Sisters, Sisters....

At the beginning of November I went to Alabama for our first ever Sisters Trip. Its really the first time that Karla, Emily and I have spent time together (just us) since we were kids. I moved out when Emily was in grade school and between college, boyfriends, husbands and kids we have barely spent any time together in the last 10+ years.  I timed this whole trip around seeing the Fall colors and leaves were perfect!!!!


Emily lives in the country outside of a small town, so when she would tell us something was "close" it usually meant at least 45 minutes in the car. I can't remember the name of this place, its "close" to Emily's house. Maybe Buck's Pocket. There is a beautiful lake and waterfall, hiking trails, and a playground that had a merry-go-round! Seriously when was the last time you saw a merry-go-round?!? 

You can't tell in the picture but I actually got this ride going and jumped on mid-spin...still got it! Actually I am pretty lucky I didn't break something.

We goofed around quite a bit at the mall. 

 

We were trying to make Karla feel better about being the shortest sister...

We took a trip up to Chattanooga, TN with Emily's husband Jarrod. I loved Chattanooga! (Its on my list of top 5 places I could live according to Find Your Spot.Com). We explored the downtown river walk and Rock City Gardens. If you are ever in the area both are TOTALLY worth the trip.

  I brought 3 of our all time favorite movies, White Christmas, Steel Magnolias and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, classic sisters movies.  
We talked...and talked...and talked...and ate yummy food.

 It was such a wonderful trip!

Pets

"Pets are awesome" - Lincoln

"Pets are plants" - Oliver (what?)

In September, Shawn and the boys discovered a preying mantis on our front porch. We brought him in for the week so the boys could observe him.  Lincoln named him Hicker and Oliver named him Plankly. Obviously this is the coolest name ever. I hope all of our pets have names as original as this.

 We kept him in this vase with a leafy branch. Shawn feed him crickets from the front porch...

 the circle of life right in our home!

 

In October my mom brought the boys a desert tortoise. We are slowly moving in the direction of pets the kids can hold and actually play with.  I guess they could hold Spider-Fish, but I don't think he would like it very much. Lincoln's turtle is named Rick and Oliver's is named Donatello.  Oliver is too scared to actually hold his turtle, but he does like to throw lettuce in the terrarium and show them to his friends that come over.

 

Halloween 2013

Its getting harder and harder to keep up with this everything going on... Halloween was a lot of fun as usual.We had the missionaries Elder Ward and Elder Scheiss come over to carve pumpkins with us for FHE. The boys loved helping the elders scoop out the insides of the pumpkins. 

I finally had the opportunity to help out in Lincoln's classroom with his class party.  I got to see where Lincoln sits and meet some of his class friends. One of the girls even said, "Wow Lincoln's mom, you are pretty"...

with compliments like that how could I not enjoy being there?

 Trick-or-Treating was a little crazy this year. For starters Shawn was sick and was laying in bed when it was time eat dinner and start getting ready to go out. The second thing was  I had to change Adria's costume. She was going to be a flower with this darling petal skirt my friend Sarah had let me borrow. But it was cooler than usual (in the low 60's) and she ended up wearing her Halloween shirt with a pumpkin hat and matching booties my dad had gotten for her. Everything was so busy and the boys were so desperate to get started that I didn't even get a picture of Adria in her pumpkin outfit. Just as we were about to head out my Grandma Naum and Aunt Anahi stopped by with special treats for the kids which delayed Trick-or-Treating even more. 

Oliver was Spider-man and Lincoln was a "Shadow Ninja"...but in the excitement he best pictures I could get are blurry.

 Happy Halloween

Family Fun

This is pretty much what we have been up too since we came back from Utah at the end of July.  Lincoln started 1st grade and soccer, Oliver is doing soccer too. Shawn has traveled around the country almost every week since August. Our ward boundaries were recently changed and we are now part of a completely new ward. I loved our Mt Vista Ward, but I have been anxious for change lately, old army brat habits, so this has been a pleasant change.

We try to stay cool.

 Awesome Monsoon Storms

 I turned 34!

We spend a lot of time at the park.

 Dad brings back neat stuff from his business trips.

Adria gets cuter every day.

 I tried to make homemade bread twice....still trying. But I have finally gotten the hang of cooking and have made some pretty delicious stuff if I do say so myself. 

Life is good for The AZ Jensen's.

July 2013

And finally July....

- Provo Freedom Run. Stan ran the 5k and Lincoln and I ran the 1 mile event together. It was so much fun to run with Lincoln! We watched the fireworks at Thanksgiving Point in the evening with the family. Adria and Makena LOVED the fireworks.

 

 

-Lagoon We got to spend the ENTIRE day at Lagoon with the family and Uncle John & Eryn. It was great to have so many grown ups around. We all took turn with the kids so the grown ups could go on the rides too.

Adria had an entertaining day too!

We had a picture of the entire family taken, but I can't find it. 

 

Our last picture with Grandma & Grandpa Jensen

-Visiting the Janes. We stopped in Ceder City on the way home and spent a couple of nights with our friends Kade & Maddie Janes. Kade's parents were good enough to let us spend a couple of nights at their house. They also invited us up to the cabin for a relaxing afternoon in the mountains. It was a great way to end our very busy but enjoyable Utah summer vacation.

St. George Temple & Vegas. That sentence is kind of an oxymoron. We stopped at the St. George Temple for a quick stretch and then took the kids to the M&M store and Coca-Cola stores in Las Vegas before heading home. Luckily for us we were able to park right next to the stores and didn't have to drag our kids through the filth that is the Las Vegas Strip.

Among all these adventures we had lunches and dinners with some of our favorite people. We just weren't very good at taking pictures when we were all together. It was a wonderful summer. It was great to spend quality time with family and for our kids to meet our friends kids. I hope we are able to do it again. And now you know the rest of the story.