Happy Halloween!

It always seems to get really busy around the end of each month, I guess now with all of these holidays coming up so quickly it won't get any better. These last few weeks have been filled with chasing after my two VERY energetic children (and all of the Halloween candy only contributes to the craziness!!!):), doing visiting teaching (now I have to drive about 15 minutes to visit each of my sisters, no more walking a few feet to do my visiting teaching!!), we've been going out with the missionaries at least once a week to visit with investigators, we've been going to playgroups and a ward trunk or treat, we've been to the library, shopping, cleaning, etc, etc, etc, etc...I think all of you can relate...it's just been so busy...and my two kiddos continue to keep me on my toes every second of the day!!!:) They have so much energy and are so curious, I just can't keep up with them sometimes...with Scott being gone all day...sometimes it's overwhelming doing it all...but we've been managing to have some good fun among all of the chaos!!!:)

Our ward had a "trunk or treat" this last Saturday...it was pouring pretty much all day so they had to move it inside. They decided to decorate a few classrooms instead. We got to decorate our classroom with another couple (Bobbi and Troy), I'm soooo sad that I didn't take any pictures...it turned out really fun! Bobbi brought a bunch of fun decorations and combined with our stuff our classroom was looking scaaaaryyy!!!!!!! The kids went trick or treating and ended up with a bunch of candy! We had a great time!!! Braden was spiderman...he refused to wear the little mask that came with the costume...oh well...Scott and I decided to take the easy road and we dressed up as doctors!!!

And...Miss Brielle of course wanted to be Cinderella...she LOVES everything princess.

We finally got around to going to a pumpkin patch! It was windy and chilly that day, but Brielle and Braden always manage to have a blast no matter what! They had these really fun tunnels and they played there for about an hour.

On Sunday, we had the great blessing of going to watch the Joseph Smith movie at the visitor's center with the elders and our new friend Sergio. Scott has been going with the elders to teach Sergio for the last month and he is getting baptized in two weeks!!!!!!!!! We are soooo happy!!!! He is such a great guy. So, this last Sunday the elders invited Scott and I to go with them to watch the movie and walk around the temple grounds. I have to say that I bawled my eyes out in the movie!!!! Oh my heck!!!!!! I don't think I've cried that hard in a long, long time. What a powerful movie! If you haven't seen it, you better go watch it! It is amazing! What an awesome production and what a testimony builder of Joseph Smith.

My sister spent a few days with us this week, it is always nice to have her come over. The kids have a great time with her and I'm grateful for her help. We went to Chipotle on Tuesday and it was one of those great days that could have turned into a tragic day. We were walking out of Chipotle and we were taking pictures right outside, this place is like an open mall with shops and restaurants and roads between strips of the stores and restaurants...I don't know if you can picture it...but I got distracted for a second looking at the pictures in my camera that we had just taken. Braden was in the stroller but Brielle was walking. We were standing on the sidewalk, when I looked up, Brielle had ran onto the road and was about to get run over by a car...I screamed and everything just started to go into slow motion...I saw the car...then I saw Brielle...the guy started to slam on his breaks, but he wasn't going to stop in time...then my sister grabbed her (she was closer to her than I was). She seriously was 3 feet from getting killed...just writing about it makes me cry. I bawled my eyes out...It was the worse scare I have ever had in my life...we had a serious talk about holding an adult's hand at ALL times when we are outside...and I just held her for a long, long time and I couldn't hold back the tears. I love my kids so much. I can't see my life without them...it is amazing the love that you feel for your children...you just can't describe it with words. I'm grateful that Heavenly Father was watching over Brielle that day and that my sister was with us.

What would I do without my favorite little girl???!!!!:)

Have I mentioned how much I love my little Braden??? He is a boy after my own heart, he LOVES sucking on lemons or limes! Brielle does too. Growing up I'd always suck on limes with salt...hmmmm!!! soooo good! And I put lemon or lime juice on everything! Somos verdaderos latinos!!!!:)

I promise I don't talk politics with my children...ha ha ha!!!! I seriously don't know how she caught on to that...the only tv we watch is Dancing with the Stars and every time, she's says Barack Obama when he comes on and she also knows John McCain...but I guess...she's decided that she'll be voting for Obama!!! ha ha!!!!!:)

Happy Birthday Grandma Jensen!!!

Scott's grandma is turning 87 years old today and we just want to wish her a Happy Birthday. We love you grandma! You are AWESOME and we miss you!!! We wish we could be there with you to celebrate! We hope you enjoy your day!!!:) Sorry grandma...I meant 84!!!:):)

An Unforgettable Birthday...

I had the most bizarre, crazy, funny birthday I've ever had! I started the morning making soup to take to Super Saturday where I was also teaching a digital scrapbooking class at 11am. I didn't sign up for any of the crafts thinking that I'd rather sleep in on my birthday and I'd just show up 20 minutes before my lesson. But I felt bad that only 4 sisters had signed up to take soup so I decided I would sign up to help out. So much for sleeping in I got up at 7:45am worried that I needed to run to the store to get a few things I was missing. I made the soup, got ready and asked Scott if he would help me out, because I had the crockpot, a bag with the laptop and my purse. So Scott helped me out and of course Braden starts freaking out because he is so attached to me and is sad that I'm leaving. We let him come out to wave good-bye. I was pulling out of my parking space and was waving good-bye to Braden at the same time and was somewhat distracted. As I'm pulling out I realize I probably don't have enough room to pull out (this whole time I'm trying to console Braden from the car and was waving good-bye) but I decided to just go for it and pulled out of my space thinking that I'd probably make it out okay, next thing I know I scratched our neighbor's back pumper on their nice white car. What a moron!!! I was so mortified! I asked Scott, "What should we do? We don't even know our neighbors, they live in the building next to us and I have may be seen then once or twice." He told me to just go to my meeting and he wrote a note and left our phone number. Scott was so sweet and didn't make me feel dumb or anything, he made me feel better about it and was really sweet. But, I couldn't believe that happened to me and to make matters worse right on my birthday!!!! I felt like such an idiot. We have some white paint on the right side of our front bumper, but nothing serious. I scratched a little bit of paint off their car, nothing too serious...but still...I would have been so annoyed if someone did that to our car... and now they have to file a claim, our insurance is going to go up, etc, etc, etc...Needless to say, I will be more careful from now on getting out of our parking spot.

I had a great time at the Super Saturday, I taught my lesson and I wasn't so mortified after a while. Then, I came home and my family came to spend the day with us. Scott wanted to take me shopping to the outlets for my birthday, my sweet mom and Nya stayed with the kids, while Scott and my brother came shopping with me. We had such a fun time! I love spending time with those two. Shopping takes forever and by the time we were done it was about dinner time, the kids had already eaten at home, so we (Scott, Kem and I) decided to go to the Macaroni Grill. We had a good dinner and the food was awesome. It was our first time at the Macaroni Grill. I enjoyed the company, the conversation and the food. Everything was great until we headed to the car (and get ready because this might be a little bit too graphic for some)...we were pulling out and my brother tooted! Yes, he tooted (he won't be happy that I'm sharing this but oh well...) so, then I started gagging soooooo bad!!!! I don't even know why because it wasn't even a stinky one!!!:) I seriously don't know what went wrong, but I was gagging and laughing uncontrollably!!! It was RIDICULOUS! Until I couldn't control it any longer, we were waiting at a red light, I opened my door and puked! It was disgusting! I don't know why but I thought this was the funniest thing ever, I was laughing so hard. It was so weird! My brother felt so bad. But we all just ended up laughing about it. I don't know if something must not have settled well with my stomach or what was the problem but I had no food left in my stomach after the incident!

That was my birthday on Saturday! We didn't take any pictures, which might be a good thing considering the events of the day! I did get a few cute things at Forever 21 (my favorite store!) and I am grateful to my mom and sister who stayed with the kids because shopping is impossible when they are around!!!:) I did miss my kiddos though and wished that we all could have gone to dinner together. It was a birthday that I will NEVER forget!!!:) And by the way, I turned 28 and this is how I feel about it:

Brielle's Prayer

Brielle is such a crack up...she's always volunteering to say prayers. This is the prayer she offered at dinner tonight:

Heavenly Father, thank you for this day. Thank you for Denisse and daddy and Braden and Brielle, thank you for Nya's ipod, and thank you for the food. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Nya is my sister, who came to babysit for us yesterday. Brielle must have seen her ipod and had to thank Heavenly Father for it!!!:) I couldn't help it and I laughed out loud!:) She's been cracking us up a LOT lately!:) and she's been calling me Denisse. We were at Wal-Mart yesterday and she was sitting in the cart and was opening every single fruit snack package while I wasn't paying attention. I was pretty stern with her and grabbed her arm and she said to me, "Be nice, Denisse." Children, children...they are a joy to be around...when they aren't acting like little monkeys in the wild!!!:)

Mount Vernon

This last Saturday, we went to Mount Vernon...but stopped at the entrance because the admission fee was $13. Children were free. Great. But the rest of us had to pay $13. Way out our budget! I usually check on-line before going anywhere but since everything is free in DC, I figured we would just have to may be worry about paying for parking. Parking was free but not the entrance!!!:( We were so sad! If you don't know about Mount Vernon, it is this huge plantation where George Washington had a huge mansion. There are a bunch of other things there and I was sooo excited to see it! But seriously 13 bucks? I would have happily paid $5. We will for sure go before we leave. It might be worth it to get a year pass for $25. Anyway, we still managed to have a blast together and we did it all for FREE!!! That's how we like it!!:) That whole area is right by the Potomac River and they have parks and trails all along the river. We had a picnic at one of the parks and played with the frisbee. Then we went on a walk on one of the trails and it is amazing how active people are here. It makes me want to start working out and get into shape! We all enjoyed our day and had a great time!

Look at that proud face and that HUGE smile!

After the park, Scott had to go to study. But my family, the kids and I still wanted to play. So we went to my FAVORITE spot so far here in DC, the Jefferson Memorial! It was the PERFECT fall day. I know you Idaho people are probably I bit jealous that there is no snow on the ground around here!!!:):) We have been enjoying wonderful weather and it is nice to actually have 4 seasons instead of 3. (There is seriously no fall in Idaho...:):) We still LOVE Idaho!!!:)

The White House can be seen from the Jefferson Memorial.

I love all of these pictures of my mom and Braden. He was NOT cooperating! But I LOVE how my mom kept trying and trying! She even sat on the floor with him! But not in one picture is he looking at the camera!!!:)

My cute sister at the FDR Memorial. Another one of my FAVORITE places, like I've already mentioned in prior posts!

The fun never ends when you live in DC and when you have great company the fun is even better!!!:)

For Your Entertainment...

If you really think about it children (and adults for that matter) can sometimes act like little savages. This thought may be somewhat bothersome but in some ways comical. Let me illustrate. Yesterday I bought a bag of potato chips. This has been the first time since both Brielle and Braden have been born that I have bought potato chips. So they were both acting like it was Christmas. Brielle asked to eat from the bag and I kindly told her that she couldn't have the bag but she could have a few chips in a bowl. Then out of nowhere she kicked me, not once but twice! She was sent to timeout for 3 minutes, didn't want to say "I'm sorry" after her 3 minutes were up so she was in timeout for 10 minutes. I kept asking her if she was ready to say "I'm sorry" and she kept sending herself to timeout by saying "I don't want to say I'm sorry, I go to timeout" and she stood in the corner for 10 MINUTES!!! She was finally ready and said she was sorry and gave me a hug. We had a little talk about what had happened and she was sweet for the rest of the night.

Now, back to the point about children being somewhat savage-like. I started to ponder upon what had happened, Brielle kicking me. I know she didn't do it out of malice, no child ever kicks, bites, or hits out of malice. But then I started to question if not out of malice then why the heck do they do it? Then I imagined me asking Scott if I could have a chip, he saying no and then me kicking him! The visual image that you get is pretty hilarious isn't it? But what if we never grew out of those kinds of "savage-like" behaviors. Think about it...we'd all just be kicking, biting, and hitting each other all the time, may be not all the time but a lot of the time. (My kids fight with each other 50% of the time, mainly over toys) It is kind of funny to imagine adults acting that way, but we would be considered very uncivilized if continued to bite, kick and hit through adulthood. (I don't know for you people out there with children but when my kids act "savage-like" I think to myself, "is it something I did?" "Did I not catch the behavior when it started and didn't act promptly and now they are hitting, kicking and biting?" I tend to blame myself...what did I do wrong?)

Anyway, after pondering about this I've come to the conclusion that part of being human is being "somewhat savage-like". We do, THANKFULLY, grow out of the kicking, biting and hitting. And I guess, the savage-like behavior is what they call in the Book of Mormon "the natural man". Children and adults alike all need to overcome the "natural man/woman" but as adults we deal with much different "savage-like" behaviors. We are blessed, however, that just like children overcome the hitting, kicking and biting, we also can overcome the natural man/woman in us --which comes in different kinds of behaviors for everyone. (It might still be hitting or kicking for some adults!!:) It is truly a BLESSING to have the atonement of Christ in our lives, throught the atonement we can change behavior and that is TRULY a blessing!!!!:) We are not only redeemed but enabled! That thought is VERY encouraging!:)

This is where the title of this post comes in...for your entertainment!!!:) There is nothing "savage like" about this video and I'm glad I can watch this video and realize that having children is the greatest blessing!!! My brother took all of the short videos he had of Brielle and put them all in one. He is awesome for doing this!!! Gracias Kemchu!!:) I hope you all enjoy it as much as we have!:)

Enjoying the Fall Season

I love everything about fall. It's such a perfect time of the year and the weather is usually really nice. It rained here last week on and off, but it's always nice to hear the rain outside with the thunder and lightening and it's just cozy to be home knowing that you are safe inside. The only negative is that the kids get a bit anxious being home all day and are constantly asking me to go outside. We usually go to the playground or on a walk at least once a day sometimes even twice. So this week we have enjoyed the nice cool fall weather and have gone out everyday!!! :) They love it!

Braden insisted on bringing his fire truck with him on our walk. He is such a boy!

And Brielle insisted on bringing her backpack!

On Monday, my friend Courtney from our ward called me and we went to this really cute farm called The Frying Pan Farm. I think the name is funny...but they have farm animals there, cows, horses, chickens, turkeys, pigs, sheep, etc, etc. Courtney has two girls and one is Brielle's age. Her name is Brinley and she gets along with Brielle incredibly well! The kids LOVED going to the farm and enjoyed seeing the animals! But the sad part is that I forgot to bring my camera! We will be back again probably next week so I will make sure to take pictures.

We have really nice neighbors and there is a really nice couple in the building next to us who we have become friends with. They have two little girls, one of them is a newborn and the other one is about Brielle's age. They really like playing together! Judy, the mom has been telling me about this really awesome park that we should go to since we got here and yesterday we finally got to go. The park has a really weird name, Clemyjontri Park, but it is so much fun! There are so many toys and the best part is that it is FREE! It is so big and the kids absolutely enjoyed every minute. It was perfect jacket weather and we played and had snacks there. It is only about a 20 minute drive there and the drive is just so beautiful. I was telling Scott that after living in such a beautiful place it will be very hard to leave this place and go back to rural Idaho, if we ever decide to go back...:)

Here they are just enjoying the day. Our little neighbor Bella is so dang cute and LOVES to play with Brielle. It's nice to be able to make new friends and get to know different people.

This little guy has been keeping me on my toes lately, but he is so loving and sweet and I hope he never stops cuddling with me but I think that's just wishful thinking!!!:( He has been talking a lot lately and it's fun to listen to him!

These two keep me so busy everyday!!! I honestly can't let my guard down otherwise I find them both in the bathroom playing with the toilet water and Brielle telling me that her finger is a fish swimming in the water! Sometimes it is so hard to keep a straight face and keep myself from laughing. They both are accomplices in mischief. Brielle has been such a chatter box, lately. She seriously talks ALL DAY LONG! I'm not joking when I say ALL DAY! And some of the things she says are so funny...I have a quite a few funny stories:

1. The other day, Brielle got a hold of one of our ipods and she was just pushing and pushing buttons. Our conversation went something like this:

Denisse: What are you doing Brielle? You know that the ipod is not a toy.
Brielle: Mommy, I'm just checking my e-mail!
Seriously, how can I not laugh.

2. Scott takes the metro to school everyday, it is about 10 minutes from our house so we drive him there and pick him up everyday. We spend about 20 minutes a day in the car. We usually have the radio playing while we are driving and of course Brielle has an opinion about what songs should be playing. If she likes what's playing she says: "Turn it up mommy, turn it up" and then starts singing whatever is playing. Among her favorite songs are "Bleeding love" and "Apologize". When she doesn't like what's playing she expresses her opinion about the song. This is a conversation that Scott, Brielle and I had the other day:
Brielle: Daddy! I don't like it this song! Change it! I don't like it!
Scott: But daddy likes it Brielle.
Brielle: No! I don't like it!
Denisse: Brielle, it's daddy's turn now ok?, after this song is over we can change it and you can have a turn.
Brielle: I don't like it this song mommy! It's Brielle's turn, it's not daddy's turn, it's Brielle's turn! 

Scott and I are just laughing our heads off in the front seats...she just won't drop it until one of her favorite songs is playing!

3. She has been a little parrot lately, repeating everything I say. When I put Braden in timeout she is right behind me putting him in timeout too.
Brielle: Braden! You go timeout Braden! See my hair! Don't pull my hair Braden! You are naughty! You go timeout!
I have to hide my face and keep from laughing because then Braden thinks it's funny that I'm laughing and it just defeats the purpose of timeout...

4. The other day I had a bad headache and just wasn't feeling well. I put on a movie for the kids to watch and I was resting on the couch and told Brielle that mommy wasn't feeling very well so to please keep it down and be good and watch the movie quietly with Braden. This was her response: "Mommy, you no feeling well, ok, you need a blanky mommy? here you go, here's a blanky for you mommy."
It was just such so sweet of her!

Pardon Brielle's nakedness in this video. The first thing she does when she comes home from being outside is take her clothes off!!! It drives me CRAZY!!!! But I think I've given in...I ask her to put a shirt on every 5 minutes...she's at this stage where she has an opinion about EVERYTHING!!! I don't exaggerate when I say EVERYTHING...This video that I took of her is right after we got home from the park...I guess some girl was climbing on of the toys, which was a train, and Brielle thought it was very wrong that she was doing that...she didn't say anything to the girl but she went on and on about it in the car and kept saying that the girl was naughty! I just get a kick out of it every time I watch it....

Since these two sure give me a run for my money, timeouts continue to be the LAW in the Jensen household! Sometimes, though I can't control the laughter because it is just funny that they don't move from the corner. They stay there as if there were a real fence there that won't allow them to move. Here is a picture of Braden on timeout.

This post is pretty long already but I have to share with you that Scott and I just got called to be ward missionaries and we had to give talks this last Sunday about missionary work. We are both so excited about this calling because we have so many opportunities to share the gospel here in this area! However, now we really don't have an excuse that all of our friends are LDS and we don't know any non-members...so the pressure is on! But we are glad! Scott had the opportunity to go out with the elders the other day to teach an investigator...hopefully I will get to go out with the sisters soon too. Another great thing that comes with the calling is that the sisters want to go to the temple once a month but they need a ride there and so I get to give them a ride and do a session with them once a month. I think the Lord is so mindful of our needs and I think going to the temple more often is something that I need in my life. (By the way, totally random, I finished painting the kids' room today so I will be posting pics soon!!!)