Feliz Navidad y Próspero Año!

Scott helped Braden unwrap his presents...he didn't show much interest in doing it himself...he was definitely interested in playing with what he got though...

I think Brielle's favorite present was her Dora purse that Aunt Penny made for her and what came in it...a play phone and keys...it was fun to see how excited she got...I have to say that Christmas with children is a lot of fun. I think it will only get better and better as we are able to explain to Brielle and Braden what the meaning of Christmas is and the meaning of getting and giving presents!!!!

She might follow in her daddy's footsteps...

Talking to my mom on Christmas day...

Aunt Penny and Braden

Scott and Grandma Jensen

Kara made this cute scarf for Brielle for Christmas. Brielle thought she was sooo cool wearing it!

Brielle LOVES talking on the phone, it's one of her favorite things to do. She calls everyone... hello Kem...hello grandma...hi Scott (she's been calling her daddy by his first name lately!!!!)...hi Nathanial...it's so funny to hear her!!!

Sledding...

On the 24th, we went sledding with the kids and some friends from our ward. I thought it would be fun for Brielle to play in the snow, since we've gotten plenty of it...

These are the before pictures of Scott and Brielle...

This is them coming down the hill...

This is them after...as you can see Brielle is NOT so happy about all the snow on her face, head and everywhere else...it didn't go as planned...after that Brielle was miserable!!! She was freezing...poor little girl...I had to go sit in the car with her...oh well...

Braden had it nice and warm in the car seat.

Fun times with the Heaton's!

We had such a great time with Justin, Stacey and Jack. Scott and I have been blessed with great friends. (Jack is missing in this picture! :( He was sleeping!)

Isn't he cute?

The boys! (Braden's face cracks me up!)

While Stacey was here she colored my hair all one color, no more highlights...at least for now...I went darker than usual...close to my natural color...I really like it!!!! Thanks Stace!!!!:)

I hope Justin doesn't get mad at me for posting this picture! But I think it's HILARIOUS! This is how much fun we have with the Heaton's!

A little bit of everything...

To start off, I have to say that every year I forget how bad Rexburg winters are! They are NOT fun!!! As a matter of fact they are awful! After almost 8 years here I just can't get used to the winters here. Too much snow, too cold, slick roads...the other morning I left at 7:30am to go to work as usual not realizing that it had snowed all night. I took our BMW with bald tires (not a good idea!!!! we were going to change them to our snow tires that very day), for those of you who have lived in Rexburg I was driving up the hill going up toward the temple. Anyway, I got to a point in the hill where the tires were just spinning...there was no moving up the hill! I stopped traffic!!! There was a super long line of cars behind me. The tires were just spinning...I left the car on the side of the road with the emergency lights on. This nice guy gave me a ride back to the apartment and Scott gave me a ride to work with our other car. My class was supposed to start at 7:45am....I got there at 8:05!!!!! My nice husband had to go back and bring the car home! (Thanks Ryan for helping him)

Brielle has a little boyfriend from our ward, his name is Hyrum and he's 3! They are always sooooo cute together and they get so happy when they see each other and they are always giving each other hugs!

Our good friends Justin and Stacey are in town for the holidays and this is their little boy Jack. Jack is 6 months and Braden is 10 months. Jack is as tall as Braden!!!!! Us Jensen's are short!!! There's no hope for us!!!! No hope at all! Jack is such a cute little boy and we wish they lived closer so that we can play with him!!!! I hope these two become as good of friends as their dads are!!!!:) We love the Heaton's!!!! and we miss them!!!!!

This is the treatment Braden gets from Brielle sometimes. She sits on him!!!! My poor little boy! But look at his face! He's smiling!!! It's so fun to see them interact! For the most part Braden takes "the abuse" with a smile but there are times when he defends himself by pulling Brielle's hair!!!!:)

Braden loves his carrots but lately he's been wiggling so much every time I feed him. So this is what happened...instead of having carrots in his mouth he ended up with carrots in the middle of his forehead!!!!

Brielle LOVES chocolate! One of her favorite things to say is "mommy chocolate". She says that almost 10 times a day. I usually don't give her any unless she's been really good, that day she had been such a good little girl and I gave in and gave her some chocolate frosting!

Our little nephew Nathanial (Scott's brother Ryan's son) turned 1 and they had a fun party at Leo's Place. These 3 get along so well and it's so fun to get together to watch them interact. We tried so hard to get a picture of the 3 of them looking at the camara...this is the best we could do!

Bye, bye...

I have the funniest story to tell everyone...I have been trying to potty train Brielle for a little while now...I haven't been consistent at all but I am now determined to have her potty trained by her 2nd birthday on February...anyway, last night she told me "mommy potty", so we went to the bathroom and she went #2 in her potty. I was cheering and gave her thumbs up and and she was so proud of herself...and of course I was too. She was done going and it was time to get rid of the "stuff" and flush it. She of course wanted to help and we both dumped the "stuff" in the toilet. I was like "ok now we are going to flush it", so it started flushing and all of a sudden I hear her say "Bye, bye poo poo bye bye!"

One of my heroes...

When my brother Kem was here he brought a CD with pictures of us when we were little and a bunch of pictures of my grandparents. I love looking at these pictures! I have a few heroes in my life, people that have changed my life and influenced who I am, besides my mother, my Grandfather Alba "abuelito Manuel", is one of my heroes! He died when I was 11. But his teachings made a real impact in my life from an early age. I remember that he would talk to me as if he were talking to another adult. I felt like what I had to say was always important and it mattered to him. He was the hardest worker I ever met. He would always say that education was the best thing we could do for ourselves! He was an avid reader and loved and enjoyed knowledge. He had so much integrity and was incredibly intelligent. He is one of the most incredible men I have ever known. I look forward to seeing him again someday!

Hero: a man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities.

My mom and mi abuelito Manuel are dancing at my grandparents' 50th wedding anniversary party! I have wonderful memories of that day that I will never forget!

My grandpa with the love of his life "Lydia Flor" my grandma. (This is where Brielle gets her middle name Lydia from)

Most of my mom's siblings and my grandparents. Can you guess who my mom is?

My grandma and I. My grandma loved to knit, pretty much everything she is wearing in this picture she made herself. The purse I'm holding she knitted. They grew cotton and she'd pick the cotton from the plant and make her own yarn. Pretty amazing!

I don't know how old I am in this picture...probably a year and a half. Who do you think looks like me? Brielle or Braden?

I'm sure you are dying to see this picture of me with my huge ears! Thank goodness they are not that big now!!!

Braden's first tooth!

I finally got a picture where you can see Braden's tooth!

Braden loves baths!

This is how much Braden loves taking baths! He gets so excited! By the time we are done I'm so wet! I should post a picture of me after giving these kids their bath. It's crazy! He loves to splash! ...If you are wondering what Brielle is doing...don't even ask me...:) I guess we all have to itch in certain places once in a while!!! Oh my!...

Mi Familia

It has been over 10 years since my family and I have had our picture taken! Over 10 years!!!! Wow! So we decided to do family pictures when my family came to Idaho for Thanksgiving! We had a great time! I'm so happy to be part of this family! I come from a family of strong people! Our lives haven't been easy! We came to the United States with nothing in 1993. My mom worked hard to support us 3 and was mother and father to us. She taught us to love each other and to love God, among thousands of other things! I love them with all of my heart! They are examples to me of so many wonderful things!