Bottle It Up

If only we could bottle the joy and excitement of Christmas morn!

Got the Beat

These two are each now proud owners of Ipod Nanos. Boy is it ever complicated having 3 Ipods (mine included) on one computer! I spent most of Christmas Day trying to separate our music libraries. I am hoping Jared will soon become the master mind of the computer and solve all of my computer problems.

Let's Roll!

Sam's favorite Christmas gift by far is roller skates from Audrey. He rolls all around the house on the hardwood floor and even walks up and down the stairs wearing his skates. Does that sound like an accident waiting to happen or what?

Mexican Tradition

I had to snap a picture of Mike's mom making homemade tortillas. I love to watch her pat and shape the dough into yummy fluffy tortillas. Our Christmas traditions include making ham, potatoes, and orange rolls on Christmas Eve. To honor our Danish heritage,(both Christensen and Jensen) we make abelskivers or buttermilk pancake puffs for breakfast. Then later on Christmas Day, we eat Mexican food. Yum!

Christmas with the Christensens

Instead of gifts, we bought Mike's parents plane tickets to Washington for Christmas this year. They flew in on Christmas Day and joined us in time for Christmas dinner :).

A "Real" Piano Teacher

I have been teaching Sam piano for about 3 months now. He is very eager to learn and catches on very quickly. However, he recently asked when he was going to get a "real" piano teacher besides his mom. For now he is stuck with me! In December he and I played a fabulous duet of "Jingle Bells" for lots of holiday visitors.

Feliz Navidad

My kids love to get out the sombreros and do the Mexican hat dance...



...It all started last spring when we had a Mexican fiesta to celebrate the birthdays of Audrey and Sam. I bought 3 sombreros and they have been wearing the hats and dancing ever since.




For Christmas this year Grandma and Grandpa Jensen sent a chiaua singing "Feliz Navidad." It has truly been one of their favorite gifts. Grace is particularly fond of it and even sleeps with "Paco."

Christmas Recital

Audrey delighted us with a beautiful performance of "Angels We Have Heard on High" at a recent Christmas recital performance. She and her teacher, Melanie Kurtzbein, played a lovely duet.

I'm not cute I'm "Dace"

Ever since this little grasshopper of a girl was well, knee-high to a grasshopper she has been labeled as CUTE (certainly not a bad label). At least 3 times daily her siblings ask, "Who's the cutest?" The trained response for Grace is:"ME!" But lately, she is fed up with this CUTE stuff. The other day I told Grace she was CUTE (I couldn't resist, she deserved it). In response, Grace replied, "I'm not cute, I'm Dace (Grace)!"

Inspired by Nature

Most of you know that I LOVE nature and I am particularly fond of the forest behind our home. I also have several bird houses and a squirrel feeder so we can watch our wooded friends from our windows. This year I decided to go green and woodsy in my holiday decor. Our tree has a Pacific Northwest woods theme. Audrey and I even went on a walk in the woods to collect pine cones, moss, and berries to our tree. This is our Christmas tree inspired by nature.



My hedge hog is guarding the presents under the tree. No peeking!

Merry Birthday!

Mike is 37 years old today. I count my lucky stars that this dark and handsome man came into my life. My life is so blessed because of him. He is a wonderful husband and father and provides so well for our family. I love you, Mike! I am so glad that you were born. Several years ago Mike received a birthday card that said, "Merry Birthday, Happy Christmas!" So TRUE.

Charlie Brown Christmas

So I told Jared I would buy a him tree for his room (Sam and Audrey already had one) and this is what he picked! This little "FrankenPINE" beauty is truly an ode to "A Charlie Brown Christmas." The guys at the tree lot actually drilled a hole into the bottom trunk to morph two trees into one. Now that's classy!

Give Thanks

I am thankful for many things...foremost my loving husband and wonderful children as well as good parents and close siblings. I am also thankful for my health and for my faith that allows me to get through tough times. I am grateful for a warm home and clothes to wear and a reliable care to drive. And lastly, I am so grateful to know of my Heavenly Father's love and to recognize these blessings in my life.



And best of all, I am grateful for good friends (the Largeys)and good food to share with with them. Thanks for the YUMMMY pies Jeremy!



We love Spicy Farkle! Largeys taught us how to play this fun dice game on Thanksgiving. My family cannot get enough of this game!

A Kingsolver Affair

Friday night I went with some of the girls from my book club to hear Barbara Kingsolver speak in Bainbridge Island. She was promoting her new book, The Lacuna, and read a few excerpts from the book. I have only read two of her books (Animal Vegetable Miracle was AWESOME), but she has written 13 books, all of them very different. It was very interesting to hear her explain how she writes a book. She actually has the ending of the story in mind before she begins and fills in characters that are capable of reaching this conclusion. Also, she believes that we can gain empathy in reading books since we internalize what the characters are feeling as we read. Very cool. I even got an autographed copy of her new book. Hope it is a good read.

Say Cheese

Today I made cheese quesadillas for lunch; Grace only nibbled one little bite off the corner of hers before she scurried off to play. I smiled to myself and thought, yep, that's my mousie girl. Minnie Mouse was the perfect Halloween costume for little Grace.

Sam Strikes Back

Sam is all about Star Wars. He bought the blaster gun last spring after riding the Star Tours ride at Disney World. The obvious costume choice was none other than a storm trooper.

Ape Goes Bananas

Jared and Audrey have a strange affection for monkeys and bananas. They were quite amused with themselves on Halloween and really hammed it up for the camera. All but Grace enjoyed watching their shenanigans. Grace howled in fear if the ape was anywhere near her sight.

Here Banana hangs from the tree...



Much to Banana's horror, Ape now has her in his clutches.

Jake and Serena are married!

Jake and Serena were married last Saturday in the Timpanogos Temple. They are such a handsome couple and it was so neat to see them sealed in the temple. Hope you are ready for a major bombardment of pictures. I tried and tried to upload one of my famous Smilebox slide shows, but I couldn't get it to work. I have at least a zillion pictures; the following are just the HIGHLIGHTS!

One Swinging Time

The kids spent the entire reception romping on the grass and swinging on the playground. They hardly knew that they were at a formal event.

One Great Party

Mom and Pops pulled off one really great party at their home. The reception was held the night before the wedding and so the bride and groom could save more important things for the day of their marriage. Wink. wink. Oh, and did I mention the cake buffet? YUM! I think I gained at least 10 lb. that night.

Putting on the Glam and Glitter

Try to imagine the bride, the groom, 3 married couples, and 10 grand kids all getting ready at my parents' house. Complete CHAOS! Thank goodness for Mandy; she is really talented with hair and make-up. In no time at all, she had us all gussied up and pretty for the reception.

Silly Kids

The girls went wild at the temple grounds and starting chasing Sam all over the lawn. Notice how he is running with his hands in his pockets because he is trying to hold up his drawers. He forgot to wear a belt!



Sam and Daphne had fun paling around at the reception. They thought they were pretty funny with these roses between their teeth. The reception was held at Mom and Dad's home; there were roses everywhere--so pretty.

Sammy steals the show!

Sam really stole the show when he showed up to the temple in black and white converse shoes and a black bow tie. He thought he was pretty hot stuff! Serena's sister and roommate stayed with the kids while we were at the temple and so they got ready on their own.



Speaking of hot stuff, these boys are a good-looking bunch.

Flower Girls Galore

Serena had plenty of flower girls to go around. There are 10 grand kids on the Jensen side and 7 of them are girls!