a AWESOME job changing the lyrics and editing out the song. All and all with the time that we had, I think it turned out pretty good.

St. Patricks Day

2010-03-20T00:03:00.001-04:00

I didn't realize how many things they do in Indiana for St. Patrick's day.

I wish the kids could have been with me and Steve while we went to down town Indianapolis. They had a big parade and festivities that we were able to see. We walked the canal because they turned the water green, apparently they do it every year. It was AWESOME! I don't know how much coloring they had to put in it to get it sooo green or how they will get all the green out, but it was really neat.

After the kids got home from school I made a famous Irish meal that I have never had before, Corn Beef and Cabbage, it didn't sound real great but to all of our surprise it really was good.

And then the kids went outside to play because the weather was so nice they decided to draw chalk on the driveway; they wanted to show me so bad what they had colored and when I finally got out to see it I had to take a picture because I thought it was pretty cute.

This was Bridger's leprechaun and pot of gold.

And this is Shaylie's leprechaun, pot of gold and three leaf clover.

I also did a three leaf clover in Shaylie's hair before school and I have a picture of that on my other hair blog, it turned out okay but not exactly the way I hoped it would, I ran out of time but now that I know how to correct the mistakes, next years clover should look a lot better.

The Super Bowl!!

2010-02-05T22:06:00.016-05:00

The big game is this Sunday!

Living in Indiana and having the Colts going to the Super Bowl, you can bet it's a HUGE DEAL! Everywhere you go either to the doctor's, the bank, grocery store etc... everything is about the super bowl.
I thought I'd post some pictures of some things that the kids have done at school lately.
Everything is COLTS, COLTS, COLTS!
At the kids school every Friday is a "Blue" day also know as wear your Colts attire to school. Well today being the Friday before the game, they did all kinds of stuff.
They had face painting, blue football cake, blue ice cream and so on...
Shaylie is very proud of her pink Payton Manning jersey.
In her class today they colored Colts pictures and they had to write a story about them.
Bridger is all about learning how to play football when it gets warmer, he really want's uncle Dallen to come out and teach him a thing or two.
All I can say is the kids came home very hipper today.

GO COLTS!!!

Christmas time!

2009-12-11T09:49:00.007-05:00

I can't believe it is Christmas time!!
I don't have a whole lot to post yet but I did have a couple of funny pictures...

Since we are going back to Utah for Christmas and will be gone for most of December we decided not to put up our Christmas tree this year, and the kids were kinda disappointed about that so they decided to decorate our pine trees with there own decorations. They even got me, Steve and each other presents from a Santa Shop that they have at school, they even wrapped them by themselves to put under the trees.

This is also a picture that we thought was kinda funny so I had to share it... There is a park in Lebanon (which is a city just north of us) that has all kinds of lights and fun stuff for Christmas, and their main Santa is (instead of being on a sleigh with reindeer) he is on a tracker plowing corn. HOW WEIRD IS THAT?

Halloween

2009-11-02T20:21:00.008-05:00

We had a great Halloween! The kids went Trick or Treating in our neighborhood and got lots of candy and ran into a bunch of there friends. They got a ton of complements on there costumes and they looked pretty cute. Shaylie even won 2nd place in her school "best costume contest", she does make a good banana.
And we're all proud of Bridger for being brave and overcoming the fear of gorilla's, he now likes to scare people with HIS gorilla suit and he did get a few kids scared and crying over it.
We basically stayed home and rotated the Trick or Treating and answering door duty.
We all carved pumpkins but Steve definitely carved the best!
Halloween was fun but we do really miss Halloween being back home in Utah, family parties are a lot more fun with lots of people.

Bridgers 7th Birthday!!

2009-10-25T21:05:00.016-04:00

Well better late then never RIGHT?
I've been quite the slacker on the blogging lately.

Bridger turned 7 on October 9th and here are a few pictures of his party:
Instead of having a party at home where you play all kinds of game and have a huge mess, we decided to go to Brownsburg Bowl and it was AWESOME! Perfect place to have a birthday party, the kids get to run around play and make a huge mess and the best part is I don't have to clean it up! We did a party package where it included pizza balloons game tokens and cool stuff for Bridger to keep.
He only had a couple friends go that are from school and they all had a blast (so did Shaylie)
in the picture far left is of course Bridger, leaning next to him is his friend Lucas from school the other side on the back left is Sam he is our back yard neighbor, next to him is Ryan also from school.
And the PRESENTS!!!Okay so Bridger wanted a Star Wars cake (of course)... I'm not a big Star Wars fan I'm actually waiting for the day that Bridger decides he wants to move on to the next thing that he gets into. But he asked for a Star Wars birthday party and I'm so sick of Star Wars THIS and Star Wars THAT so I reasoned with him for the bowling party, but he did request a Star Wars cake and he described it to me exactly how he wanted so I figured it would be a good compromise.
This is how it turned out:

Bridger had a fun day!
Still can't believe he's 7

St. Conference and Acorn

2009-10-04T15:26:00.004-04:00

This isn't a big post with a lot of pictures or anything but the kids have said a couple of things that have really been funny so I thought I'd share.

It's conference weekend, and Saturday night we were tucking the kids in bed and Bridger said "Is tomorrow St. Conference too?"
I have no idea where he got St. Conference but it cracked us up!

Then a couple of days ago Steve was watching Fox News as he frequently does and the only thing it seems that they talk about lately is the "Acorn" scandle. (it gets really old)
Anyway... Shaylie came up to us with a picture she drew and said "look I drew a picture of a acorn" she also said something about it being fall and there are acorns on the ground, but it was really funny, it makes you think that kids do listen, this time she just heard what she wanted to hear which was sweet and innocent but we still have to be careful about what is on TV and conversations that we have.

I love kids they're so funny!

Shaylie's 5th Birthday

2009-09-01T11:44:00.005-04:00

WOW... can you believe Shaylie is 5 YEARS OLD! Where did the time go? She used to be my baby and now she's big and she knows it.

Her birthday was on the 24th of August so this post is a little late. But her birthday lasted the whole weekend before; so here are some pictures of her birthday adventure.

On Friday the 21st we took Shaylie to the mall to get her ears pierced, a little while ago she decided that she was brave and wanted it done so we made her wait until her birthday and she was so excited until... we got into the store, just before we got there, there was a girl just Shaylies age and she even had the same shoes as Shaylie, the little girl was so brave and showing us her new earring and how it didn't hurt, however... this did not work for Shaylie she was so scared she started crying and clenching on to me and Steve, then a whole bunch of little girls saw how scared she was and came in to give her support and tell her that it's not so bad (except for a couple little girls, I think they made it worse) but eventually she got brave and they did both ears at the same time. After that she was so proud of herself she was the happiest I have ever seen her, she thought she was so big and so cool, she walked around the mall with a little swing in her hip as she walked. It was really cute!
On Saturday we had a party for her with some of her friends and Shaylie wanted a "kitty" party (let me tell ya it is really hard to find kitty birthday party stuff). We managed to have a really cute party and it was a blast.We played pin the tail on the cat ( I know the cat looks retarded I'm not a very good artist).We played pass the flee (same as duck duck goose).We played chase the tails (same as flag football, but with kitty tails).We played find the mice (basically an Easter egg hunt but I turned the eggs into mice) I didn't get a good picture of that cause I was busy hiding eggs all around.

We had them eat cereal that looked like cat food on the floor out of a cat dish, it was really funny.We had them make collars out of fruit loops. I didn't get a picture of that.
Then there was the obvious thing at parties... the presents!And then because I'm mean to all the Moms out there... I had them take their cupcakes home so I wouldn't have such a huge mess. ( I know I'm a horrible person)

Then on Sunday the ward sings happy birthday and gives them a little present.

And on Monday (her real birthday) she had a party at school. Her kindergarten teacher has the kids make a cake in class and they get to do the work in the baking, frosting and sprinkles. They sing happy birthday to her and she gets to be the teachers helper all day, she also gets to wear a birthday crown.Every year on Shaylie's birthday, Steve has bought her roses, even when she was a baby so each year I get a picture of her and the roses daddy gave her. What a nice Dad!

The weekend was exhausting, but Shaylie had a really fun birthday! It's hard to think that I have another one to plan next month. sigh...

The summer ends and school begins.

2009-08-19T19:33:00.024-04:00

Well summer is over and we are all very sad... well I'm very sad.
The kids started school on the 10th and they were so excited. Shaylie pasted the early admittance test and is now a full day kindergartner, (which I was not ready for) she was all ready to go, and then as we were registering her in our new school we found out that their cut off date was a little earlier than other schools, it was Aug 1st and other schools is Sept 1st and to have to tell her that she couldn't go because her birthday is on Aug 24th would break her heart, so they gave her a test and she passed with flying colors.
Bridger was very excited to start first grade and get back into the school routine.

Here is their first day of school and them waiting for the bus.
But before school started we decided to try camping in Indiana for the first time; it was a interesting experience.
First of all it is really weird to go camping 5 min. away from a McDonalds, it's like driving down the street from where we live and drive into some trees and there you are. No canyon to drive through, the scenery changing, the mountain air, it was just all the same just a little more woodsy.
But we still had fun, it really made us homesick and miss the pine trees and the mountains, but it was an experience that we needed to have.
So here are some pictures of that trip:

There are huge spiders out here and Bridger thought it would be really funny to pretend to eat them to gross his uncle Dallen out so Dallen this is for you.

This is me and Shaylie watching Bridger catch and "pretend" to eat spiders.

The kid never sits still!

This is Shaylie trying to get a drink out of one of those camping water fountains, they always shoot water really far and she was trying so hard to get a drink it cracked us up!

This is a huge snake Steve found on the trail to the park behind our camp ground. It made us a little uneasy so Steve tried to scare it away and all it did was make it mad, but it eventually left. Thankfully!

The kids had a blast with all the frogs, that was a big thing for entertainment on this trip.
We all thought it was funny because some of the frogs were the same color as Bridgers hair.
And that was our camping trip...
All I have to say is it's not Utah camping.
It's something we'll just have to get use to. But we still had fun!

The new house, Kings Island and continue from the summer crazyness!

2009-07-02T13:40:00.016-04:00

I have been meaning to post some pictures of our new house for a long time and now that we have finally "almost" unpacked I felt like I could take pictures to post. So here it is:
First I'm going to show some pictures of the rural area where we live now, it is really night and day from where we were, it is total country trees and farms, It's really beautiful!

There is a huge equestrian farm right across the street from the subdivision that we live in, I love looking at it every time I drive by; there are actually a couple down the road too!

You can't tell very well but this is corn, I took this picture last week and now the corn is taller then Bridger.
This is our subdivision.
And this is the house!! It's very small but I love it, this isn't a very good picture cause it's later in the evening and you can't see all the flowers I planted.

And best of all:

We also just got back from a little overnight stay in Ohio to visit the amusement park "Kings Island" equivalent to the "Lagoon" in Utah, however it is much bigger and better! So here are a few pictures of that. But I also have to mention that Bridger is the bravest little kid I know, he went on all the roller coasters that he was tall enough for, he even went on the upside down roller coasters, I don't think I would have gone on them.

So that is Kings Island, it was a blast! Shaylie cried on the way home cause she didn't want to leave. It was a really fun trip!

And that is our summer up to date, hopefully I'll keep up so these won't be so long.

2009-07-01T22:48:00.009-04:00

We have been so busy this summer I haven't been able to post anything... but because we have been so busy I have a TON and I mean a TON of stuff to catch up on!
So I'll stop rambling about nothing and get to the good stuff!

In the middle of May we were able to have Grandma Jensen and uncle Dallen come and stay with us for a couple of weeks. We were able to go and do lots of fun things and the kids had a blast!
For Mothers day... we had a lot of fun running around Lafayette playing at parks. One of the parks we went to we came across a random frog near the playground, it was seriously the highlight of the day, we had so much fun with this stupid frog it was really funny. This is Dallen "licking" the frog.
Then, in the middle of June we came across a problem in our townhouse; we had a water leak that had apparently had been there for a little while long enough to grow some mold and they were going to have to cut out some drywall and make a huge mess in the house for a while, and since we were moving out in a couple of weeks anyway, they just let us cut our lease a month early and move out. So that's what we did! In this picture you can see the mold along the floor boards and in the carpet pad, it smelled so bad and I figured out that I have an allergy to mold, when they pulled up the carpet I got so sick I didn't have much of a voice while we were frantically packing to move.
On June 23rd Steve turned *32* we had a small BBQ for him and it was just a small family party but it was a lot of fun. Poor Steve has his birthday and fathers day around the same time so a lot of his presents were combined, but I think he was ok with it cause he got a new BBQ so he can grill out in our backyard "again" Yay!!

HaPpY BiRtHdAy
Steve!!!

Spring & finals...

2009-04-24T18:28:00.006-04:00

I don't have a lot to post cause their really hasn't been much happening; Bridger and Steve went to a "Pacers" game a little while ago and I just haven't gotten around to post the pictures, but they had a blast. Bridger had never gone to a basketball game before so it was really fun for him, we've had him in basketball this spring to try to help out his coordination (if any of you know Bridger, he is very uncoordinated and clumsy, he always has been and it's hilarious) it's amazing how much better he is getting, I'll have to put him in next year too. Anyway, our good friends Kris and Joanna gave us the tickets so thanks Tates!!!

Our new adventure going on is moving... yes we are moving AGAIN! We don't really want to move all of our stuff again, I really hate moving; however... our lease in our town house is coming to an end, and we really feel like we want to get into a house or at least somewhere with a garage and better schools for the kids. There are lots of reasons to move, but one of the big reasons is Steve took an internship job in a town called "Lafayette" for the summer, it is a really good internship and will look great on a resume when he is done with school, however... it is an hour and a half away; driving that twice a day for the WHOLE summer...? it's going to get old really quick! So we are deciding to move to a town called "Zionsville", it's about 20-30 min away and closer to" Lafayette" it will help a little with that drive. So, we are currently looking for a house in "Zionsville" and I hope we find one soon (this looking thing is getting old).
Steve is in finals for school and about to be done with his first year at Law School, I can't believe it has been a year. Time has gone so fast, he has been a trooper! There are a lot of people out there that would never stand to go to Law School because it is so hard, but Steve has loved it and he is doing great! I'm very proud of him! Only 2 years left:)

Spring Break...

2009-03-19T17:25:00.015-04:00

Wow! I haven't posted in a long time... nothing really exciting has gone on in the past month or so.
Steve has been on spring break this week and it's been really relaxing, we've done a few fun things with the kids because Bridger had parent teacher conference so he also got a couple days off.
We went to Bridger's school to follow up with his teacher and surprise surprise he is one of the top kids in the class, the teacher said " he is too smart for his own good" which I took as he "gets bored" the stuff they learn sometimes is way easy even for Shaylie. I think he'll do great in first grade.
After we met with the teacher, as a reward we took the kids to the Children's Museum, they love it there, they always have new areas that they change out every couple of months and this month it was Lego castles.

(Not all dad's would dress up as a dragon in a castle for their kids)
The Hula Hooper's.
( Also something not every dad would do! )

Earlier in the week, I made brownies and Shaylie always has to help me (her job is licking out the bowl), I had to leave the kitchen for just a couple of minuets and this is what I found when I came back.

You can't really see the mess she made but it was all over (forget the spoon) just dive in, it was all over her shirt, pants, stool, rug, counter top oh and I can't for get the hair. I wish I had a better picture of it, she was still relatively clean in these shots.

But really, the whole reason why I'm posting today is a tribute to Steve's bike... the other day Steve got his bike working and ready to go for the warm seasons, he was riding it around and then realized that he needed to sell it. It was so hard for him, but he has a internship this summer at a court house with a judge and he needs to wear a suit everyday and the court house is a hour away, so riding a motorcycle to work isn't very practical. So he put the bike up on craig's list and the next day he had 4 or 5 calls and then it sold. He has been having a very hard time with it. When the man who bought it came last night to pick it up, the kids were in bed and we didn't know that Bridger was secretly watching out his window, when we came in we heard crying sounds but it didn't sound like Shaylie so we thought maybe it was coming from outside but we then realized it was Bridger, he has been having more of a hard time then Steve, it's so sad to watch your child at that age lose things that they are attached to; with moving and him losing his house and friends and grandmas & grampas he has a really hard time of letting things go, it's really sad.
And with the money he got from his bike he bought himself a new really big TV!
I hope that helps him feel better.

Indiana Weather

2009-02-04T18:33:00.011-05:00

I'm a little late on this, but this is what our weather has been in the last month.
All and all Bridger has missed 4 days of school due to freezing cold temperatures even Steve's school was closed one of the days and hearing from other school members and neighbors IU NEVER closes school so it must have been really cold, one day we had a low of -12 degrees and -26 degrees wind chill.
Coming from Utah, the snow doesn't seem so impressive however, for Indiana it was there 6th largest snow storm, and it was quite a bit, the snow here is so weird, it sticks to the roads and sidewalks before the grass and they don't have hardly any snowplows so driving is a pain. But the real thing that we were not used to was the ice, it was really cool but also a pain, walking and driving, scrapping cars and walking under icicles that you were really hoping wouldn't fall on you was kinda scary. Here are some cool pictures at our house, but pictures really don't do it justice.
This is my beloved car that I love so dearly and I don't have a garage anymore (it really sucks).

Here are a few pics of the ice on our house.

Our back yard and our bikes.

This is the front of our house and our porch light (needless to say it doesn't work anymore).

And our mailbox

So that's what a small ice storm looks like.

Christmas Break

2009-01-20T21:32:00.026-05:00

Sorry it has been so long since I've last posted, ever since we've been back from Utah I have been so busy. And the memory card that we got for my camera was different so we had to get an adapter for my computer, so that's what has taken so long.

We all had a blast in Utah, the kids were so sad when they had to come home, Christmas was perfect it snowed and snowed which was really fun for the kids since in Indiana their is a little snow, mostly its really cold and icy. Speaking of weather it has been so cold that they canceled school for two days (at least Bridger's school was for two days, some other schools were canceled for more), it was -26 degrees wind chill the other day and we had a high of 0 degrees, but today it was warmer it was 13 degrees which is still way too cold.
While we were in Utah we were so busy running from family to family that we didn't get to see a lot of people that we intended on visiting, so I'm sorry to all of you who we didn't get to visit, but here are some of the pictures of Christmas and our trip. (it's kinda a lot cuz I couldn't decide which ones to put in)

In this picture, we had a really long lay over in Denver, we missed our connecting flight to Salt Lake because of weather so we had to wait 7hrs. to catch the next flight. So the kids found some other kids going on the same plane and they played and watched movies (thank goodness they were their to entertain each other, otherwise it would have been a lot more miserable).

While we waited Bridger got a hold of the camera while we were all trying to take a nap because we had to get up at 3am and these are some of the pictures he took.

Eventually we made it, and this is at my mom's house x-mas eve and Santa comes every year (it's funny because it's Josh my deaf cousin) and so all the older kids know who it is, but Shaylie thought it was the real Santa so she was being really cute with him and even sang him a song.

This is a present from my brother Bryan and Joyce, one of there kids had his name and gave him this Nerf gun, as you can see he loves it, he shoots me with it everyday.
(Thanks Bryan and Joyce!)

This is Shaylie's present, she got from my sister Jodi and Brent, one of their kids had Shaylies name and Jodi made this cute beenie, Shaylie wants to wear it all the time even if it doesn't match.
Christmas Morning
at Grandma and Grampa Jensens

Bridger is very into army stuff right now so he got a tank from Santa.

All Shaylie wanted was a strawberry Furberry
so when she opened it, she was very excited.

Bridger and Shaylie in a nativity seen at Grandma Jensens in replace of baby Jesus they used shaylies doll she named "Cupcake"

This is Shaylie and her cousin Alex, they are best friends, Alex followed Shaylie around everywhere.

Aunt Em and Eric took me and the kids horse back ridding, it was really cold but we had a BLAST! The kids loved it cause they got to ride all by their self.

Bridger and Uncle Dallen fighting as usual.

She played so hard that she crashed on Grandma Jensen.

Shaylie and her last goodbye with their Uncle Eric (one of Bridger and Shaylie's favorite people) Shaylie tells me that she is smart because Uncle Eric gave her Smarties.

Bridger saying his goodbyes to Eric, (Bridger is all wet from a water fight earlier with Dallen). and now Bridger thinks its really funny to give people bunny ears in pictures. (thanks Eric).

We went out to eat with my parents the last day we were there and we went to this Japanese restaurant call "Mikado" thats new in Bountiful, it was really different but really good.
Thanks, Mom and Dad!

On the plane ride home!

Waiting for luggage.

And that was our trip.

Shaylie cracks us up!!

2008-12-11T20:33:00.002-05:00

Shaylie cracks us up!
Last night Steve was tucking Shaylie into bed and she was just goofing off and playing around with him (like they always do at bedtime) and he was trying to get her to say "good night" to him and she would only nod, so Steve asked her if she remembered how to talk and she nodded yes, then he said "what words do you remember" and she answered back "like onomatopoeia", we laughed so hard because a couple months ago we were explaining that word to Bridger one night when he was reading and their was a word like "meow" in it and he asked why the word sounded like the actual sound; I had no idea that she was even paying attention to the conversation at all, and to just randomly bring it up at that time was so hilarious, that just goes to say that you have to be very careful to what you say around your kids, cause you have no idea what they remember and when they will bring it up.

Thanksgiving & Bridger

2008-12-01T17:13:00.007-05:00

Wow, I can't believe it is already DECEMBER, where does the time go?
I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving! Ours was great... it sounds really funny to most people but we just went to a buffet, and had a really low key day, we got out some Christmas decorations, made a gingerbread house, and I made a pumpkin pie, we went through ads and made a Christmas Shopping list. Me and Steve debated on going out to venture the Black Friday door buster sales and neither of us saw anything that we absolutely had to have that would be worth going out at 5am (we're OK paying a extra dollar on socks this year) normally we usually do go out and it is a really fun thing we do with Steve's family, but only one of us could go out and it's just not worth the hassle.
However, we did go out later in the day and still got a lot of things that were still on sale and the crowds were mostly gone, between me and Steve going out at separate times we got a lot done for the kids and each other, and then later that night we went to the mall at Castelton (it's huge) and did some more shopping, the kids saw Santa and it was really fun.

Anyway, we have a calender up in our kitchen that is actually a countdown to Christmas, but instead having it count down to Christmas, we're having it count down until our flight back to Utah for the Holidays. The kids are so excited... everyday they turn it and giggle and laugh and say"we're getting closer" in a really high pitched voice. We are all very excited.

Bridger has been very anxious to go because he has now lost both of his front two teeth, he doesn't want them to grow back in before our families can see him, cause he thinks he looks really cool.
Everyday I see him I just want to SQUEEZE him because he looks so cute when he smiles, I think he smiles more, and extra big cause he is so proud of it.

So while I am on one with Bridger... I also have to mention his latest award that he got from school.
Bridger's school does this thing called the Terrific Kid award, and each teacher in each grade picks two of her best students and they get to go to a light breakfast with their families and they give them a certificate and the teacher says what they did to deserve the award. And when she mentioned Bridger, she said he was very smart and always listens and does everything she tells him to do and he is always nice to all the other kids.

We are very proud of him!

And yes, I did get emotional. It's really fun to watch him grow and learn so much so fast, I can't believe he can already read and write and loose teeth, it's just hard to watch at the same time, it's like he's slipping away and their is nothing I can do about it. THEY GROW TOO FAST!

Halloween!!

2008-11-03T17:50:00.007-05:00

Well, we had Halloween and it was a blast! We had Krista, Jacob and Kaylie come over and spend the night. We pretty much ate, ate, and ate. We also carved pumpkins and Jacob, Krista and I took the kids Trick or Treating. After the kids went to bed instead of watching horror movies as people normally do, we watched "The Office" and the other funny shows that we had recorded and hadn't seen yet. Thursday has good TV!

We didn't know where to go exactly, so I found a nice neighborhood that was by our church. And WOW I had no idea how nice of a neighborhood it was, the houses were huge and every house we went to, me and Krista were ooing and ahhing, needless to say the kids did very well in a short amount of time, I felt bad because Bridger is now the age where he could stay out a lot longer but he was with Shaylie and Kaylie and Shaylie couldn't even carry her pumpkin after the first few houses. But they all got enough candy and were happy.

Steve went to a Halloween Party at school and he just wore the sign "Nudist on Strike". The kids didn't know what is meant but they wore it around anyway, and Steve got this one of Bridger (he was in his underwear), it was pretty funny.

Our Day trip to Versailles State Park Indiana

2008-10-21T16:51:00.003-04:00

We went on a day trip to a State Park to look at the leaves before they all fall off. I don't know what it will look like when their are no leaves on the trees out here.
It was a nice little get away for Steve because it was his fall break.

Bridger's Birthday

2008-10-13T21:33:00.003-04:00

Well it was Bridger's birthday on the 9th, at school he was the birthday boy in class, he brought doughnuts and everyone sang Happy Birthday to him in English and Spanish (he has like four or five kids in his class that only speak Spanish, and I think Bridger already knows more Spanish than I do) then later that night when Steve got home from school we went out to dinner at the Macaroni Grill (Bridger picked it because he wanted to eat squid for dinner because he wanted a shark/under the sea party, he also wanted shark fin soup, but I don't think anywhere has that, he does like seafood though). And he wore is crown and everyone their thought he was so cute and so they gave him a lot of attention.
We ended up celebrating his birthday on the 10th because Steve didn't have school. So we picked Bridger up from school and went to the Children Museum in down town Indianapolis, it was a blast, their was so much to do and so many things for the kids to see, they even had a under water/shark section. He loved the Dinosaur's and so did Shaylie, they had so much there that I can't even name half or this would be way too long.
So after that we came home and opened presents and had cake, Bridger got a lot of stuff and a lot of sea/shark stuff, but one present he got was a computer game called "Spore" it was a great gift from Steve that Bridger plays all the time. He is always on the computer and I have to now set time limits on it, (that's also why it has taken me a few days to get Bridger's birthday pictures on the blog) but, it's great because he doesn't make a mess.
Bridger really wanted a shark cake, so for the past week or so I was trying to figure out a way I could make a shark cake, and that is what I came up with, I thought is was cool because I found a red velvet cake mix and made the shark with it, so when you cut the cake it looked like blood, and that is what every six year old boy thinks is really cool.
I can't believe he is already six, I love to see my kids grow and learn and do new things but I also hate it because their not babies anymore. Where does the time go? They grow up so fast!

Bridger "isms"

2008-10-08T11:32:00.002-04:00

I have yet a new one from Bridger.
We were eating dinner the other day, and we had toasted almonds as a side for dinner, (Bridger loves them) as he was eating them he randomly said "Mom how on earth, did you get all of those almonds out of the toaster?" it was pretty funny, we had to explain the whole toasting process in a pan or in the oven, he seemed confused. But it made us laugh.

More Funny Things Kids Say

2008-10-02T11:10:00.004-04:00

So, I have more things to add that my kids have said in the last week that have really made us laugh.
We picked up Bridger from school last Friday, he is very excited for his birthday coming up on the 9th. He told us that he told everyone in class that on his secret cell phone, he got a call from his elephants and they sang him Happy Birthday, in English and in Spanish, and that it made him so happy and more excited for his birthday coming up. (He's weird, I know)

And I have a couple things that Shaylie has said that were funny and random. A few days ago I was getting her breakfast in the morning (which was cereal), I was pouring the milk, and Shay said "Mom you better not leave the milk out, cause if you leave the milk out it will taste like wood and old gas." Then she said "Hu Mom." And if any of you know Shaylie she is always saying "Hu Mom" all the time all day long.
The other funny thing she said was on a phone conversation with her uncle Dallen. She was telling him what she was going to be for Halloween and what Bridger is going to be, then she told Dallen that he could be a hot dog or a sandwich for Halloween. I don't know where she came up with those costumes but it was pretty funny. I guess we'll see if Dallen will dress up as either of those for Halloween, cause Shaylie thought it was a good idea.

Funny things kids say!

2008-09-26T21:52:00.002-04:00

So, Bridger says the funniest things sometimes and we can never remember what he says. So we decided to put on our blog Bridger and Shaylie "ism's".
The other day we were driving on an errand in the car, no one was talking, it was just one of those quiet moments, and Bridger just out of the blue says,"I had a dream last night, that you Dad, were a bottle of ketchup and I was a bottle of mayonnaise, which was weird because I am usually the ketchup and you are the mayonnaise." We all busted up laughing, but the funny thing was, is he said it so seriously and when he tells us stuff or when they say their prayers at night and they are really meaning it, we don't want to laugh at them and make them feel self conscious, but this one we had to bust up, their was no keeping it in.

Just a little update.

2008-09-15T17:28:00.021-04:00

So just to up date our blo

g, not much has been going on. Steve is right into school busy as ever, his schedule is pretty much: Wake up, have a coke for breakfast, go to school, come home around 5:00, study, eat dinner, study,watch a little t.v. and go to bed . However he does have Fridays and Saturdays off so it is a nice break from going to school, even though he spends those days studying.
At home not much has gone on, we finally took family pictures the other day in some woods close to our house. That is what Indiana looks like pretty much everywhere. It's really pretty, we hardly notice that the mountain's aren't there.
We are really looking forward to seeing the leaves change in the fall, their are going to b e leaves everywhere.
So we had a raccoon in our bac

kyard, and I finally saw it the other day when I was walking Bridger to his bus stop. He is huge, I just hope that

Mr. Magoo doesn't encounter it.
Well not much has gone on, so I will post again next month.

2008-08-26T22:08:00.011-04:00

Shaylie's 4th birthday!
Dad gives her roses every birthday.

Shaylie wanted to go to the zoo (again).

At the zoo looking at the Polar Bears.

Shaylie siting with her finger out waiting for a butterfly
to land on her finger, I have never seen a child sit so still for
so long.

The butterfly birthday cake
I made her.
Shaylie at Chuck E. Cheese

Shay opening all her presents,
that's the best part.

So we had Shaylie's birthday, I can't believe she is 4, time goes by so fast. She wanted to go to the zoo to ride the ponies and see her favorite animals, so we went their in the morning. Well the ponies were not open. so we saw other things that she likes. She loves the butterflies, and sat and sat and sat waiting for a butterfly to land on her finger. Finally Steve had to tell her that one landed on her head, and that made her day. Then we went on a walk around Steve's school because he had to attend a short class, so me and the kids took a walk around and saw the canal in Indianapolis, it was pretty cool. Bridger and Shaylie kept asking if their were sharks in the water and wondered why you can't go swimming in it.

Then we went to Chuck E Cheese for dinner, and Shaylie loved it, but she really does not like the big mouse who walks around shaking and giving high fives to all the kids, so she hid under the table and pulled dad's hand to get away from the mouse.

After that we went home and had cake and opened presents, all and all it was a really fun day, I think Shaylie really liked it.

Now she says she is as old as Bridger.

2008-08-19T21:27:00.003-04:00

Bridger's first day of Kindergarten

Bridger's first day on the School Bus

2008-08-18T16:49:00.002-04:00

Well to up date our Blog. Bridger has started kindergarten and he loves it and he loves riding on the bus. His teacher seems really nice & she really likes Bridger. I have started Shaylie's preschool, she also seems to like it, she just gets lonley without other kids to play with.
Steve will start school this week and he is really looking forward to it, I think he is getting very stir crazy and ready to get going.
We are all doing really well and we still enjoy Indiana, the weather has been so much cooler than Utah so it has been nice (until winter).
Shaylie's birthday is coming up and she will be turning 4 and she thinks she is so big. She keeps saying that she will be older than Bridger now.
Well not much more has gone on but I will post more pictures after Shaylie's birthday.

2008-07-15T14:39:00.000-04:00

Well this whole blog thing is new to me, so I will start from what has been going on for the past few months. It all started when Steve graduated from Weber the last part of May, from then we were waiting and waiting to find out where he would be accepted into law school, we knew we were moving so we were in the process of selling our house and not knowing where you are going to live (It's a bit stressful). So he was accepted into a few schools and we were just hoping that it would be somewhere close, but the best school was Connecticut and I don't think you can get much farther than that. Then we decided to put money down and do the whole sign up process and then he got accepted into a few other schools, one was Denver, it wasn't a very good school but it was closer, then he got accepted into IU (Indiana University) and that is where we decided to go, we had the best feeling about it and it is a really good school so needless to say as of July 7th we now live in Indianapolis IN. Things just really worked out for us, it's like this was just meant to be we sold our house in 4 days on the market and some houses in our neighborhood are still for sale, it was a true blessing (and we made a killer equity) to help us pay rent and get completely out of debt, so we will be taken care of that way. Any way things just worked out for us and we are very happy in Indianapolis, its only been a week or so and we are having the home sickness thing but it is really beautiful here and I think we will really like it.

Bridger will start Kindergarten on Aug. 13th so that will be really weird I can't believe how fast they grow up. He is very excited. Shaylie is always happy she just goes with the flow and is happy if she has our cat and her horses.

On our drive to Indianapolis we stopped in Nauvoo it was awesome, we stayed a day and a half and we could have spent more time if we had it. I highly recommend anyone who hasn't been there to go it was really neat, and the kids loved it too. Ever since they have been playing "Pioneers" Bridgers bed is the wagon and he ties his elephants to the bed to be the oxen (it's really funny).

A day after we moved into our townhouse we got to see the storms that the east gets it was so cool but at the same time scary we had a tornado warning and the lightning was crazy but the crazy part was the rain it just came down so hard that we got soaked just walking to the car to the house we looked like we just jumped in a swimming pool.

So Steve starts school the end of Aug. and Bridger the middle of Aug. and I will stay home with Shaylie and teach her preschool.