Spring Break

We had one of the most memorable vacations last week. (I actually think this was the first vacation we've ever taken as a family, it gave me a glimpse of all the fun that we are going to have in the years to come). Scott was on spring break and it so happened our good friend Justin had his spring break on the same week, so we headed to Cleveland to hang out with the Heaton's (Justin, Stacey & Jack). We had such a relaxing and fun vacation! Justin and Stacey are such fun hosts. It's so nice to hang out with friends that you feel so comfortable with...every time we get together we have such a great time. We kept busy just the right amount and we were able to also relax...the best part of it all was being able to spend the whole week with Scott!!! It's so nice when he's home and doesn't have to worry about school. The kids and I love the time we get to spend with him! We did all sorts of FUN stuff while we were there...we got there Friday evening and we just hung out until very, very late...not such a good idea when you have 3 little kids that wake up early in the morning...but nonetheless, it was fun to catch up with Justin and Stace...On Saturday, we went to the zoo and rainforest, which the kids LOVED! Brielle was asleep for the first part and then woke up and enjoyed seeing all the cool animals...Braden and Jack were up the whole time and they both had a lot of fun watching the orangutans...

I love going to places like the zoo with children...I think it's such a great opportunity to expose them to real animals which they read about but then they get to actually see them...it's so exciting for them and so fun to watch their reactions...the orangutans put quite the show for us! Jack and Braden were definitely entertained!

It turns out that most of the pictures we took of our trip were of Braden and Jack...those two are sure cute!

Eating lunch after Church on Sunday...and Justin making faces...:) ha ha ha! this is one of the FEW picture we have of the adults...and the ONLY one I look half descent in...Scott is taking the picture...

Later that day, we went to a Bronze Sculpture Exhibit at the Kirtland Visitor Center. All I have to say is that it was AMAZING!!!! Every time I go to Kirtland it's always so spiritual. I just found out that the exhibit will be coming to Washington D.C.! We will definitely go see this exhibit again! Anyway, right outside the Visitor Center there is this little red building...I had to take some pictures of the kiddos in front of it! Brielle was really feeling a lot of love for her brother at that moment...wish it was always that way...it was pretty cute.

My Scottie and Braden getting ready to go play at the indoor water park.

On Monday, we headed to Sandusky, Ohio to the Great Wolf Lodge Water Park. We had such an amazing time!!! We all enjoyed it so much! Both Scott and I think this was so worth it! We got there mid-afternoon, played for a few hours, went to dinner and stayed the night at the lodge, then played the next day until about 2pm, we could have stayed longer but we were all exhausted! Playing in the water and making sure kids don't drown sure takes a lot of energy!!!:) But it was a blast! All of this fun was $100 per family, which if you ask me it's an awesome deal! Water park and hotel for one night both included, you can't beat it!

This little guy absolutely LOVED the water! He played hard the whole time we were there and cried when we left...Needless to say, Brielle and Braden were out on the drive back to Cleveland!

They were worn out!!

This is how much they've changed...this picture was taken last year in July on our way to D.C... and this is them now...just a week ago:

Are these 3 children ADORABLE or what? I can't resist but post a bunch more pictures of these three...my posts are always long anyway...what's a few more pictures right? of adorable, squeeeezable children...:)

And last but not least Braden showing us his belly...:) isn't he squeeezable?

Thanks for a fun vacation Justin & Stace! We had a blast!

Oh! and I also have a Brielle story: this happened a few days ago...

Braden did something naughty (I can't remember what he did right now) but Scott told him that he needed to go in time out. Brielle was right there and said to Braden: "Bwaden, you need to go in time out right now!" and then turns to me and says, "Can I put him in time out! I know how to do it!"

Diamonds & Happiness...

This morning, as usual, I took Scott and my mom to the metro. We were listening to the radio and they were talking about how Paris Hilton just ordered a diamond-encrusted dashboard for her pink Bentley. Everyone is always making fun of this woman and I've wondered if there is really more depth to her than the media portrays. It is also interesting that the media gives her the time of day, considering most of what they report is utterly shallow. I guess, that if encrusting her dashboard with diamonds makes her happy and she can afford to do that oh well...right? But, seriously...does that just sound extraordinarily shallow? (I tend to be a little too judgemental sometimes...) The reason I bring this up, however, is not to judge her. Interestingly enough, hearing about this made me reflect about what makes me happy.

Even though diamonds are wonderful, this definitely brings me long-lasting happiness:

Braden sticking a carrot in his nose...

Scott being with our children...sometimes he comes home so tired from school all he wants to do is rest...he lays on the kids' bedroom floor and they LOVE laying on him...and he LOVES it too!

Watching my mom love her grandchildren...and them loving her.

Watching my children be amazed every single time they see an airplane...

That mischievous little face...

This little boy being a boy...he is always saying that he wants to fly like Buzz Lightyear from Toy Story!!!

Watching my children be nice to each other...and Brielle pretending she can read...

AND...this...(by the way, Brielle came up with "the Barack Obama game" as she calls it, all by herself)...:)

Oh! and I almost forgot:

Braden found himself a little girlfriend...we had our friends Anna and Mike over for dinner on Sunday and this is their beautiful little girl Lillie...

They really liked each other...:)

A Stroll Through Jefferson Memorial...

On Thursday, I dropped Scott off at school instead of having him take the metro. It's nice to go to D.C. around 10 or 11 in the morning because there is no traffic and you get there in 25 minutes instead of almost an hour during rush hour...we've learned not to drive to D.C. during rush hour...it's a bad, bad idea...we've also learned to take lots and lots of quarters for parking and never ever drive there on an almost empty tank of gas...there are NO gas stations there...anyway, after we dropped Scott off I decided that we were late for playgroup so the kids and I took a stroll through the Jefferson Memorial. It was the perfect day, about 55 degrees. We walked a good hour until Brielle and Braden started to get tired from walking and running around. We had a great time!...for the most part...

Yeah...until Brielle threw a tantrum...she wanted to take pictures so I gave her the camera thinking that she would figure it out and start pushing the button to take pictures...but instead she started playing with the lens and that was the end of it...I'm a horrible mom for taking pictures of my child throwing a tantrum...but it was kind of funny...ha ha ha!

For some reason I always have pictures of Brielle chasing ducks or geese...there were a bunch of them minding their own business and Brielle scared ALL of them away!...Poor geese...

These two sure love each other...they can't be away from each other...the other day I had an appointment and I left Brielle with a friend and took Braden with me. When we got back Brielle ran to the car opened the door, jumped in the car and gave Braden the biggest hug! She kept telling him, "I missed you Bwaden!" I was almost in tears!

This girl and lip gloss...she loved it and wants to put it on every second of the day...

After running around for a good hour...I think this little boy was tired...

Is Idaho Boring?

A few days ago I went to fill up our car with gas when a guy walked out of the convenience store. I noticed him because he was battling with a pack of cigarettes trying to get one out. He started walking toward his car parked right behind ours when he started talking to me...he told me he'd never seen an Idaho license plate around here. I was a little bit sarcastic and told him, "well...that's what they look like!" I was smiling when I said that to him, so I don't think he thought I was being rude. He then started making small talk waiting for my car to finish filling up. He asked me if I was from there and I said no, but that my husband is, and that I had lived there for 9 years. The next question caught me by complete surprise. I even had him repeat himself...he said, "so...is Idaho boring?" I found his question quite interesting. My answer was, "No, Idaho is not boring. People are really friendly and nice there." We got done with our little conversation and said goodbye. But his question has lingered with me...Is Idaho boring? What a funny question to ask...and the answer I gave to him..."people are really friendly there" (not that Virginia people aren't nice and friendly...) I started thinking that to me the reason why Idaho is not boring is the people and other things too...but mainly the people. There are a lot of fun outdoor activities to do there, etc, etc. but it's funny that I didn't think of that when he asked me that question. When I think of Idaho this is what I think of (in no particular order):

1. Roommates-who became my best friends. 2. Meeting the man of my dreams in a Spanish class and marrying him in the Idaho Falls Temple. 3. Giving birth to my two children at Madison Hospital. 4. Porter's-oh how I miss that store! 5. Millhallow-best sandwiches in the world. 6. Idaho sunsets-seriously the best ones. 7. Idaho summers-I have the most amazing memories of my summers in Idaho. I met Scott in the summer of 2003. 8. Driving through Main Street Rexburg during Christmas time. 9. Country Keepsakes-this little home decor store right on Main Street in Rexburg. Every time I'd walk into that store the lady would always ask me how my children were doing and sometimes she'd even give me a deal! 10. Meeting some of the most amazing people I have ever met in my life-professors, friends, bishops, neighbors, students, associates either through work or Church or whatever. I met some pretty AMAZING people there (I still keep in touch with a lot of them). 11. Scott's grandparents (all 4 of them) I'm just a fan of grandparents! I had the blessing of meeting these wonderful people. All 4 of them grew up, lived long amazing lives in Idaho. Only one is alive today. 12. Idaho's clear nights...when you can see the Big Dipper...I love Idaho's skies. I haven't seen a sky like Idaho's anywhere...and I've been a few places. 13. Open spaces. I love it that you can see miles and miles ahead. 14. Puerto Vallarta-the most amazing Mexican Restaurant in Idaho Falls. I miss it! 15. Fong's! Cheap and yummy (although some people would beg to differ about the yummy part):)... 16. No traffic-I love that about Idaho! Really, 17th Street in Idaho Falls is nothing! 17. Courteous drivers-(although someone did give me the bird once in Idaho Falls, it was definitely my fault!) but even though Idaho drivers drive a little slow, they are good drivers...I never got road rage in Idaho. (They don't tail gate--like my fellow Utah drivers...and they don't cut into your lane without any kind of signal--like my fellow Virginia drivers...hello! That's why we have blinkers!!!)....

I could go on and on...but I think you get the idea...too bad I couldn't give that guy all of my reasons why I think Idaho is not boring!!!:)

Catching up...

I've decided that winters tend to be rather boring. Nothing too exciting has been going on at the Jensen's except for Brielle and Braden's birthday. It seemed like it was a 4-day celebration at our house. Their birthdays are so close together that it is hard not to do them together. But this year I really tried to have their own little celebration so that they can feel special. The one thing we did do together for both of their birthdays is go to Chuck E. Cheese. Man, how they both love that place...Scott is busy as usual, he has a huge test today, every test is huge I guess...and another one on Monday...I feel so grateful to him for doing everything he does...he sure works hard! As for me...the usual...housework and kiddos. They keep me on my toes, but we sure have a great time together...they continue to make me laugh everyday and make me mad too...(they've been fighting like crazy!!!)...

Braden loved all of the rides and liked the "fake" Chuck E. Cheese...when the real one came around he was scared to death...

Braden loved the Bob the Builder ride...he also loves his new Thomas Train little laptop he got for his birthday. It keeps him entertained for a good while.

My brother was so sweet and got really cute presents for the kiddos...here Braden is opening his Transformers band aids and Flinstones' vitamins...I thought those were such thoughtful presents...and he got Brielle the cutest ABC book...Thanks Kemchu! They both got many birthday wishes from everyone and presents from their grandparents Jensen and great-grandma Jensen! Thanks everyone!:)

I think birthdays are so much fun the older the kiddos get...it was so fun to see how excited they got when we sang happy birthday and opened their presents. Braden was in heaven with his cupcake!

Brielle can be hilarious...she made us sing Happy Birthday 3 times!!!! Yes, that's right...3 times!!! We couldn't resist!

Since we spend so much time indoors during the winters...kids tend to be even naughtier than usual...we have this vent right by our living room and the kids LOVE sticking stuff through the little openings...when they hear it drop the go "uh-oh"...yeah like it was an accident...they've been putting stuff in there for the last few months and we finally opened it and this is what we found...I didn't realize how many forks and spoons (among other things) were in there...

It seems like during these last few months both of my children have grown so much! Brielle is definitely looking older. We went to play group right before Valentine's and we decorated sugar cookies...Brielle had such a great time and was totally interested in all the sparkles and decorating the cookies, etc...Braden on the other hand didn't want anything to do with it...he's such a boy...so therefore only pictures of Brielle...the bottom right hand corner picture, Brielle is showing off her nails, I painted them red and she thought it was the coolest thing ever!!! She's been into make-up lately too, she always wants to put my lipstick on and I have to tell her to stay out of my make-up SEVERAL times a day!!!!

I can't decide which one I like better...color or black and white?...

I have been learning how to use Photoshop Elements more fully lately. I've learned a few tricks here and there from internet tutorials. I've been spending too much time playing around...staying way too late...that program is a lot of fun...and addicting...:)

Brielle usually NEVER cooperates when I want to take pictures of her...the picture either turns out blurry or all I can see in the picture is her forehead or just hair because she's always on the move...anyway, this one day she was cooperating somewhat...

Yes, Brielle is wearing sandals in the middle of the winter...it was 60 degrees that day...:)

Feeding the squirrels can be so entertaining!

I take every opportunity I get of nice weather to take the kids outside. They need it and I need it...we have our weekly routine of going to the library on Mondays for a couple of hours, playgroup on Thursdays, our neighbors come or we go to their house, etc, etc, etc...but when we are home we can only read so many books, do so many activities, play with only so many toys, dance and sing to the same songs over and over...without ending up watching Dora or George at the end...(thank goodness for the library, free videos) however, sometimes since there's nothing interesting to do they spend more than their allowed time for the day watching TV and I hate it! So, ANY chance we get to go out we do and they LOVE it and I do too!!!:)

Braden has been such a cutie lately...well..he's been kind of grouchy too (he's getting his canines) I think that's what they are called...anyway, teething is not so fun, but this is the last of them and we are done...the other day, he found Scott's shoes, put them on and he thought he was so cool !

Not much to say here...Like I said...naughtier children in the winter time...can't wait for spring...:)

Scott was getting Brielle dressed for bed and somehow both legs ended up in one leg of her pants...she thought it was hilarious to try to walk like that...

The other night we were just playing around taking pictures and Brielle was in such a silly mood...it was so funny...she was putting her finger in her nose and she thought it was hilarious! you can tell it's the end of the day 'cause I ain't looking so hot...:)