Merry Christmas

Love it

The face behind the camera in all her morning glory...showing the new watch Josh got me

We didn't take many pictures because I was doing the movie camera, but here is all the loot

Everyone in their new PJ's

Tenley just wanted to eat that bow

iI wish you could see his face better....he was so excited

New PJ's....they are much needed

Tenley opening her first present

Cousin Anson, Jared's boy, playing with Tenley! All their boys are so good with babies!

Uncle Jared has five boys and has always wanted a little girl, so he loves to love on Tenley

The boys loved this rocking horse...I think it got used a lot that day

This is Mel holding Tenley and screaming at her mom to "LOOK!"

Tenley loves to suck or eat her toes...we finally captured it on film! Wouldn't you love to be that flexible?

Daddy gave me my first taste of chocolate ice cream and I LOVED it!

Josh and I went and saw the acappella group "Noteworthy" They were so good and really put on a fun performance! We watched them when they were on TV, so it was fun to see them in person.

Merry Christmas to all our friends and family! What a wonderful Christmas our family had this year! For the first time in our marriage, Josh and I spent Christmas at our own house with just our little family and it was PERFECT!! I told Josh that I didn't want to spend Christmas away from our home anymore! It is just too crazy to haul all the presents back and forth and to be away from our own beds and bedrooms! Do I sound like a mother with 3 kids or what? We have done it for many years now and don't get me wrong, it is always fun to be with family, but I really wanted to start our own family traditions with the kids! It is also so much easier to put the kids in their beds in their bedrooms when it is bedtime!!

This year I decided to get everything done at the beginning of December so I could fully enjoy the entire month! I started to put up all the Christmas lights and realized we needed a few more candy canes, snowmen, and lights for the front yard, so I called the babysitter and headed for Wal-Mart! It is a thirty minute drive for me, so while I was getting the decorations I had the thought...I should get all the Christmas shopping done while I am here, so that is what I did! The kids had already made their Christmas Wish List, so I knew exactly what to get them. It was such a load off my shoulders to get it all done that day! That night I stayed up late and wrapped all the presents and put them on top of our entertainment center! There was no way they were going under the tree to be ripped open a thousand times before Christmas morning!

December is always a busy month with all the Christmas parties, baking of Christmas goodies, getting Christmas cards delivered and spending time with loved ones! We had our Ward Christmas party and that was good, but we left early because all the kids and Josh were tired! I felt bad for just eating and leaving, but I am sure it was a little less crazy with our two wild boys gone! We had Josh's work party and that was fun! They had different events that we participated in and if you won an event, you won a really nice prize! We had drive a skidster around three barrels (like barrel racing) and it was a very crazy and bumpy ride for us girls who don't drive heavy equiptment around all day. We had to shoot a really old 22 and it didn't really matter where you aimed, the bullets went wherever they wanted. Then we did the ski jump on the Wii and I didn't even get off the snow and last we had to throw a ping pong ball into a little bowl! Josh and I didn't win one thing, but we still had a great time! We had our Jensen Christmas Party and it was fun to see all our extended family! The kids had a blast playing outside and running around with all their cousins! My Aunt Chris had her three children there and they just loved Tenley, but Mel especially loved her and followed her wherever she went! It was quite sweet! Then we had my niece, Bekah's, dance recital followed by my mother-in-laws Birthday party after the Jensen Christmas Party! It was a busy day and by the end of it we were all exhausted! Bekah did so good in her recital and looked very cute! We ate pizza and opened Birthday presents and it was fun to be together as a family and tell stories and talk about life. We had it at my sister-in-law's grandparents home and they converted the garage into a game room, so all the kids were in heaven! This was the final Christmas Party we had before Christmas arrived!

For Christmas Eve, the boys were so excited to take daddy 77 Chevy out for a ride in all the mud! It rained constantly for 4 days here, so there was water and mud everywhere and they kept asking me to drive through it in my nice car. Of course the answer was, "You will have to wait for daddy to take you in the Chevy, we have to keep mom's car nice!" I know they had alot more fun with their daddy climbing hills and splashing through mud puddles! When they got home, I asked them if they ever got scared and they said, "No, its not scary!" Everytime I go with them, I am always on edge and nervous about climbing those steep hills! I have become such a non-adventerous person since I had children...to much to live for! Then, we finished our Scripture Christmas Tree out of the Friend, read "The Night Before Christmas", and the highlight of the evening for the kids...opening one Christmas Present! I bought them all PJ's, so they were so excited to put them on and sleep in them! To end the evening, we headed out to look at the Christmas lights throughout our valley while we listened to Christmas music! It was cute to hear the boys say, "Oh, that is beautiful!" Their favorite Christmas song was Alvin and the Chipmunks! Tag just thought it was the funnest song ever and really tried hard to sing like them! When we got home we put out fresh baked chocolate cookies for Santa and carrots for his reindeer and then it was off to bed! The boys were so excited for Christmas that they had a hard time settling down, but daddy finally told them if they went to sleep then Santa would come and Christmas morning would be here! That really helped!!

Christmas morning was lots of fun! Tenley woke up at 6:00 and as soon as I opened my bedroom door to get her, Ty opened his door and was ready to see what Santa brought! I told him to go wake up daddy and Tag and he came back to me in tears saying, "daddy and Tag won't wake up!" I felt so bad, so I told him to let me get the movie camera ready, get Tenley a bottle and then I would come wake them up! He waited so patiently and then was so happy when they woke up! I was at the end of the hallway with the movie camera and it was fun to watch them come into the family room and see all the presents! They were so excited and started ripping into the presents! I had to slow them down so we could see who they were from and get pictures of the madness! They loved all of their presents and spent the day playing with all of them! They would go from one toy to the next and start all over again! It was fun to watch! Josh got his dirt bike fixed, so he took the boys out for rides and they absolutely loved that! They could go all day long and never get tired of it! As a mother, I always worry about them until they come home in one piece! I know Josh is really careful, but it is all the other people I don't trust! The day went by way too fast, but it was a good day! We had a yummy Christmas dinner, but I was so disappointed with the apple pie...next time I will have to make it myself!

I know this is getting really long, but I wanted to write about the most important thing over this Christmas Holiday! I really pondered and reflected about all the many blessings I have been given in my life and the one thing they had in common was my Savior, Jesus Christ. It is through him that I have all that I have. He is why I do the things I do and teach my children the things I teach them. He is the reason that my life is filled with joy, happiness, and peace. There is nothing that warms my heart more than to hear my children pray, sing primary songs, or tell me what they learned in nursery or primary! When I hear these things, I know that there are still many good things in this world! I am so grateful for my Savior and for all that he had done for me and continues to do for me each day! We are so blessed and I hope that I will continue to remember those things throughout each year that passes by.

I hope you all had a wonderful and very Merry Christmas!

A variety of Things

I couldn't get her to smile...5 months

Here are some of us that were roller skating...we had quite the group

The kids loved swimming in the hot tub at Grammy and Poppy's house

Daddy Daughter time

Playing dress up at Grammy and Poppy's house in Oklahoma

Dad helping Ty roller skate...the boys didn't get the hang of it as well as the girls

Tag roller skating for the first time

The gang met up in Bricktown to meet Lauri's boyfriend, Lehi

The Zip line

Josh, Megan, Uncle Reagan, Uncle Rick, Aunt Cindy and Matthew around the campfire...what a lively bunch!!

There goes Josh...the tires were our brakes!

Ty and Tag made Grandma Redd Birthday Card for her 85th Birthday Party

Uncle Seth and Ty on the Zip Line...the boys loved the zip line

Ty loved shooting the 22 with Uncle Rick

Brighton and Monique feeding baby Tenley...Brighton will have a new baby very soon!

Tenley all bundled up and ready for a walk with Grandpa Jensen

Kiss a Lizard!

We have been so busy that I haven't had time to update my blog! So here is an update of the last month! We had Grandma Redd's 85th birthday and that was a fun weekend. All the family got together and it was fun to see all our cousins that we don't get to see very often. We stayed in a bunkhouse and it worked out great! On both ends were rooms lined with bunk beds and then in between these two rooms was a huge kitchen/dinning hall! It worked out perfectly for our big group. The kids had a blast riding the 4 wheeler and Ranger all around the farm, feeding the baby goats, playing with their cousins, and a really big hit was the Zip line! Even the adults enjoyed this! It was so fun to see Grandma and Grandpa Jensen go on it and even Aunt Cindy and Uncle Rick went on it! We had a great weekend and we hope that Grandma Redd felt special on her big day.

The next weekend, we packed up the car and made the 18 hour trip to Oklahoma to visit Grammy and Poppy. The kids did really well and it helped that we drove all night long. We spent 8 days in Oklahoma and had a great time. There were 3o people staying at my parents house, so there were people sleeping everywhere! Needless to say, we all had a great time and the kids loved playing with each other. Josh was loving life because he went deer hunting most of the days we were there. He was a good husband though and let us girls go to lunch one day and shopping another day and he got to take care of the kids. It was great to see all the family and we missed not having Rikki's and Drue's family there. As you can see by the pictures, we took the kids roller skating and that was an adventure...the boys didn't get the hang of it, but all the girls did really well on the skates. Because there were so many of us, we really didn't venture out to much, but that was fine because the kids got lots of 4 wheeler rides, go cart rides, rode their bikes and they loved getting in the hot tub and splashing around. The weather was beautiful except for Thanksgiving day was super cold! I had fun testing my Zumba workout on my sisters and we got to laugh a lot at Lauri's moves...they are on tape so we can keep laughing for many years to come. Speaking of Lauri, we all drove to Oklahoma City to meet her boyfriend, Lehi. We really didn't get to talk to him a lot that night, but they came to the house on Sunday and it was fun to get to know him a little better! I guess we shall see what the future will bring! We are all happy to see Lauri happy again!

Last but not least, Tenley turned 5 months old! I cannot believe how fast she is growing! She is such a joy to have in our home and really is the happiest little girl! She started laughing and that has been so much to hear. She rolled over and started eating cereal and is quite good at it! She loves to takes baths and it quite the little kicker. She found her thumb the other day and loves to suck on it! It is actually really cute when she does it, but I am nervous she will be a thumb sucker like her mom! I have enjoyed making little bows for her hair and dressing her up all cute for the day! Her brothers love to play with her and put a big smile on her face. We love you Tenley!

Tenley is 4 months

This is one of my favorite outfits on her, so I wanted to get a picture of her in it!

Her brothers love to hold their sister, but it doesn't last too long before they are done!

Where have these past 4 months gone? It makes me so sad to see my little baby girl growing up so fast. With that being sad, it is also a lot of fun to see her grow and develop into this happy, bubbly personality. She is so aware of her surroundings and gets distracted very easily...especially when her momma is trying to feed her!! She loves to smile and someday I will catch her big grin on camera! She also loves to suck on her fingers, as you can see in some of these pictures. She is really making a lot of new noises and loves to play with her toys on her tummy time mat! She also loves to look at herself in the mirror...such a girl! She loves to take baths and is great at kicking her legs! She also enjoys it when her brothers play with her, but also gets mad when they crowd her!! She hasn't rolled all the may over, but she loves to lift her legs up and roll onto her side! She still is getting the hang of eating cereal, but is doing much better each day! We love our Tenley and our family just wouldn't be complete without her!

Happy Halloween

Right before pre-school! He is showing me his scary fighting move!

I was trying to get them to do their fighting moves, but couldn't quite capture it in time

Tenley is starting to enjoy her cereal and is doing better at keeping it in her mouth

The boys LOVED Halloween this year! Ty was GI Joe, Tag was a Ninja, and Tenley was the cutest little pumpkin ever (okay I am a little biased)! Halloween is so different for kids than it was for me when I was growing up! We always had the fun ward Halloween party, but then we went trick-or-treating house to house and got a ton of candy! I don't know about other places, but here they don't go house to house, but have community trunk or treats! I am glad they have something, but I feel like it is more complicated than it use to be, but I guess my kids don't know any different and they still have lots of fun! However, I feel like I am trying to hit as many things as possible to make it a great Halloween for them!

This year I took them to the trunk-or-treat at our local grocery store and then Josh took them to the community one because Tenley and I had a little girls weekend in Vegas! I was sad that we weren't together for Halloween, but happy that I was able to take the boys to one event. Ty also had a Halloween party at pre-school and was so excited for that! He said it was lots of fun and he got to eat a lot of cookies! There is no greater joy than to hear the excitement in your children's voices and the sparkle in their eyes when they are so excited about something or have had the best time at something! It just warms my heart and makes all the melt downs and hard days worth it! Needless to say, we keep having more children!

Now about our girls weekend trip to Vegas! My mom always seems to have points that are going to expire and since we live the closest to Vegas, she always wants us to use them! Let me be really clear, my husband HATES Vegas with a passion!!!! He has no desire to go there and if he has to go there it is a horrible experience! I don't really love to go, but I can handle it and make the best of it! I told my mom to try and get someone else to use the points, but she still had points leftover, so I told her we would make it a fun family weekend! When I told Josh the plan he was less than thrilled and didn't understand why we needed to go! I told him all the POSITIVE aspects of it...the boys could go swimming, we could play games, takes the kids to the Mandalay Bay Aquarium, or we could just stay at the hotel and never leave! He still was not excited, so after much thought, I told him Tenley and I would go and have a relaxing weekend and he could stay with the boys! Why make him go when he would be unhappy the entire time and make everyone else miserable with his bad attitude??? Not my idea of a fun weekend trip! I left it up to him and he chose to stay home with the boys! I felt really bad for leaving the boys, but I was not taking all 3 kids by myself! Tenley and I had a pretty good time, but my idea of a relaxing weekend didn't really happen! I had a terrible cold and Tenley had a little cold herself! We did manage to go shopping for school clothes for Ty and I got a few things for myself, but other than that, we stayed at the hotel! Tenley didn't sleep good the first night and I didn't sleep the second night, so instead of coming home refreshed, I was so exhausted! I decided that next time I will either find some girlfriends to go with me or I just won't go at all! I hated having our family split up...not my idea of a fun weekend!!!