Following in his sister's footsteps...

Mr. Braden (that's what I call him) is becoming very mobile these days and this morning I was in the bathroom and heard a loud noise, I walked into the living room and found Mr. Braden being naughty!!! Yes, Braden being naughty! I really thought it wasn't his nature...he first pushed the buttons and took out the DVD that was playing and then pulled the DVD player out of the TV stand...he gave me the proudest look I have ever seen. I am afraid these Jensen children are going to give me a run for my money!

Trick or Treat!

I decided to take Brielle and Braden trick or treating today. We had a great time until they had had enough of it. I went with some of our friends from the ward and they have two little boys, Hyrum and Ammon. They are adorable and Brielle totally LOVES Hyrum, he's 3! I think they are a lot alike, both of them are VERY outgoing! When Brielle picks on him I don't feel too terribly bad because he can defend himself! So it works! Anyway, Brielle was excited to get all the candy for about a block and then she was done. Then, this darn cat appeared out of nowhere and that was the end of trick or treating. She started chasing the cat everywhere it went! Annoying little cat! We had a good time though, I have to say however, that after the walk back home with Brielle crying in my arms and arching her back and Braden crying in the stroller because he was hungry...I am exhausted! I don't know why though in the middle of the chaos I had this uncontrollable laugh!!!! I could NOT stop laughing! I guess it was better than crying. Thanks Sarah and Redge for your help! (My poor husband had to work tonight...)

Braden was a lion and Brielle was a fairy.

Hyrum (Mickey Mouse), Ammon (Tigger), Braden (a lion)

Aren't they adorable? Our future missionaries!!!!:)

Isn't she lovely? I love this little girl! She sure makes me work hard! But I love her sooo much! She makes me laugh even when she throwing a tantrum! The terrible two's ARE INDEED TERRIBLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:)

I just want to eat this little boy! What a cute little lion!!!!

Hyrum and Brielle trick or treating! It was the funnest thing to watch them! It was so nice to have Hyrum with us because Brielle just followed him everywhere (it worked for a while and then the dumb cat showed up!...she was done after that! Oh well...)

Carving Pumpkins!

Scott's masterpiece

Denisse's masterpiece. I got this idea from Martha Stewart's website. The little designs are from cookie cutters. It was harder than I thought it was going to be. But it was fun to see the result!

Brielle's favorite word this month has been pumpkin! So I thought she would totally be excited to help take out all that stuff out the pumpkin and be part of the activity...I was like, "ok Brielle this is your opportunity to get dirty!" It was hillarious when she didn't want to touch it. Such a girly girl, she went to the drawer and took out a spoon and started helping with the spoon, she was not going to touch "the stuff". I have taught her well!

Our Simple Life-Random Photos & Random Thoughts

I honestly take sooo many pictures! I love digital cameras! What a great invention! It's nice to know that we are recording our family life through pictures for our posterity! This blog has almost become a family journal! Our life is simple and complicated all at the same time! I am grateful for all the wonderful blessings that we receive every day! I have to say that I do see the hand of the Lord in my life every single day (I loved Elder Eyring's talk!) The simple fact that we have food to eat every day in itself is a miracle! I really don't think we realize how many people in this world struggle to simply have the means to put food on the table! We are so blessed! Sometimes we feel like we don't have much but we really do have soooo much! Sometimes, I get caught up in the overwhelming responsibility of motherhood and being a wife that I forget that our lives should be simple and that I need to enjoy the moment! I get so irritated when the apartment gets messy, I have plates on the sink (in or on the sink? I never can tell...) I have laundry to do, I have tests to grade, I have diapers to change, I have to think what I'm cooking for dinner...you wouldn't think that it would get so complicated and overwhelming...But then I start contemplating my life and I realize that I chose this mortal experience and I have better go through it happily!!! And that all the refinement that I need is in my every day life, changing diapers and all...

Fun Visitors!

We had some fun visitors this weekend! I have to say that I LOVE visitors! Probably because one of the things I love doing most is talk to people!:) Our first visitors came Saturday night, brother and sister Wardle. They are the parents of the most amazing sister missionary we met when we lived in Miami! Back then she was Sister Wardle, then she became Heather, then she married and now she is Heather Campbell. When we lived in Miami we used to feed the missionaries dinner every Thursday. I remember loving it when they came, I used to go on splits with the sisters and I have memorable experiences doing that. Sister Wardle I have to say was and is our favorite sister missionary! When my brother was going to BYU we got to get to know Heather's entire family (they live in Sandy)...we spent one Christmas with them when we couldn't afford to fly back to Miami for the holidays! (we spent a couple of Thanksgivings with them too, I think...) The Wardle family is one of the most amazing families I know!

Our second visitor came today, Aaron Moore. I went to college with Aaron, we took a math class with Brother Norris (what a great man he was!!!) I have to say that I'm surprised Brother Norris didn't kick us out of his class, we were soooo irreverent...it was a 3 o'clock class and if you have taken a 3 o'clock class you know that everyone is half asleep! It was hillarious watching people! Anyway, since Aaron and I took that class together we became such great friends. He came to our wedding and we have tried to keep in touch through the years. He is a great guy and he is currently looking for his other half. So...if anyone knows any cute girls, let us know...We had a great weekend! Too bad my Scottie was working hard and missed them! :(

Brielle's 1st Primary/Nursery Activity

On Saturday, the whole family went to accompany Brielle to her first primary activity! Originally I was going to take her and Scott was going to stay home with Braden however, Scott decided that he didn't want to miss watching Brielle have fun. So we all headed to the activity. It turned out to be such a fun activity. The theme was "Everyone a Missionary", they had different stations with different things that missionaries do. They had a "Laundry Station" where they folded laundry, it was really cute. Another one where they sang missionary primary songs...Brielle's favorite station was the "Bicycle Station"...Brielle LOVED riding the little bike, it was hard moving on to the next station because she was still REALLY interested in riding one of the bicycles. Needless to say, the next station was NOT successful with Brielle. They had another station where they had a world map, they blindfolded them and they randomly picked where they would go on their "mission". Of course Brielle "randomly" picked to go to Perú! It was SOOOOO fun to be there with Brielle and I really thought it was such a great idea to teach children about missionary work right now...believe it or not they learn! We have been teaching Brielle about the temple lately and now every time she sees the temple she gets so excited and says "temple, temple"! It's priceless!

Fun Website!

A friend of mine had this in her blog and I think it is SOOOO fun! Everyone should try it! www.freerice.com It is so addicting! and it is fun to see how much rice you can accumulate!(What a great cause!) I LOVE learning new words and testing how much I know! I hope you like it!

Braden's Videos of the Day!

All I have to say is that I am IN LOVE with my little Braden! When I got pregnant with Braden I cried so much and I was in such major denial that I had gotten pregnant when Brielle was 3 months old!!!! Just imagine that! He has been the most wonderful baby boy and truly has changed my life in every sense of the word. I mean Brielle changed my life but Braden DRASTICALLY changed it!!!!! I am a better woman and mommy because of him! My character has been shaped in sooooo many ways. Isn't interesting how as human beings we resist change?...at least I do...but I have realized that change brings growth. Braden has been the most wonderful change I could have asked for! His mellow little personality make me happy and his cute little smile and laugh make me melt.

Our Talking Girl!

Brielle has been talking more and more everyday! It's a really fun stage! This morning Scott and I were in the bedroom and she walks in and says, "Hi guys". She's also been saying "I want it" and "Noooo mine". We have one of those sun shades for the window in our car and the other day she was playing with it and broke it, so I said "Look Brielle you broke it!", very non-chalantly she said, "I broke it". She loves going outside, she get extremely excited! I wish you could see her. Every time we go out she says "OUTSIDE!" and then she starts pointing at things and starts naming them "grass", "sky", "sun". It's so cute to hear her say things. Her favorite word for this month is "pumpkin".

I have to brag...

I have to brag about my dear husband Scott! He is so amazing and we love him and appreciate him so much. He works so hard for our family...when he was going to BYU-Idaho he was such a good student and a hard worker and now that he is working at Olive Garden...he rarely complains about how hard it is so wait tables and lift all those heavy trays and getting everything right for the people that go eat there. He's just awesome! He recently had 2 interviews for medical school to Nova in Florida and DMU in Des Moines, Iowa. He heard yesterday that he got into Nova and today that he was also accepted at DMU. We are so excited and relieved...and I am so proud of him. He has another interview at George Washington University in DC next month and hopefully he'll get a few more that way we can choose the best program for him. But we are so grateful that of right now he is going to medical school no matter what!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!!!!!! Woo hoo!!!!!!!

Family Photos-A few of my favorites

We had our friend Brianne take our family pictures this week. She did such a great job, especially with Brielle. She was very patient! Brielle was just NOT in the mood for pictures that day! She fought every shot! I'm surprised we got some really nice shots of her considering how difficult she was being. Braden has a bunch of good ones. He's my little angel and Brielle is my little "diablita". She can be real sweet, but she really does have a mind of her own!

I LOVED HAIRSPRAY

I had such a wonderful birthday yesterday! Scott and the kids surprised me at the end of my 9 o'clock class with a flower and balloons! It was so cute to see Brielle walking in the classroom! After class, Scott took me to breakfast. Later in the afternoon, my good friend Emily watched Braden and Brielle and Scott and I went to Hairspray (he couldn't say no because it was my birthday, he, he!) I LOVED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Scott really enjoyed it too (he was hesitant at first because Oprah liked it and he doesn't really like Oprah! I can't believe he doesn't like Oprah, I like her...) Anyway, it is one of the best shows I have seen in a long time! I'm not kidding when I say that I was smiling the whole time!!!!! The singing is phenomenal, the dancing is sooooo fun and I am in love with this movie! I loved the message that it had that being who you are is great, it doesn't matter if you are fat or black or white or pretty or ugly! I loved the message! John Travolta did an incredible job with Edna! He made me cry and smile at the same time! They couldn't have done a better job with the cast. Every character was perfect! I just loved it so much, I want to buy the movie and the soundtrack!!!! If you haven't seen it you have better go and watch it! It was definitely the highlight of my birthday!!!!

A growing boy!

Braden thinks he is a big boy now. He has been trying to stand up holding on to things and as you can see his pants are too short. He thinks he can grow and grow and be a big independent boy. I had to go buy him a whole bunch of new clothes because he has grown so much. I guess he is 8 months tomorrow and 3-6 month clothes don't fit him any more! He has been attempting to crawl but he's not quite there. His mind is there but his legs and coordination are not quite there yet. He has been getting very frustrated lately because of this. He will get there eventually!

Mommy's shoes!

This is Brielle's new thing...she loves putting my shoes on and she starts walking around the apartment with them on. As you can see they are not in the right foot, which makes this even funnier!

True Love! Amor Verdadero! Amore Vero!

When two people truly love each other not even a divorce can get in the way! Many of you know that Scott's parents got divorced about 2 years ago...I think...but they continued being good friends and started dating again...and on September 29th they got married again!!! It was just civil because they had never cancelled their temple marriage. It was emotional and the bishop said some wonderful things about both of them and their relationship. Karen and Clay truly deserve to be happy and I think being together is what makes both of them the happiest!!! What a great story. It was very cute to see the bride "Karen" holding her beautiful bouquet of flowers, which she didn't have the first time around!!! Scott couldn't have been more blessed to have such good parents and I am very lucky to have such fabulous in-laws!

Karen asked me to make her invitations and this is how they turned out!

The 4 Jensen Boys! Clay, CJ, Ryan & Scott




Jensen Great-Granchildren

Avery, Brielle, Andrew, Braden, Aiden, Parker, Nathanial & Alex

(Aunt Penny is the one holding the little ones)

I love this pictures for so many reasons! First of all, we have all the Jensen great-grandchildren together! Sencond of all, Brielle is the only girl! Third, she is not a happy camper!