EQUATION FOR FUN

One big BEACH HOUSE with a private POOL + all of the Jensen COUSINS= BIG TIME FUN! 

By the way, Audrey, my little swimming mermaid, took all of the underwater pictures her SELF!  Since starting swim team last winter, she has grown a set of gills.  The 'Y' swim team season is now in full swing.    I'm excited to watch her and the other Hammerheads compete!

JENSENS ReUNITED!

WE ARE SO EXCITED!  

Mom and Dad recently returned from serving a two-year LDS mission in Denmark! 

They headed straight for the beach.   Well, kind of.  

Every single member of the Jensen family REUNITED in Duck, North Carolina August 12-18 for a fun-filled week at the beach.  Stay tuned for more posts with highlights of all the action.

Don't you love our matching black tees with a J for Jensen on the front?  Check out the back too. 

Special thanks to Ben and Mandy for designing our very hip and original reunion t-shirts.    I bet nobody else has a viking surfing beside a Nordic ship on THEIR back!

Berry Pickin' Cousins

This summer my sister's house in Alexandria, VA was a mere 5-hour drive from our place in Jacksonville, NC.  In the hottest part of July her air conditioning broke which forced her to flee to the cool confines of our ultra-air conditioned apartment.  Lucky me!   One morning during her visit we loaded the van with our kids and headed out to the blueberry farm.  

This picture is yet another of my favorites.   Grace is so stinking pleased with her bucket of blueberries.  

Berries are so YUMMY AND BEAUTIFUL too!  

I adore this picture of Lucy or Lulu as Grace calls her.  I love the serene expression on her face and I can't get over that hat!  The navy blue ribbon with white polka dots is just right for picking blueberries. Don't you agree?

All this talk of blueberries is making me hungry!  You have got to try the DIVINE blueberry crumb bars we made in honor of our blueberry picking excursion.  I am certain that BLACKBERRY crumb bars would be equally tempting.  Let me know if you try!  Find the recipe HERE

Just Beachy

This summer was quite practically perfect in my book.  We spent 6 weeks near the Southern Outer Banks of North Carolina.  Naturally we made lots of trips to the beach! On this hot and sunny day in July, Jared and Audrey were back in Washington attending church camps.  Mike and I got to spend some quality time with the younger half of our family which is always refreshing because they aren't nearly as hard to please as our teenagers!    

This has got to be one of my favorite photographs of the summer.  Two very excited beach bums boogie their way to the surf with boards in hand.  

It was so fun to see Sam and Grace pal around together while the "bigs" were away.  Sam tends to hang with the  older kids most of the time.  He was really sweet with his little sister and even played "Littlest Pet Shop" with G more times than he would like to remember.   Hopefully the bond will last.  Or was it just a summer "romance"???

Big 5!

I can hardly believe my baby is 5!  We celebrated BIG this year--I went all out on a puppy and kitty birthday bash.   As always I had lots of fun dreaming up a grand party scheme and then nearly killed myself trying to meet the deadline.  In some ways it was a good distraction since Mike is currently away on a 4-month job assignment in North Carolina.  But then again I nearly bit off more than I could chew given my busy schedule as a temporarily single mom.

Anyway, Grace was a pet shop owner for the day!  As each of her friends came to the party, they started at the pet adoption station.  Each child chose and named a pet.  Then they were able to buy pet supplies at Grace's Pet Shop.  Grace rang up her customers at the register and bagged their goods in her signature pet shop bags.

Next came the puppy obedience school and kitty care.  I taught them doggy tricks and showed them how to lick melted ice cream from a cat food bowl.  Too funny!  Also, they looked adorable in their kitty and puppy ears that I have been crafting over the past few weeks.  I love that Sam and his BFF, Grant got in on the fun.  Check out those two brown-eyed puppy dog boys!

Needless to say, I am pooped, but satisfied that Grace had such a fun 5th birthday party.  I have a feeling that we will be playing pet shop for weeks.  Thank goodness Daddy sent  G a new cash register as a gift. Special thanks to my buddy Shauna and her daughter, Madison for their help at the party.  Thanks to my big kids for their help too!

Happy Birthday, Grace!  

Sometimes You WIN, Sometimes You LOSE

Yep, I have to brag.  Yesterday Mike, Sam, and I participated in the Sweetheart Run on Naval Base Kitsap. My little Sammy, age 8, took first place in his age division (age 8-12 year) with a mile time of 6 minutes and 50 seconds.    He was 2nd place overall.  Only a 17-year old  boy could beat him.    

I took 2nd place in my category with a 5k time of 22 minutes and 32 seconds.  This is a personal record for me!!!!  PLUS, Mike and I took third place in the pairs division meaning that we had the third fastest combined time as a couple.  The prize was a tin of Dove chocolates.  Sweet!    

Now that brings me to the other part of my story....the Pinewood Derby Race.  Things didn't turn out so well for this race.  Sam was very excited to compete; he designed and constructed the car with very little help from his dad. Good ole' number 41 was a good looking car indeed, but not so fast.  I don't think it won a single heat! Just look at the picture below.  His car is the red one on the far right in last place.

  By the end of the night, the red racer was in 20th place.  Sam didn't let that get him down though.  He said, "well, at least I wasn't last."  I didn't have the heart to tell him that he was quite possibly the lowest man on the totem pole! I felt so bad I cried, but I felt much better after he competed in the Sweetheart Run.  'Cause you know, sometimes you WIN!

Christmas Cocoa

Each year at Christmas time, my Aunt Angela hosts a Christmas tea party for all the moms and daughters in our family living in Utah.  It is a really big event and all the girls come wearing their best over-the-top tea party attire (think of feather boas, white gloves, lots of  sparkle, and crazy hats). I have never actually been to one of these fun parties since I live too far away.  However, I decided that Grace and her girlfriends would enjoy having their own Christmas Cocoa this year.  

Hosting these girls was sheer delight.   I am certain we will do it again next year. In fact, I think we might just have a new Christmas tradition. Next year we'll invite the mommies too.  I better start working on my outfit!

The girls also made these adorable fingerprint reindeer ornaments.