J&T-Jenson

2011 Happenings

2012-01-09T11:14:00.000-08:00

I finally did it! After 10 exciting but long years, I finally graduated from BYU; Lars, Alyssha, and Rion were there to mark the day with me. Jim was also there, but he was taking the picture. I really enjoyed my education, but it was nice to be able to get on with life, and what a life I've had this year. It's been a year to be remembered that's for sure, as you will see in the pictures that follow. I've been really bad at posting. I can't believe it was last March the last time I posted anything! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this year in review. I couldn't post every picture we took, so if you're interested in seeing others, I guess you'll just have to come and visit.

We were in Cedar City for Tana's graduation from SUU, along with Chris and Brooke. She finally did it! I know it was a bittersweet day for her, but now she is teaching band at Mont Harmon Junior High in Price, Utah and doing really well. She has her first big-girl job and is doing a great job, although she often doesn't think so. However, the first year is always hard, so we'll see what the next school year brings.

This is the group we went to Scotland with. Jim and I are on the left, then Ida and Johnny, and Kristin and Dave Spence and their son Bridger. Ida is Kristin's sister. We went for Bridger's wedding but arrived a week before the wedding, so we had plenty of time to pack in lots of sights and experiences. It was the trip of a lifetime. We had so much fun together, whether is was hanging out at the place we stayed or driving down the road or seeing the sights. I want to go back to see some more and go to the places where my ancestors were from. They came from the very north part of the country, and we just didn't have time to go that far.

Castles, castles, and more castles - I can't remember for sure which one this is, but it was among the many we visited while in Scotland.

Me in Todmorden, England where my Crowther and Fielden ancestors lived - I was so blessed to be able to visit there during my lifetime. I would really like to go back again sometime!

The looooong boat we took a ride on down the Rochdale Canal in Todmorden, England. We just happened to be in the right place at the right time - It was really cool to watch the boat go through the lochs.

We had the privilege of attending Gavin's baptism in June. He is growing up so fast, and we miss most of it! Jim also got to see Glenn for the first time but no pictures of that of course............

Grandpa and Xaiden intently watching something while standing in line at Disney World

Lydia and I on one of our many bus rides into Disney World from our motel
Jim and I had never been to Disney World before, so it was definitely an adventure. One of my favorite parts of our trip was just getting to know our grandchildren. I also really enjoyed the fireworks display we saw one night. We were in the perfect spot to view it from all sides.

Jim and I in front of the Epcot Center our last day at Disney World

June 2011 - Ian and Christy and their crew (l to r - Allie, Tori, Lydia, and Xaiden) posing in the parking lot of the Pop Century resort we stayed in when we met them at Disney World
We had so much fun and made lots of memories!

Chris is coming down the mountain fast as he tries to stay upright on his bike
This was the first time I had ever attended a mountain bike race, so it was pretty exciting for me. I only wish there was a way to see the whole race. Thanks for inviting me Chris!

September 2011 - Yvette Smith on the right (my cousin) and I visiting a 95-year-old Great Aunt in Eudora, Mississippi - We had a great time gathering genealogical information together!

We were there! Dave's induction into lawyerdom at Abravanel Hall in Salt Lake City on Halloween Day.

Gavin analyzing his stocking stuffers!

Baby Glenn chillin' on the floor

Christmas morning at Grandma and Grandpa Jenson's
Sophie Lott and Rion Jenson

Plants, Plants, and More Plants

2011-03-19T08:06:00.000-07:00

I'm having so much fun tending my little plants! We got some grow lights for starting plants indoors. Some of them are doing really well, as you can see. Those are the vegetables mostly. I can't believe that all six of the watermelon plants came up and are doing well! It's sad that only one cantaloupe came up because we love cantaloupe. I guess we'll have to buy some plants when it's time to plant outside.

Not very many flowers have come up so far, but maybe they haven't germinated enough yet. Some of them take up to 21 days to come up. We'll see............some of my seeds were over 10 years old. The little round disks that I planted the seeds in worked really well. I'm going to have to see if I can find more of those for next year. Because I went to all of this effort to start the plants indoors, I think I'll be more attentive to them once they're outside. The fact that school will be over will also help! I just hope they survive while we're away traveling all over the place in the next few months. Brooke helped me plant them and gave me a list of instructions. Thanks Brooke for getting me started!

(Don't mind the mess you see in the picture. That will be fixed also once school is over!)

A Trip Down Memory Lane with Grandpa

2011-02-26T23:56:00.000-08:00

Our Grandpa
We lost him last Monday, and it's just really sad, but I remember all the good times we had. When we first moved to Delta, he was the water master for the Sugarville area. The kids and I would go for rides in his truck every few days to "help" him check the water. What a carefree, fun time we had back then. He always kept everything running well around the farm, even our cars that Jim didn't have time to work on. He loved to take us all out on the desert for picnics, Easter egg hunts, wood cutting, and Christmas tree finding. On Christmas Eve he pulled the old wagon with his tractor with us all piled in just to drive a half mile up the road in freezing temperatures to sing a Christmas carol or two at the neighbors. One of his favorite things to do was to fix people breakfast in the morning. His specialty was pancakes, but you never new exactly what he might put in them. They were always good, but sometimes they were a little different. I can't count the many times that he paid to get us out of a bind. He didn't really give us money very often, but he'd fix something that was broken or lend us a car for awhile. Both he and Grandma were the best grandparents a child could have, and we're going to miss them. But we do have our happy memories.

Tana and her green nightgown! I don't know whatever happened to it, but she wore it every time she spent the night with Grandma and Grandpa.

Grandpa with hair? When did that happen?

All the kids loved their Grandpa!

Celebrating Grandpa's birthday. Everyone had a birthday celebration that usually included Grandma and Grandpa.

Grandpa was always out in "the barn" fixing something.

Lydia with her great Grandma and Grandpa. It's just too bad that she won't really remember them except through pictures.

Chris and Brooke on an exploring trip with Grandpa.

Grandpa loved to take his family out on the desert, to the mountains, etc. as long as it was away from civilization.................I think this was a Christmas tree hunting trip in 1987.

Everyone loved Grandma & Grandpa's swing, including Gavin and the cat!

Wow! They look so young!

This has always been one of my favorite pictures. Chris and Lars were such little munchkins......

It's hard to believe Ian and Shelbee were ever that little. They loved living next door to their grandparents!

Changing of an era

2011-02-21T16:10:00.000-08:00

February 21 2011, the passing of Dad/Grampa
Well, all things change, that's the constant in this world. Now, my sisters and I are officially orphans. Mom and Dad are together again. We'll miss them, but, I'm happy they are together again, in a better place. They can watch over the future grandkids, and visit with family again. Memories are what we have left, in place of visits. Waiting till we meet again.

Are you out there?

2011-02-17T21:49:00.001-08:00

I sometimes wonder why I bother to write on this blog. It appears that no one really reads it. Not one person has commented about anything since last October! But they say writing is theraputic, so I guess I'll keep writing anyway for my own benefit.
This last week has been pretty eventful. I went to a genealogy conference last week where I won an i-Pad. I really didn't have a clue as to its worth or exactly what I could do with it. Lars immediately wanted to buy it from me for a reduced price, but I wasn't willing to give up my prize, at least until I knew just what I was giving up. I have since been informed of a few things that this new toy will do, although I haven't had time to play with it much yet. I've always said that I was not very computer literate, but I've decided that I'm basically technology challenged, especially with anything new. I can master most things if given enough time, but I come from the "paper age," which seems less complicated to me. I know that gadgets are supposed to save us time, but they only do that if you know how to make the gadget do what its supposed to. I know how to make a pencil and paper work!
After reading Dave's blog post today, I too am thinking about how much I will miss school with its paper and pencil work, as well as computer work. I'm also excited to finally be done. I'm sure I will adjust, but I can assure everyone that I will NOT be bored. There are so many things that I want and need to do. I'm not sure I even remember what it's like to be bored. How can you be bored when you're never home!

The Stupid Things We Do

2011-01-31T22:01:00.000-08:00

I decided I should write about my adventures of the last week or so. First I tried to give myself a concussion. Earlier in the day a little over a week ago, I had gotten my long plastic wrapping paper container out from under my bed so I could wrap Tori's birthday presents. I was already late in sending them, but I wanted to at least wrap them before I went to work. Well..........I was in a hurry, so I didn't put the wrapping paper away. That night, when we went to bed, neither one of us turned on the light when we went into the bedroom and didn't notice the long plastic box still sticking out from underneath the bed. Jim got in bed first but wasn't asleep when I came in to go to bed. As I walked towards the head of the bed, I tripped over the plastic box and fell forward, scraping my leg on the box and hitting my head on the wall. I cracked the plastic plate covering the phone jack and dented the wall. It hurt a lot! Jim heard the noise of course and asked if I was all right, but I said, "Noooooo.............I'm not all right." At least I didn't break anything (no body parts anyway, but the next day a bruise began all up and down my shin and one near my hip. I still have both of them, but they are starting to go away.

Well, all of that wasn't good enough I guess because I tried to break something again a few days later. It was last Tuesday, the day I go to my class in Provo and then spend the night in Salt Lake so I can do my six hours of research at the Family History Library. For the last six months or so, the stairs I usually climb to go to class have been closed. They've been redoing them, and I've had to walk a long way around to get up on campus. Well, last Tuesday, I noticed that the barricade at the bottom of the stairs was gone and people were going up, so I followed. Several people were a ways ahead of me and one guy passed me from behind. I didn't really pay any attention to where they went. I was just intent on climbing the 147 steps. When I got to the terrace close to the top, I noticed that the next small staircase up to campus was blocked by a large metal gate that was leaning against the opening, so I retraced my steps a small ways and tried to go up the other set of stairs on the left. However, it was blocked also. I thought it was really dumb that the bottom was open, but the top was closed. I could have gone back down and around the way I usually went while it was closed, but it would have taken me a lot longer, and I was in a hurry to meet with someone about a presentation we had to do. Anyway, I decided that if I moved the metal gate just a little bit, I could squeeze through. Well, I squeezed through all right, but the gate was too heavy and I moved it a little too much. I couldn't keep it from falling, and when it fell, it landed on my foot. I tried to get out of the way, but I just wasn't quick enough. Of course, it made a huge crashing noise and everyone looked to see what was happening. My foot was throbbing! I tried to life the gate up, but it was too heavy,so I just turned around and limped away to my classroom. When I got to the room, I took off my shoe and sock to see what the damage was. Just below my big toe, there was a long dented spot that was all blue! I was envisioning having to have surgery to repair my shattered foot because it was aching so badly. Someone gave me some pain reliever, and another lady got me a baggy full of ice, so I kept the ice on it during the 2 1/2 hours of class. I'm sure those two things helped a lot. At least it was bearable, but then I had to walk a long way to my car! On my drive to Salt Lake, I couldn't step on the brake very hard without it hurting, so I used my left foot. When I arrived at Marilyn's house, I took my shoe and sock off again to see what it looked like by then. It was red and sore and starting to become discolored. Marilyn happened to have a podiatrist in her ward, so she called him and he agreed to look at it. He was really nice, but it definitely hurt when he did certain things. He said he didn't think it was broken, but without an x-ray, it was difficult to tell for sure. He wrapped it for me to give it some stabilization, which did help some, although the next day I couldn't put my shoe on with the wrap because it hurt too much, so I just left it off. By the next morning, it was feeling somewhat better than it had the night before, but I continued to limp for a few days. I'm really surprised that it's not broken! (at least I don't think so) I think if it was really broken, it would hurt a lot worse. Tomorrow will be a week since it happened, and it is still pretty sore and bruised, but I can walk fairly normal now. The podiatrist was worried that I had ruptured a tendon, but he found it in one piece. I hear those take a long time to heal. I'm sure it's going to be another week or two at least before it feels anywhere close to normal, but I'm grateful I'm still in one piece. I guess I bounce better than I thought!

Lots of Teeth!

2011-01-31T21:54:00.000-08:00

Look at all my teeth!

It has been really fun to spend time with Lars, Alyssha, and Rion. They live in Provo, so we see them a little more often, although with school and homework, we don't get there as much as we'd like to. I visited a few weeks ago and took some pictures of Rion. He looks so grown up now, especially with a whole mouth full of teeth and full head of hair.

Last Week of 2010

2011-01-31T21:25:00.000-08:00

We had lots of fun with the Lotts when they came to visit after Christmas. Thanks for coming to visit! Sorry this blog post is just full of pictures, but I like to look at pictures, so I figure everyone does.

Brooke, Dave, & Sophie ending their stay in Oak City

I love to eat! Celebrating NewYear's Day.

Oh, you want to take my picture? Let me pose for you.

Say cheese!

Sophie playing with Uncle Chris & Aunt Brooke
We spent the night at their new house in Cedar City after helping Tana move and visiting with family.

Tana - Incognito! She never likes to look at the camera.

How! Grandma Lux says hello

Chandler - All wrapped up like a cocoon

The week after Christmas Brooke & Dave & I went to help Tana move. Then we visited with Kathy, Niki, Chandler, and Grandma Lux. I'm not sure what Kathy and Niki were doing in this picture!

So cute!

Dave and his only book for Christmas

Bathtime is fun!

Reading already?

Sophie trying to get the hang of opening presents

Christmas 2010

2011-01-16T16:15:00.000-08:00

Tana was the only one home for Christmas this year, so we decided to make things a little more exciting by planning a little treasure hunt for her. Because she was starting her student teaching in January, Santa brought her a brand new conducting baton; however, we weren't sure it would arrive in time for Christmas. So..........Jim found her a Harry Potter wand, and then decided he could make her a baton. We made her look for them all over the house with various clues. We had a good time, although I don't know if she did. Anyway, Christmas was quiet, but we enjoyed ourselves.

Sophie's Blessing Day

2010-12-08T21:08:00.000-08:00

I'm a little slow in posting this, since you can see that it happened in August. We missed Ian and Shelbee and their families! It's been three years since we were ALL together. We really need to have a family picture taken, but I'm not sure when that will happen. We don't want to leave anyone out!

Thanksgiving 2010

2010-12-08T20:52:00.000-08:00

Rion looks like he's ready to eat! We had lots of food and enjoyed everyone who came. You can see from the background that Rion had a good time playing with everything in Grandma's cupboard.
We didn't do anything really extraordinary, but it's just nice to visit with everyone. You can see from the following pictures that Chris & Brooke, Lars, Alyssha, & Rion, and Tana were here. No one in this family seems to like their picture taken, but pictures are an important record of events, so...................try to change your attitude!

Tana playing on the computer

Jim - Incognito

Chris and Brooke watching a movie (or not)

Lars and Alyssha relaxing on the couch

Jims pepper mix

2010-11-07T20:45:00.000-08:00

Terry had her update, now for my handy work. When the cold snap came last week, I picked all the red and green Jalapeños. I made a veggie mix with them. I mixed onions, garlic, carrots, cauliflower, peppers and spices with a Apple Cider vinegar solution to get a preserve out of them. They turned out OK for a first try. I may modify the cook time next try. The peppers are too soft for my taste, but the rest of the mix was OK. It's a safe bet to say, I won't have to fight Terry for them. They are colorful anyway!

I LOVE FALL!

2010-10-31T09:20:00.000-07:00

Fall is my favorite season of the year. I think I appreciate nature's beauties then more than any other time, although spring is a close second. I'm looking forward to finishing school so I can make our yard look more beautiful.

Isn't it a commandment to till and take care of the earth? Well........I haven't been doing such a great job lately. However, this tree seems to be doing just fine without my help as you can see. I just thought you would enjoy seeing how beautiful your thoughtful present was becoming.

I was a little disappointed in this tree at first. I expected a maple tree to be more full, but it was rather spindly with small leaves. But every year it fills out more and is becoming a "beautiful swan." It reminds me of how children grow. They all go through the "gangly" stage when they are kind of spindly like the tree, but Heavenly Father works miracles, and we all turn into beautiful adults.

Grandchild #7

2010-06-04T21:36:00.000-07:00

I realized today that we haven't blogged about our newest grandchild. Sophie Anne Lott was born April 28, 2010 in Omaha, Nebraska. Jim and I went to visit and help out. I went to Brooke and Dave's house to help with the new baby, and Jim went to Shelbee and Dan's house (2 hours north) to help with some building projects. We both accomplished something (I think) and had a good time. It was nice for me to just get away and have a break from school. Below Rion's pictures are some of my favorite pictures I took while I was playing with baby Sophie.

Rion Tomas Jenson - 7 Months

2010-06-04T21:24:00.000-07:00

We had lots of fun with Rion last weekend. Lars, Alyssha, Rion, and Tana came to visit for Memorial Day weekend. These are just a few of the pictures I took. We had fun with Lars, Alyssha, and Tana too.
We watched movies, ate, went on a picnic, ate, visited, ate, did genealogy, ate, etc. Do you think we ate a lot? Well, Tana likes to cook, so when she's home, it seems like we're always eating because she's always cooking. It' great!

All ready for bed

2010-06-04T21:23:00.000-07:00

Rion playing in the bathtub

2010-06-04T21:22:00.000-07:00

What a handsome boy

2010-06-04T21:21:00.000-07:00

Sophie's little feet and Grandpa's big thumbs

2010-06-04T21:13:00.000-07:00

Sophie snuggling with Grandpa

2010-06-04T21:12:00.000-07:00

Sophie and her mom

2010-06-04T21:10:00.000-07:00

Gardening - Did you know?

2010-04-18T14:55:00.000-07:00

Did you know that green peppers don't like "Miracle Gro"? According to a gardening expert in our ward, it slows the plant down.

Did you know that inserting toothpicks down into the ground next to the stems of your tomato plants on opposite sides will keep cut worms from killing your plants? They cannot wrap themselves around the plant tight enough to suck the life from it.

Did you know that newly planted vegetables like sugar and Epsom salt? Put a cup of sugar and a half cup Epsom salt around each plant. The sugar will kill the nematodes (whatever they are) and adds sweetness to the tomatoes. The Epsom salt is magnesium, which helps the plants.

Did you know that if you keep a tuna can by each cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, or brussel sprouts plant, as well as at the end of each row, the earwigs will not infest them. Put about 1/2" of cooking oil in each can to catch and kill th earwigs. The older the oil the better. Clean and reuse as needed

Well, that's my gardening wisdom. Actually, a good gardener in our ward gave this advice in a relief society activity about gardening. He says it works for him. We are contemplating planting a few things by our trees that are fenced. Apparently, we are not going to have raised beds in time to plant. So far, I haven't planted any flowers, but my little flowering pear tree has some cute white blossoms as you can see in this picture. It's amazing that it still lives after the deer scraped half the bark off of it!

2010-04-04T06:31:00.000-07:00

Well, we woke up to some new snow this morning! 7am, 24 deg. and looks to be about 3 inches on the lawn. Somebody in history was smart enough to color the eggs for a reason!!!!! It's also good camouflage for the Easter bunny, as long as he's a white one! Terry is still snug in bed, so I had to get this on the blog and I forgot to log in on my name. It's going to say posted by Terry, but it really wasn't.

2010-04-03T22:21:00.000-07:00

When you were a child, who dyed the Easter eggs in your household? Who hid the eggs? Did you get a new Easter outfit every year?

When I was a child, we had a great time on Easter. We always helped my mom dye the eggs the day before with the usual different cups with different colors. It seems like we used food coloring and vinegar when I was really young, but switched to the pre-made tablets later. We made them colorful like this picture. When we were done, one egg was chosen as the prize egg.

My parents hid the eggs outside (we lived in California) and the prize egg was always hidden in an extra hard-to-find place. Some candy was hidden also, but not much. Whoever found the prize egg actually got a prize (present). It was usually a toy of some kind.

We didn't ever get an Easter outfit that I remember. About the only time we got new clothes was just before school started.

I am tagging Alyssha, Brooke L., and Dave to answer these same questions on their blogs. I'm not sure if that's the right way to tag people, but you get the message.

2010-03-28T15:55:00.000-07:00

This was one of our Buddies that came through in the fall. He showed up one evening, on the front sidewalk. He wouldn't stay in one place long enough to put Christmas lights on him. How typical of a Deer to do that! He did stay put long enough to leave a pile of fertilizer for the lawn, but it's all in one spot! We just can't get them trained to SPREAD IT OUT! Bad Deer.

My Landscape Design

2010-03-25T21:30:00.000-07:00

I'm taking a landscape design class independent study with a friend. I think I missed my profession in life (maybe). I should have been an architect or something.

Even though this says "Jenson Residence," it isn't really. We were just supposed to put that on the drawing. This isn't a traced drawing either. It's one of the drawings from the textbook that we had to redraw to scale. See all those curvy lines? Those took forever!

I think it turned out pretty cool if I do say so myself. Now I'm working on a "Site Map" of our own house. It's just the basic house with sidewalks, fences, rocks, etc., but no plants. That will come later. Then we have to analyze the property to see what changes need to be made. It will be fun to see how it all turns out. I hope we'll actually be able to improve and add to our yard, although it probably will take a few years. I can't wait to learn about all of the plants and flowers, but that comes after the midterm, which we are beginning to study for now.

MY (JIM'S) turn to post something

2010-03-24T20:20:00.000-07:00

This picture was taken in ST. George a couple of years ago. I shot with that group all winter, it was nice down there. No snow, sunshine, and almost Spring like.
This was in Cedar City, at a regular monthly match. "Doc Nelson" is timing me.
This was last summer at the Springville range. We had a "Evil Roy" shoot. We all dressed up like one of our world champions named "Evil Roy". You can guess what he wears I think. The shooter to my left in "Justice Law". He is a friend of mine from Orem. He is also a Police Officer there.
The "Evil Roy" shot again. Here I'm counting for another shooter. The closed fist means he shot "clean" or didn't miss any shots.
This is a Posse picture from our "State Black Powder Shoot" in Price, last summer.

Terry says, I needed to put SOMETHING on our blog. Ya, it's MY turn I guess. So................there it goes. I put some Cowboy Action Shooting pictures on here, that my change her mind about MY turn.

Christmas 2009

2010-01-10T22:05:00.000-08:00

Four of our children were home for Christmas this year, and we had a lot of fun. On Christmas Eve, we decorated gingerbread houses, although Jim and I made a gingerbread train. What a mess it all was, but remember how much fun it was to play in the mud? This was almost as good.

On Christmas day we had a baby blessing at our house. Lars blessed his son Rion. It was really nice, and we had a turkey dinner afterwards. Of course, the food was great! It's just too bad Rion wasn't old enough to enjoy it!

The day after Christmas we had a baby shower for Brooke (Jenson) Lott. She isn't due until April, but they were here visiting, so we had the shower. Two of her friends from high school came and stayed the whole time and just visited. It was an open house, so the other people came and went. She got a lot of cute clothes, but we hope it's really a girl because most of the clothes are pink. The ultrasound people said they thought it was a girl, but they also said Rion was a girl when they had their first ultrasound. Brooke also had two other showers in Orem and Salt Lake with Dave's family and friends. This baby is not going to go naked that's for sure!

New Grandchildren

2009-11-06T20:24:00.000-08:00

We are so excited! Our #6 grandchild was born October 21, 2009 (Rion Tomas Jenson), and #7 will be born next April. Someone once said that grandchildren are the reward for putting up with your children. I didn't often feel like I was just "putting up" with my children, but grandchildren are definitely a blessing. I just wish we got to see them more often.

All of Us (except Tana) - 1992

2009-04-11T21:27:00.000-07:00

All of Us - Dec 2007

2009-04-11T21:22:00.000-07:00

Here We Are!!!

2009-04-11T21:04:00.001-07:00

This is our first attempt at blogging. Won't our kids be amazed! We wrote in big font so we could actually see what we wrote. We don't know what to write about yet, but we'll think of something. For now, we'll just add some pictures.