Jensen Family Reunion 2010

48 hours before the Jensen Clan was to converge on "our" 4-H camp up near Tamarack, a violent storm ripped through Donnelly Idaho and left it looking like a war zone. Downed trees and power lines were everywhere and power remained out for thousands of residents. It quickly became clear that our Lake Cascade reunion was not going to happen at Lake Cascade.

The nice thing about Idaho is that it has many beautiful lakes, so in true Jensen fashion, a meeting was called and a new schedule was put into place last minute. The new plan had us staying in the Boise area but we still spent several days out on the lake. The downside to the new plan was that we were now scattered all over the valley instead of in one central location so wherever we went we had to pack in and pack out each day which exhausted me and many of the other parents. It was also a bummer not to be able to put the kids down in the cabins and have our usual adult nights playing games and visiting.

I feel like overall I was able to participate less and it took a lot more effort to do the activities... if that makes sense. It was a bit of a let down, I really look forward to visiting with these people! Nevertheless, the impromptu nature of it all turned out to be fun and worked out well, all things considered. Jensens' have fun no matter where they are!

Top of the list this summer was that Nathan took our older 3 wakeboarding. Kohen especially couldn't get enough and I am sure his Gpa Norm will have him skiing next summer. I was super nervous for Nathan to try it with our kids- knowing from experience how bad it hurts when you bite it wakeboarding- but I should've given Nathan's skills a little more credit. Kohen's first time up, after about 30 seconds he says, "So, you think we should jump?!" referring to the wake. Oh boy...
Enjoying each others company waiting patiently for turns out on the boat or on the jet skis.

One disappointment for Nathan and I and our kids was that we were moving from my sisters house to Nathan's sisters house the morning of the most awesome breakfast at Jeremy and Polly's house -or "Germany and Paul's" as my kids thought they overheard. Luckily we made it in time to still eat because it was insanely good. Like, Last Meal kind of good.

One of the best days was the Olympics. We full on took over Settlers park in Meridian this gorgeous day. Tons of competitions disguised as "games"- I had no idea the competitive family I was marrying into- no, more than that. We are the most competitive family I know, seeing as we are competitive about being competitive. Anyway! Here we have the starting line up for the water balloon toss.
And here Aly and Kim are trying out a new trick taught to them by the newest member of the fam, Kathy was actually in the circus so she had all sorts of cool gymnastic tricks- very fun!
The Tug of War was a favorite. Here we have our BYU football star against, what was it? 18 children? That is impressive, no?

My personal favorite Tug o War line up was women against men. We knew we had no chance so as soon as it started all of us women simply let go and landed all the guys on the ground. It was pretty funny, actually, really funny.
A little flag football...
Ander and Marianne- seeing the Bells was a highlight of the reunion for our little fam.
The kids with their marshmallow guns, seconds before they pelted all of their respective Grandpa's at pretty much point zero range.

Classic. CLASSIC!

The finale was a party in one of the nearby church gym's. Catered food- yum! Ginormous blow up obstacle courses, bouncy houses and slides, basketball, card games, crafts, backwards charades, bubble gum blowing contests, Minute to Win it games, and a rousing tournament of Dodgeball -remember that competitive spirit I mentioned? The above picture is 1. Proof that I played 2. Proof that I played fast and hard and 3. Proof that I am a liar, my camera sucks and the slightest motion causes blur... though hey- it can't be ruled out that I am not moving lightening fast while dodging a ball with perfectly split legs in what isn't pictured in this picture.
I wasn't joking about the Ginormous bouncy things. My kids must've played what? 5, 6 hours in those things? Check out the rats nest that was Kennedy's hair after rolling around in them all night. Thank goodness for detangler!

It was a great night. And though it wasn't ideal to be spread all over Ada/Canyon counties, we still had an amazing time.

Kohen and His Bow And Arrow

::::::: We interrupt the "Summer" posts to bring you this video::::::

If you know Kohen, you will love this. He's teaching us all about Bow and Arrow safety and use with his new Compound Bow which he loves. It's 1.5 min and believe me, your time will be well spent... not to build it up or anything. (if you don't want to listen to his lesson skip to 40 seconds)

Click here if you have trouble viewing the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhLScuhf9CA

Swap O' the Pearly Whites

Out with the old!

In with the new!

I give you the only two examples in life where toothlessness is not alarming/creepy/white trash. We have certainly had our fair share of teeth coming and going in the last month. Ander went to work straight away biting everything he could- but was forgiven since he is so dang cute. I really fear for what is about to emerge from Kennedy's bare gums, however. Those big ol' adult teeth always look freaky for a while. Should be interesting!

@ Ashley's

My sister Ashley and her husband Shayn were the first to generously welcome us into their home. Considering they only have one son- a cat named Kiefer, as it were- it must've been quite a shock to absorb all of us for 3 weeks. Picture a perfectly decorated, un-childproofed, pristine home, and let your imagination wander as to what 4 kids could do. Especially when the kid's personal jungle gym aka: Uncle Shayn, went out of town on business...
My sisters neighborhood is full of young kids who were all anxious to meet the newcomers. My older three were like rockstars for at least 48 hours. They have never really had the neighborhood friend experience and it was fun to see them make friends and play so easily. On our first Saturday we went to the Eagle Fun Days Parade along with the neighbors and let the kids try and douse the firemen, as is tradition. Kohen especially got a kick out of the proverbial "David and Goliath" water fight.
Notice Kennedy taking out Aly. The fire trucks are the other direction, Kenna.

The babe with my babe

Ashley spent a lot of time helping me shop, and believe me, I needed it. Not to mention the queen of accessories was constantly catching me on my way out the door telling me, "oh! I've got earrings that will match that!" or "I've got the perfect bracelet for that!" It was like playing dress up everyday and I loved it.

After Shayn left Kennedy, Kohen and Aly migrated back to the trees to do their climbing, and one morning I found they had all but moved in, a tribute to the Sound of Music perhaps?
Notice Kohen's monkey tail from his Gma Bonnie...

The first 3 weeks we were without Nathan so I tried my hardest to get the shopping done. I have to thank all of my SIL's, Trevi, Kysa, Tara, Amber and my nieces Maddie and Emilee who all bent over backwards taking care of my children so I could scramble all over town trying to outfit a family of 6 for a year. I was grateful that my children got to hang out with their cousins and Aunts, having a blast. A heart felt thanks.
Another fun first was Kennedy, along with her BFF/cousin, Laynie, both had their very first sleepover* at Gma Bonnie's house. I am not sure if ecstatic even covers their mutual excitement. They got to swim and do projects and play to their hearts content. A first sleepover is a memorable event in a girls life after all. Or maybe not. I just know I still remember mine, and I hope they will always remember theirs too.

* I have to mention that we have a family rule of no sleepovers. There may be a few exceptions involving a favorite cousin and gma's house- should any child of mine try to use this post against me at a future date as leverage for an unauthorized sleepover, please note: Your parents reserve the right to refuse sleepovers with anyone at anytime. That is all.

6,457 Miles

And just like that I am back in Taiwan. Wah.

Our trip went by impossibly fast and was literally jam packed with activities, friends and family, lot's of shopping and 8- that's right EIGHT trips to the Doctor. I am currently behind with, well, pretty much everything so why not blog?

We get asked a lot about the marathon trip it takes for our family to get home. Usually I don't get into it because, frankly I try and block it out the moment it's over. Not to mention there is plenty to complain about and at the end of it all I'm still gonna say it's completely worth it. I have named this unhealthy relationship we have with overseas travel "Battered Travelers Syndrome". No matter how bad it is, we just keep coming back for more.

Having said that, there is usually several times throughout a trip where our kids will say or do something ridiculously funny or cute and confirm that there's no one else in the world we want to be doing this with than our children. And that is the cheesy truth. On our way to Boise we landed in Japan for our first layover and the steward made sure our kids got to go meet the Pilot and sit in his seat. Kennedy was insistent she needed to know how many miles between Taipei and Boise and thanks to Google I can report the number is 6,457.
We call overseas travel the Time Warp for good reason. Take our trip to Boise. We headed to the airport at 8 am Thursday June 10th. We arrived in Boise at 2pm Thursday June 10th, after about 24 hours of travel. It was a good trip, all things considered. Everyone did well, no major mishaps. But it takes several days for all of us to get over our jet lag. Jet lag causes our children to wake up a lot in the night due to the 13 hour time difference. You may or may not have been privileged enough to witness one of many epic meltdowns from our kiddos in our first few days, it's a great conversation starter, ie: "She doesn't usually scream until she's blue in the face over toothpaste *nervous laugh*." Jet lag = good times.
Is this just as painful to read as it is to relive/write? Oh well. Onward.

So our trip home. We left the house at 6:30 am. Ander had gotten the okay to fly from the Dr. the day before even though he had an ear infection and fever. I was nervous about flying with a sick baby, obviously. We flew from Boise to San Fran where we have a 3 hour layover, followed by the 10 hour flight to Japan where we have a 4 ish hour layover before boarding the 3 hour flight to Taiwan. Did ya get all that?

Ander did fine until we were well into the 10 hour flight and his fever started in. There is something about being stuck on a plane with a child who is sick. Ander was burning up, and then he started to just moan in between breaths and he was all lethargic and freaking me out. He threw up his medicine when we tried to give it to him which added "smell" to the list of senses our fellow passengers were being assaulted with by our crew. Anyway, imagine my private baby drama and then remember I'm surrounded by people trying to sleep who are irritated I'm not keeping my baby quiet and shooting daggers at Nathan as he juggles the other three who in the best of times at least TALK! LIKE! THIS! because they've got headphones on to watch a movie. *sigh*
During our layover in Japan, Nathan and Ander were able to get a shower which helped things. The kids did great on the layover and by the time we boarded the plane for Taiwan it was 3 am Boise time and we were all feeling it and fell asleep pretty quickly. When we landed Kohen and Aly were so out of it, we didn't have enough arms/strollers to carry them. Poor Kohen whined about "his knees hurting" ??? clear through Customs and out to luggage. Once we were all loaded into the van we had arranged to pick us up, the children all passed out again for the 45 min ride home. Door to Door this trip was our longest yet at 27 hours.
Not sure if anyone made it this far in the post but it's only fair that a story about a long and boring trip should be long and boring, right? We are still working on the jet lag over here but we are glad to be home and grateful for everyone we saw and all the fun we had this summer. How about some posts on that?!

Digital Improv

Imagine my surprise when I downloaded pictures the first time after getting to Boise and found these gems. After laughing my head off I focused and uploaded for your viewing pleasure. Please take a moment to scroll through the following photo shoot which I would like to entitle: Digital Improv By Kennedy and Kohen.

Full on parsel tongue + cross eyes = skill

?????????

Double Punch: Kohen and his monkey will take you out.

And the classic Asian picture pose as a parting gift.

Aly's 4th Birthday

Aly was so excited the morning of her 4th Birthday. I've decided 4th birthdays are my favorite, they are beyond thrilled about everything and appreciate it all.

We've had a count down until we could go see Toy Story 3 so of course Aly's B-day was Toy Story themed. We met all but a couple cousins, Aunt/Uncles, Gparents to see the show and Aly just knew they were all there for her, Woody and Buzz? pshaw.
After the movie we all went over to Nathan's parents house for treats and swimming.
As I watched the little trail of smoke fly away from the extinguished candle, I couldn't help but think about how with that one puff of breath my little Aly officially left her toddler hood behind. I thought of that aaand how she probably wished for everyone to find her "Knock-knock-whose-there-EYEBALL!" joke to be hilarious.

XOXOSwack!XOXO

Our World Cup Baby

Unbeknownst to her, this little cutie has officially turned four years old. We are waiting until her Daddy gets back to celebrate together but meanwhile I've had a few days to quietly reflect on how much I love this 35 lbs of pure moxie.
Aly has discovered her Aunt Ashley's extensive collection of heels and is in love. She is determined to break her ankle in the name of fashion. I'm just glad it's someone else's shoes for once since many times over the last few months when we were rushing into the car to go pick up Kenna and Kohen from school, Aly would come clip clopping out of the house sporting a pair of my heels, ready to go. Frankly, she wears them more -and better- than I do.

Aly loves attention and will do pretty much anything for a laugh. For instance, she once inserted "eyeball" into a song she and her siblings were singing. It got a positive response and ever since then she has to try out "eyeball" on everyone, like "row, row, row your eyeball, gently down the stream"- even though "eyeball" was pretty much a one hit wonder, she is determined to continue trying.

You probably didn't know this but Aly is our World Cup Baby. In the Spring of 2005 Nathan and I put ourselves in the lotto draw for tickets to the World Cup in Germany. Millions do for every World Cup so after the 3 or so rounds of draws we didn't get any tickets. We were really bummed. Until out of the blue we found out that they decided to do one last draw and we GOT TICKETS!!!! And not just any tickets, good tickets. One of the games we were the eighth row, center of the field! We were shocked and ecstatic. Which, coincidentally, is a lot like how we felt 2 weeks later when we discovered I was pregnant with #3, due during the time we were scheduled to be in Germany. Not gonna lie, it took a while to get over the disappointment that I wouldn't be going to Europe. The morning sickness didn't help.

We ended up selling the tickets on Ebay and helping pay for the delivery of our third. We watched the games at home while snuggling up our newest edition, and we were truly happy. So that is why every World Cup holds extra special meaning for Nathan and I, reminding us of the testimony we later gained about trusting the Lord's timing and how humbled we were and are, to have such an amazing little girl sent to our family.

To Our Superman

This Father's Day Nathan is working in Taipei and the children and I are in Boise. That means that we are apart and Nathan will spend his day uninterrupted by well meaning children, he will attend church where he will actually get to listen, and since he is on his own there is really nothing keeping him from getting a nap.... wait a sec. Those are all the things I want for Mother's day! Well, though it isn't my first choice for Nathan I hope it will be all right till next week.
As I considered what to write about Nathan I thought of all of the many, many, MANY things he does for our family and at first I thought if I wrote things like, "he plays with his children", "he does the dishes", "he tries to teach his children right from wrong" etc.- that it'd be gag worthy because all Dad's are this way. But you know what? You know what I've realized? Not all dad's are this way. Not all dad's care if they play with their children, help out around the house and take the time and effort to try and teach their children right from wrong. In fact anymore I'd say it's becoming more rare to find men like that. So it does need to be said. We are blessed to have many awesome BILs, FILs and Dad's in our lives who have been amazing examples of all that a father can and should be. But make no mistake about it, if you have a good man as a father in your life, you are lucky. We feel we are Four-Leaf-Clover-kinda lucky with Nathan.
Happy Father's Day Nathan!!! We love you! Buhboo! xoxo ej, Kennedy, Kohen, Aly, & Ander

Our Dad

Speaking of good men. My brother Justin, Natalie, Ashley and I were lucky enough to grow up with this guy as our Dad. Before I go any further I have to confess the reason my Dad's Father's Day card from the girls and I will be late is because I didn't get it to the post office. I am lame sometimes, please don't let this be a reflection on my upbringing. :)

One thing that I think happens to most people who have children is that at some point, maybe the night you are up all night rocking and worrying over a sick baby, or maybe just those quiet moments together snuggling up your newborn, completely in awe of them- you will have the realization that your mom and dad did these exact same things for you and what's more, they felt about their baby just like you do about yours. They absolutely were in love with their little bundle, they loved me as much as I love my baby. When I first had this realization I just sat there completely overwhelmed with the sudden understanding and knowledge of how much my mother and my father loved and cared for me.
But you don't have to be a parent to appreciate your own. These 3 ^ knuckleheads pretty much adored their Dad... At least until 13 ish when we discovered we actually knew everything and went on a sabbatical of sanity and didn't return until we were... much older. We are grateful he has loved us through it all. And of course Justin and Dad have been practically inseparable since those fateful words, "it's a boy!" and, as I imagine it, my dad let out a huge sigh of relief.
Anyway, we love you Dad! xoxo Natalie, Erin, Ashley, & Justin

Sink or Swim

I know that I am occasionally prone to exaggerations. But this new development needs none and it's still pretty impressive.

True Story: Last week Aly wouldn't even jump to Nathan in the pool. We've only gone swimming a few times this season but Nathan and I both thought it was going to take some persuading to get Aly to even put her head under. Monday, on her own she started jumping off the bottom step, bouncing off the bottom and coming up for air acting half drowned. I tried to get her to just play on the steps because she was worrying me. She refused. The following videos are from Tuesday.

Did ya catch that little "1,2,3!" in Chinese as she jumped in the water? Oh, and how she JUMPED IN THE WATER! And swam to the side like no big thing. I couldn't believe it. I still can't. It was literally overnight and she figured out how to swim on her own. I guess she wasn't kidding when she said she was going to be a mermaid.