The Card

Just a few head-swaps, and we got ourselves THE CARD!

Family Festivities

Our annual Jenson Christmas Party is always a big deal for my kids. They should have made a paper chain the way the ask me what day it is everyday until the party! Delicious food, family, gifts, music....and pure CHAOS :)
After dinner, my dad gives us a "true meaning of Christmas" presentation, then it's my moms beloved talent show. The kids all get to take turns performing. Logan played a piano duet of "Jingle Bells" with my mom, Carly sang and danced to "Party in the USA", and Chase played "Hot Cross Buns" on the piano. We had singing, dancing, gymnastics, jokes, trombone, clarinet, piano...you name it, we had it! My mom even guilted us kids to sing together for old times sake.

Then it was onto the white elephant. There were 28 of us, so this took all night. Unwrapping, stealing, trading, oh the fun! Well, for some of us. This little one didn't really like the stealing part!

Where all the lights are bright....

Carly and I had tickets to The Nutcracker, so we decided to make a weekend of it and check the whole family into a hotel suite downtown. We went swimming then headed back to the room to get ready for our big night! Neither of us have seen the Nutcracker before, and she's been in ballet for three years now. I was excited for her to see a real ballet performance...and so was she!

We sat on the second row, and she loved every minute of it. But if you ask her what it was about, she'll say, "it's about a little boy and a little girl who pretend to be married". Miss Liz (the student teacher that gives the demonstrations in her ballet class) was the snow queen, so that was pretty cool too. Still, the most important part of all was that she got to wear her new dress, except we forgot her shoes, so she had to wear her boots. She thought people were going to laugh at her...they didn't! We curled her hair, and I let her put on my lipgloss and perfume - FaNcY :)

While we were at the ballet, Frank took the boys to dinner and a show downtown. We all met up again at the hotel. The kids loved the little things:

CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST

COOKIES IN THE LOBBY

THIER OWN TV AND BED

THE ELEVATOR

SWIMMING POOL

HOT TUB (rolling in the snow first!)

DOWNTOWN!

JAZZ HANDS!!

Ballet

Carly had her annual "Christmas Lecture Demonstration" yesterday. Sounds Fun!!! JK - sounds totally NOT fun. They should really come up with a better name. This is where the parents are invited to come watch their tiny dancer do the lesson, stretches, etc. At the end they do a little dance.

I was NOT a dancer, so to me, ballet just looks like a lot of prancing around - not really dancing (I'm used to SYTYCD!) So, I was glad to see that when the instructor asked if anyone could show her what a ___________ (some crazy french ballet word) was, Carly raised her hand high then pointed her toe in front lifted her leg straight up, brought it down to the point then back together, I knew she must be learning something! She knows all the posistions, and I like the discipline - she doesn't get much at home - I'd rather pay someone else :)

This is her third year, and the only problem is JAZZ! They have to have 2 years of ballet before they can ADD jazz, so we started it this year and she LOVES it - all that booty shakin - what's not to love? I told her that she has to keep taking ballet so she'll be good at Jazz and she says "I'm really good at jazz", so I tell her, "it's because you've been taking ballet", and it goes back and forth. We'll see what happens! I can't really talk to Frank about it because he thinks it's all just a big waste of time :(...and lets not forget money!

VICTORY!

I've always wondered what Frank does for fun when he goes out of town...especially when it's to CEDAR CITY...seriously, what do people do there? Well, I found out. They eat....and they eat....and they eat so that they can get a free burger, a t-shirt, and have their picture posted on the wall of fame! So, Frank had a little friendly competition with a couple co-workers and came out the victor! I'M SO PROUD...

MISSION: To finish a hamburger with six 1/3 lb beef patties (that's 2lbs of hamburger), six pieces of bacon, six slices of cheese, the bun, AND a plate full of fries within an hour! He doesn't look well :(

He finished everything in 31 minutes. The other "lightweights" :) couldn't finish...their pictures were hung on the wall of SHAME! Funny thing is, he was 2 lbs lighter the next day...weird. Maybe I should try that weightloss tactic. Sounds a lot more fun than grilled chicken and veggies every night! All I'm sayin is next time I'm there with Frank it's GAME ON!

Stacy's Day

So, last year, all Stacy wanted for her birthday was to go shopping for clothes - WITHOUT KIDS(or husband)! I spoiled her so rotten, that she wanted to do it again this year. This time we met some of her friends at Brick Oven, then started our shopping extravaganza. I was her personal shopper, picking out clothes (she wouldn't normally pick out), putting complete outfits together, hanging up the clothes, getting new sizes - the whole trip was about HER (anyone who knows me, knows this is hard...I LOVE TO SHOP FOR ME!!). Don't worry, I managed to sneak a few "try-on's" myself :) We then got her dolled up in her new duds to meet her husband and her friends for a birthday dinner at The Mandarin - SO FUN!...but party's over :(

Happy Birthday to ??????

THE BEST SISTER EVER!!

So, me and Stacy weren't always close...it's just a fact. She had her friends, and I had mine. When she went away to college at BYU, I think she actually missed me! It surprised me too, but I welcomed her new acceptance with open arms. She'd have me sing at her church, invite me for sleepovers, and even hung out with her and Cade when they started dating.

After she got married, we kinda lived separate lives again. She was doing the married thing...I was doing the single thing. Then I was doing the married thing while she started the kid thing. Once we were BOTH having kids, we started talking on the phone daily (she was even on the phone when I took the positive pregnancy test for Logan!). She lived in Arizona, and I was here. I missed her, and visited her as much as I could. I moved to Boise and it seemed we'd never get to live by eachother again.

Well, five years later, we moved back, and a year after that, they did too! We started a business of hair accessories for little girls that gave us even more reason to hang out every day. We hung out at boutiques, designed our booth, made the products (usually while watching re-runs of So You Think You Can Dance) started the website, designed a logo, and met lots of people! I have LOVED having her in my life. She's helped me through everything. She ALWAYS makes me laugh...and everyone else. I know that I can go over any time of the day, and just "chill". It's the best...SHE'S THE BEST!

Diet Coke, So You Think You Can Dance, Twilight, Weezer Concert, Lava Hot Springs, Zoo, Provo River Half Marathon, Making Chocolates, Family Parties, Decorating, Painting, SHOPPING, Dressing Up, Singing to Kelly Clarkson, Speed Scrabble, 4th of July, The Pretty Petal, Baptisms, Sharing Primary Chorister calling, and now Young Womens, Bunco, Abba Concert, Movies, Days in PJ's, Cinnamon Bears and all sorts of treats, looooooooong talks, and tons of advise :)

Thanks for the good times!

***HAPPY BIRTHDAY STACY***

Hooray for Heroes!

Saturday was our ward Christmas breakfast. It was the usual....very well attended, long lines, tons of food, ward talent show, kids running around everywhere, and me and Frank pretending we don't know. All in all, a pretty good time.....EXCEPT, when everyone was cleaning up, Carly's poor balloon got stranded in the rafters :( sniffle...sniffle. Actually, it was more than a sniffle. I would have told her to deal with it, and get her to the car as quick as possible. Good thing she has this hunky little hero wrapped around her pretty little finger! He got the tallest ladder he could find and rescued the poor balloon :) All is well....

Centerpieces!

I was asked to teach a mini class on inexpensive holiday centerpieces. I wanted to come up with centerpieces and place settings with stuff I already had. I also wanted to create 4 totally different looks and color schemes. Here's what I came up with...(YES, I gave them each their own name :))

"SwEeT ChRiStMaS"

Green satin cloth tied in a knot, palce setting is a silver charger, red sparkle charger, valentine plate (target), green bowl (dollar tree), green napkin, tall goblet. Center piece were 3 apothecary jars. One with soft peppermints, one with cinnamon bears, and the other with cranberries and limes. lids topped with ribbon I tied to elastic.

"Family Traditions"

White cloth with brown topper on a diagonal. Place setting is gold charger (target), white dishes with gold trim (dollar tree), ornaments with ribbon for place cards, and white napkin in goblet. Centerpiece is a large gold glass plate with bell jar filled with gold/brown ornaments.

"A Rustic Holiday"

Tablecloth was a piece of burlap, place setting was wood platter as charger (DI), cranberry plate (Walmart), cream plate, pinecome for place card, and napkin was just a cut piece of fabric. Centerpiece is a wooden pedestal bown (DI) filled with apples, red pears, pinecones, and cranberries with tall sticks coming out center.

"COOL YULE"

White table cloth, silver charger, blue plate (dollar tree), gift for place card, and white napkin in goblet. Centerpiece was a silver 3-tiered tray (TJ Maxx) filled with gifts (really anything out of my pantry that was the right size) and silver ornaments atop a silver framed mirror.

FUN FUN!

A Chocolate Tradition...

My mom's family in Canada has had a tradition of making chocolates for as long as anyone can remember. It's an art that has been altered and perfected over the years...serious business. I'm not kidding! Since we don't live in Canada to join the girl party over there, we had to start our own here in the states. I thought it would be fun for Carly to come with me this year - get her goin!

I saw the cutest aprons at Anthropologie. What I loved about them was how much they looked like real clothes. So I had a thought!....why don't I take a shirt I don't wear anymore, and convert it into aprons for me and Carly....a CrAzY thought since I only learned how to thread a machine a few months ago. But, what the heck? So here's the shirt pre deconstruction...

You can laugh at the pose if you want, but Frank already did...for a while, and I don't care!

Daughter/Mommy

For the "mommy" apron, I popped off the buttons, sewed it together, cut off the collar, cut a v-neck, cut off the back and arms, bought a coordinating fabric for the skirt, used the belt as a waist tie, added a white ruffle trim for halter, ruffles at the bottom, used th arm ties for faux pockets, and added a bling button - all the embellishments really help hide the fact that I can't sew a straight line!

For the "daughter" apron, I had this idea that the collar would look really cute as a little flap for the front. The collar was too long, so I just cut one smaller using the fabric from the back of the shirt. I added ribbon trim and two pearl buttons. I made a belt to match mine, faux pockets like mine, and ruffled bottom. It was a lot of fun...took way too much time :)

We each had to make two batches of fondant prior. While making it, I think I said out loud "this is so stupid, this is so stupid, this is so stupid" about 20 times! Fondant is not easy, and not quick. My palms were bruised, and I had 2 wooden spoon casualties. It's all worth it though, right? All in the name of TRADITION! The next day, we met at my moms at 8:30, and didn't leave the kitchen until 8:30 PM!

AND HERE'S THE FINAL PRODUCT!

Let's Talk...

Let's talk about the REAL faces of Family Picutres...

These are just 4 of about 400 photos of Logan giving "stink eye". Turns out he couldn't smile because of his loose tooth....yep, loose tooth. In this photo, I'm nudging him in the back, and frank's threatening him through his teeth...happy, right? When threats didn't work, we tried bribary...Spaghetti Factory, rest of the day off school, even Lagoon! Stubbon kid - nothing worked.


So, Frank told Logan that he could pick mom or dad to take him on a quick walk...you can guess who he picked :) During our little heart to heart, I gently told him that if he couldn't smile, I would sell his wii on KSL to pay for the photo shoot that he ruined. Tears came flowing, and I told him "see...you can cry just fine with your loose tooth, just do that without the tears, and it'll be great!" Well, Carly's no dummy. She saw all this attention Logan was getting and decided she wanted a little for herself. So we got another couple hundred pictures with Carly like this...

Well, Carly doens't have a loose tooth, so what possible excuse should she have? The picture below is her explaining to us that the reason she wasn't smililng was because she DIDN'T WANT TO GO TO LAGOON! Seriously.

I won't lie - Chase was a pretty happy fella. Chase loves a good pose - that was the only issue (I'll take it!). All sorts of "broadway-esque" expressions. But overall, he was pretty easy...

Since faces were NOT working for us, we tried other more attractive features...

like our feet...

or LEGS...

We decided to give the kids a break by letting them play on the trains camera free (well...almost).

Meanwhile me and Frank had our own little private photo shoot - I know Frank's been looking forward to this for a long time ;) I even made it into a wedding announcement just to be funny!

Turns out a little playtime was just what the kids needed. Too bad that was like an hour and a half into the shoot! By then, me and Frank were D-O-N-E...

AHHHH...the joys of family picture day. Thanks Jodi for your PATIENCE! And for giving me all the out-takes. They make me smile :)

Baptism Day

Chase was so excited when he "passed" his baptism interview a few weeks ago. He went around telling everyone..."I passed"! We were all a little worried he might not make it ;)




These were taken BEFORE the baptism. He got his new scriptures with his name on it - way cool! The baptism was special, but what even made it MORE special was that he got to share the day with his best friend Allie. They were the only two in the whole stake getting baptized that day. They have been best buds since we moved here 5 years ago. They are SO cute! I couldn't help but giggle when they were on the stand together the next day sharing a hymn book singing their little hearts out! They were adorable, and just in case they end up tying the knot one day, I thought I'd take a quick shot of them in their formal attire - perfect for their wedding video...





Allie's brother gave the talk and my 5-year old niece Hannah sang "When I am Baptized". It was really sweet. Allie and Chase were fighting about who would be batized first (they fight like siblings). Allie won of course! Frank baptized Chase who gasped for air when he came up - HE NEVER PUTS HIS HEAD UNDER WATER. I was glad there wasn't a panic attack!

After the baptism, my niece Emma sang "Since this is counts as my family history too, I'm going to quickly list the guests who came to support Chase: Grandma and Grandpa Jenson, Stacy & Cade Seeley Family, Brad & Kalisa Jenson Family, Grandma Lancaster, Marsha Lancaster, Rick & Wendy Stringer, teachers Velma Clark, and Evelyn Gowans, Nora Maxwell, Bishop Devashrayee, Ashley & Gideon Cook, Sister Horiuchi, and all of our family of course!

I was thinking of all sorts of menu's, but Chase insisted on Pizza. Since it was HIS day, I wasn't going to argue (and because it would be WAY easy). We just ordered a bunch of Pappa John Pizza's and set it out buffet style. I made a big salad, lemonade, and VOILA!