2006 Jensen History

Wow, here it is almost Christmas time again when we get the opportunity to share our love and greetings with you all! Here is a run-down on the Jensen events for the past year...

The biggest event of the year was the birth of our sixth child – Joshua Joseph Jensen – born in the wee hours of the morning on Easter Sunday. He followed his two brother’s example of a quick delivery – only he beat them both, making his grand entrance into world just seven minutes after arriving at the hospital. So now we have evened out our family with three girls and three boys (and yes, we feel that our family is complete!)

Josh is a good-natured baby and a joy to be around. He is almost eight months old and crawls all over the place, including up the stairs. He loves to put anything in his mouth that he can get a hold on and comforts himself by sucking on his two middle fingers. 

We blessed Josh on June 4th. We were grateful that we were able to have some family come down for Josh’s blessing.  Grandma Jensen knows short-hand and has been able to take-down all of the blessings of our kids (and the other grand-kids) and we are grateful for that! Josh looked so cute in his little white tuxedo and was so good – he slept through almost all of the meetings!  

Jaiden is 2 ½ and charms everyone she meets with her blonde hair, enormous blue eyes and long dark eye-lashes. She loves to squeeze baby Josh (way too tight) and keeps us always on the go. If we don’t keep a constant eye on her, she will emerge with marker all over her arms and legs and toothpaste or make-up smeared all over her face. Her favorite phrase is, “No, I do it myself!” She says the cutest things and can sing all of the songs to “High School Musical,” thanks to her big sister, Janika, who constantly plays the music CD. 

Janelle is 4 fours old and absolutely LOVES her first year of pre-school! Like her little sister, she also knows the entire repertoire of “High School Musical” and can sing every song word for word at the top of her lungs. She is very sensitive and tender hearted (sandwiched between mischievous Jaiden and Jared).  We are happy to report that Janelle finally kicked the dreaded “thumb-sucking” habit thanks to some awful tasting stuff her dad put on her nails. (It only took about three days to kick the habit!) Janelle and Jaiden get along very well (most of the time) and are wonderful playmates for each other.

Jared is six years old. We are amazed at the strides he made this year in school.  He claims that he is the “second smartest kid in his class” and from what we’ve observed, we are apt to believe him! He played soccer for the first time this past year and was definitely up to the challenge! We are happy that for the most part he has stopped teasing Janelle and they actually get along quite well most of the time. He is quite the performer (although somewhat unpredictable) and was the youngest member of our Christmas performing group, “Little Hands.” 

Jase just turned nine years old and is also a great little singer and performer in “Little Hands.” Jase helps a lot with his younger sisters and feeds them breakfast almost every morning (okay, so it’s only cold cereal, but hey, works for us!) His current passion is “Yu Gi Oh!” cards. Luckily I was able to get a huge bag of them at a garage sale and can use them to “encourage” him to get his chores done in a reasonable amount of time. Jase also does great in school and LOVES playing with friends and enjoys soccer, scouting, and playing speed (basketball).

Janika just turned eleven. She and her best friend are also in “Little Hands.” She is a great little performer as well and has even done a few radio commercials! Some of Janika’s favorite past-times included singing, reading, cooking, playing speed (basketball), and e-mail! She is a wonderful help with the kids and is finally at the age where we can leave her alone with the kids for short periods at a time. She loves to bake cookies and bring them to people and she often cooks meals for the family. Janika is very caring and always includes everyone. She told us that she doesn’t want any presents for Christmas this year but would like to donate the money to those in need instead. 

Janika is very smart in school and does great in all her subjects. Janika does have one little struggle and that is getting out the door on time (she loves her nice warm bed and also likes flit around all morning). But we’ve learned that if we get everyone else in the car and pull out front and honk a couple of times, and then she usually manages to pull everything together fairly quickly. She runs out with an armful of homework, shoes, hair-brush and half eaten toast hanging out of her mouth, but she makes it! 

I (Wendy) attempt to keep my sanity while trying to keep up with everyone’s schedules, homework loads, extra-curricular activities, cooking, cleaning, and endless loads of laundry! We had 9:00 church this year and Rick often had meetings before church which left me scrambling to get myself and six young children ready for church on time! Thank goodness for Janika's help! I served as cub-master  and was really nervous about hosting big events such as the Pinewood Derby. Thankfully I was saved by my brother-in-law, Grayson, who came down from West Jordan with his electronic Pinewood Derby track to run it for us! It was a huge success and I was so grateful!

I volunteer once a week in Jared's class and still do freelance interpreting for the Deaf (if I can find someone to watch the kids). I taught a night class in American Sign Language at Dixie College (and SLCC) before that for over 11 years, but finally decided that life was too busy with six children to keep it up and made the decision not to teach any more after this year. 

I am still having fun with my e-books; however, and made an audio recording of my Sign Language for Babies and Beyond book and also wrote a new book this year on parenting. I write a free parenting newsletter on the Internet (which has almost 10,000 subscribers) and receive responses from all over the world. I am glad it is all over e-mail so that no one hears just how loud and chaotic my household really is! Although it is hectic, I love being a stay-at-home Mom and love spending time with my kids and hubby! 

Rick must have decided that he wasn’t quite busy enough being the father of six children, teaching Seminary, serving as Elder’s Quorum President, and directing a musical group, because he also decided to go back to school for his Ph.D. (in marriage, family, and human development). He is taking the classes through USU extension over Ednet and we are hoping to move up North to Logan (except for Janika who is reading this over my shoulder and loudly protesting) in order to finish his schooling there. 

We had a lot of trips and activities over the summer! For Father's Day Flee this year we chose to go camping at a campground in Manti that had showers, bathrooms, swimming, pool, and a playground. This year our theme was: "Establish a house of learning.....even a house of God." (D&C 109). We invited Curtis and Steph Healey and their kids to come along with us on our adventure this year.  During our two day stay, we had four different lessons geared toward the ages of the children. It was both fun and spiritual!

In July Rick and I were session directors for an EFY Session in Arizona and brought baby Josh with us. Gerilyn came to babysit the kids for the week and brought Madee with her. Our kids had a great time with them! EFY was wonderful and Rick did an awesome job on all of his talks! I loved spending time with him and all of the youth fawned all over Josh and thought he was the cutest!

A few days after EFY Rick left back East as a tour guide on a ten day church history tour. He said that it was a great experience, albeit exhausting! Meanwhile I had all of the kids to care for and was grateful that my mom and dad came to help for a few days! A few days after Rick returned it was my turn to get a little break from the kids and so Rick brought the kids (except for the baby) up North to stay in a time share condo at Jeremy Ranch near Park City for a week!  

In October I wanted to go up North for some family events. I knew Rick wouldn't be too keen on going and so I gathered up all six kids and went without him! I went to Derek and Danielle's bridal shower Friday night while Gerilyn watched the kids. The next day we went to Ogden for a small Halloween party (including the traditional scary dinner). The big family party wouldn't be for a couple more weeks but Grandma Jensen was kind enough to throw a special party just for us (and a few cousins who could come) while we were in town. The kids loved it! Then Sunday on October 8th we went to Rella's baby blessing. So it was a fun family-filled weekend! 

November our family went up North to Derek and Danielle's wedding. The kids were jamming out to "High School Musical" on the way there! It was a beautiful wedding and neat to be able to hold Rick's hand and reflect on our own wedding 12 years ago!

 

This year we finished our sandbox and the kids LOVED playing in it! They also loved jumping in the leaves in the Fall!

Since Rick was taking classes towards a Ph.D., we decided not to do the Hands in Harmony Carolers this year. Instead, we put together a little family group consisting of Rick, Wendy, our three oldest children, and Janika’s best friend, Madison Barney. We are in the middle of performances right now and have received a wonderful response from them. Rick only booked a dozen performances instead of the 40-60 performances that the carolers usually had each year. 

We

Well, that's about it! We are so thankful for family and friends and the peace that comes through the gospel of Jesus Christ. We invite you to find this same peace and joy through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. We love you!